Page 18 of Bride By Committee

“You kissed me. Hell, sweetheart, you wrapped yourself around me and held on for dear life. If that wasn’t reaching an agreement, Idon’t know what was.”

More than anything she wanted to back down. Summoning every ounce of courage, she locked her knees in place and planted her hands on her hips. Sticking out her chin, she fixed him with her most ferocious gaze. The ridiculous image of a kitten spitting in the face of a lion took hold, one she had the devil of a time banishing. “I was suffering from claustrophobia. Iwasn’t in my right mind. You can’t blame me for anything that happened in there.”

“Oh, Idon’t blame you. In fact, anytime or anyplace you’d care to repeat what happened, I’d be only too happy to accommodate you.”

“Really? How kind.” If he caught her sarcasm, he didn’t react to it. “Maybe the publishers should consider renaming your father’s book. Instead of calling it The Principles of Love, they should title it The ABC’s of Lust. Because that’s all we experienced. Lust. Not love.”

“An excellent idea for a sequel. I’ll mention it to Dad.”

Did nothing faze the man? She decided to change tactics. “What are we going to do about dinner?”

“You mean what excuse should we use to get out of it?”

Finally! She knew they possessed more similar characteristics than opposing ones. He must have reached the same decision she had. “Exactly. You said you were here on business. We’ll use that as an excuse.”

“No, we won’t.”

“Oh.” She spared him a disgruntled glance. “Then I can claim a previous engagement.”

“That’s your choice, but I intend to be at that dinner.”

“You can’t be serious.” Didn’t he understand the problems that would cause? “They’re already throwing us together. This will only make matters worse. It’ll encourage them.”

Harry shrugged off her complaint. “I want to have dinner with my father. Ihappen to like the man. Ialso like your grandmother and wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, too.” He offered a smile that held far too much appeal. Obviously he’d decided to pull another intimidation tactic from his bag of tricks. “Come on, Madison. What can it hurt? It sounds like a pleasant way to spend the evening.”

She considered her options. If she refused to go now, she’d end up looking petty. If she agreed, would it appear she’d caved under pressure? She’d have to risk it. Better to keep an eye on Sunny and her love expert than to allow their relationship to get out ofhand.

“Fine. Sunny can’t force us into a relationship in such a short amount of time. It’s not like we’ll end up committed or engaged or anything.”

“Of course not. After all, we can’t work our way through the entire ten principles over a single meal. Look at how long we were on the elevator. Hours, at least.” His smile grew, taking on a predatory aspect that made her decidedly nervous. “All that time alone together and we were only able to stumble through three of the principles. There isn’t a chance in hell we can manage more than another one or two over dinner.”

That stopped her cold. She knew about the first two principles. How had they suddenly jumped to three? She cleared her throat. “Just out of curiosity. What’s the third principle?”

“For the most perfect mating, take the time to explore all the senses with your partner.” His expression held a bit too much satisfaction. “I’d say we’ve accomplished that one, too. Wouldn’t you?”

Madison ran through a quick mental list. Sight. Hearing. Check and double check. They might not have seen each other until recently, but the final effect had been stunning. Then there was scent. An unbidden memory of his distinctive odor returned to haunt her and she suddenly realized she still wore his suit jacket. She whipped it off and shoved it into his hands, pretending she didn’t notice his grin of satisfaction. Removing the coat didn’t help. To her distress, she found she could still smell him. The very fact that his scent had somehow become a part of her, clinging both physically and mentally, warned of how unique she found him. Then there was touch. Oh, dear. They’d certainly done quite a bit of that. As for taste…

She spun abruptly on her heel. Kisses did not count as tasting. “Kisses do not count as tasting.”

“They do in my book.” Catching her by the arm, he turned her to face him and in front of everyone lingering in the lobby of the building, he tasted her again. “Congratulations, Madison,” he murmured. “You’ve successfully completed the first three principles. And it’s only taken three hours. Iwonder if that’s a record?”

“It can’t be,” she retorted in instant denial.

“Sure it can. How many more do you think we’ll cross off by the time dinner’s over?”

She pulled free of his arms. “None!”

“Guess again.” His fingers stroked the curve of her cheek. “Fight if it makes you happier, sweetheart. But I’ll have you in the end.”

“I won’t be intimidated by you, Harry.”

He nodded in approval. “Good. Idon’t want a woman I can intimidate. Iwant a woman who’s my match.”

He didn’t give her an opportunity to reply, which was just as well, since she hadn’t a clue what she’d have said. Snatching a final kiss—akiss she found impossible to resist—he left her standing in the middle of the lobby of her grandmother’s apartment building and walked away. Madison glared at his retreating back. It was a very large, imposing back, as impressive and appealing as the rest of him. She turnedaway.

Impossible man. It didn’t matter how delicious she found his kisses, nor how well they’d progressed through the first several principles. She wouldn’t allow a bunch of stupid rules to dictate her love life. There were more important considerations, considerations she’d delineated quite carefully in her personal journal. And not one of the characteristics on her list included how he should smell or taste orfeel.

Notone.

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