Page 37 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

‘Everyone will be busy tomorrow. There are boat races and a festival and—’

‘Then the cleaning can wait till after the festival.’

Charlotte opened her mouth to argue. Then she read his expression, and her breath disappeared. A finger of disquiet tracked down her spine, making her shiver.

He looked...dangerous.

Yet she felt no impulse to flee. On the contrary...

‘Aren’t you going to ask me why I sent them away, Charlotte?’ Alessio’s voice was silky smooth, yet tight with whatever emotion clamped his jaw.

The air between them thickened, and she had to moisten her suddenly dry mouth. ‘Why, Alessio?’

His eyes flared as her voice turned husky on his name. Then his mouth curled in a harsh smile, and he stepped close, his arm encircling her waist and drawing her up against him. ‘Because ofthis.’

CHAPTER NINE

ALESSIO’SARMAROUNDher felt shockingly familiar, stopping her angry retort.

Charlotte might be infuriated and confused, but she knew what she wanted.

This. The weight of his arm around her waist, pulling her hard against his lean, muscular frame. The press of powerful thighs against hers. The spark of awareness that turned his usually cool green gaze to fire.

She felt that fire inside, racing along her veins, pooling in her pelvis, heating breasts that seemed to swell and press against the tight fabric of her bodice.

‘Whatdoyou want, Alessio? You need to be more specific.’

She was amazed to hear herself sound so calm.

His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘With pleasure.’ Did she imagine he gave the wordpleasurelingering emphasis? ‘It’s a ball, Charlotte. I want to dance with you.’

She shook her head, spirits plummeting. Was he making fun of her? ‘The ball’s over. We could have danced earlier.’

She ordered her unresponsive feet to step back, but they didn’t move.

‘Impossible. If I’d danced with you, then I’d have been obliged to dance with others.’ His eyes held hers, and his voice deepened to a luscious rumble. ‘I didn’t want to dance with anyone else. Just you.’

As if she alone, among all those sophisticated women, attracted him. Charlotte swallowed and discovered her throat had constricted. Her heart beat too fast, and her thoughts scrambled.

Danger, screamed a warning voice in her head.

But, oh, what glorious danger.

When he looked at her that way, Alessio undermined all her caution. After years protecting herself, maybe it was time to live a little. To choose danger instead of safety.

Still she resisted. ‘There’s no music.’

Alessio took her resisting hand and placed it on his shoulder, where her fingers instantly spread and clung, absorbing his heat and hard strength. He took her other hand, lifting it in a waltz hold.

‘You can’t hear the music?’ He drew her closer. ‘Listen to your heartbeat.’

Then they were moving, slowly but in perfect unison in a circle that took them from the vaulted entry hall into the brilliantly lit ballroom.

Charlotte was floating, the steps coming easily, without thought. As if they’d danced together a thousand times, their bodies totally attuned.

Alessio swung her faster, and now they swirled down the grand room, her skirts flaring, their legs pressing close, and not once did he lift his gaze from hers. She could almost hear the music, its powerful rhythm urging her on. They reached the end of the room, and his arm tightened around her waist, swinging her up for a second off the floor.

A laugh escaped her. The sound of pure joy as they circled back along the polished floor, faster and faster. Yet Charlotte felt totally secure in Alessio’s embrace, ready to go where he led, caught up in heady excitement.

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