A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

He smiled, “It’s okay. I guess I deserved it,”

Sara nodded, but she had to ask, “Is there a reason why you didn’t tell me about my brother?”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I just thought it’d be funny,” he took a step closer to her, “Look Sara, I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot and I know this is the second time I’m apologizing, but I want us to start over because I want to get to know you, so can we please… Start over?”

Her mouth tightened, “I don’t think getting to know each other on any level is a good idea, Simon,”

There was a pause, and then he took another step closer, “You do know that I can easily make the necessary enquiries that would give me all the answers to every question I have about you,” he said, and regretted the comment immediately, knowing that threats were definitely not the right way to get through to this woman.

“That’s your prerogative.” Sara replied nonchalantly. “So go ahead… At this point I really don’t care,”

“But I won’t,” Simon concluded dryly. “I would so much rather wait for you to tell me about yourself than listen to inaccurate gossip,” he added.

Her face flushed. “If that was a dig at me for the things I said to you-”

“It wasn’t,” he assured her softly. “I would just rather wait for you to confide in me.”

She gave a dismissive snort. “Then you’ll be waiting a long time.”

Patience had never particularly been a part of Simon’s character, but he had a feeling that where this intriguing woman was concerned it might well be worth the wait… “I have no plans to leave New York for the foreseeable future, Sara,” he said huskily.

Sara was well aware of that-which was why, after the mess she had made of things with this man, she was seriously considering relocating her office to Outer Mongolia, or possibly Antarctica-anywhere but New York! He was arrogant, yes, but it wasn’t in an over-bloated self-aggrandizement way-more an inborn confidence in who and what he was. Simon had demonstrated that he was capable of dealing with, and returning, any challenge she might care to give him. He also had a wicked sense of humor, which he was just as likely to turn on himself as he was anyone else. There was something very appealing about a man who could laugh at himself. And Sara defied any woman to remain unaffected by that heady combination of charming self-assurance and devastating good-looks. That brief kiss they had shared had certainly proved to her that she wasn’t immune to anything about Simon Hamilton.

A man whose wealth and charm was everything and more than Bruce, her ex-fiance, had been…Which was more than enough reason for Sara to take herself out of Simon’s insidiously seductive company. Right now!

“Then I hope you enjoy the city,” she told him lightly. “Now, if you will excuse me…I need to go home,” she turned to her car.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Haven’t you forgotten something?”

Sara paused before turning back reluctantly to answer that softly spoken query. “Have I?” He gave a mocking inclination of his head.

“We haven’t discussed when you’ll come up to Hamilton Tower to look at my apartment yet.”

She tensed warily. “Up…?”

Simon gave a husky chuckle, “Yes. Up,”

It took her a few seconds to understand what he meant. His apartment was on the floor above his office? All that time she’d been in his office, there had been a bedroom-probably several-right above them? Oh, good Lord…!

Sara drew in a deep breath before speaking. “I think I was right all along. It really wouldn’t be a good idea for me to work for you-”

“You agreed to work for me just minutes ago when we were having dinner,”

“I think we both know that I didn’t mean it,”

“Coward.”

“I beg your pardon?” she gasped softly.

Once again he shrugged those broad shoulders. “I called you a coward.”

“Because I don’t want to work for you?” She eyed him incredulously.

Simon shook his head slowly. “Because we both know the reason you don’t want to work for me.”

Her jaw tightened. “Which is?”

“You’re afraid.”

“You think I’m afraid of you?” she said disbelievingly.

“I think that you’re afraid of how you feel when you’re with me,” Simon corrected softly. “You’re more comfortable in the company of a man like Mark Forbes because you know you can manipulate and control him in a way you would never be able to do with me.”

All the color drained from Sara’s cheeks. She knew that every word Simon spoke was the truth. Oh, not about Mark. But she was frightened-of Simon, and of what he made her feel when she was with him. She didn’t want to feel that way about any man. After she’d gotten over her broken engagement, she had been relieved to feel so numb, to know that she would never again have to go through the pain of a broken relationship. To now realize that Simon Hamilton had penetrated her emotions, if only on a physical level, was not a welcome revelation.

“You really suck at apologies, and has anyone ever told you that you have an ego the size of Manhattan?” She snorted disgustedly.

“Not that I recall, no.” He gave a slow and confident smile. “Was anything I said to you just now untrue?”

Her mouth thinned. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Then why not prove it by agreeing to redesign the interior of my apartment?”

Sara gave a disbelieving shake of her head. “I’m twenty-nine, Simon, not nine, and as such I’m not about to be goaded into a juvenile game of dare with you. Especially when I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to accept a commission from you.”

“Scott is going to be so disappointed about that,” he murmured regretfully.

“Scott?” she repeated warily.

“Yeah. He recommended your work to me, remember?” he added pleasantly.

Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me or blackmailing me, Simon?”

He eyed her innocently. “Oh I wouldn’t dream of it,”

“It sounds suspiciously like a threat to me!”

His lips twitched with repressed humor. “That’s your prerogative, of course.”