The Man Every Woman Wants Read online

‘I knew this was a terrible idea,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t know what possessed me to do it.’

  ‘Pride possessed you.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said with a deeply weary sigh. ‘Good old pride—one of the seven deadly sins.’

  She looked so dispirited all of a sudden that Ryan felt genuinely sorry for her.

  ‘Not just pride, Laura,’ he said gently. ‘Kindness too. Let’s not forget that. We’re here to make your gran happy. What does it matter if you’re forced out of your comfort zone for a couple of days? It’s not like it will last for ever. Let me do most of the talking. You just smile and agree to everything I say. Which I know will be extremely difficult for you,’ he added before she could say a single word. ‘But it’s all in a good cause.’

  She was quiet for a long moment, but then she nodded. ‘I’ll do my best.’

  ‘Good.’

  Good!

  Laura felt anything but good every time she looked at the man. She wanted to hit him for making her find him so darned attractive all of a sudden.

  It wasn’t pride that was possessing her at this moment. It was another of the seven deadly sins, one that terrified the life out of her.

  Laura was not intimately acquainted with lust, had never been held in its thrall before. Both Brad and Mario had seduced her into their beds, and she’d gone out of the need to be loved, not the need to have sex with them.

  But she wanted to have sex with Ryan. It was a most disturbing thought. Her sigh carried regret that she’d ever thought of this charade in the first place. Regret too that she’d given in to Ryan’s suggestion and bought that sexy red dress.

  Alison had spelled it out for her. That dress was the sort which would get an octogenarian’s hormones up and going. And Ryan was a lot younger and hornier than that. It worried her, what might happen if he did make a pass at her tonight?

  ‘Come now, Laura,’ Ryan said with a touch of exasperation in his voice. ‘Anyone would think you were going to your execution.’

  An execution would be preferable to ending up in bed with you, Laura thought, keeping her eyes firmly off his corrupting body and on the road ahead. She tried thinking of what he’d just said, about this all being in a good cause, but nothing could unwind the knots of tension in her stomach. The niggling fear she’d had that this weekend would end in disaster became steadily magnified as they drew closer to the house. The sight of her Aunt Cynthia standing on the verandah waiting for them reminded her of that other fear she’d had earlier today—the fear that they’d be put in the same bedroom for the night!

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ONE look at Aunt Cynthia gave Ryan a clue as to why Laura was so tense.

  The woman was formidable looking to say the least, tall and solidly built, with a manner of the sergeant major about her as she stood there at the top of the front steps with her arms folded over her battleship bosom and her thick-ankled legs slightly apart. The skirt and top she was wearing was battleship grey as well. Possibly in her late fifties, she had very short, tightly curled blonde hair—probably permed and dyed—large facial features and the hint of a moustache above her thinly pressed lips. Her eyes were small and closely set, widening slightly as Ryan braked the convertible to a halt at the bottom on the front steps.

  ‘Don’t you dare get out of this car,’ Ryan muttered under his breath as Laura automatically reached for the door handle.

  When her eyes jerked round to his he bestowed a one-thousand-kilowatt smile upon her, then bent over to graze her right cheek with his lips.

  ‘Just do as I say,’ he whispered at the same time. ‘And smile, for pity’s sake.’

  She didn’t smile, he noted. But she did as he said, staying put while he exited the car and strode round to open the door for her like a gentleman of the old school. Ryan deliberately didn’t look up at Aunt Cynthia until Laura was standing up, her hand safely enclosed in his.

  By then he was gratified to see true surprise on the woman’s face, along with an almost welcoming smile. She’d even unfolded her arms by the time he dragged Laura up onto the verandah with him. Thankfully, the woman was staring at him and not at her rather robotic niece.

  ‘You must be Aunt Cynthia,’ he said, beaming broadly. ‘What a lovely place you have here!’

  When she stepped forward to extend her hand, her beady eyes, which turned out to be a faded blue, actually sparkled at him.

  ‘We think so. It’s so nice to meet you at last, Mr Armstrong.’

  Ryan shook her hand with his right hand, at the same time keeping his left tightly clasped around Laura’s lest she bolt for it. Which she just might do, judging by the tension in her fingers.

  ‘Call me Ryan, please,’ he insisted warmly. ‘And perhaps you’d allow me to call you Cynthia? After all, you’re way too young to be my aunt.’

  ‘Oh, go on with you,’ she simpered in return, her cheeks going pink with pleasure as her free hand fluttered up to touch her hair.

  Laura could not believe it—Aunt Cynthia, actually blushing. The man was a menace all right. But this was why she’d brought him with her today, wasn’t it? To see this kind of reaction from her family, and Aunt Cynthia most of all. It was worth taking the risk of making a fool of herself with him in private to experience this moment of public satisfaction.

  When her aunt turned stunned eyes towards her, Laura found a slightly smug smile along with a surge of confidence.

  ‘He is gorgeous, isn’t he?’ she said.

  Ryan was momentarily thrown, not only by Laura’s compliment but by the smoky voice she used.

  Wow, he thought. A guy could get used to her talking to him like that. Of course, he knew it was just an act, but a very convincing one. It looked like he didn’t have to worry about her making a hash of their charade.

  ‘Thank you, darling,’ he said, giving her hand a little squeeze. ‘You’re so sweet.’

  Laura almost laughed out loud at the look on her aunt’s face. Dear, but it was priceless! Like she had something stuck in her throat.

  ‘How’s Gran doing?’ Laura asked whilst her aunt was still floundering.

  Cynthia blinked. ‘What? Oh… Er, not too badly.’

  ‘Can we go and see her straight away?’

  ‘Perhaps we should take our things in first,’ Ryan suggested. ‘I’d like to freshen up as well.’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Cynthia said, quickly recovering her composure to play the perfect hostess, gushing over the car whilst Ryan collected their luggage. He carried Laura’s bag as well as his own, though he left Laura with the coat-hangered dress to carry, along with his dinner suit, which was also underneath a plastic cover. Ryan was glad now that he’d brought a suit with him, rather than more casual clothes. It wasn’t a tux, just a dark grey, single-breasted number which looked good on him and fitted in with any occasion.

  The house was as grand inside as out, Ryan noted, with a wide foyer covered in black-and-white tiles an elaborately carved hall-stand which had to be an antique, and an impressive curved staircase made of a rich red wood.

  ‘It’s cedar,’ Cynthia informed Ryan proudly when he asked about it. ‘There’s quite a lot of cedar in this house,’ she continued as she led the way upstairs. ‘The house was built back in the thirties before the war almost ruined everyone, the racing industry as well. Did Laura tell you this was once one of the most successful racehorse studs in Australia? No, of course she didn’t,’ the woman rattled on before Ryan could reply. ‘Laura’s not all that interested in this place or its traditions.

  ‘Now I didn’t put you in your usual room, Laura,’ she threw over her shoulder towards her niece who was trailing a little behind. ‘It’s way too small for two people. Shane and Lisa aren’t staying the night, so I made up the main guestroom for you,’ she said, opening a brass-handled door on their right with a flourish.

  Ryan heard Laura make a small choking sound which, thank heavens, her aunt didn’t seem to notice, perhaps because she was busy bragging about the
people who’d once slept in the very large four-poster bed which dominated the room. She mentioned a past prime minister, as well as a governor general, a couple of English aristocrats and a Hollywood star along with her very wealthy lover.

  ‘This house has a lot of history,’ she finished up by saying.

  ‘It’s a very beautiful house,’ Ryan complimented, having dropped both their bags by the door to wander across the room to the French doors which led out onto the verandah. ‘And a very beautiful room.’

  He turned to see a pale-faced Laura still standing in the doorway, staring over at the bed. ‘But Gran won’t like us staying in the same bedroom,’ she suddenly blurted out.

  Cynthia made a dismissive gesture with her hand. ‘Jane doesn’t need to know,’ she said airily. ‘She’s not allowed to walk up the stairs any more.’

  ‘So where’s she sleeping?’ Laura asked as she entered the room and draped the coathangers over the back of a chair.

  ‘We’ve refurbished the old servants’ quarters for her.’

  ‘The servants’ quarters!’ Laura exclaimed, her face flushing.

  ‘Before you blow a gasket, missy,’ her aunt said sharply, ‘Jane is very happy with the arrangements. So don’t you go making a fuss and making her unhappy.’

  ‘Laura would never do or say anything to make her gran unhappy,’ Ryan defended her, moving over to put a protective arm around Laura, warning her with a sharp squeeze not to lose her temper.

  ‘Yes, I do appreciate that, Ryan,’ Cynthia said through slightly pursed lips. ‘But Laura has the bad habit of opening her mouth before her brain is in gear.’

  ‘She can be a bit impulsive,’ he said, tightening his arm again around her shoulders. ‘But she always has people’s best interests at heart. Especially her gran’s.’

  ‘I suppose so. But, as I said, Jane won’t find out unless you tell her. Of course, if you’d prefer to have separate rooms, then…’

  ‘Absolutely not!’ Ryan broke in forcefully. ‘I’ve been dying to get Laura away for a romantic weekend together. And, let’s face it, that bed has romance written all over it.’

  Laura might have enjoyed the flash of envy on her aunt’s face if she hadn’t been in a state of complete panic. Her worst fear had come about, that of having to share a bed with Ryan. It was bad enough having to stand where she was with his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders, but at least they were dressed, and there was someone else in the room. How would she be able to cope lying side by side whilst wearing next to nothing with no one else in the room to stop… To stop what, exactly?

  Laura knew full well that Ryan would never force himself on her. So what was she afraid of?

  Herself again, of course. That self which even now was trembling inside at his touch.

  ‘Now, my dears, I really must go downstairs and tell Jane you’ve arrived,’ her aunt said brightly. ‘I thought since it’s such a nice day we could have afternoon tea together out on the back verandah. Could you join us there in, say, fifteen minutes?’

  ‘No trouble,’ Ryan said when Laura remained silent. ‘See you shortly.’

  The moment Cynthia closed the door after her, Laura twisted out of his hold. ‘That woman is just so impossible!’ she exclaimed heatedly. ‘Fancy just presuming we’d want to share a room.’

  ‘It’s perfectly logical that we would,’ Ryan said. ‘It’s not as though we’re teenagers, Laura. We’re an adult couple, having an adult relationship. Of course we’d be sleeping together.’

  ‘But we aren’t, damn it! And now we’ll have to—actually sleep together, that is. I mean, just look around you. There’s nowhere else to sleep in here except on the floor.’

  ‘Well you can count me out on that one,’ Ryan said, marching over to lift his bag up and carry it over to the bed, where he dumped it down on top of the richly embroidered red-velvet quilt. ‘I’m not sleeping on any wooden floor. Look, this is a very big bed. You can put some pillows down the middle if you like. That should stop me from accidentally brushing up against your very desirable female body and ravaging you on the spot. Which is exactly what you’re thinking, isn’t it? That I might not be able to control myself.’

  Laura just stared at him for a long moment, before dropping her eyes and shaking her head irritably. ‘That’s not what I was thinking at all.’

  ‘Really? What were you thinking, then? And don’t say nothing. You are never thinking nothing, Laura.’

  She turned and walked over to collect her own bag, wheeling it across the room before hoisting it up onto the bed on the opposite side to where he was.

  Her eyes, when they finally lifted to meet his, were decidedly mutinous. ‘I don’t have to tell you what I’m thinking. And I don’t have to sleep in the same bed as you. I’ll sleep on the damned floor if I have to.’

  Ryan scowled at her. She was one seriously irritating woman! ‘Be my guest,’ he said. ‘Just try to do it quietly. I don’t want to be kept awake with your moaning and groaning.’

  ‘I don’t ever moan and groan,’ she snapped.

  Ryan gave her a droll look. ‘Now that I can believe.’

  ‘Very funny,’ she bit out.

  ‘Actually, I’m not finding any of this at all funny,’ he shot back. ‘To be perfectly honest, I wish to God I’d never made this ridiculous offer in the first place. I must have had rocks in my head if I thought I could bring off pretending to be your Mr Right.’

  The moment the words were out of his mouth, Ryan regretted them. Not that she didn’t deserve some criticism—she wasn’t making his job easy—but he hated seeing the crestfallen expression on her face. Hated having hurt her like that.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said straight away. ‘That was uncalled for.’

  ‘No no,’ she said, shaking her head unhappily. ‘You had every right to say what you did. The way I’m acting… It’s silly and, well, it’s just plain silly.’

  ‘Then you won’t be sleeping on the floor?’

  ‘No,’ she said, her chin lifting in an oddly defiant gesture as though it was a big deal, agreeing to share the bed with him.

  ‘Good. Now I have a very important question to ask you before we go downstairs for afternoon tea.’

  ‘What?’ she replied, looking worried again.

  ‘Where’s the bathroom?’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LAURA showed him the door which led into an absolutely huge bathroom, the like of which would never have been seen in a modern house. There was a claw-footed bath sitting against the far wall of the black-and-white-tiled room, a brass-framed shower stall in a corner to its right, a toilet behind the door and a large marble-topped vanity table which had an equally large mirror on the wall above it.

  ‘Wow!’ Ryan said. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen a bathroom quite like this one before.’

  ‘It is rather old-fashioned,’ Laura said.

  ‘Maybe, but I like it.’

  ‘That other door there—’ Laura pointed out before she left ‘—opens out onto the main hallway, so don’t forget to throw the lock or you might have an unwanted visitor.’ Though she couldn’t imagine who. Uncle Bill and Aunt Cynthia would be the only others sleeping upstairs tonight, and the master bedroom was at the other end of the hallway, complete with its own private bathroom.

  ‘Fine,’ Ryan said and Laura left him to it, relieved when he closed the door and left her alone in the bedroom. It would be good to be away from his disturbing presence, even for a short while, give her the chance to calm the butterflies in her stomach and to find some much-needed composure.

  Unpacking her bag, however, didn’t help much, especially when confronted by the pink satin nightie she’d brought with her. Whilst not overly provocative, it was still rather low-cut, with spaghetti-thin straps. At least she’d had the foresight to pack the matching robe, though she could hardly wear that to bed, could she?

  Her stomach contracted at the thought of how she would feel, sleeping next to Ryan tonight. She wouldn’t be gettin
g much sleep, that was for sure.

  He emerged from the bathroom and she took the opportunity to escape.

  ‘I won’t be long,’ she said, snatching up her toilet bag and dashing past him.

  Ryan shook his head at her body language. He wondered what he could say or do to calm her down. It wasn’t afternoon tea that she needed, he decided as he hung up his suit and unpacked the rest of his things, but a good, stiff drink. Either that or…

  Ryan chuckled with dry amusement. It would be a bit difficult to relax Laura with some sex if just the thought of sharing a bed platonically with him horrified the life out of her. Which it obviously did.

  The idea that she might not trust him to keep his hands off irked Ryan a little. What had he ever done to her? Okay, so he probably had a reputation around Sydney as a bit of womaniser. But he wasn’t a sleazebag, or a cheat.

  Not that making a pass at Laura would make him a cheat, given he and Erica had now split up. But that was beside the point. Even if he fancied Laura—which he didn’t, not really—no way would he want to start something this weekend that could only cause him trouble in the future. Laura was a valued work colleague. She was also of a much more vulnerable nature than Ryan had realised.

  To contemplate seducing her, even out of a perverse sort of compassion, went totally against his rules. Not that Laura would let him seduce her, he conceded ruefully. She would have to be attracted to him a little to do that, which she obviously wasn’t, so why was he even having this stupid conversation with himself?

  The bathroom door opened and she came out, looking a little less harried. Which was just as well, since he was beginning to run out of patience with her.

  ‘Don’t forget what I said about smiling,’ Ryan advised brusquely as they made their way down the curving staircase ten minutes later. When she didn’t say anything in reply, he stopped at the foot of the stairs to throw her a firm look.

  ‘Come on, show me some of those nice white teeth you have.’

  When Laura attempted a smile, Ryan scowled. ‘Good God, is that the best you can do, woman?’