Brazilian's Nine Months' Notice Read Online Free PDF

on calling for one thing or another until she went upstairs to see him, Emma guessed. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll go,’ she said, wanting to make an end of it. It was better to face him now than allow this charade to continue.
    * * *
    He looked up at the knock on the door. ‘Come in.’ Putting his newspaper down, he stood up then relaxed as Emma used her pass card to open the door.
    ‘Towels,’ she told him briskly, sidestepping him as she walked into the room.
    ‘Coffee?’ he suggested, watching her back view appreciatively as she disappeared into the bathroom.
    ‘Do you need more coffee?’ she asked him with a touch of impatience.
    ‘I have all the coffee I need, thank you. I just thought you might like a cup.’
    ‘I’m afraid that wouldn’t go down very well with my boss.’
    ‘You never used to worry about what your boss thought.’
    She chose not to answer him. He moved in front of her so she couldn’t leave. ‘You’ve still got a job in London, if you want it.’
    ‘As what? Your part-time mistress?’ she said in the same clipped and professional voice.
    Nothing quite so permanent
, he thought as his appetite sharpened. ‘You could continue your training course.’
    ‘Thanks for the offer.’
    ‘And?’ he prompted.
    ‘And nothing.’
    The lift of her brow said Emma believed he belonged to that group of gilded individuals who only had to look a certain way for a woman to fall at their feet. And she wasn’t one of them. She had carefully turned her face away from his naked chest. He hadn’t thought about it until now. He had slipped on a shirt and jeans for the sake of decency after his shower, not wanting to slob around in a robe, and only noticed now that the shirt wasn’t fastened.
    ‘Luc, I need to talk to you—’
    ‘And I to you,’ he assured her, but they were interrupted by a second knock on the door. ‘Breakfast. Hot coffee, freshly baked rolls. How can you resist?’
    Easily, her look told him. Emma could resist the coffee and him.
    She stood aside as he opened the door to let the waiter in, giving him all the chance he needed to admire her resolute profile: the firm mouth he loved to kiss, and the neat nose that made him smile when it wrinkled. Her expression right now was fixed in disapproval. How he’d love to soften that. He cleared the table for the waiter instead.
    ‘Join me?’
    ‘I beg your pardon?’ she said.
    He loved the way she drew herself up. She still had to tilt her chin at an acute angle in order to meet his stare. ‘Join me for breakfast—coffee at least,’ he pressed as the waiter set out breakfast on his dining table.
    ‘Sorry, sir. I can’t do that,’ Emma told him firmly.
    He could just imagine the rumours flying around the kitchen after this. He should be more considerate and think about her reputation, but this was the woman who had clung to him and wrapped her naked limbs around him as she’d begged him for more. Why was she acting so cool now? He stopped her at the door with a hand on her shoulder, and turning his back on the waiter he murmured, ‘Why don’t you lighten up?’
    ‘I’m not expected to lighten up,’ she replied, matching his discretion. ‘This is my job. I’m working.’
    ‘So being pleasant to guests isn’t part of your job description?’
    ‘There are limits,’ she said, glancing over his shoulder at the waiter.
    ‘If you didn’t work here, would you join me for coffee?’
    ‘If I didn’t work here, I wouldn’t be in your room.’
    She turned and seized hold of the doorhandle—so tightly her knuckles turned white. ‘If you will excuse me?’
    ‘Allow me,’ he said.
    There was a rapid transfer of hands as Emma whipped hers away before he could touch her. The waiter was ready to leave, and they both stood back to let him go. He tipped the man a fistful of coins. Once he was out of earshot he turned back to Emma. ‘Are you sure you won’t join me?’
    ‘Completely sure,’ she said firmly. ‘May I go now,