Dark Blue: Study in Seduction, Book 1 Read Online Free PDF

shame I almost broke my bloody ankle too.”
    “You’re a doctor. You can fix it.”
    Rana grimaced and ran his palms down his sore calf. “Thanks for the sympathy.”
    Alex slapped him on the back. “It’s a pleasure. Want a drink?”
    “Yes. Then I’ll stagger home. My wife will think I’ve been kidnapped, and it was my turn to take the kids to karate. How far did we run?”
    “Fourteen point three kilometres, according to the GPS. Not bad. I’ll get us both some Gatorade before you pass out.”
     
     
    After Rana had left, refusing Alex’s offer of a lift, Alex headed for the en-suite. Running Carla out of his system hadn’t helped, so maybe washing her away would, but thinking of her in the shower was probably not the best idea. He ended up in there far longer than it should have taken to scrub the sweat from his body.
    Alex turned off the shower control and slid open the door of the cubicle. The tiles were cold under his feet as he reached for a towel from the rail and rubbed his hair. He ran the towel over his chest and backside, too impatient to dry off properly. Then, after dropping the towel on the tiles, he strode into his bedroom, still unsatisfied, still with a head full of Carla.
    After the party, he’d never thought he’d see her again.
    Now he wished he never had.
    He’d drawn the curtains before his shower. While he had no problem with walking about his own house naked, his neighbours in this sedate part of North Oxford probably would. He also had no wish to draw attention to his private life, even if a degree of notoriety in academic circles was necessary for the sake of his TV work and writing.
    If he admitted it—and he liked to be searingly honest with himself as well as his students—he enjoyed his austere reputation within college. It kept people safely at arm’s length. It also wasn’t wholly undeserved, he had to admit. He knew his manner could be changeable at best— il souffle le chaud et le froid , as Maman kept telling him—but he did rather cultivate the aura too.
    He wanted to push his students; they were supposed to be the brightest—the crème de la crème of the intellectual elite. They’d worked hard to get to Oxford, just like the scores of other young people to whom the college could not offer a place. So when they’d won their place, he was bloody well going to make them achieve their full potential.
    St Cuthbert’s not only had a reputation for being at the top of the college academic league tables but for offering places to students from a wide range of backgrounds.
    Like Carla.
    Alex hadn’t been able to interview her because of a family crisis. Instead, Dr. Bhide had stepped in, and she’d shared his openness to picking bright students with unconventional academic histories. Carla had managed to achieve brilliant A levels while working full time in her job. After so long out of high school, getting into the exam mindset must have been a huge challenge, and she more than deserved her place. He knew she was a widow, wondered how she had coped with that, and if it was why she’d wanted to study at St Cuthbert’s so much.
    However, Alex was determined not to patronise her by treating her with any less rigor than his other students. If that meant being seen as harsh on her, then so be it.
    Merde .
    He swore under his breath even though there was no one around to hear. He knew he was overcompensating. How could he treat Carla like any other student after their encounter at the party? She was one of the sexiest women he’d ever met, and delightfully unaware of it. In fact, he’d fancied her even more in her demure little dress and cardigan she’d worn to his tute than in her fetish outfit. It had driven him mad knowing that her studious exterior hid a pert bottom and lush breasts, not to mention something far more arousing. A hunger radiated from Carla Jonas, desires he was certain were as yet unfulfilled.
    He’d caught her quick glances at him when she