Getting It Right This Time Read Online Free PDF

took a step toward her.
    Her hand immediately went up like a shield. “Go. Get out, Mark. Now.”
    His huge, wide and muscular six-feet-two-inch frame dwarfed the space around him. Kate always described the intimate reception area as light, airy and spacious but suddenly longed to brace her hands against the walls and push them farther apart until she didn’t feel as though Mark crowded so close to her.
    “I’m not leaving. Not until you at least agree to have lunch with me.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She sneaked a quick glance at Jo.
    Her assistant’s eyes were glued to a spot somewhere on Mark’s well-defined chest and she didn’t seem about to look away in shameful embarrassment. Kate could hardly blame the poor girl.
    Dressed in faded blue jeans and a jet-black t-shirt and jacket, the pure sexy sight of him severely knocked Kate’s aversion antenna off balance. As much as she tried not to, her gaze kept running up and down the entire length of his body.
    Frazzled, Kate edged back.
    Still smiling, he turned from Kate to Jo and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Mark. A friend of Kate’s.”

    Rachel Brimble
    17
    Jo giggled, her face flushing the color of a field of strawberries in summertime. “How…how do you do? Would like a cup of coffee, tea?”
    Kate rolled her eyes and stepped fully into the room, knowing it was imperative she eject Mark from the building before her assistant crumpled into an extremely undignified heap on the terracotta tiled floor. She brushed past him and opened the front door.
    “It’s okay, Jo. Mark won’t be staying. If you could go and check on Miss Kingston for me, I’ll see Mr. Johnston out.”
    “But…”
    “Now, Jo.”
    Ignoring Jo’s sigh of regret and lingering goodbye to Mark, Kate swung her arm toward the open door. “Goodbye, Mark.”
    But the minute Jo left the room, he strode toward her, grabbed the door and slammed it shut.
    “What the hell are you doing?” Kate demanded. “How dare you!”
    He stood barely inches away from her. So close she had to tilt her head to meet his angry, swirling, beautiful, bewitching gaze… and she blinked quickly as a rush of heat warmed her face.
    “Get out of my salon.”
    His gaze wandered languidly over her hair, her eyes, her lips. “Say you’ll come out for lunch with me in a couple of hours and I will. Let me apologize for my behavior last night.”
    She crossed her arms to hide the shaking. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because...”
    He abruptly turned away from her and circled the room. “How is it you can walk past a building a million times and never notice its existence?” he murmured. “I never knew this place was even for lease.”
    “It wasn’t. I bought it outright. I’m a rich widow, remember?”
    He stared at her for a long moment before lowering his huge frame into one of the chairs lining the wall opposite her. He leaned his forearms on his thighs, still silently watching her. Kate’s blood pulsed inside her head as she waited, refusing to be the first one to break. He sighed deeply as he dropped his chin to his chest and stared at a spot on the floor. Kate tensed. He’d come there looking for her. If he hadn’t been prepared to deal with the subject of James that was his own fault.
    “I need to talk to you, Kate,” he said quietly. “I need to talk about James.”
    “What about him?”
    He snapped his head up, his hazel eyes clouding. “He was my best friend.”
    A raw pain shot through her chest as though he’d stabbed her. “No, he wasn’t, Mark. Best friends talk to each other, see each other, support each other. You have no idea the sort of man he was before he died.”
    “What do you mean?”

    18
    Getting It Right This Time
    “He changed, Mark. Changed beyond recognition.” She swallowed. “And you should have been there to tell him so.”
    He frowned, his gaze boring questioningly into hers. “Didn’t you?” he asked softly.
    Kate’s heart picked up speed and