His Christmas Acquisition Read Online Free PDF Page A

and pulled the door quietly closed behind her, taking care not to shut it completely.
    ‘How did you find out where I live?’ she hissed under her breath. Under the lamplight, his face was a contour of harsh shadows and his eyes glittered in the semi-darkness. He was still in his work clothes, the jeans, the faded sweater, the trainers and the coat, which she knew had cost the earth, but which he wore as casually as if he had got it from the local Oxfam shop.
    ‘Personnel files. It really wasn’t too difficult.’
    ‘Well, you have to go.’
    ‘You’re shaking like a leaf. It’s cold out here—let me in for a few minutes.’
    ‘No!’ She saw his eyebrows rise fractionally and added, stammering, ‘I mean, it’s late.’
    ‘It’s eight-forty-five.’
    ‘I’m busy.’
    ‘You’re on edge. Why? Tell me what’s going on.’ Ryan laughed. ‘You’re my indispensable secretary. I can’t have you storing up nasty secrets and then suddenly deciding to walk out on me, can I? What would I do without you?’
    ‘I … I’m obliged to give a month’s notice,’ Jamie stammered. Ryan Sheppard on her doorstep suddenly seemed to throw that all-important distance between them into confusion and she didn’t like it.
    ‘So you
are
thinking of leaving me. Well, it’s a damn good thing I turned up here to get the full story out of you, isn’t it? At least this way I can defend my corner.’ For some reason he felt disproportionately let down by the thought of her just dumping a letter of resignation on his desk without any forewarning and then jumping ship. ‘So, why don’t you invite me inside and we can discuss this like two adults? If it’s more money you’re after, then name the amount and it’s yours.’
    ‘This is crazy!’
    ‘I know. And I hate dealing with crazy.’ He reached out and pushed the door open just as Jessica’s petulant voice wafted from the direction of the kitchen, carolling to ask where Jamie was, because she really needed something to eat—and was there anywhere they could go for a halfway decent salad? She didn’t fancy being cooped up for the rest of the night.
    And then there she was, long and beautiful and blonde, and all the things that Ryan looked for in a woman, standingby the banister as Jamie turned around with a sigh of resignation. Stunningly pretty, stunningly fair-haired and dangerously bored with her husband.
    If Jamie could have reached out and pushed Ryan straight back out of the front door, then she would have done so, but he was already inside the tiny hall, removing his thick coat while his eyes never strayed from Jessica.
    ‘Well, well, well,’ he drawled in a lazy undertone. ‘What have we here …?’
    ‘My sister,’ Jamie muttered.
    The glitter in Jessica’s eyes mirrored his lazy speculation and Jamie felt a chill run down her spine.
    There was no need for her to make introductions. Not when her sister was sashaying forward, hand outstretched, introducing herself—with, Jamie noted, her left hand stuck firmly behind her back.
    ‘You never told me that you had a sister,’ Ryan said, turning his fabulous eyes to Jamie.
    Standing to one side like an uninvited spectator in her own house, Jamie’s voice was stiff when she answered, ‘I didn’t see the relevance. Jessica doesn’t live in London.’
    ‘Although, I might just be thinking of changing that.’
    Jamie’s head whipped round and she stared, horrified at her sister. ‘You can’t!’
    ‘Why not? I told you. I’m bored in Scotland. And, from what I see here, London certainly has a hell of a lot more to offer. Why did you never mention that you had such a dishy boss, Jamie? Did you think that I might dash down here and try to steal him from you?’
    Jamie held on to the banister, feeling faint, and Ryan, lounging only feet away from her, took the opportunity to gauge the electric atmosphere between the sisters. Arriving unannounced on his secretary’s doorstep had been a spontaneousdecision