In McGillivray's Bed Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked at Syd. “Of course,” she said, slotting Syd into that role. “I didn’t realize you were bringing a client back with you.” She gave Syd a polite smile, then turned back to Hugh. “I made conch chowder this evening. I figured I’d bring it over when you got back.”
    He shook his head. “Thanks, Lisa. I appreciate the thought. But we’re fine.”
    Lisa’s smile faltered as he had hoped it would. “We?” Perplexed, she looked from Hugh to the woman standing beside him, the woman whose wrist he had a death grip on.
    â€œWe,” Hugh confirmed. He let go of her wrist long enough to loop an arm over her shoulders. “This is Syd—” he began, but Sydney cut him off before he got to her last name.
    â€œI’m very pleased to meet you,” she said smoothly and offered Lisa a hand.
    Lisa looked at it warily, but finally shook it, giving the quilt—and the bits of bare Sydney she could see—an assessing look. “You, too, um, Syd,” she said doubtfully even as she managed to paste the smile back on. “I’m Lisa. Are you staying at the Mirabelle? Or the Moonstone?”
    â€œNo,” Hugh said before Sydney St. John could say anything at all. “She’s staying with me.”
    If she was astonished at his sudden about-face, at least Syd didn’t say a word. It was what she wanted, after all. She’d practically begged him to let her stay with him, hadn’t she?
    So he was doing them both a favor.
    Roland Wheeler Dealer would get a few days of worrying about whether he’d drowned the boss’s daughter, and Hugh would have a beautiful sexy woman living in his house.
    If that didn’t convince Lisa once and for all that he was not interested in her, he didn’t know what would.
    Yes, of course Sydney St. John was a little bit whacko and more than a little bit gorgeous. And yes, all his hormones had sat up and taken note.
    So what? He could handle it.
    It was one night. Maybe two. At the most, three.
    How bad could it possibly be?

CHAPTER TWO
    â€œD ON’T go using me to make your girlfriend jealous!” Syd protested as McGillivray, his arm still wrapping her shoulders like a vise, hustled her down the dock toward the quay. Over her shoulder she could see Lisa staring after them, lower lip trembling.
    â€œShe’s not my girlfriend!”
    â€œThen why is she cooking you conch chowder and meeting your boat?”
    â€œBecause she wants to be my girlfriend,” McGillivray said through gritted teeth, sounding beleaguered as he dragged her along.
    She clutched at the quilt, nearly tripping, as she hurried to keep up. “Really? Your girlfriend? Why? She looks far too sensible to me!”
    â€œI wish,” McGillivray muttered. “And God knows why,” he added. “I sure don’t.”
    They reached a rusty, topless Jeep parked at the foot of the dock, and he tossed his gear into the back, then jerked open the door for her. “Come on. Get in. We don’t have all day.”
    â€œOh?” It was interesting to see how the girl, Lisa, had spooked McGillivray. He didn’t look the sort to be afraid of women. Tucking the quilt up, Syd climbed into the Jeep. “What’s the problem, then? Does she want to save you from yourself?”
    He barely let her get her feet in before he banged the door shut behind her. “That’s what my sister says.” Hegave a short sharp whistle and slapped the wheel. “Come on, Belle! Move it.”
    Belle took a leap and landed in the back, on top of McGillivray’s bag, some pots and pans, a few unidentified tools, a couple of grease-streaked T-shirts and some paper bags that looked as if they had once contained take-out meals. K-rations, Syd thought. And they’d probably been there since World War II. General Patton would have been right at home. “What a mess.”
    Her opinion of his Jeep and