MacAllister's Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

his fantasy. She wore a chocolate-brown top, loose crème-caramel linen trousers, and dangly turquoise earrings. Her hair fell straight down over her shoulders. Her eyes, the same colour as her jumper, regarded him with wariness.
    He stood and held out his hand. ‘Elisabeth, I’m glad to see you again.’
    For the second before she shook his hand he anticipated the pleasure of touching her, and then his hand was wrapped around hers again. Her skin was smooth, soft, her grip strong. She wore a chunky silver moonstone ring. The tips of her fingers were cold, but her palm was warm. He wondered if she was like her hand: cold on the outside, warm and welcoming and passionate on the inside.
    ‘Mr MacAllister. Thank you for meeting me.’ She withdrew her hand, and though he searched for the awareness he’d seen in her eyes the last time they’d touched, she was hiding it better now.
    ‘Call me Angus.’ He reached round the tiny table and pulled her chair out for her. ‘What would you like to drink?’
    ‘Oh.’ Her smooth forehead creased slightly as she thought about it. ‘Just a filter coffee, please, with skim milk if they’ve got it.’ She sat down.
    If she had to think about an order like that, it was because it wasn’t what she really wanted.
    ‘Luciano,’ Angus called to the old man behind the bar, ‘ un cappuccino, per favore. So,’ he said, sitting down across from Elisabeth, ‘I didn’t bring MacNugget with me today. What do you think we should talk about?’
    Her forehead creased more. ‘Thank you, but I didn’t want a cappuccino.’
    ‘Coming to Luciano’s and ordering filter coffee is like going to the Louvre and asking for a comic book,’ Angus said. ‘A comic book is fine, but you’re missing the Mona Lisa. Trust me. You want a cappuccino.’
    She stood. ‘I’ll just change my order. Excuse me.’
    As she passed him Angus stood and touched her arm. This time, he heard her sharp intake of breath and knew that she was as affected as he was by the contact.
    ‘Elisabeth,’ he said, keeping his voice low, feeling how close she was, ‘Luciano makes espresso that tastes like velvet and feels like a freight train. For a cappuccino, he adds hot frothy milk and tops it with chocolate that tastes like a sweet, gentle kiss.’
    She was frozen to the spot, her eyes as dark and rich as the espresso he’d been talking of. Their pupils were wide.
    She smelled of caramel and oranges. Her lips would taste better than any cappuccino. It was only the two of them in the crowded café. Her body was graceful and still, mere inches from his, her face tilted up towards him.
    Angus couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this. Just the feeling of her arm, the scent and warmth of her and the word ‘kiss’ in his mouth, and his blood was pounding, his groin tightening. It wasn’t difficult to turn Angus on. But so quickly, with barely a touch…
    Absolutely brilliant.
    ‘Come on, Elisabeth,’ he murmured. ‘Trust me.’
    And just like that the spell was broken. She blinked and pulled her arm out of his grasp. ‘Excuse me,’ she said again, her voice a tiny bit breathy, so slight he would have missed it if he hadn’t been listening for it.
    Angus watched her walk to the counter. Her posture was straight, her hips swaying slightly as she moved.
    The woman was stubborn and she had wonderful self-control. Her will was probably as iron-strong as his.
    He liked her a lot.
    Of course, she didn’t seem to like him.
    But Angus wasn’t worried about that. He was good at making people like him. It was a skill you picked up fast when you were abandoned at boarding-school at six years old.
    He’d perfected the skill in every wretched expensive boarding-school he’d been sent to for the next ten years, every busy exciting kitchen he’d worked in after that. Work hard at what you’re good at, and make people like you. It was the only way to survive.
    She came back with a filter coffee and a cappuccino,