Someone Irresistible Read Online Free PDF Page A

swiftly, his legs brushing her skirt, his large bearing filling the space between them so that she had to lean her head back and look up to see him. He immediately turned and began to walk slowly around the settee, away from her, the fingers of one hand rubbing his cleanshaven jaw.
    “I’m sure you’ll recall the night of the Exhibition opening,” he started, voice bland.
    Mimi was certainly glad he wasn’t looking at her because she simply had to be blushing now. “Of course—vaguely.”
    He gave something of a sarcastic snort, then glanced at her askance.
    “Vaguely? Don’t you remember kissing me, Mimi? I most certainly remember kissing you.”
    How could she ever forget? “As I said, vaguely. It was a very exciting time and much was going on around us.”
    Snickering, he added, “I’m sure you remember luring me outside.”
    Her forehead creased as her mouth dropped open. “Luring you? I didn’t lure you anywhere. It was you who asked me if I’d like to walk outdoors.”
    “Ahh. So you do remember spending time with me that evening,” he drawled.
    “Spending time with you?” She swept her arm across the room in amazement. “I remember your arrogance, your elusiveness, and, in a moment of distraction, my begging you to think about me—”
    “Begging?”
    “—Which you obviously didn’t do. I wrote you three times, Nathan, and never got a response. I was truly sorry about what happened to you, but if you’re looking for sympathy now, you’ve come calling two years too late.”
    She’d lost her composure at last and he knew it. He faced her fully again, stretching over the settee opposite her, his palms resting casually on its back. “I like you better this way, full of passion and fire. The calm widow pose doesn’t suit you.”
    That completely undid her. She stood to meet him squarely. “I’m rather busy today. It was nice of you to call, Professor Price.”
    “Let’s get back to the request I have of you,” he directed with utter confidence, completely ignoring her dismissal. His smile deepened, his
    eyes took on a reckless cast as they probed hers. “I would like you to sculpt a jawbone for me, and I’ll need it by December. I’ll give you notes, sketch it, and pay you reasonably for your labor.” He leaned over the settee back to add pointedly, “I know you’ve been sculpting for Sir Harold for at least two years, and that he didn’t sculpt a single reptile that now sits within Owen’s Zoological Garden. I’m certain you can do this for me, Mimi.”
    That acknowledgment thoroughly shocked and appalled her. He was blackmailing her without saying so and they both knew it. She had never known Nathan Price to be anything but a gentleman, but he had hardened since his downfall. He was cynical now, shrewd, and she didn’t like the change at all. But she absolutely could not allow him to announce to the world that she’d been doing her father’s work for years.
    Sir Harold’s reputation had to be maintained at all costs. The Nathan Price she had known before his disastrous ruin at the Crystal Palace was not the man in front of her now. This man was older, more sure of himself, more calculating. Ruthless.
    “The jawbone of what?” she finally asked, her tone spilling over with resentment and anger. She didn’t want to appear to be giving in easily, without a fight. And she was deathly afraid she already knew the answer.
    He thought about that for a moment, his expression harsh. Then he shoved his hands into his coat pockets and began to pace behind the settee, staring at the lavender carpet at his feet.
    “The opening night of the Exhibition I was humiliated, Mimi,” he began, subdued. “At eight o’clock in the evening I was an admired, respected paleontologist; at five minutes past eight I was the Palace jester. Early that afternoon I had personally transported a perfect, one-of-a-kind Megalosaurus jawbone to the Crystal Palace for the world to see; not six hours later it