The Ice Seduction (Ice Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

just a little tender.’
    ‘It’ll be better by tomorrow. As lon g as you keep it cool.’ He puts the towel against my ankle, and I wince a little as I feel a cold sting. So that’s where the snow went – it’s bunched up inside the towel.
    As the coolness takes effect, I let out a low sigh.
    ‘You were lucky, ’ Patrick asks, his eyes fixed on mine. ‘You could have been in that corridor all night.’
    I feel like a little rabbit caught in a trap. A little, silly girly rabbit next to a big hulking wolf.
    ‘Yes,’ I squeak. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘ You shouldn’t be in this room,’ says Patrick, placing my leg down on the bed and looking around. ‘It’s as bare as my old army barracks.’
    ‘I take it that’s a bad thing ?’ I say.
    ‘Yes ,’ he says, without pausing. ‘A woman shouldn’t be staying in a room like this. I’ll tell Agnes to have you moved. I had no idea the nannies stayed up here.’ He slams the window closed and dusts his huge hands together.
    ‘It’s okay,’ I say. ‘At least it doesn’t have a train rattling p ast. I’ve had much worse bedrooms than this, believe me.’
    Patrick catches my eye.
    Oh god. My stomach flips over .
    He watches me with a fierceness that makes me suck in my breath.

15
    ‘Are you going to stay longer than the other nannies?’ he asks.
    I clear my throat. ‘That’s the plan. But Agnes said … I mean, Mrs Calder … she wasn’t sure if there actually was a job for me. She said you might not have ordered anyone new …’
    ‘ I won’t send you away. Especially not now I’ve met you. I can tell you’re different from the rest.’ He raises a strong, blond-brown eyebrow. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t move that leg.’
    He goes to the door.
    ‘I have great references,’ I blurt out. Oh god . I sound like an idiot, but I need this job. I’d crawl over coals to keep Wila in that school. ‘I mean to say,’ I stutter, ‘that I’ve always got on well with the families I work with. And I love kids. I’m sure this will all work out fine.’
    I reach down and unzip the bag by my bed, my hands shaking and fumbling. ‘Here.’ I hold out paper cards, and a whole bunch of drawings and calendars made by the children I’ve looked after. ‘These were made for me by my kids. They come with me everywhere. I keep every single thing because I love those children. And I’ll love your nephew too.’
    Patrick puts a large hand on the doorframe, and I swallow as I take in just how huge he is. His lips move into the tiniest of smiles.
    ‘ Don’t move that leg.’
    He pauses for a moment, letting me feel the burn of those bright blue -green eyes.
    I hold his gaze. I’m not going to let him know just how unsettled I feel around him. How his stare is getting to me.
    ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ With that, he slams the bedroom door shut, and I hear him stalking along the hallway.
    I sit on the bed, stunned for a moment.
    When I put the cards and pictures back in my bag, I see my hands are shaking.
    God damn it!
    Jesus Christ, he’s … oh my god. Raw and angry and wild … and I’m pretty sure completely caveman sexist too. And yet …
    I remember the dampness of his skin against my cheek, and find myself putting fingers to my face.
    Snap out of it Sera!
    I snatch my hand away and give my head a little shake.
    No stupid crush es on the boss. Especially not an angry boss who calls you ‘woman’.
    I pull back the grey blanket and climb under it, gingerly moving my leg and the cold towel into place.
    I’m still fully dressed, but I don’t care. There’s no way I’m taking my clothes off in this room – it’s freezing.
    As I close my eyes, a vision of Patrick, his hair wet from the snow, his bare chest rising and falling, hangs before my eyes.
    I shake it away and eventually fall asleep.

16
    Boom, boom, boom!
    What is that?
    I sit up in bed, my long red hair flying around my shoulders.
    It takes me a moment to reali ze where I am, and when I