The Pleasures of Summer Read Online Free PDF Page A

accidentally.’
    ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t,’ he agreed evenly. ‘No conditions. No allergies.’
    Summer stepped into the hallway. ‘Pity,’ she murmured under her breath.

    Flynn watched with appreciation as Summer left the study. That was a backside worth his attention: firm, rounded and enticing. Mind you, the entire package was a temptation. The sweet-girl-next-door look was such a contrast to the siren on the stairs when he arrived that he wondered who the real Summer was.
    He turned back to O’Sullivan. ‘If you’re happy, I’ll move in right away and start work.’ When sending the holdall of essentials he hadn’t had time to pick up, his brother David could also send enough smart clothes that he could pass muster while he was here. This was a civilized house; he should dress to fit in. And it had nothing at all to do with wanting to correct Summer’s first impression of him. Nothing at all.
    An hour later, he was clean and starving. A bell rang, announcing that dinner was served. Flynn wondered what he could expect. If the food was prepared by Summer’s fair hands, he had no doubt that it would contain a generous helping of arsenic. But where were the odds that little Miss Sunshine knew her way around a kitchen? Pretty low, he’d bet.
    He followed his nose down a long corridor lined with double doors and with a huge picture window at the end which looked out over the park. The cost of a house like this, in one of the best parts of London, made him whistle. This was a family with serious money.
    The walls of the dining room had portraits of eighteenthand nineteenth century people that Flynn was willing to bet were no relation to the O’Sullivans. Summer and her father were already sitting at the antique mahogany table. Flynn sat down at the third place. It was remarkably formal for a family dinner. Flynn wondered what Summer was up to.
    Nothing, it appeared. She was politeness itself, urging him to sit down and make himself comfortable. The meal would be served as soon as he was settled.
    She had dressed for dinner, wearing a sophisticated black dress that left her neck and arms bare apart from the diamond bracelet that circled her right wrist. Her hair had been swept up into an elegant style that revealed her delicate neck.
    Flynn stifled the urges the sight of that vulnerable neck raised in him. This wasn’t the time or the place. Summer wasn’t the girl and her father was watching them both.
Down boy
, he ordered his unruly libido. Still, the stirring was welcome. After that last round of surgery, he had been on so many meds that he worried about chemical castration.
    ‘Oh, did I forget to mention? We dress for dinner,’ Summer told him with a charming smile.
    He smiled back, refusing to let her get to him. ‘I am dressed. If you prefer, I can go naked.’ He started to undo the buttons of his shirt.
    ‘Stop!’
    Tim sniggered at Summer’s instinctive reaction. But Flynn thought there had been a flicker of interest in her eyes. David had sent on his all-purpose holdall. He supposed he could have dug out something formal for dinner,but he was willing to bet that the whole ‘dressing for dinner’ thing was one more attempt by Summer to make him uncomfortable. He had a brief vision of how he would like to make her uncomfortable. Ass-up over his knee.
Down boy
, he told his libido. That was never going to happen.
    Summer recovered herself. ‘You can wear whatever you like.’ She picked up her napkin and touched it to her mouth.
    The meal was served. They started with consommé served with tiny pieces of Melba toast. It was beautifully flavoured and Flynn could have drunk three bowls of it. Summer ate it in tiny spoonfuls while chatting away about the weather, the picture of the perfect hostess.
    The next course was a herb soufflé, light and airy and insubstantial. It was followed by a green salad with slivers of almonds and toasted pine nuts. Tim poked it with his fork. ‘What the hell is