Wild and Willing! Read Online Free PDF Page A

deep into the pocket of his saturated jacket and gave her an uncompromising view of his broad back.
    He was probably embarrassed that she had been witness to the lapse in his fidelity. Perhaps I live a bit too close to him for comfort, she thought with disgust as they entered the kitchen.
    ‘The kitchen’s the only place that’s warm; I slept here last night.’ He nodded in the direction of a neatly foldedsleeping bag on a saggy old sofa and closed the door behind them. There were no fitted units in the high-ceilinged, stone-floored room, just an old pine table and an ancient Aga which was efficiently belting out the heat.
    Anna pushed back her hood with stiff, cold fingers. She touched her hair self-consciously, aware of the shifting expression in his brooding regard. She knew she must look like a skinned rabbit with her hair plastered to her skull. She was unaware of how well her fine bone structure and clear skin stood up to critical scrutiny.
    ‘I thought you were a boy.’
    ‘And you prefer to leap on boys? Your secret’s safe with me.’
    ‘Are you always so glib?’ he enquired harshly.
    She could hardly say, Only with you, could she? The man made her so bloody defensive she couldn’t seem to stop herself making facile remarks.
    ‘Thank you, I’m not hurt,’ she fired back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It wasn’t the only thing dripping; a pool of water was slowly spreading around her feet.
    Adam glared at her and shrugged off the waterproof he’d been wearing. Underneath he had no shirt on, just a pair of faded jeans. His bare feet were stuffed into a pair of trainers which would probably never be the same again after their immersion. Neither would she be after seeing his torso without having the opportunity to build any sort of defences, she reflected, trying unsuccessfully not to stare.
    The soberly suited consultant with the aloof air of mystery was about a million miles from this rawly masculine creature whose impressive muscles glided smoothly beneath his evenly tanned golden skin. The pulse in her neck felt as if it might explode as her eyes ran covetously over the flat tautness of his belly. There was nothing bulky about the clearly defined musculature;he was greyhound-lean and firm. She swallowed hard and dragged her eyes higher.
    His own were glittering fiercely with some indefinable emotion and her breathing grew more laboured. The fierce shrill of the kettle sitting on the hob broke the spell.
    ‘I was making a pot of tea,’ he recalled tersely, ‘when I saw this highly suspicious character casing the joint. What the hell were you doing if you weren’t—? Ouch!’ He winced as he picked up the kettle with his bare fingers, and when he swung around he caught her involuntary grin. ‘If you aren’t part of the gang that’s been plundering this place?’ He sucked his scalded thumb and glared at her as though she were responsible for that injury too.
    Physician heal thyself, she thought unsympathetically. ‘I was taking a short cut home.’ From broad shoulders his back tapered to lean hips that couldn’t fail to look spectacularly good in wet blue denim, or just about any fabric you could mention, she pondered distractedly.
    ‘Nice weather for it,’ he observed witheringly. ‘Do you always venture out fully armed? Could it be there’s something the estate agent didn’t tell me about this peaceful, rural oasis? Do armed gangs regularly patrol this vicinity? So far I’ve been ripped off before I’ve even moved in, and mugged.’
    ‘Mugged!’ she hooted. ‘Just a bit of a scratch,’ she concluded dismissively, flicking a glance at the raised welt along the side of his face.
    He gave an involuntary laugh. ‘You really are priceless! What the hell were you lugging around if it wasn’t the latest in house-breaking equipment?’
    ‘A placard,’ she said in a tone that implied anyone but the most ignorant would have realised that.
    ‘I might have known it; you’re one of