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Everything about her turned hihty pouts, the way she tossed her hair over her shoulders like a flighty filly tossed its ly, set-me-I-know-you-want-to steadiness as if she could sense his lust for her lurking, thickening him beneath his clothes

James muttered an expletive and turned away froht and he hadn’t eaten He would kill for a glass of red wine but bringing alcohol into a situation like this was asking for the sort of trouble he could do without right now Falling into Aiesha’s honey trap was exactly what she expected hihts on did She collected men like trophies, the richer and more powerful the better He was just another prize to tick off her list One she had wanted a long time It was her unfinished business—the seduction of the son and heir to complete her set—the father and now the son He would be discarded like yesterday’s news as soon as she proved what she wanted to prove

James could only hope the fervid interest in their relationship would die away once soed by the press It brought back the cringeworthy memories of the days after Aiesha had sold her story The cameras had been set up outside his parents’ London ho at hoe of attention He was set upon at his apart Hill Every day microphones were thrust in his face as he left for work, asking him for comments on his father’s behaviour They followed hi work hours The intrusion was so bad at one point that one of his most important clients had taken his business to a rival firm

It had taken hiood clientele and now Aiesha was back and up to her usual mischief

Ja the rounds of turning off the lights downstairs He cahtly ajar, thea soft V-shaped beam across the floor of the hall

He pushed the door open to find the coffee table in front of the sofa littered with the relass, a side plate with cheese fragments and a browned apple core on it, a scrunched-up paper napkin, an eurt container and a sticky teaspoon, a trail of cru about the place like the lady of theeveryone else to pick up after her He wasn’t running a hotel, for God’s sake Who did she think she was, leaving hisroom in such a state?

His gaze went to the sofa and foundSleeping Beauty

That was exactly what Aiesha looked like She was lying on her side facing the fire that had burned do in the grate, her cheek resting on one of the velvet scatter cushions, her ars curled up like a child’s Her hair was tousled and loose about her shoulders, one curly tendril lying like an S on her cheek In sleep she looked innocent and vulnerable, far younger than twenty-five

The eight years difference in their ages suddenly felt like a century Make that an entire geological period

Should he wake her?

No!

Ja that going again The roo with the rest of the house, was centrally heated but set on a tiht chill in the air as the ormolu clock on the mantelpiece ticked its way to 1:00 am

His gaze went to thechair Should he or shouldn’t he? He debated with himself for another thirty seconds as he watched her sleep Her chest rose and fell, her soft h Her eyelids with their spider-leg-long lashes fluttered and her forehead puckered as if so about had disturbed her But after a moment or two her forehead smoothed out and she burrowed deeper into the sofa cushions like a dor up for winter

Ja across the carpet like a burglar to get the throw rug— his eyes at the ridiculousness of his caution—and brought it back to gently cover her with it

It was as if he had dropped a plank of timber on her

She suddenly leapt off the sofa and struck out with her fists, catching hi blow that made stars explode behind his eyes

Ja backwards, cupped his hand over his throbbing nose, the blood dripping through his fingers to the carpet at his feet Pain pulsed in sickening waves through his face, his skull and his stoainst the dizziness as a school of silverfish floated before his gaze