Katy Carter Wants a Hero Read Online Free Page B

patient and not rise when he’s narky, which is easier said than done. I’m biting my tongue so much lately I’m starting to worry the Ed Psych will add me to the school’s list of selfharmers…
    So I can’t let James down with this dinner party. He’s been so stressed about money lately, what with the wedding to pay for, his mother always on the scrounge and his share portfolio worthless. Apparently Iceland isn’t just somewhere Kerry Katona goes shopping; it’s also where James put his last bonus, which even I know isn’t good news. Since I scrape by on a teacher’s wage and make church mice look rich, I’m not much help to our joint finances, so James
has
to get this promotion. He’s adamant that everything depends on it.
    I
have
to get this dinner party right.
    No pressure there, then.
    Just as well I’m in the pub. I seriously need a drink just thinking about tomorrow.
    Ollie returns, this time with a bottle of wine, and fixes me with a steely glare.
    ‘OK. I’ll do it. But,’ he adds swiftly before I can fling myself at his feet in an ecstasy of relief and gratitude, ‘on one condition.’
    ‘Anything!’
    ‘I’m allowed to come too with a guest. If I’m spending all sodding day cooking, I’m bloody well going to get to eat something.’
    I pause for a minute. What will James think about this? He’s not Ollie’s greatest fan, but on the other hand Ollie is clever and would be a brilliant conversationalist. What he doesn’t know about eighteenth-century literature isn’t worth knowing. I must make a mental note not to get him started on
Fanny Hill
, though. That really would go down like cold sick with a stuffy gathering of merchant bankers.
    ‘Who’s the guest?’ I ask suspiciously. ‘Not Nina?’
    ‘Chill out. She’s working. I’ll get my thinking cap on. We need somebody entertaining and fun to get the evening up and running.’
    Although, as I think I might have mentioned, I don’t find Ollie attractive, it seems that the rest of the female population does, and he’s never short of dates. Most of them, although stunning, have slightly lower IQs than a lettuce and aren’t going to pose much of a threat to James’s dinner guests. Julius Millward is an old goat, and adding a pretty girl to the equation can only improve things.
    This dinner party is so going to be a success!
    I beam at Ollie. ‘Bring whoever you want!’
    ‘Cool,’ Ollie says. ‘Now, get that wine down your neck and listen up. We’ve got a menu to plan.’
     
Chapter Three
     
    The silken blindfold whispered deliciously against Millandra’s eyelids. Although she couldn’t see anything, she could smell the heady scent of honeysuckle, and the springy moss beneath her small feet hinted that she was outside. A breeze kissed her cheeks and lifted tendrils of hair from her face. Jake’s hand, pressed into the small of her back, guided her through the maze of trees.
    ‘Now, my lady,’ he said, as they came to a halt. ‘Do you trust me?’
    There were a thousand and one reasons why she shouldn’t trust him, Millandra knew. Jake Delaware was the most wanted felon in England, a notorious highwayman who terrorised the King’s Highway and who was quicker than lightning with rapier and blunderbuss. A gentlewoman should know better than to venture into the forest alone with such a character. But his gentle kisses and the knowing touch of his hands had overcome all other sensibilities.
    ‘I trust you,’ she breathed.
    With a swift motion the blindfold was pulled from her eyes to drift down to the mossy floor.
    ‘Oh!’ gasped Millandra in amazement.
    Spread before her astonished gaze was a feast fit for a princess. Laid out upon a sumptuous velvet cloak strewn with wildflowers was a fare of delicate pastries, strawberries and summer fruits, quails’ eggs and champagne. Deep in a shady forest glade, dappled with dancing sunbeams, it was the most romantic sight she had ever encountered.
    ‘I promised that I would