More Than Just One Night (The Selwood Sisters Novellas) Read Online Free Page A

Some of them were probably important, but she couldn’t
force herself to pick them up and deal with them. She was having dinner with
Alex tonight, and there didn’t seem to be capacity in her brain for any other
thought right now.

Chapter 4  
     
    Before Cora entered the Clarendon, she tugged
at the stretchy fabric of her black dress, attempting to stop it clinging to
every inch of her body, wishing she’d worn a different outfit. Jeans, maybe, with
a baggy t-shirt. Anything but this dress. She hadn’t intended to change at all;
she’d meant to work until twenty minutes before the seven o’clock date, and make
do with a quick freshen up in the office bathroom before driving the short
distance to the hotel. Instead, she’d dashed home after her final meeting for
the day, showered, shaved her legs for heaven’s sake, and spent a good
thirty minutes trying to make the momentous choice between two black dresses.
    She was not this woman. She didn’t do this sort of thing.
    And after all the effort, she’d chosen a
wraparound cotton jersey dress that was a fraction too tight, a fraction too
short, and a more than a little out of character for her. She shook her head
before pushing at the heavy door.
    Alex was waiting in the lounge bar. Rather
than going right over to him she took a moment to wonder what on earth a man
like him wanted with a woman like her. She could only see his profile, and yet
he exuded masculinity. How was that even possible? His dark hair was short and
neat. Lawyer-like. Nothing out of the ordinary. But there was nothing at all
ordinary about her reaction to him. It disoriented her.
    She grimaced, and gave her head a little
shake. In the same moment he spun around on his barstool, a welcoming smile on
his face. He was at her side before she’d even straightened her expression.
    “Hi. I wasn’t completely convinced that you’d
turn up.”
    “How did you know I was here?”
    He raised his eyebrows. “Sorry?”
    “Did you sense me looking at you?”
    “Sense you…?” His confusion cleared, and he
laughed. “No. There’s a mirror behind the bar,” he said, pointing.
    “Oh.” She looked at the mirrored wall of
shelves. Well, of course there was, and now she sounded like an idiot. Sensed her. Gah!
    “Let’s go straight through, shall we? I’m
starving.” He pointed the way to the table with one hand, and touched the small
of her back with the other. As soon as he made contact, she knew she should
have worn a suit. With a thick cardigan underneath it. Layers of clothing would
have been a very good idea. Layers and layers. But she gritted her teeth and
walked into the restaurant as if his touch wasn’t causing her insides to tie
themselves into pretzels.
    Once they were settled at a table and had
ordered their meals and drinks, he said, “You look beautiful. That’s a very nice
dress.”
    She took a sip of water from her glass, and
shook her head. “Thank you, but you don’t need to humour me, you know.”
    “What?” He gave her a puzzled look.
    “Don’t overdo it. I can believe that I look well
turned-out, or good for my age, maybe. That’s as much as I can expect.”
    “Is that so?”
    She nodded. “It’s okay, I don’t have a
problem with that, but it does make me wonder about you.”
    “Whether I have impaired vision?”
    “Do you?”
    He laughed. “No, I don’t. I can see you
perfectly.”
    “Hmm, well that wasn’t what I meant anyway. You
could be having dinner with someone your own age, someone who really is
beautiful. So, what is it with you? Why are you so desperate?”
    “I’m not desperate.” He took a long drink of
water, then put down his glass and met her eyes. “I can find a woman to have
dinner with if I want to.”
    Of course he could. One flash of his life-changing
smile at that Sydney hotel and she’d agreed to have dinner with him. How could
she possibly think that he didn’t have the same devastating effect on every
woman he met?
    “Finding a