Wild About the Man (Mills & Boon Modern Tempted) Read Online Free Page A

moguls, but she’d out prima donna-ed them all.
    Nick glanced down at those long legs and thought that she could do with a couple of cheeseburgers. She was tall but too thin, her face held that pinched look that women got when they’d lived on a diet of lettuce and multi-vitamins for far too many years. He recognized the type. A lot of the trophy wives or girlfriends who glided in and out of the Lodge had the same look—sucked-in cheeks, stick-thin legs, silicone-enhanced breasts.
    He dropped his eyes to her chest. He’d bet hers were natural—small, round … He shifted in his seat. If he was getting horny thinking about this skinny wildcat then he definitely needed to get some action soon.
    Nick rubbed the back of his neck, saw the long, drooping branch of a thorn tree and spoke for the first time in ten minutes. ‘Mind the branch.’
    Naturally, she didn’t listen and a long thorncaught her shirt, ripped through the fabric and scratched her skin. She squealed, looked down at her arm and squealed again.
    Nick sent her a cursory glance and carried on driving. ‘Hell, woman, it’s just a scratch!’
    ‘There are drops of blood, it stings and this is a designer shirt! It’s torn!’
    ‘Call the fashion police; maybe they’ll care,’ Nick retorted. ‘Next time I say “mind the branch” I suggest you mind the branch.’
    ‘Aaargh! I hate this place and your stupid thorn trees and the heat and you!’ Clem yelled. Nick responded by deliberately hitting a bump in the dirt road and she bounced in the seat. He smiled.
    ‘And I hate this sodding seat with its stupid broken spring!’
    Nick saw the twin flags of anger in her cheeks and her wobbling chin and erred on the side of caution and didn’t respond. He didn’t want to get brained with the oversized bag that sat on her lap. It looked heavy. He swung the Land Rover onto the road to the Lodge, sparing a glance at the pair of giraffes nibbling on an acacia tree.
    ‘Evening, boys.’ He frequently spoke to the animals he came across and didn’t care if his guests thought he was nuts. He glanced across at Clem and noticed that she still had that thousand yard stare.
    ‘Giraffe to your left.’
    Clem didn’t respond and Nick shrugged. Hecaught the swish of a tail out of the corner of his eye, braked and reversed.
    She stood with her monstrous back to them, a tiny calf at her heels … A week, ten days old, Nick surmised, craning his head to see if he could identify the female elephant. But she kept her face stubbornly hidden and Nick eventually pulled off.
    ‘Her calf is very young; the rest of the nursery herd should be around here somewhere,’ Nick said as they climbed the last hill to the Lodge. Through the dusky, dusty air, he could see the blazing lights of the Lodge and the staff village beyond.
    Clem turned to look at him. ‘What are you talking about?’
    Nick frowned. ‘The elephant and her calf.’ She looked blank. ‘The one that was a couple of metres from you?’
    ‘I didn’t see it,’ Clem said tonelessly.
    Nick cursed, slammed on the brakes, put the car in neutral, reached across her lap and yanked open the door to the cubbyhole. Scratching around, his hand closed around the small torch and he flicked the switch. Grabbing Clem’s chin, he shone the light into her eyes.
    She slapped his hand away but Nick persevered. ‘What are you doing?’
    ‘Are you on drugs?’ Nick demanded. Her pupils looked normal but what did he know?
    Clem yanked the torch from his hand andthrew it onto the floor at her feet. ‘No, I’m not on drugs! Why would you think that?’
    ‘Because there was a four-ton elephant right next to you and you didn’t notice!’ Nick shouted.
    She turned to look behind her. ‘Oh. Where?’
    Nick muttered a curse and rested his forehead on his wrists, his hands gripping the wheel to keep them from encircling her neck. When the urge to throw her into the nearest bush passed, he put the Landy in gear and drove through the