His Convenient Mistress Read Online Free

since she had moved in. Now his presence filled it, making her edgy and defensive and for the first time turning her thoughts away from herself and the enormity of the mistake she had made.
    â€˜There was no need for you to make the coffee.’ Sara stepped through into the kitchen and he turned slowly in his chair until he was looking directly at her. Those eyes,she thought, a little confused. Midnight-blue and thickly fringed with black eyelashes. Seriously disconcerting eyes.
    â€˜No problem. It won’t be the first time I’ve made coffee in this kitchen.’
    â€˜You knew my uncle.’ She willed herself to get her legs together and moved towards the opposite end of the kitchen table, pouring herself some coffee from the percolator en route , and sat down, cradling the mug between both hands.
    â€˜Everyone knew Freddie.’ He gave her a long, measured look. Feeling out the land, he thought. How long had it been since he had last done that with a woman? Or anyone, for that matter? ‘He was something of a local character. As you might know…or do you?’ He raised his cup to his lips, sipped some of the coffee and regarded her over the rim of the cup.
    â€˜Is that why you came here, Mr Dalgleish? To try and pry into my life and find out what I’m doing here?’
    â€˜The name is James. And of course that’s why I came here.’ That, amongst other things, though those can wait for the moment, James thought. ‘So…what are you doing here?’
    Blunt to the point of rude, Sara thought, but rude to the point of getting whatever answers he wanted, because he put her in a position from which to evade his questions would have seemed like unnecessary shiftiness. And if she was to make a go of things here, unlikely though that seemed at this moment in time, then she would probably be meeting him again. To kick off by creating a bad atmosphere was not going to help either her or Simon.
    Still, something about the man addled her and made her want to skulk away behind her defences to a position of safety.
    â€˜I…’ She raised her green eyes to look steadily at him.‘Well, I inherited this house. If you must know, I never knew Uncle Fred. He and my father had a bit of a falling-out years ago, before I was born, and they never really patched things up. Anyway, moving up here…well, I thought that it…that it would be a good idea,’ she finished lamely.
    â€˜A good idea?’
    Sara felt her hackles rise. His tone did a good job of implying that any such good idea could loosely be translated as stupidity.
    â€˜And where have you come from?’ James asked without giving her time to expand. ‘South somewhere?’
    â€˜Everywhere is south of here,’ Sara informed him coldly.
    â€˜ Touché. I was actually referring to London.’
    â€˜I was living in London, yes.’
    â€˜With a child?’
    â€˜People do.’
    More puzzling by the minute, James thought, sipping some of the coffee, which had gone lukewarm. He allowed himself to savour the thought of unravelling Sara King, finding the chink that would give him the leverage he wanted that would enable him to persuade her to sell the Rectory to him. He would be fair, more than fair, he decided, but he would get what he wanted in the end. And, looking at her now with her red hair, that pale, flawless skin, those translucent green eyes that were doing their best to be guarded but could not help simmering with fire, he had a sudden, disconcerting feeling that he was going to enjoy his dealings with her.
    Physically, she was far removed from the type of women he tended to be attracted to. She was too tall, too slender, too pale. But there was still something about herthat carried the unexpected. Perhaps the hint of a sharp brain that did not conform to what was expected of it.
    â€˜Are you finished with your coffee?’ Sara asked, rising to her feet, one hand already