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I do appreciate that, Ryan,’ Cynthia said through slightly pursed lips. ‘But Laura has the bad habit of opening her mouth before her brain is in gear.’

      ‘She can be a bit impulsive,’ he said, tightening his arm again around her shoulders. ‘But she always has people’s best interests at heart. Especially her gran’s.’

      ‘I suppose so. But, as I said, Jane won’t find out unless you tell her. Of course, if you’d prefer to have separate rooms, then …’

      ‘Absolutely not!’ Ryan broke in forcefully. ‘I’ve been dying to get Laura away for a romantic weekend together. And, let’s face it, that bed has romance written all over it.’

      Laura might have enjoyed the flash of envy on her aunt’s face if she hadn’t been in a state of complete panic. Her worst fear had come about, that of having to share a bed with Ryan. It was bad enough having to stand where she was with his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders, but at least they were dressed, and there was someone else in the room. How would she be able to cope lying side by side whilst wearing next to nothing with no one else in the room to stop … To stop what, exactly?

      Laura knew full well that Ryan would never force himself on her. So what was she afraid of?

      Herself again, of course. That self which even now was trembling inside at his touch.

      ‘Now, my dears, I really must go downstairs and tell Jane you’ve arrived,’ her aunt said brightly. ‘I thought since it’s such a nice day we could have afternoon tea together out on the back verandah. Could you join us there in, say, fifteen minutes?’

      ‘No trouble,’ Ryan said when Laura remained silent. ‘See you shortly.’

      The moment Cynthia closed the door after her, Laura twisted out of his hold. ‘That woman is just so impossible!’ she exclaimed heatedly. ‘Fancy just presuming we’d want to share a room.’

      ‘It’s perfectly logical that we would,’ Ryan said. ‘It’s not as though we’re teenagers, Laura. We’re an adult couple, having an adult relationship. Of course we’d be sleeping together.’

      ‘But we aren’t, damn it! And now we’ll have to—actually sleep together, that is. I mean, just look around you. There’s nowhere else to sleep in here except on the floor.’

      ‘Well you can count me out on that one,’ Ryan said, marching over to lift his bag up and carry it over to the bed, where he dumped it down on top of the richly embroidered red-velvet quilt. ‘I’m not sleeping on any wooden floor. Look, this is a very big bed. You can put some pillows down the middle if you like. That should stop me from accidentally brushing up against your very desirable female body and ravaging you on the spot. Which is exactly what you’re thinking, isn’t it? That I might not be able to control myself.’

      Laura just stared at him for a long moment, before dropping her eyes and shaking her head irritably. ‘That’s not what I was thinking at all.’

      ‘Really? What were you thinking, then? And don’t say nothing. You are never thinking nothing, Laura.’

      She turned and walked over to collect her own bag, wheeling it across the room before hoisting it up onto the bed on the opposite side to where he was.

      Her eyes, when they finally lifted to meet his, were decidedly mutinous. ‘I don’t have to tell you what I’m thinking. And I don’t have to sleep in the same bed as you. I’ll sleep on the damned floor if I have to.’

      Ryan scowled at her. She was one seriously irritating woman! ‘Be my guest,’ he said. ‘Just try to do it quietly. I don’t want to be kept awake with your moaning and groaning.’

      ‘I don’t ever moan and groan,’ she snapped.

      Ryan gave her a droll look. ‘Now that I can believe.’

      ‘Very funny,’ she bit out.

      ‘Actually, I’m not finding any of this at all funny,’ he shot back. ‘To be perfectly honest, I wish to God I’d never made this ridiculous offer in the first place. I must have had rocks in my head if I thought I could bring off pretending to be your Mr Right.’

      The moment the words were out of his mouth, Ryan regretted them. Not that she didn’t deserve some criticism—she wasn’t making his job easy—but he hated seeing the crestfallen expression on her face. Hated having hurt her like that.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ he said straight away. ‘That was uncalled for.’

      ‘No no,’ she said, shaking her head unhappily. ‘You had every right to say what you did. The way I’m acting … It’s silly and, well, it’s just plain silly.’

      ‘Then you won’t be sleeping on the floor?’

      ‘No,’ she said, her chin lifting in an oddly defiant gesture as though it was a big deal, agreeing to share the bed with him.

      ‘Good. Now I have a very important question to ask you before we go downstairs for afternoon tea.’

      ‘What?’ she replied, looking worried again.

      ‘Where’s the bathroom?’

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      LAURA showed him the door which led into an absolutely huge bathroom, the like of which would never have been seen in a modern house. There was a claw-footed bath sitting against the far wall of the black-and-white-tiled room, a brass-framed shower stall in a corner to its right, a toilet behind the door and a large marble-topped vanity table which had an equally large mirror on the wall above it.

      ‘Wow!’ Ryan said. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen a bathroom quite like this one before.’

      ‘It is rather old-fashioned,’ Laura said.

      ‘Maybe, but I like it.’

      ‘That other door there—’ Laura pointed out before she left ‘—opens out onto the main hallway, so don’t forget to throw the lock or you might have an unwanted visitor.’ Though she couldn’t imagine who. Uncle Bill and Aunt Cynthia would be the only others sleeping upstairs tonight, and the master bedroom was at the other end of the hallway, complete with its own private bathroom.

      ‘Fine,’ Ryan said and Laura left him to it, relieved when he closed the door and left her alone in the bedroom. It would be good to be away from his disturbing presence, even for a short while, give her the chance to calm the butterflies in her stomach and to find some much-needed composure.

      Unpacking her bag, however, didn’t help much, especially when confronted by the pink satin nightie she’d brought with her. Whilst not overly provocative, it was still rather low-cut, with spaghetti-thin straps. At least she’d had the foresight to pack the matching robe, though she could hardly wear that to bed, could she?

      Her stomach contracted at the thought of how she would feel, sleeping next to Ryan tonight. She wouldn’t be getting much sleep, that was for sure.

      He emerged from the bathroom and she took the opportunity to escape.

      ‘I won’t be long,’ she said, snatching up her toilet bag and dashing past him.

      Ryan shook his head at her body language. He wondered what he could say or do to calm her down. It wasn’t afternoon tea that she needed, he decided as he hung up his suit and unpacked the rest of his things, but a good, stiff drink. Either that or …

      Ryan chuckled with dry amusement. It would be a bit difficult to relax Laura with some sex if just the thought of sharing a bed platonically with him horrified the life out of her. Which it obviously did.

      The idea that she might not trust him to keep his hands off irked Ryan a little. What had he ever done to her? Okay, so he probably had a reputation around Sydney as a bit of womaniser.

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