‘Don’t,’ he said, his voice tight with barely restrained need.
‘Why not?’
‘Because if this is going to go any further we need to go upstairs to my room and I won’t be able to walk.’
‘Why do we need to go upstairs?’ said Laura, not caring that she sounded desperate. ‘I don’t need a bed. I’m perfectly happy with a wall.’
‘And an unplanned pregnancy?’ Matt said, his eyes blazing down at her as he stepped back.
‘Oh.’ Laura bit her lip and tugged her dress down. An unplanned pregnancy was the last thing she needed. But still… ‘God, I wish I was irresponsible.’
‘So do I,’ he said, adjusting his clothing. ‘But luckily we don’t have to be, because upstairs I have condoms.’ Taking her hand, Matt marched her across the room, unlocked the door and flung it open.
And came face to face with Signore Capelli, who was standing there, his hand raised as if about to knock.
Laura’s heart banged in shock. And then lurched with something else when Matt dropped her hand as if it were a hot coal and sprang away from her. She glanced at him. Saw his face had turned to stone. Then she glanced at Signore Capelli who was decidedly not looking at her, and she felt herself grow beetroot at the thought of the damage Matt’s hands must have done to her h
air. What must he be thinking?
‘Yes?’ Matt growled.
‘I apologise for disturbing you, sir,’ said Signore Capelli, looking cool and unperturbed, as if he encountered this sort of situation all the time, ‘but you’re needed in the ballroom.’
Matt shoved his hands through his hair and bit out a sigh. Then he turned to Laura, his eyes blazing. ‘Stay here,’ he said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
But by the time Matt got back, Laura had gone.
CHAPTER NINE
LAURA was cursing Matt beneath her breath and punching the pillows on her bed when the hairs on the back of her neck sprang to attention and alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t alone. Her heart suddenly thundering, she whirled around and nearly swooned.
Matt stood in the doorway, his big body tight with tension and his eyes glittering. His bow tie hung loose around his neck and a couple of his shirt buttons were undone. He looked dishevelled, exhausted and utterly gorgeous.
‘I asked you to wait,’ he said roughly.
What did he have to sound annoyed about? Laura thought, her stomach churning with pique, frustration and disappointment. She was the one who’d been left hanging there. Waiting. Listening to the heavy tick-tock of the grandfather clock and going slowly insane. ‘Don’t you ever knock?’
‘No.’
‘You should. It’s rude.’
‘I asked you to wait. You left. I don’t think you should be lecturing me on rudeness.’ His eyes glittered. ‘What happened? Changed your mind?’
As if. She clutched a pillow to her stomach as if it might somehow provide some kind of defence against his potent magnetism. ‘I did wait,’ said Laura witheringly. ‘For over an hour.’
There was a brief silence. Then Matt frowned. ‘It wasn’t as long as that.’
‘Yes, it was.’ Obviously he’d been so caught up in whatever it was he’d been doing that he’d completely forgotten about her. Exactly as she’d suspected.
‘Oh,’ he muttered, rubbing his face. ‘I’m sorry, I got tied up.’
‘Evidently,’ she said waspishly, the hurt still stinging. ‘So what do you want?’
His gaze dropped to her chest, where she was pretty sure he’d be able to see the curve of her breasts beneath the fine silk of her negligee and she tossed the pillow onto the bed to cross her arms over her chest.
‘What do you think?’ he said, stepping into the room, his eyes darkening. ‘We have unfinished business.’
Her gaze dropped to below his belt and her mouth went dry at the impressive bulge behind the zip. Laura gave herself a quick shake, swallowed hard and lifted her chin. ‘No, we don’t.’ She arched an eyebrow. Gave him a smile. ‘At least I don’t.’ The minute she’d got to her suite, she’d stripped, marched into the bathroom and had had a hot, steamy, extremely satisfying shower. Steam and the scent of roses still billowed from room. Her cheeks were still pink. Her body still hummed.