Presents, Passion and Proposals: The Billionaire's Christmas Gift / One Christmas Night in Venice / Snowbound with the Millionaire. Jane Porter
you always this uptight?’ Nick frowned; the woman was as tense as a skittish horse getting ready to bolt!
Irritation glittered in her deep blue eyes as Beth looked up at him. ‘I told you—I’ve had a cold, and the end of the Christmas term is always hard work, and—Melanie, you’ve dropped your wings,’ she called out helpfully as she noticed one of the angels had dropped her tinsel wings in the middle of the hallway. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me, Mr Steele,’ she told him distractedly. ‘As it’s the last day of term I really do have to ensure that the girls remember to take everything home with them.’
‘And I’m preventing you from doing that?’ Nick drawled with interest.
‘You’re…distracting me, yes.’ A frown marred her creamy brow at the admission. ‘If you tell me the name of the restaurant you’re going to I can meet you and Bekka there later,’ she added briskly.
Nick looked at her intently. ‘Why do I have the feeling you have no intention of meeting us there later…?’
Probably because that was exactly what Beth had planned!
Seeing Nick Steele again, realising how much his ruggedly handsome presence disturbed and unsettled her, Beth had decided it might be better if she just conveniently ‘forgot’ the name of the restaurant as soon as he told it to her. Then, if Nick decided to call her mobile, to see where she had got to, she could always claim her cold as an excuse for not joining him and Bekka.
A plan Nick had seen through easily, it seemed!
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Mr Steele.’ Beth snapped her irritation. ‘As I told you, I simply have to finish up here first before I’m able to leave.’
‘Then Bekka and I will wait outside for you in the car.’
Beth’s hands clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. ‘I am perfectly capable of getting myself to a restaurant!’
‘It’s no trouble at all for Bekka and I to wait in the car for you.’
His silver-grey eyes openly challenged her now.
Remembering the comfort of this man’s car two days ago, Beth was sure it wasn’t any trouble. ‘Very well,’ she agreed tightly. ‘I should be able to join you in about fifteen minutes or so.’
A mocking smile curved those sculptured lips. ‘I’ll look forward to it!’
Beth stared after Nick in frustration as she watched him greet the excited Bekka with a hug. The little girl was as dark-haired and grey-eyed as her father, and the two of them chatted warmly together as they went outside.
Beth felt hot and bothered by this most recent encounter with Nick Steele. Flustered. Agitated. Her heart thumping. Her palms damp. Her legs trembling slightly.
And, as much as Beth hated to admit it, she knew she was feeling all of those things because she was going to be spending the evening in the company of the disturbing Nick Steele…!
Chapter Four
‘DADDY is taking me and some of my friends bowling tomorrow afternoon, Mrs Morgan, would you like to come with us?’ Bekka invited excitedly once she had finished eating her dessert.
To Nick’s surprise the evening at Bekka’s favourite Italian restaurant had gone surprisingly smoothly. Of course that could be because Beth had very noticeably—and deliberately?—addressed very few remarks directly at him, Nick acknowledged wryly. Instead she had confined the majority of her conversation to Bekka, and the two of them were obviously getting on well together.
Well enough, it seemed, for Bekka to issue an invitation for Beth Morgan to join them tomorrow!
Nick grimaced. ‘Mrs Morgan has been so busy at school with all of you that she probably needs to go out and do her Christmas shopping tomorrow afternoon, Beks.’
His daughter turned to her teacher in disappointment. ‘Do you?’
Beth had just been quietly congratulating herself on how well the evening had gone—how little she’d actually had to even acknowledge Nick Steele’s presence when Bekka was quite happy to do most of the talking. And now this!
Of course Beth didn’t have to go out Christmas shopping tomorrow afternoon; she had already given presents to the friends she had made at the school, and family presents had been sent in the post.
But the fact that Nick Steele was obviously as reluctant to have her join them as Beth was to go was certainly less than flattering!
She shot him an irritated glance before answering Bekka. ‘I do have some shopping to do tomorrow afternoon,’ she confirmed; she was going food shopping not Christmas present shopping.
In sharp contrast to the family and friends that had always filled her parents’ festively decorated home at Christmas, Beth would only need enough food to get her through Christmas Day. Which should amount to one very small chicken, a seasonal vegetable pack, and a single portion Christmas pudding with a small carton of cream.
And she wouldn’t even need that if she decided to accept Nick Steele’s invitation to spend Christmas Day with him and Bekka.
She wasn’t seriously thinking about accepting, was she?
It might be worth it just to see the look on Nick’s face!
Perhaps not…
‘But I’m sure that your father will ensure that you and your friends have a lovely time,’ she answered Bekka lightly.
Nick wasn’t conceited enough to believe that every beautiful woman he met found him attractive, but at thirty-five, with one failed marriage behind him, Nick wasn’t naïve or inexperienced either, and he knew exactly how and when a beautiful woman responded to him.
A response Beth was obviously determined not to feel…
That skittishness she had demonstrated towards him earlier certainly hadn’t gone away. If anything, Beth had become even more noticeably distant towards him as the evening progressed.
Irritatingly so…
He looked at her now from behind slightly lowered lids. ‘Perhaps Mrs Morgan doesn’t bowl, Bekka.’
‘Of course I bowl.’ Beth frowned her irritation.
He shrugged. ‘Then why not do your shopping in the morning and join us at the bowling alley in the afternoon? It’s Bekka’s pre-birthday treat,’ he added.
Beth eyed Nick with a frown, knowing too well from his taunting expression that he didn’t really want her to change her plans for tomorrow and join them. That he was just playing with her—like a predatory cat toying with a mouse.
‘I think it’s time we left, don’t you?’ She lightly changed the subject. ‘It’s been an exciting day, and I think someone is ready for bed,’ she added in a teasing voice as Bekka tried to stifle a yawn.
‘Oh, do we have to, Daddy?’ Bekka turned to her father in appeal. ‘Mrs Morgan hasn’t agreed to join us for my birthday on Christmas Day yet.’
And Beth knew, much as she might have enjoyed Nick’s discomfort, that she wasn’t going to agree, either!
A single evening spent in Nick Steele’s company was enough to tell her that she didn’t want to repeat the experience. That she wasn’t comfortable with the way she felt in his company. That she didn’t like the way he made her so totally aware of her own femininity. That she would much rather have continued to remain in ignorance of that body-tingling awareness, too…!
She and Ben had loved each other, had enjoyed making love together and been totally comfortable with each other physically.
Nick Steele’s innate and nerve-tingling sensuality continued to unnerve her!
As if aware of that discomfort, Nick drawled. ‘Come back