A Hamilton Family Christmas - Donna Kauffman Page 0,23

giving more away than she’d intended.

“On your attraction to me?”

“I didn’t think it was mutual.”

He traced the finger with her hair coiled around it down over her cheek and across her lips, his gaze following the motion. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

Her skin warmed under his touch, and her pupils expanded. “You’re either incredibly good at playing women—and I’m still not entirely sure I trust you…or you—”

“Really mean what I say? I always do.”

She moved back, just a fraction, enough so that his fingertips were no longer brushing her chin. “Okay. If you want my trust, and you want more than the one kiss you stole, then let’s put a foundation to this attraction.”

He was already in it now, but that comment should have sent him scrambling for the door. Instead, it also intrigued the hell out of him. And, it was rather shocking to realize that he was perfectly okay with doing whatever it took to prove he meant what he said, to gain her trust. Mostly because, at that moment, it had absolutely nothing to do with distraction or the reason he’d come here, and everything to do with her. “I’ve never met anyone like you,” he said, as sincere as he could be.

“Then you need to get out more. I’m quite ordinary.”

“There is nothing ordinary about you.”

“Trevor—”

“What did you mean, about putting a foundation to this attraction? What can I do or say to prove I’m not just using you for my own personal gain?”

“I was just pointing out that, although we’re both consenting adults, in a dark house in the middle of an ice storm, and, yes, it’s true, I am attracted to you—I’d have to be dead not to be—that despite the ridiculous and surprising temptation you’re presenting me with, I don’t just—”

“Fling yourself with great abandon into a wildly satisfying sexual affair with a man who is finding himself completely smitten with you?”

Now she laughed. “Uh, well…yes. More or less.”

He sunk his hands under her hair and cupped the back of her head, tilting her mouth up to his once again, her gaze to his, as his body crowded into hers. “So, then, what foundation does this attraction need in order for it to move forward?”

“Your trust. Tell me why you’re really here. What are you looking for?”

7

Emma watched his face closely, and though he didn’t answer right away, he didn’t look away, didn’t flinch. Both good signs.

Good, if she was going to believe that any of this was actually happening to her. Because it was a far more plausible scenario that she’d just fallen asleep in front of the fire upstairs and was dreaming this entire sequence. Although, even in her dreams she was generally a pretty pragmatic sort. And in Emma Lafferty’s basic, straightforward world, men like Trevor Hamilton simply did not fall all over themselves to seduce her. Hell, she’d have passed out in a dead faint if he’d even smiled at her. Under normal circumstances anyway. These circumstances were far from normal.

And she’d dealt with him in a way she likely wouldn’t have in any real-world scenario. Or maybe she would have. Hard to say. What she wouldn’t have done was flirted with him. Or played up to him. Either for personal or professional gain. That’s not who she was.

And here he was, essentially trying to get her to believe the same of him. She had no reason not to believe him. Except he was hot. Rich. And was here for reasons he hadn’t been quite honest about. Not that it was necessarily her business. But, for the next eleven days, this house and everything in it was her business. Which made what he was doing here her business.

“If you’re the up-front person you say you are, who just happens to be finding himself completely swept away by my stunning beauty and incredible wit, then tell me why you’re here. I won’t go running to Lionel. It’s really none of my concern. I know I’m being nosy just asking. But I’m guessing you don’t want Lionel to know. So…you trust me with your secret. And I’ll trust that you’re not distracting me with all this seductive smoke and mirrors, so I won’t notice or care if you rob your uncle blind.”

He smiled then. “You really need to stop underselling yourself. You are stunning and incredible.”

“I was not fishing for compliments.”

“I know. Which is part of what compels me about you. I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting