Master of Her Virtue - By Miranda Lee Page 0,24
have been going back into your shell.’
‘I’ve just been tired, Joy. And somewhat hung-over. I drank way too much champagne that night. I feel much better this morning. But I’m going to have to get myself up and out to the shops ASAP. I’ll need something decent to wear tonight.’ Or possibly indecent, came the unexpectedly wicked thought. Something which showed off her figure. And her breasts. Leo had certainly looked at her breasts the other night.
‘You’re dead right there, girl,’ Joy said drily. ‘There’s nothing in your wardrobe which would do for dinner and a show.’
‘Exactly what I was thinking,’ Violet said.
‘You’d better get moving, then. I’d come with you if my arthritis wasn’t playing up this morning. But if you want a suggestion then get something black. With your pale skin and new black hair, a little black dress would look great. And, please, buy something in your size, not one or two sizes bigger. You have a gorgeous figure and it’s high time you showed it off!’
CHAPTER NINE
THE ITALIAN RESTAURANT Henry had booked had an al fresco area which overlooked the marina at Darling Harbour. It also had a splendid view of the Star, which was located on the opposite side of the small harbour and was as big, bright and glitzy as casinos tended to be.
Leo had left his car there with the parking valet then walked over to the restaurant via a small connecting bridge. He’d arrived several minutes earlier than six o’clock, which he’d told Violet in his text, giving him time to sit, sip some mineral water and compose himself before she arrived.
By then, Leo was in need of some serious composure. It had been foolish of him to agree to take Violet out tonight instead of his father. More than foolish; downright disturbing. All day he’d been besieged by the kind of sexual demons which he’d thought were well behind him. He was forty years old, for pity’s sake, not some horny, hormone-driven teenager!
No amount of logical lecturing, however, could overcome the thoughts which kept entering his head and torturing his body. Fortunately, his claim to Violet that he wasn’t a callous seducer—especially of young girls like her—was still true. Leo knew he would not act upon the wickedly exciting temptation to do just that. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t intrigued by the idea. Intrigued and aroused.
It was going to be a long and difficult night.
Leo sighed, then took another sip of the chilled water, his eyes drifting over the rim of the glass to the people wandering across the nearby bridge, most of them coming in his direction.
His gaze was drawn to a young, good-looking couple who were walking hand in hand, their frequent glances at each other so full of love that it was almost painful to watch them. It came to Leo then that he’d never been in love like that. In lust, yes, several times. But never truly in love. And now... Now he was probably too old to embrace that kind of love. Too old and way too cynical.
His eyes swung from the besotted couple to the girl walking behind them who was wearing a short black dress which showed off a shapely figure and simply smashing legs. It was the legs he saw first, of course. Leo had always been a leg man. He liked slender ankles, shapely calves and non-knobbly knees, all of which this girl possessed.
It wasn’t till his eyes lifted to her face that he realised it was Violet whose legs he’d been ogling, Violet whose legs he’d wondered about the other night, who clearly hadn’t been behind the door when Mother Nature had given out great legs.
Leo smothered a groan as that part of him which he’d been doing his best to subdue all day went back into overdrive. This wasn’t going to be a long and difficult night, he accepted ruefully—it was going to be sheer bloody murder!
As she approached the end of the walkway, her head turned to the left and their eyes met across the twenty metres or so which separated them. Leo smiled a polite smile and she smiled back. A sweet smile, he thought. A sweet, innocent smile. If only she knew what had been going on in his head, and what was even now going on underneath the serviette in his lap.
Perhaps she had some idea for, despite her earlier smile, she looked nervous as she was shown to his table. Nervous but absolutely gorgeous