Master of Her Virtue - By Miranda Lee Page 0,32

where two white towelling bathrobes sat, neatly folded.

Leo was just about to go and knock on the bathroom door to find out what was keeping her when it opened and Violet emerged, wrapped in a white towelling bathrobe. Now he knew what had taken her so long: she’d been undressing. Her bravery touched him, as did the fear which still lurked in her wonderfully expressive eyes. Leo could not remember the last time he’d been with a woman who was worried about showing him her body. Shyness was old hat these days. And old-fashioned. As were twenty-five-year-old virgins.

Leo could be forgiven for feeling enchanted. He would not forgive himself, however, if he ever hurt this lovely young girl. Which meant it was vital for him to protect her from her own possibly foolish self. He hadn’t forgotten how easy it was to mistake lust for love when you were young. Okay, so Violet wasn’t all that young in years, as she’d pointed out. But she was still a novice in her head when it came to sexual relationships. He had to make sure she didn’t start imagining she was in love with him afterwards. And she might, if he let her delude herself in that fashion.

‘Good thinking,’ he said, quickly deciding to keep the tone of things pragmatic rather than romantic. ‘Didn’t know how you took your coffee but everything’s there you could possibly want,’ he said, nodding towards the mini-bar before striding into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

Violet just stood there, stunned. She’d imagined an entirely different scenario when she’d finally plucked up the courage to come out here and face Leo. Not in her wildest dreams had she imagined him leaving her alone like this. Her disappointment was acute, so was her frustration. She’d wanted him to pull her into his arms again and kiss her, not gently, but wildly, passionately. She didn’t want time to think. She wanted him to throw her onto that bed and just do it!

Sighing, she walked over and made herself a mug of coffee, black, with no sugar.

He hadn’t made himself any, she noted as she took a small sip and, carrying her mug, she walked over to stand in the middle of the plate-glass window, staring through the semi-transparent curtains at the buildings opposite and wondering if people could see her.

Perhaps. Probably. This last thought had her putting down the coffee on a nearby desk and hurrying around the room, turning on the bedside lamps and turning off the much brighter overhead lights. That done, she picked up her coffee again and returned to the window, confident now that nothing could be seen of her except perhaps a hazy outline. She could be walking around stark naked and no one in the building opposite would know.

Violet was standing there, sipping her coffee and thinking that she would never have the courage to walk around stark naked when she heard the bathroom door open.

She stiffened, afraid suddenly that Leo wouldn’t be so shy.

Gripping the coffee mug within suddenly tense fingers, she turned, relieved to find that he wasn’t naked, but dressed in the other bathrobe.

‘I would have made you some coffee,’ she said, surprised at how normal she sounded, ‘but I didn’t know how you took it, either.’

‘I don’t really want any coffee right now.’

He stared at her across the room, the look in his eyes thrilling Violet. She’d never experienced what it was to be wanted by a man before. Certainly not like this, and not by a man like Leo. She still found it hard to believe that she had captured his interest the way she had. Was it because she was a virgin? Did it turn him on, the thought of being her first?

‘I don’t really want coffee either,’ she admitted, her voice low and shaky.

He sighed a deep sigh before moving to stand at the side of the bed where he withdrew a small foil packet from the pocket of the bathrobe and placed it under the lamp on the bedside table.

‘I’m sorry, Violet,’ he said, glancing back up at her. ‘I was so intent on getting you up here that I forgot I only carry one condom in my wallet.’

Violet stared at the small foil packet, then up at him, several thoughts revolving in her head. She hadn’t thought about protection at all! Which was seriously stupid of her. Okay, so she was on the pill; had been ever since she’d discovered it was