When Only Diamonds Will Do

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Book: Read When Only Diamonds Will Do for Free Online
Authors: Lindsay Armstrong
later, she parked her car in Bunbury and walked towards the restaurant.
    She’d changed into a long, floaty flame-coloured dress streaked with white, and nude platform shoes. She’d left her hair loose and she carried a boxy little gold bag.
    Reith was waiting for her and she walked towards him with her long free stride and her dress billowing around her, only to slow down then come to a stop a couple of feet away from him.
    She shivered suddenly as his dark gaze roamed up and down her. Because there was something completely riveted about him and the way he was examining her body. In fact, she got the feeling she was naked beneath that compelling gaze, that he’d mentally undressed her, even dispensing with her underwear, and it was tense, yet, at the same time, incredibly erotic. It sent her pulses racing and tremors of desire running through her.
    Then he moved and reached out to take her hand. ‘You look sensational, Kim. Shall we go in?’
    But she hesitated. ‘You shouldn’t do that to me. Not in public, Reith.’
    ‘Sorry.’ He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. ‘I couldn’t help myself.’
    She hesitated a moment longer.
    He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. ‘I’m probably better off if I can see your legs,’ he added.
    Kim blinked, then said bewilderedly, ‘The first time you saw them you nearly crashed!’
    ‘Well, I could be over that now. But to be totally deprived makes me try to imagine them, you see.’
    ‘Reith Richardson,’ she said severely, ‘you’re talking utter claptrap. It’s something men do all the time. Mind you—’ she paused ‘—I have to confess you’re pretty good at it.’
    ‘Uh-huh?’ He frowned. ‘In what way?’
    ‘When you get your face slapped, you’ll know you’re doing it wrong,’ she advised. ‘And now—may I eat? I’m starving!’
    He laughed down at her and she turned a little pink because she knew he knew how affected she’d been by his mental undressing.
    ‘I am starving,’ she said a little lamely.
    ‘All right. After you.’
    ‘That turned out to be a much better day than I expected,’ Kim said later. The Italian restaurant had candles in wine bottles and a folksy atmosphere and the pasta came highly recommended. ‘Artwork-wise,’ she added.
    His lips twitched. ‘You wouldn’t be on commission, by any chance?’
    She wrinkled her nose. ‘No. But I wouldn’t be surprised to get a bottle of French champagne and some Belgian chocolates for Christmas.’ She smiled as a waiter poured her a glass of wine and she raised it in a toast to Reith. ‘I hope you get a lot of pleasure out of your paintings, Mr Richardson!’
    ‘Thank you, Miss Theron. Shall we order?’
    She nodded, told him what she’d like and sat back. And they only spoke desultorily until their meals were served.
    Then he said, ‘Can we go back to our earlier discussion?’
    ‘Which one was that?’
    ‘The one,’ he said, ‘where you accused me of disapproving of you and failing to make my intentions clear.’
    ‘Clear?’
    He smiled dryly. ‘Was I out to seduce you or not.’
    ‘Oh, that one.’ Kim sampled some fettuccine marinara, then raised a napkin to her lips. ‘Mmm! OK. Are you?’
    He narrowed his eyes. ‘Would it be a problem?’
    ‘Certainly,’ Kim replied promptly.
    ‘I might have thought otherwise last night on the dance floor.’
    ‘Well, I might have too.’ She gestured expansively. ‘But that was last night. Today is a different matter.’ Her eyes glinted very blue as she glanced at him then turned her attention back to her dinner.
    ‘What about tomorrow?’ he asked.
    ‘I’m having a day off tomorrow.’
    ‘I know, you told me. It’s your last day off so—’
    ‘What I mean is—’ she interrupted ‘—I’m having a day off from
you
.’
    He didn’t miss a beat. He said, ‘That’s a pity, I was hoping you’d come to Clover Hill with me. I’m going over to look at some yearlings.’
    Kim put her fork down.

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