"I think I'm a bit tipsy," Holly confessed when she stood up and swayed on her high heels.
"No worries," he said, and took her elbow. "You're with me."
"Yes … " Something like dismay flashed through her eyes. "Yes, I'm with you."
Richard thought about that moment during the drive home. Was she still pining for Dave? Wishing she'd been with him?
He resented that idea. A lot.
As much as he admired and desired Holly, there was no point in pressing on with a relationship if she was pining for some other man. If and when he married again, it would be to a girl who gave him her undivided attention and loyalty. This time, his wife would be the one madly in love with him, not the other way around.
"Thank you so much for tonight, Richard," she said rather primly as he angled his car into the kerb outside the flower shop. "Like I said earlier, it was an experience I will never forget."
Richard switched off the engine and turned to her. "Was it an experience you'd like to repeat?" he asked.
He could see her face quite clearly, his car parked underneath a corner street light.
Surprise zoomed into her eyes as she twisted in the seat to face him.
"You want to take me out to dinner again?"
"Dinner. Lunch. The theatre. The races. You name it, I'd like to take you there."
"Oh … " Her mouth fell open. And stayed open.
"But I only want to take you, Holly," Richard said as he reached over to place a gentle hand on her cheek.
Damn, but it was soft. She was soft. How he ached to bury himself in that softness, to feel her flesh close tightly around his, to lose himself in her.
"I don't want any third party coming along with us," he said, his eyes narrowing on her lush mouth. "No ghosts from the past. No wishing I was Dave."
"Dave!" she exclaimed. "I haven't given Dave a single thought all night."
"Good," he said, then abruptly closed the short distance between their mouths.
She sucked in sharply, but didn't pull back, letting his lips move over hers without protest. But without obvious pleasure as well.
His head lifted to find her staring at him with eyes like saucers.
"Don't you know how beautiful you are?" he said. "And how much I want you?"
She blinked and said nothing. She seemed frozen.
His hand stroked her cheek, then moved along her stiffly held jaw, drifting downwards to find the pulse that was throbbing wildly at the base of her throat.
Not frozen there, Richard realised, and kissed her again, this time slipping his tongue between her still-parted lips.
She came to life with a low moan, showing him with her own tongue that she liked that kind of kissing.
A raw triumph claimed Richard when she tipped her head back for him to kiss her even more deeply. He knew then that Dave was history.
It proved difficult to wrench his mouth away from hers. Clearly, she didn't want him to stop. On his part, his long-denied body was screaming at him to continue, to carry her inside the shop and ravage her on that work table.
But Richard wasn't going to risk ruining his long-term plans for any short-term pleasure. Holly was a woman. When sanity returned afterwards, she would remember that he'd promised to keep his hands off tonight. She might not be overly impressed.
He could wait one more week before satisfying his carnal urges. It wouldn't kill him.
Besides, he didn't really want a quickie. He wanted her in his bed at the penthouse for hours and hours.
"I'm sorry," he said swiftly. "I know I promised not to do that. I lost control for a moment," he added, which was almost true.
"It's all right," she said. "I … I didn't mind. Truly."
He stared hard at her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded, her eyes still dilated, her face flushed.
"Then you'll go out with me again?"
"Yes, of course," she said, her voice low and husky.
He touched her cheek again whilst he stared down at her mouth.
What wonderfully lush lips she had. He craved to have them all over him.
"I'd really like to take you somewhere tomorrow," he said, "but I have to go to Melvin's for the day. Then this coming week I'll be away, interstate, on business." Not a total lie. He did have to fly to Melbourne on the Monday for a few days. But he could easily have taken her out on the Thursday night. "Friday, I'm driving Mum and Melvin to the airport."
No. Richard wanted her to wait. Waiting would make her more susceptible to his desires, and her own. She might not be a woman of the world, but she was a healthy twenty-six-year-old girl who, till recently, had had a boyfriend. She was used to being made love to on a regular basis. It was obvious from the avid way she'd responded to his kiss that she was attracted to him.
"A friend of mine is having a party next Saturday night," he told her, his hand finally dropping away from her face. "You might have heard of him. Reece Diamond, the property developer?"
"No, no, I haven't," she said, confirming his earlier opinion that she'd led a rather insular life.
"It doesn't matter. You'll like him. Everyone does. And his wife, too. Her name is Alanna and she's a doll. Anyway, it's a house-warming party. Not of the casual kind, however. It'll be black tie. Reece doesn't know how to throw any other kind. He likes dressing up because he knows how good he looks in a tux. You'll need to wear something on the glamorous side if you don't want to feel under-dressed. Alanna usually goes for broke on these occasions."
Holly's eyes showed worry.
"If you don't have a suitable dress to wear," he said, "I'll buy you one."
"You certainly will not!" she said quite indignantly. "I can afford my own dress."
"Fine." Again, Richard was pleased. No fortune hunter here. Not like that piece he'd taken out on Friday night. He'd practically been able to see the dollar signs clicking away in her eyes.
"That's all settled, then," he said. "I'll walk you to the door." Which he did, resisting the temptation to kiss her again. Enough was enough. He wasn't a saint.
"I'll call you," he promised. "Tomorrow … "
And then he left her, without looking back. But he could feel her gaze on him all the way to the car. Once behind the wheel, he shot her one last glance through the passenger window.
She was still standing there at the door, looking forlorn.
Good, he thought, then gunned the engine. She wouldn't sleep much tonight.
There again, neither would he.
CHAPTER SEVEN
HOLLY was doing two hospital orders the following Monday morning, day-dreaming about Richard's call the previous night at the same time, when the bell on the shop door tinkled and his mother walked in.
Holly tried not to panic. Richard had warned her last night during his two-hour-long phone call that he'd told his mother about taking her out to dinner on Saturday night. Mrs Crawford had been surprised, apparently, but pleased.
The look on Mrs Crawford's face, however, was not the expression of a woman who was pleased. More like one who was perplexed.
"I came to thank you for the lovely flowers," she began with a puzzled frown wrinkling her high forehead. "And to tell you how pleased I was to hear that Richard had taken you out somewhere nice on Saturday night. But I just noticed the FOR SALE sign on the window. Richard never mentioned that. Why are you selling, dear? Isn't the business going well?"
Holly heaved a great sigh of relief that this was what was bothering Richard's mother, not Holly's social or educational status. For a second there, she'd worried that Mrs Crawford thought a suburban florist wasn't good enough to date her precious son.
"It's not my idea, Mrs Crawford," she said. "The business is actually doing quite well nowadays."
"Don't tell me. I can guess. It's your stepmother."
"Afraid so."
"But that's terrible. She has no right. I knew your father. He wanted you to have the business. You have to take that woman to court, Holly. Get what's rightfully yours."
Holly winced. Like mother, like son.
"I'd rather not, Mrs Crawford. Going to court is always so time-consuming. And nasty. And expensive."
"Richard has an excellent legal team at the bank. I'm sure he could help. I could ask him for you."
"He's already offered," she confessed, "and I refused."
Mrs Crawford rolled her eyes. "You're just like I used to be. Too soft. Life is cruel to soft women, Holly. You have to stand up and be counted. Act like a man, sometimes. I used to kowtow to Richard's father all the time. Frankly, I used to kowtow to everyone. But not any more. I don't intend spending the rest of my life turning the other cheek, or staying at home all the time. I've always wanted to travel, but I was too nervous to go alone. But I feel perfectly safe with Melvin. He's such a sweetie, and so knowledgeable about the world."