Pitch Imperfect(59)

Anjuli ran her gaze down his body. And since when had Ben’s arse looked so good?

She shook her head and blushed. There was something seriously the matter with her if she was ogling Benedict Douglas. They teased each other like brother and sister, and checking him out felt...wrong. She covered her confusion by walking up to the cooker and eyeing the charred bacon and black pudding.

“Cordon Blech would love to have you, Ben. Maybe you should get one of your girlfriends to do your cooking.”

Startled, clear grey eyes stared down at an equally surprised Anjuli. “Oops, sorry. You must be the twin at uni in Edinburgh.”

He nodded, and his gaze dipped lazily, lashes sweeping down as his eyes travelled from her face to her toes. “I don’t need to get a girlfriend to cook for me. My future wife is standing right here.”

Anjuli tossed her head. She’d heard about the girls who threw themselves at Mac’s brothers. Ben was a police cadet with a criminal libido, and Rob was probably just as bad.

“Does that line get you laid in Edinburgh? Wham, bam and on to the next conquest?”

Rob looked at her intently. His answer was unexpected and yet so deliberate that, strangely, she believed him. “Why should I waste my time on meaningless flings? I’m saving myself for the right woman, if she’ll save herself for me. The fact is I can’t cook so you’ll have to do it when we’re married. I’ll wash up.”

“That’s hardly modern.”

Out came a devastating, self-mocking smile that made her body tremble and her pulse rocket through the roof.

“I’m a caveman at heart, but I’ll make it worth your while.”

Anjuli blinked, nervous in spite of herself. Rob was just as masculine and rakishly good-looking as Ben, but where Ben was hard, with a wild, untamed streak that made girls want to bring him to heel, Rob’s demeanour was self-contained. Assured. His appeal was in the sexiness of his confident self-knowledge.

Rob took her arm and pulled her close, one hand on her waist and the other cupping her chin. At sixteen, Anjuli had read loads of steamy romances and sneaked a peek at porn sites with Ash. At best, she’d felt vague, warm stirrings between her thighs when the couples got into it.

Rob’s hands felt like torches, sending instant flame straight to her core. Her vagina moistened and long, quivering pulses made her ache where she never had before. She didn’t know this dead serious, sexy student; had spoken to him for under a minute and yet her lips parted and her head tilted, mirroring the downward slope of his mouth.

Would she end up as burnt as his dinner when he kissed her? The only thing stopping him was the loud, insistent ringing of the doorbell. It went on and on, louder and louder, refusing to stop.

Anjuli’s eyes jerked open. Her phone was vibrating on her crotch.

“You need to get down to the manor, Miss Carver,” Connor said. “You’ve been burgled.”





Chapter Thirteen

A flashing police car greeted Anjuli at Castle Manor. Her heart sank as she recognised one of the officers waiting for her, looking just as happy as she was.

“Great,” she mumbled, paying the taxi fare.

Mr. Rutherford gave her a sympathetic look. “You let me know if you need anything, lass, anything at all. The missis can come up and stay with you tonight if you like. It’d be nae bother.”

Anjuli politely promised to phone if needed, squared her shoulders and walked up the path. Rob had given orders that the rest of the timber be cleared and chopped and her dirt drive was no longer an obstacle course. More’s the pity, as the delay would have given her some much-needed time to compose her skittering brain.

Why did the policeman on duty have to be her former almost-but-not-quite brother-in-law? And why there was no term to represent their relationship. Bin-laws? Been-laws? Maybe she should refer to him as her Ben-law. Her slight smile disappeared at the expression on his face. “Enemy” would do the job. He watched her approach with barely veiled antagonism. How could one brother make her blood sizzle and the other turn her veins to ice?

She’d seen Ben only once since her return, at the deli. He’d been at the till and she’d skulked by the Beluga for as long as it took him to leave with his purchase and the new cashier’s phone number.

Anjuli extended her hand. “Long time no see.”

Ben eyed her hand as he would a poisonous snake. “Your entire delivery was stolen, according to Connor. He’s out back on the phone with Rob. They didn’t break into the house.”

Anjuli’s stomach lurched, apprehension over talking to Ben overtaken by disbelief. Connor had told her of the robbery and hung up, and she’d assumed someone had taken her laptop or TV. Why would they steal building materials?