Read Under the Spaniard's Lock and Key for Free Online

*
    She brought her lashes down in an ebony protective screen and sucked in a shaky breath. She clearly needed to get her overactive imagination in line. It made no sense that the brush of a stranger’s fingers could…She rubbed her hand against her thigh and dismissed the moment from her mind.
    The sexual charge in the air did not diminish even though they were no longer touching.
    ‘You are not well enough to walk.’ It was not a lie; she looked pale and shaken.
    ‘I’m fine. I just missed lunch and if I don’t hurry I shall miss the paella evening.’ Authentic, she reminded herself as she tried to work up enthusiasm for the prospect—the authentic flamenco evening had involved dancers who hailed from Manchester, though in their defence they had been very good.
    ‘I know where they do the best paella.’
    ‘How nice.’
    He watched the appearance of the polite smile that wasstarting to aggravate him and thought about doing something that would wipe it off her face.
    ‘It would be nicer if I had company…would you come share some paella with me?’
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    M AGGIE stared at Rafael, startled by the invitation.
    ‘With you?’ she asked, trying to judge if he was serious; not that it mattered—she was not going to say yes, was she?
    His shoulders lifted in a magnificent shrug as he inclined his dark head.
    Maggie gave a strained laugh and lifted her flushed face to his…So, all right, it was gratifying that a gorgeous man like this wanted her company, but not reality. ‘I couldn’t possibly…’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because I don’t know you…and I’m not…’ she stumbled. ‘Not?’
    She gave him a direct look.
    * * *
    ‘You have very beautiful eyes.’
    The eyes in question fell from his. ‘You don’t have to compliment me, and actually I don’t like it.’ Her heart was thudding so hard against her ribs that he had to hear it above the hum of the traffic.
    ‘If that were true it would make you a very unusual woman, but as a matter of fact it was not a compliment.’
    A laugh left Maggie’s lips as her eyes swept upwards. ‘No?’ She arched a feathery brow. ‘It definitely wasn’t an insult.’
    ‘You have a lot of experience of insults?’
    Maggie smiled. ‘I have brothers.’
    He began to smile back, then as his eyes drifted to her mouth he stopped abruptly. The buzz of sexual awareness that had been pumping through his veins became a loud thrum.
    ‘It was actually a statement of fact—you have very beautiful eyes.’
    His eyes were resting on her mouth when he said it and something in the smoky scrutiny made Maggie’s heart rate quicken.
    And why not? She was allowed to be attracted to a man; it was plain silly to deny it. She was not expert at reading the signs, but it seemed possible he might be attracted to her, although he might be one of those men who were able to make every woman think she was special.
    Attraction or not, it wasn’t going anywhere. If she had been the sort of girl who could separate sex from emotion he would have been exactly the sort of man she would have chosen—she wondered uncomfortably if she had been sending out the wrong signals.
    She gave an apologetic shrug and explained. ‘I’m not looking for a holiday romance.’
    Though some people had suggested—even her own mother had dropped hints—that this was exactly what she ought to be looking for.
    Her friend Millie’s typically outspoken parting shot came back to her.
    ‘What you need to recover from Simon is some fun for once in your life—head-banging sex with no strings with, of course, the right stranger.’
    Was there such a thing as the right stranger…and was he it? Maggie brought the train of thought, shocked, to an abrupt halt.
    Her eyes widened. I am tempted. I’m really tempted!
    He gave a sardonic smile. ‘I was offering dinner.’
    The mortified colour flew to her cheeks. ‘Of course you were…sorry…that is, I was…’ Wondering if no strings sex was such a terrible