After a cursory brushing of teeth and hair, she skimmed a pale peach lipstick across her lips, then opened the door into the living room.
Luke was still on the phone. At the sight of her, he murmured a hurried goodbye, then hung up, a slow smile spreading across his face, transforming his too-serious expression into a look that was pure invitation.
Katie’s composure suddenly slipped. Luke was wearing a pair of dress slacks, zipped up, but unbuttoned at the waist, and nothing else. His hair was curling damply. His chest was...well, his chest didn’t bear too close an examination. Her heart was thumping hard enough as it was. If he’d stripped down this provocatively last night instead of offering far less intoxicating champagne, she never would have made it to that huge bed alone. Determined not to let the tantalizing effect ruin her stance this morning, she reminded herself that he, at least, was in Atlanta for the sole purpose of conducting business, not seduction.
Or so he claimed. The current dangerous gleam in his eyes suggested otherwise.
“Hard at work already, I see,” she said when she thought she could get the words out without giving her susceptibility away by sounding too breathless.
“Ordering breakfast, actually,” he countered with another of those smiles that could have melted an Arctic iceberg. “I hope you still love pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberries and fresh-squeezed orange juice.”
“I do, but all at once?”
“It’s a special occasion.”
“What are we celebrating?” she inquired innocently. “Did a big deal go through?”
That high-voltage smile dissipated. He scowled at her. “Okay, Katie, enough with the sarcasm. You made your point last night. Turning our honeymoon into a business trip was a rotten idea.”
She nodded with satisfaction. “It’s nice to see you grasp things so readily. No wonder you’re wildly successful in business.”
“However,” he said, as if she hadn’t spoken. “If you want a real honeymoon, then it can’t be one-sided on my part. You have to cooperate.”
Her gaze narrowed as she considered the suspicious glint in his eyes and the dare in his voice. “Cooperate?”
“No shopping with old Cee-Cee and Pris.”
“But I was really looking forward to it,” she protested just to taunt him.
“About as much as a flu shot,” he muttered.
“I don’t take flu shots.”
“My point exactly.”
Katie began to get the notion that she’d won the first round in this latest test of wills. The taste of victory was definitely sweet. She relented and grinned at him. “Okay, no business for you. No shopping for me. What’ll we do?” Having three whole days stretched out ahead of them seemed to offer limitless, very intriguing possibilities.
“There are certain traditional things a bride and groom usually do on a honeymoon,” he suggested hopefully.
“You wish,” she countered. “How about sight-seeing?”
“Sight-seeing?” he repeated blankly as if the concept were totally foreign.
“You lived here six years. Surely you know all the most fascinating local sights. I want to see them.”
“Actually, about the only thing I ever saw was the downtown skyscraper where my office was located.”
His revelation was hardly surprising. Luke’s single-mindedness was exactly the trait that had made him a success. Katie remained undaunted. “We’ll buy a guidebook.” She paused thoughtfully. “And a map.”
“I can get around. We don’t need a map.”
“Luke, you used to get lost in Clover.”
He frowned at the teasing comment. “I did not.”
“What about the time we were supposed to go to Mindy Prescott’s birthday party and we got there an hour late because you refused to stop and ask directions?”
“She didn’t live in Clover,” he said defensively. “And those country roads weren’t marked. That map she drew was a joke. Whoever heard of telling someone that a house is just past the first big curve in the highway, a half mile beyond the big oak on the left and right after a dilapidated red barn?”
“Just because you couldn’t tell an oak from a maple if your life depended on it, don’t go blaming Mindy Prescott,” Katie retorted. “We were halfway to Charleston before you finally gave in and let me call to ask where we’d gone wrong. Wandering around lost must be some macho, male thing.”
He gave her a rueful grin. “Okay, we’ll buy a map. Satisfied?”
About the map, definitely, Katie thought. Her body, however, was protesting vehemently. She wanted food and she wanted Luke, not necessarily in that order. Her gaze met his and something of her longing must have been in her eyes, because he suddenly went perfectly still. Electricity arced between them. The air practically crackled with it. Katie’s defenses wobbled dangerously.
“Katie,” he said softly, the lure in his voice almost irresistible.
“Luke,” she whispered, suddenly trembling with all of the sensual anticipation she’d been fighting to keep at bay.
Their gazes locked. But before either of them could take the first, fateful step to close the space between them, the suite’s doorbell chimed loudly. The sound echoed through the room, breaking the fragile moment.
As if that weren’t enough disruption, the phone started ringing.
Katie viewed Luke with some regret—and admittedly a certain amount of relief. It was far too soon to allow all of those protective barriers she’d erected to be torn down, and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that they’d been about to topple. This was just further proof that she had about as much natural resistance to Luke as a badly constructed roof did to a hurricane.
“You get the phone. I’ll get the door,” she suggested briskly.
“Let’s ignore them both,” he countered, his gaze never leaving her face.
She searched his expression for evidence of sincerity. “If I agreed, would you really be able to stand not knowing who’s on the phone?”
He sighed. “Unfortunately I have a very good idea who it is. My secretary. I spoke to her earlier.”
“When? Before dawn on a Sunday morning?” she inquired, glancing at her watch.
“She makes herself available whenever I need her.”
“I’ll bet,” Katie muttered.
Luke regarded her with amusement. “Jealous?”
“Hardly.”
“Then
