Chapter 7

“Would you like me to pour you some coffee?” he offered as he raised the cafetière invitingly, and in the process once again stood just a little too close to Caroline for comfort.

The feral grin he gave as she shot him a slightly nervous glance told her that he was totally aware of the effect his close proximity was having on her equilibrium. That he’d already noted the flush in her cheeks, the way she couldn’t seem to breathe properly, and the slight trembling of her hands.

How could she not be affected? Caroline accepted ruefully. Men like Nicholas Connelly—hard, tough, dangerous—were completely beyond her everyday acquaintance. The only males she usually met on a day-to-day basis were either clients or stuck up, rich men at the parties she sometimes attended with Frank Connelly.

She occasionally accepted an innocuous luncheon or dinner invitation from one of her male colleagues, but other than that Caroline preferred to keep her life uncomplicated by personal re