She yawned again and Edward’s grin broadened. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

“I need caffeine.” She rose from her chair and stretched, looking at him with a naughty expression on her face. “Do you want one?”

“Yeah, please.”

She made a couple of coffees with her Nespresso machine and handed one to Edward. “Well. I can say I didn’t sleep much,” she picked up her coffee and sat back on her chair. The memory of them making love over the weekend surfaced. “Only a few hours last night. This morning I skipped the gym, had to drag myself to the shower and three coffees haven’t helped. I’m still sleepy.”

“Come on, Sophia. The full report.”

“Edward!”

“You spent the whole weekend with him?”

She turned on her iMac and glanced away from him, blushing, “I did.”

“That good, huh?”

You can’t imagine. “Nope. Better,” she winked and focused on the contract on her computer screen. “So-”

“How do you rate him?”

Off the charts. She refused to glance at him, biting her lip to stop her joyful smile from appearing.

He shoved a hand in his blond hair, pushing it back from his forehead and settled down more comfortably in the armchair, “I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me all about it.”

That made her turn her head and stare at him amused. Edward’s smile was impossibly wide and mischievous. He looked like a boy waiting for his favorite story.

“Fine. I would give him... a ten,” she grinned, “maybe eleven. But I’d never tell him. He’s already too conceited. He’d probably laugh, just like he laughed at me the whole weekend.” Or probably not. He would be angry if he knew I was gossiping with Edward about his sexual prowess. Him and his mercurial moods.

“Aaand?”

Her eyes twinkled and she whispered, “He is a... devil in bed.”

“One of my kind.” Edward wiggled his eyebrows.

“Edward! I wouldn’t have thought you were so vain.” She creased her brow in thought. “No. I’m wrong. He’s not a devil. He’s an angel.” An angel? Alistair Connor? No. Never.

“He can’t be too angelic if he put that naughty look on your face.”

“Not angelic, no. A fallen angel,” she finished, smiling. “Anyhow, an angel. He took me to heaven, maybe surreptitiously, quite a few times during the weekend,” she giggled and Edward laughed with her.

The intercom buzzed and Sophia pressed the button with a big smile on her face. “Yes?”

“Mrs. L., Dr. Walter is on your private line. May I transfer him?”

“Dr. Walter? Dr. John Walter?”

“Yes, Mrs. L.,” Sarah confirmed.

“Transfer him, please, Sarah,” Sophia picked up the handset and rose from her chair, walking to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looking absentmindedly at the beautiful view of the River Thames.

“Hello? Sophia?” John Walter’s quiet voice reached her.

“Hi, John. How are you? How are Claire and the children?”

“Everyone’s fine, my dear. You and Gabriela?”

“We’re fine. Thanks. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Sophia, I... My secretary received a call earlier from Alistair MacCraig asking for an appointment today at six. For both of you. Together.”

Oh, damn. “Ah... Yes.” Please, say you can’t fit us in. Please. Please!

“I have a C-section scheduled at five, so I can’t fit you in. I’m sorry.”

She sighed, relieved. “If it won’t work today, don’t worry about it. It’s not an emergency.”

Sophia heard him speaking with someone and the clicking sound of a keyboard. “I wanted to check with you first before confirming the appointment. I found it... unusual, since you always come alone. And quite frankly this is the first time... I’ve had this kind of request from... the boyfriend. Hmm, let’s see... This week is quite full. I can fit you in either today or tomorrow, but only at twelve-thirty. I don’t have any other times for the rest of the week. Or it could be next week.”

“Let me check with Alistair and I’ll call your secretary back, John. But don’t worry. It’s nothing important. Err... Thanks for your call. Send Claire and the kids a kiss. Take care.” She hung up and remained there looking at the phone in her hand. “Damn!” She stomped her right foot on the carpet floor.

“Something wrong?” Edward was observing her with a strange look on his face. Sophia never stomped her feet unless she was really irritated.

“Everything,” she muttered under her breath, “everything.” Still by the window, she called her secretary. “Sarah, could you please get Mr. Alistair MacCraig on the line?” She switched off and turned to Edward. “Why am I always involved with bossy men?”

“Because you are bossy too? Gabriel was too spellbound by your charms to put you on a leash. You were the only one who ordered him around.” He smiled at her, “You found someone who seems to know how to deal with you. If he weren’t firm and ignored your whims, you’d be bossing him around.”

Me? Bossing Alistair Connor MacCraig around? You have no idea, Mr. CEO. “Et tu, Brutus?” she snorted, trying to maintain an impassive face but failing miserably. She couldn’t get angry when Edward was near.

“Even I, Imperatrix,” he teased.

Her mouth split in a big grin, “Imperatrix?”

“Or should I say dominatrix?” He wiggled his brows at her. “But then, a dominatrix wouldn’t fit with MacCraig.”

Sophia scrunched her face at him, “Dominatrix? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Mmm, nothing, Sophia. Nothing.” She was so sophisticated and mature for her age that sometimes Edward forgot how innocent she was in sexual matters.

“Come on, Edward.” She tilted her head to the side, “Explain yourself-” The intercom buzzed. “Transfer him, Sarah, please,” she said, leaving no time for her secretary to say anything. She marched to the bathroom raising her index finger and mouthing to Edward, “One minute.”

She closed the door and vented her anger on the phone, in a low voice, “Are you crazy, Alistair Connor? I told you I was clean and on birth control. What’s the hurry? Couldn’t you have called me first? John wants to see us at midday today. What is he going to think about you? About me? Dammit, Alistair Connor. Dammit.”

“I don’t know who John is or what he’s going to think about you or Alistair Connor. And I don’t care,” a deep masculine and amused voice answered her, chuckling. “How are you, Sophia?”

Not Alistair.

I just told a man I’m clean and on birth control. Oh, ground, please, swallow me.

“It is Sophia, isn’t it?” Tavish insisted, as delighted as he’d been in ages by her outburst and the amusing way she had scolded his brother.

“Who is?” she stammered, incapable of forming a coherent thought.

“Seems you’ve got the wrong MacCraig, Sophia,” he paused, waiting for her to say something.

Damn! Lieutenant-Colonel-Doctor-Lord-Arrogance. “My lord Tavish Uilleam?”

“Aye. How are you, Sophia?”

What now, Sophia? Breathe, breathe.

“Still there, Sophia?”

“I... Yes, I’m still here.”

“How are you?” Tavish’s smile was impossibly broad. He had been laughing and smiling much more since he discovered Sophia was not another Heather and was keeping Alistair at arm’s-length, on the verge of madness.

“I’m fine, thank you. And you, my lord?” she whispered, mortified. “Could you put your brother on, please? I’m sorry my secretary made the mistake of asking for you.”

“I’m fine, thanks, Sophia.” She heard when he breathed deeply. “It wasn’t your secretary’s mistake. I intercepted the call. I want to talk to you. Could you meet me for lunch?”

“Alone?” What are you intending, my lord?

“Alone,” he confirmed in a now stern tone. “Also, I’d ask you not to tell Alistair Connor about this.”

“My lord-”

“Please, Sophia, call me Tavish Uilleam. I’m sorry, I got the wrong idea, but when my father told me you were Alistair’s girlfriend I-”

“Tavish Uilleam.” She cut him. Are you trying to warn me against Alistair too? “I have no reason to go out with you, alone. I don’t have a habit of lying and I’m not going to start just yet. What do you want to talk with me?”

“Not on the phone. A tea, maybe?”

“Only if your brother joins us.”

“No, not with Alistair. And if Alice comes along?”

“What is so secret that Alistair can’t hear? I find this request extremely unusual.”

“Please, Sophia,” he insisted. “Lunch or tea. With Alice. You can set the date with her. I’m going to transfer the call to Alistair Connor.” Tavish was about to transfer the call, but his hand hovered for a second over the button and he returned to the phone. “Sophia, I’ll be waiting for your confirmation. Soon. Hold on, please.”

Which brother is more commanding? She asked her image in the mirror.

“Sophia, sweetheart, good morning. Did you sleep well? Did you have... good dreams?”

Alistair’s deep voice, full of sensual innuendo, reached deep down in Sophia’s belly, making her forget all she was supposed to say to him, as desire took control of her body and mind.

“Mmm, ah...” she moaned. And whispered, throaty, “Hi.” She heard him chuckling on the other side of the line. Goddamnit, Sophia. Mmm, ah... Hi? Is this an intelligent or even coherent phrase? She pulled herself together and reprimanded him, “Alistair Connor. I’m not used to having men command my schedule.”

Alistair chuckled again, “I do hope so, love. But, pray tell me, who’s been ordering you around?”