The Tycoon's Virgin. PENNY JORDAN

school had received an excellent report following an inspection visit.

      Her pride wasn’t so much for herself, though, as for the efforts of the pupils and everyone else who had supported the school; to have to stand back and see all the ground they had gained lost, the sense of teamwork and community she had so determinedly fostered amongst the pupils destroyed, was more than she wanted to have to bear.

      She had proved just how well the children thrived and learned in an atmosphere of security and love, in a school where they were known and valued as individuals, and Jodi was convinced that the self-confidence such a start gave them was something that would benefit them through their academic lives. But somehow, trying to explain all of this to Leo Jefferson was far harder than she had expected.

      Perhaps it was because she suspected that he had already made up his mind, that, so far as he was concerned, the small community he would be destroying simply didn’t matter when compared with his profits. Or perhaps it was because all she could think about, all she could see, was last night and the way they had been together…

      With every hour that distanced her from the intimacy they had shared it became harder for her to acknowledge what she had done. It just wasn’t like her to behave in such a way, and the proof of that, had she needed any, was the fact that he, Leo Jefferson, had been her first and only lover!

      Too overwrought to concentrate, Jodi stood up and started to pace the floor of her small sitting room in emotional agitation.

      Shocking though her behaviour had been, she knew and could not deny that she had enjoyed Leo Jefferson’s touch, his lovemaking, his possession.

      But that was because she had been half-drunk and half-asleep, she tried to defend herself, before her strong sense of honesty ruthlessly reminded her of the way she had reacted to him when she had first seen him, when she had quite definitely been both sober and awake!

      It was nearly six o’clock. Her letter wasn’t finished, but she would have to leave it now and go and get ready for the evening.

      Nigel was going to a lot of trouble on her behalf and she ought to feel grateful to him. Instead, all she wanted was to stay at home and hide from the world until she had come to terms with what she had done.

      CHAPTER THREE

      LEO grimaced as he ran a hand over his newly shaven jaw. There was no way he felt like going out to dinner, but when Graham Johnson, the chief planning officer for the area, had rung to invite him to his home Leo had not felt he could refuse.

      It made good business sense to establish an amicable arrangement with the local authority. Leo had already met Graham and liked him, and when Graham had explained that there was someone he would find it interesting to meet on an informal basis Leo had sensed that Graham would not be very impressed were he to turn him down. And besides, at least if he went out it would stop him from thinking about last night, and that wretched, unforgettably sexy woman who had got so dangerously under his skin.

      As yet, Jeremy Driscoll had made no attempt to contact him, and Leo was hoping that he had the sense to recognise that Leo was not to be coerced—in any way—but somehow he doubted that Jeremy had actually given up. He wasn’t that type, and, since he had gone as far as paying his accomplice to play her part, Leo suspected that he was going to want value for his money.

      Did Driscoll avail himself of Leo’s tousle-haired tormentor’s sexual skills? It shocked Leo to discover just how unpalatable he found that thought! Was he crazy, feeling possessive about a woman like that, a woman any man could have? Unwantedly Leo found himself remembering the way her body had claimed him, tightening around him almost as though it had known no other man. Now he was going crazy, he told himself angrily as he peered at the approaching signpost to check that he was driving in the right direction.

      

      ‘Jodi, you aren’t listening to me.’

      Jodi gave her cousin an apologetic look as he brought his car to a halt outside his boss’s house.

      ‘Come to think of it, you’re not exactly looking your normal, chirpy self.’ He gave her a concerned look. ‘Worrying about that school of yours, I expect?’

      Ignoring his question, Jodi drew a deep breath, determined to tackle him about an issue that had been weighing very heavily on her mind.

      ‘Nigel, what on earth possessed you to order that cocktail for me last night? You know I don’t drink, and because it never occurred to me that it was alcoholic…well, there was so much fruit in it…’

      ‘Hey, hang on a minute,’ Nigel protested in bewilderment. ‘I never ordered you anything alcoholic.’

      ‘Well, whatever the waiter brought to Leo Jefferson’s suite definitely was,’ Jodi informed him grittily.

      ‘They must have misunderstood me,’ Nigel told her. ‘I asked them to send you up a fruit cocktail. I thought it seemed expensive—what a waste; I bet you didn’t touch it after the first swallow, did you?’

      Fortunately, before she was obliged to lie to him, he took hold of Jodi’s arm and walked her firmly towards the front door, which opened as they reached it to reveal their host, Graham Johnson, a tall grey-haired man with a warm smile.

      ‘You must be Jodi.’ He shook Jodi’s hand, and introduced himself. ‘I’ve heard an awful lot about you!’

      When Jodi gave Nigel a wry look their host shook his head and laughed.

      ‘No, not from Nigel, although he has mentioned you. I was referring to our grandson, Henry. He’s one of your pupils and an ardent admirer. With just reason, too, according to his parents. Our daughter, Charlotte, is most impressed with the dramatic improvement the school has achieved in Henry’s reading skills.’

      Jodi smiled her appreciation of his compliments and a little of the tension started to leave her body as they followed Graham into the house.

      Mary Johnson was as welcoming as her husband, informing Jodi that she had trained as a teacher herself, although it had been many years since she had last taught.