said!
As soon as Liam had stepped on to the podium she had been mesmerised—by the way he looked, the way he moved, the soft, lilting seduction of his voice.
The lecture had passed in a daze for Laura, and she had still been lost in daydreams of the handsome author when she’d gone to the refectory for her lunch, picking uninterestedly at the pasta salad she hadn’t remembered choosing, sipping lukewarm coffee she had forgotten to put any sugar in.
‘Did you know there’s a contact-lens in your tea?’
Those words! Ill-fated, if she had but known it. But at the time all she had cared about was the fact that the man she’d been daydreaming about had just spoken to her, the lilting attraction of his voice unmistakable.
Her cheeks had been fiery red as she’d looked up to see Liam O’Reilly standing beside her table with his own laden luncheon tray, and her breath had caught in her throat as she’d gazed up into the rugged handsomeness of his face.
She’d moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘I don’t drink tea,’ she returned shyly. ‘And I don’t wear contact lenses either,’ she added, well aware that he had to be referring to the differing colours of her eyes.
He grinned down at her. ‘I know. Oh, not that you don’t drink tea,’ he explained as he put his tray down next to hers on the table. ‘I meant the contact lenses; I couldn’t help but notice the incredibly unusual beauty of your eyes at the lecture earlier.’
Those eyes widened now, even as she swallowed hard. ‘You—saw me there?’
He grinned. ‘Second row, third seat in. Mind if I join you?’ He indicated the otherwise empty seats around the table at which she sat.
‘Er—no. I mean, yes. No, of course I don’t mind if you join me,’ she corrected self-consciously.
All the time at the lecture, when she had been gazing at him like some besotted idiot, he had actually noticed her too! Or maybe he had noticed her because she’d been gazing at him like a besotted idiot…?
‘I enjoyed the lecture,’ she told him nervously as he lowered his lean length into the chair beside hers.
He gave her a sideways glance, a smile still playing about those sculptured lips. ‘Did you?’ he drawled teasingly. As if he were well aware of the fact that she hadn’t heard a word he said!
‘Don’t look so stricken,’ he advised gently as the colour first came and then as quickly receded from her face, leaving her very pale, her eyes huge pools of colour in that paleness. ‘You weren’t the only one who looked ready to fall asleep,’ he assured her humourously. ‘I’m well aware that for most of you a degree is the only goal, that a lot of the work that precedes obtaining that degree can be boring in the extreme—’
‘You weren’t in the least boring!’ she burst out protestingly as she realised he thought that was the reason for her inattentiveness. ‘I—I was fascinated,’ she told him truthfully—even if that fascination hadn’t exactly been with what he was saying!
‘Prove it,’ he invited, taking a mouthful of the chicken sandwich he had chosen for his lunch.
She swallowed hard, eyeing him warily. If he intended going through a question-and-answer session on his talk that morning she might as well own up to the truth right now; until she had chance to look at a friend’s notes she wouldn’t have a clue what he had actually talked about!
‘Have dinner with me this evening?’ he asked lightly.
Dinner…? Liam O’Reilly wanted her to have dinner with him?
She stared at him, trying to tell from his expression exactly what he meant by such an invitation. He looked back at her with questioning blue eyes—eyes that told her nothing!
Laura moistened her lips again, frowning up at him, her uncertainty mirrored on her face.
Liam chuckled softly. ‘Is it such a difficult thing to decide?’ he teased.
‘I—er—no,’ she answered hesitantly. ‘I just—Why on earth would you invite me out to dinner with you?’ Her frown deepened.
Dark brows rose over deep blue eyes. ‘Because I’ve never met anyone before with such incredible, beautiful, unusual eyes,’ he confessed.
Laura grimaced. ‘I think you’re playing with me, Mr O’Reilly,’ she said heavily.
‘That’s your prerogative,’ he conceded huskily. ‘But the dinner invitation stands. And the name’s Liam.’
‘Laura,’ she returned shortly. ‘Laura Carter.’
‘Well, now that we’ve formally introduced ourselves—would you care to have dinner with me this evening, Laura?’ He quirked dark brows once more.
‘Yes,’ she answered quickly—before she could give herself time to think too much about it and say no!
She had no idea why he had invited her out to dinner—but she knew exactly why she wanted to accept; he was just as mesmerising on a one-to-one basis as he had been on the podium earlier. In fact—more so!
He nodded. ‘And make sure you bring your appetite with you this evening; I can’t abide women who pick at their food.’ He looked pointedly at her almost untouched salad.
By the end of that first evening together Laura was no nearer knowing the reason for Liam’s invitation than she had been when he’d made it.
They had talked about any number of things—books, art, Ireland, what Laura intended doing with her degree—always supposing she got it!—when her course finished next summer—but not by word or deed had Liam made even the remotest romantic move on her.
He had, however, asked to see her again.
And again.
In fact, within a few very short weeks Laura found herself spending most of her spare time with him, helping to type out any lectures he might have to give, often accompanying him to those lectures too, immensely proud of the fact that she was obviously with him.
Over those next few months she was to learn a lot of things Liam ‘couldn’t abide’ about women. They included women being clingingly possessive. Women who talked too much. Women who didn’t have an opinion of their own. Women without a sense of humour. Women who giggled inanely. Extrovert women. Introvert women. Women who were too fat. Women who were too thin. The list seemed endless.
By the time she had listened to all the things Liam didn’t like about women, and had desperately tried to make sure she was none of those things in order that he should continue to spend time with her, Laura had had no idea who or what she was any more!
And now, with his announcement earlier today that he intended her to be the editor of his new book, Liam was obviously still trying to call all the shots!
Well, this was eight years on. And she knew exactly who she was now. She was Laura Shipley. Widow of Robert. Mother of Bobby. Trustee owner of Shipley Publishing.
One thing she most assuredly was not, and never would be, was Liam O’Reilly’s editor!
