‘I would give much to experience just one night with such a woman!’ Hassan slapped Luca heartily on the back. ‘No offence intended, my friend,’ he added quickly, seeing that the Italian’s mouth had firmed in what was clearly disapproval. ‘You are a lucky, lucky man!’
That was a matter of opinion, Luca thought in bittersweet reflection, glancing across at Katherine.
‘That aside,’ Hassan continued cheerfully, ‘I look forward to seeing you tonight at the little party you have most kindly arranged at your house for me and my business associates from Riyadh. They are most keen to talk to you about the incredible work you do, and if I am not mistaken, and things go well, you will no doubt have another valuable commission by the end of the evening!’
* * *
Unable to ignore the pangs of hunger that gripped her for another minute, and having forgotten to pack the dry biscuits she’d grown accustomed to carrying with her of late, Kate knocked lightly on the opened door between her office and Luca’s to get his attention.
‘What is it?’
His less than friendly response might have been intimidating if Kate wasn’t already getting used to it. Stepping inside the larger room, she saw that he was poring over some architectural drawings on the huge desk in front of him. The knot of his dark silk tie had been pulled a good three inches away from his pristine white shirt collar, and the tousled appearance of his thick dark hair also suggested that the work he faced was perhaps momentarily getting the better of him. The man worked like a Trojan, Kate observed. It was half past two in the afternoon and she’d seen no indication of him being even close to stopping for lunch or even a cup of coffee.
She frowned. ‘I wonder if I could pop out to get myself a sandwich? I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather hungry. Perhaps I could get you something too?’
He stared at her…really stared. As the silence in the room became almost deafening, Kate’s feet seemed rooted to the floor by his disconcerting examination.
‘Did you hear what I said?’ she asked, her throat tightening with tension.
‘My friend Hassan asked me if you were married,’ Luca drawled, his blue eyes once again travelling slowly and deliberately up and down her body.
Kate’s hunger pangs were instantly demolished. Instead, hunger of a very different kind clawed at her. His lascivious glance made her feel as if he was physically touching her, and it made her shiver with want. But then the full import of his question finally found its way to central control in her brain, and a sense of deep shock rippled through her.
‘Are you married, Katherine?’ Luca asked.
‘No! I’m not! And why should that be any concern of your client’s?’
‘You must have seen how he looked at you?’
‘I was busy taking the notes of the meeting!’
‘Anyway…it is not my friend’s interest in the answer that I am concerned with. It is my own. So, if you are not married, what about a boyfriend?’
‘I have none! Is that what you thought? That I was two-timing someone when I was with you?’
‘It did occur to me, not long after I woke up and found you gone, that perhaps too much champagne the night before at the party had made you—possibly a married woman—a little reckless, shall we say? That maybe you were just looking for a good time and when opportunity knocked…you took it. In the morning, discovering what you had done, you were perhaps overcome by guilt and regret and decided to flee before you incriminated yourself further…’
‘Well, you’re wrong! It was nothing like that at all!’
Feeling distressed at the idea that Luca had even considered that she had run out on him because she was married or involved with someone else, Kate crossed her bare arms over the silk bodice of her dress and despairingly tried to straighten her thoughts. How could he think such a thing? she asked herself. Had she imagined the bond they had shared? A bond that she’d firmly believed had transcended the merely physical?
‘Then how was it, Katherine? And this time perhaps you will do me the courtesy of telling me the truth of why you ran out on me that morning?’
The truth. How simple that sounded… And yet the reality was that it wasn’t simple at all. It was a terrible, never to be repeated, embarrassing…mess.
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