smile was sharp, its humour almost mocking. “No, I happen to remember a wilful, determined child with a big heart. What do you intend to do once you get back home?”
“Find another job, of course.”
“Just like that?”
“Give me credit for some intelligence,” she said coolly. “I have extremely good references, both from my previous employer and the rat who propositioned me. And while I worked there I learnt a lot about landscaping as well.”
Nick nodded. “Your mother told me you’d planned the makeover of their garden. You did a good job—it looks superb.”
Hiding her pleasure at this, she said, “Gardening’s always been fashionable in New Zealand, and Auckland is a great place for it. Almost everything grows there.
As well, the recession has produced a huge surge of interest in being as self-sufficient as possible. Think vegetable gardens and home orchards. I’ll find a new position—a better one.”
“Still the same confident little thing,” he said in a tone tinged with irony. “Tiny and bossy and infuriatingly persistent.”
His summing up of her character stung. Producing her sunniest smile, she said, “Remind me to get a reference from you—it can only help.”
“Any time,” he said laconically. “So, having walked out of your job and on a point of principle donated money you should have put in the bank to a charity, it was an entirely logical decision for you to come to England?”
“It’s Mum and Dad’s thirtieth anniversary,” she explained.
He looked surprised. “They didn’t mention it when we had dinner together.”
“You know my parents.”
His arrogant features softened a little. “Yes. They wouldn’t have wanted any fuss.”
“We were going to have a party at home—just a small one—and then they planned just to fly over for their dream cruise, but they got a really good deal from one of the big travel firms, with a tour of the UK thrown in first. They weren’t going to take it, but Gemma wouldn’t have been able to make the party—she’s in Australia doing a big promotion for a fashion week there—so I persuaded them to go. And then I decided to come across for the actual day.”
He nodded. “And how did your fiancé feel about that?”
“Adrian?” She glanced across, met his burnished green gaze and felt a twinge of sensation in the pit of her stomach. Swiftly she said, “He thought it was a brilliant idea.”
“Clearly a very accommodating man.” Nick’s voice was sardonic.
Siena returned crisply, “Adrian comes from a big family in the South Island. He understands family dynamics.”
Too late, she remembered that Nick came from a dysfunctional marriage, and flushed, furious with herself. She was so foolishly conscious of him she couldn’t even organise her thoughts.
Nick gave her a narrow smile. “And I don’t?”
“I wasn’t referring to you.” She apologised. “I’m sorry—it was a crass comment.”
“But entirely correct,” he drawled. Once again he glanced down at her ring. “So when is the wedding?”
“We haven’t settled on a date yet,” she said, “but almost certainly in the spring next year.”
He looked curious. “A long time off. Are you living together?”
“No.” The heat in her cheeks flared up again. Her thoughtless comment had been returned with interest and cool deliberation.
Nick looked over her shoulder and rose to his feet, his expression well under control.
Expecting her parents, Siena was surprised by the woman who stopped at the table, but only for a second.
As Nick got to his feet she realised this had to be his latest lover.
CHAPTER TWO
ASSAILED by an emotion perilously close to jealousy—no, Siena corrected hastily, envy—she took in the newcomer’s tall blonde beauty with something like resignation.
“Nicholas,” the new arrival said in a modulated voice. “You see, I wasn’t away long.”
“Portia, this is Siena Blake,” he said negligently, and introduced her.
A pale, expert gaze appraised Siena’s blue silk. Appraised—and then dismissed it as a chain store irrelevance. A spark of rebellion lifted Siena’s chin a fraction.
Nick finished the introductions. “You met Siena’s parents a couple of nights ago,” he told the newcomer.
The blonde said smoothly, “I remember. Your fellow New Zealanders.” Dismissing them too, she gazed down an aristocratic nose at Siena. “So you and your sister are the—” Her brow crinkled a moment before she laughed softly and directed an arch, long-lashed glance at the man beside her. “I think the words Nicholas used were ‘the nearest things I have to sisters.’ Is that right, darling?”
“When I was young, yes,” Nick said.
Siena stopped herself from casting him a swift look. Although his tone was perfectly pleasant she detected an edge to it she hadn’t heard before.
He finished, “However, it’s been some time since I thought of either Siena or her twin as sisters.”
“And I’m sure neither of them ever thought of you as a brother.” Portia’s voice had lowered and she smiled at him.
It wasn’t exactly a possessive smile, nor an openly desirous one, but there was a proprietorial gleam mixed with the feminine appreciation. And it cut through Siena’s composure like a sword.
What’s happening to me? she thought worriedly.
Not that she blamed Nick’s lover. Several inches taller than the blonde woman, his black head gleaming in the lights, Nick radiated the cool, leashed assurance Siena always associated with him—as though he could take on the world and win.
Which was exactly what he had done—and on his own terms.
He looked at Siena, his eyes hooded. “Both Siena and her sister considered me an intruder.”
Lighten up, Siena told herself. It took an effort to produce a soft laugh. “Especially when you tried to teach us chess.”
His grin flashed white. “I was endeavouring not to remember that.”
“I’m sure you were an excellent teacher,” Portia said a little abruptly, as though somehow Siena had cast aspersions on his intelligence.
“Siena beat me,” he told her.
“Because you let me,”
