busied himself opening the champagne and poured Maggie a glass before tending to himself. She murmured thanks and tried to appear cool, as though this happened every day for her.
‘So what’s on the cards for later? Another dinner?’
Caleb inclined his head. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. But you don’t have to come if you think you’re not up to it.’
His consideration touched her, despite the wall of ice she was trying to pack around her heart as she looked at him. She shook her head. ‘No, I’ll be fine. I’m not normally the fainting type. It’s really never happened before.’ She even felt guilty now because she knew what had brought it on. Not that she could tell him. She had to make an effort to appear unconcerned. As if he didn’t hold her world in his hands.
She flashed him a rare smile. ‘I can’t wait to fend off more women, listen to people talk about the royal family as though they’re intimate friends and try to decipher your financial jargon…’
A sharp burst of empathy made him suck in a breath. He caught himself and grimaced, unable to help a rueful smile that transformed his face and took Maggie’s breath away; he seemed to have taken her unspoken cue to be light too. It made him look years younger.
‘I’m sorry; I know how boring they can be. As for fending off the women, you saw the worst of the bunch last night. They don’t see me, they see dollar signs, no ring and a potential husband for their daughters.’
She was thrown by his apology. He seemed for once not to be lumping her into that category and he was wrong—they saw far more than that. He was all the more attractive because of his youth, virility and his wallet. She couldn’t help asking, ‘Don’t you want to get married some day?’
She could feel herself holding her breath as she saw the expressions flit over his face and the shutters came back down. A muscle twitched at his jaw. His voice was unbearably harsh. ‘With what I’ve seen? Hardly. If I do marry, it’ll be purely a business arrangement…and for children.’
She couldn’t help the shiver that seemed to invade her very bones at his words. In a way, from the brief experience she’d had of the circles he moved in, she couldn’t blame him. She remembered the looks of pure vitriol that had come her way from those women and could only imagine the conversations in the bathroom. There was a melancholic ring to his words too that made Maggie want to question him, find out what had put it there, find out more about his life, parents…but she couldn’t.
In an effort to avoid talking about anything too personal, she started chattering about anything and everything. Caleb sat back and studied her. She was casual in a sleeveless crossover top and linen trousers. And something niggled him about that, but before he could figure out what it was, he was distracted. Her face was animated, telling a story, but he was captivated by her movements, the way her eyes widened in emphasising a point. They’d spent two nights sharing the same bed…and still not slept together. That was a first for him. And he knew he couldn’t bear to wait much longer. He’d woken several times during the previous night and even had to take a cold shower at one stage. Again.
‘…and that was it, really.’ Maggie stopped awkwardly; she knew he hadn’t really been listening to her. Was she that boring?
Caleb sat forward. ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
‘That’s okay.’ She smiled tightly.
Suddenly he felt like kicking himself. He’d hurt her, by not listening to her. And he was perplexed by her reaction. Shouldn’t she be cajoling him now? Making him pay for his lack of attention, sliding on to his lap, trying to entice him to go to bed for the afternoon?
He shook his head. Her act of innocence was so ingrained that it was second nature. He shook his head at himself. She was reeling him in again.
‘What is it?’ Maggie had a look of almost concern on her face.
‘Nothing,’ he said harshly. He stood and pushed back his chair; it sounded shrill on the stone ground. Maggie flinched, a tiny movement. ‘You should take it easy this afternoon.’
She could be cool too. ‘I’m fine, Caleb, really. It won’t happen again. I’m going to do some sightseeing this afternoon.’ She shrugged lightly. ‘I might never be back here again…’
His eyes narrowed. She really hadn’t said that with any guile. Had she? His mouth quirked dryly. ‘Oh, I’m sure you could persuade someone to bring you here again…’
She fought off the urge to defend herself from the obvious implication that he meant another lover…if she could even call him that. Right now, when he was being cynical and hateful, it was very easy to forget nonsensical, fantastical notions of being in love. She clung on to it like a shield around her heart.
‘I’m sure you’re right.’ And she smiled up at him sunnily.
‘I’ll see you this evening. We go out at half seven.’
She nodded her head and watched as he walked away, sagging back into the chair once he’d gone, only aware then how much tension she’d been holding in.
Maggie was determined that Caleb would not affect her equilibrium, not with thoughts of the evening ahead or his tart barbs. So much for their short-lived truce.
She was doing a bus top sightseeing tour. But…try as she might, she couldn’t block out the fantasy that hovered annoyingly like a wispy mist on the periphery of her mind. That if they’d met under different circumstances, he could perhaps feel something for her—beyond the mild contempt, distrust, all wrapped up in overwhelming desire, which was the reality.
She flipped her sunglasses back down on to her nose and grimaced. That was the problem; even if she could indulge herself for one second that Caleb didn’t have an axe to grind with her…then that would only put her in the same category as his usual mistresses. Which meant, she knew well, a bit of fun for a while, being indulged, cosseted, then…he’d walk away. That was what he’d meant last night, when he’d alluded to the fact that they always knew where they stood with him. And, even if that was the case, that wouldn’t be enough. Not for her.
Maybe they had thicker skins? She valiantly ignored the absurd desire to line all of them up in front of a firing range. In a way, she reassured herself, she was better off; because she and Caleb had such a tangled history, it meant that he would never allow her to get too close.
Or you him…
Of course! she thought angrily, answering herself, it worked in her favour too. It did. She just wasn’t entirely sure how…yet.
She spotted something on the street and got off at the next stop. Without questioning why, she found herself walking into the beautician’s she’d seen. It was not because she wanted to make an effort. It was not giving into this fantasy. It was just female pride.
That night at another glittering function, it was like a carbon copy of the previous night. The same people, the same conversations. And yet…what was going on between them was subtly different. Maggie was tucked into Caleb’s side, a possessive arm around her waist. He was including her in conversations, making it very clear she was with him. His woman. She could remember the look he’d given her earlier when she’d emerged from the dressing room in the suite. Her whole body still tingled from it.
At the beauticians she’d
