orbit and that nothing was quite the same as it had been before.
Shaken, she focused at last on her hand. It was clutching Tye’s shoulder, crumpling his jacket between her fingers, and the belated recognition that she was still clinging to him was enough to make Lizzy snatch it away, although she could have done with the support.
She had kissed him because she needed a job, not a shoulder to lean on. Remember?
‘Will—?’ She stopped, horrified by the huskiness of her voice. ‘Will you consider me now?’ she managed croakily after having to clear her throat humiliatingly a couple of times.
‘I certainly will,’ said Tye, and then he demolished all Lizzy’s desperate attempts to pull herself together by smiling.
He had smiled at her before, but his smiles had been mocking at best. This smile was different. It softened the grim lines of his face and warmed the cool eyes with a blithe charm that was as devastating as it was unexpected, and Lizzy’s heart did a peculiar somersault that left her even more breathless than she had been before. It was as if she had blinked to find someone completely different standing before her.
‘Wh—wh—when…?’ she stammered, trying to ask him about the interview, but her tongue kept sticking to the roof of her mouth, so thick and unwieldy that she couldn’t get the words out.
Tye seemed to understand. Reaching into his inside pocket, he pulled out a business card and offered it to Lizzy, who took it with nerveless fingers.
‘Give me a call,’ he said, and turned to walk out of the woolshed and away into the starry outback night, leaving Lizzy to stare after him, his card clutched unread in her hand.
Five to eight. Lizzy looked at her watch for the umpteenth time, and wondered if it was too late to change her shoes.
She had been pleased with her reflection when she left her room. Having dithered for ages about what she should wear, Lizzy had settled at length on a plain shift dress which was flattering without being too revealing. It was very simply cut, relying on the vibrant turquoise colour and the softness of the material for its effect. Lizzy thought it made her look stylish and professional, without making it seem as if she had tried too hard to impress Tye.
Maybe it was a bit shorter than she would normally wear to an interview, but then most interviews didn’t involve being flown to Sydney and collected from the airport by limousine, or being put up in a hotel so luxurious her eyes had popped when she saw the room.
It had taken Lizzy ages to pluck up the courage to ring Tye on the Monday after Ellie’s wedding. She’d sat by the phone, tapping his card against her teeth, wishing she could put that kiss from her mind and feeling ridiculously, pathetically nervous at the idea of seeing him again. Even the thought of his voice at the other end of the phone had been enough to set the nerves jittering and jangling underneath her skin.
What had been the point of going through all that to get his number if she wasn’t even going to call him? Lizzy had asked herself sternly. Chances were that Tye would simply put her in touch with the personnel department and she would never have anything else to do with him.
She had to pay for those shoes somehow, didn’t she?
And after all that, when she’d finally dialled the number, she’d got not Tye but his icily efficient assistant, who had told her that she would make arrangements for Lizzy to fly to Sydney. Mr Gibson, she’d said, would see her for dinner the following Friday at eight o’clock. It seemed a funny time for an interview, but Lizzy had been too intimidated by the PA’s manner to question her further.
Her spirits had risen on the flight over to Sydney. A first-class ticket, limousine service from the airport, a luxurious suite in a top-class hotel…Tye must have been serious about it being an important job. Lizzy congratulated herself on having had the courage to kiss him. It had been awkward afterwards, to say the least, but clearly it had been worth it.
To celebrate, Lizzy had taken herself shopping as soon as she’d arrived in Sydney, and had found a pair of shoes so perfect for her dress that she hadn’t been able to resist buying them to wear instead of the elegant black ones that she had brought with her. Now, sitting beside an elaborate fountain in the lobby as she waited for Tye to arrive, Lizzy wondered if they had been such a good idea.
They were beautiful, just the right colour and decorated with mock peacock feathers fixed into place by a glass jewel, but perhaps they were, after all, a bit much?
Everybody else in the hotel was dressed so discreetly you just knew their clothes had cost a fortune, and Lizzy had seen one or two glances at her shoes, usually followed by disparagingly raised eyebrows. The gesture reminded her sharply of Tye.
He would be here any minute. Lizzy looked at her watch again, trying to ignore the churning sense of anticipation and nerves. Beside her, the water trickled into the fountain in a way that was meant to be soothing but instead was having the opposite effect. She crossed her legs, then uncrossed them, drummed her fingers on the edge of her seat, resisted the urge to check her makeup.
Really, she was being ridiculous! Lizzy sat upright. This was an interview, not a date. She would be fine. All she had to do was be cool and professional, and let Tye know that as far as she was concerned the kiss had been no more than a mildly unusual interviewing technique.
‘Cool…professional…’ she muttered to herself, only to find her eyes drawn back to her shoes.
No, they weren’t the right image! She would have to go and change. If she hurried, she could get up to her room and back before he arrived.
Jumping to her feet, Lizzy turned towards the lifts, but she had only taken three steps before the glass doors hissed open and Tye strode into the lobby.
The air leaked out of Lizzy’s lungs at the sight of him, and she stopped dead, conscious of a sense of recognition so sharp that it was almost a shock. It wasn’t that she hadn’t expected to recognise Tye, it was just that she hadn’t been prepared for him to seem quite so…familiar. It was as if she had always known that dark, guarded face, the watchful eyes, that air of barely leashed power.
Pausing in the middle of the lobby, Tye let his piercing gaze sweep round until he found Lizzy. Skewered by his eyes, she could only stand frozen by the fountain, her heart beating frantically in her throat as he came towards her.
‘Hi!’ She smiled nervously, wincing inwardly as she heard her own voice. Cool and professional? Yeah, sure!
Clearing her throat, Lizzy held out her hand. ‘Thank you for seeing me.’
An improvement. Composed, competent, in control. Well, fairly.
There was an odd look in Tye’s eyes as he inspected her, subjecting her to an intense but strangely impersonal scrutiny. His gaze travelled from the soft mass of blonde hair framing her face, with its tilting blue eyes and wide, humorous mouth, skimming over the vivid dress and down the long, slender legs, ending at the shoes with their jaunty feathers and gaudy jewels.
One corner of his mouth quirked, and he lifted his eyes to Lizzy’s. ‘It’s a pleasure,’ he said.
He took her hand, and the moment his fingers closed around hers Lizzy felt her composure wobble. His clasp was warm and firm, and the touch of his palm sent little tingles down her arm. All he had to do was shake her hand and she was drowning in giddying sensation, as if they’d kissed all over again. It wasn’t fair.
‘You’re
