him. Again, he held the tie up against his chest. It was red. No doubt Corinne would have assigned some fancy name to the color, like vermilion or some such nonsense, but to Matthew it was just red. And red went with blue, didn’t it? Oh well, it couldn’t be that bad. Lifting his collar up, he secured the tie about his throat and tightened it. Then he tugged at it a bit, pulling it away from his neck ever so slightly.
Already, he felt a little wilder.
DECISIONS, decisions. Corinne stared at the five dresses she had laid out on the bed and contemplated each one as her potential dinner ensemble. One was too sexy, the other too loud. One was too girly and the other too prim. Number five it was. Really it was a combination of the four other problems, but to a lesser degree, so she figured she was safe. Slipping on a pair of panties, she stepped into the island dress.
It was a mesh of bright reds, yellows, whites and greens with huge blooming flowers all over it. As soon as she’d spotted it in the gift shop she’d known she had to have it. It tied about her neck leaving her shoulders bare. The flimsy island material overlapped, concealing her shape for the most part, but when she walked the material separated granting anyone watching the pleasure of a quick glimpse of thigh. A pair of three-inch strappy heels to give the effect of height, if not the reality of it, and she was ready for her date.
Evening, Corinne corrected. This was not a date.
Because it wasn’t a date, she had no reason to want to impress Matthew with her new ensemble. Not at all. On the contrary she was going to have to be very careful not to flirt with him or smile too much. There was no reason to encourage his current crush regardless of its seemingly harmless origin.
But Corinne never went anywhere not properly dressed, and this evening would be no exception. She snapped up her matching red clutch purse and winced. The dress had been an indulgence, but the purse had been gluttony. She could almost feel the little pang of shock she was going to receive when she opened her credit card bill next month.
It always amused her when people assumed she was rich just because of her last name. Corinne would proudly point out that she had never taken a penny from her family. Instead she worked hard and invested well so that she was able to indulge herself every once in a while. Hell, if it weren’t for her investments her family would be in debt up to their eyebrows.
Weatherbys know acting; Weatherbys don’t know money, her mother would often quote. So it was left to Corinne to keep her family’s fortune growing. Left to their own devices they would either squander their millions away or have it stolen by a corrupt accountant.
Not that they would care, Corinne thought sentimentally. Her family wasn’t in show biz for the wealth. It was the attention they craved. The adoring fans, the boisterous crowds and the heat of the camera lights. The money was nothing more than a pleasant perk.
Not so for Corinne. Like everyone else who worked full-time, she needed money to live. She glanced at the perfect handbag that matched absolutely the vibrant red of her sandals. The purse was going to hurt. But the pain was worth it. And this was a vacation.
Tossing a scarf about her neck—a scarf she refused to acknowledge because it made the cost of the purse seem inconsequential—she left her room and headed downstairs to greet her nondate.
MATTHEW GLANCED at his watch again. He’d said he would meet her at seven. It was fifteen minutes after, so he figured he had another five minutes to wait. Had this been a business meeting she would have been downstairs at seven on the dot. She was obsessively punctual when it came to business.
Social events, however, were an entirely different matter. The Christmas parties. The office picnics. After-hours get-togethers. It didn’t matter what the social occasion was, Corinne was always late.
Made for a better entrance that way, he knew. The fact that she was currently bordering on twenty minutes late meant two things—she considered this a social event, and her entrance was going to be spectacular. Matthew could barely contain the anticipation that was bubbling up inside his gut.
He checked his watch again. Twenty-one minutes late. Boy, she was going to look pretty.
“Hmm-hmm,” she coughed delicately behind him.
Spinning around, Matthew felt his tongue pop out of his mouth. Probably not a suave move for a guy who was about to propose an affair, which was a very suave thing, he thought. As nonchalantly as he could, he drew his tongue back inside his mouth. A deep breath and he was ready to give her an appropriate compliment on her dress for the evening.
“Wow,” he exhaled.
She smiled brightly, then frowned severely. “Ugh,” she huffed.
Matthew reached up to make sure his stubby clipper-cut brown hairs were behaving themselves on the top of his head. He’d gotten the haircut per Rinny’s suggestion, but the girl at Cuts-R-Us had gone a little overboard with the clippers.
However, it wasn’t his hair that had earned her disapproval. Without hesitation, Corinne marched up to him and began to undo his tie. Although this was exactly how he planned to end the evening, Matthew wasn’t so sure a public bar was the best place to get things started. But if she insisted, who was he to refuse her?
“I think you do this on purpose just to get a rise out of me,” she muttered as she undid the tie and pulled it from around his neck. “This color red does not go with that color blue. Put it in your pocket.”
He took the tie and shoved it in his pocket. He was about to outline his problem with colors in general, which also explained why people usually cringed whenever they saw one of his paintings, but she was still speaking. It wasn’t polite to interrupt.
“I swear when we get back to New Jersey I’m going to take you shopping and show you how to dress. And if I have to show up every morning at your home to put you in clothes that match, that’s just what I’m going to do.”
Yeah, he was thinking along those same lines, her being in his house every morning to dress him. Naturally, it would be a help to have her there every evening to undress him. What with his pajama tops rarely matching his pajama bottoms. Inwardly, he smiled lasciviously.
As casually as if she’d been his wife for years, she reached up, no easy task considering their height disparities, and unfastened his top button. Smoothing the collar a bit, she sighed in resignation.
“I guess that’s the best we can do for now. Remind me, however, that we need to go shopping in the gift shop. This is an island and you have to have at least one tacky island shirt. Why, look around you. Can’t you see what all the other men are wearing?”
He saw flowers. He wasn’t going to wear any flowers.
“At least you wore the blue shirt. It looks good on you,” she decided. “It brings out the blue in your eyes.”
“Okay,” he muttered.
Really blue eyes. Deep, rich, almost vibrant blue eyes. Corinne had known Matthew for years, but she didn’t think she’d ever paid attention to how truly remarkable those eyes were. Always so serious at work, he seemed more relaxed with her tonight. And that seemed to bring out a sparkle in his eyes. That along with the blue shirt and no tie…for the first time Corinne found herself acknowledging that Matthew Relic was quite a handsome man.
“Hello? Corinne?”
Breaking the contact and the sudden spell she had found
