‘It’s early days and I didn’t want to tempt fate,’ Rose improvised brightly, pretending not to hear the sceptical note in her sister’s voice.
‘So what’s he like?’
‘Like …?’
‘Yes—tall, short, dark, fair? Married or single?’
‘I do not make a habit of falling for married men and he’s tall.’ She closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat. A faint smile curved her lips as the image in her head solidified. ‘Tall and very dark, with grey eyes that have a dark ring around the iris and really long dark lashes. His mouth … well, he’s got a really great smile … when he does … smile, that is …’
‘Wow, does he have a brother?’
The laughing query jolted Rose from her contemplative silence.
‘Look, Rebecca, I have to do something and, don’t worry, it’s not crazy … well, it is, but good crazy. I think. I’ll get back to you.’ She slid the phone back in her bag and leaned forward to speak to the driver, who had been unashamedly eavesdropping. ‘Could you turn around and take me back to the estate, please?’
CHAPTER NINE
‘SO DO you want me to wait?’
Rose took the notes from her wallet and handed them over. ‘No, thanks.’ She was burning her bridges—no escape route to allow her to chicken out.
She stood, her case at her feet, and watched as the taxi vanished. When it was gone she stayed where she was, staring after it.
‘Have you any idea what you’re doing, Rose?’
Good question.
She spun around. Her heart gave a lurch as she looked at Mathieu. He represented all the reckless excitement she’d been avoiding all her life.
And if you wanted to learn about sex he would probably be a pretty good guide. And there would be no possibility of emotional complications because it didn’t seem a big leap to assume he wasn’t into deep and meaningful relationships.
‘I came back.’
‘So I see. Is there a problem?’
‘Not really.’ Only if you count the fact I’ve gone insane as a problem, she thought as his tactile voice sent an illicit shiver down her spine. That alone should have warned her she was making a mistake. ‘I came back.’
‘We covered that. I’m surprised.’
‘Good surprised or bad surprised?’
‘That kind of depends if you’re going to take another swing at me.’
‘That depends on how rude you are to me. Do you find me attractive?’
The question seemed to throw him; she suspected not a lot did.
‘Or do you say the stuff you do because people expect you to?’
‘Is this,’ he asked, ‘some sort of test? Multiple choice, perhaps?’
‘It doesn’t matter, you don’t have to say. I was thinking …’
His winged brows lifted in the direction of his dark hairline. ‘I’m not sure if I should ask …? But what were you thinking about?’
‘Were you serious?’ she blurted out.
‘Rarely,’ he admitted solemnly. ‘But few people appreciate my sense of humour.’
She slung him an irritated look. ‘About the job.’ If you could legitimately call pretending to be engaged to a Greek millionaire a job. ‘Were you serious?’
His expression sharpened. ‘You’ll do it?’
‘Don’t look smug just yet,’ she warned quickly.
Mathieu watched her hair blow in the wind and struggled to control a sudden overwhelming compulsion to mesh his fingers into the silky strands … then he could draw her face up to his and. He sucked in a deep breath.
‘But you’re thinking about it …?’ he suggested while his own thoughts stayed stubbornly fixated on the soft lush outline of her lips.
‘I’m thinking about it.’
‘Just thinking? Why the sudden change of heart?’
She shrugged. ‘I’m assuming it pays well.’
‘You expect me to believe your motives are purely mercenary?’ He laughed, baring his white teeth in a wolfish grin.
‘And what is so funny about that?’
‘I meet people every day of the week who would sell their souls for a profit margin. I can smell avarice a mile away …’ Around her the only scent he was aware of was the light floral scent of the shampoo she used. Brow creased, he shook his head positively. ‘No, this isn’t about money.’
‘I’d be touched if it wasn’t for the fact you were accusing me of trying to screw money out of you twenty minutes ago.’
‘I jumped to the wrong conclusion,’ he admitted, drawing a hand across his jaw.
‘Jumping to the wrong conclusion is a lifestyle choice with you. Look, do you want me to do this or not?’
Something flashed into his eyes that Rose couldn’t quite put a name to. There was a pause. ‘I want,’ he agreed.
Rose swallowed. ‘There will be conditions,’ she warned.
Amusement flickered in his eyes, but his expression was sombre as he nodded his head and wondered who or what had put that reckless glow in her golden eyes. ‘Fine.’
‘You can’t say that when you don’t know what they are,’ she retorted.
‘When a man wants something badly enough he is generally prepared to take the rough with the smooth.’ And she was smooth, very smooth, and he wanted her. He glanced at his watch and did a quick mental calculation. ‘I have to be in Edinburgh this afternoon. You’ll have to go on ahead to London. I’ll book you on a flight and—’
‘Today? But I thought …’ No, Rose, you didn’t think, and that, she reminded herself, was the point of the exercise. You’re being spontaneous. Oh, God, leaps into the unknown were a lot easier when they weren’t real.
‘And on to Nixias in a couple of weeks. I’ll arrange the rings and the itinerary,’ he said, taking her elbow and urging her towards the entrance.
‘What? But,’ she protested as she was hustled forward, ‘what is Nixias?’
‘It’s where I’m going to show off my blushing bride-to-be to my family.’
‘But two weeks … I thought
