Chapter Thirteen
Tahlia’s rule number 103: when in doubt, wear black and show a lot of leg.
TAHLIA threw another dress on to the bed. She had to get exactly the right outfit for tonight—one that said she was cool, calm and collected.
The phone rang.
Tahlia dropped the coat hanger, the outfit dropping to her feet. Please let it not be Case. She didn’t want him to cancel…
She snatched up the phone. ‘Tahlia, how may I help you?’ she chimed.
‘Hello, honey, how is everything with you?’
She swallowed hard, the butterflies in her belly subsiding. ‘Mum. I didn’t expect to hear from you again so soon.’
‘Can’t a mother ring her daughter to find out if she got the promotion?’ There was a pause. ‘Surely they’ve made a decision by now.’
Tahlia dragged in a deep breath. She couldn’t do this a moment longer. She couldn’t lie again, not even to spare her mother’s feelings, or to save herself a lecture on how she should have got it. ‘I didn’t get it.’
A long pause. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘No, Mum. Truly. They got someone else.’ And what a someone else he was.
‘Oh, honey…’ Her mother tsked.
She shrugged. ‘I did the best I could. I put in the hours. I did the extra mile but the General Manager just felt some new blood was better for the company at the moment.’ And hopefully her moment would still come.
‘Of course you did.’
She sat on the only edge of the bed not covered in clothes. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep working for it.’
‘Tahlia, honey. I know I’ve pushed you to make something of yourself but you can’t just focus on work; you need a life too.’
She froze. ‘What?’ This couldn’t be her mother.
‘You can’t leave it too late,’ her mother warned.
‘You’re not getting any younger.’
‘Mum,’ Tahlia gasped. She didn’t want to hear this. She’d done everything to live up to her mother’s aspirations for her; she couldn’t change the rules on her now. ‘What’s going on?’
Her mother sighed heavily. ‘I know I haven’t exactly been a great example to you with men. What with your father—’ Her voice got tighter. ‘Then with ignoring the whole species. But I figured I’d already had love, my time, my lessons—’
‘So, now you want me to find a man?’ Her voice broke into a high-pitched squeal.
‘Honey, I want you to be happy.’
She shook herself. ‘I’ll be happy when you’re proud of me.’
‘Oh, baby. Of course I’m proud of you. I’ve been proud of you since the moment I saw you.’ Her mother’s voice thickened.
Tahlia nodded tightly, her chest warm.
‘You know that, right? But look…I didn’t call about your promotion… I went out at the weekend… with a friend of mine…’
‘What is it, Mum?’ Her mother didn’t usually beat about the bush.
‘And I’d like you to come around next week for dinner,’ her mother asked tentatively.
‘Why? What’s going on?’ she blurted. She hadn’t had a meal with her mother since…for ever. She was always too busy.
Her mother sighed. ‘I want you to meet someone.’
Tahlia swallowed hard. ‘Your friend? You’ve met someone?’ Her blood ran to her toes. How could her mother do it? How could she let herself take another risk? When the last one had cost her so very much.
‘Yes, he’s been asking me for ages and I finally just went out with him and it was…so nice. Will you come and meet him, honey? It would mean a lot to me.’
‘Of course I will,’ she said in a rush and she rang off, placing a hand on her chest.
What in heaven’s name could induce her mother to want a man in her life again? How could she trust one? It was just not possible.
Was it?
Case was losing it. He had to be. He had meant to take the romancing of Tahlia Moran slow and steady, not ask her to dinner.
It had been a spur of the moment thing, and he had to admit that it felt great. For the first time in a year he wasn’t beating himself up about Celia. His mind was totally absorbed elsewhere.
It was crazy how one woman could haunt him while another one pushed so many buttons he felt as if he was going to short-circuit if he didn’t drag her to him and taste her lips.
His blood stirred at the thought…
He sobered. No. He’d pushed those thoughts down to work with her today and it had worked. He’d survived her perfume, her soft looks, sweet voice and that long fringe that begged to be brushed back so he could see her emerald-green eyes.
Hell. It was bad enough at work. What had possessed him to further the torture? He couldn’t trust himself around her, let alone out at night.
He’d wanted a challenge…
He rapped on Tahlia’s door. The building was well located on a good side of town, with great street appeal. It wasn’t too old, but old enough to have established gardens and that lived-in homeliness about it. All in all, a good investment. She’d do well with it, despite it being on the first floor and liable to be lacking the requisite view of the city for optimal capital gains.
Case reached for his tie. Not there. He was going casual…and the fact that he truly liked this woman was terrifying. The other women he’d dated over the last six months were all predictable, uncomplicated and easy to be with because they were no threat to him.
He couldn’t say the same about Tahlia.
He’d survive tonight, take it slow. It wasn’t a hot, brief, passionate affair he was after but something more serious, something he wanted to think about, something to take time over…something that was going to last. That couldn’t happen until he could tell her all she wanted to know, and more.
He wanted to tell her how he had started his first business at twelve, how he had invested money in the stock market at eighteen, how hard he had worked in college to buy into his first business.
He straightened the collar on his mauve shirt, tucking it in tightly against his black trousers and adjusting the fit of his black jacket. For now, he’d have to play this cool.
The
