the immediate prospect of seduction, free from questions about a future and unconcerned with questions about the past. A moment in time and a step forward for him.
Concerns about Sophie’s compliance in this general scheme of things barely crossed Theo’s mind. He knew, with the instincts of a deeply sexual man, that she was attracted to him, had enjoyed him touching her, had wanted more. For him, that was enough. He had no problem being a moment in time for her. Indeed, he would have had it no other way.
He pulled open the door and Sophie was greeted with a crooked smile that made her heart do a little somersault inside her. She had half expected him not to let her in but he stood aside and, after a moment’s hesitation, Sophie brushed past him before turning to face him in the flagstoned hall.
‘An unexpected surprise,’ Theo drawled. He gently shut the door, noticing that she wasn’t removing her coat. ‘Would you care for something to drink?’
‘No, thank you. I’ve just come to tell you that there is going to be a power cut tomorrow. Only for a few hours, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to use your computer. Or anything else, for that matter. Well, anything that relies on current, which is pretty much everything.’ Sophie smiled nervously while he continued to watch her through narrowed eyes. She wanted to edge towards the door but he had stayed put right in front of it. She knew that he wasn’t trying to hem her in. In fact, he seemed perfectly relaxed, almost friendly in a frankly too good-looking kind of way, if that was possible. He had obviously forgotten about the little incident, as she preferred to think of it, and she was immensely relieved about that.
‘You should back your book up,’ she advised.
‘Good idea. Thank you.’ In a minute she would make a bolt for it and Theo wasn’t having that. Now that he had made his mind up, a calm sense of purpose had settled over him. He took a couple of steps towards her and noticed how she flinched, as nervous as a kitten. What did she imagine he was going to do? The answer was as swift in coming as it was obvious. She was wary of him touching her. He wondered what scared her more—the thought of his touch or the prospect of her response.
Without guilt yapping at his heels, Theo felt a spurt of pure adrenaline rush through him as he contemplated the sweet scent of seduction.
If someone had told him a fortnight ago that he would have been looking at another woman like this, enjoying the anticipation of bedding her, he would have floored them for daring to insult the memory of the woman he had so nearly married.
Now his eyes drifted lazily over her face, appreciating the rise of delicate colour to her cheeks.
‘Am I making you nervous?’ he asked.
‘No! Why should you?’
‘Because the last time I saw you the situation between us got a little out of hand…’ He strolled towards her, hands in his pockets. ‘Neither of us meant it to.’ While he spoke, Theo maintained direct eye contact with her. She might be feisty, but she was also as gullible as hell and the combination was intriguing.
‘I’d…really rather not talk about it…’ Sophie stammered. She drew in a sharp breath and tilted her chin up.
‘Well, I’d quite like to…’ Theo said mildly. Now he was standing inches away from her. Yes, the door was clear but could she make a dash for it? No. Circumnavigating him would have been as straightforward as circumnavigating a mountain blindfolded and also, deliberately or not, he had thrown down a gauntlet. Discuss this, he seemed to be saying, or else risk being seen as running away.
‘Why?’ Sophie gulped. Her throat felt dry and she had to look away. His eyes were throwing her into a tizzy.
‘Look, why don’t we have some coffee? You have my word that I won’t lay a finger on you…Unless, of course, you ask…’
Sophie gasped at the softly spoken, intensely sexy offer and then realised that he must be joking. Probably just to gauge her reaction. She already knew that he thought her gauche and inexperienced and mouthy with it, and he would find it funny to wind her up. Come to think of it, there was something of the predator to him and didn’t predators enjoy playing with their victims before they moved in for the kill?
Sophie laughed shakily to herself at the fanciful train of thought.
But, when she met his eyes, she felt her skin begin to prickle in dreadful awareness. ‘Very funny,’ she managed to say in a strangled voice.
‘Come on. Your nervousness is making me nervous.’ His smile was reassuring. ‘Take the coat off. Now that the heating’s working it’s warm enough in here to walk around in shorts and a T-shirt. I didn’t think that old places could store heat that effectively.’ Suddenly it was vitally important that he didn’t frighten her away. This might just be his temporary salvation, just a sliver of normality unexpectedly offered to him, but he wanted it so badly it hurt.
That said, he would seduce but never force. That wasn’t his style and never could be. If she was truly wary enough to keep her distance, then he would accept it.
He contemplated returning to London, the same faces at the same society dos. He wondered whether this strange release he had found here would continue to work once he returned to normal life or whether he would be plunged back into the limbo he had left behind. Here, he thought of Elena but she didn’t haunt him.
He started walking away, not to the kitchen but towards the cosy sitting room, hoping she would follow. She didn’t. When he looked around, she was rooted to the same spot.
‘You’re not coming…’ Theo said with a touch of incredulity and Sophie maintained an admirably stony expression.
‘Very observant.’
‘Why not? I told you,’ he continued, trying to fight down the edginess creeping into his voice, ‘I won’t bite.’
‘And I told you that I don’t want to discuss the inappropriate situation that took place. If you can disrespect what I say, then I’m free to ignore what you say.’
Theo stared at her and wondered how the hell he could ever have thought her gullible. Her face was red with embarrassment but, hell, that hadn’t stopped her from speaking her mind.
‘We have to discuss it,’ he grated. She didn’t budge and, red-faced or not, she looked him squarely in the face and refused to back down. Theo was beginning to feel impotent in the face of such outright female lack of co-operation.
‘Why?’ Sophie asked.
‘Because…’he delivered his sentence with heavy-handed, thinly veiled patience ‘…you are my landlady. We’re going to need to meet occasionally and we need to get this out in the open, talk about it so that it doesn’t hang between us the way it’s doing now.’
‘It’s only hanging between us because you brought it up,’ Sophie pointed out. Going through her head was the thought that she had never been so achingly aware of a man in her life before. He oozed sex appeal and it didn’t seem fair. It was bad enough having a routine conversation with him, far less a conversation to do with sex. Just bracketing those two harmless words, Theo and sex, in the same sentence was enough to make her mind do all manner of wild leap-frogging.
‘It’s hanging between us because it happened!’
‘Yes, and I’m prepared
