was of some slight consolation to her that he looked just as shocked as she felt. His eyes were almost black and a frown had appeared between his eyebrows as he dropped his hands from her upper arms and took an unsteady step back from her.
Poppy tried to think of something witty or pithy to say but her mouth was still hanging open in stupefaction.
He inclined his head in a formal nod, his expression now unfathomable. ‘Thank you for the tea lesson. It was very...’ He paused over the choice of a word. ‘Entertaining.’
Poppy let out her breath in a flustered rush once he had gone. She knew the battle was far from over.
It was just beginning.
‘I THINK YOU’RE being very pig-headed about this,’ Chloe said a couple of days later. ‘I keep thinking of that poor man starving up there at the manor.’
Poppy snorted. ‘He’s probably got a bevy of blonde bombshells to peel his grapes for him. Anyway, what’s wrong with a microwave dinner every now and again?’
‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this,’ Chloe said. ‘You—the cooking-from-scratch queen of the kitchen.’
Poppy couldn’t stop a reluctant smile from forming. ‘I’m not averse to the odd bit of convenience food. I had baked beans on toast last night.’
Chloe covered her ears. ‘Don’t use such filthy language in my hearing.’
The chime on the door sounded and Poppy’s heart gave a little stumble. ‘You get that. I’ve got to get the cookies out of the oven.’
Chloe snatched the oven mitts out of Poppy’s grasp. ‘He’s not here to see me, more’s the pity.’
‘How do you know it’s him?’
Chloe gave her a knowing look. ‘Because you don’t blush like a rose when anyone else opens that door.’
‘It’s only because I dislike him so much.’
‘Yeah, and I hate chocolate.’
Poppy threw her shoulders back and walked briskly out into the tearoom. ‘Good morning, Mr Caffarelli. Your usual?’
‘I’m not here for coffee.’
She gave him a pert look. ‘Tea?’
An enigmatic smile played at the edges of his mouth while her mouth tingled in memory of his hot, hard kiss. ‘Are you free for dinner tonight?’ he asked.
Poppy drew in a tight little breath as she put her hands on her hips. The hide of him! Where on earth did he get access to so much arrogance and confidence? Was it coded in his DNA? ‘You don’t give up easily, do you?’
‘It’s not in my nature.’
Chloe popped her head around the door. ‘She’d love to go out to dinner. She’s not busy. She hasn’t been out on a date with anyone for more than three months.’
Poppy swung back and threw Chloe a livid glare. ‘Do you mind?’
‘What harm will it do to have a meal with him?’ Chloe said. ‘You know you want to.’
‘I do not want to!’
‘She does want to,’ Chloe said with authority to Rafe. ‘It will do her good. She needs to get out more.’
‘I swear to God I’m going to—’
‘So it’s a date,’ Rafe said. ‘I’ll pick you up at seven. I thought we could go to that new restaurant in the next village everyone is talking about.’
‘I’m not go—’
‘What should she wear?’ Chloe said before Poppy could finish spluttering her protest.
‘Surprise me.’ He gave them both a smile and walked back out the door.
‘You’re fired,’ Poppy said, flashing Chloe another deadly glare.
‘You don’t mean that,’ Chloe said. ‘Anyway, what could be more perfect than going to Oliver’s restaurant with the seriously rich, staggeringly handsome Rafe Caffarelli as your date? How cool a payback is that? I wish I could be a fly on the wall when that two-timing pig sees you walking in on Rafe’s arm. It’s a perfect way to show him you’re over him.’
‘I didn’t have to get over him in the first place,’ Poppy said, folding her arms across her chest.
‘Sure you didn’t.’ Chloe gave her another knowing look. ‘You cried your heart out for a week. And you ate a whole cheesecake.’
‘Half a cheesecake.’ Poppy scowled at her. ‘And I only cried because I really wanted to have someone in my life...someone to belong to. Ever since Gran died, I feel like I don’t belong to anyone any more.’
Chloe gave her a big squishy hug. ‘You belong to this village, Poppy. Everyone loves you. We’re your family now.’
* * *
Poppy chewed at her lip as she walked back to the kitchen. Maybe Chloe was right—it would be a good way to demonstrate to Oliver she had moved on.
But Rafe Caffarelli?
He was crafty and clever. Everything he did was with a specific purpose in mind. She knew he wanted her house, but what if it wasn’t just the house he had set his mind to possess?
Especially after that explosive kiss...
She refused to think about that kiss. She had tried to block it from her mind. Every time she thought of it she cringed at how willing she had been, almost desperate, practically hanging off him like a limpet, before he’d put her from him.
She couldn’t make him out. He had bought her shop, yet he hadn’t raised the rent and had told her he wasn’t going to. Could she trust him not to suddenly change his mind? Was he trying to charm her by stealth?
He could hardly be in doubt of her attraction to him now. She tried her best to hide it but he was so damnably attractive! His casually tousled hair and the dark stubble on his jaw would have looked dishevelled or scruffy on someone else. On him it looked sexy and it made her fingers twitch to reach up and thread through those dark, silky strands or to stroke that chiselled plane of his jaw.
And his mouth... She gulped as she thought of the contours of his lips, how they were so finely sculptured and yet so utterly masculine; how he had tasted; so warm and yet so fresh. Would he kiss her again? Was that why he was taking her out to dinner? Would she have the strength of will to resist him?
Of course.
She’d been caught off-guard before. He had taken advantage of her momentary lapse of concentration. She would be better prepared this time. He could dazzle her with whatever strength of charm he liked.
She
