about what other people thought of him. It was what made him so straightforward in his approach to tackling difficult situations. He never wasted time beating about the bush. Now, he felt an unaccustomed dart of shame when he thought back to how unapologetic he had been on every occasion he had met them, how direct his questions had been. He had made no attempt to conceal the reason for his sudden interest in his niece. He hadn’t been overtly hostile but Aggie, certainly, was sharp enough to have known exactly what his motives were. So could he really blame her if she hadn’t launched into a sob story about her deprived background?
Strangely, he felt a tug of admiration for the way she had managed to forge a path for herself through difficult circumstances. It certainly demonstrated the sort of strength of personality he had rarely glimpsed in the opposite sex. He grimaced when he thought of the women he dated. Chloe might be beautiful but she was also colourless and unambitious…just another cover girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth, biding her time at a fairly pointless part-time job until a rich man rescued her from the need to pretend to work at all.
‘So where was this home?’
‘Lake District,’ Aggie replied with a little shrug. She looked into those deep, deep, dark eyes and her mouth went dry.
‘Hence you said that they went somewhere that had sentimental meaning for you.’
‘Do you remember everything that people say to you?’ Aggie asked irritably and he shot her one of those amazing, slow smiles that did strange things to her heart rate.
‘It’s a blessing and a curse. You blush easily. Do you know that?’
‘That’s probably because I feel awkward here with you,’ Aggie retorted, but on cue she could feel her face going red.
‘No idea why.’ Luiz pushed himself away from the table and stretched out his legs to one side. He noticed that they had managed to work their way through nearly two bottles of wine. ‘We’re having a perfectly civilised conversation. Tell me why you decided to move to London.’
‘Tell me why you did.’
‘I took over an empire. The London base needed expanding. I was the obvious choice. I went to school here. I understand the way the people think.’
‘But did you want to settle here? I mean, it must be a far cry from Brazil.’
‘It works for me.’
He continued looking at her as what was left of the sandwiches were cleared away and coffee offered to them. Considering the hour, their landlady was remarkably obliging, waving aside Aggie’s apologies for arriving at such an inconvenient time, telling them that business was to be welcomed whatever time it happened to arrive. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.
But neither of them wanted coffee. Aggie was so tired that she could barely stand. She was also tipsy; too much wine on an empty stomach.
‘I’m going to go outside for a bit,’ she said. ‘I think I need to get some fresh air.’
‘You’re going outside in this weather?’
‘I’m used to it. I grew up with snow.’ She stood up and had to steady herself and breathe in deeply.
‘I don’t care if you grew up running wild in the Himalayas, you’re not going outside, and not because I don’t think that you can handle the weather. You’re not going outside because you’ve had too much to drink and you’ll probably pass out.’
Aggie glared at him and gripped the table. God, her head was swimming, and she knew that she really ought to get to bed, do just as he said. But there was no way that she was going to allow him to dictate her movements on top of everything else.
‘Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Luiz Montes!’
He looked at her in silence and then shrugged. ‘And do you intend to go out without a coat, because you’re used to the snow?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Well, that’s a relief.’ He stood up and shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. ‘Make sure you have a key to get back in,’ he told her. ‘I think we’ve caused our obliging landlady enough inconvenience for one night without having to get her out of bed to let you in because you’ve decided to take a walk in driving snow.’
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mrs Bixby, the landlady, heading towards them like a ship in full sail. But when she began expressing concern about Aggie’s decision to step outside for a few minutes, Luiz shook his head ever so slightly.
‘I’m sure Agatha is more than capable of taking care of herself,’ he told Mrs Bixby. ‘But she will need a key to get back in.’
‘I expect you want me to thank you,’ Aggie hissed, once she was in possession of the front-door key and struggling to get her arms into her coat. Now that she was no longer supporting herself against the dining-room table, her light-headedness was accompanied by a feeling of nausea. She also suspected that her words were a little slurred even though she was taking care to enunciate each and every syllable very carefully.
‘Thank me for what?’ Luiz walked with her to the front door. ‘Your coat’s not done up properly.’ He pointed to the buttons which she had failed to match up properly, and then he leaned against the wall and watched as she fumbled to try and remedy the oversight.
‘Stop staring at me!’
‘Just making sure that you’re well wrapped up. Would you like to borrow my scarf? No bother for me to run upstairs and get it for you.’
‘I’m absolutely fine.’ A wave of sickness washed over her as she tilted her head to look him squarely in the face.
Very hurriedly, she let herself out of the house while Luiz turned to Mrs Bixby and grinned. ‘I intend to take up residence in the dining room. I’ll sit by the window and make sure I keep an eye on her. Don’t worry; if she’s not back inside in under five minutes, I’ll forcibly bring her in myself.’
‘Coffee while you wait?’
‘Strong, black would be perfect.’
He was still grinning as he manoeuvred a chair so that he could relax back and see her as she stood still in the snow for a few seconds, breathing in deeply from the looks of it, before tramping in circles on the front lawn. He couldn’t imagine her leaving the protective circle of light and striking out for an amble in the town. The plain truth was that she had had a little too much to drink. She had been distinctly green round the gills when she had stood up after eating a couple of sandwiches, although that was something she would never have admitted to.
Frankly, Luiz had no time for women who drank, but he could hardly blame her. Neither of them had been aware of how much wine had been consumed. She would probably wake up with a headache in the morning, which would be a nuisance, as he wanted to leave at the crack of dawn, weather permitting. But that was life.
He narrowed his eyes and sat forward as she became bored with her circular tramping and began heading towards the little gate that led out towards the street and the town.
Without waiting for the coffee, he headed for the front door, only pausing on the way to tell Mrs Bixby that he’d let himself back in.
She’d
