by Kris Pearson
He spotted a parking space that had just become vacant, grunted with satisfaction and swung the SUV sharply around and into it. Despite her seat belt, Kate joggled sideways and hit her head against the window.
“Ow,” she gasped, clutching her ear, surprised by the sudden impact.
Matthew cursed under his breath, unclipped his belt, and leaned across to her. He cupped her face in his hands and inspected her with care.
Kate appeared to shrivel under his scrutiny, and squeezed her eyes closed. He saw faint violet shadowing on her lids, and lashes so dark and long that she must have some sort of miracle mascara. Either that or nature had been very kind.
“No blood, anyway,” he murmured, unable to resist running his fingers down her jaw instead of lifting his hands from her skin.
“Sorry—I was miles away,” she muttered. “I should have held on tighter.”
She fumbled her seat belt undone with rubber fingers and slid out, relieved to escape, regretful to be released, and totally furious with herself. It was one thing to be enjoying a little fantasy, but quite another to drift off so far that she no longer knew where she was. She must have seemed dazed and dreamy—hardly the keen, efficient, job seeker she’d hoped to appear. And his hands had felt wonderful.
She slammed the heavy door a little harder than she’d intended, folded her arms across her breasts as the cold air hit her again, and muttered ‘pull yourself together’ under her breath.
Matthew led the way in to the busy café—ordering cannelloni as they entered, without consulting her.
“Okay with you?” he asked over his shoulder. “You don’t want to get spaghetti sauce over a suit that colour—any more than I do over this.”
Kate watched as he stripped off his dark blue down-filled jacket to reveal a pale grey jersey moulded to an impressive chest. A tough man in prime condition—lucky Lottie...
“That’s fine. I’m not such a messy eater,” she murmured, mind overloaded with his body. Maybe he was a climber or did a lot of skiing? Now that he’d removed the jacket she saw he had narrow hips and very long legs. No wonder he walked so fast.
She paced after him to a table in the sunny rear courtyard. He threw his jacket around the back of a seat, and Kate took the one opposite before he could do any gentlemanly chair holding for her.
“All right?” he asked.
Kate nodded. Could he sense her unease? A warm flush crept up her neck. Even here, outdoors with a chilly little breeze flicking around her, he made her hot and flustered simply by looking at her. It would be murder working close to him. Perhaps she should escape while the going was good? Turn down the position if she was lucky enough to have it offered? Darn it—this had seemed the ideal job, but maybe not...
Matthew was plainly known at the café—a bottle of merlot and two glasses appeared on their table with no apparent instruction from him. He waved the waiter away.
“You seem very at home,” Kate dared to say.
“My brother helped set the place up, some years ago now, when his vineyard was newly planted.”
“And he still has shares in it?”
Matthew shook his head. “Not any longer, but I like the way they’ve kept his standards up. Lottie and I stop by every couple of weeks for a quick meal, so they’re used to having me here.” He picked up one of the big glasses and tilted the bottle over it.
“Not too much for me,” Kate said.
“Frightened I’ll get you tipsy and discover the real woman behind the calm facade?”
She grinned at that. “So I’m faking it successfully so far?”
“Faking it? That remains to be seen.”
Kate bit her lip. “No, I didn’t mean that exactly. But surely everyone’s slightly on edge in situations like this? ‘Am I good enough’ and so on...”
Matthew reached across and set her glass down. His ice-blue eyes roamed over her in a thorough and unnerving inspection. “What do you think, Miss Pleasance? Are you good enough?”
She tilted her chin up. “I think I’m very good indeed. I wouldn’t have applied for the job unless I was sure I could do everything Lottie wants done.” It gave her a savage little tingle of satisfaction to slightly emphasise Lottie’s name. After all, it wasn’t Matthew who’d be her boss. She raised the glass so she could inhale the wine’s bouquet, took a sip of it, and closed her eyes to cut him out as she appreciated the flavours.
“You’re a woman who likes wine, then?”
Her eyes shot open again. “Not to excess. Why do you say that?”
“It’s the way you approach it. With reverence and concentration.”
Kate shrugged. “My parents generally had wine with dinner. I suppose when you’re familiar with something...”
“Are you familiar with Lottie’s paintings?”
“I know about her, of course. But not specific works. If I’d known it was her I might be working for, I could have done some research.”
Matthew’s mouth quirked at one corner. “We’d have had every celebrity chaser in the country applying for the job if her name was in the ad. No way...”
Kate took another sip of wine. “Yes, I suppose you have to be careful.”
Matthew sipped too. Kate watched as his lips shaped themselves to the curve of the glass. Sensuously full lips now. Her own tingled with awareness as she imagined kissing him. Ridiculous of course, but he was hard to ignore.
“Lottie needs peace and privacy,” he continued, flicking his tongue over his bottom lip to remove the traces of wine. Kate tried to rip her eyes away, and failed.
“Her paintings are better than ever, but her health isn’t so good. She’s working herself into the ground. Hence the need for an assistant.”
“Of course,” Kate agreed, sipping again. The wine tasted wonderful. Although she’d resolved to drink very little so she could guard her comments, the sultry dark liquid slid so softly over her tongue and down her throat that Matthew had poured her a second glass before their food arrived.
She’d attempted to dissuade him by raising a hand, but he’d beaten her to it and the rich ruby wine gurgled into her glass. “I never have a second at lunchtime,” she protested. “And never even a first unless it’s with my mother at the weekend.” She bowed her head for a moment and corrected herself. “Was with my mother at the weekend. You know about that? I presume you’ve read my CV?”
A slight grimace touched his mouth. “Not until the airport this morning. A fairly brief run through, but I gather you nursed her.”
“Not exactly nursed, but I did everything non medical I could.”
“She was lucky to have you.”
“We were very close.”
“So no carousing with friends on Saturday nights? A pretty girl like you?”
Kate compressed her lips and ignored the compliment. “Some things had to take a back seat for a while.”
She certainly wouldn’t be telling him about her break-up with Simon and her subsequent awkward situation in their couples-oriented group. With much larger worries on her mind, she’d almost not noticed herself drawing away from them.
Mercifully the waiter arrived at that moment with their cannelloni. The distractions of moving glasses aside and setting down the big white plates and the bowl of grated parmesan were just what Kate needed.
“Yum,” she murmured, breathing in the richly fragrant aromas. She dug in with gusto, airline biscuits a faint memory.
She found herself talking far more than she’d intended. Matthew was engaging and inquisitive. He questioned her closely. However much she tried to make little of her life, he had a way of digging—quietly, persistently—until she told him far more than she’d meant to.
She tried to convince herself that of course he’d want to vet her thoroughly if she was to become Lottie’s assistant, but there seemed to be something more. She was puzzled about what it could be.
Matthew sighed and tipped his face up to the sun. He was no further ahead. Was she Rob Pleasance’s daughte
r or not? Rob was a big man. This girl was tall. But Rob had sandy hair and hers was gloriously dark. Unless she’d coloured it as part of a disguise.
Damn Lottie for not letting him know the names on her shortlist until it was too late! He’d have had Kate Pleasance off it in nano-seconds. The last thing he wanted was to grant the daughter of his wily and successful business rival the run of his home. He’d worked too hard to have all that progress put in jeopardy.
He thought briefly and bitterly of his ex-wife, Martine. What a disastrous choice she’d been—initially bewitching and beautiful, but, soon enough, grasping and immoral. He’d been determined to guard his heart and his secrets ever since Martine’s defection. Delicious Kate Pleasance wouldn’t be getting close to either, that was for sure—even though she was by far the best candidate for the job.
After they’d eaten, they continued to sit, enjoying coffees. Latte for her, black for him. As he sipped, he glanced across at her and caught her inspecting him.
She instantly ripped her eyes from his, and began to screw up the tiny paper tube that had held her teaspoon of sugar, pressing and twisting at it until it became a small hard pellet.
Matthew watched without commenting. Was this a little show of tension? Of nerves? He let her play with the paper for a few more seconds, and decided he had nothing to lose by asking her identity. It might be the easiest way after all.
“Pleasance,” he said. “Unusual name. No relation to Rob I suppose?”
Kate jerked her head up and met his gaze. “Rob’s my dad,” she said. “I don’t...throw his name around because he’s a bit too well known, and it might look like I expect things because of it.”
She began to roll the little pellet of paper to and fro on the table top again.
He considered her reply. Was she being very, very clever or was she genuine? “There’s nothing about telecommunications in your CV?” He let the words hang between them, hoping to force some sort of useful comment out of her, but all he got was a shrug and a vague smile.
“Lord, no,” she said after a few seconds. “No, not my field at all. Marketing—that’s me. Until I stopped work to help my mum. After that, I wanted a total change. Change of job, change of scenery. So here I am.”
Matthew nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off her. Okay, she’d admitted her true identity. But surely such candour was designed to put him off her trail? No way would he believe Rob Pleasance’s daughter was here in Queenstown innocently. Of course she’d had to admit who she was when he’d asked so directly. Now he wished he’d done it much earlier in their interview and saved himself a lot of time.
There wasn’t a hope in hell he’d allow her to have the job, but Lottie had offered accommodation for the night and he could hardly refuse Kate that courtesy. It might even be possible to twist things to his advantage—turn the tables and see where it led. If the boyfriend was now out of the way, it could lead to a night of pleasurable passion.
He watched as her glossy hair bounced and glinted. As her long lashes hid her eyes when she glanced demurely down. As her cheeks flushed delicately pink. Might she be on for a brief no-strings affair?
A prickle of excitement stirred his groin, and he closed his eyes as he allowed it to thread its way through his whole body. How long had it been since he’d initiated the pursuit of a woman? And how much sweeter would it be if the woman was Rob Pleasance’s pretty daughter? He smiled slightly as his cock stirred and lengthened, safely hidden beneath the table-top. God—it would serve the scheming pair right!
Eventually he stretched, and rose from his seat. “Better try the hospital again,” he said, lifting Kate’s chair away so she could stand with ease.
Finding herself uncomfortably close to him, she stepped sideways. “Ouch,” she exclaimed, as one of the spokes of a big sun umbrella stabbed her scalp.
“You’re in the wars today,” he said, reaching out to steady her and then running his fingers through her hair to check for injury.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, unnerved by the intimate caress, and trying to shrug away from him to regain her own space.
“Indeed you are,” he said with a broad grin.
Kate marched toward the door, sensing the flush rising up her neck again, knowing she must look pink and offended. He’d only been offering help to a visitor, after all. Why had she reacted so gauchely?
She knew he followed close behind her; could still picture that sudden devastating smile, and feel his hands in her hair and on her skin as she bolted ahead in confusion and consternation.
Leaving him to pay for lunch, she stood outside the cafe, hoping the crisp winter air would make her feel cooler and calmer. Her reaction to Matthew McLeod was simply ridiculous. She tried to convince herself of this as people streamed by...as the huge lake sparkled ahead of her...as her thumping heart gradually slowed.
She saw another smile twitch at Matthew’s lips as he opened the door of the SUV for her. He waited until she’d climbed in before gently closing it. Kate pulled her fashionably short skirt down and smoothed it across her thighs. It had never seemed too short before. Surely he was simply being courteous? Why did she keep imagining it was anything more than that?
She simmered away in silence as he drove back toward the hospital. Erotic pictures floated through her mind. She didn’t want to be attracted. Couldn’t possibly be attracted. And yet…something hummed between them. An edgy awareness. And, unwelcome as it was, she couldn’t banish it.
She gazed out the window as the view of leafless trees and dark conifers rushed by. Inspected the houses on the surrounding slopes with their stony colours and unusual angles. Stared up higher toward the snow-dusted peaks glistening in the hard sunlight. All new, all different, and none of it as spectacular as the man beside her.
He turned into a parking space at the hospital and said, “Better luck this time.”
Kate unclenched her hands, stretching out fingers she hadn’t known were twined tightly together. “I hope she’s not in too much pain. She’ll need a nurse rather than a P.A. if that’s the case.”
Matthew opened his door. “I’ve been wondering about that. She’s as tough as old nails though. Won’t give in and show any weakness. We’ll see what they say.”
They entered the warm shining reception area and paced side by side to Lottie’s room again. She was still very drowsy when they reached her bedside.
“Doctor’s not certain she’s concussed,” the nurse informed them. “We had to give her a little sedation. She’s very excitable, isn’t she?”
Matthew’s description of ‘a daunting task’ floated back into Kate’s brain. What might she be getting herself into? An ‘excitable, daunting’ boss didn’t sound ideal. And a husband as disturbing as Matthew was just plain dangerous.
He smiled at the nurse, who beamed in reply. “Ah well, we’ll phone again later and see how she’s doing.”
He touched Kate’s arm to usher her out, and she jumped at even that small contact.
“Looks like I’ll have to take you home for a look around,” he suggested. “We’re out by the Shotover River,” he added, as they returned to the parking lot.
“Where the jet-boats rush along? I saw one loading passengers at the jetty while I waited for you outside the cafe.”
He beeped the SUV unlocked and opened the door for her. “Yes, but we’re high above all that, and some way distant. We don’t really hear them.”
Soon they were humming along the highway. After several miles, Matthew turned off where dark trees threw a pool of dense shadow over the road. Kate shivered in the sudden shade. “It’s colder here than I expected,” she said.
“So I see.” He glanced at her folded arms and smiled slightly. “I can turn the heating up further if you like, but I hope you’ve got something warmer than that to wear?”
“Of course,” she said, glaring at him. “But I wanted to look businesslike to meet Charlotte—not padded out like an Arctic explorer.”
He smiled
more broadly. A truly killer grin that didn’t settle her nerves in the least. Delicate shivers chased up and down her spine.
“Fair enough,” he said. And a little later; “Here we are.”
His home was huge—long and low, with a second storey at one end only. It was entirely clad with the local silver-grey schist rock. Kate had plenty of time to be impressed as they progressed up the curving driveway. Gravel crunched under the big tyres, then the garage door rose, and the house swallowed them.
Matthew lifted her overnight bag from the rear seat and led the way in to another world. He dropped the bag at a branch in the main hallway, but kept walking.
Amazing artwork covered the walls. It was blessedly warm inside. Kate followed as he stripped off his bulky navy jacket, eyeing his big shoulders as she trailed behind him.
“Main living area through here,” he said, waving a long arm into a vast honey-coloured room with windows around three sides. “Kitchen, there.”
Kate had never seen so many electrical appliances.
“Dining room. Formal sitting room...which we hardly use...and my study.”
Kate glanced in as he rushed her by. It was a serious place of work; she registered several computer screens, assorted business machines, big desks and capacious filing cabinets.
He swept back along the main hallway. “Master bedroom wing...spa pool and gym over this side...guest bedrooms along this way.” He reached down for her bag and led her into a suite with a view of floor to ceiling mountains only a few miles distant.
“Wow,” she gasped.
“Your accommodation for the evening, Miss Pleasance. I’ll leave you to freshen up.”
“Thank you. It’s wonderful.” As soon as he left she unbuttoned her jacket, peeled it off, and tossed it on the bed; then unzipped the bag to find the soft red jersey she’d packed.
