by Kathryn Ross
The only awkward moment had been when she was saying goodnight. She had suddenly found herself wanting him to kiss her. There had been a second when she had thought he was going to but he had simply seen her safely up to her front door, smiled, said goodnight, and turned on his heel.
The depth of her disappointment had stunned her. Wasn’t that how she had wanted things to be between them?
A shadow fell across her and she glanced up into Nile’s eyes.
‘Hi, Chloe; sorry I’m late. I got held up at work.’
‘That’s OK,’ she said easily.
He sat down next to her. ‘So, how are things with you?’
‘Fine, and you?’ Her eyes flicked over him. Pleasant-looking, was how she would describe Nile; she had always liked his eyes, had always thought them kind and gentle.
‘Oh, things are fine with me too.’ He shrugged and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. For a moment she wondered if he had remembered it was her birthday today and had brought her a card. When he brought out the papers that he wanted her to sign she almost laughed aloud at her foolishness.
Of course Nile wouldn’t remember her birthday—it had taken him all his time to remember it when they were together.
‘It’s good of you to sign the house over to me, Chloe. I really appreciate it.’
Chloe took the papers and flicked through them.
‘You don’t need to read them,’ he said in surprise.
She looked up at him briefly. ‘Thanks for the advice, but I never sign anything without reading it,’ she said softly.
‘Well, I’ve got to be back at work in ten minutes.’
She ignored him and continued reading.
Then, after a long silence while she concentrated, she held out her hand. ‘Have you got a pen?’
Hastily he scrabbled about in his pockets and brought one out.
He watched as she signed on the dotted line.
‘This is really good of you, Chloe; I really appreciate it,’ he said gruffly. ‘And don’t worry, I will pay you back that money I owe you.’
Chloe was enough of a realist to suspect that would never happen. But she handed him back the papers anyway. ‘Have a nice life, Nile,’ she said with a bright smile.
‘Yeah…yeah, you too,’ he said hurriedly as she got up to go.
‘Where have you been?’ Steven asked immediately she entered the office.
‘I just had a bit of business to attend to.’ She hung her coat up on the rail behind the door.
‘You mean you were seeing Nile Flynn.’
She looked up at him, surprised by his observation. ‘How did you know?’
‘He rang here, hoping to catch you because he said he was running late,’ he grated drily.
‘Well, if you knew where I was, why bother to ask?’ she snapped in annoyance.
‘Hey.’ Steven perched on the edge of her desk as she sat down. ‘Don’t get grouchy with me,’ he warned. ‘Old age is no excuse for bad manners.’
‘Old age?’ She looked up at him through narrowed eyes.
‘A little birdie on the window ledge informed me that it is your thirtieth birthday today.’
‘Really?’ Chloe pulled a face. ‘I’ll have that birdie for slander.’
Steven reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and brought out a small gift-wrapped box. ‘Happy birthday,’ he said.
She stared down at the box in surprise.
‘It’s safe to open,’ Steven said with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes when she made no move to touch it. ‘It’s not booby-trapped or anything.’
‘I’m very touched that you’ve remembered my birthday, Steven,’ she murmured, still not reaching to open it.
Steven shrugged. ‘I remembered your birthday last year, didn’t I?’
She remembered the beautiful bouquet of flowers he’d had sent to the office and smiled. ‘Yes, you did.’
‘And, anyway, your birthday is only a week after Beth’s, so it’s hard to forget. She says thank you very much for her doll, by the way…she loved it.’
‘Oh, I’m glad.’ Chloe reached for the package. ‘You know, you really shouldn’t have done this.’
‘I know, but I wanted to.’
He watched as she tore the paper away from the box and opened it. A delicate diamond cross on the end of a gold chain sparkled invitingly under the office lights.
‘It’s beautiful, Steven. Thank you so much.’
‘Oh, and there’s this as well.’ He pushed a card across to her that had been lying unnoticed against her diary.
She tore it open, admiring the pretty picture of roses. All it said was a simple ‘Happy Birthday’, but beneath it was written, ‘Love from Steven and Beth’. She noticed that Beth had written her own name and had put hugs and kisses next to it, and for some reason this really touched her. She felt her eyes mist over and blinked furiously, trying to pull herself together so that she could look up and thank him again.
‘Don’t be too upset—being thirty isn’t that bad,’ Steven said gently. ‘In fact, they say life begins at thirty.’
‘That’s forty,’ she corrected automatically.
‘Is it? Well, never mind. Look on thirty as the starting block for happiness, then.’
She laughed shakily. ‘You know, you really are quite poetic sometimes.’
‘Do you want me to put that on for you?’ he asked as she looked at the necklace again.
‘Model it, you mean?’ She looked up at him with laughter in her eyes now. ‘I don’t think it would suit you, Stevie.’
He stared at her for a second. ‘No one has called me Stevie in years,’ he murmured.
She felt her face redden; she hadn’t even realised that she had playfully shortened his name. ‘I’m sorry…’
‘No, it’s OK. Some wild woman used to whisper it in my ear as she asked me to make love to her, as I recall.’ He watched her face go an even deeper shade of red and then grinned. ‘That will teach you to tease me, Chloe Brown,’ he said huskily, and then, getting up, he took the box from her hands and went around behind her desk to put the necklace on for her.
The touch of his hands against her neck sent prickles of awareness shooting through her along with a forceful need that sent her stomach into a kind of freefall.
‘So, what are you doing tonight?’ he asked.
She wondered if it was her imagination or whether his fingers were lingering longer than necessary against the sensitivity of her skin.
‘Gillian wanted me to go out with her and a few of the other girls for a pizza, but I’ve put it off until next week because we’re going to Ireland tomorrow afternoon and I need to pack tonight.’
‘Packing on your birthday?’ Steven sounded disgusted.
‘Yes, well, it’s been so hectic in here, Steven, that I’ve not had a chance to think about it until now.’
‘Tell you what, take tomorrow morning off to do your packing and come out to dinner with me tonight. You were going to take Friday off anyway.’
‘That was before we got so busy.’
‘Chloe, I’ll manage without you tomorrow morning. I’m only coming in for half a day anyway.’ He bent his head so that his warm breath tickled against her ear. ‘Don’t tell anyone else that I’ve said this,’ he whispered, ‘but you can be too conscientious, you know.’
At the same time as laughing she was aware that she wanted to turn her head and kiss him. His lips were so close and she remembered how wonderful they felt against hers with a sweet, searing ache of need.
‘I’d love to have dinner with you, Steven,’ she whispered.
‘Great.’ He pulled away from her briskly. ‘I’ll pick you up at eight.’
She put on a pale blue dress that hugged her figure in a flattering way and then on impulse left her hair loose and put in her contact lenses.
She was just stepping back to assess herself in the bedroom mirror when the front doorbell rang.
Chloe pressed the intercom. ‘Hi, i
t’s me.’ Steven’s voice caused that fluttery sensation in her stomach that she was starting to associate with him.
She pushed the button to let him in and then stood with her lounge door open, waiting for him to come up the stairs.
‘You’re early,’ she said as he appeared at the top of the stairwell.
‘Yes, it didn’t take me as long to get here as I thought it would,’ he said with a grin. ‘The traffic was very light.’ His eyes flicked over her, taking in her appearance in one swift appraisal. ‘Wow! You look lovely,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’
He looked sensational as well, she thought. His dark blue suit looked as if it had been styled by an Italian designer. Or maybe it was just Steven that made the suit look that good. He had that kind of continental flair of being able to make whatever he threw on look as if it had a designer label.
‘Are you ready?’ he asked. ‘It’s just that I left the car on double yellow lines; I thought it would save you getting wet if I parked straight outside the door. It’s throwing it down out there.’
‘I’ll just get my bag and coat.’
Steven put his arm lightly at her back as they left the house together. The very lightness of that touch seemed to stir up her temperature, make her even more aware of the power he seemed to exert over her senses.
There was a wild part of her that wanted to say to him, Let’s just forget about dinner; let’s just stay in and we can make love. The need devoured her in a most disconcerting way.
She told herself fiercely to ignore it, that she was better sticking to this friendship angle…at least for a little while longer, to see how things went. After all, it wasn’t long since he’d finished with Helen.
She remembered the red roses that Steven had ordered for Helen just days before they had split up. He’d had them delivered to his house so that he could give them to her personally. Although to her knowledge the order had never been cancelled, there had been no sign of red roses at Steven’s house when she had been there at that business dinner last week.
Chloe told herself that he had probably given them to his mother or one of his sisters, or maybe he had even thrown them in the bin. But there was a small part of her that wondered about that.
Maybe he had still given Helen those red roses.
She looked out at the dark wetness of the London streets and tried not to care about what he’d done with the flowers. It was none of her business anyway.
Steven looked across at her, a quizzical look on the handsome face now. ‘Everything OK?’
‘Yes…fine.’
‘You’re very quiet.’
‘I was just thinking about what I’m going to pack into my suitcase tomorrow,’ she lied.
‘Beth has been packed for days,’ Steven said with a laugh. ‘Did I tell you?’
‘No.’
‘Oh, yes, she put the doll you gave her in, and a couple of teddy bears, and her favourite storybook. Plus four pairs of shoes and her favourite dress.’
‘Four pairs of shoes!’ Chloe laughed. ‘She’s a woman after my own heart.’
Steven laughed with her. ‘Gina had a major job trying to persuade her to let her re-pack.’
‘It sounds like she is excited about the trip.’
‘I think that’s an understatement.’ Steven grinned. ‘She’s told everyone that she is going to your house in Ireland—even the cat next door.’
Chloe laughed. ‘I’m glad she’s looking forward to it.’
‘It was kind of you to suggest I bring her along with us, Chloe,’ he said softly.
‘Well, there’s loads of room at home, and my cousin’s children will be there—Ellie has two little girls about the same age as Beth. Sarah is a bit older and Jane a year younger. They are going to be flower girls at the wedding.’
‘It was still kind of you to invite Beth,’ Steven said quietly.
‘Who is babysitting for her tonight, by the way?’ Chloe asked, changing the subject.
‘Gina, although I had to beg and bribe her into it. I’m going to have to interview those ladies you put on your short list next week and make a decision on childcare.’
‘It’s a difficult decision.’
‘Yes, it is. But you’ve helped a lot, Chloe.’ He slanted a look at her that made butterflies dance in her stomach. ‘Thank you,’ he said softly.
‘You know I’d do anything to help out where Beth is concerned. She is a wonderful little girl.’
Steven was gazing at her and he seemed to be deep in thought.
‘You know, you and I should really be going out to dinner together on a regular basis,’ he said after a moment. ‘After all, we are in the restaurant business. We should be researching a different place to eat every week. It should come within the job description.’
‘I’m glad it doesn’t,’ Chloe said fervently.
‘Why not?’
‘My figure would never recover.’
‘I don’t think you need worry about that,’ he said huskily. ‘Just for the record, I think you have a fabulous figure.’
For a second the image of his hands caressing her body flared in her mind, sending heat spiralling through her.
‘By the way, I booked a table at the Waterside,’ he continued briskly. ‘I hope that’s OK with you?’
‘As it’s probably the best restaurant in London, I suppose it will do,’ she said flippantly. ‘But if you want to do research, shouldn’t we be trying out one of our competitors’ restaurants?’
‘You’re probably right.’ He glanced across at her again, a gleam of flirtatious humour in his dark eyes. ‘But I wanted to do a different kind of research tonight,’ he said in a low, seductive tone.
‘A kind of quality-control check?’ she joked lightly, and hoped she wasn’t blushing.
‘Something along those lines,’ he grinned.
The Waterside was so named because it overlooked the River Thames. It was a modern building, the front a complete semicircle in glass so that each of the tables had a fabulous view of the river. The interior was a stylish mix of wooden floors and wrought-iron furniture, and built on three levels: downstairs there was the bar area that spilled out onto a terrace; upstairs there was the restaurant on two floors, linked by a black spiral staircase.
Chloe was extremely glad that she had worn her blue dress. It was stylishly understated, and in the fashionable surroundings of the Waterside she didn’t feel too out of place.
The manager of the establishment, Jamie McDonald, greeted them warmly at the door and someone took Chloe’s coat before they were led to the bar.
Although Chloe had been in the restaurant several times on work-related trips, she had never eaten in here with Steven. She sat on one of the high bar stools and sipped the glass of Chardonnay she had requested, and watched how the staff danced attendance around him, listened as Jamie talked business to him.
Usually she would have been interested in the business discussion, but tonight her brain refused to tune into it. Instead she was wondering what it would be like to have a full-blown affair with Steven Cavendish. Would it really be so unwise? Maybe after the emotional bruising she had received from Nile an affair was just what she needed, a frivolous, light-hearted bit of fun.
She studied Steven’s profile as he talked. Then remembered the smouldering passion in his kisses and felt her stomach turn over with desire.
If Nile could bruise me, this man could devastate me, she thought suddenly.
Steven glanced across, caught her eye and smiled.
‘Jamie, I think we will take a table and eat now, if you don’t mind?’ Steven cut across the other man as he started to talk about projected growth and advertising.
Immediately Jamie threw his hands up in the air, apologising for detaining them from their meal. He led them upstairs to a quiet table in the corner, handed them both a menu and discreetly left them.
‘Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea,’ Steven murmured. ‘We don’t seem to be able to
escape the spectre of work, do we?’
‘It’s no big deal,’ she said lightly. Words that were in total contrast to the feeling inside that she would just like the whole world to disappear for at least an hour so she could have Steven to herself.
‘You must be starving,’ Steven said, opening the menu.
Actually Chloe didn’t feel hungry at all. Her appetite seemed to have vanished, replaced by cravings of a much more perturbing nature, which seemed to strike every time he looked at her with that dark, intent gaze. ‘I’m not too bad, really,’ she said nonchalantly, transferring her attention to the menu.
For a moment there was silence between them, filled by the quiet buzz of the restaurant as it started to get busier. Chloe was acutely conscious of the fact that Steven was watching her from across the table. She wondered what he was thinking about.
‘What did Nile have to say to you today?’ he asked her suddenly.
She put down the menu. ‘Not a lot, I signed his papers, so that made him happy.’
‘Did he pay you the money he owes you?’
‘Let’s not talk about Nile,’ Chloe said uncomfortably.
Steven shook his head. ‘You should have let me deal with him for you. You’re too soft…too vulnerable where he’s concerned.’
‘I just wanted closure on the past, Steven. I don’t regret signing those papers, and in all honesty I wish him well for the future.’
Steven stared at her. ‘Are you still in love with him?’
The quietly asked question confused her senses. ‘No…not at all.’
Steven smiled. ‘It was a silly question to ask you really.’
‘Was it?’
He nodded. ‘No matter how you were feeling inside, you’d still say no. You don’t like to admit to any emotional weakness at all, do you, Chloe?’
She felt her heart thumping against her chest as she met his eyes.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ Steven pressed.
‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ she said airily. ‘You asked me a question and I gave you an honest answer…’
The waiter arrived at that moment to take their order. Chloe stared down at the menu without seeing anything and just ordered the first thing off each list.