Chapter Six #2
‘She scared me,’ Sammy confessed. ‘I understand now why you felt you had to show up here with me in tow. I thought you had been exaggerating.’
His arm was still around her and she was suddenly self-conscious of how she looked.
She had been talked into a long skirt that was light and fell beautifully to her ankles in various tie-dyed shades of apricot and grey.
It was the height of modesty but the top twinned to go with it lovingly curved over her full breasts, dipping to expose just a hint of cleavage.
The overall effect was one that made her look sexy and respectable at the same time.
She had twirled in front of that mirror in the boutique and marvelled that she even had the ability to pull off a look like that.
She had thought that she would be excruciatingly self-conscious walking into that room in the lawyer’s office but, in fact, she had barely been aware of what she was wearing.
‘I hadn’t expected her there.’ There had been other things Leo hadn’t been expecting, the way his fiancée looked in that outfit being one of them.
She’d walked into that room and every head had turned in her direction and his stomach had clenched as he’d taken in those darting, quickly concealed looks of appreciation from the men in the room.
Including his own top lawyer who was fifty if he was a day, short and balding.
Hope, he had thought grimly, certainly sprang eternal.
Which hadn’t made him any the less annoyed.
‘I think—’ he found his eyes straying to the sway of her heavy breasts and had to force himself to look away ‘—she decided that if she caught everyone on the hop then she might have the element of surprise.’
As if by magic, their car was pulling to the kerb, slowing for them to hop in, which was a blessed relief because it was so hot and humid.
The long skirt was far cooler than trousers or anything shorter or tighter, but Sammy had still started perspiring within moments of leaving the lawyer’s air-conditioned office.
Resting against the seat with her eyes closed for a couple of seconds, Sammy then turned to look at Leo. ‘I barely took in what was going on. I was very nervous.’
‘Legal back and forth,’ Leo said drily. ‘I’ve sat through enough meetings with lawyers to know that it’s a very delicate rally that gets played in any situation where two sides are trying to meet.’
‘Are you trying to meet? I mean—in the middle with Gail?’
Leo dealt her a cool sideways smile. ‘I’m prepared to make some concessions.
Louise and Sean made lousy parents and there’s some truth in what she says, that the care of Adele fell on her shoulders more than should have been necessary.
I’ve done extensive background checks on the woman, however.
And, whilst she was technically in charge of her granddaughter, everything she says has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
She’s been demanding and receiving vast sums of money from my father and, well, you can see for yourself where some of that money has gone.
There have been some plastic surgeons rubbing their hands in glee every time she’s phoned to make an appointment.
I know down to the last penny where the money’s gone.
’ He shrugged. ‘But if she doesn’t put up a fight, then I’m willing to leave her with some cash. ’
‘She doesn’t believe that this is a real engagement,’ Sammy mused cautiously.
Her body tensed then flamed as he ran his eyes very, very slowly over her.
She hadn’t thought he’d noticed what she was wearing and then she’d decided that it wasn’t her place to feel disappointed if he hadn’t commented because there was no reason for him to.
He’d noticed. It was there in the heat of his brooding, fabulous eyes.
By the time he had finished his leisurely inspection of her, her face was bright red and she would have told him in no uncertain terms that looking at her like that wasn’t part of the arrangement except she had enjoyed every heat-filled second of that visual appraisal.
‘Maybe she had her doubts when the news was first broken to her that I was no longer going to fit into the role of inveterate womaniser and unsuitable guardian which she had hoped for... Maybe she showed up here today with the express purpose of making sure her lawyers got on board with her way of thinking...but I think it’s fair to say that after today. ..’
‘I know what you’re saying,’ Sammy told him, breaking eye contact to find that the palms of her hands were slippery with perspiration and that had nothing to do with the temperature in the car.
‘You were right. It would have looked peculiar if I had been wearing my department store clothes. Especially given that the woman looks as though she would be able to tell designer from fake without any trouble at all.’
‘So good thinking. You chose just the right mix of daring and prudish. No one could doubt that you were a respectable teacher with just the right amount of sex appeal.’
‘To attract a man of your high standards?’ He’d noticed her but only insofar as she had chosen the right clothes for the job at hand. She gave a tinkling laugh that implied that she knew exactly what he meant.
‘You’re putting words into my mouth.’ He wondered whether she was aware of just how incredibly erotic that alluring mix of daring and prudish actually was.
He had given his lawyer some background details on her so they were all predisposed to think of her as highly respectable, moral, responsible—a shining example of just the sort of woman any man would bring home to his mother.
That said, had she looked too much like the moral, respectable teacher, they would all have been a bit bemused because how could a guy reasonably go from an actress whose face graced billboards to a teacher who was camera-shy and modestly dressed?
Gail was astute. She would have sniffed out a phoney from a hundred paces and Sammy, resentful in borrowed clothing, would have been easily sniffed out.
Better she be comfortable than bristling with transparent resentment.
But her choice of dress had been nothing short of inspired.
When they arrived back at the hotel he suggested dinner at one of the several excellent restaurants in the hotel. She could take her pick.
Sammy had forgotten all about her hunger pangs. Now, they resurfaced with a vengeance and no sooner had they sat down and bread was brought to them than she tucked in. To heck with pretending that she had the appetite of a sparrow, she thought.
‘I’m ravenous,’ she confessed, resisting the urge to help herself to more bread. ‘What were you talking to your lawyer about? When we were leaving?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard any woman admit to being ravenous.’
‘I used to try dieting when I was younger but I gave up after a while. If you’re hungry, I don’t see the point of starving yourself.’
Sammy thought that since theirs was a phoney relationship based on necessity on both sides, there was no need to try and be someone she wasn’t.
She’d been out with guys in the past and she’d always been conscious of trying hard to be as ladylike as possible, which, in restaurants, had meant ordering healthy salads and dishes with weird ingredients that sounded good for you.
But she wasn’t out to impress Leo and he certainly wasn’t open to being impressed by her.
For him, she was a means to an end. She didn’t have to edit her personality at all.
She was the hired help. He touched her when he had to and when he looked at her, the way he had done just then, his dark eyes lazy and speculative, the only thing he was speculating about was how convincing she would be in her choice of clothing and whether there was anything else she could do to make sure he got what he had come to get.
‘Watching their weight is part of some women’s livelihoods.’ He was fascinated by the enthusiasm with which she was working her way through her hearty starter of aubergine parmigiana.
‘Of course it’s important to be healthy. This is delicious. I don’t do much eating out in expensive restaurants. On a teacher’s salary, cheap and cheerful is usually all I can afford, and especially with the money problems Mum’s been having.’
‘As you know, my father offered her money countless times.’
‘She’s proud. She would never accept anything from your dad.
I was surprised when she seemed to be all for this charade, though.
I think it’s a relief for her to know that I’ll be getting something I’ve wanted for a really long time out of it and that it’s not just about making sure that the mortgage is paid off. ’
Plates were cleared. Wine was poured. She looked the most relaxed he had seen her since they had arrived in the country and he assumed that that was because the first steps had been taken towards resolving what they had come for.
The wine was also having its effect. She was on her second glass. He didn’t think that she would be someone accustomed to drinking much alcohol.
Funny, he had known her for a long time and yet he felt as though he was getting to know her for the first time.
She had ordered a pie for her main course. It arrived with much fanfare and he couldn’t help grinning as she tucked into it, taking a few seconds first to appreciate the mouthwatering beauty of the golden pastry and the rich red wine gravy bubbling through the crusty lid.
Sammy could feel his eyes on her but when he spoke it was to say, pensively, ‘I’m beginning to realise that a woman who doesn’t enjoy her food is probably not a woman worth going out with.’
‘What do you mean?’ Sammy looked at him, her wide, bright blue eyes startled.
‘There’s something extremely sensual about food, wouldn’t you agree? About someone who appreciates the pleasure of eating.’