Page 26 of Strictly Business

Liam grinned again. ‘We haven’t had much chance for every day conversation.’

‘No, we’ve gone about this backwards.’

‘You think so?’

‘Well, normally when a man meets a woman –’ She hesitated. ‘Mind you, I’m out of touch when it comes to dating. Maybe it was only in the Dark Ages that people went out for some time and got to know each other before they —’

‘Leapt into bed?’

‘Yes.’

Liam set his mug back on the little table beside the bed. Her foot was near his knee and he casually wrapped his hand around it. ‘We can always back up a step or two and try the getting to know you part. Although I already know a lot of important things about you.’

‘You think so?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘What kinds of things?’

His long brown fingers played with her big toe. ‘You like green.’

Alice rolled her eyes. ‘And how relevant is that to a relationship?’

‘It’s vital. I might hate green.’

‘But you don’t, do you?’ She regretted the hopeful note that crept into her voice.

‘Green’s fine with me, but that’s only because I have a very liberal attitude to colour.’

‘Does this liberal attitude allow you to have a favourite colour?’

He thought about this and smiled. ‘I’m quite partial to white.’

‘White?’ She grinned. ‘Is that because you’re a Virgo?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps...’

She was about to tease him, but changed her mind when she realised that his smile had turned cheeky and he was paying rather obvious attention to her white top and white silk and lace panties.

‘Now,’ said Liam, playing with her next toe, creating ripples of warmth that swam up her leg. ‘I know you’re recently divorced.’

‘Yes... well... that’s not my favourite topic. If you like we can skip over that one.’

Liam watched her thoughtfully for a moment.

She didn’t want to think about Todd now, when she’d been feeling so peaceful and happy.

‘You started this, remember?’

‘You’re worlds apart from him, Liam. In every way. In all the best ways.’

He accepted this without comment, although she was sure she saw his neck redden. He moved on to her next toe, circling the ball of it with his finger tip. ‘You spend far too much time reading in bed.’

‘You know that because you saw the pile of books in my bedroom. Not fair. You have an advantage – you’ve been to my house.’

She wriggled her foot in his hand and he tightened his grasp. ‘I didn’t realise this was a competition.’

‘It’s not a competition. It’s just that –’ She sat up, chewing her bottom lip as she struggled to find the right words for the niggle of disquiet inside her. ‘I still feel as if there’s too much I don’t know about you.’

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