Page 176 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

‘Not that I’m asking you to expand,’ Mateo interjected smoothly. ‘Your business.’

Alice reddened, again in the grip of embarrassment at the thought that she was boring him.

He was making polite chit-chat because he had no choice. The last thing he wanted to hear was about her life or abouther.

‘What about you?’ she asked, going slowly with the food, which took a lot of willpower, because she was ravenous. ‘I mean, why are you here on your own? Doyouhave anyone waiting up for you?’

‘I don’t believe my private life is any of your business,’ he returned gently.

‘It’s not. But if you can ask questions about me then isn’t it only fair that I ask questions about you?’

‘Not entirely, considering this is my lodge and you happen to be in it through misfortune as opposed to invitation.’

‘That’s not a very nice thing to say!’

‘I’ve sometimes been told that I’m not a very nice person,’ Mateo returned with a shrug.

‘Have you?’

‘You sound shocked.’ He grinned at her and Alice felt her skin prickle and a tide of pink wash her face.

‘Don’t you care?’

‘No.’ He raised his eyebrows, still smiling. ‘But, moving on from that, like I said when you got here, no wife and no girlfriend. Not here or waiting anywhere for me.’

Alice sighed. ‘You’re a fantastic cook.’ She changed the subject but was itching to return to him, to find out more about him, even though he was perfectly right to say that it was hardly her business to probe into his private life, as someone who had infuriatingly landed on his doorstep like a parcel delivered to the wrong address. She didn’t even know what he did: ‘self-employed’ could cover a multitude of sins!

‘What are you self-employed doing?’ she couldn’t resist asking. ‘And I know it’s none of my business, because I’m just here through sheer bad luck—at least, bad luckfor you. Good luck for me.’

Mateo burst out laughing and pushed his plate to one side so that he could relax back in the chair and look at her, head tilted to one side.

‘You have a way when it comes to asking questions.’

‘Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher. We’re kind of trained to ask questions. So, what do you do? Are you a ski-instructor?’

He laughed again, this time with more amusement, and carried on looking at her, his amazing eyes as intimate as a caress as they rested on her.

‘From axe-murderer to ski-instructor with nothing in between.’

‘You told me you’re self-employed and you... Well, you have a chalet here out on one of the more dangerous runs, so you must be an experienced skier. I’m putting two and two together.’

‘You should avoid a career as a detective. No, I’m not a ski instructor, as it happens, even if I am proficient on the skis. I work in...tech.’

‘Oh.’

‘You look disappointed.’

‘I always thought that IT people were geeky.’

‘Not all.’

Mateo lowered his lashes.

Was this what it felt like to be anonymous, to blend in with the crowd and inhabit a place where no one around you knew who you were?

It was a long time since he’d been in that position. For most of his adult life, as he’d climbed the ladder at dizzying speed, he had become a recognisable commodity. He realised his world had shrunk to contain only people who moved in the same circles as he did. It was safe. Was it also limiting? It was something he hadn’t really considered before, because ‘safe’ equalled ‘controlled’ and control appealed.

Wealth and power attracted wealth and power and, while he had never courted any social scene, social scenes courted him. He got invitations to prominent events: hobnobbing with the great and the good; parties for openings stuffed with celebrities; and of course all those essential networking dos where the rich and influential mixed with the other rich and influential.

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