Page 16 of Legacy of His Revenge
She turned away and Matias laughed softly. Okay, so the woman had somehow reduced him to a level of dithering unheard of. Normally, he approached women and relationships with just exactly the same assured directness with which he approached work. Both were a known quantity and neither induced anything in him other than complete certainty of the outcome.
But withher...his taste for revenge had been diluted by desire. What should have been clear-cut had become cloudy. He had vacillated like a hapless teenager between pursuit and withdrawal and had tried to reclaim the loss of his prized self-control only to find it now slipping out of his grasp.
He’d acted out of character and that disturbed him because it never happened.
‘You haven’t failed,’ he said quietly. ‘If you give me five minutes, I’ll meet you downstairs in the kitchen and we can debrief.’
He headed towards the en-suite bathroom and Sophie fled back down the stairs to the kitchen where she had to take a few seconds to regain her self-control. She was sipping a glass of water when the kitchen door slid open and there he was, drop-dead gorgeous in a white shirt cuffed to the elbows and a pair of black jeans that showed his powerful body off to perfection.
‘Have something a bit more exciting than water.’ He headed straight for the oversized wine cooler and extracted a bottle of wine and then two glasses. ‘You must feel as though you need it. I’ve thrown you in at the deep end and you’ve risen to the occasion.’ He poured them both a glass of wine, sipped his and then, eyes on her face, tilted his head in a salute.
Sophie cleared her throat. ‘Were you expecting me to fail?’
‘I thought you would pull through. I didn’t think that you would handle the situation with such efficiency. Everyone raved about the food and I was impressed with the way the timetable was adhered to.’
‘Thank you.’ She blushed and drank some of the wine.
‘Naturally, the past few days only cover a proportion of the debt but you’ve made a start.’
‘Will you be in touch about...er...another arrangement so that I can try and schedule my jobs accordingly? Julie did very well handling the cocktail party on her own but she was very nervous and I would rather not put her through that. If I know when you need me, then I can make sure I’m only missing food preparation on the premises rather than in situ at a client’s house.’
‘No. I can’t tailor my timetable to suit your partner, I’m afraid.’ He paused, gazed at her, again felt the fierce kick of desire and wondered how he could have been sufficiently short-sighted to have imagined that he could make it disappear on command. It would disappear but only after he’d had her, only when he’d sated a craving that made no sense and had sprung from nowhere. ‘Did you enjoy the long weekend?’
‘I was under a great deal of pressure,’ Sophie confessed stiffly. ‘But it was challenging catering for that amount of people. It was the largest party I’ve ever done.’
‘I didn’t see you put in an appearance.’
‘I was busy overseeing the food. Besides...’
‘Besides?’
‘What would I have done out there? Asked everyone if they were enjoying the food?’
‘You could have circulated, handed out your business cards.’
‘I would have felt awkward,’ Sophie admitted truthfully. ‘Those sort of big bashes aren’t my thing. I wouldn’t have fitted in.’
‘You underestimate your...charms,’ Matias said softly. ‘I imagine you would have fitted in a great deal better than you think.’
Sophie looked at him and wondered whether she was imaginingsomethingin his voice, something low and speculative that was sending a shiver down her spine and ratcheting up her painful awareness of him and her heightened reaction to his proximity. Was he actuallyflirtingwith her? Surely not.
Confused, she stared at him in silence and he stared right back at her, holding her gaze and making no effort to look away. He sipped his wine, gazed at her over the rim of the glass and the effect was devastating.
She was utterly defenceless. She didn’t know what he was playing at. This made no sense at all. She was lower than the hired help! She was the hired help plus some!
‘I sh-should head upstairs,’ she stuttered, half standing on wobbly legs. ‘If it’s all the same to you, there’s nothing left here for me to do. Er...and...if you’re satisfied with...with my efforts...then maybe your secretary...can contact me...’
She ran her fingers through her tangled hair and licked her lips becausehe was still looking at her with that brooding, veiled expression and it was doing crazy things to her nervous system.
‘And if...if it’s okay with you, then I shall get a cab to the station tonight. I was under the impression that there would be some guests here until tomorrow morning, which is why I was...ah...booked to stay for one final night...’ She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘I wish you wouldn’t stare at me like that,’ she said, licking dry lips.
‘Why?’
‘Because it makes me feel uncomfortable.’
‘Funny, I’ve never had any complaints from a woman because I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off her. On the contrary, they’re usually at great pains to make sure that they position themselves directly in my line of vision in the hope that I’ll notice them. This is the first time I can genuinely say that I’ve found myself in the presence of a woman I can’t seem to stop looking at.’
Shocked, Sophie literally could find nothing to say. Her vocal cords had dried up. All she could do was stare. He was so ridiculously beautiful that it seemed utterly mad for him to be saying this sort of stuff to her. Even more crazy was the fact that her whole body was surging into overdrive and melting like wax before an open flame.
