‘Which is why I thought, tomorrow, you and I could spend the day in the countryside. I had my people get on to some real estate agents while we were away, and they have come up with a couple of quite decent looking properties.’
‘Properties? You mean houses?’
‘But of course.’ And with a brief glance around the kitchen Alex returned his attention to her puzzled face. ‘This place is adequate in the short term, but obviously we will need a family home. Knowing you as I do the country is the answer, I think.’
Lisa sipped her tea, unsure of how to respond. She had always lived in a large house on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon; she had only to walk out of her garden to take a stroll along country lanes. Alex was right; she did prefer the country. But what of Alex? While not notorious as an international jet-setter like his father, she wasn’t sure she could see him as a country squire. ‘Do you actually have a proper home?’ she surprised herself by asking. ‘I mean, apart from here?’
His black eyes twinkled with laughter. ‘I hate to spoil my image, but in fact I actually still live with my mother. Officially my residence is the villa on Kos. The yacht is berthed in the harbour there, and whenever I have time I go back home. Otherwi
se I tend to stay in an apartment the company owns, or a hotel.’
‘Of course!’ Lisa exclaimed. ‘I should have guessed the villa we stayed in when we visited your mother was yours.’ She remembered thinking at the time that the sitting room and bedroom of their suite had had a very lived-in feel about them; the pictures on the walls had been mostly of boats—a hobby of Alex’s—and there had been a couple of trophies for yacht racing that had borne Alex’s name. For a few timeless seconds her eyes locked with his and they shared a mutual memory of a night spent in sheer bliss.
‘Yes,’ Alex confirmed, his eyes sweeping over her shoulders and the curve of her breast before returning to study the surprised and faintly embarrassed expression on her delicately etched features. A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. ‘But now I think I am old enough to own my home,’ he teased. ‘Don’t you agree?’
Lisa couldn’t disagree without getting into a morass of lies. The truth was not an option. She was waiting to see if Alex was going to betray her, along with her stepbrother. She gave the only answer she could think of. ‘Yes, well,’ she qualified, ‘we will see.’ And, pushing back her chair and getting to her feet, she added, ‘But right now I’d better get dressed. What time did you say we were meeting your father?’
Only the slight narrowing of his dark eyes gave away the fact her evasion had been noted and disliked, but, rising to his feet, he said, ‘Seven or seven-thirty. I have a few calls to make in my study. I won’t be long.’
The bathroom off the master bedroom was almost as big as the bedroom itself. Elegantly designed and constructed in pale pink streaked marble, it held a large double shower and a circular spa bath. Plus all the usual facilities. The lingering scent of Alex hung on the air, making her catch her breath.
She did not linger in the shower and, as she had washed her hair that morning, five minutes later she entered the dressing room, a towel wrapped around her slender curves, and selected fresh briefs and quickly slipped them on.
Seated at the dressing table, she twisted the long length of her hair into a high pleat on the back of her head. With the deft use of a few pins, she quickly had a very fashionable hairstyle. She pulled a few tendrils of hair loose around her face and the back of her neck and surveyed the finished result. Sophisticated, but not too contrived, she thought, and then began applying her make-up.
Rising to her feet, she crossed to the cupboards that ran the full length of two walls.
Sliding open one of the doors, she withdrew the gown she had hung there the night before, ready for this evening’s dinner party. She eyed the dress with dismay. When she had bought it in a boutique in Stratford she had thought it was perfect, with stiletto-heeled evening shoes and a purse dyed to match. The whole ensemble was suitable for a sophisticated lady wanting to seduce her husband. Now she was not so sure. But realistically she had nothing else; the clothes she had packed were day and casual wear. So, unless she wanted to meet Alex’s father in trousers or a business suit, she had no choice.
She stepped into the blue gown and pulled the zip up its side. It was a simple sheath; the bodice had a bra built in and was cut straight across her breasts in a band of delicately beaded embroidery, revealing the soft swell of her breasts. The rest stuck to her like a second skin, to end some six inches above her knees in another band of beading. She slipped her feet into the shoes, then quickly slipped pearl studs into her ear lobes, and fastened the matching string of pearls around her throat. She dabbed some of her favourite perfume behind her ears and the back of her knees. Straightening, she turned towards the mirror to cast her reflection a brief glance.
‘Wow, that is some dress.’
Lisa turned at the sound of Alex’s voice, and felt her breath catch at the image he presented. He was still only wearing jeans, and his hand had obviously been ruffling his hair, but there was something about his stance, a sense of predatory strength as his dark eyes swept down over her curvaceous body and lingered for an instant on the long length of her legs before returning to her face. The deepening gleam of sexual desire turned his eyes to black as they clashed with hers.
‘Maybe we should forget dinner,’ Alex murmured, stepping towards her, his intention obvious.
‘You’d better hurry up and get dressed, or we’ll be late,’ she retaliated, as she deftly sidestepped around him. He stopped her with a hand on her arm.
‘Your’re right; I got trapped on the telephone. Be a sweetheart and mix me a whisky and soda. I have a feeling I am going to need it tonight.’
‘What about driving?’ she murmured.
‘Bert is driving us there, and we will grab a taxi back; no need for the old boy to have a late night.’
A few minutes later, she walked back into the bedroom, a glass of whisky and soda in her hand. She stopped inside the door. Alex was slipping on the jacket of his dinner suit, and he turned at her entrance.
‘Thanks, Lisa.’ He moved to her side and took the glass from her hand; his fingers brushed hers and sent a swift jolt of electricity up her arm. He was devastatingly attractive at any time, but wearing a superbly cut dinner suit, with his black hair slicked back from his broad forehead, he exuded an aura of powerful male magnetism that few men possessed. She watched as he raised the glass to his mouth and drained it. She was fascinated by the way his strong tanned throat moved when he swallowed, and only realised she was staring when he spoke.
‘Come on, Lisa, we’re cutting it fine as it is.’
At the hotel the doorman opened the car door almost before it had stopped. Taking a deep breath, Lisa alighted with some elegance, and before she could even take a step Alex was at her side, his hand under her elbow to guide her inside…
CHAPTER FIVE
WALKING from the brightness of the fine June evening into the darkened interior of the hotel Lisa was blinded for a second, and she stumbled slightly. Alex tightened his grip on her arm.
‘You did not hit the whisky as well, I hope,’ he quipped, his dark eyes laughing down at her in easy intimacy.