His drawn brows told her he wasn’t following.
“You might uncover something that makes you understand your father better than ever before. You might gain an even clearer picture of Derry Kavanaugh. Perhaps you’ll be able to love your father more…not less.”
Something flashed in his eyes that she couldn’t interpret. For a few seconds, only the sounds of the waves hitting the beach and the birds twittering in the trees reached her ears.
“How long have you danced?” he asked abruptly, taking her by surprise.
“What?”
A lopsided grin tilted his mouth. “How long have you danced?” he repeated slowly. “It’s pretty obvious you’ve been doing it a long time. You’re very talented.” His gaze turned warm. “I had no idea accountants could be so…flexible.”
She blushed. Damn him. His was turning the focus of the conversation onto her to keep it off himself. He constantly made her feel like an awkward adolescent. And he did it without effort. She sipped her tea and glanced out at the lake, squinting behind her sunglasses.
“I told you no one was meant to see that. It’s not very kind of you to keep bringing it up,” she said coolly.
He looked genuinely confused by her statement. “I’m not being unkind, I’m just…fascinated.”
She turned to him, her lips parted. “Fascinated? By what?”
“By you. Does that surprise you?”
“Yes,” she said quickly.
He laughed after a second. She couldn’t imagine why he seemed so bewildered when she was the one who was utterly baffled.
“So…how long? Have you danced?” he clarified when she just continued to gape at him.
“I started ballet when I was eight years old,” she said.
“You’re good enough to do it professionally. Don’t you want to?” he asked matter-of-factly.
She was the one to laugh this time. “Forgive me for saying so, but I don’t think you’re much of an expert.” When he quirked his eyebrows at her, she laughed some more. “I like to dance for fun. I still take lessons. It’s a hobby, but I think it’d be a monumental mistake to quit my day job.”
His shrug seemed to say he’d let her have her way because he didn’t want to ruffle her feathers any more than he already had. Natalie decided that it was imperative to bring this conversation back to professional matters.
“Liam—” She paused when he tensed. His steady gaze unnerved her. “What…why are you looking at me like that?” she mumbled incredulously.
“It’s nice…the way you say my name. So, where were you going when I called you?” he asked. Natalie blinked. Had he really just said he liked the sound of her saying his name with so much heat, and then switched the topic as casually as if he was making a comment about the weather?
“I was on my way to my brother’s. I was going to make him dinner, if he was available.”
“Why don’t you let me make you dinner instead? I grill a mean steak and make a mediocre salad.”
“That’s not necessary—”
“I know it’s not necessary. I want to. Why are you so surprised by that?”
“It’ll take more than Liam Kavanaugh offering to cook a meal to surprise me,” she shot back in the midst of her rising confusion.
Her breath caught when he leaned forward and examined her through a narrowed gaze.
“You’re not being honest,” he murmured, his light tone belying his X-raying gaze. “You’re surprised that I want to have dinner with you. Why would you be surprised that a man would want to have dinner with a beautiful woman, Natalie?”
Chapter Three
He’d give anything to comprehend what was going on in that brain of hers. One second she was acting like a skittish colt and the next she was saying something deadpan in that low, sexy voice of hers, reminding him for all the world of a sophisticated Bacall baiting Bogie.
She was a puzzle, and the detective in him needed to figure her out.