CHAPTER TEN
‘YOU’RE TRYING TO get me to disengage your services, aren’t you?’
Zara smiled to herself. Daniel had just followed her into the final room of the house, the orangery, or at least it would have been an orangery in its heyday. Now it was a nest of weeds with grand ornamental features being drowned out by a variety of foliage. But it was still beautiful and telling of a history that she would love to know.
She turned and smiled at him, the glorious sun warming her through the glass. ‘Not at all. I’m gauging your reaction to a little bit of work.’
‘A little?’ His eyes opened wide, his hands stuffed into his pockets as they had been most of the way around the house; she’d hazard a guess that he was scared of catching something. ‘This is more than a little.’
‘Well, it’s not like you’d be getting your own hands dirty,’ she reasoned. ‘And besides, a man like you needs to make his mark. What’s the point in buying something finished when you’re only going to want to change it anyway?’
She walked to the double doors that led outside and turned the key that rested in the lock, pushing them open and stepping out. Her eyes swept the landscaped garden, taking in its original form, the beautiful arrangements of flowers, shrubs and, at it
s heart, a water feature that probably hadn’t seen a drop in at least a decade. It was utterly charming. Or at least it could be.
He came up alongside her and she sent him a sidelong glance. ‘At least buying something like this you won’t be paying over the odds and tearing it apart to make it yours. You’ll be able to start afresh and not waste a penny.’
He studied her for a moment, and she turned to face him properly, her head cocking with a smile. ‘See, you know it makes sense.’
His own smile grew with hers and he shook his head, looking back at the building and turning to take in the grounds. ‘I can see your point.’
‘Good.’
‘But I wonder if it’s wasted on me, these extensive grounds and no children to terrorise them.’
He said it with a trace of humour in his voice. But all she heard was no children and the simple statement clutched at her chest. Which was madness. There was no future with him. There never would be. Why couldn’t her body get the message and stop the emotional sing-song in her blood at everything he did or said?
Just do your job...
‘Granted it’s a fabulous home for a family, but the grounds are adaptable—maybe you could consider doing something with them. Your own race track, perhaps?’
She said it suggestively, flirtatiously even, her professional front sliding perfectly in place, and she watched his eyes come alive. It was an encouraging sign, on the house-selling front. So why did her belly feel as if a brick had settled in?
‘Have I told you already how good you are at your job?’
‘You have...’ she forced her voice to keep its flirtatious tilt ‘...but you can always tell me again.’
The heat of his gaze, of his appreciation, held her captive, the air around them falling silent save for the wildlife. Her momentary sadness fading away.
‘You are so good in many ways.’
He wasn’t thinking on her expertise, the house, the grounds, the purchase, not any more, of that she was certain.
‘Are you asking for another demonstration?’
His eyes flashed. ‘Are you offering?’
She nibbled on her lower lip, a startling spread of heat kick-starting in her gut.
How can you need him so bad, so soon?
‘Perhaps.’
His gaze swept over her front, his depths dark and hungry. ‘It’s cruel not to wear a bra, you know?’
She daredn’t look; she could already feel the hardening peaks pressing into the fabric of her dress, doing their own job of pleading. ‘It is?’
He lifted his palm to cup one small mound and she whimpered over the lightness of his touch, the ache blooming just beneath.