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'Yes.' She forced a smile from somewhere, although he would never know the effort it cost. 'It was very kind of you—'
'Don't go all through that again,' he countered irritably. 'Well, if you absolutely insist, the price is going out for dinner with me,' he said grimly, 'although I have to say this is the first time I have had to force a woman to spend an evening in my company.'
'Don't be ridiculous.' Her chin jutted out at an impossible angle and spoke volumes to the man watching her so closely.
'I'm not.' His voice was very cold and very menacing.
'I couldn't possibly go out to dinner dressed like this anyway,' she said quickly as she gestured at the old cotton trousers and casual cotton jumper that she had worn for the day's work. 'I was just going to call in for a hamburger on the way home. I tell you what,' she added slowly as she glanced up into his darkly frowning face, 'I'll treat you to dinner at a hamburger joint as payment for the car, yes?'
'You'll…' She was immensely pleased to notice that he was lost for words and pressed home her advantage quickly.
'Treat you, yes. It probably won't be as much as you paid out, but—'
'It'll be fine.' He had clearly decided to concede and shook his head as he gazed down into her smiling face. 'Am I allowed to take you in my car or have I got to endure more hospitality by riding in the rust-bucket?'
'We'll go in your car,' she said cheerfully, disguising her incredulity that he had actually agreed to her impulsive suggestion with enormous will-power. 'And at least you won't have to change now, will you?'
'True.' He shook his head again as he watched her fetch her coat, and held it for her as she slipped her arms in the sleeves. 'We'll go out the front way so I can let Jinny know what's happening. Mrs Goode has already retired for the night; this accident has knocked it out of her more than she will admit. I've been trying to get her to retire for the last couple of years, buy her a little bungalow somewhere, but she won't hear of it.'
He sounded worried and Miriam realised with a little throb of pleasure and surprise that he had actually let his guard down for a few minutes, that he was really talking to her about something that mattered to him.
'Well, you told me she's been with you since you were born,' she said carefully as they left the corridor an
d entered the big hall. 'I suppose it'd be like leaving her family—being turned out, so to speak. Has she got anyone of her own?'
'No.' He shook his head slowly. 'Her husband died before she came to work for my father and they had no children. I think there's a sister somewhere, but they only communicate with Christmas cards to my knowledge.'
'There you are, then.' She shook her head mentally at his lack of perception. 'Don't you see you ate all she's got? I noticed the two of you get on very well.'
'Yes.' She had clearly disturbed him with this new angle on things and he said no more as they crossed the hall and entered the main house.
He called Jinny and explained that they were going out to dinner, although she noticed that he didn't explain where and bit back a smile at the knowledge that he was more than a little embarrassed at the circumstances. Then they left the house and walked over to the Bentley parked on the drive, its beautiful pale gold paintwork gleaming silver in the moonlight. The night was crystal-clear and bitingly cold, the smell of frost already cutting the air with its distinctive fragrance.
'You'll have to direct me once we're on the main road,' he said shortly as he opened her door. 'I'm not sure which particular place you mean.'
'OK.' She smiled up at him brightly, suddenly deciding to make the most of an evening that would only ever be a one-off, and he looked down at her for a long moment before shutting the door, his face unreadable.
As they drove into the large car park she had to bite back a wry smile as Reece parked the car between an old, beaten-up Mini and a less than clean breakdowns truck. There was every kind of vehicle known to man in the big compound but only one Bentley, and it sat like a king among paupers as they walked over to the brightly lit building and through the main entrance into an atmosphere heavily redolent of beefburgers and French fries.
Reece stopped just inside the door, glancing round the huge room with a distant, aloof expression on his cold face, but Miriam sensed instinctively that the cool, implacable exterior hid a certain degree of uncertainty. He was out of his depth, she realised suddenly with a dart of amazement. In one of the most ordinary places on earth. It was almost as though he had never been in a fast-food establishment before.
'Shall we?' As he gestured towards a vacant table the suspicion became a certainty.
'We go to the far end and order first,' she said quietly as she indicated the long counter behind which several young, uniformed staff were desperately trying to keep up with demand. 'Then wait for the food and take it to a vacant table.'
'Right.' He looked down at her, the silver-grey eyes intent as they swept across her upturned face, his hard-boned features vitally handsome in the harsh lights overhead. 'Then lead on Macduff; I'm all yours.'
She was unprepared for the fierce stab of pain that hit her in her heart region at his casual words, and it could have been a nasty moment, but even as he spoke he had ushered her forward in front of him so her face was hidden from view. Sexual interest, animal chemistry, she told herself violently as they waited down the narrow aisle. It means nothing, nothing in the wider scope of things, don't forget it.
And by the look of things she wasn't the only one affected either.
'Yes?' The attractive redhead behind the counter ignored several people in front of them and spoke directly to Reece over Miriam's head. 'What can I get for you?' she asked cheekily, with the sort of wide-eyed smile that was an anomaly in the frantic tempo of the place.
'The lady's calling the tune.' She just knew that Reece was smiling at the girl from the note in his voice and would have loved to kick him hard. 'This is her treat.' he added smoothly.
'Lucky you.' As the girl grinned at her Miriam made an effort and smiled back. 'Now, what do you want?'
A few minutes later they were seated at a table with a mountain of food between them. 'Are you really going to eat all that?' Miriam asked in amazement as Reece bit into the first of the quarter-pounders he had ordered complete with French fries and all the trimmings.
