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Because if she looked beyond the professional to the personal for once she could recognise the impact of what she was about to do. And somehow this didn't fee/ quite like business.
Didn't the information she was going to give to Xavier cle Maistre have the potential to change his life — or certainly the way he thought about life? Laura knew that she must play this very carefully — she must — because she was in possession of emotional dynamite, and she did not want it exploding in her face.
Extending her hand towards him, she gave her most brisk smile, which she hoped masked her sudden lurch of misgiving and the effect he was having on her.
'My name is Laura Cottingham, ’ she said.
'Laura, ’ he repeated, rolling the T around his tongue and somehow making her Christian name sound unbelievably sexy. Black brows arched in question as he caught her slim fingers within his grasp to shake her hand, allowing his thumb to slide over her narrow wrist, where he could feel the rapid beating of her pulse. She was as slim as a young tree, he thought — and probably just as supple. "Do I know you? Your face is unfamiliar to me, and I never forget a beautiful face.'
Beautiful — her? Expert cosseting expressly for this unusual job had brought out the best in her, but Laura would never have described herself as beautiful. How could she when all her life she'd been chasing her tail, trying to make something of herself? Only to fall straight into an unsuitable relationship with someone who'd made her feel positively ugly inside.
Her throat constricted as she felt the warmth of his skin, the subtle caress of his fingertips, and she pulled her hand away. "No," she said breathlessly. "We've never met.'
'So why are you here?" he questioned, as his black gaze seared over her like a spotlight. "Why do you even now hesitate to tell me your business when most would have babbled it for fear that I would kick them out onto the boulevatzi?' he said softly. “I am intrigued, Mademoiselle Cottingham, and intrigue is such a tantalisingly rare sensation for a man like me."
A man like me. He was arrogance personified and yet he had the looks and the charisma to be able to get away with it. How much would he be forgiven she wondered simply because his eyes were like dark fire and his face was that of a fallen angel? Laura shot a look at his assistant who was watching and listening to the proceedings with rapt attention-even if she was pretending not to. Concentrate on the job Laura told herself.
'I'd prefer it if we spoke alone ' she said .
Now, why would that be? Xavier's eyes narrowed . Did she think that her beaut
allowed her to simply name her terms? And then he stilled as another darker possibility dawned on him-one which had been tried and had failed on many occasions.
'You're trying to tell me it's a paternity claim'?' he demanded softly, and saw her recoil in something like shock. 'You are here on behalf of a girlfriend'?'
'No no. Nothing like that. ' Laura shook her head but then realized with a sudden sense of confusion that unwittingly Xavier de Maistre had put his finger on exact/y what it was. Just not in quite the same way as he thought. ‘I simply think it's better if we have this conversation in private. ' His eyes fixed on her arrestingly, as if he were trying to look deep into her mind and read her thoughts-so that by the time he dragged his gaze away Laura felt as if she had been stripped bare.
'Eh, bien. we will go into my office’ he agreed softly . 'But it had better be worth it-for I do not like having my time wasted’. He turned and began to walk towards a door at the far end of the large room, and-her heart beating with nerves at the thought of what she was to do-Laura picked up her briefcase and followed him into an inner sanctum.
'Shut the door ' he said turning round to watch her wiggle her way in. Had she deliberately worn a close-fitting skirt and high heels knowing that they would make her walk in a certain way that all red-blooded men would find irresistible? Laura pushed the door to and faced him suddenly feeling daunted by the fact that she really was alone with him . He hadn't asked her to sit down so she stood in the middle of the vast room holding her briefcase and feeling like a traveller who had just missed her train .
'It's kind of you to see me so promptly, Monsieur de Maistre ' she said softly.
‘I can assure you that it was not kindness which motivated me-it was convenience. You see you did me a kind of favour Mademoiselle Nottingham. You provided me with an escape route from a situation which had become rather...tedious. ' Black brows were raised imperiously as he waited for her to pry, as women inevitably did-particularly when they were scoring points off one another. But to his surprise she did not pursue it. Just gave him a cool almost glacial smile which was not the way that women usually looked at him at all .
Laura knew that it was not her place to comment on his arrogance-or to pull him up on his cruel hint about getting rid of the blonde. Yet she suddenly felt an overwhelming pang of sympathy for the woman who had flounced out of the office. He was an easy man to desire she suspected-and a hard man to leave if he rejected you .
‘I would have made another appointment if today had been inconvenient ' she said quietly, as she began to open her case. 'But my brief was to make sure that I spoke with you face to face. '
Something in her tone and her words aroused Xavier's survival instincts and he suddenly realized his first impression had been right-there was something in her demeanour which did not add up.
People usually came to him because they wanted something . When a man was as powerful and as wealthy as he was there were few things in life which came without a price.
Laura Cottingham's manner was pleasant but brisk efficient and matter-of- fact-the manner of someone who was doing the giving, not taking, and suddenly he was intrigued. My brief she had said .
'Your brief'?' he shot out.
' Yes '
'You are a lawyer'?'
'Yes '
He paused very deliberately . ‘I don't trust lawyers unless they're working for me,' he said softly.
'That's probably a very healthy instinct’. She obviously expected him to laugh but he did not. His laughter was rare and usually controlled-for laughter made you vulnerable and he was never that.
'Why did you not contact my own lawyers if it is a legal matter'?' he questioned silkily .
