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‘Is something wrong?’ she heard him saying. ‘Are you too busy tonight? A date, perhaps?’
Her head shot up, her eyes darkening with anger as she searched his face, wondering if he was deliberately making fun of her.
He must know, she was sure, that she didn’t have any dates…that there was no man in her life. But the blue eyes that looked back into hers were free of any hint of amusement; nor was there anything in his expression to suggest that he had been making fun of her.
She was getting too sensitive, she told herself tiredly. Too self-obsessed. Why should he care one way or the other about her personal life?
‘No…no, this evening will be fine,’ she agreed.
His mouth twitched suddenly, the amusement she had looked for before now lightening the blue eyes.
‘I’m flattered that you’re looking forward to it so much,’ he told her gravely, but she could hear the laughter behind the words, and just for a moment she was tempted to tell him exactly how she did feel about the prospect of having him as her lodger, but if she did that good manners would prompt him to look for accommodation elsewhere and then Vanessa would crow, believing that she was the one responsible for his decision.
‘Obviously I’ve got certain reservations,’ she told him as crisply as she could. ‘And I’m sure you must have as well.’
‘Are you? Why?’
The question surprised her. She stared at him, her mouth open, her eyes registering her feelings.
‘Well, we don’t know one another…and, in view of the fact that we’re business competitors—’
‘Ah…you’re trying to warn me that you intend to seduce me and steal all my business secrets, is that it?’
He was grinning now, a genuine, almost boyish grin that deepened the creases alongside his mouth and sent fans of tiny lines raying out from his eyes, and, looking at him, Charlotte felt that she had never hated anyone more in all her life.
He was laughing at her…making fun of her. A storm of emotion she couldn’t control boiled up inside her, and, angrily putting the car in gear, she said fiercely, ‘No doubt you think it very funny…the fact that I’m so sexless that it’s impossible to imagine me doing any such thing. Well, I don’t, and if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve already signed that tenancy agreement there’d be no way I’d take you on as a lodger now. You might think it amusing to make fun of people’s shortcomings. I don’t.’
She was ready to move away, not caring that he was still leaning against the car, when to her shock he reached inside the open window and deftly cut the engine.
While she was still in shock, he said crisply, ‘I wasn’t making fun of you—far from it—and as for your being sexless…’ He was frowning now as he registered her white face and trembling hands.
Charlotte barely heard the sound he made under his breath. Hearing him repeat her own words had devastated her. What had possessed her? Why on earth had she reacted like that…laid herself open to him like that, revealing how much his amusement had hurt her?
She was stunned by her own behaviour. Her deepest private feelings were something she never discussed with anyone, and for her to have voiced them in front of this man who was virtually a stranger…
She felt sick and shaky, disorientated and vaguely light-headed.
‘Get out.’
Get out? She focused on the hard-boned male face, absently noting the steely look in the blue eyes. He was angry with her, and no wonder. He didn’t want to be burdened with her adolescent emotional soul-baring. What on earth had possessed her? she asked herself again.
‘If it weren’t for the fact that we’re standing in this very public place, I’d be tempted to show you just how wrong you are!’
Charlotte stared at him, unable to believe her ears. He couldn’t have meant what she thought he had meant. He wouldn’t be implying that he found her desirable.
‘I’m going home,’ she told him huskily. ‘Please move out of the way, so that I can drive.’
‘You’re not driving anywhere, you little fool. You’re in no fit state. Now, are you going to get out of that car under your own steam, or am I going to have to drag you out?’
Something about the way he was looking at her warned that he meant every word he was saying. Shakily, Charlotte released her seatbelt and opened the door. ‘I’ve got to get home,’ she protested. Dimly she was aware that she was suffering from some kind of shock, and no wonder after what he had said!
‘I’ll drive you there.’
‘My car—’ she protested, but she was already being ushered very firmly across the car park to the parked Jaguar.
‘I’ll arrange for it to be returned to you.’
‘You don’t have to do this…’ she told him uncertainly, putting her hand to her head. Her head was aching badly. Strange…she hadn’t realised she had a headache. Tension-induced, of course. Suddenly, for no reason at all, she felt her eyes start to swim with tears and an awful choking sensation block her throat.
