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And standing up, she went in search of the kitchen.
Later, having eaten, she walked slowly through the apartment, trying to shift the feeling that she was a guest at best, an intruder at worst. Her family’s house was large and comfortable, if a little shabby. But with each step here she felt increasingly out of place.
In daylight the apartment was breathtakingly beautiful. Pale wood floors added warmth to the clean white walls and stark, architectural furniture, and huge windows offered striking views of Central Park and the city. The size and the stillness were dazzling, and without Rollo’s reaction to consider she simply stood and gazed in speechless silence.
But it was the outdoor space that left her groping for adjectives. Impressive, stunning, jaw-dropping... None did justice to the tile-covered terrace that stretched uninterrupted towards the skyline. Nor could she find a word to capture the impossible luxury of the infinity pool, its mirror-like surface reflecting nothing but sky and the odd passing aeroplane.
And yet, aside from marvelling at the opulence, Daisy found herself oddly unmoved by the apartment. It felt more like a hotel than a home. There were no personal effects to suggest anyone actually lived there. Certainly no sign that Rollo was the owner. It could have belonged to anyone. Or no one.
In which case who was she marrying? Daisy thought nervously.
Stepping into yet another stylish room, she stopped in the doorway. There was something different about it. It was still grand. But it had a sense of being ‘used’ that the other rooms lacked.
Hesitantly, her legs quivering with tension, she walked over to the desk. There was a striking silver bowl on top of the smooth dark wood. Breathing in, she reached out and touched it with a hand that trembled in time to the beating of her heart as, finally, her brain caught up with her feet.
It was an office. Rollo’s office.
Now she really did feel like she was snooping! Her muscles twitched involuntarily and, despite having only just eaten, she felt a pit open up in the bottom of her stomach.
It was his private space.
‘That didn’t take long.’
And his voice.
Her fingers jerked back and, muscles tensing, she turned slowly to where Rollo stood watching her, his shoulder pressed against the door frame.
Her heart had stopped beating and for a moment she stared at him in silence, the only sound her breath fluttering in her throat like a moth against a lampshade.
Even in an entire apartment filled with works of art there was nothing that could compete with the flawless symmetry of his face. But it wasn’t his face that was making her legs tremble like blancmange. It was the fact that he was wearing a pair of black running shorts.
Just a pair of black running shorts.
Clearly he’d been to the gym; his hair was damp and a towel hung loosely around his neck. Or maybe he always walked around like that, she thought desperately, heat wrapping round her throat and her shoulders like a heavy scarf.
Any ordinary seminaked person would have been unnerved or embarrassed when confronted by someone fully clothed. Rollo, however, seemed not to care. But then why should he? Her gaze roamed furtively over the smooth muscles of his arms and chest. He was gorgeously, unashamedly male and he knew it.
Tearing her eyes away from the hard definition of his taut, golden stomach, and her imagination from what lay beneath the shorts, she looked up at him warily. ‘What didn’t take long?’
He didn’t reply. Instead his dark green gaz
e fixed on her face as he stepped into the room. His body filled the doorway so that Daisy had a sudden vivid flashback to the night before.
‘You didn’t. Stealing the family silver and it’s only day one.’
His voice was so quiet, the tone so conversational, she might have thought he was joking. But nothing could disguise the cool contempt in his eyes.
‘I should warn you the paintings are a lot heavier than they look, even when they’re rolled up.’
Breathing in sharply, she felt her cheeks grow cold, then hot. ‘I wasn’t stealing anything—’
‘Of course you weren’t. Let me guess.’ He interrupted, his mouth curling into a sneer. ‘You just wanted to have a look?’
Her temper flared. ‘Yes. I did. And why shouldn’t I? I live here, and at some point in the future I’m going to be your wife. So, yes, I was having a look.’ She stared at him pointedly. ‘Although, frankly, I think I’ve seen a lot more than I wanted to.’
There was a sudden strained silence.
‘Is that right?’
