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They tingled, making her want to fidget.
‘Just say what you have to say.’ Her voice was gruff.
For the first time, Mateo looked uncomfortable. He sighed and moved to the bed to perch on the side so that they were on eye level, his thigh almost touching her knee.
‘Where to begin? To cut a long story short, Maude, I woke up this morning to find a text from Cassie telling me that I might want to buy one of the Sunday rags because there was something about me in it.’
‘You came all the way back here to tell me that?’ She was genuinely confused. ‘I don’t understand. What would that have to do with me? Look, whatever went on between you and your ex is your business, Mateo. Yes, we embarked on thisarrangementbecause it felt like it suited both of us, but I don’t want to hear about what your girlfriend has to say about it.’ Maude frowned. ‘Why is that in a tabloid newspaper, anyway? I’m not getting any of this.’
‘You also happen to feature in the article.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean my ex has decided to have a little fun at my expense.’ His voice was grim and his mouth had thinned, but his dark eyes remained fixed on her face, steady and grave.
‘Explain,’ Maude whispered, already predicting what he was about to say and dreading confirmation of her suspicions.
‘The blonde who approached us yesterday clearly decided to find out first-hand what was going on, and she got in touch with Cassie to tell her about you.’
‘She said that she didn’t know the two of you had broken up...’
‘I’d told Cassie that I was seeing someone but I never mentioned any names. Heck, Maude, it was just a piece of spectacular bad luck that someone at that wedding party knew my ex. Who the hell would have thought?’
‘Amy knows anybody who’s anybody in the world of fashion,’ Maude said dully. ‘That would have been the connection. What...what was in the paper, Mateo?’
‘I debated bringing it, but in the end I thought better of it.’
‘Why?’
‘Because we’re engaged.’
Maude’s mouth fell open and she stared at him in utter shock.
‘Sorry?’
‘It would seem that I have found the love of my life with you and we’re engaged.’
‘No. No, no, no, no,no...’
‘Believe me, I’m as horrified as you are by this development.’
‘Have you spoken to her?’
‘She’s diplomatically not picking up,’ he said drily. ‘Although what would be the point of a conversation? She wanted to punish me for ending things and she chose the most effective way of doing it. I drove here at lightning speed on a damage-limitation mission.’
‘My parents!’ Maude squeaked.
‘Thankfully, they don’t subscribe to any Sunday tabloids, but they’re going to hear the glad tidings sooner rather than later, I should imagine. I wanted to wait until we had this conversation before saying anything to either of them.’
‘What...excuse did you give them for showing up at the crack of dawn?’
‘Impulse decision to ditch the work commitments for the day.’
‘I need to think and I need to get dressed.’
Maude realised that she was clutching the bath robe so tightly that her knuckles were white.
‘We need to decide what we plan on doing before we go down,’ Mateo said calmly, and Maude looked at him with disbelief.
