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No shoes, just brown ankles... As she raised her eyes, she saw lean, muscular calves...up and up to his thighs...and then a pair of black swimming trunks.
She was getting a little breathless from treading water in the deep end but there was no way she was going to heave herself out in front of him.
‘Are you coming out?’
Maude gazed up and her mouth dried at the sight of his bare torso. He had a white towel slung over his shoulders and he was staring down at her through dark, reflective sunglasses.
On every level, Maude felt disadvantaged.
‘Give me your hand. I’ll help you out.’
‘I was about to swim a few more lengths, as it happens. What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were going to be back until...er...much later.’
‘Disappointed?’
‘This is your house!’ Her voice rose an octave higher. ‘You can come and go as you please!’
‘Many thanks for that.’ He grinned, slid the towel off and tossed it onto the nearest sun lounger. ‘The pool was beckoning. It’s not often it gets used and I decided it would be more fun to test the water than sit through another meeting that can wait until tomorrow. Mind if I join you?’
‘Your house! Your pool!’ Her voice was squeaky and high, and she was bright-red and uber-conscious of her body on show, distorted in size because of the water.
In an embarrassed rush, she struck out, swimming fast to the opposite end of the pool and then resting on the steps with the sun on her shoulders, watching as he slid into the water to swim lazily towards her, with perfectly modulated strokes.
As he closed the distance between them, more and more her stomach tightened into panicked knots.
The muscles rippled in his broad shoulders. It was a fascinating sight.
Her breathing slowed as he joined her on the steps, lying back on his elbows for a few seconds, eyes closed to the sun.
They flew open when he turned to face her and Maude hurriedly looked away.
‘How long have you been out here?’
‘Forty minutes or so.’
‘It’s nice to see you relaxing, Maude. You’ve been working a lot while you’ve been here.’
‘Wasn’t that part of the deal?’
‘Was it?’
‘Of course it was,’ she confirmed stoutly, still staring straight ahead, glassy-eyed and uber-conscious of him so close to her and of the water lapping around them.
She tried not to look at herself.
She could feel all her hang-ups about her appearance waiting in the wings, and that was the last thing she needed.
‘I thought the deal was basically to clear off for a few days until the fuss died down and, coincidentally, there was work that could be done over here.’
‘Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask—how much longer do you think we should stay here? Amy’s been keeping her ear to the ground, and there’s lots of gossip in certain circles, but I can handle that if you can. I mean, I would rather not have people coming at me with cameras, but I expect that’ll have disappeared by the time we get back to London.’
‘There’s a celebrity marathon for charity happening next week,’ Mateo told her. ‘Once that hits the streets of London, all cameras will have moved in that direction.’
‘I’d forgotten about that. I’m surprised you take an interest.’
‘I was invited to the big opening event.’ He shrugged. ‘Not my thing. At any rate, I propose we stay out here for another week. A celebrity marathon is one hundred percent guaranteed to throw up a lot more fodder for the rumour mill. That aside, the work out here can be finished in another week, with sufficient instructions in place and signatures on dotted lines for work to begin.’ He turned to her and grinned. ‘It’s not that much of a hardship being here, is it, for a few more days?’
‘No, of course not.’ Maude could feel his eyes on her. He was close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her cheek as well. Both were horribly disconcerting. ‘I just thought that you...well...might want to get back to work.’
