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‘Well?’
He had adroitly led them away from the pack towards a quiet corner of the garden and they now returned to the conversation they had earlier abandoned.
Food had been laid out on a succession of long, dressed tables in the marquee and a lot of people were inside as night fell and the summer heat faded. There was a small band playing in the marquee, easy-listening stuff guaranteed not to have the older contingent covering their ears and running for the hills.
Outside little groups had gathered, some sitting on the sofas on the broad patio. The fairy lights strung along the trees and foliage twinkled like little stars, mirroring the stars studding a velvet-black sky. Her mother had done a brilliant job of bringing their garden to life, turning it into a wondrous, magical backdrop for Nick’s party. The food was amazing and the attention to detail was fantastic. If any of these guests weren’t attending the actual ceremony, then they weren’t going to be deprived of a similarly pleasing experience.
And Mateo...here with her... Maude was guiltily aware that she had enjoyed his presence way too much. For the first time in her life, she had dazzled, with him at her side. Her mother’s eyes had shone with unabashed pride at her unexpected conquest. Yes, she had known with some unease that it was all a charade, and it was a charade that had a shelf life, but the temptation to relish it had been too much.
She looked at Mateo from under lowered lashes. So tall, so dark...so undeniably sexy...
She shivered, sipped from the flute and realised that it was empty.
‘Why did you think it was going to be different?’ he quizzed, and she shook herself back to reality and away from rampant female appreciation of his masculinity.
‘Angus wouldn’t have created quite the same...um...stir...’
‘Poor Angus. Something of a bore?’
‘He happens to be a very nice guy!’
‘Damning words indeed. Can I ask you something?’
‘What?’ Maude narrowed suspicious eyes on him. He might have been by her side all evening, and holding her hand for most of that time much to her consternation, but they had had very little time on their own and personal interaction had been limited. This was the first time no one was around and the sudden intimacy of their surroundings made her shiver.
She nervously smoothed her dress and fiddled with the champagne flute, heartily wishing it contained some fortifying alcohol.
He was within touching distance. She looked at the brown column of his neck and hissed in a breath.
‘I’m puzzled as to why you don’t have a genuine partner to bring here.’
‘Sorry?’
‘You’re a beautiful woman, Maude. So why isn’t there a suitable guy on your arm? Why do you have to audition for someone to fill the role so that you can keep your parents happy?’
‘I...’
Mateo watched the play of emotion criss-cross her face and marvelled that he could ever have thought that she had only that one, business-like image she presented to the outside world. That was the image she had chosen to present, the highly professional career woman, but he felt as though he was seeing the real Maude for the first time, with all her hang-ups and doubts.
Or maybe that woman had always been there, lurking just beneath the surface.
He could remember a meeting some time ago, attended by various legal and technical bods there to cross and dot what needed to be crossed and dotted before the closure of an unusually big sign off. One of the guys had done his best to chat Maude up and Mateo had been amused at her body language. She’d posted so manyDo Not Trespasssigns around her that he’d been amazed at the guy’s persistence.
Had the guy just not been her type?
At the time, Mateo had assumed so, but now he wondered...had she just not noticed?
Seeing her out of context here, he could see all those nuances that she had taken such care to keep hidden. For someone so confident on the work front, she was endearingly tentative elsewhere. Certainly she lacked the booming self-assurance that usually accompanied a comfortably off background.
‘Broken heart?’ he queried softly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘The lack of a man in your life.’
‘That’s none of your business!’
‘Or maybe...’ His voice lowered as he leant even closer towards her, and there was thread of lazy teasing in it that sent ripples of forbidden excitement racing up and down her spine. ‘Maybe thereissomeone lurking in the background...’
