AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was thirty-six years old, but had years of being master of his universe, having whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, made him world weary?
With no one to answer to...no parents propelling him in any direction...had he become somehow adrift in an ivory tower of his own making, living a gilded life that was controlled and predictable to the point where nothing new was ever allowed to break through?
It was an uncomfortable thought which Mateo immediately shoved aside.
Self-control was the way you conquered the vagaries of life. That was something he’d accepted from a very young age and it had always served him in good stead. Naturally, he wasn’t going to abandon it now because of an unexpected hiccup.
‘I’m interested,’ he urged in a roughened undertone.
‘Do you ever give up?’
‘That’s not my profile, no.’
‘Well...’ One slip, Maude thought, and it felt as though a dam had burst inside her. ‘My mum’s a tough act to follow.’ She smiled. ‘You’ve met her. She’s...she’s always been the sort who sets a room alive the minute she walks in.’
‘Maybe that’s just the way you saw it when you were a kid and things have become stuck in that place.’
Maude shrugged. Was that what had happened? She hadalwaysknown that her mother longed for a little girl she could dress up and Maude had not been that little girl. She’d been a tomboy as a kid and then, as a teenager, a bookworm who’d grown too tall and too buxom to fit into skimpy cropped tops and tight jeans.
Had she got stuck in a groove somewhere along the way, imagining that that was who she was when, in fact, that kid was long gone? Had she somehow rebelled against an image her mother had not actually been interested in perpetuating? Had her own lack of self-confidence made her overlook the very simple truth, which was that love was accepting and her mother loved her?
‘Maybe.’ She sighed. ‘But I suppose I did feel...as though I didn’t really fit in. Living in a goldfish bowl has its down sides and my life has always felt a bit like being in a goldfish bowl.’
She offered a tiny smile to detract from the sudden dive into seriousness. ‘Anyway...’ She threw a look over her shoulder. ‘We should head back to the marquee. Part two of the evening is going to begin any minute now.’
She spun round on her heels but, before she could move away, Mateo had circled her arm with his hand, tugging her back to him.
‘I meant what I said, Maude. You’re a beautiful woman. Because you don’t fit what you think is the mould doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful in your own right.’
‘Thank you for that,’ Maude said with sincerity. ‘I know you mean well, but Mateo, what sort of women doyougo for...?’ She grinned when he flushed darkly and raked his fingers through his hair, and then she burst out laughing. ‘I think I’ve proved my point,’ she said drily.
Mateo watched as she began to walk away. He sprinted after her and caught up with her in a matter of strides.
‘Wait,’ he murmured. ‘Is the love of my life now walking out on me? What’s the world going to think?’
He slung his arm around her shoulder.
‘Mateo...’ Maude stopped abruptly and placed her hands palms-down against his chest. For a few seconds her mind went a complete blank at the sensation of hardness under her fingers, then she blinked and said crisply, ‘No one’s going to think anything. This is all make believe, remember?’
‘Ah...but only the two of us know the truth.’
They were closer to the marquee and the scene of the action now. People were coming and going, the older ones on their way home, heading to the door to get their carriages, the younger ones already preparing for more of the same until the early hours of the morning. Someone called out to her but she was in the moment and didn’t turn round.
‘Which is that there’sno needto pretend anything when we’re on our own.’ Her skin tingled from where he had touched her. It had felt so stupidly natural just for a moment...so dangerouslygood.
The voice behind them got closer and then a smiling blonde was standing next to them, gathering a silk shawl over her shoulders on her way out while talking at the same time—rueful that she hadn’t got to meet them properly, maybe another time, as Amy talked so much about Nick’s fantastically clever sister...
She turned to Mateo.
‘You don’t remember me, do you?’
‘Should I?’
He was frowning. For a few seconds, Maude wondered whether he was about to be accosted by an ex, but then the blonde introduced herself as, ‘Georgie, one of Amy’s friends from when she spent those six months in LA.’ Her head tilted to one side, she said, ‘We met ages ago at that art exhibition thing...you were going out with Cassie Fowler?’
Mateo smiled politely. It was obvious he had no inkling who the blonde was but good manners forced him to murmur something affirmative, at which the blonde burst out laughing.
‘It’s okay.’ She winked at Maude. ‘He’ll keep you on your toes!’ Then she turned back to Mateo to say with a hint of surprise, ‘I had no idea you and Cassie weren’t...going out.’
