Stephanie Howard - The Lady's Man

She laughed a harsh laugh now. ‘How little they know!’

‘How little indeed.’

Matthew knew what she’d been thinking. At least, he knew she’d been thinking about Orazio. And, hearing that harsh laugh, it suddenly struck him that perhaps he’d been wrong when he’d made the assumption that she was completely over that sad affair. For at the heart of that laugh he had sensed real pain.

What she needed, he reflected, was a new affair to take her mind off it. And he wouldn’t mind in the slightest providing the therapy himself.

Out loud he returned to the earlier point he’d been making. ‘By making known my interest in the contest I would simply have been putting you in an uncomfortable position. And I would never have forgiven myself,’ he added as though he really meant it, ‘if you’d felt obliged to resign from the judging panel.’

Such kind consideration. He was making her heart weep. Caterina delivered him a look as cynical as his sentiments. ‘I had no idea you possessed such an altruistic streak.’

‘I tend to keep it well hidden. My modesty demands it.’

‘Modesty as well?’ Her eyebrows lifted.

He smiled. ‘Naturally I try to keep that hidden as well.’

‘Without too much difficulty, I imagine.’ She flicked him a dry look. ‘I must say this is really most revealing. All these fine qualities I would never have guessed at in a million years.’

‘Really?’ The dark eyes were fixed on her. ‘How very ungenerous of you.’

‘Not ungenerous, just realistic.’

She looked right back at him, at the arrogantly handsome face, so full of secrets, at the dark grey eyes with their menacing allure that, if you weren’t careful, would suck you in and seduce you. He was many things—a cheat, a scoundrel and a social climber, as well as a dangerous male force to be reckoned with—but alas he was none of the fine things he was claiming.

‘I judge what I see, and what I see,’ she told him, ‘rather contradicts those unlikely claims you’re making.’

‘Which only goes to show how deceptive appearances can be. But never mind,’ he smiled. ‘Once we’re working together, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to explore below the surface.’

Up until that point, though he’d irritated her beyond reason, Caterina had been quite enjoying their verbal fencing. So many of the men she encountered were so timid in her company, afraid to put a foot wrong, reluctant to contradict her. And she grew tired of it. At times it could be downright wearying being surrounded by people who agreed with you all the time.

And at least Matthew Allenby never did that. Even when he wasn’t actually fighting with her he wasn’t necessarily agreeing with her either. And, though she hated to admit that there might be anything she actually liked about him, she did in fact rather enjoy that side of him. Arguing with him gave her a buzz. A strictly intellectual buzz, of course!

But that last comment had definitely not been to her liking—that cool, breezy reference to their working together. For that was something she simply couldn’t let happen.

Couldn’t and wouldn’t. She must find a way out of this dilemma. That was something she had realised very quickly. The Bardi extension was her pet project. She’d poured months of dedication and energy into it and she’d been looking forward to working alongside the winner and seeing the whole thing come to life. But there was no way she could work alongside Matthew Allenby, so a solution had to be found that somehow eased him out.

And in the course of the past hour or so two solutions had occurred to her—one quite civilised, the other rather more brutal. She would try the first one first and see if she could avoid spilling blood.

Speaking calmly and keeping her tone as matter-of-fact as she could manage, Caterina enquired, ‘Do you really think we’ll be working together?’

Matthew looked surprised. ‘I had certainly assumed we would be. You’re in charge of this project, aren’t you? And I understood from the brief that you planned to be heavily involved in its execution.’

She shrugged. ‘Yes, I do.’

‘Then we’ll be working together.’ And he smiled a maddening smile, clearly relishing this prospect.

Caterina dropped her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts calmly. She must handle this with great delicacy or it would blow up in her face. One whiff of her true motives and he’d refuse to play ball.

She told him, ‘The problem is you’re a very busy man. I know you’re involved in several projects just for my brother alone—including now,’ she added with what she hoped was a benevolent smile, ‘the organisation of the garden party. All these things take up time and, as you know, the Bardi extension’s rather urgent... I fear it might be putting just a little too much pressure on you to expect you to work on it as well...’

Was she striking the right note? She tried to judge as he sat watching her, his long, supple frame leaning casually against the chair-back, the strong tanned fingers lightly clasping the arms, his eyes fixed on her face, an impenetrable smile on his lips.

He said, ‘You’re quite right. I do have a lot on my plate.’

Inwardly, Caterina sighed a small sigh of relief. Well, at least he hadn’t instantly shot her down in flames. That mild response even suggested that she might be on the right track. She crossed her fingers mentally and carried on.

‘You’ve already done the important part by producing the winning design... Its implementation... well, that requires less talent...and you have so many companies, so many talented people working for you...’ She swallowed and finally spat out the conclusion she’d been working towards. ‘I can’t help feeling it would take the pressure off you if you were to appoint one of your employees to do the actual donkey work.’

Matthew watched her for a moment, saying nothing, seeming to give some thought to her proposal.

‘That’s certainly the way I sometimes do things,’ he confessed.

‘It makes sense.’ Reassured, Caterina hurried on. ‘I mean, you can’t be expected to do everything yourself. That would just be crazy. After all, you’re only human.’ She forced a sympathetic smile. ‘You can only stretch yourself so far. And this isn’t such a terribly important project, after all. I’m sure you have far more important ones to claim your time. So it really would be more sensible to hand this one over to someone else.’

‘I suppose there might be a kind of logic in that.’

As he nodded, Caterina congratulated herself. I’ve done it! she was thinking. And she smiled to herself, feeling a huge lift of elation.

‘Well,’ she said, relief pouring through her—for it looked as though she’d got her way without having to spill blood. ‘I’m very glad we’re in agreement about that.’

Matthew smiled a slow smile, holding her eyes with his own as he did so. ‘You know...’ he said, letting his gaze wash over her, touching her face, her neck, her shoulders, then moving down to the soft swell of her breasts in a way that was so unexpectedly yet so openly sensual that Caterina, totally thrown, found herself just sitting there, as though he had taken a hammer and nailed her to the chair.

‘You know, when you calm down a bit, when you relax, when you smile, you really are quite extraordinarily attractive,’ he told her. ‘I was thinking that this afternoon, when you were on stage at the reception. You seemed totally relaxed and you looked quite beautiful.’

‘Oh?’

Caterina forced the monosyllable between stiff lips. What she really wanted to do was tell him quite frankly that she had no wish to hear his opinion on such matters. But two things were stopping her, one she could control and one she could not.