The Housekeeper's Awakening

‘My father wasn’t a racer,’ he said stonily. ‘He was a farmer who’d been married for twenty-one years. Who used to tell me that my mother was his soulmate.’

‘So what you’re really saying is that you think men generally are incapable of fidelity?’

‘That’s one way of looking at it,’ he said slowly. ‘Yes. I think that’s right.’

‘So men really are the weaker sex?’

‘Or the more realistic?’ he countered coolly. ‘How can two people possibly make promises of fidelity to each other, when they have no guarantee of keeping them?’

Carly didn’t respond. His words had made her heart sink, even though she knew she had no right to be hurt by them. He had never promised her anything other than what he’d just given her, had he? In fact, he had explicitly warned her off the very things he had just been talking about. She pushed back the sheet and got out of bed. ‘I need to use the bathroom,’ she said.

She walked across the bedroom and closed the bathroom door behind her, though maybe you were supposed to leave it open in circumstances like these? She realised what a novice she still was and how little she knew about how to interact with a man on such an intimate basis. She told herself that she couldn’t complain about his honesty, just because he was telling her something she didn’t want to hear. She had to accept this on the terms he had offered her, or she would end up getting her heart broken.

She flicked cold water over her face and practised a few convincing-looking smiles in the mirror so that when she walked back into the bedroom she felt almost calm. At least, until she saw him sitting propped up against the bank of snowy pillows, looking very dark and rugged.

His black eyes seemed to pierce through her still-tender skin. ‘Would you like to go out for lunch tomorrow?’ he questioned.

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nbsp; ‘Lunch?’ She blinked, because she had assumed that they would assume their normal boss/employee relationship during daylight hours. She had thought that they would be together only in bed. ‘You mean—not here?’

He gave the faint flicker of a smile, as if her lack of imagination had amused him. ‘No, not here. There is a whole beautiful coastline out there, querida—with some of the most famous restaurants in the world just waiting to be eaten in. There are beaches and mountains and tiny villages which are like stepping back in time. And since this is your first visit to France, I think it’s time I showed you some of them.’

‘But...I thought you’d decided it was best if we weren’t seen together?’

‘And maybe I’ve changed my mind.’ His mouth tightened. ‘I don’t live my life trying to please other people, and neither should you.’

CHAPTER NINE

HE TOOK HER to Juan-les-Pins, to a restaurant on a beach, where he was recognised immediately. But Carly was still too busy thinking about what he’d told her to take much notice of the heads turning to watch them as they walked over the sand-covered boards to a table which looked directly over the lapping blue waves. She thought about his sad upbringing and the conclusions he’d drawn. Conclusions which had only been compounded by his championship status in the glamorous sport of motor racing.

He didn’t think that men were capable of fidelity.

It had been a bald statement to make to someone you’d only just seduced and the message had been plain, even for someone as naïve as her. He was warning her off. Telling her to keep this bizarre liaison in the right place and not start building any fantasies. Because he wasn’t stupid. He must guess that being sexually awoken by a man like him would be powerful enough to turn the head of any woman, no matter how much she protested that she wasn’t looking for love or marriage.

They ordered shellfish salads, and iced lime juice flavoured with coconut, and Luis devoured his food with a voracious appetite before noticing that she wasn’t doing the same. He put his fork down and looked at her, dark eyebrows disappearing into the tangle of his dark hair.

‘Lobster not to your satisfaction?’

She prodded at the pink flesh with her fork and forced a smile. ‘The lobster’s lovely.’

‘Is that why you’re not eating any of it? Or is it because you’re upset about what I told you yesterday?’

‘I’m not upset. I’m grateful you felt you could be so honest with me. I’m just feeling a bit...’

He put his glass down. ‘A bit what?’

She shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Tell me.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Overwhelmed, I guess.’ Her gaze shot around at the tables, which all seemed to contain at least one female who looked as if she’d be at home on a catwalk. ‘All the women here look amazing. As if they’ve spent the entire morning getting ready to have lunch in a chic restaurant, while I—’

‘Look like someone who has spent the morning being ravished by a man who can’t seem to keep his hands off her? Who is growing hard just by looking at her.’

‘Luis,’ she said faintly, her breath catching in her throat, because when he looked at her that way she just wanted to lean across the table and kiss him.

‘Don’t you think that any of them would prefer to be in your shoes?’ His gaze dropped to floor level and the hint of a smile curved his lips. ‘Or flip-flops, in this case.’