Arden flushed. ‘I did it because I need a job, thanks to you.’
‘Because if I hadn’t come along to spoil your plans at the hotel, you’d have got what you wanted.’
‘Because the man you so gallantly defended that night,’ she said, her eyes blazing, ‘fired me from my job after you’d helped him make me look like—like—’
‘Of course he did. After the little trick you tried to play, he’d have been a fool not to.’
‘The point is,’ Arden said coldly, ‘that I took this job in good faith, and your uncle is satisfied with me.’
‘I’m sure he is.’ She looked up sharply but there was no discernible change to his expression. He smiled politely as he tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. ‘Go on, Miss Miller. You were telling us what it is you do for my uncle.’
Arden hesitated, her eyes searching his face. Was there a chance he might suddenly have decided to listen to reason? He was watching her calmly, as if he were truly interested in what she was going to say. Well, what was there to lose? she thought, and took a breath.
‘I take him for walks in the garden,’ she said. ‘He’s been explaining his orchid collection to me—’
‘Really.’
Was there more in that single word than it at first seemed? No, perhaps not. He was still watching her politely, smiling almost gently.
‘Yes,’ she said quickly. She smiled a little, too. ‘I like flowers, you see, and—’
‘Is that all you do, then? Wheel Uncle’s chair into the garden and listen while he describes each of his five hundred orchids in lengthy detail?’
Arden stiffened. There was something in his voice, she could hear it; he was—
‘Well? I’m waiting, Miss Miller. What else do you do for my uncle?’
‘I talk with him,’ she said slowly, her eyes on his. ‘We discuss books and films. We talk politics and—’
Conor laughed. ‘Politics? You?’
Arden’s cheeks flamed. ‘Your uncle says I’ve brought the world to his door, and—’
‘But you would, wouldn’t you? Worldliness is one of your greatest virtues—although “virtue” is a word that doesn’t quite describe your talents.’
‘You bastard!’
The breath hissed between Arden’s teeth as she spun towards him, her hand upraised. Conor caught it easily and forced it down to her side.
‘You tried that once before, remember?’
‘I remember everything about that night!’ Tears of anger rose in her eyes and she twisted free of his hand. ‘I should have guessed what sort of man you were the minute I laid eyes on you.’
‘But you did,’ he said coldly. ‘You decided that I didn’t have a dollar in my pocket, which meant I wasn’t worth the time of day.’
‘That’s not what I mean and you know it! I’m talking about the way you behaved when you came to my room, about—’
‘Conor, por favor, what is this all about?’ Linda’s face was pale, her dark eyes enormous as she crossed the room to his side. ‘Do you and this—this woman have some sort of relationship?’
‘Just the opposite, querida,’ he said, slipping his arm around her shoulders. ‘Miss
Miller wanted nothing to do with me the last time we met.’ His smile faded as he looked at Arden. ‘I suspect she’d have treated me much more generously if she’d known who I was.’
‘I know who you are now,’ Arden said coldly. ‘And my opinion remains the same. You’re an arrogant, narrow-minded, conceited, egotistical son of a—’
‘You are not in the United States now, Miss Miller,’ Conor said sharply. ‘I advise you to watch your tongue.’
It was probably a good idea, Arden thought, glaring back at him. It was easy to see that he was angry. No. Not angry. He was furious, although he was managing to keep that fury tightly leashed. But the fire in his eyes and the tightness of his jaw betrayed him, and somehow that control was more frightening than another man’s rantings would have been.