Her heart did an Olympic leap and then raced for gold. The moment of truth. Remember William. She didn’t want to remember William, she wanted to say yes. Which was why it had to be no. ‘Lunch?’ she repeated weakly.
‘You know, that meal in between breakfast and dinner?’
It was easier when he was being sarcastic. ‘I don’t think so, thank you.’
‘Why not?’ He rested his arms on the banister, his face full of sharply defined planes and angles in the shadows.
/> ‘Because—’ She hesitated. Should she lie and say she had a prior engagement? But he’d only suggest another time. ‘Because I’m not dating at the moment.’
‘The work thing.’ He shook his head. ‘Not a good enough reason when your dog damn near broke my back.’
‘I’ve made recompense for that,’ she said indignantly. ‘And Rufus isn’t my dog anyway.’
‘You were in charge of him.’ He grinned. ‘Do you want to see my bruises?’
‘Not particularly.’ He was doing the charm bit again and it was lethal. Good job William had made her immune to such ploys.
‘There are women who’d die for the privilege.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’ She was determined not to smile.
‘I’ll be back at midday. There’s a great little pub I know where the roast beef melts in the mouth and the Yorkshire puddings are more than puffs of air.’
‘I’ve told you, I’m not dating,’ she said severely.
‘And I’ve told you, this isn’t a date but more paying off your debt. I don’t like to eat Sunday lunch alone.’ He straightened. ‘OK?’ he threw over his shoulder as he began to walk down the stairs.
Not OK. Definitely not OK, but it was like saying no to a brick wall. She followed him to the top of the stairs, looking down at his back as she hissed, ‘Nick, I’m not having Sunday lunch with you.’
‘Twelve sharp.’ He turned just long enough for her to see the flash of his white teeth in the darkness. ‘And I’m not backing off, Cory, so accept with good grace.’
‘Nick!’
He was in the hall now and his voice was low and reproachful when he murmured, ‘Quiet, remember the dog.’
She muttered something very rude about the dog just as the front door closed behind him.
In spite of the late hour, after Cory had showered and removed her make-up she found she was wide awake. The events of the evening were spinning through her head like a fast moving film and sleep was a million miles away. She tossed and turned for an hour or more before getting out of bed and padding through to the kitchen.
A mug of hot milk and half a packet of chocolate digestive biscuits later, she tried to get a handle on the way her life had been turned upside down in less than twenty-four hours.
The man was a human bulldozer, she told herself irritably. It would serve him right if she was out tomorrow when he called.
But she wouldn’t be.
She sighed. This was madness. Getting involved with a man like Nick Morgan, even briefly, was asking for trouble. Unbidden, thoughts of William intruded and for once she was too muddled and over-tired to stop them.
When she had met him she had left university six months earlier and had been training for her present job. She and her colleagues had treated themselves to a Christmas meal at an expensive restaurant and it had been there she’d bumped into him—quite literally. The heel of one of her shoes had suddenly snapped and she’d fallen against him.
She reached for another biscuit, needing the sweetness to combat the acidity of the memories.
She had known from the beginning that William was wrong for her, that he was the type of man who would never be happy settling down with just one woman. But he had pursued her, probably because she was a challenge. Normally women fell into his lap like ripe plums and it had been something of a novelty for him to be the hunter for once. She had known that, in her head, but in spite of that she had found herself falling for him. Some little grain of sense, of sanity—call it what you would—had prevailed, however, and in spite of all his efforts he hadn’t got her into his bed.
Then he had asked her to marry him.
The packet of biscuits had almost gone now. Feeling mad at herself for the self-indulgence, Cory stuffed the remainder back in the biscuit barrel and turned off the kitchen light, padding back to her bedroom and climbing into bed.
She had been over the moon at William’s proposal. It had meant he wanted her, really wanted her and not just as a sexual conquest. For the first time in her life she had felt loved, the hang-ups from her lonely childhood and teens fading into the distance.