Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [3]
‘Well?’ he pressed. ‘Has it? I hope not. I liked you the way you were. My life’s too complicated without you suddenly deciding that you need to discover yourself.’
‘In that case,’ she said calmly, ‘I’ll make sure that I discover myself outside working hours.’
What an arrogant, selfish swine, she thought. How could I have ever fallen in love with you?
She thought that they had killed the subject. What else was there to say?
His movement when he leaned over to twirl one long strand of hair between his finger surprised her so much that her body jerked around and she faced him angrily. He laughed, his eyes mocking, and folded his arms.
‘I still can’t get over this transformation,’ he murmured. ‘What prompted it? If it wasn’t a man, then what?’
Natalie stood up, working on the theory that she would feel far less disadvantaged if she was at least on eye level with him, and then instantly regretted it because that brought her far too close to his dark, handsome face.
Was it really any wonder that women found him so irresistible? Even with all her defences in full working order Natalie could feel that intangible pull be exerted over the opposite sex. He had that particularly lazy, self-assured brand of sexuality that could conquer without a great deal of effort. She had seen even the most hardened of feminists fall victim to it, and every time she saw it, it made her annoyed. It just didn’t seem fair that one man should be so shamelessly magnetic.
‘That,’ she said frozenly, ‘has to be the most chauvinistic remark I have ever heard.’
He laughed. ‘Really? That just goes to show how little experience you have of the opposite sex.’
She looked away quickly to hide the faint flush that had crept up her cheeks. God only knew why she had allowed this sort of personal conversation to sneak up on her and catch her unawares. It never usually happened.
‘Well,’ she bit out defensively, ‘if you are anything to go by, then I’m heartily glad about that.’
She looked at him, horrified by what she had just said.
‘Are you?’ His eyes were curious, and she realised that her remark, rather than ending their conversation, had had just the opposite effect.
‘I am, as a matter of fact,’ she muttered under her breath. She could hear her heart hammering away in her chest, and would have given anything to have been able to sit back down, but if she did that might delude him into thinking that she was actually interested in this conversation.
‘I’m mortally offended,’ he said, his eyes gleaming with suppressed amusement, and she could have hit him. What a keen sense of humour. Was this his idea of getting back into the routine? By starting off the morning with a little laugh at her expense?
‘Mortally?’ she said, refusing to share the joke. ‘In that case, I’ll try and make time to come to the funeral.’
He laughed and threw her an appreciative look.
‘I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back here, at the mercy of that vicious tongue of yours. The secretary I had out there was awful. She spent six months complaining and generally acting as though working for me was on a par with enforced labour. If she hadn’t come with a personal recommendation, I would have got rid of her so fast she wouldn’t have known what had hit her. But I didn’t want to offend my man over there, so I stuck it out. Just.’
He moved back to his chair and Natalie released a sigh of relief.
Poor girl, she thought sympathetically. She could have understood the reaction. Kane Marshall could be very intimidating