Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [33]
‘Oh, sorry.’ He faced her with a rueful smile. ‘My mind was miles away.’
‘Was it?’ Natalie asked innocently. ‘I thought it was at the other end of the table and sitting next to Kane Marshall.’
Eric flushed heavily. ‘Was I being obvious?’ he asked with a theatrical whisper.
‘Just a little.’ The thought amused her. Eric was safe, she thought fleetingly, because I’m not his sort at all. The impossibly beautiful are much more his cup of tea.
‘I must be a glutton for punishment,’ he sighed, concentrating on his dessert and doing it justice. ‘She re-minds me a lot of that model I was telling you about. The one who dumped me.’
Natalie looked thoughtfully to where Anna was sitting, her beautiful face averted towards Kane. Yes, men often were attracted to the same type of woman. Was that why she and Eric were so comfortable with each other? Because physically they were simply not to each other’s taste?
She glanced at Eric. He was attractive enough, but in a bland way. How was it that his preferences lay in such exotic creatures as Anna?
The train of thought slipped to the back of her mind, as the plates were cleared away and fruit and cheese was brought out. In a while they would move into the lounge and have their after-dinner drinks. A few of the couples had been brought by taxi. Those who had committed themselves to driving back would eye the brandies and ports wistfully and blame their other halves for having all the fun.
Predictable but enjoyable enough, and Kane would have made a few business deals in the process. In the morning he would rattle off what had been achieved and she would type briefs of all of them while they were fresh in both their minds.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was chatting to one of his clients, laughing about some-thing, a picture of ease. But she knew that, inside that head of his, his computer brain was ticking away, storing information. It was one of the things that made him so successful, she guessed. That amazing ability to retrieve information which most people would have relegated to the back of their mind and forgotten about. He could remember details of conversations from years back.
It was after midnight by the time the last of the guests had left. Kane had showed them to the door, with Anna clinging languorously to his arm, yawning prettily as the door shut. Even when she yawned she still managed to look delicate and beautiful. She could become a professional mud wrestler, Natalie thought sourly, and still manage to look sophisticated. No wonder Kane continued to toy with her. Would she be the one to finally catch the elusive fish?
They certainly made a good couple. Both tall, both commanding presences in their own way, and Anna’s blonde good looks were the prefect foil to Kane’s dark sensuality. And it had to be said that she had lasted a great deal longer than the rest of his playmates.
The thought of Kane marrying, settling down with a woman, made her stomach churn over.
‘Shall I make a start on the clearing up?’ she asked, stifling the sickening feeling.
Kane looked at her and shook his head. ‘I’ve got a team of cleaners coming in tomorrow to take care of that.’ He gave a crooked smile. ‘You know O’Leary. He nearly had a heart attack at the thought of having to do it all on his own.’
Their eyes met in mutual, amused understanding and Anna looked at Natalie narrowly, her white hand tightening on Kane’s arm. She didn’t care for that at all. Natalie could see that immediately. The blonde woman yawned again, stretching with studied feline grace, and pouted at Kane.
‘Shall we go to bed, darling?’
Eric’s eyes were glued to the other woman and Natalie wondered tightly how someone could invest a simple sentence with such unspoken promise.
Kane nodded but his eyes were fixed on Natalie’s face.
‘Good idea,’ he murmured, then he said softly and ‘plainly for Natalie’s benefit, ‘I’m sure we’re not the only ones who are eager to get