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‘I’ll put a pillow between us, and I warn you, if you touch me I know self-defence.’ His mockery melted away, the expression in his dark eyes growing flat and hard. ‘I said suite, not room—we haverooms, two bedrooms, two dressing rooms and bathrooms and a large sitting room in between. I can have locks put on if you fear that I will be overcome by lust.’
By the time he was finished, her face was so hot it could have lit up Athens. There was no face-saving, or for that matter face-cooling, way to get out of this.
‘Well, I feel pretty stupid now.’
She didn’t look stupid, she looked like a crushed flower at that moment. Young and a little lost.
‘I’m starting think, Ezio, that you’re a lot better at this “keeping up appearances” thing than I am,’ she admitted ruefully. ‘I hadn’t thought what Sam might think if we have rooms the opposite end of the house.’ She lifted her chin. ‘You seem to have come up with a very...workable solution.’
‘You’re not built for deception—you are too honest.’
Coming from Ezio, she wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment, and his expression wasn’t any help. The tension shivering along his taut, golden stubble-roughened jaw made her wonder if he wasn’t as uneasy at the prospect of the next six months as she was.
Honest... He might think so, but Tilda couldn’t make the same claim, especially when she felt like the big lie she was nursing was written across her face in neon—namely that it was her too-handsome boss who might need the lock on the door. Notseriously, of course, because she would never get involved with a serial womaniser. She had more pride.
You married him, Tilda!
She had no idea why she stood rooted to the spot with the shock of it. It wasn’t as if it was news. She had spent the last month counting the days off on the calendar and now it was here.
She had walked into this with her eyes wide open, and she was married, but notinvolved. God knew what the distinction was but it made her feel slightly less of a hypocrite.
Standing within the blast zone of his pure,malemind-numbing force field, she struggled to pull free of the sensual web that she had spun around herself.
Luckily, help was at hand, in the shape of a tall woman who wore her grey-streaked dark hair in a smooth pleat. Handsome rather than pretty, she wore a pair of wide-legged trousers and a pale-grey silk shirt. Tucked in behind her was Tilda’s brother.
‘I am so sorry I was not there to greet you,’ she said, addressing her remark to them both. ‘I have discovered this young man.’
Sam stepped forward reluctantly, and his wet hair told a story.
‘Tilda, this is Sybil, the housekeeper here. Any problem, she is your go-to woman.’
Not for the sort of problems I have, Tilda thought, managing a forced smile.
‘And, Syb, this is Tilda, my wife.’ Now those were two words he had never thought to hear himself say, but at least he could say them without flinching. Tilda could not hear them without doing just that.
Tilda assumed, as the other woman didn’t stand there open-mouthed or go into shock, that she must have been given some warning about their married status.
The two women exchanged smiles and nods.
‘We were about to send a search party out for you,’ Tilda lied as she turned to her brother, brows raised. ‘You decided on a dip, I see?’ She didn’t really mind. Sam was a strong swimmer, and actually she felt quite envious; she would give a lot to immerse her hot and sticky self into cool water. Swimming was the only sport she had ever been any good at, and she had passed on the skill her father had taught her to Sam.
‘I was just giving you two some alone time,’ Sam responded virtuously. ‘And, in case you’re worried, I didn’t skinny dip. I left my pants on, which are a bit soggy now.’
‘Syb, would you show Sam to his suite? We’ll all catch up in the Fern House later.’
‘Is that what you call it? Wow, Tilda, there is a cool—’
Ezio cut him off mid-flow. ‘Later, Sam. She can see for herself.’ He floated a comment in Greek to the housekeeper over Tilda’s head and the other woman nodded before gesturing to Sam to follow her.
‘This way, Sam.’
‘Sam seems to have made himself at home.’
‘A bit too much at home,’ Tilda worried. It had never occurred to her that him liking life here too much would be an issue. ‘It will be a wrench for him to leave.’
‘You have barely arrived and the only thing you can talk about is leaving?’
Hearing the annoyance in his voice, she glanced up at the tall, sleek, beautiful male creature she was struggling to keep pace with and felt her throat close... He really was utterly gorgeous, even with his jaw clamped taut in annoyance.
