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The whirring sound came again. With agonizing slowness, the door slid open. Matthew stood before her, hands on his hips, eyes unreadable.
No wounds. No injuries that she could see. It was wrong to feel such relief. Wrong to want to throw herself into his arms—but she was beginning to understand, all too well, the bizarre things stress could do to you in situations like this.
“You can come out now.”
“What happened? Why did the alarm go off?”
The look on his face changed. It became…sheepish?
“It was an accident. Evalina—”
“Evalina?”
“Yeah. Evalina saw the Escalade going through the village, then turning down the road. She decided to drop by to see if it was really me, but she didn’t punch in the security code in time.”
Evalina, Mia thought, and hated herself for the swift rush of anger that swept through her.
“See, she knows I haven’t been here in—in a very long time, so when she saw the SUV—”
“She was too thrilled to think straight.” Mia started to flounce past him. “How nice for you bo—”
Matthew’s hand closed around her shoulder. “What’s the matter, baby?” His voice was lazy with amusement. “Jealous?”
“Saddened. That any woman would be so thrilled to see you that she’d break into your house.”
A grin spread across his face. “You are jealous.”
“You wish.”
“Evalina,” he said, “is my housekeeper.”
His housekeeper. The explanation brought a flood of relief, and that only made her more angry. Why should she care?
“She comes by each week, cleans the place, whatever.”
“It’s none of my business what she does or what she is.”
“You’re right,” he said, turning her to him. “It isn’t. Just so we understand each other…” He paused. “If she were my lover, I wouldn’t hide it. And I wouldn’t have made a move on you.”
Mia felt her face heat. “An unfortunate incident,” she said stiffly.
“That I made the move?” A cool smile angled over his lips. “Or that you responded to it?”
He could tell by the burn in her cheeks that she knew better than to answer. Instead she pulled away from him. He let her do it. What had happened before was just what she’d called it, an unfortunate incident, and he sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen again.
The best way to ensure that was to keep his hands off her.
“I assume you want to wash up.” He jerked his head to the side. “The powder room’s there. I’ll wait for you.”
“There’s no need to wait for me.”
“Of course there is.” He gave her a taut smile. “A gentleman always escorts a lady to dinner.”
“Is there a gentleman here? I hadn’t noticed. Besides, I’m not hungry.”
“You afraid of my cooking? Don’t be. Evalina’s making dinner.”