She stared into his eyes and felt her knees go weak and her tummy flip.
“I wondered if you were hungry.” She glanced over his shoulder and was ridiculously pleased to see a screen covered in type. “You’re writing again? It’s working, having me here?”
He blinked and finally focused on her. “Yes,” he said. “It is.”
“So having me clattering downstairs is inspiration enough. I mean, you’re not like an artist who needs his subject sitting in the chair to be able to create? I’m your muse, but you don’t need me in the room doing anything muse-like.” She thought she saw amusement light his eyes.
“The conversation we had when you brought my tea was enough.”
“You refused to drink it, I threatened you. How was that inspirational?”
“I decided that my character would drink herbal tea, and be vegetarian.”
“She’s vegetarian like me?” Eva was delighted. “And kind to animals?”
He gave her a long speculative look. “She’s kind to animals.”
“Good. Frankie said you didn’t write books with likeable characters, but this book is obviously different. Maybe I should read one of yours after all. Is there one you’d recommend?” She strolled past him into his study, scanning the rows and rows of books and thinking how Frankie would drool if she could see this room. There was never any hardship in choosing a gift for Frankie. All she ever wanted was books and it seemed Lucas was the same.
Close up, she could see that one wall was dedicated to his own work, both English language and foreign editions.
“If you’re looking for a happy-ever-after, you won’t find it on those shelves.”
She paused and admired a photograph on the wall. A log cabin framed by snowy pine trees, nestling in a forest by a lake. “That’s idyllic. Where is it?”
“Snow Crystal, Vermont.”
“That’s where you told people you were on your writing retreat? It looks blissful.” She took a closer look, studying the snowy peaks behind the forest. She could imagine it would be the perfect place for someone who wanted to get away from it all. “Romantic. I might have to put it on my bucket list.” She turned and saw something flicker in his eyes. Something that made her heart rate surge into overdrive. Sexual awareness uncurled inside her, sliding through her limbs and turning her bones to liquid.
Could he see the effect he had on her? She hoped not, but she knew she wasn’t good at hiding either her thoughts or her feelings.
She was here to offer inspiration, and to cook. She was supposed to salivate over the food, not the client.
“I’ve been going there for decades. It’s a family-owned resort. Do you ski?”
“I’ve never tried it, but I love snow—” She broke off, aware that she’d been tactless. “Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because—” She licked her lips. “I know you don’t like snow.”
His face was expressionless. “You’ve been reading about how my wife died.”
Oh, crap.
“Yes. Not because I’m nosy, but because I was afraid of saying something that might make you feel bad. I didn’t want to do that. I know how much you loved her.”
There had been surprisingly few photos of them together online, but the ones she’d found had shown them almost glued together, bodies touching as if they couldn’t bear to be separated, so close and wrapped up in each other that it had almost hurt to look at them.
Looking at the photos, she’d understood why he hated this time of year. It had robbed him of the love of his life and there was no doubt in her mind that Lucas Blade had loved his wife. Truly loved her. Loved her so much that carrying on without her was almost unbearably hard.
Despite the obvious pain he was feeling now, Eva dearly wanted to love, and be loved, that deeply.
“We haven’t discussed the terms of our contract.” His voice was cool and formal. “I’ll be working most of the time, but I hope you’ll treat the apartment as your own.”
“If I did that, you’d throw me out within a day. I’m horribly untidy, remember?” She smiled, desperately hoping to see at least a glimmer of a smile in return, but the mention of his wife had sent him back behind the wall of protection he’d erected between himself and the world. “I’ll try to remember I’m a guest, and not drop things where I stand.”
“I’ve watched you in the kitchen. You’re meticulous and organized.”