‘Then prepare to be defeated.’ She smiled, knowing that she was actually a pretty good chess-player. It was one of the things she liked to do while sitting around waiting for scenes to be set up on location.
She leaned forward, her ponytail swinging over one shoulder, and rested her hands on her knees, concentrating on the chess instead of on him. Given his overriding confidence she guessed he’d be a master player—and she’d need all her wits about her.
‘You’re good,’ Tristan complimented her an hour later, as she chewed on her lip and considered her next move.
So far he had countered every one of her attacks and she was fast running out of manoeuvres.
‘Did you enjoy your swim this morning?’ he asked, leaning back in his chair, his long legs sprawled out on either side of the low table.
His question made her glance at him sharply. ‘How do you know I went swimming this morning?’
‘I saw you.’
‘But you weren’t there.’
‘Yes, I was.’
Something heavy curled between them and Lily cleared her throat. ‘So why didn’t you swim?’
‘It’s your move.’
Lily looked down at the board. Had he really been at the pool? And if so why hadn’t he joined her? Mulling it over, she carefully moved her bishop across the board—and then watched as Tristan immediately confiscated it with his marauding rook.
‘Oh!’ Lily looked up to see a wicked glint in his eyes. ‘Not fair! You were trying to distract me!’
‘It worked.’
‘That’s cheating.’
‘Not really. I did turn up for a swim.’ His voice was low, deep, and an unexpected burst of warmth stole through her.
‘Then I repeat: Why didn’t you have one?’ She lifted her chin challengingly, sure that he was just playing with her.
‘Because I didn’t trust myself to join you,’ he said dulcetly.
Was he flirting with her?
Lily’s heart raced and she quickly averted her eyes, not sure she wanted an answer. Her stomach fluttered alarmingly and she looked at the chessboard without really seeing it.
‘Aren’t you going to ask me why?’ he murmured.
Lily looked up and, seeing the competitive glint in his eyes, realised what he was doing. ‘No,’ she said a little crossly, ‘because you’re only trying to put me off my game.’ And she wasn’t going to be disappointed by that.
He laughed softly and the deep sound trickled through her like melted chocolate.
They played for a short time more, and finally Lily threw up her hands when he cornered her king.
‘Okay, you win.’ She smiled, not totally surprised at the outcome. After the swimming comment she’d lost all concentration.
She wondered if now wouldn’t be a good time to go to bed. A cosy ambience seemed to have descended, and with the crackling fire behind them it would be all too easy to forget that he was here, with her, under duress.
Tristan tried to ignore the heat in his groin as his eyes automatically dropped to that lethal smile of hers, before sliding lower to the tempting swell of her pert breasts beneath the loose T-shirt. Did the woman even own a bra?
Oh yeah, he remembered. A pink one…He felt his body grow even harder at the image of her standing before him in matching delicate lace underwear. He loved the thought of her in matching underwear—not that she was wearing any at the moment…
He got up to top up his drink and give his hands something to do.
He’d been avoiding her all week, only seeing her at mealtimes, where she’d been so coolly remote they’d barely spoken to each other.