‘What do you mean?’
‘Come on, Nico,’ Grace said gruffly, ‘if I had to keep a diary of how long your relationships last, then I’d say none of them go beyond the three-month watershed.’
‘I’m sure you’re wrong on that score.’ But he was frowning and thinking. ‘At any rate, this is different. What we have is nothing like what I’ve had in the past with...the other women I’ve dated, so it’s impossible to go down the comparison road.’
‘I’m guessing I should be flattered?’
‘I’mflattered you looked twice at me,’ he responded with sincerity. ‘Seeing that you came from a standpoint of disapproval. Do you remember that conversation we had? When you opened up about my dating habits?’
Grace shivered. From that perfectly accurate assessment, it surely would only be a hop and a skip before he started coming to all sorts of conclusions, some of which might be right.
This time she was definitely going to head him away from the pass before that clever brain of his started joining dots.
‘I remember.’ She shrugged and smiled distantly. ‘Maybe that’s why we’re in this place now. Neither of us saw it coming but it worked,out here, because we took what we wanted and had some fun.’
‘Run that by me?’
‘You enjoyed the novelty and so did I.’
‘The novelty...’
‘I mean, we worked alongside one another for a long time, and I guess, thrown together like this...’ She glanced around her and left it up to him to interpret where she was going with what she had just said. ‘Curiosity got the better of us. It happens. Doesn’t mean it has to keep on happening! Realistically, I think we’re both too sensible for that, don’t you?’
He liked novelty but there was no reason why he had to have the monopoly on that.
She stepped back and slowly wiped her hands on one of the kitchen towels, then she retreated to the safety of a kitchen chair, swivelling it so that she was looking at him.
Her legs felt like jelly. She could tell from the shadow of sudden uncertainty in his eyes that the conversation wasn’t going in the predicted direction.
All of this, the arrogant assumption that she would fall in line...the glib acceptance that she would want to hang onto what he was offering because what woman wouldn’t? She hated herself for still loving him because it defied everything sensible inside her.
However, Grace still possessed sufficient common sense to know just where this was going to go, and Nico Doukas was about to find out what it felt like to have the rug pulled from under his feet.
She intended to play byherrules, even though this was anything but a game.
‘You don’t mean that...do you? I canfeelthe desire coming off you in waves. It’s telling me something else, another story...’ He strolled towards her and then made her treacherous heart flutter like crazy when he leant over, propping himself on the arms of her chair and suffocating her with his unbearable proximity.
What would she do if he kissed her now?
Push him forcefully back? Turn away with freezing intent? Cave in and loop her arms around his neck and return that kiss?
‘It’s not going to happen, Nico.’ This because option three felt dangerously tempting. She placed her hands on his chest, felt the heat of his body burning through the tee shirt and clenched her jaw. She didn’t push but the intent was there and after a few seconds, during which she saw bewilderment register on his face, he drew back but remained in place in front of her, staring down with a frown.
‘Oh, Grace, my darling...’
‘I don’t think it’s tenable for this to continue after we leave here.’
My darling...if only she were...
‘Why not?’
Grace shrugged. ‘Because it just isn’t.’
‘Are you telling me that you’ve abruptly stopped being attracted to me? Maybe you’re saying that once we land in London, the attraction will conveniently disappear...because if that’s what you’re saying, then we could always put it to the test.’
‘Nico...this has been fun.’
Her voice was gentle. She was being reasonable. She was letting him down the way she imagined he was accustomed to letting down the women he inevitably got bored with. In her head she was thinking,I still need this job, but tomorrow the search begins for a replacement, because I’ll never really be able to share space with this man without hurting.