Page 21 of Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
Eventually her voice tapered off and she hovered, arms folded, by the door. ‘You honestly don’t have to say that you like them,’ she blurted out.
‘They’re...amazing.’
He looked at her in silence for a few long seconds and she could feel her face getting hotter and hotter and redder and redder.
‘Who are your clients?’
‘Some chefs...obviously...’ She spun round and began heading out of the conservatory. Having him look at her work had made her feel exposed and vulnerable for some reason, and the sooner they headed off the better. ‘Usually up-and-coming ones, because I’m relatively cheap. Also I’ve made a name for myself in the restaurant trade around here. That’s my bread and butter, really. There are always new dishes they want photographed. And I’ve had a couple of commissions from publishing houses for recipe books...’
She blathered on witlessly and followed him out to his car. His driver had clearly vanished back to London.
‘So...’ Matias switched on the engine and the powerful car roared into life, but he didn’t drive off, instead choosing to lean against the door to look at her. ‘A day doing what loved-up couples apparently do. My mother was up at the crack of dawn preparing a picnic for our trip to the seaside. Now, I may have lived here for years, but you’ll have to provide directions. I can’t tell you the last time I went to a beach down here.’
‘Not even with one of those blondes you’ve sometimes brought down?’ Georgina said, disobeying her own mantra about steering clear of anything remotely personal and reverting to the comfort zone of bickering ex-neighbours.
She briefly gave him a series of directions, but her curiosity about him had been unleashed and she was finding it hard to stuff it back into its box.
‘I don’t do beach trips with women,’ Matias drawled, glancing at her sideways as he began driving away from the house. ‘And I certainly don’t do home-made picnics.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I like keeping it light.’
‘Why?’
‘You’re very curious, aren’t you?’ Matias murmured. ‘Do you find me as fascinating now as you did all those years ago?’
Georgina went beetroot-red. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said woodenly.
‘No? I remember you used to follow me with your eyes...always curious about my life at boarding school...always taking pot-shots at the girls I sometimes brought home...’
‘Polite,’ Georgina corrected in a strangled voice. ‘I waspolitewhen I asked you about school. You were the only person I knew at a boarding school! And I didn’t take pot-shots at those girls. I may have sniggered a bit because they were all so empty-headed, and gazed at you as though you were the next best thing to sliced bread, but it certainly wasn’t because I found youfascinating.’
Matias shrugged, but a half-smile tugged the corners of his mouth.
Mortified, Georgina could barely appreciate the splendour of the beach when they finally got there, and although she made all the right noises about the hamper his mother had prepared she was barely able to think straight.
She’d been so careful all those years ago! She’d watched him from the side lines, safe in the certainty that her silly crush was something no one knew about—least of all him. She’d downplayed the jealousy she’d felt when, over the years, she had noted all the wafer-thin models who had hung like limpets on his arm, gazing up at him with adoring eyes. She’d told herself that she was far happier with her photography and a sense of direction in her life.
To know that he had seen through all that made her squirm with shame and embarrassment. Made her realise how sharp his instincts were when it came to the opposite sex. Made her see just how dangerous this little game could become if she allowed her eyes to stray. If he noticed... If he jumped to conclusions...
They’d hit the beach at peak time, but they managed to find themselves a relatively serene spot and he laid out the picnic with exaggerated ceremony. He’d shrugged off her random remark of earlier, and barely glanced at her now as they settled on the large rug his mother had packed along with the food.
‘Hot,’ Matias said, sprawling on the ground with his hands behind his head, staring up at a cloudless blue sky from behind his designer sunglasses. ‘If I’d known it was going to be this hot I would have suggested we come equipped with our swimming gear—although swimming gear in these waters is strictly called a wetsuit. Unless you happen to be extremely hardy? Are you?’
‘I’ve been swimming a few times,’ Georgina said politely, gazing off into the distance but very much aware of his loose-limbed elegant body on the rug next to her. She was sitting up, as rigid as a plank of wood. He was sprawled on his back, his body language unspeakably relaxed and sexy.
‘Very impressive.’
‘You don’t have to put on a show when it’s just the two of us, Matias. I know the last thing you’ve ever been when it comes to me isimpressed.’
‘You need to lose your insecurities. Earlier I asked you a question.’
‘What question?’
Since when was Matias Silva equipped to talk to her about insecurities? Who did he think he was?
He was looking at her. She could feel the weight of his gaze on her and it made her squirm.
