“You don’t do your own cleaning.” No way.
His smile was sardonic. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“Is it going to bother you?” Max asked her.
“What?”
“Not having live-in domestic help?”
“Is it going to bother you to do the cooking when we haven’t arranged for a meal?” She didn’t mind cleaning, or making her own bed, though admittedly she didn’t very often, but that sort of thing was in her skill set.
Cooking wasn’t.
“No.”
“Then, no.”
Later, Romi savored a bite of asparagus perfectly prepared. “I might have to take a cooking class someday. This is really delicious.” Maybe Maddie would take the class with her.
“I am glad you like it.” He ate his own food with little attention, his focus entirely on her. “I don’t expect you to learn to cook. My housekeeper comes in daily and prepares most evening meals ahead of time.”
“Good to know. If I decide to marry you.”
He didn’t get angry. In fact, humor played at the corners of his mouth. “Marriage will bring sufficient changes to your life without cooking.”
“You don’t say.” She flicked him a flirtatious glance.
“Besides having a hell of a lot of sex, smart aleck.”
“Did I say anything about sex?” Unaccountably, heat washed through her cheeks. She would have thought herself incapable of embarrassment about these things after their very long afternoon of lovemaking.
“You have a charming blush.”
“Thanks?”
“You’re not sure you appreciate my observation?”
“Not really, no. I think someone with more tact would have simply ignored my pink cheeks.”
“I am not known for my tact.”
“No, I don’t imagine you are.” She sipped at the crisp white wine he’d served with dinner. “So, you said other changes.”
“You will have a security detail assigned to you.”
“I’m sure that’s not necessary.”
He smiled, though there was very little humor in it. “I’m sure that it is.”
“I can’t attend, much less speak at a rally for lower CO2 emissions with a bunch of security guys following me around.”
“You can dress them in T-shirts with conservation slogans, but your team will be with you at all times you are away from home.” He made it sound like that was going to start immediately.
She frowned. “You don’t always have a detail.”
“I do.”
“What about last night? There was no gun-toting gorilla in the car with us.”
“No, but there was a two-man team of highly trained professional personal security agents in the car behind us. They parked at the end of the driveway.”
“Oh. Were they in the ballroom?”
“No. Viktor had security covered for the reception. My detail got a couple of hours to do what they wanted. They didn’t leave the hotel, though.”
“Oh.” So, that argument had gone nowhere. “Does your mom have security?”
“Mama has a bodyguard.”
“Natalya wouldn’t agree to a full detail, would she?”
Max’s frown said it all.
That was more promising. “Couldn’t I just have a bodyguard, too?”
“I prefer a two-man detail when you are away from home.”
Or not. “Isn’t that a ridiculous expenditure?”
“Nothing like paying out a ten-million-dollar ransom.”
“Like you’d pay that to get me back.” Seriously.
Max just looked at her.
No. He couldn’t mean it. He had to be talking out of his hat. “Why would you?” Did they even have kidnapping insurance that went that high?
“You’re talking like this is a done deal.” His look wasn’t quite a smile, but it was definitely triumphant.
Still, she recognized Max’s conversational tactic. She’d used it herself. “I know what you are doing.”
Max didn’t want to answer her and so pushed the conversation in a direction he knew she didn’t want to go.
“You’ll be spending the night.” He looked at her clothes, or lack thereof significantly.
She’d donned one of his dress shirts after dinner. Burgundy silk, it felt good against her skin and well, she liked the fact that it was Max’s.
Romi had been wearing it since before Max started cooking, the fact he brought it up now indicated he really didn’t want to talk about the fact he would pay such a ridiculously high sum to get her back.
Nevertheless, she stored that bit of information away, along with how matter-of-fact he’d been about it. He hadn’t hesitated for a moment and that meant something, didn’t it?