‘And you think that the gardener couldn’t possibly afford to splash out now and again…’
‘Maybe you can, but why should you? You barely know me.’
‘I’ve recently had a pretty generous bonus from the master,’ Rafael said gravely. ‘Humour me.’
‘Okay, but no strings attached.’
‘What kind of strings?’
‘You know what I’m talking about.’
‘Do I? Why don’t you fill me in?’
‘If…you might want to buy me an outfit because you don’t think I look feminine enough…’
‘Did I say that?’
‘Well, no, but…’
‘Actually, I think you’re incredibly feminine,’ Rafael contradicted. And one of the most endearingly feminine things she did was blush. As she was doing right now. Hardened career women, he realised, didn’t blush. Or at least none of the ones he had dated in the past. Amy might speak her mind with no respect for boundaries, but she still blushed like a teenager. He decided to rescue her from her embarrassment. ‘But if you want to put me in jeans, then I’ll put you in a skirt.’
So it was settled. Between Long Island and Manhattan, he managed to unearth the names of some cheap and cheerful stores in Soho. The painful part of the day, he decided to get past first. This entailed Rafael, scraping together every ounce of control, trying on a variety of jeans, which she seemed to find hilarious. After the fifth shop and the eight pair, he decided to put his foot down and threatened to buy the next pair he tried on whether it fitted or not. Amy reluctantly chose. She had been enjoying herself. He looked completely different in jeans. Younger. Sexily dangerous in a more earthy, straightforward way. It should have been the other way around. He should have lived in jeans, just as she did, but there was no accounting for taste.
As she watched him pay she could feel something shifting under her, some conviction altering and morphing into something else, but she shoved the uneasy thought to one side and concentrated on enjoying the day.
She had brought spending money with her and she had given it to him before they had even left Long Island, so she didn’t feel guilty when he bought her an ice cream and, later, lunch, which they ate quickly because she wanted to explore as much as she could before they headed back.
She had questions about everywhere and everything, Rafael noticed with amusement. He was blasé to the charms of New York. In fact, he barely noticed them, so it was refreshing to see things a little differently for once.#p#分页标题#e#
‘Do you ever wish you lived in New York instead of in your little house on someone else’s land?’ she asked at one point, and Rafael thought of his magnificent penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He felt a twinge of guilt and adroitly changed the subject.
It was time for her to fulfill her half of the deal, he told her, and then he would take her to dinner. This time she insisted on paying, thankful that she had brought her credit cards with her.
‘I can’t afford to take you to the sort of place this kind of outfit requires…’ she said dubiously, because the elegant deep red-halter necked dress reeked of somewhere chic. But it was so lovely. Amy realised how entrenched she had become in her casual lifestyle. Catering required no thought when it came to clothes and she never went anywhere that demanded formal dress. She could feel her eyes blurring when she walked out to show him the fit.
‘What’s the matter?’ Rafael asked, startled, tilting her face up.
‘Nothing.’ Amy’s voice was wobbly but she steadied herself and plastered her usual cheerful smile on her face. It wouldn’t have fooled an idiot.
‘I don’t think there’s any need to try anything else on. We’ll take this one.’
‘And what,’ he asked as soon as they were outside, ‘was that all about?’
But by now Amy’s brief glimpse of loss had passed. ‘The shock of seeing myself in a dress brought on a sudden attack of the maudlin,’ she laughed. ‘I was always the tomboy in the family. My sisters dressed like prom queens the minute they turned sixteen whereas I never really left my jeans behind.’
‘And you wear them because they remind you of your tree-climbing days?’ Rafael had a sudden, startling insight into her. Wearing that dress had shown her a vision of a world he was pretty sure she seldom visited. He didn’t know whether that made her more vulnerable to the charms of what money could buy and he didn’t care. He just had an insane desire to take her somewhere fancy for dinner. Some place where jeans would not be welcome. He thought of his apartment and the supply of appropriate clothes waiting there for him.