Where, she knew, they were now heading, not least because they both had clothes to collect. His boss might be generous but she didn’t think he would be generous enough to allow his employee to set up indefinite camp in the plush company flat. Which brought her thoughts right back to James and Rafael’s remark.#p#分页标题#e#
‘I don’t know what it’s like over here,’ she said coldly, ‘but those class distinctions vanished in England a long time ago.’ Their eyes tangled. His disbelieving, hers defensive. ‘Well, more or less,’ she felt obliged to climb down. ‘No one feels as though they’re stuck in their station in life and there shall they remain for ever!’
‘On the other hand,’ Rafael pointed out harshly, ‘some wealthy men might not share that particular viewpoint.’
‘Are you saying that, from your limited experience of your boss, that he’s a die-hard snob?’
‘You’re making a scene.’ Rafael turned to her, eyes as hard as flint. ‘I dislike women who make scenes.’
‘And I dislike men who live their lives on generalisations. So there we go. We’re even. We dislike each other.’
‘You look like a kitten,’ Rafael muttered under his breath, ‘but you have the claws of a cat.’
Amy, who couldn’t make out what he had said but assumed it must be an insult of sorts, continued to glare at him.
‘What did you say?’ she asked with accusation in her voice. She was darned if she was going to play the silent little lady while he dished out whatever insults happened to fly through his mind!
‘I refuse to have a conversation with you until you’ve calmed down.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake! Are you for real? Don’t you know that self-expression is one of the most important ways of clearing the air?’ She and her ex-boyfriend used to have noisy and exuberant arguments, which had inevitably ended up with one or the other storming out. Thinking about it, she wasn’t too sure whether those rows had ever done anything constructive, but she decided to keep that admission to herself while he sat there, looking at her as though she had taken leave of her senses.
‘According to…whom?’
‘According to everyone! Pick up any psychology book,’ she sniffed, calming down by the second, ‘and you’ll find them telling you that a good old shout is worth its weight in gold. I know you’re the strong, silent, I’ll-just-work-out-my-feelings-by-pulling-up-a-few-weeds type, but you must have had a few healthy, flaming rows with girlfriends in the past!’
‘Never,’ Rafael told her calmly.
‘Never?’
‘I don’t find women who shout attractive. It demonstrates lack of control.’
‘What sort of women do you go out with?’ Amy asked incredulously. Did women really still come in the strong, silent variety? In her experience, most women were emotional creatures who were not backward at expressing their feelings. She didn’t think she was out of the ordinary in that aspect, but judging from the way he was staring at her she was. At least in his eyes.
‘Women who don’t give in to hysteria at the drop of a hat.’
Rafael felt an unholy thrill of enjoyment as she sizzled in teeth grinding silence for a few seconds, then she nodded in apparent comprehension.
‘Oh, yes. For a minute there I had to think because most of the women I know actually think that it’s a good thing to express their feelings, but now I can see that the type of woman you’re talking about are the boring types. I’ve met a few of those in my time—’ Amy sniggered ‘—always frowning at you over their sensible spectacles if you laugh too loudly in a public place or making derogatory remarks about “the youth of today.’’’
Rafael looked away to avoid the risk of bursting into laughter. When he had controlled the impulse, he stared at her impassively. ‘I didn’t say that I dated geriatrics,’ he said without a flicker of amusement.#p#分页标题#e#
‘Well, if you didn’t rile me I wouldn’t blow my top!’ What sort of women do you date and what do they look like? she wanted to ask. And where on earth do you meet them?
Then it occurred to her. He met them through James. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it before? No wonder he didn’t seem like just any ordinary gardener! He was definitely a cut above the rest and, with his looks and body, he would have no trouble attracting the super-rich bored young things he probably met through his boss, or even—who knew?—the super-rich bored older models he might meet through his boss’s mother!