‘Leatherbacks are very beautiful,’ I said.
‘Well, I’m glad for him that he found something to love in his old age.’
I finished my drink. ‘He loved you too,’ I said softly.
He frowned and looked as if he was about to speak, but James appeared to announce that dinner was served.
I stood and Ivan held out his hand stiffly. I threaded my hand awkwardly into the crook of his, and together we went into the dining room. The long table had been set for two. For a moment I felt a pang of pain. This was our dining room. Robert’s and mine. We used to laugh until tears poured down our cheeks.
I sat quietly while the soup was served.
‘Bon appétit,’ I said, and carefully slipped my spoon into the creamy leek and potato soup.
‘Why did you stop visiting Robert?’ I asked.
He picked up his glass of Sancerre and took a sip. ‘I spoke to him on the phone.’
‘I see.’ I paused. ‘Did he ever mention anything about Dr. Jensen?’
He didn’t raise his eyes from his food. ‘No,’ he said quietly.
‘I just can’t understand why he was so mean to him in his will. He always spoke so highly of him.’
‘The contents of his will were a surprise to me too.’
It was the weirdest thing. Nothing in his expression had changed, but I knew that he was being deliberately evasive. He knew something that he did not want to share with me. I stared at him until he raised his eyes and looked at me. ‘He missed you,’ I said softly.
His eyes flashed. ‘And you? Do you miss him?’
I put my spoon down and looked him in the eye. ‘With all my heart.’
He went quiet. Something powerfully intense simmered and rippled underneath the perfectly calm surface. A heavy, sizzling heat hovered in the air between us. We stared at each other. Then his gaze left my face and swept down to my breasts. My heart jumped in my chest and the tips of my breasts started to tingle and ache.
For his mouth.
Suddenly there were crystal clear images of my mouth on his throat, down that hard chest, and lower still. My tongue trailing, my fingers dragging down a man’s tight skin. My lips parted involuntarily and though I did not mean for the small moan of surprise and lust that escaped, it did. I was prepared for everything, but not this. What was this? I didn’t go around lusting after men?
Especially not him!
The small sound was as if someone had slapped him, his head jerked upwards, pulling his wandering gaze back up to my face. For a second he continued to look at me as if he wanted to devour me, then he drew a sharp breath, and the sudden crack in his armor was gone. Wiped out. So completely I felt as if I had imagined the entire episode. The classically handsome face tightened once more into a hard mask and his eyes became chips of ice again. Cold. Detached.
‘Sorry,’ he said not sounding sorry at all, ‘but I find this grieving widow act a bit hard to swallow. I don’t know what your game is, but quite honestly, I don’t give a damn. I’m executor of the trust until you are twenty-one and after that you are on your own, but in the meantime the less contact I have with you the better. Don’t call me unless it is absolutely necessary. Please put all your expenses through my office. I’m not Robert. You can’t bat your eyelashes and expect me to come running. I don’t like chaos. I don’t want to be distracted.’
I stared at him open-mouthed with shock. Where on earth did that come from? How could he go from sizzling hot to ice-cold? Then I became furious. How dare he? He was as bad as the other three. I didn’t do anything wrong.
‘Have I ever asked you to come running? It was you who wanted this meeting today. The arrangement you suggest sounds like a perfect solution to our little problem. I seem to have lost my appetite. Do please excuse me. By all means stay and finish your meal. You are, after all, the executor of my estate.’
I shot up from my seat and would have stalked off in a fit of temper, but his hand shot out and caught my wrist. My anger fled and all that was left was a deep, deep wound. I didn’t want to fight with him. I had enough enemies. I didn’t need him to be my enemy too. The truth was I was so alone and a little frightened. I stared down at him and tried to control the dam of emotions inside me. As much as I tried I could not stop my eyes from filling with stupid tears. They rolled down my face.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ he said and, standing up roughly, pulled me against his hard body.
I was so shocked I stopped crying. Inside me strange things started happening. My heart was suddenly beating faster. My fingers curled into the crisp material of his shirt. I looked up at him wide-eyed.