The Billionaire Boss's Bride(20)

‘Will that be all?’

‘You’ve gone prune-mouthed on me again.’

‘Prune-mouthed?’ Tessa flushed.

‘You know what I mean. Tight-lipped. Like a schoolteacher inspecting a particularly offensive pupil.’

Tessa knew exactly what he meant and that in his own forthright way he had no compunctions whatsoever in airing his views, the way he always did. In all fairness, she knew that she could give him a piece of her mind and he wouldn’t bat an eyelash, but naturally she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t fly off the handle and she certainly would never dream of telling him that being compared to a tight-lipped schoolmarm really hurt. It was just a little too near the mark for comfort.

She wasn’t about to let him totally off the hook, however. She drew in a deep breath and said calmly, ‘If you don’t like my demeanour, then perhaps you’d like me to go?’

‘Now you’re offended.’ He swept out of the chair and was standing by her before she had time to beat a tactical retreat. His voice was gushingly solicitous. ‘And I like your demeanour!’ He placed his hands on her shoulders and Tessa felt a peculiar surge of heat race through her, sending her heart into furious overdrive. ‘It’s very…bracing.’

Bracing? Was that a step up or a step down from tight-lipped? The worst of it was that he genuinely didn’t recognise why she would be offended. Because she wasn’t an airhead, she was virtually sexless. Infuriatingly, it bothered her.

‘That’s a huge improvement,’ Tessa said, forcing a smile.

‘Good. And I want you to know that you’re a valuable member of the team.’

‘Thank you.’ She wished he would just remove his hands from her shoulders. Horrifyingly, he tilted her face to his and gave her a crooked smile, a smile that could turn lead to jelly.

‘You’re welcome. I like the way you speak your mind, I like your opinions and I don’t want you to go away thinking that I ever make unfavourable comparisons between you and my previous secretaries. I use the term secretaries loosely.’

Something funny was happening to her inside, something confusing and frightening. ‘Okay.’ Quick agreement, quick exit.

He released her and she nearly fell backwards. ‘Brilliant!’ He remained where he was, watching as she left his office, only calling out behind her, ‘Just don’t see that as a licence to go shopping with my daughter, though!’

This time Tessa closed the door just a little too loudly behind her.





CHAPTER FOUR




A QUIET weekend at home would be just what the doctor ordered.

Curtis’s outspoken comments, not meant to be insulting but insulting anyway, had got to Tessa and she didn’t quite understand why. In fact, she spent most of Saturday trying to work it out. It was proving annoying, as if the question were like a demon sprite, willing to be boxed in for intermittent periods, but only so that it could leap out at her just when she wasn’t expecting it.

Lucy had gone away for the weekend and the house was blissfully calm.

At five-thirty, Tessa returned to the house after a hectic but essential visit to the supermarket. When she had been at her last job, she had always done her shopping on a Thursday night after work. Her hours had been fairly regular there and she had slipped into a routine that had suited her.

Now…

She had to do several trips from her small, second-hand car to the kitchen and it was half an hour before she had finally unpacked the last of the groceries, then she sat down wearily on a kitchen chair, tipping her head over the back and closing her eyes.

The demon sprite lunged out at her again.

She found herself thinking about him, thinking about the intense beauty of his face, the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed, the way they narrowed when he was thinking about something. She found that she had even committed to memory his various little habits, like the way he always yanked open the bottom drawer of his desk whenever he wanted to lean back in his chair and stretch out his long legs.

Tessa shook her head impatiently, snacked on a bar of chocolate, even though she knew that she would be eating in a couple of hours’ time and was in the shower, in the process of washing her hair, when she heard the sharp buzz of the doorbell.

Lucy, was her first thought as she reluctantly turned off the shower, stepped out and wrapped herself in a bath sheet. Had she come home early from her weekend away? Lucy had a problem with keys. She continually went out and forgot to take them with her. Whenever she was faced with Tessa’s wrath at having to drag herself out of bed at some ungodly hour to let her in, she invariably smiled sheepishly and swore never to repeat the same mistake again.