The Billionaire Boss's Innocent Bride(4)

Then he glanced at his watch and drained his beer.

'I should get going. Thank you for your time, though.' He stood up and   retrieved the cooler bag from the bar and a colourful bunch of gerberas,   white daisies and asparagus fern wrapped in cellophane.

It was when they got to the foyer and she collected her bags and jacket   that he said humorously, 'I hope you haven't parked too far away,  Alex?'  He ushered her into the lift.

'I don't have a car.'

He frowned and hesitated before pushing a button. 'What do you mean?'

'I don't drive.'

He looked at her for a moment as if she might have escaped a lunar landscape, and Alex had a secret desire to laugh.

'So how do you get about?'

'Buses,' she said gravely. 'I also have a bicycle. And, very occasionally, taxis.'

'Where do you live?'

She told him.

'That's on my way.' He pushed the basement button and the doors closed. 'I'll give you a lift.'

'You really don't need to do that, Mr Goodwin,' she protested. 'I'm quite used-'

'Alex,' he said with his eyes glinting, 'a piece of advice, don't argue   with me. Especially not when I'm being at my best because it may not   last that long.'                       
       
           



       

The lift came to rest at the basement floor and the doors slid open.

'Well-' She temporized.

'Besides which,' he added, eyeing her carrier bags, 'you've got an awful   lot of loot on you by the look of it, all paid for with my money-you   could get robbed, mobbed, anything, and I wouldn't appreciate that.'

'Are you saying so long as the "loot" was OK, you wouldn't mind what happened to me?' she demanded.

'Now that is putting words into my mouth,' he drawled. 'But enough of this chit-chat, let's go!'

Alex had no choice but to follow him as he strode across the garage   towards a gleaming navy-blue Bentley that looked brand-spanking new.

'Wow!' She pulled up and couldn't help gazing at the car admiringly, her   ire dissolving somewhat. 'I don't know much about cars but this is   something else!'

'Yes, a beauty, isn't she? So damn classy-if she were a girl I could marry her.'

Alex had to laugh as he unlocked the boot and they deposited her bags,   the flowers and the wine in it, then he unlocked the doors and she   climbed into the cream leather and walnut interior. It even smelt   beautiful inside.

'Is it a conscious decision not to drive?' he queried as he nosed the   car up the garage ramp and onto the street. 'A "greenie" decision?'

Alex wrinkled her nose. 'I would love to say so, and I do think too many   of them are wrong, but it's a practical decision. I don't have a  garage  and I'm so used to taking buses and so on.' She waved a hand.

'What is your economic situation?' he asked with a sudden frown. Alex   watched the city street slide beneath the bonnet of the Bentley. It had   rained while she'd been upstairs and the slick surface was reflecting   myriad lights as the tyres hissed over them.

'My parents did have a nest egg that came to me,' she told him. 'After-'   she stopped for a moment and swallowed '-after the accident they died   in, my Mother Superior was appointed my trustee. My school fees were   paid out of it, and my university expenses et cetera, and there was   enough left for me to buy a terrace house, so I'm actually a woman of   some substance even if I don't have a car!' She turned to him with a   cheery grin.

But Max Goodwin noticed the added sparkle to her eyes behind her   glasses, tears, he suspected, and felt a spark of pity for this orphan.

He said only, though, 'Good on you! Is this it?' He pulled the Bentley   up outside a row of terrace houses in the inner suburb of Spring Hill.

'Yes. Thank you very much for this. I suppose I'll see you again at … '   Alex glanced at him enquiringly ' … well, the cocktail party tomorrow   afternoon?'

'Yes.' He paused. 'What have you got on tomorrow morning? I just thought   you might be interested in the state-of-the-art conference room and   meeting the other interpreters.'

'I would, normally, but it seems I have all sorts of other appointments tomorrow morning. Hair, nails, facials.' She grimaced.

Max Goodwin frowned and turned to study her. He'd opened his door to   retrieve her stuff from the boot so the overhead light was on.

'You don't-you don't,' he said as his dark blue gaze roamed over the   very au naturel girl he'd hired as an interpreter-actually rather   refreshingly natural, he found himself thinking suddenly, 'need to go   overboard.'

Alex hid a smile. 'Mr Goodwin, since I have it on good authority I would   feel like Cinderella otherwise, I intend to do what is necessary not  to  feel that way. But I don't intend to go overboard. If anything, I  was a  restraining influence.'

It dawned on Max that this girl had turned the tables on him, that, far   from being crushed by his makeover request, she was even laughing at   him. 'How so?' he queried with a tinge of foreboding.

'I kept reminding your Mrs Winston, who is a dear actually, and the   wardrobe coordinator, that, while I didn't need to look like Cinderella,   I didn't need to outshine the guests either. And it's only the clothes   you're paying for.'

He narrowed his eyes. 'That's not necessary, Alex.'

She shrugged. 'It is to me. That side of it is rather personal and it's   not a question of it would probably be like a drop in the ocean for   you-it's my pride. So please don't you argue with me, Mr Goodwin.'

Max found himself laughing involuntarily as Alex put up her chin and   stared haughtily at him. 'Very well, ma'am,' he replied with his lips   twitching. 'Let's get your things.'                       
       
           



       

He not only got them out of the boot for her, he carried some of them up the short path from the pavement to her front door.

'Give me your key. I'll open the door for you.'

'I-it's probably under that flowerpot,' she said unthinkingly and pointed to a pot bearing lavender.

'I don't believe you,' he said as he deposited the bags he was carrying   onto the garden bench and lifted the pot. 'This is the first place a   would-be thief would look!

Not that,' he added, 'it would do him much good tonight because it's not there.'

He straightened, dusted his hands and eyed the eleven other pots grouped   around her front door ominously then somewhat bemusedly. 'What is  this?  They're all herbs if I'm not mistaken.'

'Yes. I like to use them in cooking.'

He turned his attention back to her. 'That's fine, but it's insanity to   hide your door key like that. So where should I look next? The basil, I   recognize that one and the mint of course, also the parsley-'

'I do make a random choice every day,' she broke in nervously, 'and I   only do it in the first place because I have a horrible habit of losing   keys. Hang on!' She banged her forehead with the heel of her hand.  'I've  been away, haven't I? So it must be in my bag. Let's see.'

She started to rummage through her bag, then clicked her tongue exasperatedly and upended the tote onto the bench seat.

'How many times a day do you have to do this?' he enquired.

'Not that often,' she told him. 'What's more, it's all your fault. Ah! Here it is.'

His eyebrows shot up. 'My fault? I don't see-'

So she interrupted him to tell him how her day had panned out thanks to his urgent need of a Mandarin speaker.

'Is it any wonder I'm not quite as organized as I should be?' she   finished severely, only to realize he was shaking with silent laughter.

'It's not funny,' she said as he opened the door for her.

'It is funny,' he disagreed. 'Where's the light?'

'Just round the corner but you don't need to-'

'I have no intention of coming in, Alex,' he said somewhat dryly, 'just   in case your Mother Superior is issuing all kinds of red alerts or   clear-and-present-danger signals from up above-I'm sorry,' he said   abruptly as her expression changed.

'Strike that. All right-' he looked down at her '-I'll see you tomorrow   afternoon. Thank you for putting up with-all the difficulties of the   day.'

But for a moment, before he left, his eyes roamed over her in a rather narrowed, probing way that puzzled her.

Then, with a light, quick flick of his fingers on her cheek, he was   gone. She was not to know that as he drove off Max Goodwin was surprised   to find himself thinking that, were he free, he would enjoy taking his   new interpreter out for a meal. He had a favourite little seafood   restaurant that something told him she would enjoy; it was   un-pretentious but comfortable and the food was the work of a chef who   really understood his sauces and combined them with whatever was the   fresh catch of the day.

Come to think of it-he steered the Bentley round a roundabout-he hadn't   taken a female companion there for ages, although it had not been so   much the lack of females to escort around. No, there had been a plethora   of upmarket social events on his calendar, and several perfectly   groomed, expensively dressed, perfumed women on his arm, one at a time   naturally, to share them with him, but looking back had it all seemed   curiously-empty?