‘If your mother was a fly on the wall, she’d get a pretty good picture of how not star-struck lovers we are!’ She could all but get the words out. The man was infuriating! There wasn’t a human being on the planet who could work her up so fast and so effortlessly.
‘Or...’ Lucas held her gaze but he was still grinning ‘...she might decide that a little volatility is good when it comes to...being in love and star-struck...’
‘Well, she’d be wrong,’ Milly hissed, making a beeline for her case and rummaging until she had located some clothes. ‘And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a bath.’
Sure you don’t want me to join you? The instinctive riposte was on the tip of his tongue but then the thought of actually doing that, of actually sliding into the warm water with her, soaping her, feeling her curves pressed against him, slammed into him with the force of a runaway train and his mouth tightened.
‘I have work to do,’ he said abruptly. ‘Take your time. Dinner’s usually served around seven-thirty. Early by Spanish standards but my mother’s schedule is no longer what it was. I’ll either come and get you, take you down to the dining room, or I’ll dispatch one of the maids to show you the way.’
Running a bath, door firmly locked, Milly figured that this was how it must feel like to be a toy at the whim of an unpredictable owner. He had managed to rile her, provoke her and then, when it felt as though she actually needed to have some sort of full-blown argument with him, needed to wipe that annoying, laid-back grin from his face, he changed, just like that, for no particular reason.
Boredom.
She eased herself into the bath and closed her eyes. He had suddenly become bored. He enjoyed provoking her and he knew he could. It amused him. But, like a kid with the attention span of a flea, his amusement had a very short sell-by date because, however different he might find her, she just didn’t have what it took to hold his attention for longer than five seconds. Thank goodness this was all just a fabrication! Because if it wasn’t then she would never be good enough for him, would she? Being different didn’t count. Being a novelty didn’t count.
* * *
She mentioned that over dinner. A fabulous dinner served by a different maid. A typically Spanish meal of paella rich with seafood with lots of salad. Just a casual little remark when there was a lull in the conversation, a little throwaway observation about her sheer amazement that she and Lucas had become involved, because they were just so different, because she was just the sort of girl he would find boring...
Antonia had smiled and talked about opposites attracting and then, sensing something intense in Milly’s expression, had kindly listed all the ways that relationships worked when two people complemented each other by bringing different personality traits to the union .
Lucas had failed to take the bait with the opening. Was he still of the opinion that his mother should have a honeymoon period before the cracks began showing?
When Milly thought of that bedroom, waiting for them to share it, she was of the opinion that the cracks should surface sooner rather than later.
She thought so even more when, over coffee in the sitting room, yet another room new to her, he draped his arm over her shoulders, sitting next to her with the indolent casualness of a man with his woman. His low, sexy voice was warm and teasing. He absently played with her hair. When she spoke, she could feel his breath warm on her cheek as he looked at her.
Antonia was taking in everything, eyes shrewd, and if he didn’t see that then Milly certainly did and it was the very first thing she said to him when Antonia excused herself for the night, leaving the two of them alone in the sitting room.