„Why don‟t you get a day job?‟ he asked, allowing the change of subject even though he wanted to ask her how she could possibly do what she did and still shy away like a frightened rabbit when a man paid her a compliment. He hadn‟t even tried to touch her, for heaven‟s sake!

„Why is it that you aren‟t married?‟ She tilted her chin up and looked him squarely in the face, leaving him in no doubt as to her intention. If he felt at liberty to quiz her about her private life then she felt at liberty to do the same to him.

„Should I be?‟ Dominic hedged. Personal confidences had never figured high on his conversational agenda. Had never figured at all, in point of fact. He felt his face darken slightly and he knocked back the remainder of his drink in one long swallow.

„Well, you‟re not too old, you‟re…you‟re…‟ Her vantage point was quickly relinquished as Mattie saw the road she was heading down. A list of all his credentials, and when she looked at him there was a wicked gleam in his eyes that did something else to her wall of cynicism that had been so carefully erected over the years.

„I‟m all ears,‟ he encouraged.

„Obviously rich. Being something big in the City, as you are.‟

„Anything else?‟

„Yes. Arrogant. Manipulative. Oh, not forgetting, with an ego as big as a tanker.‟

„Mmm. Doesn‟t sound a list of qualities any woman would positively search for.‟

Their eyes tangled and Mattie was the first to look away. The conversation was getting dangerous. Some little voice was telling her that.

„Which just shows that you probably haven‟t met the right one,‟ she said quickly. „So how did you discover this place?‟ she asked, making no attempt to hide the change of subject.

„Oh, I bought the building, renovated it and then sold it on.‟ He watched her digest this information whilst his mind began to drift off into images of that exotically beautiful face glowing with the film of passion, her body unclothed, writhing in a lover‟s embrace. His embrace.

He cleared his throat, sat up straighter. „As I mentioned, that‟s a part of what I do.‟

She found she wanted to hear more. Wanted to find out more about him. It wouldn‟t do.

Time to rectify a situation before it became too dangerous.

„Sounds very important. So…how did you manage to just land up doing that? It must cost an absolute fortune to go into the property business. Mustn‟t it? Especially in London.‟

„I studied economics at university,‟ Dominic said abruptly. „Went into finance before I got into the property side.‟

„You must have made a great deal of money in finance in that case. To enable you to have the capital to play with.‟ Mattie pretended to muse on the conundrum of this.

Dominic gave her a long, narrowed look which she met with widely innocent eyes. „I‟ve always had a fair amount of money at my disposal.‟

„Ah.‟ Of course he would have. He was a man born into money. It sat on his shoulders like an invisible cloak. And she had wanted him to say it. Out loud. So that she could remind herself of yet another reason why she should get out of this place and fast, before his sexy face and ability to listen and smooth-talking charm got the better of her caution.

„So…what did your parents do?‟

„Is this really relevant?‟

„It is to me.‟

„My father is in shipping.‟

„Builds them, you mean?‟

„You know exactly what I mean.‟

„My mum was a cleaner. She died ten years ago. My dad was a carpenter, except not many people seem to want handmade things these days. He lives in Bournemouth now. He still makes bits and pieces for himself, but his full-time job is supervisor at a furniture factory.‟

Mattie stood up and smiled politely.

She felt disproportionately hurt at the fact that she would never see him again, but she had had to do it. Had to make him see the one difference between them that would always be there.

„Well, thanks for the coffee. No, please, I can get a taxi home myself.‟ She just couldn‟t face the underground just now. And before he could say another word she was hurrying out of the door, up the stairs and through the chic foyer that looked as though it had stepped straight out of a magazine.

CHAPTER THREE

„OH, NO, you don‟t.‟

Mattie heard the rapid footsteps behind her at the same time as she heard his voice, which was just as he gripped her arm and swung her around to face him.

„You are not going to sling this in my face and then run away before I have time to refute it.‟

„I‟m not running away from anything. I‟m going home, if it‟s all the same to you!‟

„No, well, as a matter of fact, it‟s not.‟

Her heart was beating a mile a minute, racing inside her like a roller coaster that had gone wildly out of control, and his hand on her arm was like a vice grip, but one that was doing crazy things to her stomach, just the sort of crazy things she didn‟t want to happen.

„Well, tough!‟

„Not good enough, Mattie.‟ He reached out one hand to hail a taxi and kept the other one firmly on her arm. „Where do you live? I‟ll drop you home. We can talk on the way.‟

„No!‟

Drop her home? And what if Frankie just happened to be up and moving around?

Unlikely, but not a possibility she could rule out. Frankie, after a few bottles of beer, couldn‟t be relied on to behave in a predictable manner and go to sleep. And the thought of him storming out of the house and confronting Dominic Drecos was enough to make her blood curdle. She knew who would be the loser and it wouldn‟t be the man opening the door of the taxi now for her to step past him.

„Why not?‟ Dominic demanded, leaning forward, invading her space and noticing that she was leaning forward too, not shrinking away from him like a scared rabbit.

„Because…‟

„Because what?‟

„Because…‟ Because she didn‟t want Frankie, if he happened to be up, to see her with him? To get the wrong idea? Because even after all they had been through, she still didn‟t have it in her to hurt him like that? Or was it, she wondered uneasily, because she didn‟t want this man to know that a boyfriend existed?

„Because I don‟t reveal my address to strangers, especially when those strangers happen to have been a customer in the nightclub where I work!‟

Dominic grimaced, seeing her point of view but knowing that the last thing he would do would be to take advantage of her. He had covered some distance, he thought with another grimace to himself, since he had first set eyes on her and concluded that he wanted her. Now, along with those signals that she sent out, that had every masculine pore in his body rearing into full-blooded life, were other, more complex ones. He wanted to get to know her, against all his better judgement, and in order to do that he would have to take his time.