chapter 38.1

The answer suddenly clicked in. Trish at Tony's wedding. Hannah's sister had long auburn hair and he'd been matched with her in the wedding party, bridesmaid and groomsman. Being a professional model, she was tall and slender, too, and they'd had a lot of fun together at the reception. No serious connection, just light happy flirting, enjoyed by both of them. Had his grandmother read more into it, perceiving Trish as his type of woman?

He shook his head and Nicole took the exasperated action as directed at her.

"This is a project I want to do," she stated, her eyes mocking his assertion that looking for a man should be her top priority. "I understand from Mrs. King that you started this tour company because you wanted to do it. You've also developed a market for exotic fruit, which I assume you wanted to do, as well. I'm sure you had your reasons for taking those directions in your life and I bet they had nothing to do with your lack of, or desire for, a relationship with a woman."

She had him there. This was one smart chick. If he so much as suggested it might be different for a woman, he'd be marked as a sexist pig. Besides, he didn't believe it was different. He'd simply been checking what his grandmother had undoubtedly checked before entering Nicole Redman in her matchmaking game.

"Well, I hope you find as much satisfaction in pursuing the past as I've found in setting up a future," he said with a grin designed to disarm.

She returned an overly sweet smile. "You're very fortunate to have a past that can be built upon."

The slip! It was in her eyes, a bleak emptiness that had escaped her guard. His instincts instantly seized upon it and threw up a quick interpretation. She'd come from nothing and had no future direction. She moved on the wings of opportunity, not having any roots to ground her anywhere. Perhaps she even felt like a ghost, having no family to give her any real solidity. Or was he assuming too much from one fleeting expression?

"What about your own family?'' he shot out.

"I don't have one," she answered flatly, confirming his impression. "You're an orphan?"

A momentary gritting of teeth, then a terse dismissal of that description of her. "I'm an adult, responsible for myself, and I've taken the responsibility of seeing this project through with Mrs. King. A six-month contract has been signed to that effect. If you have a problem with my appointment to this job..."

"It's purely my grandmother's business and I have no intention of interfering with it," he assured her, though whether his grandmother would get value for her choice on the history side of things was yet to be seen.

Nevertheless, that was not his problem and he wasn't about to make it his problem.

"I don't want to interfere with your business, either." She surged up from her chair with the clear intention of making a brisk departure. "Your assistant said you had road maps already marked for me..."

Damn! He'd torpedoed any reason for keeping her with him. Had to go with the flow now. He killed the stab of frustration and rose to his feet, telling himself he had six months to get to the bottom of this woman, so no sweat about letting her off the hook this morning.

He picked up the bundle of maps stacked on his side of the desk and set them on her side. "Here they are," he said obligingly. "Using these, you should be able to find your way to every point of historical interest."

"Thank you." She scooped her bag from the floor and rested it on the desk to load the maps into it, her face closed to everything but the purpose that had brought her to him.

Matt didn't like the sense of being put out of Nicole Redman's picture. He wasn't ready to let her go...to let her win. He snatched up the gold bus pass he'd laid beside the maps and strolled around the desk, intent on forcing another passage of play.

"And this gives you free travel on any of the tours," he said, holding it out to her.

She jerked towards him, a couple of the maps spilling out of her hand.

In her quick fumble to catch them, she dropped her hat. They both bent to pick it up, their heads almost bumping. She reared back, leaving Matt to retrieve it, which he did, straightening up to find her breathing fast and very flustered by the near collision.

Her mouth was slightly open, her eyes wide in alarm, and this close to her, Matt had the weird sensation of being sucked in by the storm of feeling coming straight at him from the highly luminous windows to her soul. He stared back, momentarily transfixed by a connection that threw him completely out of kilter.

He wanted to kiss her, wanted to draw from her mouth all the secrets she was hiding from him, wanted to bind her to him until she gave up everything she was. The need to know pounded through his mind.

Adrenaline was rushing through him, making his heart beat faster, tightening his muscles, driving a fierce urge for satisfaction. An intensely sexual urge for satisfaction.

"Thank you."

The words whispered from her lips.

They forced a realisation of what he was supposed to be doing. Shock pummelled the madness out of his mind. This was the woman his grandmother had lined up for him. He was not going to fall into her trap.

He thrust out the gold pass.

Her hand was trembling as she took it from him. He tried to rein in the wild burst of energy that had escaped from him. Was she aware of it, affected by it? One part of him savagely hoped so, even as another part just as savagely wanted to deny there was any power of attraction in operation here, on her side or his.

He watched her shove the pass and the maps into the bag, lashes lowered, head bowed, the red of her hair so vibrant he had to clench his hands to stop them from reaching out to touch it. They clenched over the straw brim of her hat. He still had the hat. But it was crazy even thinking he could hold her hostage with a hat. Her haste in packing her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, said she wanted to go. And he should let her go. Any other action would put him well and truly in the loser's seat.

She managed a step away, increasing the distance between them as she turned to face him, her gaze flicking up in frazzled appeal. "My hat..."

He could have handed it to her. It was the simplest response. But some perverse aggressive streak goaded him into setting the hat on that taunting hair himself, as though covering up the temptation would make it go away. He stepped forward and did precisely that, fitting the crown of the hat on her head, focusing on the sunflower to position it as she'd had it positioned when she came in, an unknown woman he'd intended to remain unknown to him in any close personal sense.

Except his whole body was suddenly electrically aware of hers, her height against his, the slightness of her figure, the almost fragile femininity of it, the yellow of the sunflower reminding her of her dress—a button- through dress that could be easily opened—and she was standing so still, submissively still.

"Thank you."

A gush of breath. Had she been holding it?

The thought excited him. He'd won something from her. On a heady wave of triumph he stepped back, smiling. "Got to be careful of the heat up here."

Her cheeks were reflecting an inner heat that put him on a high as he moved to open the office door for her exit. She walked forward with the stiff gait of someone willing her legs into action. Her gaze was fixed on the doorway. She gave him a nod of acknowledgment as she passed by.

Matt grinned as he closed the door behind her. He'd definitely rattled Nicole Redman's cage.

And he certainly felt a zing of interest in opening the door to it. Not to marry her, he assured himself as he headed back to his desk.

Marriage was not on his agenda. But a few hot nights with Miss Exotic New Orleans would not go amiss. Why not...if she fancied a taste of the tropics? Not under the nose of his grandmother, of course, but if Nicole was doing all the bus tours, sooner or later she would take the trip to Kauri King Park where the exotic fruit was grown.

He would make a point of being there that day. And see how he felt about her then.