Her Man with Iceberg Eyes (24 page)

He looked across at her and sighed. “You’ll
hate me for this.”

Kate raised her brows and sipped. “Does it
get worse?”

“Hell, yeah. I turned the tables and started
spying on you.”

“I wasn’t spying.”

“I know that now. I didn’t know it then.” He
took a spoonful of sugar and stirred it into his coffee, eyes down
to avoid hers. “We’d had that fantastic trip over to Milford, and
you were starting to relax, and I thought I had a chance after
all.” He ran a hand over his hair and closed his eyes briefly. “And
then we got the not-married-to-Lottie thing straightened out, and
you kissed me, and things got better and better.”

“Apart from having to fly home.”

“Still getting better and better though. Home
safe. No Lottie. Fantastic sex.”

He watched as Kate tried to suppress a grin.
And failed. “So all good, and then you wanted to send an email. You
sent me off to get drinks so you could write it in private.”

“No I didn’t.” She sipped her coffee
again.

“Felt like it to me. By then I was half crazy
about you. Didn’t want you in touch with the boyfriend.”

Kate shook her head. “Not likely!”

“You sent the message the instant I came back
so I couldn’t be sure.” He reached a hand across the table and
enclosed hers. “You said your Dad, but maybe not. I had no way of
knowing.”

Kate turned her hand over and threaded her
fingers through his. “Jealous?”

A warm flush had crossed his cheekbones.
“Jealous as hell. And the more fantastic the night got, the deeper
I fell.” He looked across at her, intense eyes glimmering in the
late sun. “And in the morning you’d gone. I found you in my office,
pulling the end off a document tube. What the fuck was I supposed
to think?”

She tried to pull her hand away but he held
on tightly.

“You should have believed me,” she said.

“Nah—in too deep to be rational. I retrieved
the message you’d sent, and it confirmed all my worst fears.”

“It was to my Dad!”

“Precisely. The last person in the world I
wanted knowing my business. And you described me as ‘a
compensation’ as though I was a booby prize, and congratulated him
on the merger and said people were going to be surprised....” He
trailed off, gazing at her across the table.

“And that was all it took?” The corners of
her mouth twitched. “Matthew, you twit! He was getting engaged.
Family building, not empire building.”

“I know that
now
!” Matthew roared. “I
didn’t know it then. At that instant, I felt everything good was
being stolen away. Just when it was perfect.” He glared across the
table at her.

“Perfect?” she whispered.

His glare faded to an expression that laid
his emotions bare and told her he was bracing for, and expecting,
the worst. “Perfect for me, anyway.”

She pushed her chair back and limped around
to stand beside him, slid her arms around him and cradled his head
against her breasts. “Pretty damn good for me too,” she said. He
relaxed against her, pulling her close, sighing deeply.

Coffees forgotten, they were soon naked in
each other’s arms.

Finally they lay exhausted together, sated,
slippery, sleepy. Matthew twisted his head to look at the painting
standing on end a few feet away.

“You brought him to remind you of me,” he
said, stroking her hair.

“He’s nothing like you,” Kate murmured. “No
tattoo. None of these bits.” She reached down and fondled them.
“And if you had wings like him, I couldn’t lie on you like this,
could I?” He lay flat on his back and she’d draped herself,
boneless and possessive, across his chest. They’d crushed hell out
of the new bed linen.

“We should phone Lottie,” he said.

“To see if she needs a lady’s companion?”
Kate asked, still playing, and marvelling at his impressive
recovery.

“I thought I might keep you fully occupied
myself.”

“In your dreams.”

“Filthy dreams. Are you sure you’re up for
them?” He buried his face in her hair, trying to find an ear to
nip, or a neck to lick. She turned her face to him and offered a
swollen sensuous mouth. “I can feel
you
are,” she said,
squeezing gently.

He drew her down for another lingering kiss,
hands wandering along her satin-smooth back and out over her
gorgeous warm butt. “Katie Pleasance, you’re a total turn-on,” he
said before kissing her again. “The moment I saw you...the instant
we shook hands...I knew I was in big trouble.”

“One touch?” she queried.

“Didn’t you feel it, too?”

Kate kept him waiting a few seconds, and then
relented. “You grabbed my hand so
hard.
I noticed that.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I felt it,” she agreed. “I sort of
didn’t dare look at you and couldn’t keep my eyes off you at the
same time. I thought you were totally unobtainable, of course.” She
kissed his chest. “I let myself have some little fantasies
though...”

Matthew grinned. “Tell me.”

Kate smiled down at him. “You were far too
hot to handle. I imagined enjoying you quickly and running while
the going was good.”

“You knew I was interested, did you?”

“No, of course not,” she said, backtracking
madly. “I thought Lottie was your wife, and that maybe you had
Diana as well until you introduced her as your sister-in-law. Why
would you be interested in me?”

“Because,” he said, gathering up her hair and
holding it back from her face, “you challenged me at every turn.
You laughed with me and didn’t give an inch when I teased you. You
flew into wonderful rages when I bought you clothes.”

“When you bought me underwear,” she
corrected. “It was far too soon for that.”

“I wanted to spoil you. I wanted to keep you
with me. I couldn’t bear the thought of you going away again. I
wanted to touch you all the time and make sure you were real.”

“I was real,” Kate said. “I was real and I
was falling for you so fast I was scared witless. Why does it
happen like that for some people?”

“Because we’re the right people for each
other,” Matthew said. “It was time for us to be lucky.”

“I could have killed those women flirting
with you at the party,” she said darkly.

“And I nearly throttled that smarmy Irish
guy.”

“But we almost lost each other.”

“Never in a million years.” He said it with
the certainty of a man who at last had exactly what he wanted.
“You’re a strong passionate woman, Katie. I’ll have a hard time
getting the better of you. Not,” he added, “that I’ll ever stop
trying.”

Kate heaved a huge sigh of contentment.

“Not,” she countered, “that I’d expect you
to...”

They dozed, and finally roused themselves
enough to raid the kitchen for supper.

“I wasn’t expecting a guest. I could do you
melted cheese on toast with some bacon on top,” Kate said, peering
into the refrigerator.

“And after that I’ll have
you
on toast
with me on top.”

“Melted Matthew,” she grinned, enjoying his
long lithe body lounging against the cabinets.

He watched as Kate switched on the grill and
placed the slices of bread to brown. As she turned, he tugged the
sash of her robe undone.

“Hey,” she objected.

He pulled her close and planted a tender kiss
on the end of her nose. Thus distracted, she found he’d parted the
fabric and pressed himself against her skin again.

“I’m remembering something you told me in
Queenstown,” he whispered, his breath warm in her ear. “You said if
a man bought clothes for a woman, he could dress her in them. I
think
un
dressing you is so much more fun, even if this isn’t
the robe I bought you.” He slid his hands luxuriously over her
breasts and found her nipples with his thumbs. They rose at his
bidding into firm peaks, and his smile broadened.

Kate gazed at his ruffled hair, his huge
relaxed grin and boyish air of triumph. How had she ever thought
his face tough, his expression hard? He was quite simply the most
sensational man she’d ever met. And apparently he was hers.

“Do you want supper or not?” she asked,
reaching sideways for the cheese knife—trying to look menacing, and
failing entirely.

“I’m starved,” Matthew admitted, giving in
and smoothing her robe back into place. “But you’re wearing too
many clothes.”

Kate set the knife down and re-tied her sash.
“And you’re not wearing enough. We don’t want the bacon spitting
hot fat anywhere. I’d get those fancy tattooed pants out of here if
you know what’s good for you. A little splatter-burn on my
favourite piece would stop you in your tracks—even faster than that
extra design you were joking about.”

She watched with amusement as Matthew feigned
fright and turned away. And couldn’t resist goosing his gorgeous
naked butt as he sauntered out of her kitchen.

She heard hammering a minute or two later,
and went to investigate as the cheese and bacon started to hiss and
bubble. Matthew had found the tool-kit.

“Lift that end up for me?”

Together they raised their muscular guardian
angel onto the hangers he’d attached to the wall.

“I suppose I should rent this place out for a
while,” Kate said as they lazed in bed the following morning.

“Keep it for us. I’m in Auckland for regular
board meetings. The rent you’d get would barely balance out our
hotel bills.”

“Us?”

“I do hope so, Katie. Pack up some of your
things and come back to Queenstown with me. We’ll stay here each
time I’m up on business. You can have a tickle around your garden
and catch up with friends.”

She rose on one elbow and gazed down at him.
“I quite fancied some rent coming in.”

“I’ll pay you wonderfully exorbitant rent.
You can spend it all on feminine frippery and drive me wild with
lust.”

“Wilder than last night?”

He smiled and stretched. “Who knows, Katie?
You peeled all your frippery off pretty damn fast last night. I
could quite enjoy helping you to remove tiny green panties
and—”

She squealed and flung herself down on him.
He subdued her with very little effort, twisting her over, pinning
her there, and holding her helpless beneath him.

“God, you’re a turn-on,” he whispered. “How
am I ever going to love you enough?”

Kate heaved a blissful sigh as he left her
bed. “Give me twenty-four hours to settle things here, okay?”

Matthew grimaced. “I need to get back to
Lottie today.”

“I know. But I’ve things to arrange. I need
to let Maurie know I can’t continue with the swimming coaching for
a while. Job applications to put on hold. Things like that. I
promise I’ll come and see you both tomorrow.”

“If you don’t, I’ll fly up and kidnap you.”
He bent and smoothed her hair back from her brow. “Is your shower
big enough for two?” he asked hopefully.

This time, there was much more snow
everywhere. In the two winter weeks she’d been gone, Queenstown had
changed from a pretty scenic resort to an icy fairyland.

Kate gazed out of the window as the plane
dropped lower and lower in the crisp clear air. Somewhere down
there, he waited for her—the tall terrifying pussycat of a man
who’d stolen her heart and transformed her life.

The plane bumped gently down and raced along
the runway. Finally it wheeled around and came to rest close to the
terminal building. Kate unfastened her seatbelt and lifted down her
small cabin bag. Two big suitcases of her belongings were stowed
away below—the excess luggage charge had been horrendous.

She walked eagerly toward the arrivals
hall.

Fingers touched her arm and a deep voice said
“Kate Pleasance?”

She hurled herself against him, not caring
who saw.

Lottie greeted her from the back seat of the
SUV.

“Katie, is so
good
you’re back. He has
been like the bear with the sore head,” she said, wagging a finger
at Matthew.

Kate could well believe it—she’d been like
the bear with the sore head herself.

They drove the few miles out to the house,
everything sparkling under the low sun.

This time Matthew took pleasure in hefting
her suitcases into the main bedroom.

And Kate stopped dead.

On the wall were his two big sketches,
beautifully framed, looking wonderfully right. “Angels over both
our beds,” he said.

“I looked everywhere for those,” she
exclaimed. “If you’d seen some of the searching I did while you
were out, you really would have had grounds for suspicion. Where on
earth did you hide them?”

Matthew shook his head, smiling at her
frustration.

Lottie took pity on her later over
dinner.

“He told me when he brought them home,” she
said. “Straight into the car and off to the picture framers. They
were never here for you to find.”

“So the ‘spy from the north’ didn’t stand a
chance?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why on earth didn’t you
just talk to me?” she demanded. “I was the marketing assistant for
a breakfast cereals company, for heaven’s sake. I can tell you
heaps about oat-bran and dried apricots and the merits of foil over
cardboard packaging. And all about yoghurt-covered raisins and how
cornflakes get made. But I haven’t a clue about internet services
or anything else to do with telecommunications.”

He looked ever so slightly abashed. “Well,
why didn’t you ask me if Lottie was my wife?” he countered.

“I didn’t want to give you ideas.”

“I already
had
ideas.”

“Yes, I know. So did I.”

Lottie grinned at her brother and then patted
Kate’s hand. “So my helper is back again. Plenty of work tomorrow
Kate. I think I have an early night.”