Her Man with Iceberg Eyes (3 page)

He thought briefly and bitterly of his
ex-wife, Martine. What a disastrous choice she’d been—initially
bewitching and beautiful, but, soon enough, grasping and immoral.
He’d been determined to guard his heart and his secrets ever since
Martine’s defection. Delicious Kate Pleasance wouldn’t be getting
close to either, that was for sure—even though she was by far the
best candidate for the job.

After they’d eaten, they continued to sit,
enjoying coffees. Latte for her, black for him. As he sipped, he
glanced across at her and caught her inspecting him.

She instantly ripped her eyes from his, and
began to screw up the tiny paper tube that had held her teaspoon of
sugar, pressing and twisting at it until it became a small hard
pellet.

Matthew watched without commenting. Was this
a little show of tension? Of nerves? He let her play with the paper
for a few more seconds, and decided he had nothing to lose by
asking her identity. It might be the easiest way after all.

“Pleasance,” he said. “Unusual name. No
relation to Rob I suppose?”

Kate jerked her head up and met his gaze.
“Rob’s my dad,” she said. “I don’t...throw his name around because
he’s a bit too well known, and it might look like I expect things
because of it.”

She began to roll the little pellet of paper
to and fro on the table top again.

He considered her reply. Was she being very,
very clever or was she genuine? “There’s nothing about
telecommunications in your CV?” He let the words hang between them,
hoping to force some sort of useful comment out of her, but all he
got was a shrug and a vague smile.

“Lord, no,” she said after a few seconds.
“No, not my field at all. Marketing—that’s me. Until I stopped work
to help my mum. After that, I wanted a total change. Change of job,
change of scenery. So here I am.”

Matthew nodded slowly, never taking his eyes
off her. Okay, she’d admitted her true identity. But surely such
candour was designed to put him off her trail? No way would he
believe Rob Pleasance’s daughter was here in Queenstown innocently.
Of course she’d had to admit who she was when he’d asked so
directly. Now he wished he’d done it much earlier in their
interview and saved himself a lot of time.

There wasn’t a hope in hell he’d allow her to
have the job, but Lottie had offered accommodation for the night
and he could hardly refuse Kate that courtesy. It might even be
possible to twist things to his advantage—turn the tables and see
where it led. If the boyfriend was now out of the way, it could
lead to a night of pleasurable passion.

He watched as her glossy hair bounced and
glinted. As her long lashes hid her eyes when she glanced demurely
down. As her cheeks flushed delicately pink. Might she be on for a
brief no-strings affair?

A prickle of excitement stirred his groin,
and he closed his eyes as he allowed it to thread its way through
his whole body. How long had it been since he’d initiated the
pursuit of a woman? And how much sweeter would it be if the woman
was Rob Pleasance’s pretty daughter? He smiled slightly as his cock
stirred and lengthened, safely hidden beneath the table-top. God—it
would serve the scheming pair right!

Eventually he stretched, and rose from his
seat. “Better try the hospital again,” he said, lifting Kate’s
chair away so she could stand with ease.

Finding herself uncomfortably close to him,
she stepped sideways. “Ouch,” she exclaimed, as one of the spokes
of a big sun umbrella stabbed her scalp.

“You’re in the wars today,” he said, reaching
out to steady her and then running his fingers through her hair to
check for injury.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, unnerved by the
intimate caress, and trying to shrug away from him to regain her
own space.

“Indeed you are,” he said with a broad
grin
.

Kate marched toward the door, sensing the
flush rising up her neck again, knowing she must look pink and
offended. He’d only been offering help to a visitor, after all. Why
had she reacted so gauchely?

She knew he followed close behind her; could
still picture that sudden devastating smile, and feel his hands in
her hair and on her skin as she bolted ahead in confusion and
consternation.

Leaving him to pay for lunch, she stood
outside the cafe, hoping the crisp winter air would make her feel
cooler and calmer. Her reaction to Matthew McLeod was simply
ridiculous. She tried to convince herself of this as people
streamed by...as the huge lake sparkled ahead of her...as her
thumping heart gradually slowed.

She saw another smile twitch at Matthew’s
lips as he opened the door of the SUV for her. He waited until
she’d climbed in before gently closing it. Kate pulled her
fashionably short skirt down and smoothed it across her thighs. It
had never seemed too short before. Surely he was simply being
courteous? Why did she keep imagining it was anything more than
that?

She simmered away in silence as he drove back
toward the hospital. Erotic pictures floated through her mind. She
didn’t want to be attracted. Couldn’t possibly be attracted. And
yet…something hummed between them. An edgy awareness. And,
unwelcome as it was, she couldn’t banish it.

She gazed out the window as the view of
leafless trees and dark conifers rushed by. Inspected the houses on
the surrounding slopes with their stony colours and unusual angles.
Stared up higher toward the snow-dusted peaks glistening in the
hard sunlight. All new, all different, and none of it as
spectacular as the man beside her.

He turned into a parking space at the
hospital and said, “Better luck this time.”

Kate unclenched her hands, stretching out
fingers she hadn’t known were twined tightly together. “I hope
she’s not in too much pain. She’ll need a nurse rather than a P.A.
if that’s the case.”

Matthew opened his door. “I’ve been wondering
about that. She’s as tough as old nails though. Won’t give in and
show any weakness. We’ll see what they say.”

They entered the warm shining reception area
and paced side by side to Lottie’s room again. She was still very
drowsy when they reached her bedside.

“Doctor’s not certain she’s concussed,” the
nurse informed them. “We had to give her a little sedation. She’s
very excitable, isn’t she?”

Matthew’s description of ‘a daunting task’
floated back into Kate’s brain. What might she be getting herself
into? An ‘excitable, daunting’ boss didn’t sound ideal. And a
husband as disturbing as Matthew was just plain dangerous.

He smiled at the nurse, who beamed in reply.
“Ah well, we’ll phone again later and see how she’s doing.”

He touched Kate’s arm to usher her out, and
she jumped at even that small contact.

“Looks like I’ll have to take you home for a
look around,” he suggested. “We’re out by the Shotover River,” he
added, as they returned to the parking lot.

“Where the jet-boats rush along? I saw one
loading passengers at the jetty while I waited for you outside the
cafe.”

He beeped the SUV unlocked and opened the
door for her. “Yes, but we’re high above all that, and some way
distant. We don’t really hear them.”

Soon they were humming along the highway.
After several miles, Matthew turned off where dark trees threw a
pool of dense shadow over the road. Kate shivered in the sudden
shade. “It’s colder here than I expected,” she said.

“So I see.” He glanced at her folded arms and
smiled slightly. “I can turn the heating up further if you like,
but I hope you’ve got something warmer than that to wear?”

“Of course,” she said, glaring at him. “But I
wanted to look businesslike to meet Charlotte—not padded out like
an Arctic explorer.”

He smiled more broadly. A truly killer grin
that didn’t settle her nerves in the least. Delicate shivers chased
up and down her spine.

“Fair enough,” he said. And a little later;
“Here we are.”

His home was huge—long and low, with a second
storey at one end only. It was entirely clad with the local
silver-grey schist rock. Kate had plenty of time to be impressed as
they progressed up the curving driveway. Gravel crunched under the
big tyres, then the garage door rose, and the house swallowed
them.

Matthew lifted her overnight bag from the
rear seat and led the way in to another world. He dropped the bag
at a branch in the main hallway, but kept walking.

Amazing artwork covered the walls. It was
blessedly warm inside. Kate followed as he stripped off his bulky
navy jacket, eyeing his big shoulders as she trailed behind
him.

“Main living area through here,” he said,
waving a long arm into a vast honey-coloured room with windows
around three sides. “Kitchen, there.”

Kate had never seen so many electrical
appliances.

“Dining room. Formal sitting room...which we
hardly use...and my study.”

Kate glanced in as he rushed her by. It was a
serious place of work; she registered several computer screens,
assorted business machines, big desks and capacious filing
cabinets.

He swept back along the main hallway. “Master
bedroom wing...spa pool and gym over this side...guest bedrooms
along this way.” He reached down for her bag and led her into a
suite with a view of floor to ceiling mountains only a few miles
distant.

“Wow,” she gasped.

“Your accommodation for the evening, Miss
Pleasance. I’ll leave you to freshen up.”

“Thank you. It’s wonderful.” As soon as he
left she unbuttoned her jacket, peeled it off, and tossed it on the
bed; then unzipped the bag to find the soft red jersey she’d
packed.

“Sorry, I meant to ask—” she heard him saying
as he returned, unheard, on the thick carpet.

Kate attempted to haul the jersey over her
head, but it snagged on the big spring clip holding the top of her
hair back. She tugged, infuriated, but the jersey held firm, and
she was blind above and far too bare beneath. She struggled,
enraged and embarrassed.

“Oops, sorry,” Matthew murmured, sounding
anything but. “Hold on—I can see where you’re snagged. Stop tugging
like that.”

“Go away,” she spat, through gritted
teeth.

“Kate, you have two pretty layers over your
enticing body—pretend you’re decent,” he said.

One of his warm hands pushed up over her face
and into her hair, working the clip free. She would have given a
lot
not
to have been wearing the sexy black and red bra and
camisole she’d put on to boost her confidence. ‘Two pretty layers’
he’d said. Obviously he’d checked them both out.

“Good girl,” he said, finally sliding his
hand away.

Furious, she pushed out through the polo neck
of the jersey and faced him, flushed and dishevelled, thrusting her
arms through the sleeves and dragging some cover over her body at
last. “What did you want?” she demanded.

“I just wondered if you’d rather have tea or
coffee.” It looked as though he was working hard to keep his face
blank and neutral.

Kate glared at him though a curtain of
tangled hair. “Coffee—please.” To her own ears she sounded barely
civil.

“In the living room in five minutes then.” He
raised a dark eyebrow and left her to recover any bits of composure
she could.

Darn, darn, darn! That was
so
unprofessional.

She heaved a deep sigh and collapsed onto the
bed in despair. How could she hope to be taken seriously after
displaying such tarty underwear? It had only been a joke. A private
laugh. She and her friend Shelley had each bought a set at a
lingerie party a few weeks ago. A bra so low-cut it was barely
decent, with transparent lacy cups. And a gauzy black camisole with
matching scarlet trim. Also far from concealing. No doubt he’d seen
right through both. Kate’s confidence shrivelled even further.

She stretched his five minutes out nearer to
ten while she summoned the courage to face him again. She unpacked
her overnight bag, and gave her hair a vigorous brushing, leaving
it loose now she was out of the wind. As she prowled back through
the enormous house, a car gave a cheerful toot somewhere close. She
paused, out of sight. Heard Matthew opening the front door. A woman
responded to his greeting.

“Good to see you,” he said.

“How is she?” the woman asked. Kate stayed
concealed.

“Distraught of course. Major dramatics. But
genuinely damaged, poor dear.”

It sounded as though he was talking about a
farm animal, not a wife. Could this visitor be more than a friend?
He looked the sort of man who’d collect women easily. Debauched.
Dissolute. Kate tried to think of other suitable words for someone
with such a hard, lived-in face.

“Kate,” he yelled.

Guilt made her jump. “Just coming,” she
called back, rounding the last bend between them.

“Kate Pleasance... my sister-in-law, Diana,”
he offered by way of introduction. Kate had to work hard to hide
her surprise. She’d been half expecting a slinky creature in
designer gear, but what she found was a cheerful short-haired
blonde in jeans and a bulky brown jersey. “You’re right in time for
coffee, Di,” Matthew added, striding off toward the living area,
plainly expecting the two women would follow.

“You live close?” Kate asked, as they
strolled more slowly behind him.

“Not far. About five miles. You’re not from
here?”

“Auckland. We have our green volcanoes, but
no scenery like this.” She waved at hand at the nearby
mountains.

Diana laughed, and led the way to a group of
chairs by the window. Kate chose one with her back to the expansive
view—she wanted the light on Matthew’s face. She watched him
covertly as he set the tray down on a low table. The smell of
freshly ground coffee beans wrapped around them.

He moved very quietly for a big man—no wonder
she’d not heard him turn back to her room. She pictured him
stalking prey in the wild, sliding noiselessly over rough ground. A
predator. She was pleased with the word.