Her Man with Iceberg Eyes (2 page)

She was relieved to see Lottie looked plump
cheeked and peaceful, with long red-blond hair plaited into a thick
braid draping over one shoulder of the pale blue hospital gown. “I
think she’s sound asleep,” Kate whispered. “Don’t wake her.”

She watched as Matthew stroked a tender
finger over one side of Lottie’s forehead, avoiding the dressing
over what must be a nasty bump. The patient didn’t stir.

“Probably best,” he said, glancing across.
“She was hurting quite a lot. Come and we’ll get some lunch and try
again later. Or did they feed you on the plane?”

Kate shook her head. “Only a couple of
biscuits.”

In fact she had been so jittery, she’d had no
breakfast either. The job interview had been on her mind for
several days. It was a wonderful chance to start a new life, and
she’d fussed around, wanting everything to be as perfect as
possible, until she heard the taxi’s imperious hoot and dashed out
unfed.

“Right— there’s a cheerful Italian place here
you might like. Do you know Queenstown well?”

“Hardly at all,” she admitted, wondering if
this would count against her.

“I’ll give you a quick tour on the way to
lunch,” he said. “Lottie’ll be awake after that, with any
luck.”

They climbed back into the SUV and Matthew
drove leisurely around the pretty resort town, pointing to items of
interest, and sometimes pulling out of the traffic to give longer
descriptions.

“Lake Wakatipu—deepest lake in New Zealand,”
he said, glancing across at the sparkling water. “They say the lake
is as deep as the mountains are high.”

Kate peered up at the surrounding crags.

“So how deep then?”

“No-one knows for certain. I suppose they’ll
survey it all properly one day. They haven’t found the bottom in
places.”

She shivered, thinking how icy the water must
be at such extreme depths.

“While you’re here you must go for a cruise
on the old Earnslaw,” he added, drawing her attention to the trim
antique steamer.

She nodded, wondering how such a large craft
had found its way to the inland lake. “However did they get it
here?”

“By rail.”

“It’s too big for that!”

“Nope—by rail. I did some research to go with
photos to celebrate her centenary. She was built in Dunedin, then
they dismantled her and brought her to the far end of the lake by
rail.”

“And stuck her together again?” Kate could
barely believe it possible.

“Yup—reassembled her, launched her, and she’s
been here a hundred years. Still going strong. She does several
trips across to Walter Peak Station every day.” He sent her an
amused glance. “That’s a high-country sheep station, not a railway
station.”

Kate glared at him. “I knew that.”

“We’ve had visitors who didn’t.”

“More fools them,” she snapped, and then
worried she might have been offensive about his friends.

Matthew appeared unruffled. “She’s said to be
the oldest coal-fired passenger-carrying vessel still operating in
the southern hemisphere. Quite a rarity.”

Kate nodded, and inspected the little steamer
with more interest. The straight-bowed boat was more to her taste
than the colourful cable cars that swung perilously up the opposite
hill. She wasn’t fond of heights, but Queenstown was besotted with
them. Everywhere she looked, travel shops and adventure depots
promoted bungee jumps, helicopter flights, ski tours, and
snowboarding trips.

“What a crazy place this is,” she said.
“Everyone after thrills.”

“It’s where the town’s wealth comes from; the
thousands of tourists who visit every year for the extreme sports.
We couldn’t live without them.” He cast another amused look at her.
“You could always go walking—is that safe enough for you?”

Kate bristled. So now he thought her a wimp?
She definitely needed to dispel that notion.

“My boyfriend and I used to sail in
Auckland,” she said in her defence. “The Waitemata’s a wonderful
harbour.”

“I know—I was at school up there. They let us
loose in the little P-class yachts if we were lucky.”

“His was rather bigger than that,” she said
with satisfaction.

“But you’re planning to leave him behind?
Dragon lady are you?”

She managed a good enough smile. “It’s
falling apart. I’d rather have a quick end...”

In fact it was Simon who’d left her, but
Matthew definitely didn’t need to know that. She and Simon had
planned to travel to London together and work. But her mother’s
condition had finally been diagnosed just before they intended
leaving, and then there was then no question of Kate departing
right away.

Yes, Simon had the new job, and no doubt
wanted company in the huge new city, but she’d have waited longer
than three months for him
...

Matthew sent her a speculative glance,
wondering if perhaps her surname was only a co-incidence. Would she
seriously come spying without assuming an alias when her real name
was so damning?

Was she indicating she was available?
Interested? If there was no boyfriend in the picture, might she be
willing to use her body to get what she wanted—always supposing she
really was here at her father’s behest. She was beautiful. Had made
his body hum in the most pleasurable way from the moment he’d laid
eyes on her—even though he’d been most suspicious of her
motives.

He spotted a parking space that had just
become vacant, grunted with satisfaction and swung the SUV sharply
around and into it. Despite her seat belt, Kate joggled sideways
and hit her head against the window.

“Ow,” she gasped, clutching her ear,
surprised by the sudden impact.

Matthew cursed under his breath, unclipped
his belt, and leaned across to her. He cupped her face in his hands
and inspected her with care.

Kate appeared to shrivel under his scrutiny,
and squeezed her eyes closed. He saw faint violet shadowing on her
lids, and lashes so dark and long that she must have some sort of
miracle mascara. Either that or nature had been very kind.

“No blood, anyway,” he murmured, unable to
resist running his fingers down her jaw instead of lifting his
hands from her skin.

“Sorry—I was miles away,” she muttered. “I
should have held on tighter.”

She fumbled her seat belt undone with rubber
fingers and slid out, relieved to escape, regretful to be released,
and totally furious with herself. It was one thing to be enjoying a
little fantasy, but quite another to drift off so far that she no
longer knew where she was. She must have seemed dazed and
dreamy—hardly the keen, efficient, job seeker she’d hoped to
appear. And his hands had felt wonderful.

She slammed the heavy door a little harder
than she’d intended, folded her arms across her breasts as the cold
air hit her again, and muttered ‘pull yourself together’ under her
breath.

Matthew led the way in to the busy
café—ordering cannelloni as they entered, without consulting
her.

“Okay with you?” he asked over his shoulder.
“You don’t want to get spaghetti sauce over a suit that colour—any
more than I do over this.”

Kate watched as he stripped off his dark blue
down-filled jacket to reveal a pale grey jersey moulded to an
impressive chest. A tough man in prime condition—lucky
Lottie...

“That’s fine. I’m not
such
a messy
eater,” she murmured, mind overloaded with his body. Maybe he was a
climber or did a lot of skiing? Now that he’d removed the jacket
she saw he had narrow hips and very long legs. No wonder he walked
so fast.

She paced after him to a table in the sunny
rear courtyard. He threw his jacket around the back of a seat, and
Kate took the one opposite before he could do any gentlemanly chair
holding for her.

“All right?” he asked.

Kate nodded. Could he sense her unease? A
warm flush crept up her neck. Even here, outdoors with a chilly
little breeze flicking around her, he made her hot and flustered
simply by looking at her. It would be murder working close to him.
Perhaps she should escape while the going was good? Turn down the
position if she was lucky enough to have it offered? Darn it—this
had seemed the ideal job, but maybe not...

Matthew was plainly known at the café—a
bottle of merlot and two glasses appeared on their table with no
apparent instruction from him. He waved the waiter away.

“You seem very at home,” Kate dared to
say.

“My brother helped set the place up, some
years ago now, when his vineyard was newly planted.”

“And he still has shares in it?”

Matthew shook his head. “Not any longer, but
I like the way they’ve kept his standards up. Lottie and I stop by
every couple of weeks for a quick meal, so they’re used to having
me here.” He picked up one of the big glasses and tilted the bottle
over it.

“Not too much for me,” Kate said.

“Frightened I’ll get you tipsy and discover
the real woman behind the calm facade?”

She grinned at that. “So I’m faking it
successfully so far?”

“Faking it? That remains to be seen.”

Kate bit her lip. “No, I didn’t mean that
exactly. But surely everyone’s slightly on edge in situations like
this? ‘Am I good enough’ and so on...”

Matthew reached across and set her glass
down. His ice-blue eyes roamed over her in a thorough and unnerving
inspection. “What do you think, Miss Pleasance?
Are
you good
enough?”

She tilted her chin up. “I think I’m very
good indeed. I wouldn’t have applied for the job unless I was sure
I could do everything Lottie wants done.” It gave her a savage
little tingle of satisfaction to slightly emphasise Lottie’s name.
After all, it wasn’t Matthew who’d be her boss. She raised the
glass so she could inhale the wine’s bouquet, took a sip of it, and
closed her eyes to cut him out as she appreciated the flavours.

“You’re a woman who likes wine, then?”

Her eyes shot open again. “Not to excess. Why
do you say that?”

“It’s the way you approach it. With reverence
and concentration.”

Kate shrugged. “My parents generally had wine
with dinner. I suppose when you’re familiar with something...”

“Are you familiar with Lottie’s
paintings?”

“I know about her, of course. But not
specific works. If I’d known it was her I might be working for, I
could have done some research.”

Matthew’s mouth quirked at one corner. “We’d
have had every celebrity chaser in the country applying for the job
if her name was in the ad. No way...”

Kate took another sip of wine. “Yes, I
suppose you have to be careful.”

Matthew sipped too. Kate watched as his lips
shaped themselves to the curve of the glass. Sensuously full lips
now. Her own tingled with awareness as she imagined kissing him.
Ridiculous of course, but he was hard to ignore.

“Lottie needs peace and privacy,” he
continued, flicking his tongue over his bottom lip to remove the
traces of wine. Kate tried to rip her eyes away, and failed.

“Her paintings are better than ever, but her
health isn’t so good. She’s working herself into the ground. Hence
the need for an assistant.”

“Of course,” Kate agreed, sipping again. The
wine tasted wonderful. Although she’d resolved to drink very little
so she could guard her comments, the sultry dark liquid slid so
softly over her tongue and down her throat that Matthew had poured
her a second glass before their food arrived.

She’d attempted to dissuade him by raising a
hand, but he’d beaten her to it and the rich ruby wine gurgled into
her glass. “I never have a second at lunchtime,” she protested.
“And never even a first unless it’s with my mother at the weekend.”
She bowed her head for a moment and corrected herself. “
Was
with my mother at the weekend. You know about that? I presume
you’ve read my CV?”

A slight grimace touched his mouth. “Not
until the airport this morning. A fairly brief run through, but I
gather you nursed her.”

“Not exactly nursed, but I did everything non
medical I could.”

“She was lucky to have you.”

“We were very close.”

“So no carousing with friends on Saturday
nights? A pretty girl like you?”

Kate compressed her lips and ignored the
compliment. “Some things had to take a back seat for a while.”

She certainly wouldn’t be telling him about
her break-up with Simon and her subsequent awkward situation in
their couples-oriented group. With much larger worries on her mind,
she’d almost not noticed herself drawing away from them.

Mercifully the waiter arrived at that moment
with their cannelloni. The distractions of moving glasses aside and
setting down the big white plates and the bowl of grated parmesan
were just what Kate needed.

“Yum,” she murmured, breathing in the richly
fragrant aromas. She dug in with gusto, airline biscuits a faint
memory.

She found herself talking far more than she’d
intended. Matthew was engaging and inquisitive. He questioned her
closely. However much she tried to make little of her life, he had
a way of digging—quietly, persistently—until she told him far more
than she’d meant to.

She tried to convince herself that of course
he’d want to vet her thoroughly if she was to become Lottie’s
assistant, but there seemed to be something more. She was puzzled
about what it could be.

Matthew sighed and tipped his face up to the
sun. He was no further ahead. Was she Rob Pleasance’s daughter or
not? Rob was a big man. This girl was tall. But Rob had sandy hair
and hers was gloriously dark. Unless she’d coloured it as part of a
disguise.

Damn Lottie for not letting him know the
names on her shortlist until it was too late! He’d have had Kate
Pleasance off it in nano-seconds. The last thing he wanted was to
grant the daughter of his wily and successful business rival the
run of his home. He’d worked too hard to have all that progress put
in jeopardy.