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Since leaving Grasse earlier he had spent far more time than he wanted to admit thinking about her! And not just because of the problems she was causing him with the takeover. Not just? Be honest, he derided himself Not at all! No, the reason she had gained so much control inside his head was quite simply because she, or rather his reaction to her, his awareness of her, his desire for her, had assumed far too much control of his senses!
To put it bluntly, he ached for her in a way that had not just caught him off guard, but was also actively making him…
Making him what? Making him want to rewind life right back to that second when he had first seen her in Cannes, so that he could do what every male instinct his body was packed with had urged him to do then? Pick her up in his arms, get her the hell out of there and take her somewhere where….
It was at times like this that his Greek blood was most at odds with his Australian upbringing, Leon acknowledged wryly. Right now, hormonally he was quite definitely all Greek male, but cerebrally—thank heaven—a part of him remained an Aussie businessman! And that was the part of him he needed most to focus on!
He had certainly enjoyed focusing on Sadie, he mused. He had never liked over-thin women, and Sadie was just right—her waist so tiny he could span it with his hands, her hips sexily curved, her legs long… long enough to wrap right around him when he… and her breasts. Ah, her breasts… Just the thought of touching them, holding them, brushing his lips against their tender quivering crests and then…
Leon gave a low groan and closed his eyes. Bad mistake, since immediately a vision of Sadie formed behind his shuttered eyelids. He must be going crazy—either that or he was well on his way to falling head over heels in love with her.
In love? In lust, more like! Anyway, falling in love right now was a complication he definitely did not need in his life. Unlike Sadie. He needed her all right. In his life. In his arms. In his bed…
Raoul had told him that she was going back to England and Leon told himself that he ought to be glad!
His grandmother would certainly have enjoyed seeing him in the state of turmoil he was in right now!
Thinking of his grandmother made Leon frown again. He had been just fourteen when she died. A sensitive age, which was no doubt why—
His mobile phone rang, breaking his train of thought.
Was she doing the right thing? Sadie asked herself soberly as she parked her car in the hotel car park and made her way to her room.
She wished passionately that her grandmother were here for her to talk to. Would she approve of what she was doing? The wave of euphoria which had carried her back to Grasse had receded now, leaving her feeling shaky and insecure. What if she couldn’t create a saleable perfume? And, even if she did, what made her think that her scent could succeed where so many others had failed? They lived in a different world now from the one in which the classic scents had been created. Consumers were more demanding, more fickle—but if she could succeed… if she could create a new scent that would take the world by storm and…
She was beginning to feel light-headed with excitement again. What if, between them, she and Leon…?
Between them? She and Leon? A fresh surge of excitement gripped her, but this one had nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of a new scent!
Why didn’t she give in and admit it to herself? She had been attracted to Leon the first moment she had seen him.
Attracted to him! To describe her feelings as mere attraction was like trying to compare cologne with full-strength perfume.
Her heart started to thud, her palms suddenly becoming damp. Why was it that the look in one particular man’s eyes could make a woman feel so…? Hot-cheeked, Sadie acknowledged that she did not want to explore just what it was that Leon made her feel right now! At least not in public.
‘I just hope that I’m doing the right thing.’
Sadie’s voice wobbled a little, and she held her mobile just that little bit tighter as she voiced her uncertainty to her friend.
On the other end of the line Mary responded bracingly.
‘Well, it certainly sounds to me as though you are. Sometimes you just have to follow your instincts and your heart, Sadie, no matter how risky it might seem.’
Her heart! That organ started to thump erratically at the thought that she had betrayed herself so easily to her friend. How could Mary have guessed from what she had told her about her emergent feelings for Leon? She had barely mentioned him!
‘Your kind of work isn’t merely a career choice, Sadie, it’s a vocation, and when a person has your kind of talent—well, then they need to be able to fulfil the need it gives them and follow the direction of their heart, rather than make cerebral decisions!’
Her work! Mary was talking about her work, not about Leon!
‘It is a once in a lifetime opportunity,’ Sadie agreed excitedly. ‘But—’
‘No more buts,’ Mary told her firmly. ‘You go for it, girl!’
She had spent longer talking to her friend on the telephone than she had realised, Sadie recognised ten minutes after she had ended the call, when the grumbling protest of her stomach made her look at her watch. It was almost eight o’clock and she hadn’t eaten since breakfast!
Showering quickly, Sadie redressed in an elegant taupe silk dress she had spotted in an expensive boutique’s sale in Paris, slipping her bare feet into a pair of kitten-heeled sandals and gathering up a cream cashmere wrap just in case the evening air proved chilly.
It was only a five-minute walk from the rooms to the main hotel, and as Sadie picked her way along the prettily illuminated path and down the several flights of stone steps she paused to look out across the valley, to where the lights of the town twinkled in the distance.
As she crossed the car park en route for the hotel foyer she noticed that it was busy with cars, but thought no more about it, smiling briefly at the receptionist as she made her way across the tiled floor and then walked down the stairs and through the lower level foyer into the cocktail bar.
It had bemused her a little the first time she had walked into this bar, to recognise that it was styled very much in the manner of a gracious English country house—even to the extent of having a log-burning fire—but this hotel was not occupied merely in the summer, she acknowledged, but all the year round by those who wished to use its spa facilities. The cocktail bar was certainly very comfortable and welcoming.
The lower foyer, through which she had just walked, had elegant French windows which opened out onto a large paved patio area where guests could sit at wrought-iron tables and look out across the valley. Tonight the patio was crowded with several large groups of diners, Sadie noticed as she headed for the entrance to the dining room and the maître d’.
‘A table for dinner? Madame, I am sorry but that is not possible. We are fully booked,’ he told her when she asked for a table.
Sadie stared at him.
‘But I am a hotel resident,’ she protested. Delicious food smells from the meal being served to a table of diners just inside the doorway were informing her just how very hungry she really was. Her stomach was actually growling.
The maître d’ looked sorrowful and spread his hands.
‘I am so sorry, but I think you will have seen in your room that hotel guests are requested to make prior reservations for dinner. We are a Michelin-starred restaurant, and many people drive out from Cannes to eat here.’
Sadie’s heart was sinking deeper with every word he said. It was true that there was a notice in her room warning guests about the limited availability of tables for dinner.
‘There are several very good restaurants in the old town of Mougins,’ the maître d’ informed her helpfully.
‘It is only a short walk from here, and a very pretty place. It gets many tourists.’
Sadie sighed. Whilst she didn’t mind eating alone in a hotel restaurant, she was loath to do so further afield. She had planned to visit the old town of Mougins, but during the daytime.
Ruefully she acknowledged that she ought to have pre-booked her dinner reservation, and realized that she was now going to have to return to her room and order a meal there, from Room Service. She had just thanked the maître d’ and was making her way through the now extremely busy bar, when she suddenly saw Leon on the other side of the room.
He was walking towards her and had obviously seen her. Immediately her face lit up, a giddy sensation, a heady mixture of thrilling excitement, shock, and pleasure, flooding her body with breathless delight.
‘Leon!’ she exclaimed as he came towards her. ‘What are you doing here?’
His calm, ‘Actually, I’m staying here,’ took her thrilled delight down a few notches, and she had to control her expression to stop herself from betraying her disappointment. He had not come looking for her, as she had originally deliriously believed.
‘And you?’ he queried. ‘Are you dining here?’
He looked and sounded so coolly remote that her heart banged uncomfortably against her chest wall whilst she battled against the feeling of disappointment that was filling her.
The reality of him was so different from the fantasies she had been building inside her head all afternoon. He looked so austere, so disapproving and remote, so very much the man she remembered from their first encounter—right down to the immaculate shirt and suit.
The happiness and expectation that had fuelled her day was leaking out of her, and she was miserably conscious of the way in which Leon was looking over her shoulder and beyond her, as though in search of someone! Another woman perhaps? Did he have a dinner date?
Lifting her chin she told him bravely, ‘Actually, no, I’m not dining here this evening, Coincidentally, I am also staying here.’ There was no way she wanted him thinking she had booked in because she knew he was staying at this hotel. After all, she hadn’t realized that he was. ‘But unfortunately—obviously unlike you—I neglected to make a reservation for dinner. The maître d’ has suggested that I walk into the old town and—’
‘What? On your own? You are doing no such thing.’ Leon stopped her authoritatively ‘I’m surprised that he suggested such a thing to a woman on her own. You are on your own, I take it?’
He wasn’t looking over her shoulder any more. In fact he was looking right at her, and his eyes, like his voice, had warmed—as though… as though…
‘Yes. Yes, I am…’ Sadie agreed weakly. ‘I… Whoops.’ She gave a small gasp as a new crowd of people pressed into the confined space of the bar, one of whom inadvertently bumping into her and causing her to stagger slightly.
Immediately Leon reached out for her, drawing her towards him. So close to him, in fact, that all it would have taken for their bodies to actually touch would be for her to take one good deep breath. And, even though she was in no real danger of being pushed or crushed by the crowd, his arm was still curled protectively around her.
‘Look, it’s getting like a beer garden in here,’ he told her. ‘Since I’ve got a table booked, why don’t you join me?’
‘Oh, no!’ Sadie protested immediately. ‘I didn’t tell you because—’
‘I did!’ Leon told her softly.
The cold ice she had previously seen in his eyes had melted and turned into… Dizzily, she acknowledged that she could not find the right words to describe the incredible heat and sensuality that was burning in the green gaze he’d turned on her. All she could think of was what it was doing to her…
‘Do you think that’s a good idea?’ Sadie couldn’t help protesting.
‘Why shouldn’t it be?’ Leon retaliated.
Sadie could think of a hundred reasons, all of which had to do with the fact that she was already dangerously aware of him and potentially responsive to him, without doing something that was bound to encourage her vulnerable emotions to start rioting totally out of control!
‘Well, in view of the professional situation between us…’ she began a little lamely, not wanting to admit to him the real reason why she felt that having dinner with him might not be a good idea.
But Leon wouldn’t allow her to continue, saying immediately, ‘Why don’t we draw a line under all of that and start again? Call a truce? I’ve spoken to Raoul…’
Even though she knew she was being idiotic, Sadie couldn’t quite suppress her small spurt of disappointment when she realised that Leon was talking to her as a business colleague, not as a woman he wanted to get to know personally.
‘Oh, have you?’ she answered him.
‘I have,’ he confirmed, ‘and I can’t tell you how pleased I am to hear about your decision, Sadie.’
‘It seemed the best thing to do.’ Sadie paused, wanting to tell him how pleased she was that he had backed down over the use of natural raw materials. But before she could continue Leon shook his head.
‘Part of the truce is no business talk tonight.’
‘You never said that before.’
‘Didn’t I?’ The corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement. He really was heart-stoppingly sexy, Sadie acknowledged giddily. ‘Ah, well, I’m saying it now!’
‘But if we don’t talk about business, then what—?’ Sadie stopped and blushed as she saw the way he was looking at her.
‘Oh, I think we’ll find that we have plenty of things to say to one another,’ Leon told her softly.
Sadie didn’t make any reply. She was far too conscious of the fact that she was dangerously close to wanting much more from him than a simple business relationship!
He was looking away from her and in the direction of the maître d’ who was hurrying over. Turning towards him, Leon said something quietly and the other man ushered them both to Leon’s table.
Sadie could see the subtle feminine interested looks Leon was attracting from the women diners at the other tables as they were led to their own. Predictably, he had been given a table in a prime position, and as the waiter pulled out a chair for her Sadie couldn’t help feeling glad that she had chosen to wear her silk dress. It might not be as dramatic as some of the outfits several of the other women were wearing, but thanks to her grandmother she knew how to choose clothes that suited her.
Sadie had barely opened her menu when another waiter arrived, carrying a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
Wide-eyed, she looked at Leon.
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ he told her softly. ‘Only it seemed appropriate. To celebrate.’
Sadie couldn’t drag her gaze away from his. Why on earth had she ever thought his eyes cold? They were anything but. And as for his smile… A funny aching sensation had begun to spread from the direction of her heart all the way down through her body right into her toes, making her curl them protectively inside her sandals!
‘Well, yes…’ she agreed, trying to sound nonchalant and sophisticated. ‘Only Raoul did say it could be a few days before the contracts were ready for us all to sign, and since he isn’t here…’
The smile curling Leon’s mouth deepened and his eyes started to crinkle at the corners.
‘It wasn’t the prospect of us signing the contracts I wanted to celebrate,’ he told her in a voice that sounded like dark melting chocolate.
‘It… it wasn’t…?’ Agitatedly, Sadie picked up her glass of champagne.
‘No, it wasn’t,’ Leon agreed, watching her with a gaze so sensual and exciting that Sadie just knew her whole body was about to start quivering with delight in response to it.
‘Aren’t you going to ask me what I am celebrating?’ he prompted huskily.
‘I… er…’ Sadie took a deep gulp of her champagne and then gasped as the bubbles hit the back of her throat and exploded. She coughed and put her glass down.
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised, her face burning at her own lack of sophistication.
‘What’s wrong? Don’t you like champagne?’ Leon teased her.
‘Well, I do,’ Sadie told him. ‘Only I’m not much of a drinker, really. I suppose it comes of having been brought up by my grandmother… She was a bit old-fashioned about such things by modern standards.’
‘Why did your grandmother bring you up?’
He was frowning now, but not in a disapproving or condemnatory way, Sadie noticed. No, he was looking at her as though he was genuinely interested in discovering more about her! A sweetly sharp thrill of excitement spun through her.
‘My mother died shortly after I was born, and Dad—well, he had to work. So Grandmère brought me up, and then Dad remarried.’ She paused awkwardly, not wanting him to think she was trying to make him feel sympathetic towards her. ‘Well, Melanie—my stepmother—she was younger than Dad, and I don’t think she was too keen on the idea of taking on a soon-to-be teenage stepdaughter. Anyway, I was happy to stay with Grandmère.’
‘I see…’
He was looking at her in the most direct and yet somehow very tender way, Sadie recognised. A way that made her feel as though she could almost tell him just how hurt she had felt, knowing that her stepmother didn’t want her and that her father did not love her enough to insist that she was allowed to be a part of their lives.
‘I too had a very close relationship with my grandmother,’ Leon told her quietly.
For a moment they looked at one another in silence. They were, Sadie recognised, two people suddenly discovering that they had more in common than they had realised.
‘Your grandmother was Greek, wasn’t she?’ Sadie asked hesitantly, not wanting to pry and yet suddenly desperate to learn as much about him as she could, for him to be the one to tell her!
‘Yes. Like you, with your grandmother, I was very close to her. My parents both worked in the business my father was building, and my grandmother lived with us and looked after me. She died when I was fourteen.’ His frown deepened. ‘It was a very bad time for the family.’
‘You still miss her?’ Sadie guessed.
