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‘You don’t believe or you don’t want to believe it?’ Leon challenged her.
Tiny tremors of reaction were still seizing her body, and Sadie knew that Leon must be aware of them. What an idiot he must think her, to get in such a state over a mere kiss. Only for her it hadn’t been just a kiss, had it? For her…
‘It’s all right, Sadie,’ she heard him telling her gently, when she was unable to answer his question. ‘Will it help if I admit that I’ve been caught as much off guard by what happened back there as you? I can’t pretend that I haven’t spent all evening imagining what it would be like to take you to bed, but…’
‘I… I don’t do things like this,’ Sadie told him stiffly, suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable. ‘I don’t make a habit of… of this sort of thing. You might…’
‘I might what?’ he asked, disconcerting her when he guessed accurately. ‘Were you thinking that I might go to bed with a different woman every night of the week? Is that what you’re trying to say?’
Embarrassed, Sadie shook her head.
‘I don’t have any right to… to pry into your private life,’ she told him awkwardly. ‘It’s just that I don’t want you to think that I…’
‘I haven’t been to bed with a woman in over five years,’ Leon told her curtly. ‘I don’t happen to approve of anyone sleeping around just for the hell of it. It’s cheap and it’s a health hazard. What happened tonight was—’
‘You don’t have to explain. I understand!’ Sadie rushed in quickly. He was going to tell her that it had been a mistake, that things had got out of hand.
‘You do? I wish to hell that I could say that,’ Leon came back at her with harsh grimness. ‘Right now—’ he stopped and shook his head whilst Sadie held her breath, aching to have him complete what he had been going to say, and at the same time a little fearful in case he did!
They had almost reached the door to her room.
‘Do you have any plans for tomorrow?’ Leon asked her abruptly as he stood in front of her.
They were almost as close as they had been earlier, when he had kissed her. If she were to just shift her weight from one foot to the other she would be even closer!
Sadie looked at him. Her body was already overruling the cautious anxieties of her heart and the stern warnings of her head, telling her very forcibly that the only plans it wanted to have, included Leon and preferably complete privacy!
‘Well, no… not really.’ As her heart jumped and thumped around her ribcage, with an adrenalin-fuelled cocktail of complex emotions, Sadie berated herself inwardly. Why on earth hadn’t she told him she was already busy, as she would normally have done? What was happening to her? Never in her life had she chosen danger over safety. It just wasn’t her style!
Maybe it hadn’t been, a little voice inside her head mocked her, but that had been before she’d met Leon!
‘I’m driving out to see a mas I’m renting for the summer tomorrow. Why don’t you come with me?’
‘You’re spending the whole summer here?’ Sadie commented, unable to conceal her envy at the thought of being able to spend weeks on end enjoying the sunshine in a mas, as Provençal farmhouses were called.
Yes… I have a variety of business interests on the continent, and the farmhouse I am planning to rent would make an excellent base for me to work from.’
They were outside her door now, and the light on the wall illuminated Sadie’s expression as she looked up at him.
‘A farmhouse?’ she questioned, a little uncertainly.
‘You don’t sound very enthusiastic,’ Leon commented wryly. ‘What’s wrong? Don’t you like the countryside?’ he asked her.
Immediately Sadie shook her head.
‘No, I love it,’ she told him vehemently.
‘So?’ The querying rise of Leon’s eyebrows warned her that he intended to get an answer.
‘Well, it’s just that… Well, I just didn’t think that you would be a country person. One always assumes, somehow, that a businessman will be city-based.’ Sadie began, and then stopped, biting her lip.
But to her relief Leon didn’t take offence at her comment, simply shrugging his shoulders and telling her easily, ‘I do have an apartment in Sydney, it’s true. It’s convenient for business, but given the choice I’d much rather spend my time at the winery my parents own, way out in the country. They’re retired now, or supposed to be, but Dad’s already talking about putting new vines in and upgrading their wine, despite the fact that he’s got a bad heart and ought to be taking things easy!’ He stopped and apologised. ‘Sorry, you don’t want to hear about my family.’
Sadie flicked her tongue-tip over her lips, aching to admit that there was nothing she wanted to learn about more—unless it was every tiny detail about Leon himself. What made him laugh, what kind of food he liked, which side of the bed he liked to sleep on… where he most liked to be touched and kissed… where…
‘Well?’ she heard him demanding softly.
Her face flared hot pink as for an instant she thought he had somehow read her mind, but then she realised he was waiting for her to respond to his invitation. She ought to turn it down, her own sense of self-preservation told her that, but instead of doing so she heard herself saying huskily, ‘Thank you, yes. I… I’d love to join you.’ To join him. To join with him… to…!
‘Good!’
The look he gave her sent a thrill of dangerous pleasure zinging right through her. Helplessly she clenched her muscles against it, against the betraying sexual shudder she could feel gripping her.
Leon was smiling at her, his mouth curling up at the corners in the way that made her long to throw her arms around him and kiss every delicious centimetre of those tempting warm male lips. Especially where they curled so fascinatingly into the smile that made her heart somersault and sent a dizzying rush of pleasure showering through her.
Hastily Sadie averted her gaze from his mouth and tried instead to focus on a point somewhere beyond his left shoulder. But she was still excruciatingly conscious of him, and of her own longing for him. Where had it come from, this savage, clawing, aching, longing that had hit her out of nowhere, left her drugged, doped, dependent on the proximity of him?
When she had contemplated the prospect of falling in love in the past her mental meanderings had never come anywhere near encompassing anything like this! And they had certainly never allowed her to imagine anyone like Leon!
‘Hell, Sadie, will you please stop looking at me like that?’ Leon demanded savagely. ‘Because if you don’t I’m going to have to kiss you, and I warn you that if I do I’m not going to want to stop at just kissing you…’ he continued fiercely.
Her face bright red, Sadie asked him quickly, ‘I… what time shall I meet you in the morning?’ She held her breath, not sure if she wanted Leon to stop speaking so erotically to her or not.
‘Well, from my point of view it will probably facilitate matters if we have breakfast together,’ Leon began.
‘Together?’ Sadie could hear the squeak of panic in her voice.
‘I meant in the dining room, of course,’ Leon assured her blandly. ‘Unless…’
‘Oh, the dining room. Yes, of course. Yes… er… what time? I…’
Listening to herself gabbling, Sadie wondered if Leon knew just how much she was longing to have the courage to simply reach out and wrap her arms around him, to stand on tiptoe and press her body the entire length of his whilst she kissed him in a way that would leave him in no doubt whatsoever about where she most wanted to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning!
Before he could guess what she was thinking she opened her handbag and searched for her key.
Ten minutes later, safely inside her room on her own, with the door locked, she told herself that it was relief she was feeling that Leon hadn’t pushed or pressed to be allowed to come in with her—and not disappointment.
Still, she would be seeing him in the morning. Blissfully she hugged that thought to her, lost in a dreamy fantasy of sensual blue skies and an even more sensual man.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘THAT’S what I like to see—a woman who enjoys her food.’
Sadie’s toes curled into her shoes as Leon’s warmly approving gaze embraced her.
He had telephoned her at seven o’clock, the ringing bringing her out of the shower, to ask her if she was awake and suggest that they meet up in the restaurant at eight.
‘Awake—of course I’m awake,’ she had responded indignantly, adding without thinking, ‘I was actually in the shower.’
There was a small silence, and then Leon’s voice, like warm honey melting down the telephone line, as he’d said thickly, ‘I wish you hadn’t told me that, Sadie!’
He hadn’t said anything else, but Sadie had known immediately that he was picturing her naked—and what was more she had been doing some pretty sensual visualisation of the two of them together herself!
Just the thought of Leon naked in the shower with her was enough to make her skin prickle in sensual hunger.
She had dressed at top speed, donning a clean white tee shirt and a pair of beige linen cut-offs, and some white and beige trainers for comfort. A beige raffia bag embroidered with white daisies and her sunglasses had completed her preparations.
Leon had been waiting for her in the foyer of the hotel. Like her, he was casually dressed, his tee shirt revealing warmly tanned and strongly muscled arms.
‘Good.’ He smiled approvingly at her. ‘I’m glad you’ve dressed casually. The mas is in a fairly remote place, and although it has its own swimming pool, and overlooks the sea itself, I’ve picked it because of its country location.’
Now, as she finished her fruit and reached for the delicious croissant she had selected from the lavish buffet table, Sadie turned to Leon and mentioned hesitantly, ‘Raoul told me that your company will be acquiring the house in Grasse as well as the business attached to it.’
She couldn’t help thinking how much this would have upset her grandmother. She had often told Sadie whilst she was growing up how much she missed her childhood home. Sadie had been too young then to suggest that her grandmother lower her pride and make contact with her brother, with a view to visiting Grasse and the house.
‘You should see it, Sadie,’ she had told her vehemently. ‘It is as much a part of your heritage as your “nose”.’ When your grandfather saved me from the Germans and brought me to England I had no idea that I would never return to Grasse. My father would have been so angry and hurt if he had known what my brother did.’
Sadie had tried to find words to comfort her, but she had seen how much her grandmother had missed her home.
‘Yes, that is part of the deal,’ Leon agreed, picking up the coffee pot and refilling her empty cup for her.
‘What will you do with it? Will you keep it or sell it?’ Sadie asked him, wondering what it was about seeing such a strong sexy man performing this small domestic chore that made her insides melt.
‘I don’t know yet, and anyway the decision won’t be entirely mine to make. Why?’ Leon questioned, giving her a keen look.
‘No reason,’ Sadie answered him hesitantly. Despite the physical intimacy they had shared she didn’t feel mentally close enough to him to talk more about her grandmother.
Her reticence owed more to her own loyalty to her grandmother than a reluctance to confide in Leon. She was well aware that an outsider who had not known her grandmother might question her stubbornness in refusing to have anything to do with her estranged brother. And, for reasons she was not prepared to delve deeply into, it was becoming increasingly important to Sadie that Leon felt warmly and sympathetically towards the grandmother she had loved so much. After all, how could she give her love completely to a man who did not understand and accept Grandmère’s little foibles?
Leon was still looking at her, with one dark eyebrow raised and an expression in his eyes that told her he knew she was being evasive.
Ruefully, she gave a small shrug.
‘It’s just that—well, there is so much family history attached to the house. I just think it would be very sad if it were to be sold off, or converted into offices or apartments like so many of the older buildings have been. If you were going to… to dispose of it…’
‘You’d want first chance to buy it?’ Leon guessed, wondering why, if she did want the property, she had not asked for it to be included in the package he was having put together for her in part exchange for the very generous lump sum she would be receiving for her share of the business.
Immediately Sadie shook her head.
‘I’d love to,’ she admitted, wrinkling her nose a little as she added, ‘But there’s no way I could afford it. Even in its run-down state it would still be expensive, and I just don’t have that kind of money. Not even if I sold my home in England.’
Leon frowned as he listened to her. Raoul had implied to him that Sadie came from a wealthy background—’pampered and spoiled’ had been just two of the words he had used to describe her. Even if Raoul had been lying, the sum he had agreed to pay him for the business and the property was, in his opinion, on the dangerous side of generous—and he knew that his board would agree with him.
Sadie would by virtue of her one-third holding in Francine receive one-third of that money. When he included in that sum the extra amount he had now offered, via Raoul, to pay in respect of Sadie giving up her own business to join the company, he was looking at a very large amount indeed—and Sadie’s share was well in excess of what he knew to be the value of the Grasse property.
It was on the tip of his tongue to challenge her statement, and a small frown wrinkled his forehead as he contemplated what might lie behind Sadie’s seemingly artless comment.
Could she actually be angling for him to offer to hand over the Grasse property to her? Somehow he hadn’t thought of her as a person who was either manipulative or grasping—unlike her cousin. But he was enough of a businessman to respect the fact that she was in a position where, if she chose to do so, she could set an extremely high value on her expertise.
Unusually for Raoul, he had been unexpectedly and unhelpfully vague about what he thought Sadie’s financial requirements might be for joining Francine, and so Leon had sought the advice of a local firm of headhunters, asking them what the going rate for a person of Sadie’s skills would be. Once they had told him he had decided that in view of the fact she was giving up her stance on natural raw materials, and agreeing to create a new perfume, he had added a large extra amount onto the sum he had informed his legal team he would be paying her as a salary.
If she was after the Grasse house as an additional ‘sweetener’, though, she was going to be disappointed!
Aware of his unexpected and certainly unwanted withdrawal from her, but totally unaware of what Leon was thinking, Sadie questioned lightly, ‘Is something wrong?’
‘No, nothing at all,’ Leon assured her smoothly. ‘If you’re ready, we ought to make a start. The mas is a good three hours’ drive away.’
Relieved to see the sombre look replaced by a much warmer one, Sadie nodded her head.
The tables on the open air terrace of the restaurant where they had eaten their breakfast were filling up with other guests now, and Sadie was glad that they’d eaten early enough to have virtually had the place to themselves.
This hotel would make a wonderful venue for honeymoons, she acknowledged as she stood up and Leon came to pull her chair back for her. What with its spa facilities and suites with their own private hot tubs. If she and Leon were sharing such a suite…
As he saw her eyes darken and her face flush, Leon wondered what it was that had brought that soft look to Sadie’s eyes and caused her sudden intake of breath.
Standing close to her now, breathing in the warm scent of her, he wondered if he was being entirely wise in choosing to spend a whole day with her—especially after last night! And it wasn’t the fiercely passionate kiss they had exchanged before going their separate ways he was thinking about, but the hours afterwards, when he had lain awake in bed, aching for her so much that he’d had to grit his teeth against the sheer intensity of it, and will the hard, angry throb of his erection to subside.
When Leon picked up the keys for the hire car he had ordered from the foyer, the receptionist announced, ‘The hire car firm has asked me to apologise to you because unfortunately they have not been able to supply you with the car you requested. They have instead delivered a smaller one. Apparently there was a mix-up at the main office, and with Cannes being so busy with a big trade fair…’
Sadie could see that Leon was frowning a little, and so she offered calmingly, ‘As there are only the two of us the size of the car doesn’t really matter, does it?’
Leon took the keys from the receptionist and turned to smile warmly at her.
‘Does having such a good nature come naturally to you, or do you have to work at it?’ he teased her gently as he took her arm and guided her out into the warm morning sunshine.
Sadie cast him a wry look.
‘You didn’t give me the impression that you thought I had a good nature when we first met,’ she reminded him dryly.
‘Ah.’ Leon gave her a droll look. ‘But that was before.’
‘Before what?’ Sadie couldn’t resist asking as he led her towards the small compact hire car parked just outside the main entrance.
Bending his head towards her, Leon replied wickedly, ‘Before I kissed you.’ He was playing with fire and he knew it, but suddenly he felt happier than he had felt in a long long time.
Speechlessly Sadie got into the passenger seat. Leon was quite definitely flirting with her, and somehow she didn’t think that he was the type of man to flirt with every woman he met. No, when Leon flirted, it was because…
Because what? Because he wanted to idle away a few spare days enjoying a brief sexual liaison? Sadie shivered, as though the words ‘brief’ and ‘liaison’ were lumps of ice someone had dropped down her back.
It really was a compact car, she acknowledged ruefully a few minutes later, as she saw the way that Leon was practically folded over the steering wheel.
‘In Australia we wouldn’t give something of this size to our kids in case we were convicted of child abuse,’ he told her in disgust as he inserted the key into the ignition.
Sadie laughed.
‘I thought it was only Texas where everything was bigger than anywhere else,’ she teased him, but her laughter turned into a small anxious frown as the car refused to start.
Cursing beneath his breath, Leon tried again—and this time, to Sadie’s relief, the engine fired.
