The Australian Affairs Collection. Margaret Way
pond.
‘You’re not hungry?’ he asked.
She was ravenous, but she’d brought her lunch to work, expecting to be stranded on the eastern boundary, and she hated waste. ‘I’m not hungry,’ she said. It was easier than explaining that in Gordon Coulter’s eyes the events account didn’t extend to buying her any food. ‘Besides, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.’
She frowned, unsure why she’d added that last bit.
For a moment he looked as if he were waging an internal battle with himself, but then he folded his arms on the table and leaned towards her, his eyes dancing. ‘Are you telling me, Mia...?’
She swallowed at the way he crooned her name, as if it were the sweetest of sweet things.
‘...that you don’t like cake?’
He said it with wide eyes, as if the very idea was scandalous. He was teasing her again. She resisted the almost alien urge to tease him back.
‘I didn’t say I didn’t like it. It’s just not something I ever find myself craving.’
His mouth kinked at one corner. Mia did her best to look away.
‘Now I have to discover what it is you do crave.’
How could he make that sound so suggestive?
‘Cheesecake? Ice cream?’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to find something to use as a bribe?’
‘Chocolate?’
Oh. He had her there. ‘Chocolate is in a class of its own.’
He laughed, and something inside her shifted. No shifting! She had to remain on her guard around this man. He’d called her beautiful and something in her world had tilted. She had no intention of letting that happen again.
‘You made my sister very happy today. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.’
It was the last thing she’d expected him to say. ‘I... I was just doing my job.’
‘It was more than that, and we both know it.’
She didn’t want it to be more. This was just a job like any other. ‘Naturally Carla is excited. I enjoyed discussing her plans with her.’
To her surprise, she realised she was speaking nothing less than the truth.
Their order was set in front of them. When the waitress left Dylan broke off a piece of cupcake, generously topped with frosting, and held it out to her. ‘Would you like a taste?’
Unbidden, hunger roared through her. For the briefest of moments she was tempted to open her mouth and let him feed her the morsel. Her throat dried and her stomach churned. On the table, her hands clenched to fists.
She choked out a, ‘No, thank you,’ before busying herself with her tea.
Why now? Why should a man have such an effect on her now? In the last ten months she’d been asked out on dates...the occasional volunteer had tried to flirt with her...but nothing had pierced her armour.
None of them looked like Dylan Fairweather.
True. But was she really so shallow that someone’s looks could have such an impact?
When she glanced back up she saw Gordon Coulter, glaring at her from the café’s doorway. Had he seen Dylan offer her the bite of cake? Great. Just great.
She shuffled her mantel of professionalism back around her. ‘Now, you better tell me what it is you promised Carla you’d sort out. It sounded ominous.’
He popped the piece of cake into his mouth and closed his eyes in bliss as he chewed. ‘You have no idea what you’re missing.’
And she needed to keep it that way.
She tried to stop her gaze lingering on his mouth.
His eyes sprang open, alive with mischief. ‘I bet you love honey sandwiches made with the softest of fresh white bread.’
She had to bite her inner lip to stop herself from laughing. ‘Honey makes my teeth ache.’
The man was irrepressible, and it occurred to her that it wasn’t his startling looks that spoke to her but his childish sense of fun.
‘Ha! But I nearly succeeded in making you laugh again.’
She didn’t laugh, but she did smile. It was impossible not to.
Mia didn’t do fun. Maybe that was a mistake too. Maybe she needed to let a little fun into her life and then someone like Dylan wouldn’t rock her foundations so roundly.
He made as if to punch the air in victory. ‘You should do that more often. It’s not good for you to be so serious all the time.’
His words made her pull back. She knew he was only teasing, but he had no idea what was good for her.
She pulled her notepad from her pocket and flipped it open to a new page. ‘Will you please tell me what it is you promised Carla you’d take care of?’
He surveyed her as he took a huge bite of cake. She tried not to fidget under that oddly penetrating gaze.
‘Don’t you ever let your hair down just a little?’
‘This is my job. And this—’ she gestured around ‘—is my place of employment. I have a responsibility to my employer to not “let my hair down” on the job.’ She tapped her pen against the notepad. ‘I think it’s probably worth mentioning that you aren’t my employer’s only wedding account either.’
She spoke gently, but hoped he sensed the thread of steel beneath her words. There also were cages that needed cleaning, animals that needed feeding and logbooks to fill out. They weren’t all going to get magically done while Dylan lingered over coffee and cake.
And it didn’t matter how much he might temporarily fill her with an insane desire to kick back and take the rest of the day off—that wasn’t going to happen.
‘Ouch.’ He said it with a good-natured grin. ‘But you’re right. Carla and I have taken up enough of your time for one day. Especially as we’ll be back tomorrow.’
He was coming too? She tried to ignore the way her heart hitched.
‘Mia, do you know what line of work I’m in?’
Even she, who’d spent most of her adult life living under a rock, knew what Dylan Fairweather did for a living. ‘You created and run Fairweather Event Enterprises.’ More widely known as Fairweather Events or FWE. Dylan had made his name bringing some of the world’s most famous, not to mention notorious, rock acts to Australia.
Under his direction, Dylan’s company had produced concerts of such spectacular proportions they’d gone down in rock history. His concerts had become a yardstick for all those following.
FWE had been in charge of last year’s sensationally successful charity benefit held in Madison Square Garden in New York. He was regularly hired by royalty to oversee national anniversary celebrations, and by celebrities for their private birthday parties and gala events. Dylan Fairweather was a name with a capital N.
‘The thing is...’ He shuffled towards her, his expression intent now rather than teasing. ‘I know that Plum Pines has its own events team, but I want to be the person running this particular show.’
Very slowly, she swallowed. ‘By “this particular show”, I take it you’re referring to Carla’s wedding?’
He nodded.
Her heart thumped. Nora would be disappointed.
‘I want to do this for Carla,’ he continued, fully in earnest now. ‘The only thing I can give her that’s of any worth is my time. You have to understand it’s not that I don’t trust the