A Mistress, A Scandal, A Ring. Angela Bissell
that husky laugh again, and then she stumbled and Delmar’s big hands wrapped around her waist to stop her falling.
Xav wasn’t fully aware that he’d moved—that he’d stalked between the neat borders of the vegetable patches and crossed to the cottage—until suddenly he was standing in the yard, the music had stopped and four startled faces were staring at him.
‘Senyor!’ His housekeeper leapt to her feet with remarkable agility for a woman of her age. ‘We were not expecting you so soon.’
‘Clearly.’ His response came out sharper than he’d intended, but the way they were all staring at him made him feel like an interloper—an outsider in his own home. He didn’t like it.
‘Can I fix you some lunch?’ Rosa offered.
‘Sí. A sandwich will do. I’ll take it in my study.’ He turned to Jordan and noted with a stab of satisfaction that Delmar had removed his hands from her body and stepped away. ‘Ms Walsh,’ he said evenly, and she looked at him with what he thought might be a touch of defiance in her hazel eyes. ‘A word in private, please—if you can spare a moment from your dancing lesson.’
Giving her no chance to reply, he turned on his heel and strode back to the villa, detouring to where he’d left his briefcase and collecting it before heading to his study. Assuming she was trailing somewhere not far behind, he didn’t slow his pace or glance over his shoulder until he reached the doorway, where he finally paused and looked back—only to see she was nowhere in sight.
His mouth flattened.
Infernal woman.
He dumped his briefcase on the desk, returned to the hallway and cast an impatient look down its vast, empty length.
Finally, just as he was beginning to consider the possibility that she’d decided to defy him, she emerged around a corner at the far end of the hallway and, spotting him waiting, hurried towards him on those long, shapely legs. She stopped in front of him, panting a little, each breath moving her firm, high breasts up and down.
He gritted his teeth. Don’t look.
‘Did you get lost?’ he said dryly.
‘Of course I got lost.’
Her snapped response made him draw back a fraction. ‘I was being sarcastic.’
She gave him a droll look. ‘Were you? I would never have guessed.’
She jammed her hands on her hips and huffed out a breath, blowing an errant strand of hair out of her face.
‘If you actually care to know, I did get lost. You stormed off so quickly I couldn’t catch up and I took a wrong turn at the kitchen. I didn’t know which way you’d gone and this place is...is ridiculously huge.’
Xav took in her flushed cheeks, the cross look on her face and her generally flustered demeanour. A sudden flash of amusement drew the sting out of his temper.
He cocked an eyebrow. ‘You think my home is ridiculous?’
Her eyes widened, her expressive features morphing into a look of dismay. ‘Of course not!’ she blurted, her blush turning a deeper shade of pink. ‘I only meant... I meant I wasn’t...’
She bit her lip, which had the dual effect of halting her stammered response and drawing his attention to the lushness of her mouth—which in turn fired a pulse of heat into his groin and hampered his ability to concentrate when she took a deep breath and spoke again.
‘You have a very beautiful home,’ she said, enunciating her words slowly this time, as if selecting each one with care. ‘An amazing home, actually. It’s just that my sense of direction is hopeless and...well, the villa is rather...’
She fluttered her hand in the air, searching, he assumed, for a suitably inoffensive word.
‘Big?’ he supplied helpfully.
She cleared her throat, her cheeks glowing like hot embers now. ‘Yes.’
A crueller man would have let her squirm for a bit longer, but he wasn’t quite that merciless. Plus, he had no idea where this urge to tease and provoke had sprung from—or, more dangerously, where it might lead—so he was better off shutting it down. The fact that she’d already had him lurching from arousal to anger to amusement and back to arousal again in the space of mere minutes, when usually he was so adept at governing his emotions, was disturbing enough.
He motioned her into the room, followed her in and then closed the door and crossed to his desk.
‘I hope you’re not angry with Rosa and Alfonso and Delmar,’ she said.
He turned and looked at her. She stood in the middle of the room, her colour still high, her arms folded tightly over her breasts.
‘Do I have reason to be?’
She frowned at him. ‘I don’t know. Why are you asking me? You’re the one who marched in looking as if you wanted to throttle someone.’
He had wanted to throttle someone. Delmar. An urge for which he could offer no reasonable explanation. All he knew was that he hadn’t liked seeing the younger man’s hands on her. The familiarity between them. What else besides dancing had they got up to over the last twenty-four hours?
Had she encouraged him?
Pain arced through his jaw and he realised his teeth were clenched. Relaxing his expression, he sat against the edge of his desk and crossed his ankles. Good manners would normally dictate that he offer the lady a chair, but he wasn’t feeling especially chivalrous just then.
And he rather liked having her standing there in the centre of his antique Persian rug where he could see her.
All of her.
He could tell it made her uncomfortable and he enjoyed that—perhaps a little too much.
Maybe he was that cruel.
He folded his arms loosely over his chest. ‘I’m not accustomed to finding my house guests fraternising with the staff.’
Her chin came up. ‘Perhaps your staff wouldn’t have had to entertain your house guest if their employer hadn’t been an absentee host. If anything, you should be thanking them. Rosa has been wonderful—and Alfonso. They’ve very generously shown me some of that Catalan hospitality you promised.’
‘And Delmar?’ he couldn’t resist asking.
Just how generous had his hospitality been?
Her brow scrunched. ‘Of course. Delmar, too. They’ve all been exceptionally kind. I hope you know how lucky you are to have them,’ she added, her tone implying that she considered him entirely unworthy of his employees’ services.
Well, well... It seemed his little nurse from Down Under was a zealous defender of others.
Xav stilled.
His
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