The Millionaire's Agenda. Kathryn Ross
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he had ruffled her a little with the remark. He had no intention of overstepping the boundaries of their working relationship…for one thing, he didn’t believe in mixing business with pleasure. Yet his curiosity was aroused sufficiently to want to push those boundaries aside for just a while, just to quell the sudden need to know what exactly lay behind Chloe’s businesslike façade.
‘Maybe we have a few other things in common that we have yet to discover,’ he said lightly.
‘Like a love of old houses and fine wine?’ She kept her voice equally light.
‘There you are, we’ve found two things we have in common already.’
She smiled at the teasing note in his voice. ‘It does seem a bit strange for us to be relaxing like this,’ she said honestly. ‘I keep expecting a telephone to ring, or someone from one of the other departments to come barging in to ask for something.’
‘We never get a minute’s peace, do we?’ Steven agreed. ‘Naïvely I thought when I floated the company on the stock exchange four years ago that I’d be able to take more of a back seat. But I think I’m putting more hours in now as managing director than I ever did as the sole owner.’
‘Perhaps that’s the heavy price of success.’ She smiled.
‘Perhaps.’ He took a sip of his drink.
She wondered what he was thinking about as she watched the flickering firelight playing over his features. Maybe he was remembering the heady thrill of that business deal. For a man who wasn’t a chef, Steven Cavendish was a remarkably successful restaurateur.
From humble beginnings with one restaurant he had developed a style and a flair for the imaginative, setting in place the correct chef, the right location and something more…a flair for elegant dining that had struck a chord with Londoners, so that within a year the first Cavendish restaurant had been an overwhelming success and more had followed.
‘I suppose I shouldn’t complain. After Stephanie died I was glad to be working so many hours; it helped take my mind off things. In fact, there were points when I felt better in the office than I did at home. I had the peace of mind of knowing my mother was here with Beth…and at least at the office I could pretend everything was normal.’
‘It must have been a dreadful time,’ Chloe said sympathetically.
‘The worst ever.’
There was silence for a moment. Steven stared into the fire reflectively. ‘One of the reasons we bought this house was that we thought it was a fine family home. It has five bedrooms and we planned to fill them. Stephanie was from a big family and so am I. We both liked that and wanted the same…’
‘I’m so sorry, Steven.’
The gentle sympathy of her voice jerked him from his contemplation of the past. He shrugged. ‘Life goes on, Chloe. I’ve learnt to deal with it.’
Despite the calm tone, she knew that he had found his wife’s death very difficult to come to terms with. Chloe had joined the company almost twelve months after the tragedy and she was used to a rather stern and very intense boss who could be more than a little aloof on occasion, but other members of staff had told her that before his wife had died he had been a different man, that her death had made him withdraw into himself.
Sitting here next to the fire with him, she realised that she was seeing more of that real Steven Cavendish than she had in two whole years in the office. Underneath that enigmatic cloak that he wore so well, he was a nice guy. A nice guy who just happened to be very handsome as well…she thought as she studied his rather aristocratic profile, the chiselled features, square jaw-line and the sensual curve of his lips.
He glanced over and caught her staring at him. ‘What are you thinking about?’ he asked lazily.
‘Just…just how awful it must have been to lose someone you loved so much.’
‘Yes, it was.’ As he looked over at her Steven was thinking how right Chloe was—it was kind of strange to sit here talking to her like this. But the funny thing was, she was so easy to talk to. He hadn’t meant to open up to her like that; in fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had talked to someone about Stephanie. He leaned over and topped up her wine glass. ‘Anyway, let’s not get maudlin,’ he said. ‘It’s Friday night, reason to be celebrating.’
Realising that he might not want to talk about his wife any further, Chloe took the hint and changed the subject. ‘And if this weather keeps up you might not have to go to Manchester tomorrow.’ She raised her glass.
‘Even if the weather improves I might find it difficult to go anyway…because by the looks of things Gina won’t be back tomorrow.’
‘Well, if by some miracle the weather does improve I’ll stay on tomorrow and look after Beth,’ Chloe offered.
‘Thanks, Chloe.’
‘That’s OK. Beth and I get on very well together,’ she said lightly. ‘It would be no hardship.’
Steven smiled at her. ‘Well, that’s very nice of you, but what about Nile—won’t he mind?’ The quietly asked question made her nerves jump. ‘Where’s he tonight, anyway?’
‘I don’t know.’ She smiled a trifle over-brightly. ‘Probably out drinking with his mates…’ She was aware of his dark gaze moving towards her hands, to the finger that had worn Nile’s ring. ‘We called our engagement off almost four weeks ago,’ she admitted huskily.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ He frowned. ‘You’ve never said a word about it.’
‘I suppose I’m still trying to get used to the idea myself. ‘And we don’t really talk about our personal lives, do we?’ she said. ‘In fact, I had a hard time even trying to talk to you about work today.’
He grimaced. ‘Sorry, Chloe; hopefully things are going to settle down soon.’
She smiled. ‘We’ve been saying that for ages. Actually, I don’t mind how busy it is—at least the days go quickly.’
‘So your break-up with Nile was very sudden, was it?’ He went back to the subject, his voice gently probing. ‘You two have been together for a long time.’
‘Yes; I met him just before I came to work for you, two years ago. But we were probably just not meant for each other. These things happen.’ With massive determination she tried hard to sound as if she was very together about the whole thing, and she tilted her face up and smiled.
Steven wasn’t fooled by the brave front for a minute. He noted the pallor of her skin and the bright glitter of her blue eyes. ‘Just as well to find you’re not suited now instead of after you married.’
‘Yes…that’s what I keep telling myself. But we were living together for over a year…and I did think…well, obviously I thought he was the guy for me. We’d even booked the registry office…’
‘So…if it’s not too personal a question…what happened? Was it another woman?’
She noted with grim amusement that his first surmise was that Nile had dumped her. ‘Well, not exactly, although it turns out that there is another woman in the background now…’ Maybe that other woman had been there all along and he had just picked that argument with her as an excuse to leave…and take their money, she thought grimly.
‘Well, he’s an idiot to give you up,’ Steven said briskly. ‘A complete idiot.’
The compliment took Chloe aback. She wished now that she hadn’t taken off her glasses so that she could read the darkly impassive features more clearly. ‘Thank you.’ She looked away from him, feeling suddenly embarrassed. She couldn’t really believe that she was talking like this to him; it felt really weird.
‘You’ll meet someone else, fall in love and thank your lucky stars that you didn’t marry him.’
Her lips twisted