the living room, admiring the view, when they joined them.
Eric made the introductions. Maureen Culshaw was a slim sixty-something with a pinched face, like someone had pricked her bubble when she wasn’t looking. Clearly the scandal had hurt both the Culshaws deeply. But her grey eyes were warm and genuine, and Eve took to her immediately, the older woman wrapping her hands in her own. ‘I’m so pleased you could come, Evelyn. Now,there’s a name you don’t hear terribly often these days, although I’ve met a few Eves in my time.’
‘It was my grandmother’s name,’ she said, giving the other woman’s hands a return squeeze, ‘and a bit of a mouthful, I know. Either is perfectly fine.’
Maureen said something in return, but it was the movement in Eve’s peripheral vision that caught her attention, and she glanced up in time to see something skate across Leo’s eyes, a frown tugging at his brow, and for a moment she wondered what that was about, before Eric started introducing the Alvarezes, snagging her attention.
Richard Alvarez looked tan and fit, maybe fifteen years younger than Eric, with sandy hair and piercing blue eyes. His wife, Felicity, could have been a film star and was probably another ten years younger than he, dark where he was fair, exotic and vibrant, like a tropical flower in her gown of fuchsia silk atop strappy jewel-encrusted sandals.
Waiters unobtrusively brought platters of canapés and more glasses of champagne, topping up the others, and they settled into the lounge area, Leo somehow managing to steer them both onto the long sofa where he sat alongside her, clearly part of the act to show how close they were.
Extremely close apparently.
For he stretched back and looped an arm around her shoulders, totally at ease as he bounced the conversation between Eric and Richard, though Eve recognised it for the calculated move it was. Yet still that insider knowledge didn’t stop her catching her breath when his fingers lazily traced a trail down her shoulder and up again, a slow trail that had her senses humming and her nipples on high alert and a curling ribbon of desiretwisting and unfurling inside her. A red ribbon. Velvet. Like the sound of Leo’s voice…
‘Evelyn?’
She blinked, realising she’d been asked a question that had completely failed to register through the fog of Leo’s sensual onslaught. She captured his wandering fingers in hers, ostensibly a display of affection but very definitely a self-defence mechanism if she was going to be able to carry on any kind of conversation. ‘Sorry, Maureen, you were asking about how we met?’ She turned to Leo and smiled, giving his fingers a squeeze so he might get the message she could do without the manhandling. ‘It’s not exactly romantic. I’m actually his PA. I was handling all his paperwork and arrangements and suddenly one day it kind of happened.’
‘That’s right,’ Leo added with his own smile, fighting her self-defence measures by putting a proprietorial hand on her leg, smoothing down the silk of her gown towards her knee, bringing his hand back to her thigh, giving her a squeeze, setting up a sizzling, burning need. It was all Eve could do to keep smiling. She put her glass down and curled her fingers around the offending hand, squeezing her nails just a tiny bit too hard into his palm, just a tiny warning.
But he only looked at her and smiled some more. ‘And this was after I’d sworn I’d never get involved in an office romance.’
Maureen clapped her hands together, totally oblivious of Eve’s ongoing battle. ‘Did you hear that, Eric? An office romance. Just like us!’
Eric beamed and raised his glass. ‘Maureen was the best little secretary I ever had. Could type a hundred and twenty words a minute, answer the phone and takeshorthand all at the same time. I could hardly let her go, could I?’
‘Eric! You told me you fell in love with me at first sight.’
‘It’s true,’ he said,
Eric made the introductions. Maureen Culshaw was a slim sixty-something with a pinched face, like someone had pricked her bubble when she wasn’t looking. Clearly the scandal had hurt both the Culshaws deeply. But her grey eyes were warm and genuine, and Eve took to her immediately, the older woman wrapping her hands in her own. ‘I’m so pleased you could come, Evelyn. Now,there’s a name you don’t hear terribly often these days, although I’ve met a few Eves in my time.’
‘It was my grandmother’s name,’ she said, giving the other woman’s hands a return squeeze, ‘and a bit of a mouthful, I know. Either is perfectly fine.’
Maureen said something in return, but it was the movement in Eve’s peripheral vision that caught her attention, and she glanced up in time to see something skate across Leo’s eyes, a frown tugging at his brow, and for a moment she wondered what that was about, before Eric started introducing the Alvarezes, snagging her attention.
Richard Alvarez looked tan and fit, maybe fifteen years younger than Eric, with sandy hair and piercing blue eyes. His wife, Felicity, could have been a film star and was probably another ten years younger than he, dark where he was fair, exotic and vibrant, like a tropical flower in her gown of fuchsia silk atop strappy jewel-encrusted sandals.
Waiters unobtrusively brought platters of canapés and more glasses of champagne, topping up the others, and they settled into the lounge area, Leo somehow managing to steer them both onto the long sofa where he sat alongside her, clearly part of the act to show how close they were.
Extremely close apparently.
For he stretched back and looped an arm around her shoulders, totally at ease as he bounced the conversation between Eric and Richard, though Eve recognised it for the calculated move it was. Yet still that insider knowledge didn’t stop her catching her breath when his fingers lazily traced a trail down her shoulder and up again, a slow trail that had her senses humming and her nipples on high alert and a curling ribbon of desiretwisting and unfurling inside her. A red ribbon. Velvet. Like the sound of Leo’s voice…
‘Evelyn?’
She blinked, realising she’d been asked a question that had completely failed to register through the fog of Leo’s sensual onslaught. She captured his wandering fingers in hers, ostensibly a display of affection but very definitely a self-defence mechanism if she was going to be able to carry on any kind of conversation. ‘Sorry, Maureen, you were asking about how we met?’ She turned to Leo and smiled, giving his fingers a squeeze so he might get the message she could do without the manhandling. ‘It’s not exactly romantic. I’m actually his PA. I was handling all his paperwork and arrangements and suddenly one day it kind of happened.’
‘That’s right,’ Leo added with his own smile, fighting her self-defence measures by putting a proprietorial hand on her leg, smoothing down the silk of her gown towards her knee, bringing his hand back to her thigh, giving her a squeeze, setting up a sizzling, burning need. It was all Eve could do to keep smiling. She put her glass down and curled her fingers around the offending hand, squeezing her nails just a tiny bit too hard into his palm, just a tiny warning.
But he only looked at her and smiled some more. ‘And this was after I’d sworn I’d never get involved in an office romance.’
Maureen clapped her hands together, totally oblivious of Eve’s ongoing battle. ‘Did you hear that, Eric? An office romance. Just like us!’
Eric beamed and raised his glass. ‘Maureen was the best little secretary I ever had. Could type a hundred and twenty words a minute, answer the phone and takeshorthand all at the same time. I could hardly let her go, could I?’
‘Eric! You told me you fell in love with me at first sight.’
‘It’s true,’ he said,
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