Free The Demetrios Bridal Bargain by Kim Lawrence Page B

someone who was parochial and intolerant. Neither, despite what she thought, had he been telling tales.
    â€˜I did not relay the story at all. I suppose it’s possible he simply overheard something that Jamie said.’ Mathieu looked doubtful.
    â€˜Jamie…?’ Brushing her hair from her face with her forearm, Rose tilted her head and looked up at him, rolling her eyes in disbelief. ‘My God, is there anyone you didn’t tell?’
    â€˜Jamie was in the hotel that night. He heard me complaining about the hotel security and he wormed the story out of me. When he saw you he guessed…’
    â€˜Guessed,’ she echoed. ‘You must have dropped some pretty heavy clues.’
    â€˜I didn’t need to. Jamie doesn’t miss much. If it’s any comfort, as a consequence of seeing you my standing in his eyes has plummeted.’
    With a dry laugh she lifted her head. ‘That I doubt.’
    â€˜It was me, I think.’
    Both turned in unison as the door swung inwards to reveal Fiona standing there. Jamie’s sister looked the picture of guilt.
    Mathieu’s brows twitched into a straight line of disapproval. ‘Fiona, have you been eavesdropping?’
    â€˜Yes…no, that is, it wasn’t deliberate the other time.’
    Mathieu’s brows lifted. ‘Other time?’
    Fiona’s eyes slid from his as she shuffled her feet miserably and mumbled, ‘I heard you and Jamie talking about Monaco and the hotel and…’ her eyes lifted to Rose ‘…you. Grace said—’
    â€˜Grace?’ Mathieu ran a hand along his jaw, looking impatient. ‘Who is Grace?’
    â€˜Who is Grace?’ Fiona echoed, sounding indignant. ‘You know who she is. She’s been my best friend for ever, or since we were four anyway…her dad runs the climbing centre. I texted her and, well, she might have texted Ellie and Ellie probably sent an email to a few other people.’
    â€˜Oh, my God,’ Rose breathed shakily. ‘I think the mystery of how Mr Smith knows the story is solved,’ she said in a shaky voice. ‘The only mystery is how there’s anybody left this side of Inverness who doesn’t know.’ Hearing the note of hysteria in her voice, she bit her lip.
    Presumably Mathieu heard it too, because he looked at her oddly before he jerked his head at the teenager and snapped, ‘Out.’ A tearful Fiona fled and he walked across to a bureau, out of which he produced a bottle and a glass. ‘Jamie’s best malt,’ he said, filling the glass.
    â€˜If that’s for me,’ Rose said, shaking her head as he walked towards her, ‘I don’t like whisky.’
    â€˜It’s medicinal,’ he said, handing it to her.
    With a sigh of irritation she took the glass. ‘I’ve lost my job. I’m angry, not ill.’
    â€˜It’s true, you know. Take a sip, it’ll steady your nerves.’
    Not while you’re standing this close, she thought, lifting the liquid to her lips. ‘What’s true?’ she asked, giving a shudder at the taste the sip of peaty malt left in her mouth.
    â€˜It’s true Jamie thinks that any man who threw you out of his bed needs therapy.’ Maybe he was right, Mathieu thought as his eyes were drawn once more to the soft lush outline of her pink lips.
    â€˜I wouldn’t mind,’ she mused, staring into the bottom of the glass, ‘if I had actually done anything…no, actually, I would mind,’ she burst out, levelling a burning resentful glare at Mathieu. ‘So long as I did my job well, my personal life is none of his business, the narrow-minded, pompous little bigot. He said people might get the wrong idea about our relationship. Can you imagine?’ she asked, her voice rising in an incredulous note, before she added with a bitter laugh, ‘Sleep with that cold fish. God,’ she muttered, ‘I’d rather