Seduced By The Boss. Natalie Anderson
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Название: Seduced By The Boss
Автор: Natalie Anderson
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon e-Book Collections
isbn: 9781474059060
isbn:
He laughed shortly. “Those are plants?”
She grinned. “Yes, fine, heavy hedges that bloom with yellow and red flowers in spring and early summer. You drive down roads so narrow that sometimes it’s a wonder two cars could pass each other. Farms abound, with their stone walls and grazing cows and sheep. There are ruins, of course,” she said, bracing her forearms on the warm tabletop. “Conical towers and the remains of castles long fallen stand near stone dances where, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the echoes of voices from the past.”
Her gaze caught his and she stared into those deep, guarded eyes as she said softly, “The sky is so blue in Ireland you could weep for it. And when the clouds roll in from the Atlantic, they carry with them either fine, soft rain or storms vicious enough to moan through the stones of the castle until it sounds as if souls are screaming.”
A moment of silence ticked past before Brady spoke and shattered the spell she’d woven for herself.
“Souls screaming,” he repeated thoughtfully. “That’ll go well with the guests at Fate Castle.”
“That’s what you heard? Something to help with your business?” she asked, wondering if he ever thought of anything else.
“It’s not all I heard,” he said. “But it’s my main interest. It’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” he asked with a shrug. “If not for my buying the castle, you’d still be in Ireland trying to think of a way to save the hotel you manage.”
So he’d heard nothing of the magic of Ireland in her description. Only the barest facts as it concerned his latest business. “You’ve a way of boiling things down to their center, don’t you?”
“No point in pretending otherwise, is there?”
“I suppose not,” she said, and knew he was probably reading her expression again. This time what he would see was exasperation, and she was comfortable with that. She might be determined to keep her temper, but the fact that the man could so easily dismiss a hotel that had been in operation for decades—never mind the centuries-old castle itself—was still annoying.
He laughed, and the sound was so surprising she forgot her momentary irritation. “What’s funny?”
“You. You’re insulted on behalf of your castle.”
“As you’ve continually pointed out, ’tis not mine but your castle,” she said more stiffly than she’d wanted.
“And yet...” He tipped his head to one side and asked, “So in all the descriptions of your Ireland, I didn’t hear any mention of a man. No one there for you to particularly miss?”
Now it was Aine’s turn to frown as she realized she was the one doing all the sharing and talking here and he was as much a mystery to her today as he had been in the beginning. But maybe, she thought, by opening up herself, she would find it easier to pry information from him.
“No,” she said at last, “there’s no one now.”
“Now?”
“There was,” she told him. “I was engaged once. Brian Feeny.” She paused and realized that she could remember him now, talk about him now and not feel even the slightest echo of pain or regret. “He’s an accountant living in Dublin. I heard he’s married and happy.”
“Why’d you break up?”
“Why’s that your business?”
“It isn’t,” he said simply.
She laughed shortly. “Fine, then. ’Twas nothing dramatic. It was only that my family needed me and Brian couldn’t understand how I would put them before him. Us.”
“Most men probably wouldn’t,” he told her.
“Would you?”
“I know that if the Ryan brothers needed me, I’d be there no matter what anyone else needed from me.” He shrugged negligently. “Does that answer the question?”
“Aye,” she said, “it does.” She took a breath and admitted, “When it ended, I wasn’t heartbroken or devastated or even really disappointed. And I knew then that I hadn’t really loved him. Not enough.”
She’d wanted to love Brian, but she simply hadn’t had it in her. And maybe she never would know the kind of love her parents had had. But then, loving that deeply, that completely—that carried its own risks, didn’t it? She remembered clearly how broken her mother had been at the loss of her love, and Aine had to wonder if the pain of it was worth the loving.
“Or maybe it wasn’t you at all, and it was just this Brian being a jackass,” Brady said.
Her gaze snapped to his and a slow smile curved her mouth. She’d never really considered it from that angle.
“That’s enough depth for today, I think. How about a walk?” He stood up and held out one hand to her.
Surprise flickered through her again. Aine looked from his eyes to his extended hand and back again. She hesitated only a moment or two before laying her hand in his. Exasperation aside, the man was not only her employer but was currently beguiling her. When her hand met his, heat dazzled her and she fought with everything she had to keep him from seeing her reaction to the connection between them. “I’d like that. I feel as if I’ve been indoors for days.”
“We’ll walk to the pier, then,” he said, folding his fingers around her hand and tugging her along beside him. “You can watch the Pacific and think of the Atlantic.”
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