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Maybe he washer with flattery—but here and now Ahan was up to, it felt good His positive words were like a salve to her fragile ego, and she decided at that point to relish theit—there would be plenty of tiht was over

But Vaughan hadn’t finished yet He was pulling apart a bread roll and soaking up the last of his balsa the plate, a decadent flash of gold on his wrist Even his hands were beautiful!

‘As bitchy as your pieces are,’ Vaughan carried on, hisimpossibly sexy, ‘they still come across as if you like your subjects’

‘Because I do like them—neuroses and all’ She smiled at his frown ‘I truly admire them’

‘Adree in rocket science to croon into a microphone or to strut one’s stuff on the catwalk I’ve dated a few models in my time,’ he added

‘I heard,’ A to his question ‘Okay, I admit at first I was a mixture of cynical and overawed Yet the et to know thehly I think of them Models deserve every last cent of theirin a restaurant as divine as this and ordering a to on the side if you hadn’t eaten ten courses today?’ Her voice was truly appalled ‘Heaven knows—soet out of her hospital bed and do two hours of Pilates with only an egg-white omelette to look forward to is a woman who knohat she wants I absolutely couldn’t do it, and I tell them that’

Her plate was being cleared away now She ached to dash to the loo, to check that no remnants of food were between her teeth and that Shelly’s han was staring at her—staring across the table in a broody, pensive way And if four years at uni had taught her anything it was that noas not the tio, that if she left now, then a fewso would he

‘My turn now,’ Arateful that she had a coitimate reason to ask the one question she really wanted answered; after all, not a woive her if she didn’t find out his romantic status

‘Are you involved in a relationship?’

‘I assu about my family here? Because I am involved with them—very much so’

‘You assume correctly So, are you involved with a woman?’

‘Aht someone with your rather cosmopolitan job would phrase her questions more carefully—cast a wider net, perhaps For all you know I could be gay’

‘Most gay han,’ Amelia answered with the sweetest of smiles

‘Ah, but how do you know that isn’t just a smokescreen?’

‘Please!’ A back in her seat And she would have laughed, was about to respond with sohter and her words died on her lips as she caught his eye She stared at hi it, and the background noise of the restaurant faded into silence Theher froerous territory

She didn’t need to ask hiay even entered her head—because Vaughan Mason, in the few hours since she’d known him, had made her feel more of a woman than she’d ever felt in her life

‘I think we both know that’s not the case’ Her voice was aiven her accelerated heart-rate, but she wished he’d drop his gaze first—wished she could win this tiny unspoken battle Whatever ga, it didn’t coly as she wrestled to come up with a response ‘However, I stand corrected If you don’t mind, I’ll rephrase my question—are you in a romantic relationship?’

‘No’

The heady relief that flooded her shocked even Amelia, but deter back at him, terrified to blink, to break the decadent beat of the moment But this ork, Amelia reminded herself sharply This was her career, the break she’d been praying for, and succuet her article written

With a blinding flash of clarity she realised he was playing her—playing her as he did every woman who had crossed his path for the last quarter of a century, playing her just as Taylor had

These were men who had learnt to flirt from the cradle

It was Aa her throat, she spoke in what she hoped was a more assertive tone than the ratherin the wings for the best part of the main course