The Pretense

Chapter 10

Harper sighed in exasperation. “Be serious,” she said, and that made his eyes become hooded. His expression blank.

“The love you are talking about isn’t on my radar, Mitchell.”

“Ever?”

“Let’s just say I’ll never marry while I’m racing and I’ve yet to meet a woman who excites me enough to make me give it up.” His flat tone had turned grim. “Love is painful. When you lose someone…” He stopped, collecting himself. “I won’t do that to another person.”

Another person or himself? Harper wondered now, sensing that part of his emotional aloofness was just a way of protecting himself from pain. His words hovered heavily in her mind, almost like a warning.

Determined the best thing she could do for herself was to forget the whole afternoon, Harper sipped at Callum’s finest champagne and focused on the tiny bubbles of heaven that spilled across her tongue.

“What did you say?” Matteo’s low voice caused the champagne bubbles to disperse to other parts of her body. She opened her eyes to find him staring at her mouth.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You…” his gaze lifted to meet her eyes. “You murmured something.”

Harper’s mouth went dry and she was more determined than ever to crush the physical effect he had on her. “Just remember that tonight, I need you to be totally circumspect and professional. Discreet.”

What she was really saying was that she didn’t want him to touch her, and he knew it.

“Like the other patsies you date?”

“I do not date patsies,” she said, wondering how it was that he managed to push all her buttons so easily.

“Sure you do. You date men who are learned, PC at all times and… controllable.”

The way his tongue curled with the word has sent tingles to her skin. Despite this, his assessment annoyed her all the more. She knew if she did have a date, she’d look for someone just like that – except for the controllable part. You don’t need to control gentlemen.

“While you hunt out blondes with big boobs and an IQ that wouldn’t challenge a chicken,” she replied sweetly.

He paused and Harper was just congratulating herself on getting the last word in when he said, “She doesn’t have to be blonde.”

His slow smile was a signal for her to back off before she gets sucked by his vortex again.

“And need I say more–“

“Don’t say it,” she’d admonished peevishly. “I’ll only be disappointed.”

His soft laughter confirmed that he knew he had the upper hand and Harper determinedly faced the crowded room, searching for distraction. She heard Matteo let out a long, slow breath and wondered if he was annoyed with her.

“How ‘bout we call it a truce, eh, Harper?”

“A truce?”

“Yeah. And I don’t mean the kind of pact the settlers made with the aborigines before marching them off the edge of a cliff. I mean a proper one.” He reached out his hand to her. “Friends?”

Friends? He wants to befriend me and I couldn’t stop thinking about sex. Great. Just great.

She took another fortifying gulp of champagne and could have been drinking his motor oil for all the pleasure it now gave her. “Sure,” she shook hands with him.