A Stranger's Kiss

then held it for a moment at arm’s length until the wine stilled. She brought the glass to her nose and breathed in the spicy fruit-laden scent. She was sorely tempted to take a mouthful and sloosh it loudly between her teeth, but restrained herself, simply allowing the flavours to fill her mouth.
    Adam Blackmore watched this performance with interest. ‘Well?’ he asked, finally.
    She lowered her long lashes demurely. ‘Mmm. I like it.’
    ‘You like it?’ His eyebrows rose a fraction. ‘After that performance I expected a trifle more by way of comment.’
    ‘Did you?’ she asked, with apparent surprise. She lifted her shoulders in the slightest of shrugs. ‘Did you expect me to tell you that it’s an estate bottled Chateau Brane Cantenac from the Margaux region?’ She paused. ‘Nineteen eighty-three?’
    He threw back his head and laughed, revealing strong white teeth. ‘I should have seen that coming.’
    ‘Perhaps,’ she agreed, oddly pleased that he had a sense of humour large enough to laugh at himself, then smiled sweetly. ‘Or maybe you should just have anticipated that I am quite capable of reading the label on the bottle. Although I do know enough to appreciate that this isn’t house plonk.’
    ‘No, Tara, it certainly isn’t that.’
    A willowy blonde brought their steaks to the table. ‘Just the way you like it, Adam,’ she said, and gave Tara an assessing sideways glance. ‘Can I get you anything else?’
    His smile for the girl was warm. ‘Give us a few minutes.’
    Tara watched as the girl walked gracefully back to the kitchen. ‘You eat here often?’ she asked.
    ‘Now and then,’ he affirmed. ‘The food is good. I’ve never seen you in here before.’
    ‘No. I just dived in to avoid...’ She stopped self-consciously. ‘I had planned to stay and eat though.’ She regarded the steak with misgivings. She hadn’t planned to eat anything this expensive. Business wasn’t exactly booming and money was tight at the moment. But if she was going to pay for it, she might as well enjoy it. She picked up her knife and fork and began to eat.
    ‘Do you work near here?’ he asked.
    ‘Just down the road. And you?’
    ‘It’s convenient.’ There was something in his voice that made her look up, but his face was impassive and he didn’t elaborate. ‘What do you do?’
    Tara considered the question. When two people ran a small business they did everything, even the foot-wearying job of delivering leaflets with details of their secretarial and computer staff agency to all the office blocks in the area during the weekend. But he didn’t mean that. ‘I’m a secretary,’ she said.
    ‘Better than the one who typed this, I hope,’ he said, flicking a disdainful finger at the report he had been reading when she interrupted him and which he had pushed out of the way.
    ‘Probably,’ she agreed, not about to let an opportunity slip her by. ‘If you need secretarial help I could find someone for you.’
    ‘You?’ he asked, suddenly quite still. She could almost hear the sound of shutters going up and instinctively sensing that this was not an appropriate moment for a sales pitch she let it go.
    ‘No, not me. I have a job.’ She changed the subject. ‘And you? What do you do?’
    He shrugged. ‘Nothing exciting. I sit behind a desk all day, moving figures around.’
    Tara looked sideways through her lashes at the figure beside her. She hadn’t seen him on his feet but she’d been close enough to know that, under the civilising business suit, Adam Blackmore had the lean, hard figure of an athlete. He might spend all day behind a desk, but it raised the question: what did he do with his nights?
    Tara felt her cheeks grow warm at the direction her thoughts were taking. They grew warmer as she realised that he was regarding her with scarcely veiled amusement.
    ‘Yes?’ he enquired.
    She touched her cheeks self-consciously. ‘It’s the wine. I’m not used to it.’
    ‘I see.’ She had the uncomfortable feeling that he did. All too clearly. ‘Are you driving?’
    ‘No. I don’t live far.’ That had been the urgency behind her wish to shake off Jim Matthews. If he had managed to follow her home he would lay siege to her there as well as the office and there would be no more peace.
    Adam refilled her glass. ‘In that case, another glass won’t hurt.’ He ignored her protest. ‘The colour in your cheeks suits you.’
    Glad that her fair skin never managed more than