HER ONE AND ONLY VALENTINE - (22 page)

She lifted her head and frowned at him. 'Well,
we're
not going to let her think—'

The door opened and Lizzie backed in, turning round to set a plate in front of each of them. 'Starters.'

Kane took one look at Rhiannon's face when Lizzie left and dissolved into raucous laughter, which she rewarded with another glare. 'Oh, I'm
so
glad
one of us
is enjoying this!'

'You'd be amused too if you could see the expression on your face.'

'It's not funny!'

'Oh, come on, it's a little bit funny. And romantic in an off the wall way, don't you think?'

He swallowed down his laughter when she aimed another glare his way, lifting a fork to play with the contents of his plate. 'What do you think it is?'

After a moment's debate on the merits of running away, Rhiannon lifted her fork and dug around, eventually rolling out an egg. 'Egg mayonnaise.'

'There's an egg in there?'

'Yes, a whole entire round boiled egg.' She glanced up at him and couldn't help but smile a small smile. He then smiled back, which helped some, but still... 'Seriously, we can't let her do this. She's trying to matchmake.'

Kane nodded. 'Well, you can't really blame her.'

And what does
that
mean?'

He shrugged, his gaze dropping to focus on finding his egg. 'She's a smart kid; we both know that. And she's bound to have seen how we are together.'

'What do you mean,
how we are together?
We're not any
way
when we're together.'

His thick lashes rose, a glint of humour in his blue eyes. 'Now, that wouldn't be entirely true, would it?' He nodded at her plate. 'You'd better eat some of that or you'll hurt her feelings.'

Rhiannon honestly thought she'd choke on it. Whereas Kane had no difficulty whatsoever in tucking into his. 'You think she knows that we—?'

His brows quirked as he spoke with his mouth still half full. 'Kissed? Almost kissed? Which time do you want to discuss?'

She opened her mouth to say something cutting, but nothing came out. So she closed it again. Realistically, she was digging a bigger hole for herself every time, wasn't she?

'Eat something.'

She speared a piece of cucumber and popped it in her mouth, smirking sarcastically at him as she chewed.

'Now, Mac, don't go ruining a romantic evening by being petulant; it's Valentine's Day.' He reached across the table and stole her egg. 'The least you can do is make it look like you ate some of it; move it about on the plate or something.'

Lizzie reappeared. 'Lift your plates, please.'

She set two larger plates down and took the smaller ones from them. 'I put in more salad 'cos Mum always says it's good for you.'

Kane nodded, a better disguised smile on his face. 'It's lovely, sweetheart. You've done a great job.'

When Lizzie beamed at his praise, Rhiannon immediately felt guilty. 'It is, really. You've worked
very
hard on this.'

'But there's nothing green in the dessert, right?'

Even Rhiannon couldn't help chuckling at his question, but she still kicked him under the table for it, his small flinch deeply satisfying, because she
really
wanted to stay mad with him. She didn't want to laugh with him again. Mad was easier. Mad had no hopes or dreams. Mad knew exactly where it stood.

'I'm only teasing. I'm sure it'll be lovely.'

'It's ice cream.'

'I love ice cream.'

'Me too.' Lizzie grinned and winked at him.

Kane winked back and Rhiannon had to shake her head to shift the ridiculous notion that in some way he approved of what she was doing.

'And you have to talk to each other.'

'We will.'

Right, she'd had about enough. So she called him on it when Lizzie left. 'We're
telling
her.'

She didn't look at him as she said it. Looking at him had a bad effect on her heart rate, even when she was mad. So she searched her plate for something to eat to make it look as if she'd made the effort.

Kane's voice rumbled across at her. 'Tell her what?'

'That this isn't going to happen.'

'It already happened.'

'No, it didn't. Not the
it
she's looking to happen.' She set her fork down and scowled at him again, because surely he had to know there was yet another argument looming. 'It's not fair, Kane.'

He stared across at her as he chewed, his blue eyes studying her with the intensity that she always found the most disconcerting. Then he smiled a small smile before he spoke. 'Maybe she just prefers it when we get along, did you think about that? And I happen to agree with that. You were the one who said you were glad we could
befriends?

Damn him!
Her breath caught at the reminder, her heart twisting again, and immediately she refocused on her plate, grumbling back between clenched teeth, 'Yes, I did say that.'

'Being friends is important, don't you think?'

She pursed her lips, lifting her fork to push her salad around. 'Of course it is, for Lizzie's sake.'

There was a long silence before he answered, his voice low. 'Not everything has to be for Lizzie's sake.'

Her heart missed several beats. 'Well, no, it doesn't, because we're business partners too, of course—technically speaking.'

'Being able to work together is important too.'

She risked an upward glance in time to see him slowly nodding his head, his gaze still locked on her. And her heart raced a little to make up for the missing beats. What was he
doing?
Hadn't she been clear enough last night?

'And communication is another one. We might need to work on that some.' He looked down at his plate, lifting his knife to slice some ham. 'Though, just for the record, you've always had really expressive eyes. It's why I'm able to guess what you're thinking as often as I do. I always liked that. It was one of my favourite things about you.'

Rhiannon couldn't believe he was saying these things to her
now
—sweet, almost romantic things. Didn't he know what it did to her poor heart? And she felt a shiver of fear run up her spine at the thought of him being able to see how she felt by looking in her eyes. Did he know how she felt about him? How she'd maybe always felt?

If he knew, then he had the advantage. If he chose to he could push her on the marriage of convenience issue. And she'd already learnt the hard way what happened when only one person loved the other.

When he looked up, she focused on her food, clearing her throat before she replied. 'Yes, those things
are
important. I agree with you.'

That's a first.'

'Don't push it. I already don't like you much at this precise minute, if you remember correctly.'

'I don't think that's entirely true either, is it?'

That got her attention, while he continued in the same steady voice, 'I think you like me more than you're prepared to admit. At least that's what I'm banking on. If I'm wrong, then I'm about to make a real fool of myself here.'

Rhiannon's eye's widened. He
knew,
didn't he?

Lizzie reappeared and Rhiannon groaned,
'Oh, c'mon!'

'I brought the ice cream.' She set them down. 'And I forgot to turn the music on.'

When she headed for the stereo Rhiannon tried to stop her. 'It's fine, baby; we don't need music'

'Yes, you do.' She was already selecting a track. 'It's romantic music for you to dance to.'

'I don't want to dance.' The sharp tone drew attention from both of them so she was forced to pin yet another false smile on to her face. 'I'm really tired, Lizzie, that's all. I don't want to dance.'

'I don't have two left feet.'

She glared venomously at him. 'I don't want to dance with you.'

'Is it the wrong music?' Lizzie turned to Kane with a frown. 'You said that track three was the right one.'

He
said?

'Yes, it's the right one, don't worry. And you did a great job with the food and decorations, thank you.'

'You
did this?'

'For Valentine's Day.' Lizzie looked immensely pleased with her father's 'thoughtfulness'. 'It was Dad's idea, but I did all the food by myself.'

Rhiannon tilted her head towards one shoulder and closed her eyes in agony, suddenly breathless and dizzy. When she opened them again Kane was smiling a small smile at her, an incredible softness in his eyes.

Sympathy?

She shook her head in denial, her voice barely above an agonized whisper. 'I can't believe you did this.'

'Your mum and I need to have a talk now. Can you give us a while?'

'Yep.'

Lizzie gave him a hug, planted a smacking kiss on his cleanshaven cheek and then practically skipped out the door— leaving Rhiannon to face Kane alone for what she knew would be the most humiliating moment of her life.

She slumped back in her chair, watching as he pushed his back and stood up. 'I don't believe you did this to me.
Why
did you do this?'

'Take a minute to think about it and you'll figure out why.' He held his hand out to her, palm upward. 'Dance with me.'

'I don't want to dance with you.'

'Yes, you do; we can dance and talk at the same time. And
I
want to dance with
you.''
He lowered his voice. 'Please?'

She gaped at him. Kane never said please. At least she couldn't remember him ever saying it anywhere near
her.
And it was apparently all it took to get her to move. She found herself lifting her hand to slide it into his. She watched as his fingers curled around the back of her hand and at the same time she heard him exhale, as if he had been holding his breath, not quite sure of what she would do.

But that couldn't be right—Kane Healey didn't do unsure, did he?

Bracing on his hand, she pushed her chair back and stood up, allowing him to lead her around the sofa, watching in an almost hypnotic state as he stopped and drew her in against him, still holding on to her hand while his arm snaked around her waist.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear the soft tones of the music in the background but she couldn't have said who was singing. She couldn't focus on anything beyond the gentle swaying that began as her hips fitted in against his. And only then did she lift her chin and look up into his darkening eyes.

'Why are you doing this?'

'You know why.'

'I already told you I wouldn't marry you.'

'In a million years.' He nodded, his eyes sparkling. 'Yes, I remember.'

He continued swaying them, making small steps, beginning to move in a circle at the same time, turning her hand in his so that their fingers were locked together.

'Then why—'

He smiled a smile that curled her toes. 'Still not got it?'

She was afraid to hope, 'I told you I needed more than—'

'This?'
He leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers fleetingly, in a whisper of a kiss that spoke of tenderness held within passion.

'Yes.' She closed her eyes as sensation washed over her, all too aware that she was letting him seduce her and unable to fight it as her loosely swinging arm rose to lay her palm on his chest—reaching for a firm anchor she could lean on while the world tilted around her. 'That.'

'You still think that's all there is between us?'

Her eyes fluttered open. 'Isn't it?'

'I plan on proving to you that there's more. And if I don't convince you this time, then I'll keep trying to prove it to you, for as long as it
does
take.'

Rhiannon could feel her heart swelling with hope and it must have shown in her eyes because he smiled again, the look in his eyes reminding her of the day they'd told Lizzie who he was, when he had held her in his arms and hadn't tried to hide how he felt.

Kane raised his brows. 'You're getting it now, aren't you?'

She stared in amazement. 'Keep going.'

They swayed back and forth, circling slowly.

'You said that this on its own wasn't enough.'

'This.'
She smiled a very small smile at him and brazenly moved her hips across his in the opposite direction to their swaying, her smile growing when he sucked in a sharp breath. 'Yes, I did say that.'

He shook his head.
'Witch.'

She smiled all the more, a bubble of happiness growing in the pit of her stomach.

'You also said that having a child together wasn't enough on its own.'

'An
amazing
child.'