Marrying The Boss (5 page)

Well, she wasn’t about to play. Spencer
Stelanos was a man too sure of himself and his own male
attractions. Very much like her ex-fiancé in that respect. Sure
that every female desired his masculine company.

Okay, he
’s a very attractive
man,
she
thought in a rush of brutal honesty. But he’s well and truly
taken.
Pure
and simple.

"
Thank you for the invitation, but I’m sure
your wife wouldn’t approve of your inviting stray females to a meal
without her consent," she told him repressively, staring pointedly
to the wedding band on his left hand. "I think we should forget
about dinner. In fact, I think it best if we forgot all about our
first meeting. Our working relationship is the only thing we’ll
have in common. I’d prefer to keep it that way. My renting the
cottage from you is purely a business arrangement. But I will be
moving out as soon as I find a place of my own."

She moved
away from him. "I’m sure Jamie
will understand that your invitation is an unfortunate
misunderstanding."

"
A misunderstanding?" He lifted his
shoulders, a frown drawing his dark brows together. "No, Kate, I
don’t agree. I think you have misunderstood. It was a simple dinner
invitation, nothing more."

Of all the
arrogant
...she bridled. "I don’t believe you."

His face hardened before he said in a
clipped tone, "It’s not what you’re obviously thinking. I’ve been
divorced for more than three years. During that time my ex-wife
Katerina has preferred not to take any part in my son’s life. It’s
better that way for both of us. Certainly since I gained full
custody."

"
Oh, I see." Kate swallowed tightly against
the numbing sense she’d somehow seriously misjudged the man. "I’m
sorry, I didn’t realize."

Heavens!
Now she felt completely stupid.
Fresh heat invaded her cheeks as her heart tightened over the cool
remoteness of his voice as he spoke of his ex-wife.

Her chest tightened. She worried for
Jamie, a little boy living without his mother. No wonder he’d been
so keen to visit her. But she couldn’t allow herself to drift into
the role of surrogate mother, however tempting it would be to
create the very thing she’d once most wanted in the
world.

The Stelanos men would be much
better off without her.
It wouldn’t be fair to let the little
boy—obviously starved of a mother’s love — to become too closely
attached to her. She would hate to break his small
heart.

"
Why should you be sorry?" Spencer asked
tersely. "It’s old history; an unfortunate mistake on my part. But
I won’t allow my son to suffer for it."

There was a taut moment of silence. Kate
finally said, "If that’s the case, then why do you still wear your
wedding ring?"

She froze, dragging in a deep
embarrassed breath. What folly prompted her to ask such an intimate
question? She didn’t wish to get close to this man.
What is wrong with
me this morning
?

Spencer raised one dark eyebrow. "Let's
just say I've never found a good enough reason to take it off," he
replied cryptically, turning away to hold the door of the kitchen
open for her to pass through before him. "It has its
uses."

Kate slipped past him, her eyes
averted.
"I'm
sorry, that was unforgivably rude. It's certainly none of my
business what you do in your own life."

Knowing the man was free and
acting on that knowledge were two very different things. It still
didn
't change
her resolve to have as little as possible to do with him and his
small son. However tempting they might be.

Professionally she would get by. She could
handle the working side of things. The fact she was his tenant was
making her feel acutely uncomfortable. Perhaps it would be best if
she looked for a new place to live as soon as possible. But the old
cottage was charming, and she didn't want to leave it so quickly
after arriving. Besides, it was the only house on the market within
her price range, without using her savings ear-marked for buying a
place of her own.

"
It's ancient history." Spencer's deep
voice startled her from her thoughts as he followed her into the
room.

The door swung shut behind him. The kitchen
was unoccupied, so they were alone. She turned and looked up. His
narrowed gaze traveled over her face, testing each of her features.
Time seemed to stall.

"
Ending any relationship is never easy,"
she finally replied, in a tight voice.

His dark head slanted in question. "You
make it sound almost as if you're speaking from personal
experience."

"
No!
" she gasped, then moderated her sharp tone and
said, "No, Dr. Stelanos, just personal observation. I've seen the
inevitable consequences many times in the course of my
work."

She looked away, forcing herself
to relax. His private life was none of her concern. And she wasn't
about to discuss hers.
Not now, not ever.
It was certainly none of his
business.

Spencer watched her for the space of
several heartbeats. "Well, the coffee's hot. Help yourself." As he
spoke, he made a deliberate point of moving away and finally saw
her rigid shoulders begin to relax, the frowning wariness receding
slowly from her eyes. He drew a deep breath and debated his next
move.

But how could he tell Kate
Martin what he saw?
That her close facial likeness to his ex-wife was
extraordinary? She'd just begun to lose her odd look of wariness
and he couldn't afford to risk that.

Right now some things were better left unsaid.

But he was grateful that Jamie
hadn
't seen
anything of his mother in Kate's face. The boy had been too young
when Katerina left, and he hadn't seen her since. His ex-wife
seemed more than happy to forget her only child's existence. She
was more intent on getting back into her old social life, free of
maternal cares.

He realized in that same moment that he
didn't know Kate from Chicago. It was his own past that had fooled
him into thinking there could have been a history there. But the
thought didn't make him feel any less wary of her. She ruffled his
composure and he didn't need that right now.

He pushed aside his brooding
introspection. "Would you like some cake?" Surely he couldn't get
into any more trouble offering her food.

"
Thank you, but no." Kate held up a hand.
"Just coffee will be fine." She poured herself a mug of coffee
before looking up. "How do you like yours?"

He was in the middle of devouring a large
slice of the carrot cake. He swallowed his mouthful with a soft
groan. "Black, one sugar, thanks. You should try the cake. It's
excellent." He nudged the plate towards her. "Here, have a
piece."

"
I'm really not very hungry." Kate slowly
closed the distance between them to cast a worried look over the
plate, hunting for the smallest slice. She thought fleetingly of
the calories she was going to consume if she continued to eat like
this every day.

"
It won't bite," Spencer encouraged,
reaching for a second wedge. "I can always pound out an extra K or
two tonight."

She lifted her eyes from watching the deft
movements of his strong dark hands. "Do you run?"

The unwise question slipped past
her guard.
Damn!
She didn't want to know anything more about him. Biting her
lip, she busied herself with pushing her piece of cake around her
plate. Her appetite had fled.

The need to put distance between them was
almost overwhelming. But then if she bolted Spencer Stelanos would
know she was a coward.

So she remained still, praying he move
away and leave her in peace. It would be the most sensible,
civilized thing she could hope for, because given the sudden,
increased tenor of her breathing and the racing pace of her pulse,
she was no longer feeling at all sensible.

CHAPTER THREE

Of course Spencer
remained standing
right in front of her. He didn't move a muscle or look away. Kate
felt his gaze studying her averted face assessing and drawing his
own conclusions.

She glanced up to see him lift his
shoulders. "I run every night I can manage. Unless I'm on
call."

He brushed off his fingers before taking a
mouthful of the coffee Kate had passed to him, with a nod of
thanks. "With a desk job like mine, I need a more regular exercise
regime."

His dark gaze speared hers. "What about
you? Do you run?"

"
Oh, no. No, I...used to."

She looked down into her coffee, trying
not to remember the late evening runs she'd taken along the lake
shore with Eric after they first met. Before things changed and his
growing possessiveness turned him into a man she hardly recognized.
A possessiveness she now realized was entirely due to his not
wanting to be seen in public with her. It was another painful
memory that seared the breath in her throat.

Don
't go there
. But a sharp pain shafted through
her. "A long time ago. I don't any more because I don't seem to
have the time."

She glanced up again, disconcerted to find
him still watching her with narrowed eyes. Like she was a complex
puzzle he was trying to work out to his satisfaction. She felt the
warmth retreat from her face, leaving her feeling shaken.

A harsh frown flickered through Spencer's
dark eyes, turning his expression cool and remote. A black curl of
hair had fallen forward across his forehead.

He swept it back with impatient fingers.
"Well, you're welcome to join me anytime. We could get a group
together if you wish. I would be glad of the company because it can
get lonely out there and I could use a couple of pace-setters." He
dropped his eyes to the slice of cake, all his concentration on
dissecting it with his long fingers.

Kate looked away. He was simply being
polite. The invitation was blandly spoken, almost off hand.
Allowing her plenty of room to refuse.

Or accept.

No way.
Her heart went cart-wheeling with
dismay.

Pushing her slice of cake aside, she
sipped her coffee. Her mind suddenly threw up a mental picture of
him at the end of a long run, his beautifully tanned olive skin
bronzed with sweat, long powerful legs wide braced, his broad, hair
roughened chest rising and falling to the rapid pace of his
breathing as he reached up to run his fingers through his sweat
dampened hair and—

"
Oh!
" She jumped at the graphic image.

She forced back a groan. She had enough to
cope with just working beside Spencer Stelanos, without getting
into deeper water with him.

"
Thanks, but I think I'll stick to doing
sit-ups in front of the television." She managed to toss him a dry
look. "If it gets painful and ugly, only I will know."

"
Boring." His mouth turned down. "Any time
you want to escape into the real world, give me a call. Jamie can
always come too." He paused before continuing smoothly, "If you're
feeling nervous around me."

Her mouth dried. What had he seen in her
face? "Heavens, what, on earth, makes you think I'm nervous?" she
asked, on a sharp laugh.

"
Good. I was beginning to think it was me.
That somehow I scared you." He leaned against the kitchen bench,
crossing his long legs at the ankle. "That was never my intention.
We must work together after all. We like to think of everyone who
works here as family. We look out for each other."

"
I understand that, but you don't
intimidate me." She told the lie with straight face. "Really, Dr.
Stelanos, I don't know what could've given you such a strange
idea."

"
Spencer," he said, with terse emphasis.

"
Dr. Stelanos. I really do prefer to keep
my professional relationships on a formal basis." She looked deep
into those hard, watchful eyes and knew she could never tell this
man the truth.

That her need for solitude was fast becoming
far more important and necessary to her peace of mind than ever.
She knew she had nothing to offer in any intimate relationship and
was better off alone. Any new relationship would demand total
commitment and she was fresh out of that.

She forced a note of wry humor into her
voice. "As for the running, I simply prefer not to have an audience
while I work out."

"
Fair enough. But the offer still stands.
Just say the word. I find running clears the mind."

But not the heart.
She shook her head
against the temptation of going running with him.

Intent on changing the conversation before
it became too personal again she latched onto the first thought
that came into her head. "Why New Zealand?"