Web of Deception (6 page)

“That’s not true and you know it.”

For once, he was wrong. She
kept this small victory to herself.

“You’re not exactly being attentive
to your date either, you know,” Kate said.

“Date?”

She nodded towards the attractive, well-dressed blonde sitting to his left.

“You’re mistaken, Kate. She’s with Sam, the man sitting next to her. They’ve only just started seeing each other and she’s completely besotted by him. She doesn’t want to spend the whole night talking to me.”

“So you’re here on your own?”

He nodded.

“What’s the matter?” She couldn’t help but smile. “Couldn’t get a date tonight?”

The question might have been cruel if it had been true but it wasn’t, and she couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Maybe I couldn’t get the date I wanted.”

Kate slid a prawn into her mouth and tried to concentrate on the sweetness, the taste, the texture, on anything but the suggestiveness of his words. She felt a warmth deep in her belly that had nothing to do with her meal.

She glanced across at him. “You shouldn’t want what you can’t have.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“You must be able to take your pick. You’ve said as much yourself. Surely it’s easier that way. Then you know where you stand.”

“I always know where I stand, one way or another. But I also like a challenge.”

He brushed his arm against hers and this time it was no accident. Another sensual shiver shot up her spine. It was as though he’d read her the first time and knew now he could get the same effect at will.

Pulling her hand back, Kate placed it in her lap as she ate. She wasn’t going to give up control so easily.

“Sometimes you can’t have everything you want,” she said.

“But you’re sitting next to
me
. Talking to me.”

“I’m sitting next to Mark.”

“And he’s ignoring you.”

“That might be true but it doesn’t worry me. I’m quite happy with things the way they are.”

“He should be taking better care of you.”

She looked him in the eye. “I can take care of myself.”

Daniel’s lips curled to a sultry smile. “I’m sure you can. I’m just saying Mark’s not acting very wisely. I certainly wouldn’t leave you to fend for yourself against a man like me. Not if you were my partner.”

“I’m not your partner so you don’t need to worry.”

But
she
was worried.

Very much so.

She didn’t like this little charade of pretending she and Mark were engaged, even though she was the one who’d started it. It hadn’t seemed so far from the truth when they’d been together.

She shou
ld tell Daniel the truth, that she and Mark had broken up, and get it over with.

But she didn’t want to do that and lay herself wide open. Not because of Mark’s career aspirations because she knew he’d recover one way or the other.

The problem was that if she told Daniel she was single, there would be nothing standing between them, no barriers.

Kate was anything but a pushover. Many of her friends would have a few drinks and let themselves get sweet-talked by a man they though
t looked good at the time. Not her. She knew what she wanted, knew how to stand up for herself and say no to a man.

These days, she entered relatio
nships with her eyes open. Sure, she’d made a few bad decisions in the past but they were
her
decisions. Now, she weighed up the facts, worked out what she wanted and acted accordingly. Above all, she always had control.

So why maintain the farce that she was unavailable when she was perfectly capable of turning down Daniel Webb if that was what she wanted?

That was the problem.

She didn’t want to say no.

Daniel watched Kate spoon another mouthful of chocolate tart into her mouth. She looked despondent as a raspberry fell off the spoon and onto her plate so she scooped it up, staring at it as though the feat was a major success.

It was only dessert but
she was taking it so seriously that it made him smile. Concentrating hard on her food, her expression earnest, there was a certain naivety about her which Daniel found appealing. It made an interesting balance to the Kate Henry who argued with him, refusing to let him get away with anything.

She looked gorgeous in that dress
though he had to wonder if she knew just how alluring she was. He’d guessed the first time he saw her that she wasn’t the type to flaunt herself and with a body like that she didn’t need to.

The dress wasn’t exactly revealing. In fact, he wished it were more so. It was
simply that the fabric and cut meant it clung to her every curve, highlighting her shapely figure without showing off any flesh.

And that only made him want to see more.

When she’d first entered the room and strutted towards him in those strappy satin heels, he’d enjoyed every step of the way. Every stride made the skirt of her dress skim her slender thighs, her hips swaying just enough for the fabric to slide against her waist. It had felt like she’d been walking straight towards him.

And if she hadn’t been? He didn’t care.

She might think she was taken but she wasn’t. Not as far as Daniel was concerned.

It’
d be tricky but he’d have to make sure he saw her again, and next time there wouldn’t be so many people around. He’d make sure of it.

It occurred to him that she might be interested in a recent deal he’d made, that of the Mills Building. The previous owners had let it run down so Daniel would need to hire an architect to oversee the project.
In fact, she might be extremely interested.

“There are some excellent restoration architects,” she said when he told her about it. “I can recommend some but the firm I work for doesn’t do that sort of work. We concentrate on new buildings with cutting edge desig
n. A building like the Mills deserves a specialist in the field.” She pushed her dessert bowl away and looked at him. “I didn’t know you were interested in art deco. Is that why you bought the Mills?”

“Not quite. I knew it was a good deal from the star
t, even before the finance team did the figures on it.”

“H
ow could you know that?”

“My gut is never wrong.” H
e didn’t want to talk about business or himself when he should be finding out more about her. “So, tell me, what do your instincts tell you about me?”

“
They tell me I’m in big trouble.”

She covered her mouth but it was too late to hide her embarrassment. It seemed the words had slipped out b
efore she could stop herself.

Daniel wasn’t going to let it ride.
“What makes you say that?”

“It was just a figure of speech.”

Kate glanced up, probably trying to look off-hand as she spoke. Instead, she looked too damn cute for words.

“I don’t think so,” he said.
“I think that came straight from the heart.”

“And if I’d taken another second to think about it instead of speaking off the cuff, I’d have come up with a more appropriate answer.”

“More appropriate perhaps, but not as truthful. What other truths can you tell me about yourself? What have the other men in your life been like?”

She leaned back in her chair, flicking one hand into the air as she spoke. “It’s no secret I seem to have a knack of picking the wrong type of man. I’ve made some judgement errors in the past.”

“Like what?”

“Well, my first serious boyfriend at uni got an exciting job in New York and I haven’t seen him since.”

Daniel didn’t think that sounded so bad. “Sometimes people have to move on. It might have been too good an opportunity for him to turn down.”

“That wasn’t the problem. He didn’t go to New York on his own. He found someone else to accompany him, someone more spontaneous, some
one who was the opposite of me.”

“Ouch.”

“It took me a while to get over it but I did,” Kate said. “Apparently, I was too boring, too safe. I didn’t know how to have a good time.”

“That’s what he said?”

She nodded. “Then there was Number Two. He worked at Trademark Advertising, a real high-flyer, always thinking of the next deal. He knew everyone in the business. Turns out, it was basically a repeat of the same situation. He said I was too boring but I think he had it the wrong way around. He was too out-there, too exciting.”

Like a lot of people, she’d been unlucky in love and she’d put it down to choosing the
wrong kind of man. It helped Daniel see why she was looking for a man who was practical and dependable. After all, how much more reliable could you get than an accountant?

“Not
all men are the same you know,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me you don’t always want more than you’ve got. Something drives you to make the next deal and it has to be bigger, better.”

“Business is one thing and personal life is another.”

“Really? I’m sure you l
ike the chase. Then the novelty and the initial excitement wear off and you go on to the next challenge.”

“That’s not true,” he said.
“I’ve had a couple of relationships that lasted longer. Things just didn’t work out.”

“They never will if you’re not willing to work at it.”

Did she think she was the only one who’d been hurt in love? It may have been ten years ago but he hadn’t forgotten the disappointment, the pain.

He’d thought Jane Simpson was the right woman for him but he’d been wrong.
They’d been young and they’d had fun together. Jane was smart, sexy, from a good family. Everything a man could want. Or so he’d thought.

She had money of her own so he hadn’t
suspected that snaring a rich husband was her first priority.

He
found out otherwise. A couple of his business deals fell though at the same time and his name was dragged through the mud with one particular company.

Jane
had got out of the relationship as quickly as she could. It hadn’t been
him
she’d wanted after all.

Unfortunately
, it had been too late for Daniel. He’d already fallen in love. And that was a mistake he wasn’t going to make again.

It was
about then that his father had come back into his life. He’d only seen the man a few times since he was nine when his dad had left. Despite the many privileges of Daniel’s upbringing, he’d never had the one thing he’d wanted as a kid. His father’s love and attention.

He wasn’t sure he had it now, for that matter. Nothing he did seemed to please the man.

At least his father had been there for him when he found out Daniel was getting married. Now that he looked back at it, his father had been right all along. Marriage wasn’t for men like them. They were both driven to succeed but not in relationships. Only in business. Daniel’s own experience with Jane showed him what happened when he’d been preoccupied with love instead of concentrating on the task at hand.

Roger Webb may have had five children and stayed with his wife for many years but, in the end, he
hadn’t been able to stick it out. Daniel knew he wouldn’t fare any better. He was too much like his father for that.

One good thing
had come out of that experience. At least now he kept in touch with his father and saw him occasionally. He hoped to catch up with soon on the ski slopes at Falls Creek.

The first night
Daniel met Kate, she’d said he wasn’t the marrying kind and she was right. Marriage wasn’t for the Webb men. The main reason his father had married was because he wanted children and though Daniel did too, he knew marriage wasn’t the way.

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you work at it,” he said. “If you’re with the wrong person or if you are the wrong person, there’s just nothing you can do.”

Kate looked relaxed once again. “You’re right. I don’t regret the things I’ve done. It’s what shaped the person I am and brought me here.”

He wondered if she meant
here
, beside him. He didn’t believe in fate or destiny or forces bringing two people together but he certainly believed in making the most of the chances that were offered to him.

The meal was well and truly finished, the last of the wine had been
drunk, and the guests were all leaving. Daniel said goodbye to the couple sitting beside him, giving the young woman a peck on the cheek.

Turning to face Kate, a smile spread to his lips. Did she look nervous, a touch hesitant perhaps, at the prospect of a quick kiss goodbye? Or was he reading too much
into her expression? She might simply be tired, after all.