A Touch of Notoriety - By Carole Mortimer Page 0,29

against the chair. Not so easy to do when Bath was now sucking on that bread stick! And being deliberately provocative? No, the distracted expression on her face, and the frown between her eyes, told him that Beth had absolutely no idea how sensually provocative she was being at this moment.

‘You were not exactly talkative on the drive into London earlier,’ he rasped hoarsely. ‘And our conversation this past few minutes has been on other things.’

‘You weren’t exactly Mr Chatterbox yourself. Besides, I’m not a morning person.’ Beth shrugged.

‘I will try to remember that.’

Beth could think of only one circumstance under which Raphael would need to remember that—and after hearing him describe kissing her as being a ‘mistake’, she very much doubted that particular situation was ever going to arise! ‘Grace and I have always had an agreement, in that she doesn’t talk to me in the morning, and in return I don’t growl at her.’

Raphael continued to look at her for several moments, as if he had something on his mind, something he wanted to say to her, before obviously deciding otherwise as he scowled darkly before giving a dismissive shake of his head and glancing down at the menu. ‘What do you recommend?’

Beth breathed easily for the first time in several minutes. ‘It’s all good,’ she dismissed lightly before turning her attention to studying her own menu. Anything was better than sitting here ogling this ‘dark and broodingly gorgeous’ man, moreover a man who had made it patently obvious that her company irritated him at best and outright annoyed him at worst!

* * *

Raphael couldn’t remember ever having had lunch alone with a woman before. The occasional dinner with a woman, prior to going to bed with her, but he had always considered that lunch was for conversation and couples who were something more to one another than temporary bed-partners.

Consequently eating lunch with a woman was a novel experience for him. Eating lunch with the outspoken Beth Blake was, he very quickly learnt, a uniquely entertaining one. She conversed—and predictably had strong opinions!—on a variety of subjects: world politics, new fashions, the wave of eBooks currently taking the publishing world by storm, holidays they had both taken, the quality or otherwise of the latest film releases...and in return Raphael found himself comfortable giving his own opinion on those same subjects.

The food was, as Beth had claimed, also of a very high standard, although they had both preferred, as they had to return to work within the hour, to drink sparkling water with their food rather than wine.

‘My treat,’ Beth assured Raphael as the waiter placed the bill on their table at the end of the meal.

He frowned his displeasure with that arrangement. ‘It is the man who usually pays.’

She gave him a teasing glance as she placed the money on the table beside the bill. ‘For the bill, or emotionally?’

‘In my experience, both.’

She smiled derisively. ‘Did someone forget to tell you that this is the twenty-first century, and that consequently women now consider it their right to invite a man out to lunch, and pay for it, if they want to?’

‘And a lot of those men are far from comfortable with twenty-first-century...customs.’

Beth chuckled softly at his typically Raphael opinion. ‘I’m quite happy to let you invite me out and pay next time if you want to.’

‘Next time?’ Raphael questioned frowningly. Was lunch with Beth to become a habit rather than the exception? Along with the throbbing erection he had continued to suffer throughout the meal? ‘I am sure your boyfriend would have reason to be displeased if we were to lunch together a second time...’ Raphael stood up to move round the table and pull back Beth’s chair for her.

She gave another chuckle as the two of them walked to the door of the restaurant. ‘There is no boyfriend, Raphael.’

‘You only implied as much in order to annoy me,’ he guessed dryly as he opened that door.

She quirked blond brows as she paused in the doorway. ‘Why should I ever have imagined you would have any feelings on the subject one way or the other?’

Why indeed? The fact that Raphael had been annoyed only made his irritation all the deeper now. ‘I would, as you said, have needed to investigate this man before the two of you went out together again.’

‘That doesn’t answer my question, Raphael...’

No, it didn’t. And Raphael wasn’t about to, either.

Because he didn’t have an answer. None that was acceptable, anyway. To himself. Last night—and