Married to His Business (Millionaire of the Month #5)(16)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

Matthias looked at the picture again, seeming to take in each of the men one by one. "I haven’t seen any of them for years," he said. "Though we’ll all be here for the dedication in September."

"What dedication?" Kendall echoed.

He nodded, still looking at the photograph. "Once each of us has spent a month here, the house will go to the town, and I think the plan is to turn it into some kind of medical facility or something. Anyway, there’s going to be a big ceremony with the mayor and chamber of commerce or something. All of us will be here, too."

She smiled. "Sounds like Hunter was a good guy."

"The best," Matthias immediately replied. " He was the very best of all of us." This time, when he smiled, there was genuine warmth, and genuine happiness, in the gesture. Then the smile fell, and he grimaced a bit. "I’m sorry. I’m keeping you longer than I meant to."

Actually, Kendall thought, she was the one who was holding up things by asking all these questions. She was

the one who would make herself even later than she’d intended getting back to Stephen DeGallo. Funny, though, how she hadn’t given Stephen a thought since entering the lodge.

"Hey," she said again when he started to turn away, more softly than she had the first time.

He spun around again. "What?"

She smiled and pointed to him in the photo. "You looked good with long hair."

He looked at where she was pointing and asked, "Are you so sure that one’s me? It could be Luke."

She shook her head. "No, I know it’s you."

Now he crossed his arms over his chest, as if in challenge. "How do you know?"

She wasn’t about to tell him she knew him by his roguish smile. So she said, "I can tell by the twinkle in your eyes."

Oh, bravo, Kendall, she congratulated herself. Telling him that was so much better than telling him you recognized him by his smile.

Matthias arched his eyebrows at the comment, his eyes… Oh, damn. They were twinkling. "Really?" he asked with much interest. Way more interest than he should be showing, actually.

"I mean." Kendall started to backtrack.

But he wasn’t going to let her. "You think my eyes twinkle? Since when?"

"Well, since you were in college, anyway," she hedged. She pointed at the photograph again. "Obviously."

"No, I mean, since when did you notice it?" he asked.

If she were going to be honest, she would have to admit that she first noticed it when he interviewed her for the job. Naturally, she wouldn’t tell him that. "I don’t know," she

hedged again. "And really, it’s not like they twinkle a lot or anything."

He smiled. "They must, if that’s how you knew it was me in the photo and not Luke."

"Okay, I lied," she said. "That’s not how I knew it was you in the picture."

His smile grew broader. He was enjoying this, she thought. Enjoying seeing her uncomfortable. Enjoying putting her on the spot. She eyed him carefully. Or was it that he was enjoying the fact that she’d noticed his eyes? she wondered.

Nah, she assured herself. He couldn’t have cared less what she noticed about him. He was just having fun at her expense.

"Then if it wasn’t my twinkling eyes," he said, "what

was it?"

She sighed with exasperation. At herself, because if she’d been put on the spot, it wasn’t Matthias who’d put her there. She’d gone willingly by opening her mouth in the first place. Oh, hell, she thought. She’d already blown it. So she answered honestly this time, "It’s your smile, okay? I could tell it was you because of your smile."

A smile that bloomed full force when he heard that. Honestly, Kendall thought. There should be a vaccination for the way Matthias could make a woman feel by turning on the full wattage of his smile.

"Really?" he asked. "What’s so special about it?"

"Oh, you’re just fishing now," she told him.

"Damned right. It’s not every day a beautiful woman compliments a man’s smile."

It was for him, Kendall thought. She was sure of—

Then the rest of what he said hit her. "You think I’m

beautiful?"

His smile faltered at that. "Did I say that?"

She nodded. Vigorously. "Yes. You did."

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearly not feeling as confident as he’d been a second ago. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I am." What, did he think she didn’t notice it when a man said she was beautiful? Especially a man like him?

"Well, I." he began. "I mean." he continued. "It’s just." he hedged this time.

"What?" Kendall demanded.

He jutted his thumb over his shoulder and said, "The Donovan contract. We really need to take a look at that."

She opened her mouth to object, but Matthias had already spun around on his heel and was headed down the hall. Knowing it would be pointless to continue—for now—Kendall followed him.

She found herself in an office decorated as nicely as the rest of the house, all warm wood paneling and hardwood floors and bold colors and boxy, but comfortable, furniture. There was a desk on which sat Matthias’s laptop—she’d recognize it anywhere, even without the San Francisco Giants wallpaper—a chair, some shelves and a massive bulletin board onto which someone had tacked and taped more old photos of Matthias and his other six Samurai.

Then her gaze lit on a handwritten note that was tacked up alongside them. "Matt," it began—Matt? Kendall thought.

Good luck, bud. You’re about to begin your month at "the Love Shack." Remember the universal truths about women we came up with on New Year’s Eve

our senior year? Scrap ’em. Here are the new universal truths about The One: She’ll set you free. Loving her is the most dangerous thing you’ll ever do.

It was signed, "Ryan."

Matt? Kendall thought again. She couldn’t imagine anyone calling Matthias Matt. Then she remembered the way he’d looked in the photograph and altered her opinion. She supposed, once upon a time, he could have been a Matt after all. But what was with this "love shack" business?

"Here it is," Matthias said, picking up the document in question and dispelling any further ruminations she might have had on the love shack thing. "There are actually three places where I found errors," he added as he flipped up the top page.

Three? Kendall wondered. How could there have been that many? She’d gone over it a million times.

"The first one is on page two," he said.