Married to His Business (Millionaire of the Month #5)(23)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

Which was ironic, she thought now, because suddenly she didn’t feel like going back to it.

It was just surprisingly pleasant being with Matthias now, when they were on more equal footing. No, she wasn’t a corporate bigwig or hotshot industrialist, as he was. Not yet, anyway. But neither was she his assistant anymore. She could speak to him as an equal now, and did. What was nice was that he spoke to her as an equal, too.

But then she realized that wasn’t exactly right, either. Because equals in business spoke to each other about business. And she and Matthias hadn’t even touched on that tonight. Over dinner, they’d discussed Lake Tahoe and the

lodge, the small town in Washington state where Kendall had grown up, Matthias’s favorite dog when he was a boy, and how they’d both been high achievers throughout school. The sort of things people talked about when they were getting to know each other. Personally, not professionally.

"Okay, here we go," he said now, drawing her attention back to the matter at hand. "I found Venus. Come have a look."

Kendall drained the last of her wine and set her empty glass on a table next to his, then covered the half-dozen steps to where he stood by the telescope.

"You’ll see it better once the sun has completely set," he added, "but even now, it’s a beautiful sight to behold."

When she came to a stop beside him, he moved to one side, far enough that she would have room to look through the telescope, but still close enough that he could give her instructions, or a hand, if she needed one.

"Look through here," he said, pointing to a piece that jutted up from the enormous scope.

The thing must magnify a billion times, she thought.

"And you can focus in and out with this," he added, pointing to a knob next to the one he’d been turning to find the planet. He looked at her and smiled. "It’s amazing the detail you get with this thing. When I look at the moon at night, it’s like if I just stretched out far enough, I could fill my hand with moondust."

Fill my hand with moondust, Kendall repeated to herself, marveling at the phrase. Had Matthias actually said that? It was just so.so.so un-Matthias.

He seemed to realize that, too, because he suddenly looked uncomfortable. His gaze, which had been focused on hers, ricocheted off, and he began to look at everything

on the deck except her. Finally, his focus lit on something behind her, and he pointed in that direction.

"Our glasses are empty," he said. "I’ll open another bottle of wine." Then, still not looking directly at her, he dipped his head toward the telescope and said, "Enjoy the view. I’ll be right back."

She took him at his word, but instead of enjoying the view through the scope, she instead enjoyed the view of Matthias as he strode over to collect their glasses, then made his way back into the lodge. His shirttail flapped in the breeze, rising at one point to give her a lovely view of a surprisingly nice derriere. Since it had generally been covered by a suit jacket whenever she was around him, she’d never had the chance to notice what a nice tush Matthias had. Or maybe she just hadn’t allowed herself to notice, because she was working for him. Now, however, she noticed.

Boy howdy, did she notice.

Almost as if he’d heard the thought forming in her brain, Matthias spun quickly around and caught her ogling him. Heat flooded her face at being caught in such a flagrant position, and she waited for the icy look she was sure he’d shoot her way. But the look he gave her wasn’t icy. In fact, it was kind of hot. For a moment, his expression didn’t change. Then, gradually, an almost invisible smile curled his lips. The kind of smile he didn’t want anyone to see. The kind of smile someone who knew him well—like Kendall—couldn’t miss. Then it was gone, and he was turning again to make his way back inside the lodge.

But something in his smile lingered, even after he was gone. And it lingered inside Kendall. A thrill of warmth that had sparked in her belly when she first saw his smile, then

gradually eased through her entire system, warming her even as the breeze off the lake began to grow cool.

Too much to drink, she decided. She and Matthias both had obviously overindulged on the wine. Funny, though, how she’d never considered two glasses of wine—spread out over two hours, with dinner—overindulging before.

Absently, she curled her arms over her midsection— because she was cold, she told herself, in spite of the warmth spreading through her, and not because she was trying to hold the feeling inside a little longer. She looked up at the bright speck in the sky with her na**d eye, then bent toward the eyepiece of the telescope. It took her a moment to get in the right position, but eventually, she found what she was looking for.

Wow, she thought when she saw the yellow planet streaked with bits of orange and pink. It really was gorgeous. But she was still surprised that Matthias would think so, too. That he would even care there were planets up there. Looking at the sky just seemed like such a frivolous thing for him to do. That he’d been spending his evenings at the lodge out here on the deck, contemplating the mysteries of the universe, instead of in the amply equipped office getting work done, spoke volumes. And it wasn’t in a language he’d ever been able to master before— that of leisure enjoyment.

Something warm and heavy slipped over her shoulders then, and she glanced up from the telescope to find Matthias settling a jacket, clearly one of his, over her shoulders.

He smiled at what must have been her obvious surprise at the gesture and said, "The temperature’s dropping. I don’t want you to get cold."

There was certainly no chance of that happening,

Kendall thought, as long as he looked at her the way he was looking at her now. She smiled gratefully and murmured her thanks, then pressed her eye to the eyepiece of the telescope once again.

"So what do you think?" he asked.

"You’re right," she told him. "It’s as if you could just reach right out and touch it."

"When it gets a little darker, I’ll see if I can find Jupiter, too," he told her. "It’s even more incredible. You can actually see the big red spot with this thing."

Kendall pulled her head back and looked at Matthias again. In the few minutes he’d been inside, the evening had grown noticeably darker, and now the flicker of candlelight danced in his hair, setting little gold fires amid the dark tresses. He must have lit the ones scattered about the tables and the railing while she was so rapt over the image of Venus. His gaze fixed intently on hers as he extended a glass of wine toward her, and she took it without really paying attention, automatically lifting it to her lips for a sip. It tasted different from the last glass, its flavor smoother, more mellow, more potent. Or maybe, she thought, it was just Matthias who was suddenly all those things. She’d better pace herself, or he’d go right to her head.