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nodded. ‘I was feeling a bit lost until you came. I’ve been so busy lately it was strange to have time on my hands.’

      ‘You could have contacted Dan Mason to keep you company.’

      ‘No, I couldn’t,’ she said flatly.

      ‘Why not? You were having a good time with him last night.’

      She glared at him. ‘You were watching me?’

      Alex’s eyes glittered coldly. ‘From where I was sitting I had no option. You didn’t notice me when you arrived, but Danny boy did. He deliberately seated you with your back towards me, so he could catch my eye now and again to make sure I noticed what fun you were having together.’

      ‘Why would he do that?’ she said, astonished. ‘Besides, just between you and me, it wasn’t much fun. In fact it was boring. Whereas—’ She stopped dead.

      ‘Whereas?’ he repeated suavely.

      ‘I never feel bored with you,’ she said, and flushed, eyeing him so warily he almost threw the ‘good friends’ idea to the wind and snatched her up in his arms.

      ‘Then now we’ve got the business deal out of the way, there’s no reason why we can’t be friends.’ He smiled persuasively. ‘We have a lot in common, Sarah. We property developers should stick together. Which is why I offered you the services of our security men. Your crack-brained idea of sleeping at the cottages worried the hell out of me.’

      ‘Did it?’ she said, surprised.

      He nodded grimly. ‘I would have hated the thought of anyone at risk down there on their own, but in your case it was even worse.’

      ‘Why? Because I’m a girl?’

      ‘And a small one, at that.’ Alex looked her in the eye. ‘One I’d like to have for a friend.’

      Sarah looked back very steadily. The idea of Alex as a friend appealed to her more strongly than she wanted him to know. The only friends she had in this part of the world were on the elderly side. Besides, since he was in the same line of business, broadly speaking, a friend like Alex Merrick could be very useful.

      Alex eyed her curiously, aware that she was debating with herself. ‘While you’re thinking it over, enlighten me. Why did you say yes to dinner with Dan Mason when you always refused me? Because I’m one of the local lads you won’t socialise with? Dan’s local too,’ he reminded her.

      She shrugged. ‘Only temporarily. Besides, if you rule out mixing business with pleasure you shouldn’t have been asking me out in the first place.’

      ‘For you I broke my rule. Gladly.’ His eyes held hers. ‘But where you’re concerned, Sarah Carver, I had other cards stacked against me. Not only am I local, my name is Merrick!’

      They gazed at each other in silence for a long interval. ‘Today,’ said Sarah slowly, ‘I found out I’ve been wrong about that. Oliver told me my father was offered a job as manager when his firm was taken over.’

      Alex nodded. ‘It’s group policy in those circumstances.’

      ‘Why didn’t you put me right about it?’

      ‘Would you have believed me?’

      Sarah flushed, and turned away from the bright, searching eyes. ‘Probably not. But I feel pretty terrible about it now.’

      ‘Why did Mr Moore tell you the truth today—of all days?’

      Sarah raised her eyes to his. ‘He obviously thought it was time I stopped gunning for you. He likes you, Alex.’

      ‘I’m glad.’ He smiled. ‘But I’d be far happier if I thought you liked me too, Sarah.’

      ‘I do,’ she said simply.

      Alex felt a surge of triumph so intense it took him by surprise. ‘Good.’

      He held out his hand. ‘Shall we shake on it?’

      ‘Shake on what, exactly?’

      ‘Our friendship,’ he told her, his smile even more crooked than usual.

      Sarah smiled back and took the proffered hand, startled by the frisson of response to the brief contact. ‘Done,’ she said lightly.

      ‘Enlighten me, Sarah. The moment I introduced myself at Easthope Court that night you turned to ice. I know the reason now, yet you seemed to notice me earlier on. Why?’

      ‘Your hair.’

      Alex stared at her blankly. ‘It’s nothing out of the ordinary.’

      ‘Ah, but the other men at your table were bald, or getting that way, so your luxuriant locks caught my eye,’ she informed him, eyes sparkling. ‘You were years younger than most of the men in the place, too.’

      ‘It’s an expensive restaurant. So unless they’re footballers or hedge fund managers the male clientele tends to be elderly.’ His lips twitched. ‘Unlike their companions.’

      ‘Which is why you took it for granted I was Oliver’s current trophy!’

      ‘A natural mistake.’

      ‘You made your opinion so insultingly clear I wanted to punch you in the nose,’ she informed him.

      ‘You can now, if you like,’ he offered.

      She grinned. ‘Not in cold blood.’

      The last way he could describe his own. Alex itched to run his tongue over her unpainted lips, just to see if they tasted as good as they looked. He raised his glass instead. ‘So shall we drink to an end to hostilities?’

      She thought it over and raised her glass, nodding. ‘I like the idea of being friends, Alex Merrick—’

      ‘For God’s sake just say Alex,’ he said irritably.

      ‘If we’re going to be friends, Alex Merrick,’ she snapped, ignoring his groan as she hurled his surname at him like a missile, ‘we get things clear from the start. You don’t give me orders.’

      ‘God knows why I worried about you,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You may be small, but you’re damned vicious.’ He held out his hand. ‘Now, sit down and be nice.’

      Sarah smiled unwillingly. ‘I’ll make some coffee first.’

      ‘An offer I can’t refuse. You make great coffee. One of several indelible memories from the night I met Nero!’ He got to his feet to follow her to the narrow, high-ceilinged kitchen, but she held up her hand.

      ‘You can hover in the doorway if you like, but there’s only room for me in here.’

      Alex leaned against the doorjamb, admiring the economy of her movements in the narrow space. ‘I wanted you as a friend from the first, incidentally, before you even put me right about your relationship with Oliver.’

      ‘You mean you saw me in my dirty overalls in the pub and wanted me for a chum?’ she mocked, her eyes wide when she turned round to see Alex nodding.

      ‘More or less,’ he said lightly, accepting the mug she gave him. ‘Now, this isn’t an order, but a friendly word of advice. Say no to future cosy dinners with Dan Mason.’

      ‘Why? Just because you don’t like him?’

      Alex shrugged. ‘I disapprove of him rather than dislike him, I suppose. We went to the same school, but I belonged to a different set.’

      ‘Because you came from a wealthier family?’ Sarah couldn’t help asking.

      Alex held on to his temper with both hands, and sat down on the sofa, patting the place beside him. ‘Do you think that one day you might try to think the best of me rather than the worst? I meant that I was good at most kinds of sport, and had to work a bit to pass exams, whereas Dan flew

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