Chapter 26

So, on a deep breath that pulled in a bit of a shake, she reached out for the bowl of pasta and spooned a few helpings onto his plate, then did the same for her own. Dami produced a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket set by his chair and popped the cork.

‘More pre-planning?’ Charley mocked.

He just sent her a brief smile as he poured frothing foam into two crystal flutes. "You don’t touch this until you have eaten some pasta," he instructed.

Charley uttered a small laugh. "You sound like my father."

He stiffened. "That was not my intention."

Staring at the carved lines on his face, she realized that she’d touched that raw nerve again in this man with nerves made of steel.

He didn’t like to be compared with her father, she realized. It offended him. Nor did he always recognize a tease.

and he didn’t like virgins.

The supper continued in near silence after that, his withdrawal from the sparring arena as obvious as the stern expression he wore on his face. And Charley had killed her