Husband By Arrangement

‘Oh,’ she whispered, suddenly nervous. ‘Don’t leave me! I feel like an exhibit.’

He grunted. ‘You ask to be ogled, wearing those clothes,’ he told her heartlessly. ‘And I’m not eating till I’ve washed.’

He had some standards, then. She watched him stride to the counter, and felt sympathy for the starry-eyed waitress who could hardly keep her eyes off the ultimate alpha male who was growling out his order as if it were a request for a suicide pill instead of sardines.

Rehearsing her role as a shameless hussy, Maddy studied him boldly. The muscles in his back rippled wonderfully when he moved. His rear was small and tight and he walked as if he was used to the freedom of the open air.

A wicked thought came into her head. Suppose, when she was talking to Sofia, she let slip that she was wildly attracted to the company’s truck driver?

With a giggle of horror at her audacity, she mulled this over while the man in question freshened up. A few minutes later the door to the men’s room opened and she hastily pretended to be studying her book again.

The hairs on the back of her neck tingled. She heard the firm stride of those heavy boots, the scrape of the chair opposite her as it was pulled to the table and then the faint smell of soap wafted to her nostrils.

She kept on reading, absently threading her hands through her hair until she was aware of a lot of deep breathing from the men around her.

‘You trying to be provocative?’ muttered the driver crossly.

She let her arms drop and bit back an indignant no. It would be safer to stay in character. Her behaviour might be reported back to the family. She racked her brains for what a siren might say.

‘No, I’m not trying. Comes naturally,’ she cooed.

He looked down his nose at her in disgust.

‘Unlike your hair colour.’

She smiled and batted her eyelashes in response.

‘Do you think it suits me?’ she asked coyly.

And, to her astonishment, she found herself holding her breath, hoping he did.

‘You’d look better blonde,’ was his laconic verdict.

Her natural colour! She decided to be blunt in return. He’d clearly scrubbed his hands and had tried to brush the dust out of his hair but he still looked grubby.

‘Why don’t you bother to keep yourself clean?’ she ventured curiously.

His frown deepened, the hard line of his mouth unutterably grim.

‘Don’t have time. Stopped work, drove to Faro, rushed to the builders’ yard, then the airport.’

‘You could have set the alarm earlier,’ she said, realising to her horror that she was unconsciously echoing her grandfather.

Before she could apologise profusely, she saw that the dark eyes suddenly looked tired and that there was a deeper tightening of the muscles around his mouth.

‘Four o’clock’s early enough for me,’ he growled.

‘Four…!’ She planted her hands on her hips indignantly, faintly conscious of a swell in the murmuring of the village men around them as she did so. But she was annoyed with the autocratic Fitzgeralds for taking advantage of their employee. ‘That’s outrageous!’ she declared hotly, totally forgetting who she was supposed to be. ‘I’ll speak to Dexter and tell him to stop exploiting you—’

‘You’ll be wasting your time. I have to get through the work somehow,’ he said tersely.

Her tender heart was touched. She imagined that he had a family to support. A dark-haired wife—very pretty but careworn—and four children, she imagined. Perhaps a widowed mother.

‘I must do something!’ she declared anxiously.

He frowned excessively. ‘Maddy—’

‘Sardinhas, aguardiente.’

The barman put two huge plates in front of them and a tot of rough brandy which she knew was strong enough to strip paint.

She felt disappointed. It had seemed for a moment that the truck driver was going to confide in her. Instead, he belligerently tucked into the sardines, not even looking up when the barman brought her coffee and a bottle of water.

It didn’t matter, she thought sympathetically, watching the driver decapitate the first sardine with the skill of an executioner. She’d take up his cause, even if he didn’t have a wife and kids.

Her expression grew sad again and she attacked the fish, doggedly determined to blank out the thought that she would never have a family of her own.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked irritably.

Furious with her uncharacteristic self-pity, she kept her head down and scowled. What was the matter with her? Being in Portugal had really unleashed her emotions! ‘Nothing,’ she muttered, munching suddenly dry bread.

A large, work-roughened finger and thumb gently tipped up her chin but still she wouldn’t look at him.

‘Your lashes are damp,’ was his damning verdict.

‘Must be the humidity.’

She heard him chuckle and flicked her misty eyes up in surprise. Her stomach turned over and she forgot her sorrow. He looked absolutely drop-dead gorgeous when he laughed, his white teeth good enough for a toothpaste ad.

‘The air is dry,’ he reminded her.

‘All right. I was thinking of something sad,’ she amended sheepishly. And, to divert his intense and unnerving interest, she said, ‘My parents died here.’

His hand released her chin, the shadows beneath his strong cheekbones deeper now.

‘Is that why you left for England?’ he asked tightly.

‘My grandpa fled from Portugal with me in tow,’ she admitted.

There was a long silence. ‘Tough,’ he said eventually.

Maddy shrugged. ‘We managed, between us.’

‘Different climate, culture—and you grieving—’ he began.

‘When you have things to do, day by day, hour by hour,’ she broke in hastily, not wanting to remember her immense loneliness and sense of loss, ‘it helps you to get through difficulties.’

There was an expression resembling grudging admiration in his eyes. ‘And yet the memories have upset you.’