‘You live on a boat?’
‘Didn’t I mention it?’
He pulled on the brakes and felt her lurch softly against him. ‘No. I don’t think you did.’
Mia closed the bedroom door and rolled back against it, her cheeks aching with smiles. Had she just ridden pillion through Amsterdam behind Theo Molenaar? Three weeks ago she’d said goodbye to him in London and now he was on her houseboat—in Amsterdam! She was tingling. That moment when she’d turned around and he’d been right there in front of her...
‘Hello, Mia.’
How she hadn’t collapsed with shock, she’d never know. There were over a million people in Amsterdam. Bumping into Theo—literally—was a one in a million chance.
One in a million!
She held her breath, listening to him moving about in the salon—little creaks, the thud of his feet as he walked over the rug. On the bike he’d made her laugh until her sides ached. Those little quips he’d made, their easy back and forth as they’d wheeled along. He was funny as well as gorgeous, an irresistible combination.
She pressed her hands to her cheeks. She didn’t have to look in the mirror to know she was flushed, and it wasn’t because of the champagne, or because of the cool breeze whipping at her face as they’d flown through the streets. It was because of Theo, because she’d been close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body, close enough to catch the scent of his cologne. Twice she’d touched his broad back, felt his muscles working beneath the dark cashmere sweater. It had been hard not to slide her hand upward to touch the hair curling at the back of his neck.
She kicked off her shoes and slipped out of her dress. That boyish delight on his face as he’d stepped onto the barge, his eyes shining as he’d come down the steps into the salon—like a kid at Christmas. How different people could be. Hal had always found the boat too cramped when they’d stayed for a weekend, and Ash could only tolerate it for a day or two. But she’d always loved it. Loved the smallness of it—everything scaled down—like a playhouse. It was magical, and from the look on his face she could tell that Theo thought so too.
She wriggled into her jeans, felt a sudden stab of uncertainty. What was he expecting now? He’d asked her to leave the fundraiser with him. He’d suggested going for a drink, or getting something to eat, but she’d brought him home. All she’d wanted was to change out of her dress, but maybe he was thinking... What? She flung on a slouchy black sweater and lowered herself onto the bed. What kind of signals had she been sending out?
She closed her eyes, groaned silently as her own words came back to her: ‘Didn’t you come with someone?’
It had been a knee-jerk reaction because she’d assumed that a man like Theo would have a date, but mouthing over the words again, remembering the conversation that followed, she realised that she’d basically asked him if he was single—and he’d basically replied that he was.
She sighed. Two single people on a barge in Amsterdam. Strangers who’d shared a car, then a bicycle... He was a stranger, and yet she felt a connection with him, had felt it from the start. Something about him drew her in, stirred her heart... It was why she’d left the fundraiser with him. But...he was also Ash’s new business associate, and hadn’t she determined just that morning to give him a wide berth for exactly that reason?
She got up, crossed to the mirror and started tidying her hair. Mixing personal relationships with business didn’t work. Hal had manipulated her. He’d known she’d convince Ash that the financial irregularities he was seeing on the spreadsheets were nothing to do with him. Unwittingly, she’d bought him time, time he’d used to almost bankrupt the company. Ash’s face—all the light draining out it—the way he’d looked at her when it all came out.
She swallowed hard. Falling for someone was a risk, especially if they were in business with the only person you had left in the world. How could she even be thinking of going there again...?
Her eyes slid to the photo hanging on the cabin wall—her parents laughing together, young and in love. That was what everyone wanted, wasn’t it? To be loved; to have a home. It was what she wanted...in spite of Hal, in spite of all the heartbreak she’d been through. She couldn’t stop herself hoping. She stretched her fingers to the frame, straightening it. If only she could ask her parents for advice, but she’d lived without them for longer than she’d lived with them, and as the years rolled on they were only growing more and more distant. She stared at their faces, trying to conjure their voices, trying to pull them back into her heart, but the space was too big to fill. Hal had filled it for a while, but then he’d blown it apart, made the hole even bigger, even more ragged around the edges.
She pictured Theo’s intent green gaze, the kindness in it. He wasn’t Ash’s business partner. He was an associate. He was investing in Ash, funding the software development. It wasn’t the same as Hal... Or was it? She couldn’t think straight.
She’d liked Theo instantly. Something in his eyes made her heart sprout wings, but he was a complicated man. Successful. A multi-millionaire businessman. Brother of Madelon Mulder! But he was guarded. Secretive. She had no time for secrets—and yet, she’d kept a secret, hadn’t she? In the car to Greenwich it would have been the most natural thing in the world to tell him that she lived in Amsterdam, given that they were talking about it, but she’d kept it to herself. That was lying by omission, which was still lying, even if she’d had her reasons at the time.
She swallowed hard. Lying was
