‘Right! Soft, soothing music.’ He fiddled until he found it, gave Serena a smugly triumphant look, then declared, ‘Now we can put Cleo to bed.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Serena corrected him. ‘You can’t do that until you’re ready to go yourself.’
His lashes lowered, barely veiling a look of searing intent that put a host of butterflies in her stomach. Bed was definitely on his mind, but not in the context of sleeping. She could almost hear him thinking, I’m ready if you are.
‘Cleo won’t settle while ever she senses anyone is still up and around,’ Serena rushed out, clutching frantically at any defence—including the active presence of Cleo—to keep Nic Moretti at arm’s length. ‘Putting her in here is the last thing you do at night,’ she stated emphatically. ‘And there are other things you should do, as well.’
‘Like what?’ he bit out with an air of sorely tried patience.
Three doors led out of the mud room, one to the kitchen, one to the laundry, and the third she assumed to a corridor that served another wing of the house. ‘Mostly Cleo would come into this room via the kitchen, wouldn’t she?’
‘Yes.’
‘I suggest you bring her in that way, with her trampoline bed which you’ll set in the makeshift cave. Then turn the radio on, lay a big pillow along the bottom of the closed kitchen door…’
‘A pillow?’
‘To stop her from scratching at a familiar exit,’ Serena explained matter-of-factly, trying to ignore the increased charge of electricity coming from him. ‘You can go out the other door once you settle her into the cave.’
‘Is that all?’ Nic drawled, clearly wanting to move on to other scenarios which had nothing to do with canine behaviour.
Serena had to concede, ‘All I can think of at the moment.’
‘Good!’ He picked up her wineglass which she’d emptied and set aside earlier. His grin came back in full force, barrelling into her heart and dizzying her brain. ‘Let’s go and raise a toast to the success of this plan. Plenty of wine left in the bottle.’
She was drawn into accompanying him back into the kitchen where he headed for the refrigerator to extract the bottle of Chardonnay. Wine was an intoxicant she certainly didn’t need with Nic Moretti scrambling any straight thinking, though at least it would keep his hands occupied for a little while, Serena reasoned, and she didn’t have to drink much. A quick check of her watch showed the hour was almost up. She only had to get through another ten minutes.
‘You must live locally,’ he said as he refilled their glasses.
‘Yes.’
‘Where?’
‘Holgate.’
‘Been there all your life?’
Alarm bells rang. Was he trying to place her again, a memory of her still niggling? ‘It’s a good place to be,’ she answered evasively, then quickly returned a question which established the distance she knew was between them. ‘You’re usually based in Sydney, aren’t you?’
‘Yes. I have an apartment at Balmoral.’
North Shore million dollar territory. Serena privately bet his apartment was in a prime position overlooking Sydney Harbour. The best of everything for Nic Moretti.
He handed her the filled glass, his eyes twinkling suggestively as he added, ‘But I’ll be supervising a project near Gosford so I’ll be commuting quite a bit until it’s completed.’
He was holding out the bait that he’d be available for longer than the two months his sister and brother-in-law were away. Serena didn’t believe for one moment there was a chance in hell that he’d pursue a serious relationship with her. On the social scale, a dog-handler was probably a rung down from a hairdresser. The trick was to keep him talking so he didn’t zero in on her.
‘I saw photos of your sketches for the park in the local newspaper. Very impressive.’ She lifted her glass in a toast to his talent. ‘Should be a great place to go in the future.’
‘Thank you.’ He looked surprised at her knowledge but the light of golden opportunity swiftly followed surprise. ‘I’m pleased with the plan. Would you like to see more of it? I have it here. I’ve turned one of the bedrooms into a temporary office.’
No way was she going near the bedroom wing again! Her heart was galloping at the idea of sharing the intimacy of looking at his designs. The temptation to share even deeper intimacies would be hanging in the air, gathering momentum the whole time.
Stay cool, she commanded herself, forcefully overriding the strong inclination to say yes.
Just smile and decline.
‘Perhaps another time. I must be off soon. I have family waiting for me. Do you have other problems with Cleo you’d like to discuss before I go?’
He frowned, probably at his failure to seduce her into falling in with his plan of action. ‘The nights have been the worst. She was okay this afternoon with just having me here.’
Serena nodded wisely. ‘A party of strangers would have been unsettling for her.’
‘I guess so.’ He grimaced at the reminder, then clinked Serena’s glass with his and smiled, pouring out another dose of sexually charged charm. ‘We were going to drink to the success of your advice.’
‘I hope it works for you,’ Serena replied, very sincerely, given the fee she’d demanded. She took a sip of the wine, battling the effect of his smile which had stirred a hornet’s nest of hormones, then determinedly set the glass on the bench beside her. ‘If there’s nothing else…?’
With an air of reluctant resignation, he took out his wallet and handed her the seventy dollars.
‘Thank you.’ She tucked the money into her shoulder bag, pointedly getting her car keys out at the same time, then gave him her best smile to soften the ego blow of her departure. ‘I can be contacted at Michelle’s Pet Grooming Salon should you need any more help.’
‘Fine!’ His dark eyes suddenly glittered with the determination to take up a challenge. ‘I’ll see you to your car.’
Proximity was definitely dangerous. Serena seized on the third party to protect her from whatever Nic Moretti had in mind. ‘Then I suggest you bring Cleo along. Take her for a walk on the lawn. I saw her leash hanging up in the mud room.’
The glitter turned to a sizzle. He looked down at the dog who was sitting on the kitchen floor watching both of them. More than likely it was going to follow where they went and he’d be stuck with a fuss at the front door if he tried to close her inside. Muttering something dark and dire under his breath, he went to the mud room, Cleo trailing after him, and he secured the leash on her before reappearing, the dog in tow.