Page 13 of A Billion-Dollar Heir For Christmas
“You came with no luggage,” he said as the car pulled up to a stop in front of the grand entry. Or perhaps it was the servants’ back entrance. How was Lillie meant to know the difference on such a grand scale? “I’ve taken the liberty of instructing my staff to provide you with a wardrobe during your stay. I hope that is not too impertinent.”
“How do you know what size I wear?” she asked without thinking.
His blue-green gaze changed, then. It went dark like a sudden storm and her breath stopped.
She knew she shouldn’t have asked that. Because Lillie knew exactly how he knew her proportions. She knew that he had taken her measure, inch by glorious inch. That it was likely he was the only person alive who knew her body better than she did.
Of course, now she also knew that he remembered that night in at least as much detail as she did.
“When in doubt,” he said quietly into the thunder that rumbled—waiting just out of reach—between them, “I told them to err on the side of accommodating the changes your body has gone through since last I saw you.”
That was such an innocuous sort of thing to say, wasn’t it? There was no reason at all that her throat should go dry. That she could feel her breasts press insistently against the fabric of her dress. There was no reason at all that it should all feel like a sensual assault, leaving her breathless and doing her level best to ignore the slickness and heat between her legs.
Worse, she felt certain he knew exactly what she was trying to ignore.
Down to the slightest, faintest sensation. He knew.
For a moment, she thought that the storm hoveringright therewould blow her away. That they would be caught up, once more. That all of that lightning and longing would crash over them and light them up the way it had in Spain—
But instead, his gaze shuttered. He looked away.
And in the next moment, the doors of the car were opening and she had no choice but to get out after him and try her best to hide her reaction.
Out there in all that bright, revealing sunshine.
“This is my family’s long-term housekeeper, Leonor,” Tiago announced with some formality there by the side of the SUV. He beckoned an older woman closer and Lillie realized with a start that she hadn’t paid the slightest bit of attention to anything but him. She hadn’t even noticed the staff who waited for them, arranged in lines before a set of great doors that were flung wide open, presumably to receive the master of the house.
She ordered herself to get her body back under control before she made a complete fool of herself, because surely all this sunshine meant that everyone staring at her couldseeher reaction to this man. Surely they could feel that same storm approaching, the same as she could, and could track iton her.
But it was hard to keep her mind on such horrors, because she was hot. The sun was glaring down, her body was still reacting to the way he’d looked at her inside the car, and it was all too much. She found herself shrugging out of her favorite big coat that doubled as a cozy blanket in a pinch, only stopping when she heard a murmur of reaction from the waiting staff.
Tiago looked at them, then looked at her and the obvious bump that was her belly, and was that...dismay she saw move through his gaze? Pride in all that distracting blue and green?
But she couldn’t tell, for it, too, was gone too quickly.
“I leave you in Leonor’s capable hands,” Tiago said, when there were so many other things he could have said. So many other things she wished he would have said. Then he did something with his head that put Lillie in mind of a bow.
It was quick, and then he turned and marched toward the grand doors, all of his staff trailing behind him after a few rapid commands in what she assumed was Portuguese.
What she noticed most of all was that he didn’t look back.
“If you will come with me, madam,” Leonor said, though Lillie was not fooled by her overtly polite tone. Not when she could see the glint of steel in the old woman’s eyes.
Lillie aimed a big smile her way, and tried her best to look sheepish, or docile. Or whatever it was that would be expected of her, since Tiago hadn’t seen fit to offer her any instructions.
The old woman’s brows arched up, but she said nothing. She only did a version of that head-only bow herself, then led the way into the waiting house.
Unsurprisingly, it was a dazzling affair. Airy, open rooms that let the sunlight in on every side. White walls, exposed beams, tiles and mosaics everywhere. There was even a wide, center courtyard that was its own lush garden.
“This is beautiful,” Lillie breathed, staring at the flower—flowers!—that were blooming right there before her this close to December.
“Senhor Villela’s grandmother loved nothing more than her plants,” the housekeeper told her, with what sounded like pride. “In her later years, she became obsessed with orchids and grew them here in our mild climate. She could often be found here, chatting with the bees and the birds, and singing to her flowers. We like to think that sometimes, she can still be felt here. Or heard singing on the breeze.”
“What a lovely notion,” Lillie said quietly, drinking in the bright colors and so much green.
And she wasn’t sure she understood the assessing way the other woman looked at her then, so she pretended not to see it.
Instead she followed Leonor through the rest of the sprawling house, crossing through the courtyard and then heading out into the wing that waited on the far side. Lillie didn’t know where to look. At the stunning furnishings, clearly placed just so, that very clearly utilized interior design elements that she’d only ever read about in magazines. Every room had its own specific character, she thought, yet was clearly a part of the whole—and each one was inviting. There were windows everywhere and skylights, too. The walls were filled with art, and though she couldn’t identify any of the paintings, it seemed clear that each and every one of them had been chosen as much for the mastery of the artist as a particular enjoyment of what had been painted.