Read Online (2012) Evie Undercover by Liz Harris - Free Book Online Page B

of it. And why not? He’s perfect for you. He’s a good-looking fellow, wealthy, artistic. Divine – wasn’t that how you described him?’
    She took another olive.
    So Tom thought she fancied Eduardo, and the underlying vibes she was picking up suggested that he wasn’t about to give them his blessing. Could he simply be pissed off with her for getting involved with Eduardo when she was in Italy to do a job for him? That would certainly account for his change in behaviour towards her.
    She was faced with a stark choice : risk alienating Tom in an attempt to learn about his affair from Eduardo , or stop flirting with Eduardo at once and abandon any hope of getting information from him. It was a no-brainer – she must stop playing up to Eduardo. H e was only the side order : Tom was the main course. She’d have to put all of her eggs into that one basket.
    A huge fee ling of relief swept over her that s he didn’t have to flirt with Eduardo any longer. It hadn’t been one of her guardian angel ’s better ideas.
    She would hate to hurt him , and if he thought she’d fallen for him and he was really keen on her, which Tom seemed to think he was, he could get badly hurt in the end. She’d have to subtly let him know that she liked him as a friend, but not in any other way.
    But, hey , she was getting ahead of herself . Tom was wrong about her feelings for Eduardo, and he could be wrong about Eduardo’s feelings for her. She should be pick ing up on what Tom said in his last comment and running with it. She helped herself to a few more nuts and sat back in her chair.
    ‘Really, Mr Hadleigh,’ she said in a tone of mock severity. ‘Women are alwa ys accused of being matchmakers, but listen to you! And you make a pretty bad matchmaker at that , if I may say so . Eduardo isn’t interested in me any more than I’m interested in him.’
    ‘The evidence of my eyes says the opposite.’
    ‘Everyone knows that witnesses always give different accounts of the same event – you’d know that better than anyone else. Eduardo’s just being friendly , that’s all.’
    ‘Fair enough, Evie. B ut we’ll see who’s right in the fullness of time.’
    ‘Now that sounds almost like a challenge.’ She took a black olive from the dish and popped it into her mouth. ‘But it’s a challenge I’m going to ignore.’
    ‘You’ll ruin your appetite if you’re not careful.’
    ‘You sound just like my mother.’
    ‘Ouch! That hurt. From matchmaker to mother in the blink of an eye. I think we’d better drink up and go before I do any more damage to the sophisticated image I aspire to.’ He picked up his glass and finished his beer.
    ‘Do you want me to get the bill?’
    ‘No, not this time. I’m going to ask for it in Italian. It’s something I should be able to do by now – I’ve heard you and Eduardo say the words enough times.’
    He caught the waiter’s attention. ‘ Il conto, per favore .’ The waiter nodded back at him, and he turned to her, a triumphant smile on his face. ‘There you are.’
    She laughed. ‘You look like a schoolboy who’s just found a huge conker.’
    ‘At least you’re comparing me with someone of my own gender this time,’ he said with a grin. ‘That’s got to be progress of a sort.’
    She smiled up at him. The few days in the sun had bleached his hair and lightly tanned his skin.
    This would be so much easier if he were ugly, she thought.
     
    Evie followed Tom and the waiter across the stone terrace of the restaurant in Casigliano. Her steps slowed as she neared the balustrade that ran round the edge of the terrace and saw the panoramic view of the valley beneath them.
    The sun was setting in a fiery ball that streaked the sky. Hints of a sparkling rosé gradually darkened into deep claret, bathing the valley and terrace in a warm, rich glow. Above her , fairy lights glittered in the canopy of vine leaves that grew in abundance along the top of the pergola. From somewhere inside