Sabina looked set to refuse again, and then obviously thought better of it. ‘A coffee would be very nice, thank you.’ She smiled warmly at the housekeeper.
‘And how about Clive?’ Brice couldn’t resist asking, sure that the ‘chauffeur’ was even now sitting outside waiting to drive Sabina back to the home she shared with Richard Latham. As he had no doubt sat outside and waited for Sabina while she’d been in her photographic session this morning! ‘Would he like a coffee too, do you think?’ he added derisively.
Sabina’s gaze narrowed as she looked across at him for several long, silent seconds. ‘No, I’m sure Clive will be fine,’ she finally answered slowly. ‘I hope I’m not putting you to too much trouble,’ she added warmly to the housekeeper.
Brice could see, as Mrs Potter left the studio with a smile on her face, that Sabina’s apparently guileless charm had obviously worked its magic on her; he had no doubt that there would be more than a cup of coffee on the tray the housekeeper brought back in a few minutes.
‘Where do you want me?’
Now there was a leading question if ever he had heard one, Brice acknowledged derisively, sure that most men wouldn’t care ‘where’ with Sabina, as long as they had her!
Brice’s outward expression remained impassive. ‘The couch, I think,’ he answered consideringly. ‘To start with. I’m really not sure what I’m going to do with this yet,’ he added frowningly. How could he possibly do justice to such a beauty as Sabina’s…?
There was no doubting her surface beauty, but there was so much more to her than that, a naturalness that owed nothing to powder and paint, an inner Sabina that he needed to reach too. And he was determined, no matter what barriers she might choose to put up, that he would reach that Sabina!
Sabina moved to sit on the couch, the May sun shining in brightly through the windows that made up one complete wall of Brice McAllister’s studio. The garden outside was a blaze of spring flowers, and just the sight of that mixture of bright blossoms lightened Sabina’s spirit.
‘Do you do the gardening yourself?’ she asked interestedly.
‘Sorry?’
She turned back to look at Brice McAllister, only to find he was already engrossed in the sketch-pad resting on his knee as he sat across the room from her. ‘I didn’t realise you had already started,’ she murmured slightly resentfully, knowing she had been caught off guard as she’d looked out at the beauty of the garden.
‘Only roughly,’ he dismissed, giving her his full attention now, looking very relaxed in blue denims and a black tee shirt. ‘And yes, I look after the garden myself, It’s often a welcome relief after being in my studio for hours. Do you garden?’
Her expression became wistful. ‘I used to.’
‘Before pressures of work made it impossible,’ Brice McAllister guessed lightly.
A shutter came down over her eyes. ‘Something like that,’ she answered noncommittally.
The fact that she no longer gardened had nothing to do with work commitments, and everything to do with the fact that she no longer lived alone in her little cottage. But she was not about to explain that to Brice McAllister.
She was only here at all today under protest, because last Friday she had been given no choice but to agree to the appointment. Part of her knew that she probably also owed Brice a thank-you for not telling Richard how she had been avoiding his phone calls all week. But there was something inside her that wouldn’t let her say the words…
“‘Something like that”?’ Brice repeated softly.
Sabina shifted uncomfortably. ‘I’m not sure I’m going to be any good at this; I’m simply not good at sitting still.’ She grimaced.
He nodded. ‘Stand up and move around if you prefer it; I’m not sure sitting down is the right pose for you anyway,’ he added frowningly.
Sabina wondered as she stood up to move restlessly about the room exactly what pose he did think was right for her?
Brice McAllister’s studio was a cluttered and yet somehow orderly room, canvases stacked against the walls, paints, pencils, paper, all neatly stored on open shelves, with the minimum amount of furniture; just the chair he sat in, a large, paint-daubed table, and the couch Sabina had been sitting on.
‘Here we are.’ Mrs Potter came back in with a laden tray, putting it down on the table, sandwiches and a fruit cake also on the tray.
‘Thank you,’ Sabina told the other woman warmly.
‘Help yourself,’ Brice McAllister invited dryly once his housekeeper had left the room.
She poured the tea into two cups before helping herself to one of the chicken sandwiches; she hadn’t thought she was hungry, but one bite of the delicious sandwich told her that she was.
‘Do you often miss out on lunch?’ Brice McAllister watched her with brooding eyes.
Sabina shrugged. ‘Sometimes. But I usually make up for it later,’ she assured him dryly. ‘I don’t starve myself, if that’s what you’re thinking; I’m naturally like this.’ She indicated the slenderness of her figure.
‘And very nice it is too.’ He nodded. ‘When’s the wedding?’
Sabina blinked at the sudden change of subject. ‘Sorry…?’
‘Richard implied your portrait is a wedding present to himself.’ Brice shrugged. ‘I was merely wondering how soon I have to finish it,’ he added derisively.
She frowned. ‘I think you must have misunderstood him.’ It had never even been discussed between them that their ‘understanding’ might lead to marriage…
‘No?’ He raised dark brows. ‘Richard gave me the impression it was imminent.’
‘Did he?’ she returned evenly, equally sure he must have misunderstood Richard.
‘I thought so,’ Brice continued determinedly. ‘There’s rather a large difference in your ages, isn’t there?’
Her cheeks flushed resentfully. What business was it of this man if there was an age difference between herself and her fiancé? Absolutely none, came the unqualified answer!
‘Spring and autumn,’ Brice added derisively.
Her mouth twisted. ‘At twenty-five I’m hardly spring—summer would be more appropriate,’ she bit out shortly. ‘And surely age is irrelevant in this day and age?’ she added challengingly.
‘Is it?’ he returned softly.
Sabina frowned across at him, more disturbed by what he had said than she cared to admit. She and Richard were friends, nothing more; Brice must have misunderstood Richard! Mustn’t he…?
‘I thought I came here so you could sketch me, Mr McAllister—not question me about my personal life!’ she snapped agitatedly.
‘The name is Brice,’ he told her smoothly.
‘I prefer Mr McAllister,’ she said tautly. What she really preferred was to keep this man very much at a distance!
He gave an unperturbed shrug. ‘Whatever. Could you stand over by the fireplace?’ he bit out curtly, once again frowning down at his sketch-pad.
Almost as if that very personal conversation had never taken place, Sabina fumed inwardly as she moved to stand beside the unlit fireplace.
‘Yes,’ Brice breathed his satisfaction with the pose. ‘The clothes are all wrong, of course—not that you don’t look lovely in them,’ he added as she raised her brows.