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‘Neve?’ Liberty asked. ‘You mean Neve Aarsland?’

‘Yes.’ He turned back to the stove. ‘If you can walk by yourself, go and sit down by the fire.’

Another silence fell, and he could feel the pressure of her gaze a second longer, then the sensation vanished. When he turned back again, she’d gone, and it was a relief. He didn’t want to talk to her, not about Neve, and definitely not about anything to do with the past.

Kaius dished up the meal and took the plates and bowls through to the lodge’s dining room, connected to the living area by an open doorway. He put the food down on the massive oak dining table, then went through into the living room to find Liberty. She was sitting in front of the fire, her hands outstretched towards the flames as they leapt and flickered. Her face was cast in gold by the firelight, her long lashes streaked with the same gold, and for some reason, he couldn’t look away from her.

Something about her face drew him, unnerved him even. He didn’t remember much about her, apart from the fact that she’d been younger than he was, and he had vague memories of her always tagging along with him wherever he went, but nothing beyond that. So there really shouldn’t be any reason for him to find her so discomforting. It was likely a purely physical reaction to the fact of her being female, that was all. Nothing to get too wound up about.

‘Dinner,’ he said.

She looked round and smiled at him again, her face lighting up in a way that only increased his discomfort. ‘Oh wonderful,’ she said as if she genuinely meant it.

That discomforted him, too. ‘Do you need some help?’

‘No, no. I’m fine. My ankle is feeling much better now.’

Just as well. He really didn’t want to touch her again.

Turning, Kaius went back into the dining area, with her following him. He gestured to one of the chairs in invitation, before seating himself opposite her. Then as soon as he sat down, he wondered why on earth he’d decided they needed to eat together. He could have set a place at the dining table for her and taken his own meal in his office, yet he hadn’t. He could, of course, pick up his plate anyway and excuse himself, but that would be overly rude.

That’s never bothered you before.

No, but he’d cared once, in those days before he’d left for university, when Neve had become his lover, his everything. He’d still had a heart back then, which she’d broken, and now there was nothing there but ice. So being rude to a woman who was basically a stranger to him shouldn’t have been an issue. Yet he found himself remaining in his chair, watching her as she sat opposite him, looking down at her steak and salad with what he could only think was delight.

‘This looks delicious.’ She gave him a radiant smile from across the table. ‘Thank you so much for cooking for me.’

‘It’s only dinner.’ He picked up the bottle of an excellent red he’d retrieved from the lodge’s expansive wine cellar, and raised an eyebrow at her in an unspoken query.

‘Yes, please.’ She pushed her wineglass in his direction. ‘It might only be dinner, but I really do appreciate that you cooked. Especially when I’m kind of uninvited.’

He poured the wine into her glass, then poured himself a measure before putting the bottle down. ‘I was cooking for myself anyway. Putting another steak on is no problem.’

An awkward silence fell that he made no effort to break, concentrating his attention on his meal instead. His manners only extended so far and didn’t include small talk with a stranger, even if they had known each other once as children.

Apparently, Liberty had no such issues. ‘So,’ she said after a moment. ‘Will the storm clear by tomorrow do you think?’

‘I have no idea. It’s winter and it’s been a very cold one so far.’

‘Oh. Okay.’ She took a bite of her steak. ‘This is very good.’

He said nothing, sipping at his wine instead. He hadn’t engineered this situation. It was all her fault. So he’d be damned if he made her any more comfortable.

‘Um…this is a lovely house,’ she ventured.

‘Yes. It is.’

‘And is it your main house?’ She speared a tomato with her fork. ‘I know you run a very big company, so you must have houses everywhere.’

So, she’d done her reading about him. Which meant she must also know about the rumours that had once swirled and continued to swirl about his relationship with Neve. Would Liberty pry further about those too?

Officially he’d been Neve’s protégé and she his mentor, but there had always been gossip about a possible sexual relationship. Some people even said that she was actually his mother, given the similarity in their colouring, which gave the rumours of their sexual relationship a more disgusting edge. He’d taken a step back from appearances after that, letting the gossip die on the vine.

The rumours about their sexual relationship had once been true, but that had been twenty years ago, and they weren’t true now.

‘I see,’ he said.

‘I did my research about you before I got here. And…well. I look you up on occasion, just to see how you’re doing.’