(2012) Evie Undercover Read Online Free Page A

formal if I don’t have to.’
    ‘I’d r ather guessed that,’ he said dry ly. ‘Ah, here’s the waiter with the coffee.’
    What on earth d id a girl talk to her boss about after a night like the one they’d just had ? S he bit her lip anxi ously as she watched the waiter fill their cups. Handy Hints for Investigative Journalists didn’t exactly cover t hat situation. S he was going to have to wait unti l he start ed a conversation and then take the lead from him.
    ‘The system is to help ourselves from the buffet,’ he said, standing up. ‘T he re’s always a selection of cold cuts and cakes. Come on , let’s go . I’m starving.’ And he moved off in the direction of a table at the far side of the terrace. She quickly got up and followed him.
    ‘The main thing,’ he began when they ’d returned to their table having help ed themselves to slices of the cheeses and cold meats, ‘ is to make sure that the house stays in perfect harmony with its surroundings. Every piece of furniture has to be in keeping with the age of the property and its environment.’ He paused in the middle of cutting a piece of prosciutto and looked across at her. ‘And that’s where you come in, Evie. I need an exact translation of everything I tell the surveyor, or perhaps I should say geometra, since we’re in Italy. T here must be no mistakes.’
    ‘I’ll do my best, Mr Hadleigh … Tom.’ She gave him a bright, confident smile. This was safe ground.
    ‘I’m sure you will. Now, I think I’ll go and get some cake. Can I get you something, too?’ He stood up, pushing back his chair.
    ‘No, thanks. I’ve had as much as I want.’
    ‘I didn’t think I’d ever get used to breakfasts like this, but I have and I like them. If you catch the waiter’s eye, you could get us some more coffee . A nd obviously whatever you want for yourself – I hope that goes without saying.’ He gave her a quick smile and began to move off in the direction of the buffet.
    Her eyes followed him as he wound his way between the tables .
    It was a mega relief that he’d put the night’s events totally behind them and was focused solely on the day ahead. He didn’t seem at all mad at her, and they were still Tom and Evie. So far, so good. Plan A might not have resulted in the hoped-for pillow talk but it had still been a step in the right direction . N ow all she had to do was learn as much about the contents of his life as she was going to learn about the contents of his house , ideally keeping all of her clothes on this time , and her editor would be one happy man .
    She wasn’t sure that she’d be one happy woman, b ut she wasn’t going to go down that path . S he’d no choice but to do what she’d been told to do , a nd that meant that she had to come up with some ideas . That had got to be her focus, and not hing else.
    A noth er shot of caffeine was a must.
    ‘ Un altro caffè ,’ she called to the waiter. ‘ Per noi due .’
    While she w ait ed for t he i r coffee to arrive and for mind-blowing inspiration to fill her head, not necessarily in that order, s he i dly glanc ed across at Tom . He’d just ben t over the breakfast bar and was reach ing fo r a plate. His forearm gleamed in the rays of the morning sun . Her eyes dropped to the stone-coloured chinos fitt ing smoothly over his buttocks. He could win rear of the year, she thought, and leaned slightly forward.
    A dark shape stepped in front of her , and cut off her line of vision. Damn !
    She looked up and saw the waiter standing in front of her, coffee pot in hand. Impatiently she waited for him to fill their cups and move on, but by the time he ’d done so, Tom was already on his way back to the table.
    ‘So, Evie,’ he said in an easy, conversational tone as he sat down and started to cut up his cake, ‘apart from something to deal with scorpions, and possibly even beetles – we’ve yet to establish your thoughts about beetles – is there anything else we need to