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It was the first time in her life she had ever seen Mark question a decision he’d made.
‘No,’ Holly said finally. ‘I don’t think you did the wrong thing. I think it’s an impossible situation really. Whatever you did, her feelings would have been hurt. But we can’t pretend to be engaged for ever. Sooner or later you’ll get fed up with not being able to seduce women and we’ll have to part company.’
‘I’m off women at the moment,’ Mark muttered, helping himself to some cashew nuts. ‘And by the time you and I “part company”, as you put it, I hope things will have moved on and she’ll have realised what a nice chap Greg is. I’ve been working on it, subtly.’
‘You? Subtle?’ Holly put a hand over her mouth to suppress the giggles. ‘Sorry. You are many things, Mark Logan, but subtle certainly isn’t one of them.’
Mark stopped chewing and pretended to look affronted. ‘Are you insulting me?’
‘Probably.’ Holly nodded, her eyes still alight with humour. ‘Do you really think you should be matchmaking?’
‘I’m not really matchmaking.’ Mark shrugged and pulled a face. ‘If it weren’t for me, I’m sure they’d be together anyway. I’m trying to remind her that she was interested in him—that there are plenty more fish in the sea.’
‘Plenty more fish in the sea? I’d love to know where they’re hiding.’ Holly picked up her drink and took a sip. ‘I only find the equivalent of whelks and clams. I’m still waiting to meet a glossy trout.’
Mark laughed and his dark eyes teased her. ‘In that case, no wonder you’re still a virgin.’
She poked her tongue out at him. ‘I never, ever should have told you that.’ Hastily she changed the subject. ‘So, go on. Tell me more about Greg.’
‘Well, he’s the chap I sail with.’ Mark leaned across the table and took an olive. ‘He’s a partner in a practice on the other side of town. I even thought maybe we could make up the occasional foursome to try and bring them together again if it doesn’t seem to be working out.’
Holly thought of the look that Caroline had given her when she’d arrived. ‘I’m not sure she’d relish my company.’
Mark gave a crooked smile. ‘She will once she knows you better.’
‘I hope you’re right.’ Holly gave him an affectionate look. ‘I must say, I’m very proud of you for being so sensitive about her feelings.’
He lifted an eyebrow. ‘I thought you said I was incapable of sensitivity?’
‘You are normally,’ Holly said honestly. ‘Well, at least when it comes to people who fancy you.’
‘Am I really that bad?’ He gave a short laugh. ‘The truth is, I felt sorry for her—and a bit responsible. I didn’t want to make things worse.’
Holly blinked. ‘Mark Logan, there’s hope for you after all.’
‘Must be old age,’ Mark said with a sigh. He slouched lower in his chair and rested one ankle on top of a powerful thigh. ‘I’m obviously losing my sense of perspective. Here I am, having dragged you all the way down here to pretend to be crazy about me—hell, is it going to work?’
‘Of course it is,’ Holly said firmly, determined to make it work now she understood the situation more clearly. ‘We can easily pretend to be engaged. As you said, we know each other well enough, don’t we?’
His smile was wry. ‘Absolutely. Come on, let’s unpack the rest of your stuff and get changed for supper.’
‘But what about tonight? We haven’t worked out what we’re going to say.’ Holly put a hand on his arm, feeling the solid muscle under her fingers. She’d forgotten how strong Mark was. Suddenly, for the first time in months, she felt safe. ‘If I’m supposed to be engaged to you, we need to decide on a story. Ian didn’t ask me anything personal when I met him on Tuesday, and frankly it’s just as well. I haven’t got a clue what I would have said!’
Mark frowned. ‘No story. We’ll just stick to the truth and that way we can’t go wrong. The only bit we change is that, instead of staying friends, we fell in love.’
Holly swallowed. She still hadn’t got used to the idea. ‘When, er, did we realise that we were in love?’
They wandered back inside and Mark locked the French windows. ‘About a month ago? That fits with what I told Caroline. When I moved down here to work, we realised how much we missed each other and how in love we were. How does that sound?’
‘And we got engaged immediately?’ Holly bit her lip and Mark shrugged his broad shoulders.
‘Of course. Why not? We’d already known each other for ever so there was hardly any need to hang around. All of a sudden we discovered we were madly in love—cue the violins—I proposed, you accepted and that was that.’
‘Where?’
‘Where what?’ Mark grabbed her suitcases from the hall and lugged them up the staircase, the muscles in his arms bunching under the weight.
‘Where did you propose?’
