AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Touché.’ He gave a grim smile. ‘You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?’
‘No...’ Mary admitted, but she did make an observation. ‘Though from the vibe at the table I could sense you weren’t about to deliver pleasant news.’
Costa said nothing.
‘You’ve known him longer than fifteen years, haven’t you?’
He shot her a look, not really surprised by her perceptiveness, more that she was bold enough to ask.
And Costa liked boldness.
‘I have known him for longer.’
Usually Costa would not have given even that much away, let alone elaborate, but he had been primed for things to come to an abrupt end tonight and been denied the satisfaction of the moment. Despite his cool demeanour, he was still riled.
‘Ridgemont wouldn’t recall, though. He had his team of minders with him even back then.’
‘Really?’
Costa refused to be drawn further. ‘Look, forgive me if I sound presumptuous... I don’t tend to concern myself with someone else’s date, but that’s because I generally know they can take care of themselves. You, though, seemed out of your depth. More than that, you seemed to realise that for yourself.’
Mary was silent.
‘Am I right?’
She could lie no more when the truth was blatantly clear. Had she not forgotten her bag in her dash to the powder room she would now be sitting in a taxi she couldn’t afford and almost home.
‘Yes.’ She looked right at him then. ‘My boss assured me—’
‘Yourbossneeds to vet your clients better,’ Costa said sharply.
Oh, God, he thought she was referring to hermadam, or whatever they were called! But there was more on her mind than enlightening him...
‘Might he come back?’ she asked. ‘When he finds out the party isn’t real.’
‘It’s real,’ Costa said. ‘Though I doubt they’ll be thrilled by his arrival. You’re correct, our meeting was not going to be a pleasant one, but instead of telling him what I came to say, I called in a favour to get him away from you.’
Oh!
‘I was about to make a run for it...’ she admitted. ‘Look, I made a mistake—’
She stopped. He didn’t need to know about the pressure applied by Coral that had brought her here this evening, but there was also the real reason she’d finally succumbed tonight, and something about Costa Leventis made her feel safe enough to reveal it.
‘I just wanted a fabulous night out...somewhere nice.’
‘Therearesafer ways to chase excitement, Mary.’
And he would know all of them, Mary thought. She stifled an involuntary sigh. There was a shot of silver at his temples, a little fan of lines beside those gorgeous eyes... He just oozed worldliness and experience and...and something else. Something she was struggling to place. He had a kind of ‘knowing’ about him, and she felt so drab and unsophisticated in comparison.
‘So,’ he said, holding the stem of his glass between two fingers, swirling it slowly as he warmed it with his palm before taking a taste of cognac, ‘how old are you?’
‘Twenty-one,’ Mary said and then sighed. ‘Today.’
He said nothing to that. In fact he looked distinctly unimpressed. Not, of course, that she’d expected him to break into song, but she seemed destined to tick off another birthday entirely unacknowledged.
He fired another question. ‘How long have you been working...’ he hesitated ‘...at the hairdresser’s?’
‘Almost five years.’
