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‘Hardly the way to celebrate our proper reunion ,’ Adam commented when they’d sat down and ordered their food. ‘But I didn’t want to wait any longer.’
Then why did you?
‘And I didn’t have your mobile number,’ he went on. ‘I should have asked at Mannion, only the situation became rather fraught.’
Or you could have asked Nicola...
‘I guess that’s now settled.’ She made herself sound matter of fact, and he sighed.
‘Yes, thank Heaven,’ he said, adding swiftly, ‘which is no reflection on Robina. She’s a wonderful girl and one day she’ll make some fortunate man very happy. Only it was never going to be me.’
It was the kind of assurance she wanted from him, so why did she still feel so edgy?
The arrival of a basket of crusty bread and a bowl of olives made things slightly easier.
Searching for a neutral topic, she said, ‘Do you still play tennis?’
‘Hardly ever. My interests are sea-based these days. I belong to a sailing club on the south coast, and I do a lot of surfing and scuba diving in Cornwall and other places. I also belong to a club that looks for wrecks.’
‘Sunken treasure?’
He laughed. ‘Some hopes. But the ocean still remains the planet’s greatest undiscovered wilderness and it fascinates me. Nic, of course, thinks I’m nuts,’ he added. ‘But she’s not very adventurous. Her dream is a home and babies with Eddie.’
It was almost a sneer and it disturbed her.
She said lightly, ‘Well, that’s what keeps the world turning while the men are off in the wilderness.’
‘It’s probably why they go.’
Ouch, thought Dana, wincing inwardly. I walked into that.
Adam leaned forward. ‘Look, Dana, I won’t pretend life’s been ideal in recent years. Frankly, I’ve been inclined to drift in a number of ways, but that’s all changing now. I have an aim in life. A purpose that wasn’t there before. Can you understand that?’
Yes, thought Dana. The legal situation over the house has left you in a kind of limbo, but that’s ending soon, and Mannion will be yours at last.
Aloud, she said, ‘Of course. None better.’
‘Then there’s no need for awkward questions—on either side. We’re both adults and know how things can be.’
He means his love life, thought Dana, and he was clearly crediting her with a level of sophistication she did not possess. She was glad when his steak and chips and her Caesar salad were delivered.
The food was good, but Dana declined a dessert and put a firm hand over her glass when Adam tried to refill it.
‘I have to work this afternoon,’ she told him. ‘We both do.’
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘And I was hoping to persuade you to play truant on this lovely afternoon. Enjoy the wine here and maybe open another bottle at my flat.’ He reached across the table, his fingers stroking hers. ‘It’s only a short cab ride away and I’m sure we could both find adequate excuses for being absent from our desks.’
‘You perhaps,’ said Dana. ‘But I have appointments which I cannot miss.’ She paused, her smile regretful. ‘However tempting the offer.’
‘You really want to spend the rest of your life doing upmarket property deals?’
‘Not entirely,’ she said. ‘But, for now, it pays well and I like it. Two good reasons for hanging in there.’
‘Whereas I can’t wait to make a complete break and move on.’ Adam spoke with sudden harsh intensity. ‘Be my own boss again, instead of existing at Zac’s beck and call.’
‘You mean when Serafina—Mrs Latimer—finally hands over Mannion.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I can hardly wait.’
And nor, thought Dana, can I.
He paused. ‘So I really can’t persuade you to jump ship for a few hours.’
‘Not this time.’ She lowered her eyes demurely. ‘I just have—too much to lose.’
‘Then, when the time comes,’ he said softly, ‘I’ll have to make sure it’s worth it.’
I’m a foregone conclusion, thought Dana, observing his satisfied air as he asked for the bill, and irked by it.
As she had been by his assumption that she would agree to the wine and sex on offer at his flat.
However, he wouldn’t find she was the easy conquest he was probably accustomed to, she decided as she scribbled her mobile number on the back of a business card.
