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Mum gives us our marching orders. “We know you arrive on April 1st, so that’s when your reservation starts. We assume JL will stay elsewhere.”
“I’ll find out his arrangements. I think he is planning to stay at the Atheneum.”
Meggy looks confused. “I thought you were all staying at the Milestone.”
“No,” I snap. “JL understands about privacy.”
Frank cracks his knuckles. “That’s convenient. Right round the corner from the Club.”
“We’re done here,” Dad says. “See you London.”
One by one, family faces blink off.
“Well, that was interesting,” Cress says. “I need coffee. Want anything?”
Just you, I think, as she sashays out.
ChapterFive
Max
I bolt upright when the phone rings. That puts paid the dream I just had about ravishing Cress—something I planned to implement once we were both awake.
I check the time display on my screen. “It’s six a.m., Erik. Did a warning come in of an attempted breach?”
My security admin clears his throat. “Nyet. It’s tonight, Max.” Erik’s thick Russian accent pulses in the damp air.
“What about tonight?” We’re having colleagues over for dinner. Bloody stupid if he’s calling about that at this time on a Saturday morning.
He blurts, “Can I bring date?”
The mobile screen winks at me as if it knows some secret that I need to decipher. I grab the device and shut myself in the bath, trying to keep Cress from waking up. “A date?”
“Is okay?”
“You could have called at a more reasonable hour.” The growl that accompanies that statement should put the fear of God into him. “I hope you haven’t woken Cress.”
He lowers his rumbly voice. “Sorry, Max.”
“I can hardly hear you.”
“Trying to keep noise down like you asked.”
“I’ve moved elsewhere, so we won’t disturb her.”
He increases the volume slightly. “Sorry.” I’m sure he’s staring at the floor.
“Let’s forget it,” I tell him.
“Thanks. Hope isn’t too much trouble.”
“Is your date someone I know?”
After a long pause, he lets out a guilty sigh. “Amy Shelby.”
Bloody hell. Is this a budding office romance? I scratch my jaw and try to think about shaving rather than the implications of this relationship. When I don’t immediately respond, the nervous tension from the other end is palpable. From the background noise, Erik seems to be pacing, occasionally rapping his knuckles against something wooden. I wrench my thoughts back to the Erik-Amy conundrum and come up with an inane response. “I didn’t know you were together.”
“Not together—yet. We try this out.”
