Page 86 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

I folded my arms as George shut the door, ready to give him my two cents about his brusque treatment of Dan. “George, what was that about?”

He acted like he had no idea to what I was referring, instead he motioned me forward with a quick wave of hand.

“Meanie.” This was accompanied by a shake of head as I stepped away with the skirt of my dress swishing softly.

As soon as George disappeared in the direction of the stairs I hurried back to the front door and snuck outside. Dan was sat in the car with his head bent over his phone. I tapped on the window and he jerked in surprise before the window whirred down.

“Do you want to wait inside the house, Dan?” I asked, shivering in the cold air. “I was about to have some coffee.”

“No thank you, Mrs Bradley.” he replied quickly then pointed to the open front door. “You should head back in. It’s cold out here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes,” he gushed. “Go on in before Mr Bradley catches you out here with no coat on.”

Huh. So much for my good intentions. Back into the house I went where I paced impatiently for Matt in the front room. Forget the coffee. Tonight would be interesting. Since our elopement, I had seen Matt’s parents a grand total of two times. The dinner where we announced our marriage and an awkward Sunday brunch at the Landmark Hotel after we returned from our honeymoon. Everyone had been civil. I took full advantage of the champagne brunch, it was the only way to deal with their subtle disapprobation. Portia had sneakily cornered me in the ladies, reminding me about signing a pre-nuptial, well, post-nuptial now. She had ignored my silence and informed me the family’s solicitors would be drawing up the papers soon and there was no doubt that my signature would end up on that dotted line. We had both returned to our waiting men, both taking our seats with fake smiles, both probably hating each other. And the unspoken tension between Matt’s parents had me on edge. After brunch I had asked Matt what was up with them, he had shrugged, unable or perhaps unwilling to answer.

“Poppet?” Matt’s voice echoed in the hallway. “Where are you?”

“In here.” I called, walking over to the open door.

He walked in, glanced around quickly and reached for my arm. “Where’s your purse? We need to leave.”

I patted one pocket with a smile. “Everything I need is on me, Matt. This dress is amazing.”

“Yes, well good.” he acknowledged with a distracted air as he hurried me out the room. “Where’s your coat? You’ll need one, it’s bitterly cold outside tonight. George? George!”

“Yes, Mr Bradley?” George’s voice came serenely from down the hallway. His body had yet to appear.

“Get my wife’s coat.” Matt ordered then scrunched his face up sheepishly as George appeared with my coat in his arms. Already thinking ahead it seemed.

I nudged Matt with my elbow before moving towards George. He held up my coat for me to slip it on. My eyes narrowed in pointed warning at Matt’s silence.

Begrudgingly he said, “Ah, thank you, George. We’ll be back late tonight so please don’t wait up.”

“Goodnight, George.” I murmured with a small smile. Five minutes later we were in the car and on our way.

“You seem distracted, Matt.” I placed my hand on his knee,searching his handsome features for some clue of what was happening behind his eyes.

“Not that distracted, poppet.” His lips thinned out. “Buckle up.”

I did, then returned my hand to his leg. Matt placed his own hand atop mine, flashing me a quick smile before averting his gaze out the window.

“Where is the party being held?” I already knew the answer to my question. I just wanted him totalkto me.

“The Ballroom at Claridge’s,” he replied without looking at me. “I thought I mentioned it before.”

“It must have slipped my mind.” I leaned closer, well, as far as the darned seatbelt would let me. “Are you looking forward to your day off tomorrow? I am. Maybe we could go out for lunch?”

Matt twisted his head in my direction. Finally I could see his beautiful grey eyes.

“Day off?” he queried, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, yes,” I drawled. “We discussed this last week, Matt. You said-”

Both eyebrows were raised. “I said depending on what time we got back home tonight, Imaygo into the office later than usual, not take the whole day off.”

My mouth hung open for a second. He was just messing around. He had to be. I distinctly remember us agreeing to spend the day after his parents’ anniversary together.

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