Page 25 of Book People

Dan grins hugely, as if something about my presence is amusing. ‘Oh no, not at all, Kate. It’s apleasureto see you again. In fact, I was wanting to ask if you’ll have dinner—’

‘Yes, Miss Jones?’ Sebastian barks, sending Dan a vicious glance. ‘What is it?’

Dan leans back in his chair, looking smug.

Clearly some kind of guy thing is happening, so I ignore it.

‘I’ve emailed Lisa,’ I say to Sebastian. ‘Thought you should know. Also, I don’t have your mobile number and I’ll probably need it. You know, for the festival.’

‘It couldn’t wait till tomorrow?’

I give him a look. He’s stillverygrumpy and I get it: not having James Wyatt is a blow. But I’ve got my idea, one that’ll be even better if we manage to pull it off, and while I know Lisa isn’texactly the literary star of his dreams, she’s not no one either. Also, he said my idea was brilliant, so what is his problem?

‘No.’ I give him a saccharine smile. ‘It couldn’t.’

‘Fine,’ he says irritably. ‘What’s your number? I’ll send you a text.’

I tell him and my phone duly chirps with a notification.

‘Oh, look,’ Dan says suddenly. ‘There’s Gerry. I need to speak with him about . . . um . . . Arsenal in the semis.’ He gets up from his seat. ‘Here, Kate. Why don’t you sit and keep Heathcliff company?’

‘Don’t you dare,’ Sebastian growls, whether to Dan or me, I’m not sure.

Dan doesn’t seem to hear, striding off towards Gerry, who owns the butcher’s and who apparently supports Arsenal, which is weird because I thought he was a Spurs fan.

Still, I plonk myself down in his seat, regardless of the hostile expression on Sebastian’s face. ‘Also,’ I say, before Sebastian can get a word in, ‘I saw you pick up the Martha Wells. Have you read her? I thought you might like it.’

‘I’ve read her,’ Sebastian says in clipped tones. ‘Not the new one, though.’

‘You like the Murderbot books?’

His hard mouth twitches slightly.

‘You do,’ I go on, because I’m sure that’s what that twitch signifies. Hedoeslike them and he doesn’t want to admit that to me. Silly man. ‘In that case you’ll love the new one. It’s great.’

There’s a moment of silence and I watch the visible effort it takes him to dredge some politeness up from somewhere.

‘Thank you,’ he says, as stiff as he was this morning in his shop. ‘I’ll try it.’

‘There,’ I say, twinkling at him. ‘That wasn’t so hard, was it?’

The politeness is instantly gone, leaving behind it that blue-eyed glower. It shouldn’t look so good on him, but it does, and I’m the most basic of women that I find it as sexy as hell.

‘So, what did you say to her?’ Sebastian asks, blunt as the end of a spade. ‘To Lisa. In your email.’

‘Oh, I didn’t ask her about the festival straight away. It was a more “Hi, how are you?” kind of thing. When she responds, I’ll ask.’

‘And how are you going to get her to come?’ He pauses a moment and that fascinating muscle in his jaw leaps. ‘I don’t have any money to pay her.’

‘What? But I thought James—’

‘I was going to pay him. But now he’s pulling out, the marketing will have to change and his fee will have to pay for that, and for the other debts I’ve already got.’

My heart sinks, not going to lie. ‘I didn’t know you were that cash strapped.’

‘Festivals are expensive, Miss Jones.’

That Ididknow.

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