Page 42 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘Vibrant, captivating, full of life?’
‘Well, yes, I’m sure all of those things,’ he said.
‘Which is good?’
‘I suppose it could be, but … ’ The wine arrived and he engrossed himself in watching it being poured.
‘But what?’
He was giving her the stop-being-a-tricky-toddler look again. ‘She’s just too familiar, that’s all. She reminds me of someone.’
Lexie rewound her thoughts to the queue outside the ballroom.
She looks like you, dear.
Isn’t that what Mrs Moon had said? Lexie felt the heat of embarrassed blood cells rushing to her chest. She pulled her blue cardi around her to hide the little traitors.
‘I see.’ She took a glug of her wine with her free hand. ‘Somebody unsuitable, who kind of gets on your nerves. I get it.’
Now it was his turn to test out one of his twitchy smiles. ‘I do enjoy it when you’re vexed.’
‘I am not vexed.’
A trio of ducks swam by and seemed to giggle-quack at the pair of them.
‘Your ruby-red neck says you are. Can I interest you in a Hawaiian pizza to go with your Beaujolais? Or are you more of a Margherita girl?’
‘You’ll never find this wife of yours if you’re too scared to go on a date.’ She stared at him across the table.
He shrugged. ‘Then let’s start now. Tell me about yourself. We can hardly describe you as a little bit boring.’
‘Not with me, you fool. Obviously, you’re never going to slum it with Lexie from the block.’
He studied her again. ‘Your financial situation really bothers you, doesn’t it?’ His contemplative look irked her even more.
‘Absolutely not!’ She tried to ignore the sudden draught through her jumpsuit, which had seen slightly better days. ‘There’s nothing wrong with living modestly.’
He nodded slowly, as though he’d never really thought about it. ‘It suits you.’
She felt like a cartoon character whose eyes were in danger of popping out of its head on stalks. What did he mean by that? Seeing her expression, he looked surprised and tried to backtrack.
‘Oh hell, did that sound wrong? You see why I’m no good at these things. What I meant was … ’ He waved a hand in her direction. ‘You look fine as you are. Although I do wish you’d organise your own affairs as well as you organise everyone else’s. It wouldn’t hurt to get on top of your paperwork and to sort out some rainy day savings.’
‘I don’t need “rainy day savings”. I don’t want to have money – it does nothing for your manners.’ She swallowed down a memory from her snooty senior school with a long swig of wine. It had only been reinforced by the bitching and mayhem outside the ballroom.
The waiter arrived to take their food orders, which was probably just as well. Lexie was sure she’d end up sacked if she continued on her ‘rich is rude’ tirade. What she wanted to say was, it washisfinancial situation that bothered her, not hers. She’d spent her teenage years at that awful posh school, and the girls had been nothing but mean about her lack of money and make-do-and-mend clothes. Maybe her current wild wardrobe was a rebellion against all things conventional.
‘And you, madam?’
The waiter was staring at her, waiting for her order as though he’d been asking for some time.
‘Er … ’ She flicked quickly through the menu, decided it was stupidly over-priced, and opted for nothing. ‘I’m not hungry.’ She slapped it shut and gave the waiter a tight smile. ‘Thank you.’
Maybe she shouldn’t have given such a big chunk of her wages to that seal sanctuary, but the picture on Cory’s T-shirt had looked so cute.
‘It’s a business lunch. You don’t have to pay,’ said Ben, apparently sensing her awkwardness.
Was he mocking her now? She didn’t need to be paid for. And just because she was only his employee …
