Page 74 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘If I just stick to the suitable-wife criteria, it will be easier for everyone. It’s just business, after all. A means to an end.’
‘As all good love stories should be,’ replied Lexie, making no effort to quell her sarcasm. She didn’t need to be reminded of hiscriteriaor how she didn’t fit them. Not that she even wanted to. Maybe he and snooty Cynthia belonged together.
Lexie grabbed her headphones from her bag, tuned herself in to one of the businesswoman podcasts she’d recently started binge-absorbing, and drained half a packet of peanut M&Ms into her mouth. Before she knew it, she was drifting into a calorie-induced coma, and she couldn’t have been gladder.
‘Fortune cookies!’ Lexie woke from her sleep with a start, pulling out her earphones. ‘Should I have brought some for luck?’ Then remembering what had happened in London after their last brush with fortune, she felt her cheeks flame.
‘I thought you wished them doom? Anyway, you’re making a lot of effort for a ceremony you don’t believe in.’
‘I believe in most ceremonies, just not this one.’ Wait, hadn’t they had a similar conversation earlier, or had she dreamt that bit? She’d definitely had a dream about what could have happened in a certain hotel room in London, and it had been getting even steamier than Ben’s car. Being in an enclosed space with a man she’d recently kissed was dangerous. Her poor brain was getting carried away.
She opened the window and prayed she hadn’t uttered anything weird in her sleep.
‘But you’ve arranged a singer for them. And a photographer.’
‘Mia and Jake are friends. I helped to get them together, in fact. Anyway, they’re not charging anything. The hippy couple have requested non-consumerist presents.’
‘Quite the matchmaker, aren’t you? And hippy or happy?’
Lexie scoffed. ‘My matchmaking was certainly happier than some I could mention, but my sister’s union probably won’t be.’
She decided to call a truce of sorts and shoved the half-empty bag of M&Ms onto Ben’s lap. A flurry of excited energy passed through her as her hand brushed against the heat of his firm leg. Wow. Would her beloved sweets melt there? Perhaps she should just reach back and save them …
‘Peanut?’ Ben asked.
‘What? I didn’t mean to touch anything, I just … ’
‘I used to prefer the chocolate ones, although you’re talking me round.’
‘Oh, peanut!’ Lexie buzzed the window fully down. Hell, it was getting out of control. Why couldn’t they have a normal conversation, like two not-even-into-each-other adults, without her mind or body charging off in a completely inappropriate direction? Maybe she should take a leaf out of this matchmaking book and sort out her own bloody love life.
Eager to steer things back to less risqué ground, Lexie let Ben sweeten himself up with her M&Ms before moving on to other pressing matters. She told him about the new colours she’d been unsuccessfully trying to mix with Grace. She was keen on the idea for the new travel-inspired paint range, but the inspiration still wasn’t quite there.
‘Then we should travel to find it.’ He gave the answer as though it was completely obvious. Phew.
‘And maybe … further than Cornwall?’
‘Very funny, Miss Summers. I have a passport. And you?’
‘Well, nearly.’ She’d sorted out those forms and been cajoled by Grace to book a fast track appointment, as though life was too short to wait. But it wasn’t her she was worried about. ‘What about … if Cynthia came?’
‘What?’ He gave her a confused double-take, making her glad he had to revert his focus to the road. ‘Why?’
She explained her proposal to get Fortescue Interiors to work with them in designing the new range, and how they would endorse it and use it in their customers’ grand properties. It would also be exciting for Carrington Paints’ social media and the blog. The photo opportunities would be phenomenal.
Lexie had already run the proposal past Mrs Fortescue, and she’d shown an interest. Even more so when Mrs Carrington-Noble had gushed about using it as a way of matchmaking their reluctant offspring. It seemed Mrs Fortescue was keen to see her pernickety daughter off the shelf too. The pushy mothers had suggested a jolly holiday as quickly as Ben had. Now Lexie just had to convince him that three heads were better than two, even if she didn’t strictly believe it. But she deserved to see her ideas blossom, and at least she wouldn’t accidentally pounce on Ben with Cynthiain situ.
‘The collaboration will be a fantastic way to breathe new life into the business, and lucrative too. But Mrs Fortescue wants Cynthia involved every step of the way. She’d have to come with us, or I’m pretty sure it would be no deal.’ Only a small exaggeration.
Lexie held her breath as the cogs in Ben’s brain churned it over. There was probably a calculator in there, working out the potential profits and weighing them up against losses.
‘You’ll be there too? And it’s all just business?’
‘Just business,’ Lexie chirped. Well, it wasn’t her job to be flipping Cupid. She hadn’t exactly promised Mrs Carrington-Noble that she would bring Ben and Cynthia together, and it wasn’t her problem if the pushy woman had inferred it.
‘Always preferable to have a chaperone, I suppose.’
Ben looked at the sweaty mix of M&M colours on his palms before buzzing down his own window. Lexie wondered whether it was her or Cynthia as chaperone. Ben’s half of the car had become steamy for the first time since they’d set off, so perhaps there was something in this secret desire for Cynthia theory. Or perhaps she was going stir-crazy in this car.
