Page 68 of Not Exactly Mr. Darcy
A noise stole his attention to the side. “Liv.” She held her rain jacket and laptop bag.
“Liv?” Camilla sashayed past him, eyeing Olivia with barely concealed contempt. “Who are you?”
“Nobody important.” Liv glanced at George. “You’ve got company, so I’m going to go.”
“Oh, don’t leave on my account.” Camilla put her head on Liam’s shoulder.
“I’m not.” Liv’s eyes grazed his, and in that fleeting second he could see the confusion, and something he hoped might be disappointment.
“Liv, you don’t need to leave,” George said in an undertone. The tiles picked up her words and bounced them to his ears.
“It’s been a big day, and I have things to do.” She nodded to Camilla. “I’m Olivia Bennett, by the way.”
Camilla only nodded, making no effort to introduce herself. Rude.
“And you are …?” Liv pressed, eyebrows raised.
“Camilla Atwood. Lord Atwood’s daughter. He’s the chief trustee,” she added.
“I’m afraid I only know one Lord, and that’s Jesus.”
He stifled a snicker as George didn’t even bother hiding hers, while Camilla turned to him with an open mouth. He shook his head at her, and for once she seemed to understand and closed her bright red lips.
“Gotta go. Good night.”
“Liv, wait.” He felt like he’d done this move already today as he chased her down the path. But this time she didn’t slow. Just kept hurrying to her car. And to be fair, she wasn’t holding an umbrella, and the mist held water droplets that were curling her hair.
“I’m sorry, but whatever it is you feel you need to say, can it please wait until tomorrow? I’m really tired.”
“Liv, I don’t know why she’s here.”
She paused at her car door, scrabbling through her handbag to find her key. “Sure you don’t.”
“I don’t. She just showed up out of the blue. We didn’t invite her. I’ve got no idea why she’s here.”
Her brows lifted in scepticism. “Well, if she’s not here because she’s got a crush on you, then there’s only one other explanation for why she’s here, right now, on opening day.”
“What’s that?”
“She’s the chief trustee’s daughter, isn’t she?”
He nodded.
“Then maybe you should ask yourself why she, of all people, is suddenly here.”
She wrenched open her door and got in. And before he could protest, she’d reversed and crunched the gears and was gone.
Chapter 15
Friday’s multitude of disappointments was crowned when Gran took her for a consolation meal at the Duck Inn and she spied Liam, George, and Camilla the Beautiful enter not too long after. She shrank down in her seat, something Gran seemed to notice, as she glanced at Liv then back at the new party.
“Olivia, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to slouch?”
Liv might be twenty-eight years old, but she didn’t appreciate being told this. She straightened anyway.
“Hmm, so Camilla Atwood is in town. What interesting timing.”
“Her father is the chief trustee, right?”
