The Darkest of Shadows (30 page)

“That is one of the sexist things that I’ve ever seen,” he mumbled with a shake of his head, the truth of his words clearly visible as it pushed against his pants.

“I am coming, Lawrence,” I told him, then I stepped closer. “I know my limits, and I’ll be fine.” He watched me, judging the few inches that separated us.

“You are a witch,” he grumbled, and I watched as his strength crumbled. A soft “oof” escaped me as he jerked my body up against his. “On one condition,” he added. “If you are having trouble, then you tell me as soon as you feel upset. Not after, not later, and don’t try and hide it. That’s the only way you’re coming.”

I shrugged. “Fine with me.”

“Now, give me back my tie before we are very late to dinner.”

Dinner that night was with a man I didn’t know. Simon Marshall was in his mid-fifties, professional, and had the token society bride who must have been all of twenty-five, if she was even that old. Hey, at least he had married this one; normally they just keep them on the side.

It took me less than five minutes to realize that Lawrence didn’t like him. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it; he seemed the ideal of a high-profile government official, but something about him was wrong, and Lawrence felt that as clearly as I did. Lucky for us both no one else would have been able to read either of us well enough to realize it, including Simon—and there was no possibility of his wife Jewell—yes, that was really her name—picking up on anything. She could barely form a coherent sentence, let alone anything else.

After about an hour of meaningless conversation, and after the main meal was taken away, I had just about reached the end of my patience.

“How about we have drinks down in the bar?” Lawrence suggested after Simon had finished regaling us with a long-winded story of his latest trip to Thailand. I was sure that if I had not been there, the story Lawrence would have heard would have been very different.

I shot a thankful glance at him and stood before Simon even got a chance to respond. “That’s a great idea,” I said with forced cheerfulness. Simon and Jewell got to their feet, no doubt in response to my movement, and I grabbed Lawrence’s hand and just about towed him through the restaurant.

“We’ll meet you in the bar.” Lawrence shooed Simon and Jewell out the door while we waited near the front, so that Lawrence could finalize the bill. It threw the staff somewhat that we had come to them, but we were in a hurry.

I curled my body up against Lawrence’s as we waited near the door so that I could speak quietly to him without being overheard. “Dear God!”

“Tell me about it,” he agreed, with a squeeze of his arm around my waist.

“I swear, if she giggles at me one more time, I’m going to slap her.” Rather than including herself in the conversation around her, Jewell had this habit of just adding a strategic giggle, but it was usually totally out of context. It was starting to set my teeth on edge.

Lawrence’s chest rumbled against my own. “Could you imagine living with that every day? Makes me thankful I have you. I’ll take damaged over that any day.”

“Oh, you’re so sweet.” I fluttered my lashes at him, and he laughed in response.

We had booked dinner that night in a hotel restaurant that was on the second floor of the old building. There was a fair-sized bar on the ground floor that was more old school than modern, and by the time that we found our way down to join Simon and Jewell, there was quite a crowd in the place.

Lawrence guided me through the masses of people with a hand on my back, and we eventually found Simon and his wife standing with a group of other people, about a dozen of them, by one of the bars at the back of the room. Simon made a quick round of introductions, most of which I missed; however, Lawrence seemed to know a number of the men in the group, and interestingly, a striking redhead returned his greeting with a more-than-familiar glance.

Her name was Isobel, and over the course of the next few minutes, she had worked her way around the group and managed to squeeze herself up beside Lawrence. It was so skillfully done that I had to give her credit. I almost laughed aloud but caught myself and had to make a hasty retreat.

“I’ll just get us a drink,” I told Lawrence, and without waiting for a response, I slipped off through the crowd.

It was quite obvious what she wanted from Lawrence, and it was also just as blatantly obvious that it wouldn’t be the first time they shared such intimacies, but I found myself unaffected. I wasn’t jealous; I probably should have been, but I was secure enough in who I was to know that if that was what Lawrence wanted, then he could have had that at any time. He had probably had more than enough of that.

It had nothing to do with me what he did or didn’t do with that woman, as long as he didn’t do it at the same time he did me; and he was gentlemen enough to never be that crass.

It took a while to order at the bar; there was a crush around it and, as usual in bars, not enough staff to cover the demand. But I wasn’t in a hurry, so I settled into a space and waited.

“Do I know you?” a voice asked from beside me.

I spared the voice a quick look, and nothing rang any bells in my memory, so I smiled and gave him an apologetic smile. “I don’t think so.”

“You look familiar, and I can’t work out where I know you from,” he continued. He was mid-thirties, young to be in this place; but he was dressed impeccably and had that air about him that bespoke money and influence. He was attractive, fit, and wealthy; anyone else would have been instantly attracted to him.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “Nope, sorry.”

“It’s not a pickup line, I swear.” He raised both hands in surrender.

“It’s a pretty bad one if it was.” I grinned back.

“Oh, I’ve got much better ones than that,” he assured me, with a cheeky grin that set two dimples alight in his face.

“I bet.”

“I’m Nicholas,” He said, and offered his hand.

I hesitated for a moment before accepting it. “Lilly.”

“Please to meet you, Lilly,” he said with a grin. “Now next time we meet, you’ll remember me.”

I laughed. “It’s doubtful,” I teased.

He pretended to take offense. “I’m deeply saddened that I’m so unmemorable.”

If only he realized what he was up against
. Most people were unmemorable compared to Lawrence. “I doubt that we move in quite the same circles,” I told him, rather than giving an outright denial. I figured that if I hadn’t run into him in the last year with Lawrence, it was doubtful that I would in the future.

“And what circles would those be?” he queried.

I ignored the question and thankfully at that moment the bartender decided it was my turn and asked for my order. I wasn’t thirsty so I just ordered Lawrence’s Scotch, which elicited a surprised glance from Nicholas. Moments later it was deposited onto the bar before me.

“Leaving already?” Nicholas followed me as I walked back through the crowd, abandoning his position at the bar before he got a chance to order his own drink.

“That was silly,” I commented, not really thrilled that he had decided to follow me.

“Hardly.” He shrugged. “Not if there’s a chance I can continue to talk with you.” He looked confident that I’d say yes.

“I’m with someone.”
Let’s cut to the chase
. I really didn’t want to have him follow me all the way back to Lawrence.

“Really?” He sounded skeptical.

“Really,” I assured him, and then turned and made my way back through the crowd.

When I got back to where Lawrence had been, I found myself without either Nicholas or Lawrence. He, and it looked like Simon, had both disappeared. With no other alternative, I settled in beside Jewell who seemed to be having a grand old time chatting with the group of men. It was her or Isobel, and considering Isobel was giving me a glance that was far from friendly, I opted for the more bland Jewell. At least she didn’t seem to want to do me physical harm.

In no time at all, I wanted to escape from that laugh. I noticed that the more Jewell drank, the more that laugh increased, until there were very few words that actually came out of her mouth at all. God, she was irritating. Regardless of the fact that she didn’t actually say many words, she managed to engage the men in the group quite effectively. It was really something to witness and made me realize just how shallow these men where.

“When you said you were with someone, I naturally assumed it was a man.” The words were spoken very close to my ear, and I could feel the large, warm presence of a body just behind me. “I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or intrigued that I’m wrong.”

I turned around and came face to face with Nicholas. It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. “God, not with her,” I snapped in exasperation. “Seriously!” I was over men, especially the men in this room.

Nicholas grin was filled with amusement. “I’m sorry to hear that. It could have been interesting.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” I huffed, and turned away from him, but the sight of all the rest of the group I was with was more than my nerves could take. I downed Lawrence’s Scotch in one swallow; then, without a word to anyone, I stalked off through the crowd. Charlie and Frost wouldn’t be very far away; if I walked far enough, one of them would find me and we could get the hell out of here.

“Where you going?” The persistent voice followed me through the crowd.

“Nowhere that concerns you.” Now I remembered why I didn’t go out like this. Men just thought that it was OK to follow me, that I would automatically welcome their attention. I also realized how much protection it gave me just to be near Lawrence. He was a definite deterrent for other men.

“Who are you looking for?” he asked, as we reached the edge of the room. I scanned around with my eyes.

“My guards,” I replied vaguely. Where the hell was everyone? And where was Lawrence?

“You have a security detail?” He seemed genuinely surprised and intrigued, and I realized too late that it was a bad thing to have admitted. Now he really wanted to know who I was.

I ignored him and got my phone out of my pocket.

“Who are you texting?” Nicholas tried to get a look at my phone.

I knew Lawrence wouldn’t want to be away, and if he admitted that Simon was being difficult, then he really meant it. I didn’t want him to be worrying about me while he was trying to deal with that issue.

TEXT: Im fine. Find me when ur finished.

I resisted the urge to change the word “find” to “save.” I took a deep breath and finally looked at Nicholas. He was the lesser of two evils, I decided. “Fine,” I huffed. “Buy me a drink.”

He looked inordinately pleased with himself and walked with me back to the bar. It didn’t take us anywhere near as long to get our drinks—juice for me this time, my head was already spinning from the scotch—and then Nicholas led us over to the side of the room, where he stepped past a rope barricade and into a private seating area of the club.

I raised a questioning eyebrow, and he just shrugged and indicated for me to sit in one of the plush lounges. We were alone, or as alone as it was possible to be in a club this crowded.

“So, tell me about yourself,” he prompted.

“Nothing to tell.” I so wasn’t going there.

He looked skeptical. “I don’t believe that for a moment.”

“You can believe what you want, but I’m not telling you anything about me.”

“What about a last name?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Lilly. Just Lilly.”

I nodded.

“You know, I can find out other ways,” He reminded me.

“Do whatever you want.” By the time he did find out anything, I’d be long gone.

He watched me carefully while I sipped my drink. “You’re different from the women that I usually see here.” He finally admitted.

I shrugged. That was probably accurate—the fact that I wasn’t fawning all over him was probably a fairly good indication of that.

“I lived in Sydney for four years,” he said, surprising me with the change of subject. It was a safe topic, and I latched onto it to keep him away from other questions.

“Did you like it?” I asked. He had obviously placed my accent.

“Loved it,” he affirmed. “It’s an amazing place. Hot.”

“It is that.” I grinned in response. “It’s definitely different than London.”

“Most everything about it is different. It’s much more relaxed a country than anywhere else I’ve been. No one seems to take anything seriously.”

“We’re a very lazy society.” I meant it in a good way. “What were you there for?”

“I have business there that required me to hang around for a little while. By the time I’d been there a year, I just kept finding excuses to stay longer.”

“I find that with London,” I confessed. “I love it here. It just seems to fit with who I am. I’m comfortable here.”

“How long have you been in town?”

“Only about two years, but on and off.” I told him. “I travel a lot, but I like to think of London as home, at least for the moment.”

“Have you been back to Australia recently?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Not for a long while now.”

“Do you live here in London, or are you more a suburbs girl?” he asked with a grin.

“I’m a city girl,” I said. “I love how alive it is.”

“It does tend to have a pulse all of its own, doesn’t it?”

It was the best description he could have given it. It was exactly like that. It lived and breathed independently from the people who moved around it. This city was alive like that.

“Are you from Sydney originally?” he asked.

“No, Newcastle. Did you go there?” It was only two hours north of Sydney, and a popular day trip for Sydneysiders, so it was possible that he had been there.