“No, no stay. And this is for you.”
“We can’t take it.”
“You must. It’s bad luck to give a bottle to guests and take it back. Thank you so much for helping us tonight.”
Laura looked ready to argue but Adam caught her wrist. “Stay here,” he told her quietly. Rovena was clearly tired and didn’t need a lot of pointless discussion. He pulled Laura down to sit beside him on the sofa and poured them both more drinks.
“Gezuar.” He held the glass up to salute Rovena, making her smile at his dodgy pronunciation.
“Good night.” She went off to her daughter’s room.
Chapter Twenty
Once they were alone,Laura gave him a sharp look. “You can be very assertive when you put your mind to it.”
“I’m a man of many talents,” he said, clinking glasses with her.
In the suddenly awkward silence, they both stared at their glasses. Then he opened his mouth to apologise for grabbing her wrist as he had, except that that would also sound like flirting and he’d spent years teaching himself not to flirt.
“Can I ask you a question?” Laura’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
He leaned back and opened his arms to show her that he had nothing to hide.
“When we were walking in the fields earlier, I said something that maybe upset you, I’m not sure.”
“Upset me?” He was baffled. How could she upset him?
“I said something about your help backfiring and you went very quiet.”
Well, shit.
He blew out a long breath. “It’s a long story.”
She indicated the empty room, the sofa, the full bottle of plum wine.
“Alright, on one condition. That you first tell me the long story about why you cut your hair.”
Something flickered in her dark eyes. “Among your many talents, it seems you’re not only assertive but also a negotiator.”
He sipped his drink and waited.
“My hair was always something men liked, so I chopped it off.”
“Are you… a…”
“No, I’m not a lesbian, but I am going to be a spinster.”
He swallowed too fast, making him cough.
“Is this a career choice?” he asked when he’d got his breath back.
She grinned. “Long story.”
He mimicked her earlier gesture at the empty room, the sofa and the full bottle.
“I wanted a happily ever after, and spent over a dozen years looking for it, making men my priority.”
She must have been feeling nervous talking about this because she gulped a little too muchslivovathen pulled a face.
