‘You only brought me here to make me uncomfortable.’
‘Not true,’ she murmurs unconvincingly, her gaze flicking to the yellowing ceiling and the matching walls. ‘So.’ Her gaze returns to me.
‘Here we are.’
‘Are you here to say “I told you so” or to appeal to my better nature?’
‘Do you have one of those?’
‘Probably not where you’re concerned. But why are you here?’
‘Because, as much as it pains me, I need your help.’
‘Not this again,’ she murmurs despondently. ‘Why me? I’m sure there are dozens of women who’d marry you for a few months.’ This doesn’t remotely sound like a compliment, confirmed as she adds, ‘If you paid them enough.’
‘Including you.’
‘What did I ever do to you? Apart from falling over your foot and giving you a little snark?’
‘You were already in trouble before you fell over my foot.’
‘So that’s it? I fall, and I’m it for you? Easy prey. Like a gazelle who stumbled and became lunch for the lion.’
‘I knew as you stared up at me that you weren’t as nice as they made you out to be. A nice girl with a vaguely interesting business.’
‘What?’ At this, her expression slackens, firming quickly as she sits forward in her seat. ‘Vaguelyinteresting? And who said I was nice?’
‘I seem to remember you saying as much.’
‘They, Beckett. Who are they?’ she demands, her green eyes suddenly furious.
‘I sat in on a meeting. Luke took us through the pitch you emailed. The partners decided it wasn’t of interest, but Luke, to give him his full due, fought to get you an in-house pitch at the next meeting. It was Mark, his stepfather, who explained that Luke had gone to university with you. That you were a nice girl. I suppose we were to infer from that what we would.’
‘Infer what? That because I’m nice, he should do me a favour and take my meeting?’
‘I’m not quite sure that’s how it went. It became obvious Luke had some kind of romantic interest in you. I’m sure you can work it out.’
‘You’re saying Mark Jones decided to throw me a bone ... so Luke could bone me? No, sorry, that’s not believable. That a bunch of rich suits would take a meeting in order to get the boss’s son laid?’
‘You’d be surprised how cruel people in this business can be. But as it was, other than Mark, no other senior partners were present for your pitch.’
‘Seriously?’
‘I’m next in seniority. I wasn’t officially there.’
‘So I was never a serious option?’
‘For Luke, you were.’
‘That... shit! How—how dare he! He really painted that kind of picture of me? That I was withholding sexual favours in order to get a meeting as though I’m some scheming courtesan?’
‘I’m sure it wasn’t explained as explicitly as all that. But in a nutshell, I’d say you have a good grasp on how it went.’
‘I really never had any chance,’ she whispers, dazed. But then her head comes up, her gaze steely and hard. ‘But then I tripped, and you decided I wasn’t nice at all. But they weren’t really saying I was nice. They were calling me a whore.’
‘You were... unexpected.’Desirable. Bright. Passionate.
‘You can’t expect someone to be civil when they’re injured. I tripped—I had a shock. I was in a hurry, and I was obviously a bitch to you.’
