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After all, he’d spent the past four years celibate, despite having been tempted. What was a lifetime more?
He frowned, surprised to find the idea hitting him like a lead balloon. As she approached the table, he stood, moving to hold the chair out for her, and then smirking when she threw him a disapproving look.
“Last I checked, I was quite capable of moving my own seat.”
“Good manners die hard,” he quipped, catching a hint of fragrance from her conditioner and breathing it in before he could stop himself.
“Got it. First question: are you a chauvinist?”
He laughed at that. “Understood. No chairs, no doors, we split all bills.”
She nodded her agreement. “Seems more businesslike to me.”
“Good point. What next, Miss Stallone?”
“Well, that might be a bridge too far,” she murmured, settling herself in the seat and folding her hands in her lap. “If we’re going to be parents, first names seem more than appropriate.”
He smiled slowly.
“Is that funny?”
“No, I was just thinking about how I call my father the Earl.”
“You do?”
“Not generally to his face. It suits him,” he said with a shrug.
A waiter appeared, dressed in a suit and brandishing two menus. “Can I get you some drinks?” he asked, pen and paper in hand.
Tia glanced across at Hamish. “Champagne,” she said. “Pol Roger, if you have it.”
“Excellent, ma’am. And for you, sir?”
“We’ll get the bottle, two glasses. I suspect we’re celebrating.”
“Or commiserating,” Tia murmured, when they were alone. “In my experience, champagne is a drink for all occasions.”
“I’d prefer to remain optimistic.”
She sat back in her chair, effortlessly elegant, even regal, her eyes showing thought. “Is that your natural bent?”
His lips twitched with something like a smile. “Perhaps once upon a time.”
“But not now?”
He thought about that. “No.”
“For any reason in particular?”
The waiter returned with the bottle and two glasses, efficiently uncorking it then going to pour. Hamish took the bottle instead. “I’ve got it.”
“As you wish,” the waiter said with a polite nod before leaving.
“I’m thirty-five,” he said, once their glasses had been filled. “Whatever youthful optimism I once possessed has been mostly worn away by life.”
“You say that like someone who hasn’t lived a very charmed existence…”
“You think money equates to ease?”
