Georgie felt unreasonably miffed that that little snippet of information about him had managed to creep under her skin so that it could niggle away at her defences. She pasted a smile on her face and left him to his pot.
After that, what was there to say?
The meal, when finally brought to the table by a man who waved down both their offers of help, was as good as it had smelled. And, Georgie noticed, there were no superfluous loving asides as accompaniment. She was irked to find herself disappointed by the lack of teasing familiarity with which she had become familiar, even if only in the sense that she slapped it away whenever she could. He was, as far as Didi was concerned, just the same as ever, but she noticed the difference. He no longer brushed against her, or watched her through those amazing eyes of his, as if drinking her in even when he could see that she was plainly irritated by the interest.
He had got the message about her once and for all, and for that, she decided, she should be well and truly thankful. Wasn’t it what she had wanted?
In fact, he barely looked at her, although his lack of interest wasn’t obvious. There were no lulls in the conversation, which would have pointed to an underlying tension. Rather, he was as relaxed and charming as she had ever seen him. She just sensed the change.
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‘Maybe I’ll get around to doing a bit more of this culinary stuff,’ he said, when his meal had been duly complimented.
‘Things will change when you’re back in your natural habitat,’ Georgie said darkly, and this time he did spare her the briefest of looks.
‘You’re probably right,’ he agreed, standing up so that he could complete his perfect pretence of being a domesticated creature by taking the dishes to the sink. ‘A leopard never changes its spots, does it, Georgina? We may think we’re free to do what we want, but the reality of it is that we’re stuck in our ways, unwilling or unable to ever break free.’
‘That’s very deep, Pierre.’ Didi laughed.
Georgie blushed and looked away. ‘That’s right,’ she said in a high voice. ‘I mean, do you really think you’ll ever cook a meal when you get back to London? At the end of the week?’
‘Depends on the woman…’
Didi, mistakenly, assumed that he was referring to Georgie. Georgie knew better. This was his way of telling her that the sea was very full of fish.
‘Darling.’ Didi interrupted and Georgie wondered if her antennae had picked up the awkward undercurrent, ‘you were saying something about work…’
‘Was I?’
‘Isn’t that why you were late?’
‘Oh, yes! Course! Work! You know how it is, Didi…Christmas around the corner and as usual half the stuff has either gone missing in action or else been attacked by moths.’
‘What stuff?’ Pierre sauntered towards the kitchen table and sat down, hooking his foot under a chair so that he could drag it closer to him as a makeshift footrest.
‘Nothing interesting. Honestly, Pierre, you’d find it very dull.’
‘Oh, yes, forgot, I’m a high powered city guy who’s kidding himself that he can ever enjoy the rural life…
‘I’m seriously tempted,’ he murmured, folding his hands behind his head and staring at her through half-closed eyes, ‘to issue you with a little bet.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It’s easy to sit there and talk about people not being able to adapt to different surroundings, yet I know you don’t speak from experience…’
‘What do you mean?’ Georgie asked faintly, not liking the sound of where this was going.
‘You don’t know about whether I could grow to enjoy the simple life any more than you know whether you could enjoy the city life. In actual fact, I’m more qualified than you are on the subject because I’ve experienced both…you, on the other hand, have not…’
‘That’s a silly bet.’ Georgie looked to Didi for support, but was alarmed to see the older woman nodding thoughtfully and tugging on her earring.
‘Pierre’s got a point,’ Didi said slowly. ‘You’ve never really experienced much of a city life, have you, Georgie? I mean, you grew up around here and, yes, there was your university stint, but still a university in the country…hmm…’
‘I’ve always enjoyed living in the country,’ Georgie said in a measured voice, eyes averted from Pierre. ‘Some people do.’
‘But it might be rather nice for you to experience life in the fast lane,’ Didi commented. ‘The shops, the restaurants, the theatres…all the excitement…’