She opened her mouth to say something, but he expertly changed the topic and began chatting to her harmlessly about his drive down from London.
Who cared about his drive down from London? Georgie thought. It was wrong but what she really wanted to hear was more about his feelings for her. She knew, in her head, that it all amounted to the same thing—passing lust—but how different it sounded when he was looking at her with those stunning eyes, not demanding a thing, just telling her what he thought. She surfaced to find that he was asking her something and immediately answered to discover that she had said yes to another bottle of wine. Where on earth had number one gone?
‘We really shouldn’t drink much more,’ she felt obliged to tell him. ‘I mean, you’re driving. How are we going to get back?’
‘I have only been sipping my wine. Georgia. Tell me about the people you work with. They seem a nice bunch.’
Georgie was beginning to feel pleasantly light-headed, a combination of the wine and the headiness of his words. Mention of her colleagues brought her back down to earth with a bump.
‘They’re very nice,’ she agreed, thinking of Claudette, Janice and Liz, last spotted batting their eyelashes and flirting as though sightings of attractive men were a rare event to be enjoyed before they vanished.
‘Now why do I get the feeling that you’re not being entirely sincere?’ Pierre frowned. ‘Is there some sort of problem there, Georgie? Small places can get a bit hothouse, especially when the crew are largely female and roughly the same age.’ It wasn’t like Georgie to be reticent in her friendliness. He felt a sudden and powerful urge to protect her even though he knew very well that she could be as ferocious as a bulldog when it suited her. ‘Is there some kind of bullying going on? I don’t suppose there would be anyone to complain to…’
‘What on earth are you talking about, Pierre?’ Georgie asked, astonished at his train of thought, which had sprung from nowhere and seemed to be heading for destinations unknown.
‘I’m talking about what’s going on in that school of yours. You’re obviously not happy there.’
‘I’m very happy there.’
‘Then why the tone of voice when I mentioned the girls you worked with?’ Her change of expression said it all and Pierre gave her a slow, knowing smile. ‘Ah. I see.’
‘See what?’
‘No need to be jealous.’
‘Jealous? Me?’#p#分页标题#e##p#分页标题#e#
‘Jealous. You. Now then, what are you going to have? To eat?’
Georgie hadn’t even noticed the arrival of the waitress. She glanced down at her menu, flustered by the way he kept leading her along only to leave her high and dry by changing the subject. How had he known that she was jealous? She had barely admitted to the emotion herself! She ordered the freshly caught fish of the day from the menu and wondered whether he would now start talking about something utterly boring and harmless, maybe the weather or her work. They had already killed the tedious subject of motorway traffic.
‘Good choice.’ Pierre snapped shut his menu and poured her another glass of wine. ‘Not everyone would have had the gumption to order the dressed crab. Now where were we? Oh, yes. You were going to tell me why you’re jealous of your colleagues. I only chatted to them, although…’ He pretended to ponder an interesting possibility that was taking place in his head.
‘Although what?’
‘You’re pouting.’
‘I’m not pouting. I don’t pout, Pierre. Anyway, I’m drinking far too much. I need to get some food inside me.’
‘You should have had something a little more substantial for starters than the smoked salmon salad,’ he mused. He signalled for some bread, which Georgie dived into in an attempt to steady her frayed nerves.
‘You were saying…’ she reminded him. ‘Actually not so much saying as thinking about one of my colleagues.’ She gave a light laugh that tried and failed to sound carefree. ‘Typical of you to tell me that you find me attractive only to spoil the effect by lusting after Janice.’
‘What makes you think that it was Janice?’
‘Long brown hair? Big blue eyes? Cleavage in full display even in winter?’ How catty did she sound? ‘That was horrible. I take it back.’
‘I prefer green eyes anyway…’
Georgie could feel dangerous recklessness steal into her well-erected defences and begin to chip away at them. She would have been able to cope with a full-fledged assault, but these sexy, lazy compliments and the way his eyes were drinking her in made her feel hot and bothered and warmly, wetly excited.