Best of Bosses 2008(119)

Rose gaily accepted another drink from Ted Splice, as she called him in her head, and was making sure not to look in the direction of the redhead just in case Nick returned to his date and noticed her staring, when she felt the tap on her shoulder.

She spun round and there he was. She’d been certain she hadn’t been noticed, but he must have seen her as he was making his way back from the bar.

Rose felt her heart skip a beat, then she produced the same sparkly smile she had perfected with Ted.

‘Good heavens. Fancy seeing you here. How are you?’ She noticed that he failed to produce a reciprocal smile. In fact, his expression was cool and Rose was suddenly enraged that he should chuck her aside and then, as if that weren’t bad enough, treat her to the cold shoulder.

‘You seem to be having a good time,’ Nick drawled, giving her a leisurely appraisal.

‘Oh, I am.’

‘Bit of a change for you, isn’t it? This kind of thing?’

‘Well, you know what they say about a change being as good as a rest. I hadn’t expected it to be quite as large as this, but I’m having a brilliant time, meeting loads of really interesting people.’

‘So I couldn’t help but notice.’

His voice dripped ice and Rose wondered whether, having an ego the size of a house, he had expected her to be sitting indoors pining for him. Little could he guess that she had pretty much been doing just that until tonight.

‘What about you?’ she asked politely. ‘Having a good time? Did you come with anyone? I guess you know quite a few of the people here anyway…’ She was gratified to notice that even the subdued lighting couldn’t quite hide his dark flush and she gave him her most innocent look.

‘As a matter of fact, I did come with someone. She’s over there somewhere.’ He indicated somewhere behind her while keeping his eyes firmly fixed on her face, and Rose dutifully turned around to see the redhead looking daggers at her.

‘Oh, dear. Your date doesn’t look awfully happy that you’ve abandoned her. You’d better run along before she blows a fuse.’

Nick, whose mood seemed to be deteriorating by the second, scowled. ‘My date is more than capable of taking care of herself for a few minutes.’ He bared his teeth in a smile. ‘Besides, I don’t think she would begrudge me catching up with an old…friend…’ Of course he had known that she would be there and he had brought along the arm candy to remind himself that he had done the right thing, they had both done the right thing—parted company because at the end of the day she was a settling-down kind of girl and he was a no-commitment kind of guy. That was just the way it was. He liked variety. The redhead filled that role.

‘I don’t think there’s much to catch up on.’ Rose frowned and made a show of giving his remark all the attention it deserved. ‘I’m back at my old job and enjoying it and…’ she could be as cool and dismissive as he was ‘…you were very useful in teaching me that madness isn’t always a bad thing. As you can see, I’ve taken that advice to heart.’ She laughed gaily. ‘I’d have steered a million miles away from something like this in the past—as you pointed out…’

He had been useful? Nick didn’t appreciate the compliment, not at all.

‘There’s madness and there’s stupidity, Rose,’ he gritted. ‘Madness is breaking out of your comfort zone and coming here tonight…’

‘And stupidity?’ She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like his answer, but that, in a way, would surely work for her, because how on earth would she ever get closure if she carried on loving him? Let him show himself in all his arrogant glory, she willed.

‘Stupidity is wearing that dress.’

Rose’s mouth fell open in shock. She gave an incredulous laugh. ‘You object to my dress?’ She glanced significantly over her shoulder to where his date gave the term skimpy clothing a whole new meaning.

‘That’s completely different,’ Nick growled.

‘Oh, and why is that? Because she’s tall and skinny and can carry off wearing handkerchiefs better than me?’

‘Because…’ Because she’s as sexy as a runner bean, Nick thought savagely. He deeply resented the fact that the woman standing in front of him, flaunting herself to all and sundry, was still on his mind, despite all his efforts to wipe her out. ‘Because,’ he grated, ‘you could land yourself in a situation you wouldn’t be able to handle dressed like that. Did you look in the mirror before you left your house? Do you have any idea how much of your…you is on show?’