Nick, for the first time in his life, felt himself struggling to get a handle on the situation.
‘Two bit actor?’
‘What else? You might play the action hero in whatever third-rate movies you’ve been in, but you can drop the macho act. It doesn’t wash with me. All I know is that Lily is a sucker when it comes to a good-looking man with a few chat-up lines, but they never stay the course and she’s had her heart broken too many times…’
Two-bit actor? Action hero? The woman had the barefaced audacity to make him sound like a comic-book character! But he was certainly not going to allow himself to be dragged into a stand-up fight with a woman with the personality of a Rottweiler. ‘Hence you’re her self-appointed watchdog. That’s very noble of you,’ Nick said coolly. ‘Does Lily appreciate your over-zealous concern? Or do you save these little speeches for when her back’s turned?’ He placed the mug on the table without drinking any of the coffee. ‘I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m not an empty-headed male model out to sleep with the nearest attractive woman, nor am I a two bit actor with an identity problem.’
‘No? Well, it doesn’t matter. Model, actor…creative director with an empty casting couch…it’s all much of a muchness. Lily’s just emerged from a relationship that ended badly and I’m making sure that she doesn’t get taken in by another man with too much looks and too few scruples for his own good. I wish there were a more polite way of warning you off, but there isn’t.’
Nick was accustomed to women pandering to him, hanging onto his every word, courting him with their feminine wiles. Could his night go any more off course? From a showdown that, inevitably, would reach the gossip pages in some rag, to a confrontation with a perfect stranger who was either partially unhinged or just too plain bloody outspoken for her own good.
Before he could reply to that blazing, generalised condemnation, Lily burst into the kitchen, apologising profusely and winningly for taking so long, but she’d just had to have a quick shower because she’d felt hideously grubby and knew, just knew that she’d stunk of cigarette smoke because everybody, but everybody there had been smoking and not all of it the run-of-the-mill tobacco.
Even in the early hours of the morning and after a long day doing a tiring job, she still managed to look incredibly fresh and vital and hopelessly young. It was ludicrous that her sister could imply that he, Nick Papaeliou, who could have any woman he wanted, would be attracted to Lily.
‘Have you two been getting to know one another?’ Lily asked brightly and Nick, looking at Rose from under his lashes, saw her glance with muted antagonism at him. Lily helped herself to some water from the tap and then turned around and perched against the counter so that she could look at them both.
‘Oh, absolutely,’ Nick drawled smoothly, giving Rose a slow, meaningful smile. ‘Like a house on fire…’
‘Oh, great!’ She turned to Rose. ‘Poor Nick broke up with his girlfriend tonight and it’s always nice to be in company when you’re down in the dumps.’
The meaningful smile slowly disappeared as Rose raised her eyebrows and nodded her head slowly.
‘I was far from down in the dumps, Lily.’ He tried to smile that one off, but he was irritably conscious of her sister’s eyes fastened on his face. ‘In fact, our relationship was on its way out. Susanna only did what I myself would have done the following day.’ How was he now having an inappropriately private conversation with two women he had never seen in his life before tonight?
‘Why would you go to a party with someone you wanted to ditch?’ Rose asked innocently and Nick gritted his teeth together. ‘I mean, the poor woman probably thought that you really cared about her.’
‘If you knew Susanna, the very last word you would use to describe her would be poor.’
‘Still…’ Rose allowed that one little word to drop into the silence.
Looking at her, Nick momentarily forgot Lily’s presence. ‘Still…what?’
‘Must be awful to break up with someone you care about in front of other people. I always think that when I open the newspapers and they’re full of some poor celebrity couple who end up being forced to wash all their dirty linen in public. And in a way, that’s not even as bad as the dirty linen being washed in front of friends…she must have been feeling pretty desperate…’
Lily was watching this interchange with a certain amount of bewilderment.
‘And on that note…’ Nick stood up. Surprisingly, exchanging barbs with Rose had so completely absorbed his attention that nothing else had occupied his mind. Not Susanna, not work, and he had completely forgotten Lily’s presence even though she had been standing in his direct line of vision.