‘You mean you’re already finished?’ His eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘I thought we’d be stuck here for hours.’ Picking up her bag, he handed it to her. ‘Is this your attempt to show me how controlled you can be?’
Tabitha shrugged. ‘Something like that,’ she muttered, while privately wondering how people could sit for hours staring at the blessed things. Mind you, not everyone had a diversion quite as delicious as Zavier to lure them away. ‘Are we going home now?’
He stared at her for a moment, watching as her colour deepened under his scrutiny. ‘I thought I’d have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming.’
Mentally chastising herself, Tabitha realised she wasn’t exactly behaving like a woman with a gambling problem. ‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ she said lightly, jumping down from her stool and making to go. But Zavier didn’t move. He just carried on staring, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her thoughtfully.
‘Come on.’ Taking her hand, he led her easily through the crowd and without a further word led her up mazes of escalators until the thronging masses eased off. Suddenly the fairground-like, carnival mood of the casino had evaporated; suddenly they were back in Zavier’s world. The world of the well dressed, with dimmed lights and discreet music, a world where doormen greeted you by name and never asked for ID, where even the bar staff never thought to charge.
A world away from Tabitha’s.
A vast wooden door was opened as if by magic, and Tabitha blinked a couple of times as the heavy cigar smoke that filled the air reached her eyes.
‘Why have you bought me here?’ she asked slowly, terrified he might ask her to play one of the tables.
‘To teach you a lesson.’ His hand was still wrapped around hers, and he pulled her nearer but didn’t bother to drop his voice. ‘The minimum bet here’s a thousand dollars. I’m going to show you just how easy it is to lose money.’#p#分页标题#e#
‘Oh, come on, Zavier.’ She turned to go but his hand gripped hers ever tighter. ‘There’s no need for this.’ She let out a nervous giggle. ‘I gamble away the odd twenty dollars or so; this is the big league.’
‘It’s all relative.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Anyway, I’m not the one in debt here.’
‘Well, you might be soon.’ Tabitha gestured to the tables. ‘Look, Zavier, this has gone too far…’ She had to tell him, had to stop him—everything was getting way out of hand. ‘I don’t have a problem with gambling. I don’t know how you got the idea—’
‘So you’re suddenly cured?’
‘I never had a problem in the first place—’
‘Save it,’ he snapped.
‘But I don’t—’
‘You see that guy over there?’ This time his voice did drop. ‘Hands clenched, sweating buckets?’
Tabitha followed his gaze, nodding as she saw the unfortunate gentleman who was now fishing a large silk handkerchief out of his undoubtedly expensive suit. ‘I bet if you asked he’d tell you that he hasn’t got a problem either. Yet he probably just lost his house, or his car, maybe his business, and no doubt he lost his wife a while back. And see that woman there? The one in the green dress?’ He didn’t wait for her response. ‘See how she’s chewing on her lip, taking a drink every few seconds? Well, if she had any sense then she’d get the hell out. Like I said, it’s all relative, whether it’s twenty dollars or twenty thousand. If you can’t afford it you shouldn’t be here.’
Despite her awkwardness Tabitha listened, enthralled, his insight was amazing, his descriptions spot-on. ‘And I suppose you’ll just stand there calmly?’
‘That’s right.’ He led her over to a soft low sofa and they sat down, drinks seemingly miraculously appearing before them before the waiters discreetly melted away. ‘I’ll set my budget and stick to it.’
‘Oh, very controlled,’ Tabitha said sarcastically. ‘It must be hard, being so perfect all of the time.’
‘Hey, I thought we were being nice to each other.’
‘We are,’ Tabitha grumbled. ‘Except when you start lecturing me.’
‘I’m not lecturing you. Well, maybe a bit,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s for your own good. The difference between us, Tabitha, is I know when to stop.’
‘Fine,’ she snapped, nervous at the thought of him gambling money to prove an extremely unnecessary point. ‘You do what you want. Just don’t expect me to join you.’