The Billionaire Boss's Bride(27)

CHAPTER FIVE




TEN minutes later Tessa returned to the kitchen to find that the washing-up was certainly being done but in a cavalier fashion that entailed stacks of dishes balanced precariously on the draining-board. She watched, enjoying the sensation of being the observer rather than the observed, as Curtis’s hand hovered, trying to locate a safe spot on which a wine-glass could be deposited without bringing the whole fragile balancing act crashing to the floor.

‘Anna’s up,’ she announced. Without intervention, she doubted that the glass would survive in one piece. Before he could add it to the worrying pyramid of dishes, she grabbed a tea-cloth and removed it from his hand.

‘Oh, good,’ Curtis said, taking time out to watch her as she quickly dried the object and then moved on to remove crucially placed items back to the safety of the kitchen counter.

‘Up and very apologetic about just falling asleep like that. Apparently she’s been up very late most nights, doing emails to her friends, and what with exhaustion from work and all the stress of this evening, she just closed her eyes for one second and nodded off. I told her that she could have a bath and freshen up before she came down.’

‘Well, let’s hope she’s in a slightly better frame of mind when she emerges,’ Curtis replied, rinsing the last of the cutlery and dumping it into the upturned frying-pan, which was the closest thing to hand.

‘I think she’s hoping pretty much the same about you, actually.’ Tessa carried on with the drying-up, not looking at him. ‘There’s a method to washing dishes, in case no one’s ever told you,’ she said, breaking the silence with nervous chatter. ‘It usually involves using those convenient slots in the plastic for plates and the little attached rectangle at the front for cutlery.’

‘I say that when it comes to washing dishes, speed is of the essence. I have no reason why Anna thinks I might be in a bad mood.’

‘Because you were in one before she decided to lock off and go to sleep?’ Tessa prompted, sticking the last of the dried-up dishes into cupboards and moving to stand behind one of the chairs.

‘It’s not every day a man gets attacked by his daughter because he happens to want to bring a woman along with him on a date.’

Tessa gave him a long, dry look and he returned it with one of innocent bewilderment.

‘I really don’t think she was objecting to you wanting to bring a woman along with you,’ Tessa informed him succinctly. ‘I think it was the type of woman you wanted to bring along.’

‘Oh, I see.’ He looked upwards, calculating how long Anna would be having a bath. Not long, from the sound of footsteps just above him. ‘Look,’ he said urgently, ‘I really need to have a chat with you about this whole sorry situation. You seem to have built up some kind of rapport with my daughter and—’

‘Forget it.’ Yes, he was her boss, and, yes, there were limits. She could get a whiff of where he was heading with this one and she didn’t like what she smelled. It had the fishy odour of trying to entice her into influencing a fourteen-year-old girl.

‘Forget what? You haven’t even let me finish!’

‘I think I hear your daughter descending,’ Tessa said with heartfelt relief as the footsteps heralded a rush into the kitchen, where Anna immediately skidded to a halt.

‘Sorry, Dad!’ It was an apology without being apologetic and she eyed him warily, trying to gauge his mood from a safe distance. But her feathers were still ruffled. Not ruffled with the normal adolescent truculence and hostility. After a lifetime of absolute adherence to her father’s wishes and adoration from afar, truculence and hostility would not be within her range of emotion. But Tessa could see all the signs of teenage rebellion, nevertheless.

‘If you’d said you were tired, I would never have suggested we go out,’ Curtis responded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

‘It wasn’t about whether I was tired or not.’

Tessa sighed.

In an hour’s time they would both have forgotten their argument, but in an hour’s time she would still be dealing with the fallout of having been dragged into involvement.

‘Perhaps it’s time both of you…sorted out your differences at home? By which I mean your own home?’

Two pairs of eyes swivelled towards her, neither displaying any wild enthusiasm for her suggestion for them to leave.

Tessa groaned inwardly.

‘It’s getting late,’ she tried again, ‘and Anna must be starving. She hasn’t eaten, after all.’ She turned to Curtis, appealing to his paternal side.

‘I really don’t want to go to a restaurant in this…’ Anna said, flicking her head and staying her ground.