The Billionaire Boss's Bride(28)

Tessa was puzzled. ‘In what?’

‘This.’ One hand indicated her outfit in a smooth sweep.

‘Oh, right.’

‘You look beautiful, Anna. I told you that earlier!’

‘Dad, you’ve been telling me that since I was a baby!’

‘You’ve been beautiful since you were a baby!’

This was going nowhere fast. Having survived dinner, Tessa now recognised it seemed as though imminent departure was becoming tangled up in a quagmire of two people who, probably for the first time ever, had hit a rough patch. And they had hit it in her house.

‘Would you like me to fix you something to eat, Anna?’ she interrupted their exchange of words reluctantly.

‘Have you got any pizza?’ Anna asked hopefully and Tessa shook her head. ‘Well, could you perhaps send out for some?’

‘There’s a pizza place just a few minutes’ drive away,’ Tessa said, brightening up. ‘Why don’t the two of you…? Well, it’s not as though it’s anything fancy…you needn’t worry about your outfit there…’

‘It’s Saturday night. It’s a pizzeria.’

‘Right.’ Tessa nodded in comprehension. She remembered the syndrome well. When she was fourteen and still enjoying her youth, she too would never have ventured into a casual, adolescent-ridden setting in anything but her most screamingly casual clothes. And when Lucy was fourteen and heading anywhere where she might possibly be seen by other teenagers, her outfits had involved whatever jeans had happened to be in fashion, the least practical of her tops and shoes that most normal people would have found it difficult to walk in.

‘Explain, please,’ Curtis interrupted from the sidelines of what looked like a female conspiracy, and Tessa turned to him.

‘Pizzerias on a Saturday are usually home to teenagers wearing less…well, formal clothes. Anna thinks she might stand out a bit…’

‘Stand out!’ Curtis exploded incredulously. ‘Stand out? Yes, sure you’ll stand out but only because you’re a cut above the rest!’

Anna greeted this by turning on her heel and stomping out of the kitchen, leaving her father with a look of stunned amazement on his face. This quickly changed to glowering accusation as he looked at Tessa.

‘This is all your fault,’ he informed her. ‘We never had these ridiculous problems until you decided to take her on a shopping trip. She was always fine with the clothes she had.’

‘I think you need to go and talk to her,’ Tessa returned with as much calm as she could muster given the unfairness of his accusation.

With a curt nod, he disappeared only to return minutes later. ‘Where’s your phone book?’ he asked, pulling his mobile phone out of his pocket. ‘It seems that eating out anywhere tonight isn’t an option with my daughter. She’s decided that she wants to sit in front of your television and eat some pizza so I’ve told her that I’ll order some in.’

‘Sit in front of my television? Why can’t you both go home and she can sit in front of your television and eat the pizza?’

This was getting ridiculous. From a quiet night in, enjoying the peace of having the house to herself, she now found herself entertaining two people at loggerheads with one another, one of whom evoked all the wrong reactions in her. Worse, she could cope with him when he was at work, could cope with him when he was teasing her even though it made her insides squirm. Could even cope with him, just, when he was flirting with those dark eyes and that sexy smile. Flirting came naturally to him and meant nothing. In that context, it was possible to distance herself from some of the devastating effects of the odd wayward smile, the occasional crinkling of his eyes when he looked at her.

However, coping with him when he was like this, baffled and seemingly at a loss as to how to deal with a situation, was proving a nightmare. She wanted to plunge right in and stroke all his troubles away. Just the thought of that made her gulp with a hysterical swelling of pure alarm.

This was the essence of the charmer, she reminded herself. And the man was charm personified. It was a quality that couldn’t be pulled out of a hat and then shoved back in; it was something that was there, always, enticing and beckoning. It was the quality that made women want to be near him, made them want to continue contact long after any relationship might have gone pear-shaped.

‘Phone book?’ he reminded her, bringing her thoughts to a skidding halt.

‘I’m really very tired.’ One last stab, she thought, one last attempt to propel him and Anna out of the door, leaving her in peace.

Curtis looked at his watch and then looked at her. ‘It’s not even nine-thirty as yet.’