‘That’s none of your—’
‘Business. Is that what you’re about to say?’
‘Where are you going with this, Lucas? Okay, so I may not have much money saved, but...I’ll have what I’ve earned for this fortnight.’ She frowned and wondered how long that would last. Why did he have to throw reality in her face? Had he no heart at all?
‘“Water through fingers” is the thought that springs to mind,’ Lucas said with what she thought was a callous lack of empathy. ‘The cost of living is astronomical in London.’
‘How would you know?’ Milly muttered and again Lucas opted to ignore her interruption.
‘I guess, in all events, you could always return to your grandmother’s place in Scotland. Ah. I can see from the you way you blanched just then that that option lacks appeal.’
‘Why are you doing this?’
‘Doing what?’ Lucas asked with a show of innocence that set her teeth on edge because it was so clearly false.
‘Ramming all my problems down my throat. I wish I’d never confided in you.’
‘I wasn’t ramming your problems down your throat.’
‘I didn’t come here to...to...’
‘Confront that awkward little thing known as reality?’
‘You can be really horrible.’ Okay, so obviously she would have to address the pressing issue of how she was going to survive without a job and, hard on the heels of that, probably nowhere to live either. But she had been quite happy to put that on hold, at least for a few days. Once she had sorted out the emotional mess she was in which, thinking about it, she realised she seemed to be sorting out rather nicely, all things taken into account.
‘There’s a point to my timely reminder of the problems you’re facing,.’ Lucas leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. He wondered where he should start. Her mouth was pursed into a sulky downturn, her eternally upbeat personality dampened by the way he had forced unpleasant reality upon her.
‘And that point being...?’
‘Point being that I’m about to come to your rescue. In fact, I’m about to open up your world to tantalising new possibilities, and in return all you have to do for me is one small favour.’
CHAPTER FIVE
MILLY STARED AT Lucas in confusion. For a few seconds, she wondered whether he was joking, whether he was having a laugh at her expense, somehow getting his own back for the tantrum she had pulled earlier.
She dismissed that idea as fast as it had come. His face was impassive, deadly serious. And if her gut was telling her that he wasn’t the sort of guy who liked tantrums, it was also telling her that he wasn’t the sort of guy who would do anything to get his own back for something as silly as her snapping at him.
Whether he had deserved it or not. Which he had. More or less.
‘Tantalising new possibilities?’ she laughed a little weakly. ‘Are you feeling okay, Lucas? How are you going to open up my world to tantalising new possibilities?’ She wished he would stop looking at her like that, with such deadly calm.