Anything but Vanilla(49)
‘I told you I was pistachio,’ she said.
‘Not your dress, the ice cream,’ he said. ‘It’s very popular, especially with the women.’
‘Is that right? So are you ready to concede defeat?’
‘That depends. Did we decide what your forfeit would be if you lose?’
‘If I lose, I pay the full rent,’ she reminded him, finding it easier to keep her head with the width of the ice-cream bar between them. ‘Is there something you want, Alexander?’
His smile was slow, sexy and she was wrong about the ice-cream bar. It was nowhere wide enough.
‘Ice cream?’ she prompted.
‘I have a special request for a tray of the Earl Grey granita for the ladies watching the tennis.’
‘I suspect it’s you rather than the ice they want.’ Especially the junior royal who had been flirting with him whenever he came within eyelash-fluttering distance.
‘Maybe you should send someone else.’
‘And disappoint the paying customers? I don’t think so,’ she said, taking a tray of tiny cups and saucers out of a chiller drawer and piling in spoonfuls of granita, decorating each one with the thinnest curl of citrus peel, before adding a lemon tuile biscuit to each saucer with the speed of long practice.
‘You’ve done that before.’
‘Once or two thousand,’ she said.
‘They look very tempting.’
‘Don’t keep Lady Louise waiting,’ she said, waving him away as she began scooping out the strawberry shortcake and lemon cheesecake into bite-sized biscuit cases. ‘She won’t be happy if her tea gets warm.’
‘No, ma’am.’
When she allowed herself to look up again, he had been waylaid halfway across the lawn by a blonde weather-girl whose string of high-profile romances had ensured her permanent place on the covers of the lifestyle magazines. She leaned forward, offering a close-up of her generously enhanced cleavage, and, her hand on his arm, whispered something in Alexander’s ear. He whispered back and she burst out laughing as she took a cup from the tray. Which was when the Celebrity photographer seized his moment.
Barring any outrageous incident, it seemed likely that her Earl Grey granita, bracketed by their favourite cover girl flirting with an unknown but attractive man, would make it onto the cover of next week’s Celebrity.
She knew she should be ecstatic about that—it was more than she’d dared hope for—but, with Alexander still grinning as he headed for the tennis court, she couldn’t bring herself to feel as happy about it as she ought to be.
* * *
‘Fabulous, Sorrel,’ Nick said, dropping by once everyone had gone. ‘Thanks for a wonderful event.’
‘It seemed to go well. We were lucky with the weather.’
‘Well, I can’t deny that helped. Alexander...’ he said, turning, as Alexander handed her a couple of cups and a spoon that had been missed. ‘I thought I saw you, earlier, but assumed I must be hallucinating.’
‘I flew in a couple of days ago.’
‘Actually, I was referring to the fact that you’re moonlighting for Sorrel.’
‘Blue moonlighting,’ he said.
‘As in “once in a blue moon”,’ Sorrel chipped in, seeing Nick’s confusion.
Unsure what to make of that, he said, ‘Well, thanks again, Sorrel. I’ll be in touch very soon. It’s my niece’s eighteenth birthday in a couple of months and she’s dropped heavy hints that she expects Rosie to put in an appearance at her party.’
‘No problem. Just let me know when so that I can put it in the diary.’
‘I’ll phone you next week. Are you going to be around for long, Alexander?’
‘A week or two.’
‘Well, give me a call if you have time so that we can catch up.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’ he asked, when Nick had gone.
She shook her head. The students were a well-drilled team and everything was already cleaned down and packed away, ready to be picked up by Sean.
‘You’ve been brilliant. I am very grateful. Truly.’ She tucked the cups and spoons into their crates inside the ice-cream bar. ‘Thanks for finding these. The staff are good at spotting stuff tucked away in the weirdest places, but it’s always tougher keeping track when the event is outside.’
‘I can imagine. So,’ he said, ‘what’s the score? Who won?’