‘It could be the death of me. Or Edward even, if Zara doesn’t make her see sense.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Zara?’
‘The estate agent.’
‘Ah.’ He nodded, his grin wide and all-knowing. ‘Yes, of course, Zara, just the agent.’
‘Johansson, put a lid on it.’
‘Come on,’ he said, pounding Daniel on the back. ‘Let me grab a couple of beers and you can chew my ear off while they finish up out there.’
CHAPTER FIVE
‘OKAY, I’LL CONSIDER IT.’
Phew. Zara breathed a sigh of relief at Julia’s concession. It wasn’t just the fact that it would make Daniel happy that his sister might relent, it also meant the conversation was done with. Zara hadn’t gone in with the intention of talking about her own past experience with Charles, but as Julia had opened up it had come out naturally. And together they had commiserated, had a mutual bitch and bonded over it. But now she was ready to put him back in the past and move on. As was Julia. And the excitement of house-hunting was the perfect fix.
‘Your brother will be pleased,’ she said. ‘You can’t blame him, after everything you’ve gone through, to want to see you happy.’
‘But I don’t need a big house for that.’
‘No,’ Zara agreed, ‘but maybe we can go a little better and make you both happy.’
‘A compromise position, I like it.’ Julia grinned, raising her water glass in salute. ‘You’re an excellent saleswoman.’
Zara returned her smile. ‘I try.’
‘And I know he just wants the best for me.’ She took a sip of her drink, her eyes suddenly sombre. ‘But I wish he’d stop trying to make up for the past. None of it was his fault—he doesn’t owe me.’
‘I think you’ll struggle to convince him of that.’
‘Don’t I know it?’ She sighed and leaned back in her seat. ‘He really is a good guy, no matter what the press say about him.’
Zara shook her head confused. ‘The press?’
What did that mean? It was the second time his public status had come up and now she was burning to ask. Who was he?
‘Yes, but then the press are never really happy unless you’re screwing in their faces,’ she said dismissively, unaware that Zara was on high alert now.
Seriously, who the hell was he?
Daniel Larsson didn’t ring a bell. But then if they were only half-siblings it didn’t necessarily mean they’d share the same surname. Maybe Larsson was Julia’s married name?
Suddenly she wished she were more in the know, had kept abreast of the news, or was it more the gossip columns if Julia’s remark was anything to go on?
She sipped at her coffee. Could she probe? And how exactly?
She was considering her exact phrasing when Julia’s expression froze, her eyes flashing wildly as she looked past her in the direction of where Daniel had disappeared off to half an hour ago.
Zara turned to follow her gaze and, sure enough, there was the man himself, only this time he was tailed by another—Johansson; she’d put her money on it judging by Julia’s reaction and the apprehensive look on the other man’s face.
He was even taller than Daniel, dark and fair-skinned—no sun time for this guy. His eyes were as blue as the ocean and bright with appreciation as they fixed on Julia and remained.
So it was that kind of history. Daniel had played that well.
‘You ladies done?’ He looked to her pointedly and her heart skipped over, drying up her words.
Julia got stuck in instead. ‘If by done, you mean, has Zara convinced me to be more open to your idea, then yes, you can consider us done.’ She softened her bluntness with a smile and then her gaze swept to their new guest and her cheeks flushed. ‘Niklas.’