‘Good to know.’
So that was what this romantic walk in the woods was all about.
She was being given the message he wasn’t interested. He clearly thought she needed that message. Sybella’s stomach hollowed out.
Probably now was a good time to sort this, when her ego was still reverberating from his direct hit and she was feeling a bit numb.
‘There’s just one small problem I should probably alert you to before we go our separate ways,’ she said with as much dignity as she could muster. ‘After the other night a lot of people in the village think you’re my boyfriend.’
‘Boyfriend?’
Sybella could feel herself turning pink. This was possibly one of the more embarrassing moments of her life.
‘It’s not what you think. I haven’t rushed about telling people you are.’
‘I’m not thinking that,’ he said slowly.
‘The other night at the Hall when you were holding me, some of the committee members got the wrong idea.’
She looked up at him, biting the inside of her lower lip. ‘It will blow over, but I thought you should be made aware of it.’
Nik did his best to repress his amusement. He cleared his throat. ‘People do jump to some out-there conclusions.’
‘I know, crazy, right?’ Sybella began to talk faster, because now they were at the more awkward bit, but she had to ask. ‘There’s one other thing. There aren’t many opportunities in the immediate countryside for curatorial jobs, and my CV isn’t exactly bursting at the seams, and if it gets out what happened with the house being open to the public on false pretences and you shutting things down, I can’t see anyone ever hiring me. Ever.’
‘I see.’
‘Reputation matters in this business.’
‘Makes sense.’
‘If you could see your way clear to not pressing any legal charges—’
‘Sybella, I didn’t have all the information to hand. I’m not going to make your life any more difficult than it already is.’
‘Oh.’ She said a silent prayer. ‘Thank you. You’re not nearly as scary as you pretend to be, are you?’
It was his turn to look vaguely bemused.
‘I don’t mean to offend you,’ she rushed on, ‘but you can be a bit intimidating. I suppose it’s because you’re so big.’
‘There’s that,’ Nik drawled, not sure if she knew how adorable she looked babbling at him as if he had feelings to hurt and she was worried about having stepped on them. ‘I also have a lot of financial clout. You’d be amazed, Mrs Parminter, how the world works.’
‘I suppose I would,’ she said, blushing. ‘I should probably get up to speed on that.’
He almost idly wound the end of one of her ringlets around his index finger before releasing it. It was a gesture implying intimacy, touching her but not quite touching her, which made her think about when they had touched, when they’d kissed.
‘No, don’t do that,’ he said. ‘Stay the way you are.’
‘Too tall, too opinionated, too fat,’ she blurted out.
Oh. God. Where had that come from? Because there was nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who bemoaned her looks. At least in some far-flung universe they didn’t currently occupy.
To forestall any opinion he might have about her round body or her interest in him, she bowled on, ‘Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I guess all those women you date don’t go on about their looks because they’re so gorgeous it doesn’t occur to them.’
Sybella took a breath and stared in disbelief into the middle distance.
There was this awful silence. She wondered if he’d think it was odd if she just ran off at this point, screaming, into the forest.
Instead she made a swipe of her watch under her long sleeve.
‘Oh, goodness, is that the time? I have to pick up Fleur from communal play. She’s got a birthday party tomorrow with her little friends. She’s taking fairy bread, and I still have to pick up the ingredients.’
She didn’t wait for his response but started hurrying away from him, back towards the car.
‘Listen to me babbling,’ she threw over her shoulder. ‘You don’t mind me driving, do you?’