‘Thanks for that,’ said Leo, once he’d recovered from both the champagne going down the wrong way and his brother’s efforts to rectify the situation, which had involved a lot of back thumping and drink spillage.
‘Sorry,’ said Jake, not sounding in the slightest bit apologetic. ‘So what kept you?’
‘Jet lag,’ he muttered. ‘Knocked me for six.’
‘Ah. I did wonder. I thought you might be deliberately avoiding the party.’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘You hate them.’
That was true, but, ‘This isn’t a party,’ he said. ‘This is work.’
‘Try telling that to our guests.’
Leo swapped his empty glass for a full one, took a long gulp and forced himself to focus. ‘How’s it going?’ he asked, his gaze drifting over the throngs of people all drinking and eating and full of the Christmas spirit he found so hard to muster up while he identified staff members, clients, architects, planning officers and financiers among the guests, and resolutely did not look for a certain slim, strawberry-blonde event organiser.
‘Pretty good so far.’ Jake helped himself to something that looked like a mini Yorkshire pudding. ‘Thanks to Abby,’ he added. ‘Whom you’ve met, I gather.’
‘I have,’ said Leo, annoyed with himself for being tempted to seek her out when she shouldn’t even be crossing his mind, and then thinking that actually ‘met’ wasn’t quite the word he’d have used. Insulted. That was probably an appropriate one. Or offended. That would work equally well.
‘What did you think of her?’
He thought she was gorgeous. Sexy. Very very beddable. ‘I didn’t think anything of her, particularly,’ he said, his voice not betraying a hint of the lie. ‘Why?’
Jake wiped his fingers on a napkin and grinned. ‘Just wondering.’
‘What do you think of her?’ asked Leo before he could stop himself.
‘She’s great. Extremely capable. Has a knack for knowing exactly what’s needed, a talent for solving problems with the minimum amount of fuss and a rare ability to stick to the budget. Plus, she’s single and incredibly hot.’
Leo felt his jaw tighten for a second but channelled nonchalance he really didn’t feel and said, as if he couldn’t give a toss, ‘Is she? I hadn’t noticed.’ Which was another lie because like hell he hadn’t.
Jake grinned. ‘No, well, you wouldn’t, would you? A dozen naked women could parade right in front of you and you’d be oblivious.’
‘I prefer subtlety.’
‘As I don’t, I might ask her for a dance later.’
‘Go for it,’ said Leo, just about managing not to grit his teeth.
‘Although I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she said no.’
‘Why?’
When Jake didn’t immediately answer Leo glanced over to find his brother looking at him questioningly. ‘What the hell happened up there?’
Hmm.
Leo picked up a tiny blini topped with sour cream and caviar and ate it slowly, largely to give himself time to work out how he was going to respond, because wasn’t that the question of the night? And one to which there was no answer, because for one thing he still hadn’t entirely worked it out, and for another, hell would freeze over before he shared the details of the misunderstanding that made him look like such a complete and utter fool with anyone, least of all his no-holds-barred brother.
‘What do you mean, what happened up there?’ he said evenly, deciding that bluffing was the only way through this. ‘Nothing happened up there.’
‘Right,’ said Jake, clearly not believing him for a second. ‘Then why did Abby come down looking like thunder?’
Leo shrugged and kept his eyes on the party. ‘No idea,’ he said and took another gulp of champagne.
‘What did you do?’