‘Heaps. But it’s fine. I’m managing. Are you missing Dan?’
‘A bit.’
Her brother had never been away for two months before and she regularly found herself picking up the phone to call him, putting it down a second later and feeling rather empty and alone. It didn’t help that her parents had been in regular touch to have a moan about each other. Usually she shared the brunt of their non-relationship with Dan, and the fact that she couldn’t only added to her current stress levels.
‘Kit and I have set a date for the wedding,’ said Lily, dragging her out of one pity party and tossing her into another.
A wedding, Celia thought, her heart squeezing for a moment. Another one... Then she pulled herself together and remembered that once the deal was through, rectifying her love life was something else she was going to tackle. The minute she had the time she’d embark on a dating mission to end all dating missions. And because this was Lily and she was aware of the ups and downs of her and Kit’s relationship, she was genuinely pleased they’d set a date. ‘When?’
‘December.’
‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks.’
‘How are things going with you two?’
‘Remarkably well,’ said Lily, looking a bit surprised at the thought. ‘But let’s not forget that there’s every possibility I’ll muck it up.’
Celia smiled. ‘I’d be surprised if Kit let you.’
‘He keeps telling me he won’t.’
‘There you go, then.’
‘And speaking of gorgeous men,’ Lily continued. ‘I ran into Marcus last week.’
At the casual mention of his name Celia felt her heart lurch and her hand shake, and she put her glass on the table. ‘Really?’ she said, her throat dry and scratchy as she thought that, damn, stress had a lot to answer for.
Lily nodded. ‘At a party.’
‘Where else?’
‘Want to know how he is?’
A surge of curiosity rose up inside her but she stamped it down hard because she couldn’t care less. ‘Why would I want to know how he is?’
‘Well, you know, after what happened at Dan and Zoe’s wedding.’
Celia felt her entire body flush and this time she knew it had nothing to do with an overheated bar. ‘Nothing happened.’
/> ‘Not what it looked like when I interrupted you.’
‘We’d been chatting, that’s all.’
‘So you said. And I believe you as much now as I did then.’ Lily drained her glass. ‘You know, I don’t blame you in the slightest. Marcus is seriously hot.’
So was she. Boiling. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be getting married in December?’ she said a bit tetchily.
Lily grinned. ‘Doesn’t stop me from appreciating a fine specimen of manhood when I see one.’
Marcus wasn’t a fine specimen of manhood. Yes, he was gorgeous, and he’d helped her out when she’d asked for it, but he was still as promiscuous as he’d ever been.
On the extremely rare occasion he’d crossed her mind in the week that followed the wedding when, despite her best efforts, the freshness of it all had meant that it refused to scuttle to the back of her mind where she wanted it, she’d found herself wondering if she hadn’t made a mistake in pushing him away. Something about the look in his eye when she’d finally plucked up the guts to look at him back there in that bedroom made her wonder if maybe he’d been disappointed that she hadn’t wanted to stay. If maybe he’d hoped for something more. If maybe she’d misjudged him yet again.
But she hadn’t and he clearly hadn’t wanted anything more because, why, only last week he’d been snapped outside some theatre or other with not just one, but two blondes hanging off his arms. The week before that he’d escorted a ravishing brunette to some charity gala in aid of cancer research. And the week before that he’d been on a beach in the Mediterranean cavorting in the waves with a bevy of Sardinian beauties.
Not that she’d been checking up on him or anything, but what was he doing about those projects he’d told her about while all this partying was going on? No mention of them in any of the papers.