Chapter 35

“So you can move.” Laurie broke into a grin. “When I saw you there freeze-framed, I thought maybe you’d slipped a disc.”

“I was just thinking about something.” Leaning back on her heels, Nadia slowly rotated first one shoulder then the other.

“Where’s that packet of Tylenol?”

“Actually, my back’s loads better today, it hardly aches at all.”

“Not for you. For me.” Touching his head, Laurie winced. “Hangover.”

“Oh.” Stumbling to her feet, Nadia fetched her haversack, slung over the low wall, and dug out the Tylenol and a bottle of water.

Laurie swallowed the tablets, rinsed them down with the water, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Fancy a wedding on Saturday?”

Nadia felt as if she’d been plunged into a pool of ice-cold water. Her heart was clattering against her ribs.

“Meaning what?”

Not what she thought he meant, surely.

“I rang Nick Buckland last night. You remember Nick?”

Nadia nodded. Laurie and Nick had trained together to become stockbrokers and had remained good friends. With his average looks and ebullient character, Nick had always maintained that if he was ever going to land himself a gorgeous woman, he’d need to make a serious pile of cash.

“Is he still working at the same place?”

“Yep, and loving every minute. Doing brilliantly, by all accounts. And—can you believe it?—he’s getting married on Saturday.”

“Good for him.” Nadia’s cheeks reddened fractionally. “I always liked Nick.”

“Oh dear.” Laurie surveyed her with wicked amusement. “Did you think I was asking you to marry me on Saturday?”

Energetically unrolling the first strip of turf and patting it into line, Nadia said, “I could always wallop you with my level and make your headache worse.”

“OK.” Grinning, he held up his hands. “Anyway, last night was his bachelor party. Timing or what? When I rang him he was just setting off for the Alpha Bar, so he insisted I joined them. Did you wonder why you didn’t see me last night, by the way?”

“No,” Nadia lied. “Get on with it.”

“Well, we met up and had a few drinks. Then we had a few more drinks. And after that, quite a lot more drinks.”

“Who’s Nick marrying?”

“A girl called Sophie. I met her when she and her friends turned up around eleven. She’s great,” said Laurie. “Tall, thin, pretty, and blonde, of course. Nick always had a thing about blondes.”

When Nadia had known him, Nick’s chief ambition had been to land himself a girl with hair. Success, clearly, had bred choosiness.

“It was a fantastic night,” Laurie went on happily. “Well, apart from the hangover afterwards. They make a great couple. And they invited us along to the wedding. Nick sends his love, by the way. He can’t wait to see you again.”

It would be nice to see Nick too. Nadia wondered if Laurie had been chatted up by any of the girls at the Alpha Bar last night. It was a glitzy, upmarket place whose female clientele weren’t renowned for being shy.

“You’ll have to wear a suit.”

“I’ll grit my teeth and think of England. I do own a suit, you know.”

“You’ll need to press it.”

“Oh well, I’ll buy another one.” Laurie shrugged. “Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you. I can look smart when I have to.”

Nadia knew Laurie would look jaw-droppingly stunning in a suit. He sent jaws dropping wherever he went, even when he was wearing his customary scruffy T-shirts and jeans.

“Was it busy at the Alpha Bar?”

“Heaving.”

“So you had a good time?”

Damn, he’d already told her he had. And now Laurie was giving her one of his looks. That was the trouble with old boyfriends; he knew her too well.

“You mean did I get flirted with and chatted up while I was there?”

“Just interested.”

“Was I flirted with and chatted up by girls who were far nicer to me than you are?”

Yes!

Nadia shrugged. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“Of course I was flirted with.” Laurie rolled his eyes. “Of course I was chatted up.”

A wasp landed on Nadia’s arm. Irritably, she flicked it away.

“But I’m not interested in being hit on by girls in bars,” said Laurie. “There’s only one reason why I came back here. And you know what that is.”

“OK.” Out of the corner of her eye, Nadia saw Bart’s portly figure moving about behind the French doors leading out onto the terrace. Hardly the moment for a romantic… um, moment. Pushing her hair back from her forehead, she said, “Bart’s watching us. I think he’s wondering why it’s taken me forty minutes to lay three feet of turf.”

“But you’ll come to Nick’s wedding on Saturday?”

“Yes.” Nadia smiled; of course she’d go to Nick’s wedding. “So what’s this suit of yours like, then? Where did you get it?”

“God knows. Top Man, I think.” Laurie scratched his head. “Top Man-ee?”

“What?”

“No, that’s not it. I remember now.” He winked at her. “Our Man-ee.”

Armani.

“Careful,” said Nadia. “Wouldn’t want my sides to split.”

Together they began unrolling the lengths of turf. After a minute or two, Laurie said, “Speaking of Our Man…”

“Oh God, not more designer jokes.” Nadia let out a groan. “If I laugh any more, my head might fall off.”

“Actually, I was talking about our man Jay. Your boss.” Laurie tossed his head like Simon Cowell in a huff. “But now you’ve made fun of my joke, I’m not going to tell you.”

It was like being sixteen again. How many times, all those years ago, had he done this, safe in the knowledge that he was teasing the world’s nosiest person?

Giving her impression of someone who really couldn’t care less—it was a very poor impression—Nadia said, “Hmm? Tell me what?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“No really, you wouldn’t be interested.”

“He’s my boss. It’s your duty to tell me.”

“Sorry.” Laurie nudged a bale of turf with his foot, unrolling it like a red carpet.

Nadia played her trump card. “I’ve got a worm here.”

“Really, it wasn’t even that interesting.”

“A big old daddy worm, all twisty and squirming.”

“OK.” Laurie held up his hands in defeat. “It’s just that I saw him at the Alpha Bar last night.”

Nadia dropped the worm. It wriggled away in relief.

“What was he doing there?” Her voice came out a bit higher than she’d planned.

“The usual.” Laurie was busy pressing the edges of the turf together to disguise the join. “Why do single men generally go to places like the Alpha Bar? Apart from me of course,” he added with a grin. “I only went along because Nick made me.”

Nadia was now unrolling turf at a rate of knots. It was completely irrational to feel betrayed, but somehow she did. Jay had done what he’d said he’d do and it felt like a kick in the gut.

“Who was he with?”

“On his own. Well, to begin with,” said Laurie. “The next time I looked he seemed to be getting on pretty well with a couple of girls.”

A couple!

“What were they like?”

“Ugly. A right couple of dogs.” Laurie kept a straight face.

“Really?”

“Duh, joke. Why would Jay waste time talking to dogs?”

“So what happened?”

“Haven’t the foggiest. We left just after midnight, went on to the Alexander Club. Nick ended up dancing on one of the tables with a feather bra tied round his head.”

“Some things never change.” Nadia mentally resolved not to think about Jay; he was free to do whatever he liked, with however many women he liked.

“Pete got a photo of him.”

“Of…?” Who, Jay?

“Nick, with the bra wrapped round his head. He looked like a Spitfire pilot with feather goggles. Pete’s planning to slip copies into every Order of Service booklet in the church. You can sleep with him if you want.”

Nadia thought she must have misheard. But from the way Laurie was waiting for a reaction, she knew she hadn’t.

“Sleep with Pete? I don’t even know him!”

“He’s Nick’s best man. He’s good fun, you’d like him.” Laurie paused. “But that wasn’t who I meant.”

Nadia swallowed. This was definitely a weird conversation to be having on a Tuesday morning. Not your run-of-the-mill chat about the weather at all.

The sun chose that moment to come out from behind the clouds, illuminating the greenness of Laurie’s eyes and bouncing off his disheveled gold-blond hair.

“Jay Tiernan?” he said helpfully. “The chap you work for? The one you were on the verge of getting involved with when I came back and threw a wrench in the works?”

“Who told you that?” Nadia’s fingers were tingling, a sure sign that she was breathing too fast.

“Oh, come on, I’m not stupid. I have eyes in my head.” With a brief smile Laurie added, “Plus, Clare may have mentioned it in passing.”

Sisters, who’d have them?

“But that’s not—”

“She just filled in the details. I’d already guessed most of it. But now you’re torn. You can’t help wondering what you might be missing if you choose me. So find out,” said Laurie. “Sleep with him, then decide.”

“This is ridiculous.” Nadia shook her head. “You can’t be serious.”

“If that’s what it takes, I’m completely serious. Because if you don’t, you’ll never know. I think I’ll win in the end.” Laurie broke into an unrepentant grin. “Sorry, I just do. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with someone who’s always going to be wondering, deep down, if she made the right choice.”

Nadia was lost for words. Was Laurie mad? Or so super-confident that he simply didn’t believe he could lose?

“And if I did this… this thing? What would you do if I decided I’d rather be with him than with you?”

Him. She couldn’t even bring herself to say Jay’s name.

“That’s a risk I just have to take. But at least then we’d know.”

“I can’t believe you want me to sleep with another man.”

“I don’t want you to. I just know it’s the only way, otherwise you’ll never be able to decide.” Laurie waited. “That is, if he’s still interested in you. After last night he may not be. You see, that’s the thing about men like him, they don’t exactly sit at home and mope. If it doesn’t work out with one girl, they move on to the next. Still,” he added encouragingly, “you could always ask.”

Nadia was just thankful that Jay was attending an auction today. If he turned up now, Laurie was liable to ask him on her behalf.

Bart, flinging open the kitchen window, bellowed, “Kettle’s on.”

“Shall I get on with this?” Laurie indicated the rolls of turf at his feet. “I could murder a mug of tea.”

Never mind tea, thought Nadia as she headed up the stone steps. I could murder a vodka and tonic.