But when her gaze lifted to his, there was wariness behind the speculation. She quirked a quizzical brow at him.
“Are you really Saint Montgomery?”
“Yes.” He liked his name in her accent. It wasn’t one of those posh pronunciations that scolded, demanding he behave like his namesake. Her broad inflection held a rueful skepticism that seemed to know he was the furthest thing from a saint.
“So why are you talking to me?”
He liked how direct she was, too. “Is that a real question? I find you attractive.”
She choked on the sip of champagne she’d started to take. “No.” She tilted her head, eyeing him with suspicion. “At best, you’re on a rebound from your recent breakup.”
He winced, caught, but, “Both things can be true, can’t they? I do find you attractive, but it also suited me to give the paparazzi fresh meat to chew on. Now they’re out there wondering who the hell I came in with.”
Her eyes widened with alarm.
“Why does that worry you? Who did I come in with?”
“I’d rather not say.” She glanced around and shook her head with something like incredulity. “I was misrepresenting myself by turning up here and really need to quit while I’m ahead. Thank you for getting me in, but I’m leaving.”
“Why?” He put out a hand, needing to touch her again if only to graze her bare elbow. And watch her nipples peak against the thin silk of her gown. “Who was your date? Why did you come if you didn’t think they’d let you in?”
“I’m embarrassed to say. Genuinely.” Her flush of awareness turned to dark pink stains on her cheeks. Her bright-eyed amusement was very much at her own expense. “I’ll do more damage than good if I stick around, so... It was nice to meet you, but I have to go. Even though it galls me to walk away from a dinner worth a hundred pounds.”
She really was new here. “It’s twenty-five thousand.”
“What is? This statue?” She halted herself from setting her unfinished glass on the base of a nearby sculpture.
“The plate fee.”
“Is twenty-five thousand pounds?” she cried and fumbled her glass, splashing champagne against her knuckles. She added an earthy epithet that he would’ve loved to hear against his ear while they were between the sheets.
He offered his pocket square, not bothering to mention he’d underwritten a table of ten for his London team of executives and their spouses.
“I’m definitely leaving,” she blurted as she handed back his damp square of silk.
“Not before midnight, Cinderella,” he cajoled, caressing her arm again, liking how quickly goose bumps rose against his tickling touch. He nodded toward an archway into another room. “I have to make the rounds. Stay and amuse me.”
She sobered. “I don’t mind laughing at myself, but I don’t care to become entertainment for others.”
“Why would you be?” He frowned.
“We can both tell I’m out of my league here,” she said with reproach. “Why else would you want me on your arm? Social anxiety?”
“I find your sense of humor a welcome balance to people who take themselves far too seriously.”
“Gosh, fun as it sounds to meet those people, I’ll have to give it a miss.” She handed her glass to a passing server.
A lurching sensation pulled in his chest. He wanted to catch at her as though she was falling off a cliff away from him.
“Saint Montgomery. Just the man I need.” A woman’s hand arrived on his shoulder. She was the forty-something wife of a man Saint had met somewhere for some reason. Her chestnut hair was piled atop her head, her gown a racy haute-couture creation that framed cleavage where a ruby the size of a holiday turkey nested. “I’m planning an eclipse party. I need your clever brain to calculate the perfect time and place. Hello. You’re not Julie.”
His mystery woman froze like a bunny, then produced a dazzling smile that hit Saint like a ball of sunshine even though it was directed at the other woman.
“I’m not Julie, you’re right. I’m Fliss. Sadly, you’ve missed this year’s total eclipse. There will be another in about fourteen months with good views from Iceland, Portugal and Spain. The path is easy enough to find online. I would look it up for you, but I’ve been called away, so...um...good night.” She included Saint in her wave of departure.
“Don’t be silly, Fliss. I can’t leave you to find your own way home.” What a flossy, fluttery name. It suited her perfectly. “Excuse us.”
Saint flashed a dismissive smile at the other woman, who was watching them with great curiosity, and steered Fliss against the tide of people still streaming in.
“You don’t have to leave. You’ll miss a dinner worth a fraction of what you paid for it.” Fliss rolled her eyes as they emerged into the press of people still hovering and hurrying through the dusk.
A cool spring breeze slithered through the crowd, ruffling into his collar and dancing against her loose hair.
“You’re missing dinner, too. We’ll have to find somewhere else to eat.” He texted his driver.
“I was being sarcastic. I’ll—”
“Saint! Who’s your date?” A photographer waiting near the curb began flashing their bulb at them, drawing others to do the same.
Fliss sent an appalled look to Saint.
“Ignore them.” He glanced at a muscled security guard wearing an earpiece and a black T-shirt.
The bouncer immediately turned himself into a bulwark against the photographers, opening his arms wide and forcing the photographers back.
“Hey! What’s your name? How long have you been dating Saint?”
Fliss was still staring at him with horror.
