Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell [93]
`No chance, I suppose, that you two might give it a go for real?' Buzz, seeing that they were about to leave, had sidled up hopefully.
`No chance at all.' Fenn jangled his car keys. `Chloe? Want a lift?'
Chloe looked up, startled, from her vanilla cream slice. `I'm fine, I'll catch a bus.'
`Don't be silly. Come with us.'
Leila's slanting eyes narrowed with exasperation. `If she's in the car, you won't let me smoke.'
`Correct,' said Fenn. `Tell you what, I'll give Chloe a lift and you can catch the bus.'
`I've had enough of this,' Leila snapped. `Just because she's pregnant. You care more about her and her stupid baby than you do about me.'
She picked up a glass of red wine. Buzz, hardly able to believe his luck, fumbled for his camera. Stepping out of the way as Leila flung the contents of the glass at him, Fenn escaped almost entirely unscathed. Happily for Buzz, it still made a terrific picture.
`Cheers,' he said, winking and giving the thumbs-up sign to Fenn.
`Oh God,' whispered Chloe, `I'm so sorry, I'm so embarrassed.'
Like a furious pink pipe-cleaner, Leila stalked off. Fenn grinned at Chloe.
`Don't be. I call this a pretty successful day all round.'
`But you must mind,' Chloe protested, still shuddering at the memory of Leila's abrupt exit.
Fenn threaded the Lotus through the dawdling Sunday traffic, dying to stick his foot down but careful not to do anything that might alarm her.
`Do I look as if I mind?'
`No, but… oh God, you've got a splash on your shirt.' Chloe squirmed, feeling horribly responsible. Fenn's shirts probably cost more than the average package holiday to Ibiza.
`Look in there.' He indicated the glove compartment. `I'm pretty sure Leila left a bottle of Perrier behind.'
She had, and a packet of Kleenex. Fenn pulled up in a bus lane, allowing Chloe to soak the blue-red stain with lukewarm sparkling water and go to work on it with a tissue.
She scrubbed so energetically, a sheaf of papers slithered oui of the glove compartment on to her feet.
`The car's rocking,' Fenn observed with amusementt `People are going to wonder what we're up to in here.'
`Until they see my incredible bulk and realise that getting up to anything would be pretty much impossible. This isn't working, by the way.'
`It's only a shirt.'
Chloe peeked at the label inside the collar.
`A Turnbull and Asser shirt. If we don't let the stain dry out, we can soak it in something biological - oh no, now look what I'm doing, wrecking your papers…'
Bending over with difficulty, she gathered up the dozen or so sheets and hurriedly smoothed out the heel-marks. They were property details with eye-boggling prices.
`The lease is up on my flat,' Fenn explained.
`Hampstead, what bliss.' Chloe sighed with pleasure as she leafed through the glossy details. This was clearly the area he was concentrating on. She tried not to drool over a photograph of a white stucco villa overlooking the heath, with a pool in the back garden. It wasn't the kind of house-hunting she was used to.
`I'm seeing that one tomorrow, after work,' said Fenn.
Chloe opened her mouth then quickly shut it again. She'd been about to say that if he wanted a second opinion, she would love to go with him… heavens, presumptuous or what? Why on earth would Fenn be interested in her useless opinion? Worse still, the estate agent might mistake them for a couple, and how embarrassing would that be for Fenn?
`What?' He was looking at her oddly.
`Nothing.' Chloe went a deep shade of pink.
There was a pause, then Fenn said carefully, `Look, if you aren't doing anything else, why don't you come along with me?'
Oh Lord, this was awful! He'd guessed what she was about to say and now he felt obliged to make the offer, simply because he was so kind…
`No thanks,' Chloe said abruptly. `I can't. I'm busy tomorrow night.'
`So you're back at last,' said Bruce when Florence answered the phone at ten o'clock that evening. `Where on earth have you been?'
`Out dancing,' said Florence.