‘I can’t believe this,’ her aunt shook her head. ‘It’s too incredible to be taken in!’
‘There’s nothing incredible about it, Jane,’ Alex told her calmly. ‘Your niece and I are attracted to each other and so we’re going out together. There’s nothing incredible about that.’
‘You keep out of this!’ Lauri turned on him angrily. ‘You came here tonight with the intention of causing a scene like this.’
‘I came here tonight because you were supposed to have met me at eight o’clock. When you didn’t turn up it was logical to come to your home.’
His calm explanation only infuriated her more. ‘You know why I didn’t t
urn up,’ she told him almost accusingly. ‘I haven’t seen you since Wednesday, not since you mentioned having to see your girl-friend.’
‘I seem to remember you saying you were seeing your boy-friend too,’ he reminded her. ‘But I still turned up for our arranged date this evening.’
‘So would I have done if I’d known it was still on. Why do you think I called you yesterday? You knew I’d telephoned, and yet you didn’t bother to call me back.’
He shrugged. ‘I was late getting out of the meeting, and I didn’t think you would appreciate my calling you at home.’
‘So instead you chose to come here now and cause trouble!’
‘Not at all. I’ve already explained my reasons. And I’m sure your aunt can’t be interested in our petty squabbles. If you’ll just go and change we can be on our way.’
‘Go to hell! If you think I—’
‘Lauri!’ If anything Jane was even more shocked. ‘Just learn to control that temper of yours. I’ve warned you about it often enough. But first you can apologise to Mr Blair.’
Her eyes flashed her dislike of him. ‘I will not! He started this. He—’
‘You will apologise,’ Jane’s voice was steely. ‘And right now.’
Lauri looked from Jane’s set face to Alex Blair’s bland one. She sensed the mockery behind that expression and her hands clenched into fists as she only just stopped herself from hitting him. But Jane’s tone brooked no argument. ‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered resentfully. ‘But you—’
‘Don’t ruin it by being insulting again—Oh damn,’ Jane cursed as the doorbell rang. ‘This time it has to be Robin,’ she said absently.
‘Robin?’ Alex quirked an eyebrow. ‘Oh yes, the boy-friend you’re serious about.’
Jane blushed. ‘I wouldn’t go that far. But we are quite close, yes.’
‘So Lauren told me.’
‘Did she indeed?’ Jane’s mouth was tight. ‘And what else has she told you about us?’
He shrugged. ‘Not a lot. I think you should answer the door,’ he advised as the bell rang again. ‘He seems to be getting impatient.’
‘You troublemaking swine!’ Lauri flared once she was alone with him.
Alex sat down, completely unperturbed by her anger. ‘More names, Lauren?’ he mused. ‘Are you asking for punishment, I wonder?’
Remembering what form his punishment always took, she moved a safe distance away from him. ‘Keep your kisses to yourself,’ she said tautly. ‘Why did you come here? Why?’
‘I thought I’d just explained all that,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I gave you fifteen minutes to turn up, Lauren.’
‘You must have known that after Wednesday I wouldn’t be there.’
‘Wednesday?’ he frowned. ‘What happened on Wednesday to change anything?’
‘You were nasty to me,’ she reminded him.
‘I thought you understood about that. The meeting with Laurence turned out to be much more—traumatic than I’d thought it would be.’