The point was that the lazy drone of bees, the call of the black kites, all seemed to indicate the need for tranquility and concord. Which would hopefully aid him in his quest—the reason he was here. To ensure that April dropped her story.
Then they reached the glade and Marcus came to an abrupt halt as he took in the scene before him.
For a long moment words failed him.
A wooden slatted picnic table was covered in a snow-white tablecloth, and laid with gleaming silver cutlery, fluted crystal glasses and bone china plates. A bottle of Lycander’s best Sauvignon Blanc nestled in a state-of-the-art cooler. A wicker picnic basket was on the bench, and Gloria was busy unpacking an array of delicacies onto large china platters.
She turned and beamed at him. ‘Perfect timing,’ she declared.
Marcus attempted to regroup as he mentally replayed his earlier conversation with Gloria in his head.
‘Hi Gloria. Could I ask a favour? Would you be able to rustle up a picnic for two—nothing fancy?’
Now he said, ‘Gloria—this is...amazing. But you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. I wasn’t expecting anything like this.’
‘It is no trouble.’ The dark-haired woman turned to April. ‘In all the time I have worked with him not once has he asked for a picnic, and not once has he asked us to create a meal for him and a lady—so we decided to make this special.’
Marcus opened his mouth to explain that this was a strictly business lunch and then closed it again. Gloria had gone to a great deal of trouble and, however low on charm he was, he wouldn’t hurt her feelings.
‘It’s fabulous, Gloria. Thank you—and please thank everyone in the kitchens as well.’
‘Of course.’ Gloria arranged a centrepiece posy of freshly picked flowers—a glorious burst of red, orange and yellow blooms—and smiled with satisfaction. ‘Enjoy.’
‘Please add my thanks as well,’ April said, and her voice was full of appreciation but underlaid with a tinge of panic he recognised all too well.
‘You’re very welcome. Enjoy.’ A beaming smile, a nod, and Gloria was gone.
Swallowing the urge to call her back—after all that would be cowardly in the extreme—Marcus looked at April, then at the picnic, and then back at April.
‘Um...’
Forget charm—even the art of conversation had deserted him, and a miasma of awkwardness descended. It seemed clear that April had been thrown a curve ball too—her cool self-containment looked more than a little fragmented.
And then, to his surprise, she gave a small chuckle—a sound that seemed to surprise her as much as it did him.
‘Your face!’ she said. ‘You looked absolutely horrified. Though I have to admit you covered it beautifully.’
He couldn’t help it; her smile transformed her face, lightened it in a way he couldn’t fully explain, and the sight caused his own lips to upturn. ‘I really am sorry. I didn’t want to make you feel awkward. It didn’t cross my mind Gloria would think this was a date.’
‘Because you don’t ever date?’
‘I really don’t.’
Not his thing. The closeness, the questions, the intimacy of a date was not to his liking. Every so often there was a woman—he didn’t embrace celibacy—but if pushed to describe his relationships the adjectives that came to mind were ‘brief’, ‘clean’ and ‘functional’. ‘Relationship’ was too deep a word—they were more like understandings, interludes, soon over and forgotten, conducted discreetly and anonymously, outside of Lycander.
‘I can’t really see the point.’
Her eyebrows arched. ‘Most people would disagree. It’s a chance to get to know someone, work out if you’re compatible...’
‘I don’t need to have dinner with someone to work out compatibility.’
Pink tinged her cheeks and suddenly awareness swept in on the summer breeze, heightening his senses, illuminating the green of the leaves, the glitter of the cutlery in the sunshine, and urging him to step forward and show her exactly how well matched he knew they would be.
She hauled in an audible breath. ‘I wasn’t talking about physical compatibility. I meant...overall compatibility—whether you actually like the other person, have something in common with them.’
‘Nope—still not relevant.’
‘So you are only interested in the physical side of things?’