He turned towards her as she came into the room, his eyes swirling with dark emotions when they met hers. “Claudia.” He gestured to the seat opposite. “Sit.”
“That’s okay,” She shook her head, a nervous gesture that conveyed far too much of her emotional state for Claudia’s liking. “This won’t take long.”
Silence beat around them, thumping in the space, dominating them. “Yes?” He prompted after a moment had passed.
“Patrick and Marta are going away tonight.”
His brows lifted thoughtfully. “I’m aware of this.”
“I want to go with them.”
“To spend Christmas with their grandchildren?” He said with a laugh. “Have you been invited?”
“Not with them.” Frustration fizzed at the edges of her words. “I thought they could take me part-way and I’ll catch an uber from there. Or I could catch an uber the whole way,” she murmured, “Come to think of it.”
“Claudia?”
“I mean, it’s not that far, and as you’ve pointed out, I am reckless when it comes to spending.”
“Claudia?”
She looked at him, all wide-eyed impatience.
“I have made myself clear on this score. You are staying with me through Christmas. At least.”
At least. The addendum trilled inside of her.
“I’ve learned my lesson,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll tone down my media stuff after Christmas. I promise.”
His laugh was dismissive. “You wouldn’t be saying what you think I want to hear, would you?”
She sighed. “You don’t get me.”
“Huh?” His eyes narrowed, and he stood, pressing his hands into the top of his desk, his gaze pinned to her.
“You don’t get me. You don’t understand my life.”
“No.” He nodded sagely. “I don’t. I don’t understand why you would seek the kind of notoriety you attract.”
“It’s not like that!” She snapped. “Yes, I’m in the papers a lot. Yeah, I go to a heap of high-profile events and parties and launches. But that’s kind of my job.”
“Your job?” He laughed scathingly. “And who is your employer? What is your salary? Do you get annual leave?”
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I raise the profile of worthwhile charities.” She shrugged. “I do try to use my notoriety, as you call it, to do good stuff.”
“And you’re happy to make yourself a laughing stock in the process.”
“I don’t agree with that,” she murmured.
“The press love you right now. But that will change. You are courting disaster with your current lifestyle. I have seen you in the papers for years. With different men, your relationships the stuff of tabloid fantasies. This love triangle has obsessed the nation. And you don’t care? You don’t care that people are judging you for stealing your best friend’s fiancé?”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “They’re not judging me…”
“You really don’t read the papers, do you? People are scathing about your lack of loyalty. Is he worth it, Claudia?”
Something inside of her shifted and then snapped. How frustrated she was by his wrong assumptions about her. How angry his determination not to listen to the truth of her life made her!
“You’re a fool if you believe everything you read in the tabloid press.”