Olivia leant forward and primed her vocal chords for girlish excitement. ‘Well, it’s early days yet. But, yes, I’m hoping that Adam will find me pretty addictive.’
She looked up at Adam adoringly, just in time to see his jaw tense slightly.
Given the smile on Helen’s face Olivia wasn’t surprised; it was the face of someone swooping in for the kill. She braced herself as the blonde woman leaned forward.
‘It’s interesting timing.’ A small pause, and then, ‘Tell me, Adam, could your sudden new desire for a relationship have anything to do with the impending marriage of your ex?’
With teeth-clenching effort Olivia prevented her jaw from hitting her knees. Always stay in character. She tried to look as though the existence of an ex wasn’t headline-grabbing news in itself. An ex what? Girlfriend? Wife?
A sideways glance showed that Adam looked unfazed, and a sliver of suspicion wormed its way into her psyche. Had the whole Candice and charity event thing been a ruse? This might have been his intention all along—to use their supposed relationship to get at his ex-whatever. Fabulous. Now she was a pawn in a classic tit-for-tat game.
Adam’s shook his head. ‘Nope. No connection there, Helen. Charlotte and I have been divorced for years and I wish her nothing but happiness.’ He nodded at Helen’s notebook. ‘I have an agreement with her that I won’t bring publicity to her door and I try to abide by my word. So, in the interests of Frisson covering the Dress to Support Myeloma event later today, I’d appreciate it if you left her out of the article.’
There was that you-don’t-want-to-mess-with-me voice again, and to Olivia’s annoyance it made her shiver.
She stared at Adam, frustration seething at her inability to read his expression. Not that it mattered—the bottom line was that he didn’t give a stuff about branding Olivia anything he liked whilst dragging her into the public domain. But when it came to Charlotte it was clearly very different.
And how catty did that sound? Olivia stiffened. Surely she wasn’t jealous of Charlotte? Because that would be ludicrous. Yet, however hard she tried to deny it, a tiny part of her soul was tinged green. Which didn’t make sense. Olivia Evans did not do jealousy. Men were notoriously unfaithful and only a fool would put herself in a position to be hurt. So it shouldn’t, couldn’t matter to her if Adam did still care enough for his ex to be scheming to win her back.
* * *
Adam gripped the back of the cream sofa and wondered how long it would be before Olivia erupted. She’d held it together for the remainder of the interview, but he’d sensed the vibrations of her inner fury.
Now that Helen and the photographer had left she paced the lounge, each angry stride thumping down harder on the gleaming wooden floor, one irate kick sweeping aside the thickly patterned rug that impeded her progress.
Five...four...three...two...one... And she screeched to a stop in front of the sofa.
‘Didn’t it occur to you to mention you have an ex-wife?’
‘No.’ It was no more than the truth; the topic of his marriage didn’t rate anywhere on his conversation list.
‘Well, it should have. Because then I wouldn’t have looked like a first-class idiot because my so-called partner didn’t bother to mention he has an ex-wife stashed away. You should have told me.’ She stopped, presumably because she must urgently need to replenish her lungs.
He hesitated. Beneath the bravado he could sense a thread of vulnerability. ‘Look, I’m sorry if you felt stupid—it truly didn’t occur to me that Helen would link our relationship and Charlotte’s remarriage.’
Olivia frowned, as if assessing exactly how many of his words were true and how many were lies. The sceptical rise of her dark brow indicated her verdict. ‘Really?’
‘Of course, really. Neither Charlotte nor her fiancé are in the public eye. I didn’t expect Helen to even know about their engagement.’
‘So it’s not true?’
‘Is what not true?’
A roll of her eyes indicated her frustration, but Adam had no idea what she was getting at.
‘Helen’s link. Are you using me to get to Charlotte? To make her jealous?’
‘No.’ His reaction came straight from his gut. Using Olivia as a barrier against the flow of gold-diggers with her knowledge was one thing. Garnering her help to salvage his reputation and the charity event—he had no problem with that. But no way did he want her to feel that he had exploited her; the thought turned his insides over with distaste. ‘Everything I said to Helen was true. I am happy for Charlotte—she has found a great guy and I wish them both a very happy future.’