‘You really like it?’ she said, her voice a wee bit tremulous. Those butterflies were acting up again.
‘What’s not to like?’ Jack replied. ‘You look good enough to eat and you know it, so don’t come that coy nonsense with me. If ever a look was designed to make an ex-fiancé feel regret and his new fiancée feel jealous, then you’ve nailed it tonight. I just hope you won’t regret it yourself.’
‘Why should I?’ Vivienne shot back with a surge of sudden defiance. ‘I’ve done nothing to regret.’
‘Not yet. But just remember if you fire bullets at people they just might fire some back. But it’s too late now. Cinderella is going to the ball.’
Vivienne rolled her eyes. ‘I can’t see Cinderella wearing a dress like this, can you?’
‘Not quite,’ he said, and eyed her up and down with a decidedly sexual gaze.
‘In that case we’re well matched, because you’re far from Prince Charming,’ she threw back at him. ‘Come on, let’s get going. The sooner we get there and I say what I have to say, the sooner we can leave.’ And the sooner those butterflies will stop their infernal wing flapping!
Jack didn’t say another word till they were on their way. Fortunately, when he did speak, it wasn’t about tonight.
‘Are you all packed and ready for the big move north tomorrow?’ he asked.
‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘I’m a very organised person. Everything’s already in the boot of my car.’
‘I’ll drive over to your place in my car around nine and you can follow me up in yours.’
‘All right. Do you have the keys to the house?’
‘Not yet. We’ll have to pick them up on the way. I’ve also organized for the builder to drop by around one, so that you can meet him. His name’s Ken. Ken Struthers.’
‘Fine.’
‘Are Daryl’s folks going to be there tonight?’
Vivienne was taken aback by this abrupt change of topic. ‘What? No, no, he’s estranged from his family.’
‘How come that doesn’t surprise me?’
‘He said they weren’t very nice people. He was put into a foster home when he was only ten.’
‘And you believed him?’
That brought Vivienne up short. She sighed. ‘Yes, I did at the time. More fool me. But don’t worry, that fool has been well and truly put to bed. Daryl could tell me the world was round now and I wouldn’t believe him. I despise the man and I aim to tell him so. Like you said, Jack, tonight is all about closure.’
Jack glanced over at Vivienne just as her red-glossed lips pressed hard together in a determined pout.
Oh dear, he thought. It was going to be a difficult night.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SECURITY AT THE Ellison mansion was tight; Jack had to be checked off at the gates as a guest on the guard’s list. He even had to show the guy his driver’s licence, which rather underlined Vivienne’s statement that neither of them had easy-to-recognise celebrity status. There weren’t paparazzi obviously lurking about the gate; there was a helicopter hovering which might have been filled with photographers, but more likely more security. Frank Ellison was paranoid when it came to protecting his patch and his privacy.
As he was directed to one of the multitude of parking spaces available in the huge grounds, Jack experienced a measure of pride at how magnificent the house looked at night, lit up by the literally thousands of lights Frank had commissioned him to build in everywhere: the façade, the roof, the garden, not to mention each of the two-dozen stone steps which led up to the impressive entrance.
‘Is this the biggest house you’ve ever built?’ Vivienne asked him as he guided her carefully up the steps, his hand on her left elbow.
‘By far,’ he replied. ‘I presume this is the biggest house you’ve decorated as well.’
‘Absolutely. It took me over six months, even with lots of help.’
‘Building the house took two years.’
‘I can imagine. I hope you made plenty of money out of it.’
He grinned over at her. ‘Heaps.’
‘Good,’ she said, and there was that determined look again.
Once they reached the massive front porch, with only the equally massive front doors separating them from the party inside—you could hear the music from outside—Vivienne sucked in sharply and squared her shoulders.