Eve saw Adam’s mouth twitch at this Englishly polite way of saying he had appeared to be drunk. Unfortunately, Adam had none of that English reserve!
‘I’d only had one glass of whisky,’ he derided drily. ‘It was the names that made me react in that way.’ He shared a conspiratorial glance with Eve, causing her to look away awkwardly as Paul saw the exchange and glowered ominously.
‘Names?’ he prompted irritably.
‘Of course, Paul.’ Eve’s grandmother smiled indulgently,
completely unaware of the tension between the two men. ‘Eve Eden and Adam Gardener!’
‘Well, we all thought it was funny,’ Adam murmured mockingly after several seconds when Paul remained straight-faced throughout.
‘Very amusing,’ Paul drawled, without the least sign of the emotion.
But, despite all that, Eve thought he was handling the situation very well, considering she hadn’t been able to warn him of the other man’s presence here; he hadn’t been at home when she had telephoned him earlier.
As for the significance of the names, she knew that Paul believed the sooner her name became Lester, the better. She looked at him affectionately, as she too longed for that day.
But a sudden tingling sensation down her spine made her turn sharply towards Adam, swallowing hard at the fierce glow in his eyes. It was ridiculous to be made to feel guilty about smiling lovingly at the man she intended to marry …
‘Now, isn’t this cosy?’ Sophy remarked as she and Patrick strolled into the room.
Poor Paul, Eve inwardly groaned, it really wasn’t fair for him to be surrounded by all these people who took such delight in goading him!
But the chance for Sophy to do that any further at the moment was briefly taken out of her hands as their dinner party was made complete by Marina’s entrance. And what an entrance it was!
Eve gasped out loud at the daring of the dark blue dress her cousin wore: strapless, the figure-hugging dress seemed to stay up by sheer willpower.
Their grandmother shared a pained look with Eve that seemed to say, It’s no good criticising, because it will only cause a scene, and in the end Marina will only do what she wants to do.
But even for Marina the dress was outrageous, leaving all of them breathless with shock as she grinned triumphantly.
Adam was the first one to break the awkwardness of the moment, moving forward, smiling easily as he told Marina how stunning she looked.
Stunning wasn’t quite the word Eve would have used herself, but she put her own feelings aside to try and soothe Paul’s aghast reaction.
‘It’s only a family dinner party, for heaven’s sake,’ he muttered disgustedly.
She shrugged. ‘Marina is attracted to Adam Gardener——’
‘She’s only known him a few hours,’ he gasped. ‘Hasn’t she?’ He frowned.
‘Of course,’ Eve dismissed. ‘But you know Marina.’
‘Too damned well,’ he muttered. ‘The man’s too old for her.’ He scowled at the other couple, in conversation a short distance away.
‘Thirty-eight isn’t old,’ she heard herself defending, blushing deeply as Paul turned to her sharply. ‘He happened to mention it earlier,’ she excused lamely.
‘I want you to stay away from him, Eve,’ he bit out tersely as they all began to stroll through to dinner, Marina and her grandmother on either side of Adam Gardener, Sophy and Patrick just behind them. ‘After all, what do we really know about the man?’ Except that he was an acquaintance of Sophy and Patrick’s, his tone seemed to say, and that was certainly no character reference in his eyes!
It had been destined to be a disaster of an evening; it always was when Adam Gardener was anywhere within the vicinity. And tonight was no exception.
If she were honest, she had to admit that most of it was Paul’s own fault; his behaviour was childish, to say the least, as he deliberately set out to make the other man look small by conversing in a variety of subjects he believed Adam would have no knowledge of. But in that he had underestimated the other man in a way Eve herself would never have done, even after so brief acquaintance as their first meeting. Adam was able to reply just as intelligently, so that in the end Paul was the one made to look small for behaving in such an obvious manner.
By the time the meal came to an end, Eve had a headache from all the tension, Paul was more disgruntled than ever, Marina thought Adam even more fascinating than before, Sophy watched them all with an air of triumphant satisfaction, while Patrick looked tolerantly amused, and her grandmother looked at them all indulgently.
As a party of weekend guests, they were an ill-assorted lot!
After dinner wasn’t much better, the two men getting into a very heated—on Paul’s part at least, Adam managed to continue looking coolly unruffled—exchange on world politics.