13
When her eyes met with a tall straight back of a tailored black jacket over wide shoulders, a male with cropped black hair and a tanned strong neck, her stomach fluttered, and her heart skipped a beat. She would recognise him even from the back and at a distance and that only disturbed her more. Abby was chatting at hyper-speed in her ear and handing her a champagne glass filled with slightly pink bubbly liquid, unaware of her friend’s sudden silence. Rose kept glancing towards his back, unsure how to react.
To avoid? To go over? To pretend she had not seen him?
As she was contemplating what to do he turned away from the group of people he was with and Rose got to see his face properly. A slight change in her heartbeat. Unable to look away. He was looking out onto the sea of people with a smile on his face, someone was still talking to him and his attention was wherever they were pointing. His handsome face looked even more chiseled in the dim lights and his white shirt, black bow tie and jacket, made him more like James bond than Laird of the manor. He looked so effortlessly at ease. He suited the whole bow tie, dinner jacket, set up and Rose could barely feel her knees anymore. Her breath had caught in her chest and suddenly made her feel lightheaded.
God dammit.
How could she be so stupid? How could she not realise that every time she reacted to this man in this way her body was trying to tell her something apparently obvious.
She had a stinking huge crush on him!
Like a hormonal teenager who followed around the high school heartthrob. Suddenly aware of this resounding fact made her feel immediately vulnerable, confused and emotional all at the same time. Like a light being switched on in a dark room, only to find you’re naked on a stage in front of strangers! Completely shocked at her own discovery and then an inward groan at how incredibly dumb she was. She winced, turning herself to the buffet and trying to reel in the crazy thoughts that were spilling all over her dress and table like a severed artery.
Jesus!... What the hell?... How could she be so blind?
Abby was lost in conversation with an elderly woman to her side over crab sticks and was oblivious to her friend’s sudden life altering realisation, or the sheer crumpling effect it had had on her posture and state of mind. She glanced back, trying to catch sight of Rob again, just to be sure he did in fact cause these fluttering’s, lack of breath and insane light-headedness. This insane need to beat him round the head anytime he appeared charming and stopped her in her tracks.
That was her mind’s way of highlighting how irresistible he was to her, surely?
Rob was still in the same spot as he had been seconds ago, looking like he was bathed in angelic light. If it was possible to have rainbows indoors, she would have seen one arcing over him. She was pretty sure she was seeing stars already. Maybe that was just the lack of oxygen as breathing was near impossible at that moment.
He turned slightly and revealed that, latched most purposely to his arm, was a tall, curly haired redhead, with a supermodel body poured into a figure hugging cream dress. Slit in all the right places, leaving nothing to the imagination. Morag Spencer; overly sexed museum curator was possessively spilling over Rob in an obvious way!
Rose felt the last of her breath escape her. A sudden thud to the chest and prickling tingles ran the length of her body. Deer in the headlights sprang to mind. Rose dropped her glass of champagne, seemingly removed from the actions of her own limbs and it snapped her back to reality.
Abby cursed and jumped away from the shattering glass, as both girls then swept down to start mopping the mess with napkins in a rather frantic manner. Rose felt her bottom lip start to tremble as her eyes welled up, but they were ushered aside by two waiting staff in uniforms and handed a new glass of champagne. She had lost control of her faculties in the most juvenile way, aware she was literally losing her calm facade and turning into a bowl of melting jelly.
‘I need to go to the bathroom and clean this.’ she couldn’t look Abby in the eye, afraid the tears would start tumbling, so kept her gaze fixed on the dampness on her floaty skirt and tried so hard to behave normally. Abby took her hand and dragged her off in the direction of the bathroom
‘Come on babe I’ll help!’. Abby smiled warmly, and Rose could do nothing but allow herself to be pulled along. She felt numb and distraught, all at the same time.
Rose began panicking as she realised their route took them directly into Rob’s path and as his eyes met hers, his expression changed, from a cheery guy at a party to sudden recognition and something else. Something she couldn’t fathom. An instant moment passing between them as eyes locked. She was fighting back every single emotion any hormonal woman had ever met, trying to keep a straight face while being dragged by an overzealous slightly tipsy teen. Trying to keep her face blank in an effort to get past a guy she had only just discovered she had a massive almighty longing for.
For the love of god!
Rob reached out and caught hold of her by the waist in a lightning flash move, halting her abruptly. Something he seemed to just love doing was putting hands on her. His halting them stopped Abby in her tracks, who almost ripped Rose’s arm off.
‘What happened?’ Rob’s eyes flitted across Roses dress, alarmingly close and still holding onto her. She could barely formulate a response.
‘We had a little spill, that’s all.’ Rose tried to sound, light and upbeat, but she could not bring her gaze to meet his. Her whole focus was on the hot hand placed across her abdomen through the thin satin material at her waist. No longer bringing fury to her body, but instead making her melt into a puddle and causing an inability to function. She liked it better when she thought his touch irritated her. He had moved close enough that she could feel his breath on her hair and his aftershave surrounded her senses. It was as if the whole room had ceased to exist and they were alone in a little-cocooned bubble.
‘Abby use one of the en-suites upstairs. You know how busy the ladies room will be right now.’ his voice was sliding over her like toffee sauce on hot apple pie, she did not want to move, speak. or even look up. She heard Abby reply in agreement before his voice turned back to her above her head.
‘You look really beautiful Rose...Really... Just amazing.’ He almost whispered those words in her ear as her brain manically realised it was the first time he had said her actual name.
‘Not Penelope?’ Were the only words she could formulate with him this close to her face. Almost brave enough to meet his gaze, she instead lifted her chin high enough to focus on his bow tie. Aware that now her forehead was almost touching his chin, the closeness sending goosebumps in every direction. It was almost impossible to breathe normally, her hands trembling once again. He really did turn her into a nervous wreck with very minimum effort.
‘Not tonight.’ There was something softer in his tone, he sounded breathy and he was seriously affecting her ability to breathe ‘Tonight, just Rose.’
As though sensing something unjust going on, the tall, slender Morag, appeared, pulling at his arm, thus releasing his hand on Rose and pulling him away from her.
‘Rooooobb baby, come dance with me. I want to be wrapped up in these beefy arms already.’ She crooned in a sickly-sweet baby voice and for a moment Rose thought she saw Rob grimace. It was so fleeting that she almost missed it and couldn’t be sure she even saw it at all.
Sudden chill where warmth had once been, Rose looked away and then back, catching his eye as he turned her way for a brief glimpse. Something translated between them instantly, in that mere second. His normally light grey eyes were dark and loaded, but she could not fathom the message or the look. Then he was turning and gone, and Abby was pulling her towards the hall; her emotion caught in her throat, threatening to choke her. Looking back at him as she was dragged away by Abby and he was dragged away by Morag, she watched him disappear into the crowd. Taking her heart with him.
