Dressed to Impress. Elizabeth Coldwell

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СКАЧАТЬ pressed her fingers against his lips. ‘No, Nicholas. No, I never thought that.’ With a light caress, she withdrew her hand. ‘When we first met, you remember? I was a waitress too, only …’ She threw a look down at her outfit.

      He followed her gaze and frowned. ‘I don’t understand what Ol’ Flannery’s has got to do with …’ He let his sentence trail off, shook his head and fixed his stare at a point on the wall. ‘Doesn’t matter now,’ he said. ‘I think you should leave.’ His gaze returned to her face, impenetrable and dark.

      She pursed her lips and shook her head.

      Nicholas’s eyes flashed impatiently. ‘Debra, I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve with this nonsense, but please call a cab and –’

      ‘Would you come with me?’ she asked, not missing a beat.

      ‘You know I can’t do that. I’m here for work.’

      Debra raised her chin. ‘So am I.’ She turned on her heels and left him standing there. She felt his eyes follow her all the way back to the bar.

      ‘Two Gibson Martinis,’ she told the barman and went to take another order. Al was talking animatedly; she could see his watch, so swanky it flared even in the dim light, a stark contrast to Nicholas’s face, which looked pale despite the lamps’ gentle glow. His eyes burned into her when she returned to serve the drinks. Al put his arm around her waist, and she made a quick step to the side to escape his grip.

      ‘Oh, come on, don’t be shy!’

      ‘Al!’ warned Nicholas.

      Al released a cavalier laugh and rose from his chair. ‘Why don’t you take a break and come out with me for a smoke?’ he asked Debra and patted her butt.

      ‘Sir –’ Debra began as politely as she could, but Nicholas’s sharp voice interrupted her.

      ‘Get your hands off her!’ he said, also rising from his seat.

      A dour streak glared across Al’s eyes. ‘You don’t mind, doll, do you?’ He pulled her closer. She averted her face as the strong stench of tobacco in his breath assaulted her senses.

      Nicholas pulled him away from her. ‘I said leave her alone!’

      ‘Stop it, you –’ Al snarled, lunging towards Nicholas.

      ‘Nicholas!’ Debra screamed as the punch landed on her husband’s face. She saw him tumbling backwards, but he didn’t fall.

      After a moment of utter silence – it seemed to Debra that even the music had stopped playing – a big man in a black suit appeared out of nowhere.

      ‘Everything all right?’ he asked, his stern look falling squarely on Debra. He barely waited for her to nod before turning to the two men. ‘I’ll have to ask you to leave,’ he said curtly.

      Nicholas didn’t deign to look at him. His eyes were on his wife, who made a show of putting down the tray she was holding in order to hide the overwhelming smile that had forced its way onto her face. When she looked up again, her face was solemn, but the glow in her belly was still there, and it only intensified when Nicholas put his arm around her and headed for the exit, not looking back once.

      She studied the reddish swelling underneath his eye. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked.

      He nodded once, his jaw clenched. Debra shivered. Silently, he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders.

      ‘Thank you,’ she said with a tentative smile.

      He nodded again, his eyes already on one of the cabs parked outside the club. Debra climbed through the door he held open for her and watched him take the seat next to her. They drove for several minutes without exchanging a word, the sound of the city’s nightly buzz passing into the cab from the streets around them.

      Debra pulled the jacket a bit closer around her shoulders.

      ‘Are you cold?’ Nicholas asked.

      She looked up, happiness rushing through her, and shook her head. Nicholas’s face had lost its stony expression, and she thought she could even make out a trace of amusement in his eyes.

      She wasn’t mistaken. She watched as a grin began to tug at the corners of his mouth. ‘I guess that’s one guy I won’t be working with!’ he eventually burst out, then started to laugh.

      His deep, boisterous laughter was a shock to Debra after what had happened in the past hour, but as she continued to watch her husband emit peals of loud, carefree guffaws, she couldn’t help but eventually join in. The cab driver watched dumbfounded in the rearview mirror as his passengers shook with wild, convulsive laughter.

      Admiration shone in Nicholas’s eyes as, still chuckling, he gently pulled the wig from Debra’s head. The cab stopped in front of their home. Nicholas pressed a fleeting kiss on his wife’s mouth, paid the driver and helped her out of the car.

      He didn’t let go of her hand until they were inside, where Debra kicked off her heels, stripped off her gloves, fetched an ice pack and ran a cloth under cool water. Nicholas watched her as he undid his tie.

      ‘Sit down,’ she said, placing the damp cloth against his cheek.

      He put his hands on her waist. ‘Why were you there?’

      ‘Because I’m a woman,’ she said. ‘I’m your woman.’

      ‘Did I ever make you doubt that?’

      She sighed. ‘I wanted you to see me differently.’

      He moved his hands around her waist. ‘But I don’t need to see you differently.’ He gently pulled away the hand that was tending his bruised cheek and waited for her eyes to settle on his. ‘I don’t. Please forgive me for making you feel that way.’

      She ran her fingers through his hair. ‘I’m sorry for embarrassing you. And making you lose that deal.’

      Nicholas shrugged. ‘He was a jackass anyway.’ He pulled her closer to him. ‘And you could never embarrass me. I’m proud of what you did, actually.’

      ‘Proud?’ There was that smile again, forcing its way onto her face. But this time she didn’t hide it.

      He pulled her onto his lap. ‘I should have fought for us, like you did tonight.’

      She cupped his face and kissed him, melting into his lips so deeply that she couldn’t suppress a moan of protest when he eventually made to rise from the chair. But he quickly turned her protest into sighs of contentment by kneeling down before her and beginning to massage her feet. Debra leaned back. ‘That’s what you used to do when I came home from work,’ she said.

      He smiled. ‘And you were as ticklish as a –’

      His words were drowned by her giggles as he tickled the bottom of her feet, ducking as Debra kicked him. ‘Stop it!’ she squealed and wriggled her legs, shooting a pout at her husband. ‘Leave it to you to kill the moment!’

      ‘I killed the moment?’ He raised his eyebrows.

      ‘You СКАЧАТЬ