Lessons in Love (12 page)

‘Yeah,’ the man continued, ‘my wife’s like that. Doesn’t look a day over thirty, although she’s already forty-five.’

‘That’s nice.’

‘Yes, she’s as beautiful today as she was the day I met her.’ Instead of replying, Emily busied herself by pulling out a large sheaf of papers, and began flicking through them loudly. The man continued talking, but was apparently happy with a monologue, as he didn’t seem to notice or care that Emily was neither replying nor listening.

The morning’s events kept recycling themselves through her mind, and she shook her head, trying to rid herself of the annoying images. Intellectually she could tell herself that there was nothing between Nicholas and that woman, but emotionally she couldn’t believe it. For starters, he’d rushed off to see her while in the middle of an intimate embrace with Emily. Moments earlier he’d wanted nothing more than to make wild and passionate love to her – or so she’d thought! – he’d been insistent enough about getting into her suite, anyway, and hadn’t seemed keen to take no for an answer. Not that Emily had protested over much, she had to admit. She didn’t think anything at all could have pulled her away from Nicholas at that instant, at least anything but the direst emergency, but the fact that Nicholas had only appeared somewhat agitated when he’d seen her that morning told her that nothing terrible could possibly have happened. So what did this mean? That his feelings for her weren’t as strong as hers for him?

No. It could mean anything. But why was that woman in his suite this morning? ARGH! She forced herself to take a deep breath, and wished the taxi driver would cease rabbiting on. Didn’t the man realise that the last thing she wanted to hear were stories about his children and how wonderful they were, or what a beautiful place the Gold Coast was or?… It was all getting a bit much!

Fortunately, the taxi soon slowed and Emily realised with a sigh of relief that they were parked outside the convention centre.

‘That’ll be forty-four sixty,’ the man announced cheerfully. Was he kidding? Emily wasn’t sure she had that much money in her wallet. She took a deep breath and opened her purse, thankfully finding two twenties and enough coins to make up the rest. Just as long as he didn’t expect a tip!

‘Here. And thanks for the drive,’ she said, before stepping out of the cab, taking a deep breath, and striding forward as if she knew what she was doing.

Once inside she spotted Mark almost immediately.

‘Where’s Nicholas?’ he asked.

‘I have no idea,’ she snapped. Mark raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m sorry,’ she amended, ‘we had a little falling out. At least, I think we did. I’m not really sure what went on.’ She sighed again.

‘Want to tell me about it?’

‘Not really, but thanks anyway. I need to see Nicholas first. Now,’ she said, slapping on a smile and changing the topic, ‘what’s on the agenda for this morning?’

Mark handed her a copy of the itinerary. ‘Looks interesting,’ she muttered, thinking in reality it looked anything but. Mark laughed.

‘Most of it’s not! Don’t worry about it. We business people have to deal with this stuff all the time. Oh look! There’s Nicholas. You might want to grab him before the first session starts.’ Emily turned in Nicholas’s direction and felt her heart sink. The blonde was still with him and they appeared to be engaged in a rather intimate conversation.

‘Maybe later,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘Emily?’

‘He’s obviously busy, Mark. Anyway, I want to stop in the ladies’ before we go in. I’ll see you in there, Mark. Save me a seat if I’m late.’

Unfortunately, the journey to the ladies’ room took her right past Nicholas and his companion. She hoped he wouldn’t look in her direction, but he turned at just the wrong time.

‘Emily! I’m glad you’re here,’ he said, smiling jovially as he approached her.

‘Nicholas. Hi. Look, I’m sorry about before…’

‘No. Me first. I owe you an explanation.’ She shrugged, the gesture belying the sudden pounding of her heart and shortness of her breath.

‘Go on then.’

‘The woman you saw me with is Monique. My ex-fiancée.’ Fiancée? Nicholas had been engaged? A surge of jealousy swept over her like a tidal wave. But why? Surely the prefix ‘ex’ was the most important thing.

‘I see,’ she replied, her voice coming out a whisper. She found that she couldn’t meet his gaze.

‘No, you don’t see,’ he replied, equally softly. ‘It was a long, long time ago and lots of things have changed since then. The one thing that hasn’t is Monique’s tendency to come to me whenever she’s in some sort of trouble.’

‘Oh.’

‘Is that it? Oh?’

‘What do you want me to say? Even if she is your ex, that doesn’t explain the way you rushed out of my suite last night. I would think…I don’t know…but I guess that if I had an ex-fiancé I wouldn’t run off to him every time he called me. Or messaged me even! Especially not…you know…if I was with someone else.’ Nicholas winced slightly.

‘I know, and I’m sorry, but she said it was urgent. All right. I don’t know why I responded to her summons the way I did. She’s a rather…um…dramatic personality when she needs to be, and I’ve found in the past that it’s best to respond immediately, sort out the problem to the best of my abilities and then bid her a fond farewell for another few months, or years…or however long it takes for her to come up with another problem.’

‘I see. I guess. Well, not really. But why is she still here? Don’t tell me she’s at this conference too?’

‘I’m afraid so. But I’ve no intention of spending any more time with her than I have to. I hope to have her little issue sorted out – or at least, put on hold – at the soonest possible convenience. And then, my dear, I will be spending every possible minute with you.’

‘Oh?’ she raised her eyebrows and this time looked him hard in the eye. ‘And will Monique be moving out of your room during this time?’ Nicholas had the decency to flush slightly, a sight that somehow endeared him to Emily even more; although it could well have been misconstrued.

‘She was not supposed to be spending the night in my suite last night, but her hotel’s across town, and it was late. I didn’t have the heart to send her away. So, I had a very uncomfortable night on the sofa, while she got to indulge herself in the luxury of a King sized bed.’ He grinned wryly. ‘Now, my dear, are you ready to forgive me? Or should a I bend over and kiss your feet?’

‘That would be nice, but I have no desire to humiliate you Nicholas. Looks like everyone’s heading in. I told Mark I’d meet him inside.’

‘I have to confess that I’ve asked Monique to accompany me.’ He shrugged and grinned. ‘Probably a foolish move, but I’d like to believe it’s a kind one.’

‘Fine, then grab Monique and we’ll find Mark.’

As Emily watched Nicholas walk away she felt her heart swell again. Again he demonstrated that kindness within, that was rarely apparent, at least not when Emily saw him in a professional sense. The way he looked out for Monique was another example of his soft side. Emily knew by now that Monique was definitely a part of Nicholas’s past, and she also realised that their relationship had not ended entirely well, but still Nicholas was there to help her.

Nicholas returned, the gorgeous Monique in tow. ‘Hello again. Emily, was it?’ Monique said, looking at Emily with an inscrutable expression on her beautiful face. Emily could guess what Monique was thinking, and wondered if Nicholas had told her anything about their relationship. Probably not, she thought, unreasonably jealous again.

She naturally accepted that Nicholas had had a past. How could he not? He was an incredibly attractive man in his thirties. Emily couldn’t imagine any woman
not
attracted to him. As for Emily, he drove her emotions and hormones into overdrive and left her in turmoil more often than not. And just when she thought she had a peg on him, another spanner was thrown into the works.

The morning’s session was ultimately useful but quite boring, nonetheless. Or, it would have been boring if Emily hadn’t been trying so hard to surreptitiously study Monique and her interaction with Nicholas. It was easy to see why Nicholas had been attracted to her on the outside, but what about the inside? What about the essential person Monique was? Emily couldn’t imagine Nicholas wanting a woman who he had no intellectual connection to. At least, not to marry. But so far, all Emily had seen was a beautiful woman who seemed hardly able to understand what was going on. Although, if she was in business in her own right, she should have had a good deal more understanding of the topic than Emily. But every few moments she’d ask Nicholas to explain something. Whether this was to get Nicholas’s attention or not, Emily couldn’t know, but what was obvious was that Nicholas was becoming increasingly irritated by Monique’s behaviour. Somewhat immaturely, Emily discovered that she was quite gratified indeed.

‘What did you think?’ Nicholas asked as they left the seminar room.

‘It was interesting; although – and I don’t know if I should say this – I’m not sure I agreed with him about economic foreign policy. Does that seem terribly arrogant to you?’

‘I’d think he’d know more about it than you, Emily,’ Monique butted in, a patronising tone to her voice, ‘Nicholas told me you’re just a first year student!’ She spoke loudly enough for several other people to hear and turn around. Emily felt heat rush into her face, and was about to stammer out some explanation when Nicholas turned to Monique and glared at her.

‘As a matter of fact, Emily, that was a very perceptive observation. Dr Richard Peoples is known for his somewhat radical ideas about foreign policy and there are many who disagree with him.’

‘And you?’ Emily asked, her embarrassment quenched by Nicholas’s staunch defence of her.

‘I don’t know. I’m coming around to his way of thinking. Let me put it this way,’ he continued, and put his own spin on the man’s words.

‘Let’s eat!’ Monique finally pleaded, looking thoroughly bored by Nicholas’s explanation, but Mark put up a hand to shush her.

‘That’s very interesting, Nicholas. I’d like to hear more of your ideas,’ he interjected. Monique pouted and Emily grinned.

‘So would I, but Monique’s not the only one who’s hungry. I heard one of the other attendees raving about a place called
The Plato
.’

‘Not a bad idea, Em,’ Nicholas said, casually placing a hand on her shoulder, much to Monique’s chagrin. Monique frowned for a second before pasting a charming smile on her features and turning to Mark. As she looped her arm through his, Emily stifled a giggle and turned away. For the life of her, she still could not understand what Nicholas had ever seen in the other woman – besides the obvious, of course.

‘This is a lovely restaurant!’ Emily exclaimed as they entered the exclusive establishment. The place had been designed to complement the feel of the Gold Coast, with large tropical aquariums along the walls, and festive red, orange and yellow décor, toned down by the dome overhead that made use of the blue sky above them.

‘And the seafood they serve here is marvellous,’ Nicholas joined in. ‘The lobster is some of the best I’ve eaten. But if seafood’s not your thing, they also prepare sumptuous steaks and superb pasta dishes.’

Emily adored pasta, but she rarely had the opportunity to eat lobster. Monique looked at the menu with hungry eyes, but only ordered a salad with ‘dressing on the side’. Emily raised her eyebrows at the other woman, but Monique acted as if she hadn’t noticed. Nicholas did, however, and frowned, shaking his head slightly to indicate his displeasure.

She remembered Nicholas’s censure of women who were forever dieting, and wondered if Monique had been the genesis of his annoyance. Another interesting thing about him, she mused, again wondering about the state of their previous relationship. She didn’t want to pry, but knew she wouldn’t rest until she’d ferreted out more details from Nicholas. But that could wait for later, now she wanted to relax and enjoy her meal.

The afternoon’s lectures passed quickly. Both sessions had several speakers with prepared presentations. Some were interesting and vibrant and others were rather dull, but being by Nicholas’s side meant that Emily never experienced a boring moment. Whenever he’d touch her, inadvertently or not, Emily’s senses would zing, and a surge of heat would race through her entire body, giving her a warm rush of pleasure. She only hoped Monique would get herself out of the picture well before that evening. Nicholas obviously hoped so too, as immediately upon hailing them a taxi, he suggested to Monique that they hold the cab for her while she collected the things she’d left in his suite. She opened her mouth as if to protest, but with a single glance from Nicholas and a glare for Emily she snapped it shut again. Mark looked amused by Monique’s behaviour, until she moved closer against him and whispered something intimately in his ear. This time Emily’s hurriedly suppressed giggle leaked out and Monique gave her a look that would have sent her six feet under had it had the power. But strangely Monique’s affectations no longer bothered Emily in the slightest.

‘So!’ Emily began as Nicholas and herself entered his now vacated suite.

‘So what?’

‘So Monique?’ she raised an eyebrow. Nicholas shrugged nonchalantly.

‘What’s to tell? You must see that it’s well and truly over between us.’

‘Hmm. Remind me to mention that to Monique.’