upright posture had dipped down into a full-on slouch.
There was a particular kind of dejection to her body language that made him sit up and take notice.
It reminded him of the time right after Marcy told him she was throwing away what he now thought of as their joke of a relationship, and he’d felt as though someone had stripped the blood, guts and air out of him.
He’d bought her everything she’d ever wanted—designer clothes, a sports car, ludicrously expensive jewellery—but it still hadn’t been enough for her.
She’d taken it all with her when she’d left him, of course.
The heat of his humiliation washed through him for the thousandth time since she’d dropped the bombshell, leaving a jittery sense of unease. He’d known for a while that things hadn’t exactly been perfect between them, but he couldn’t forgive all the lying and sneaking around behind his back that she’d done.
The two of them must have thought he was a real chump.
As if the dark power of his thoughts had somehow penetrated through to her own, the woman at the bar seemed to pull herself together and she straightened her posture, giving a little jump in her heels as if to remind herself to stand tall—which, judging by her diminutive height, he guessed was something she’d probably done ever since she’d stopped growing.
He really should get back to the hotel, and get stuck into the mound of paperwork that waited for him there, but something kept his gaze fixed to the woman’s skinny-jeans-clad rear view.
She had very long light brown hair pulled back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, which swung like a pendulum as she jiggled on the spot. He bet she had a cute little nose and huge, sensual eyes too, which would draw him into a world of what the hell the moment he looked into them.
Had he guessed right?
The thought of leaving now without at least catching a glimpse of what she actually looked like was curiously unthinkable. Suddenly, he really needed to know for sure, to reassure himself that he wasn’t totally ignorant when it came to reading women, as Marcy had so unsubtly suggested.
Getting up from his chair, he strode over to where she stood at the bar. Maybe he’d have one more drink before he went back to the hotel. After all, he was in for a pretty dull night on his own, so he might as well get his kicks where he could.
Rubbing a hand over his forehead, he sighed to himself. He must be feeling jaded if he was resorting to playing guess my face in a place like this.
Apparently she heard his sigh because she glanced round to look at him, surprise flaring in her deep-set cornflower-blue eyes.
It was as if he’d caught her out. Perhaps she’d been eyeing him up earlier too?
The thought warmed him.
As she opened her mouth to draw breath, something must have caught in her throat because she paused for a moment, her eyes widening in panic, before letting out a forcible choking cough. Tearing her distressed gaze from his, she clamped her hand around her mouth in mortification.
She was prettier than he’d imagined—in an endearing girl-next-door way that made him want to lean over and rub her back to stop the coughing fit. To take care of her.
That was what he did best, after all—took care of people. Until they turned around and stabbed him in the back, that was.
He shook the negative thought off and grinned at her, attempting to project concern with his expression.
She gave him a watery-eyed smile back and flapped a hand in his direction as if asking for his forgiveness.
‘You okay?’ he asked.
She nodded, her gaze not quite meeting his. ‘Fine,’ she rasped out finally. ‘Something went the wrong way.’ She gestured towards her throat and his gaze followed where her finger indicated.
She had beautifully creamy skin, with a smattering of small dark moles just west of the hollow of her throat. A strange impulse to stroke his fingers across them gripped him. He’d probably make her choke in shock again if he did. He almost tried it, just to see if his theory was borne out.
When his gaze returned to her face he noticed two spots of colour had appeared on her high-set cheekbones.
Cute.
He could see now why she favoured such high heels too; even with them on, the top of her head only just reached past his shoulders.
She was studying him warily, as if trying to decide whether to spend more of her precious time talking to him. Clearly she deemed him worthy because she said, ‘I’m Lu,’ and put out a small, delicately boned hand for him to shake.
He took it, his own looking obscenely monstrous in comparison. He was afraid for a second he might crush her if he wasn’t careful.
‘Short for Louise?’ he asked.
She smiled back and opened her mouth to speak but, before she could, a harried-looking barman came over and leaned in towards her, suddenly eager to take her order.
She asked for a glass of wine before turning to him and murmuring, ‘Buy you a drink...?’ She raised her eyebrows in a double question, asking for his name as well as his answer.
Whoa, that voice. It made him think all kinds of inappropriate thoughts as it lapped indecently through his head.
‘Tristan. Tristan Bamfield.’ He shook her a curt no thanks in response to her offer of a drink, reluctant to get into anything more than a passing conversation. The thought of being dragged over and introduced to the gaggle of women she’d been sitting with made him feel faintly woozy.
She nodded in an odd, knowing kind of way, but apparently had other ideas about what he actually wanted, adding a bottle of the beer he’d been drinking to her order.
He caught her eye when she glanced back at him. ‘You noticed what I was drinking?’
‘I’m good with details,’ she said, flashing him a coy smile.
‘That’s a useful skill.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s moderately useful. Not like having superior strength or the ability to see into the future or anything. Now that would be useful.’
Yeah. If he’d been able to see into the future he could have circumnavigated the total train wreck of his last relationship.
The barman returned with their drinks and he watched Lu hand over the cash in silence, feeling a niggling discomfort about her buying him a drink. She gestured towards his beer. ‘For coughing all over you.’
Tristan smiled. ‘Unnecessary, but thanks.’ Picking up the bottle, he took a long swig.
Lu did the same with her wine, the large glass looking enormous in her dinky hand.
‘I see they do wine by the pint here,’ he said, nodding towards the glass. ‘That drink’s almost as big as you are.’
He caught a flash of what looked like startled irritation
