Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“B etsy? I need your help.”
“Hey, girl. What’s up?” Her reply to my panicked phone call was calm, her voice a smooth, welcoming shot of tranquillity to my fraught nerves.
“Are you going to the Business Community garden party tonight?”
“Oh, yeah, I am! Giles asked me as Jenny didn’t want to go. He said you were going with someone else. Are you?”
“I’m meant to be, but I’m having second thoughts and serious wardrobe issues.” I glanced at all of my clothes that were strewn across my bed, haphazardly spread like I’d been burgled and the villain had left in disgust at my severe lack of anything even remotely fashionable to steal. In fact, he’d probably just nipped out to Marks his beard trimmed and neat, and he was smelling completely and utterly delicious. He looked like an A-list movie star.
Damn him.
When I dragged my gaze back to his face (desperately trying to distract myself from my musings about his other impressive attributes that filled out his suit), an expression I couldn’t quite place was flitting over his features. He let out a long breath, sounding almost like he was blowing a raspberry, then ran his hand through his hair, dishevelling it in a delightful, roguish way.
“You look amazing, Hannah,” he said softly. “Stunningly, unequivocally beautiful.”
I flushed and let my hair fall over my face.
“It’s just the dress, and make-up – Betsy helped me and she’s a wonder at it.” I paused and then huffed a sad little laugh. “Mutton dressed as lamb, right?”
Teddy frowned, the crease between his eyebrows deep and severe. “No, don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down.”
His tone startled me. The rough timbre of his voice was unexpected, shaking through me with its sincerity and gravity.
“You’re beautiful – why don’t you believe it?” he said.
Taking a step towards me, he went to reach for my hand, before thinking better of it and running his fingers through his hair again.
“We should go,” I said, deflecting the unease that we were both obviously now feeling, that frisson of tension that seemed to erupt when the jokes subsided, an undercurrent that perhaps there was something else going on, something deeper or more serious between us than mere flirting. But I pushed those thoughts away, still unable to thank him for the compliment, unable to take it at face value or see it as anything more than a throwaway comment that he didn’t really mean.
“Right.”
Teddy stepped back again, holding the door with one hand and I squeezed past him and down the steps, letting him pull it closed behind us.
Outside in the surgery car park, in the space next to my estate car, was a very slinky red Jaguar whose indicators flashed as Teddy pressed the key fob.
“That’s a very silly car,” I said, unable to help a derisive snort from escaping.
“Funny – Clara said exactly the same thing the first time too, apparently,” Teddy muttered, opening the passenger door for me. Then, in response to the quizzical eyebrow tilt I levelled at him, he continued, “This is Henry’s car. I thought I’d take you to the party in style rather than in my battered old Land Rover.”
In the process of contorting my body into the car, the split in my dress opened up to mid-thigh, flashing more leg than I was strictly comfortable showing. Catching Teddy’s rakish grin, I tutted and wagged a finger.
“Oi! You’re meant to be being a gentleman!”
“Sorry, but that was an unexpected and delightful view from this perspective.” He laughed and closed the door jogging around the front of the car and sliding into the driver’s side.
“I think I’d prefer the Land Rover,” I said, scowling and folding my arms over my chest as he buckled his seatbelt.
“Whereas I’m liking this car rather a lot now.”
The smirk was unmistakeable, a twinkling mischievousness that turned my thought processes to slush so that they slopped around in my head, and made me entirely forget my peevishness. Which was pretty bloody annoying, actually.
* * *
We pulled in to the grand circular drive of the Fraser family home just as the sun was starting to get low in the sky. Glittering fairy lights adorned the paths around the garden and the golden house was lit up with the last throws of sunlight, marred only by long shadows cast by the tall trees in the grounds. Beautifully dressed people were gathering in groups, chatting casually. One woman in a stunning red dress tossed her hair coquettishly, touching the arm of an older man who was transfixed. The sound of laughter and music drifted into the car, the noises of a party, and all the connotations that brought with it. And I froze.
“I can’t do this, Teddy,” I whispered from my seat, the icy claws of apprehension holding me prisoner. The desire to hide and never be seen was overwhelmingly present in my brain.
Turning to face me, Teddy reached over and laid his warm hand over my militantly clenched fist, gently rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.
“Yes, you can.”
“I really can’t.”
Teddy leant in closely, moving his hand to gently cup my face. His gaze darted to my lips for the briefest of moments, before meeting my wide-eyed, startled stare.
“I’m right here, and will be by your side all night, ok?”
“Will you do all the talking?”
He chuckled. “No. Remember your flirtation training – the words will come from inside you, Hannah-san.”
“Did you just badly quote the Karate Kid movie? What are you, Mr Miyagi now?”
Teddy grinned. “Yes, and later we’ll be waxing Henry’s car and catching flies with chopsticks. I hope you’re ready.”
The tension seemed to be dissolving from my shoulders as a reluctant smile spread like golden syrup, coupled with a strange sensation of relief and something else, like a fire blooming in my chest. As I looked into Teddy’s eyes, their blue depths warm and kind, his fingers lightly brushed my cheek again, before he dropped his hand back into his lap.
“Should we do this then?”
I nodded, an almost imperceptible twitch of my head, all the while giving myself a mental slap. Peopling shouldn’t be this hard. I’d delivered lectures on limb biomechanics in racehorses to an auditorium full of students, and presented my PhD thesis on degenerative joint disease to two of the world-leading experts in the field, for fuck’s sake. I could do small talk with local business people and not freak the hell out. But even this mental shakedown couldn’t avoid the real issue: I had no science or research to hide behind and I wasn’t here to deliver information or offer advice in a professional capacity. I was here to get to know people, to be nice, and to let people get to know me, all the while reining in the perpetual need to be defensive or deflective, to turn attention away from me as a person, and to prevent any actual real scrutiny. I had nothing here, no protective shield.
Apart from Teddy. Teddy and his glowing, iridescent personality and infinite charm, which I sincerely hoped would blind all onlookers and leave me unseen. It was the only hope I had of getting through this evening unscathed.
With a final encouraging look and squeeze of my hand, Teddy got out and opened my door, helping me to emerge from the car in a much more elegant fashion than how I’d got into it. Walking towards the party, heads turned to stare at us – well, at Teddy; they turned to stare at Teddy, let’s be honest, and I felt myself begin to shrink, letting him absorb the attention, while I lurked sheepishly in his shadow. Playing my role as a funny little troll creature in make-up and a green dress, hiding behind his back.
But Teddy wasn’t having any of it. He tugged me forwards, placing my hand in the crook of his elbow, and began heading for a group of people. My heart thundered in my ears, loud and crashing, in a crescendo of panic. This was really happening. Socialising was a go.
As we neared the group, one of the men turned to look at us and to my utter relief I came face to face with Henry, who smiled warmly and nodded at Teddy.
“I hope my car’s still in one piece, dickhead?” He turned to me then and said, “Hey, Hannah. Nice to see you again.”
I was now faced with quite a large number of people, all staring at me curiously. Recognising Clara, who gave me a big grin and a funny little wave, I made a beeline for her, the warmth she generated radiating outwards and drawing me in. There was a lot of inter-Fraser hugging, as I noticed Dan and Tom Fraser, Henry and Teddy’s other brothers, also in the group, as well as an Asian couple, and a tall, dark-haired chap who stood slightly to one side and looked as uncomfortable as I felt.
“Hi! I love your dress! You look amazing!” Clara leant in and whispered, “These bloody Frasers and their relentless hugging compulsion! I’ll introduce you to everyone else and you might just escape being mauled to death.”
With a grateful smile, I stepped back and she began talking again. “You all know Ted, and this is Hannah Havens, one of the local vets here and Ted and Henry’s friend from school.” Tilting her head towards the other Fraser brothers, she carried on, “I think you remember Dan and Tom?” I nodded and gave them a wave and they raised their glasses in reply. “This is Simmy Anand and her husband, Bhavin, and this is Oscar Moretti.” She gestured at the glamorous Asian woman and the tall, strained-looking man. “I work with these two at Pharmavoltis.”
“Hi.”
“I’ll get us a drink,” Teddy said, casually wandering off into the crowd to intercept a waiter, leaving me standing next to Oscar Moretti. I quickly started to realise that if I was a prickly hedgehog, then he was most definitely a bristling, indignant porcupine. Clutching his wine glass menacingly, he glanced at me and then away, his straightened spine and rigid shoulders unnaturally still and tense. Even the molecules of air around us seemed to be avoiding him. I briefly wondered if we’d been separated at birth – except he was very tall and Italian-looking and I was of average height and decidedly Nordic. But otherwise, twins. Obviously.
With this apparent similarity bolstering my confidence, I said the first thing that came into my head. “You’re not really enjoying being here, are you?”
He turned so quickly that I’m pretty sure he gave himself whiplash.
“What makes you say that?”
“The look on your face.”
Where the hell is my brain-to-mouth filter?
Teddy was going to kill me, but I was distinctly aware of Clara chuckling quietly next to me.
Oscar narrowed his eyes. “You don’t look so happy yourself now that your boyfriend’s gone.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“No?” Oscar Moretti seemed to be losing interest in the conversation.
Well, this is going spectacularly badly…
But Clara gave me an encouraging and sympathetic smile and a little elbow bump, seemingly urging me to carry on with this feeble attempt at socialising with a stranger. And he was strange, even if I did recognise a sort of kindred spirit in him. She whispered, not actually that quietly, in my ear, “Please talk to him. We don’t let him out of the laboratory much and it shows.”
Turning back to the object of my experiment, my gaze flitting over the designer stubble and impossibly dark brown eyes, I decided that honesty was the best option here. Truth or bust.
What’s the worst that could happen?
He’d already judged me to be a social pariah. Or an idiot.
I can only go up in his estimation, right? And does it really matter what he thinks of me anyway?
Right. Shit. Ok, here goes.
“No, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s teaching me how to be nice to other people, in an attempt to stop me being perceived as prickly.”
Without missing a beat he replied, “It’s not working.”
I snorted with laughter and watched as the ghostly hint of a smile twitched over his lips.
“My lessons have only just started – this is my first test.”
“It shows.”
“I’m trying to make people like me.”
Oscar took a sip of his wine. “If I tell you I like you, will you stop talking to me?”
“Yes, I promise.” I hesitantly went to shake his hand, which he clasped firmly but briefly. “And might I suggest that you enrol in Ted’s people-skills masterclass? It might help you with your facial expression. And your conversational ability. I’m sure he’d take you on – he loves a challenge.”
At this Oscar laughed – actually laughed – his features lighting up and changing to something almost angelic, warm, and open.
“Fine, Hannah. I find you to be a faintly likeable human being.”
“Thank you. Do you want me to put a word in for you with Ted??”
Teddy was coming back towards us with two glasses, smiling and chatting with people as he went.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt, actually…” Oscar murmured, a hint of something troubling flashing behind his eyes before a mask of cold indifference shuttered down over his face again.
“Should we mingle, Hannah?” Teddy asked, handing me a glass of Pimm’s complete with bobbing fruit and a straw.
My returning look of horror must have been like the white mask from the Scream films because our little group collectively gave me a sympathetic nod, and Clara reached out to touch my arm.
But it was Oscar who spoke. “I have to say, despite your very unusual and direct approach, you are not at all prickly, and we most definitely shouldn’t keep your unique and amusing conversational skills to ourselves.”
He took a sip of wine and Clara and Henry stared at him agog. He merely shrugged, hiding a small smile behind his glass.