Fierce

Chapter 11

"Lincoln Holt speaking."

"Hi Lincoln, it's Georgie."

He pulled the mobile away from his ear in surprise. "Georgiana, how are you?"

"A bit hangover thanks. Your secretary gave me your mobile number, um I hope you don't mind. I'm uh, just ringing about dinner last night. "

"Oh?" his usual confidence about his cooking was completely gone.

"It was delicious! I've never had food like it – the combinations were so perfect and inventive and tasty and we all raved about it. All two of us," she laughed. "And Charly had multiple foodgasms. She wanted me to tell you that – probably to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable," he lied.

"There was enough for left overs, so I'm eating it for lunch now actually – that's what reminded me to call you. I meant to call you after dinner, but Gatsby finished late, and we just about finished a bottle of wine between us...yeah anyway. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"And Lincoln? I shouldn't have thrown you out the door. It's no excuse, but Charly threw me off and-"

"It's fine, seriously. You needed to catch up with your friend, and I said I was going to be out of there before that anyway. I hope I didn't cause trouble?"

"No. Course not," she paused. "Did you, um- did you feel like we used you? As whorey slave labor?"

Linc smiled at her concern. "If Tanie asks, then yes. Otherwise no. That was a joke."

"A bad joke," she sounded relieved and he grinned. "How's things at the office?"

He almost fell of his chair – she was continuing the conversation...either she was bored out of her mind, or genuinely wanted to speak to him. "Slow. We're merging the department heads for risk assessment and financial management and it's turned into a bit of a nightmare. And with you?"

"The usual. It's so nice having Charly back though – I feel like I've been missing an arm. Are you going to Jane Andersons's party tonight?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe I am. Should be horrifically boring, but yes. Are you?"

"I am too. I'll see you there then?"

"Definitely. Look Georgiana, I've got to go, but save me a dance tonight?"

"Okay," she murmured, "Bye."

He listened to the dial tone in a daze.

Fuck. He was in trouble.

Part of him was irritated because he knew he'd been moping around since that door shut in his face yesterday. It shouldn't affect him like this.

But she had called him! ...and he felt like he was floating on a fluffy cloud.

The part of his brain that knew this could be seriously bad was squashed by the larger part of him that just didn't care.

He sat back in his chair with a smile. Tonight couldn't come fast enough.

**

Whatever else you would say about John and Jane Anderson, their ballroom was enormous. Perfect for obnoxious parties with fake friends.

His eyes swept the entire cavernous space three times before they landed on Georgiana – and what a sight she was. She wore a black strapless dress that hugged her waist and stopped mid thigh, with a sheer piece of chiffon that fell to her ankles. Lincoln's eyes ran back up to her face, and he found her staring back at him. He nodded in acknowledgement, and she started forward, red stilettos clicking across the wood. She stopped in front of him. "Georgiana," he said.