Courtship

Part 20

Alistair only seemed to have an on switch, and he kept a steady flow of monologue going for most of the meal. Though, thankfully he felt inclined to share his monologue with the women on either side of him. That bought Marina a bit of respite. It wasn't the fact that the man seemed to like the sound of his own voice, but more the fact that he was probably one of the most boring people she had met! However the evening wasn't all bad, for much to her surprise Rafe did his best to help Marina out by drawing her into conversation on the pretext of clarifying a point with his date. But he only managed to buy her breathing space for short periods of time.

Marina had practically resigned herself to being stuck with Alistair for the evening. While Alistair droned on, Marina wondered whether this had been Rhianna's plan: To sit Marina between Rafe and Alistair, knowing that Marina would be bored silly by Alistair and would therefore make an attempt to talk to Rafe. Cunning. Very cunning

Thankfully, much to Marina's relief Alistair spotted another colleague and after the meal he made a beeline toward that table. Rafe, Marina, Felicity and Ellie glanced at each other, banked a smile and settled to have a conversation.

"How did he manage to eat?" Rafe asked and his lips kicked up at the corners as he attempted to stop himself from laughing out loud. The table was eerily quiet now that Alistair had left!

"Inhaled." Marina replied instantly, her eyes danced, partly out of relief, and partly in shared camaraderie. "My ear drums are still ringing."

"Have you got a plan for when he comes back?" Rafe teased as he leaned back in his chair and grinned, "Cause I imagine he will have even more to talk about!"

"You mean Felicity won't take pity on me and let me borrow you as a protector?" Now where had that come from, Marina wondered. Clearly Rhianna's strategy was working! Marina had approached the table tonight with some measure of apprehension given she had seen the table seating arrangements and knew she would have to make small talk with Rafe. But small talk was one thing, flirting was quite another. And if she was going to be honest her comment to him just now could be seen as flirting.

Rafe glanced at Felicity who was grinning. "It will cost you." Felicity said with a smile in response to Marina's question.

"Anything. I promise anything." Marina was just grateful that they were all playing along and hadn't misread her question as a statement of intent where Rafe was concerned. Marina had never poached another person's date, and she had no intention of starting now. And now that she thought about it, she wondered about the connection between Rafe and Felicity. It wasn't as of they were particularly touchy feely, or indeed gave out any vibe that they were an item. That was puzzling. Were they together? In that sense? Or were they nothing more than friends? Or was Marina hoping Rafe and Felicity were nothing more than friends? That brought her up short. She had no intention of getting involved with the man. She had moved on from that schoolgirl crush. She had experienced his opinion of her. There was no way she could see her and him together. And yet in the back of her mind and in collusion with her heart, she knew she was kidding herself. She might have been busy in the last two years, and she might have avoided the man after her stint on his ward, but her heart had not forgotten him.

"Rash. Very rash." Rafe grinned at her. Marina's heart did a little cartwheel. Now why hadn't he smiled at her like that when they worked together? It would have made a hell of a difference to their working relationship. And it might have made it impossible to maintain a professional relationship at the time.

Felicity added with a wink. "You tell me where you got that gorgeous dress and I might let you borrow him."

"Hey! You can't just pass me around!" Rafe quirked a brow, "What if I don't want to ..."

"Now you aren't going to say anything ungallant are you?" Marina interrupted and quirked a brow at him in open challenge as she waited with baited breath to see whether he would shoot her recently acquired bubble of happiness down.

"Rafe does not know how to be ungallant!" Felicity corrected and that earned her a kiss on the cheek from the man.

"That's what you think." Murmured Marina when she realised that Rafe hadn't been as quick to respond.

"Sorry." Felicity glanced over at Marina. "I missed that."

"Nothing important. I was just mumbling to myself about it being a close thing." Marina said more clearly but avoided making eye contact with Rafe. She wasn't sure whether he'd heard her comment.

"Well, Alistair does like the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?"

Marina nodded. Still Rafe hadn't answered her question. All thoughts that centred on flirting with the man vanished. No point getting carried away with that temporary induced camaraderie.