Convenience

Part 78

David said quietly, "For your information, I haven't been on a date since I came back from that first meeting with you, when I asked for a divorce."

She snorted, "Too bad!" She scowled at him. "How noble!" She rolled her eyes, "You gave up seeing other women, because you just realised that you are a married man? How noble of you!" Sarcasm. "Or just ran out of options? No women available in your pool to take up your wife position?" She glared.

"I like you." He told her.

Beatrice gulped at that honest statement. But her spine stiffened. "As I said, too bad." She scowled. "How can you like me?" She reminded him. "You don't know me!"

He was looking straight at her when he said, "What I know about you is...."

She lifted up one palm to halt his speech. It was time to review her boundaries when it came to him. She kept her voice neutral as she said, "You don't know anything about me! Not a single thing about me!" She locked gazes with him. She said firmly, "You really don't know me!"

He watched her eyes. Saw the sparks.

Silence.

Eventually, David gave her one of his dynamite smiles. "You are here for the weekend, right?"

She snorted. "Really? And that would be enough to know me, right? You think that I am easy?" Beatrice questioned. She was tempted to thump David! Ready to thump her! She was still standing here! "Just one weekend to learn about me?" She snorted again. "Just one weekend. You would know me better? Really?" But she remembered their lunch. She told him all about her life: how she'd gone from selling her grandfather's house to setting up a small business that had grown in the last four years. Within ten minutes! She needed time to think about her actions today. Gather her thoughts. Remember she was strong. Review her position: She is not going to allow him to walk all over her. Shore-up her stance: she was not going to be someone's side dish; she was going to be the main course. Self-confidence. That is what she needed. Self-belief.

She narrowed her eyes.

So far, he has been wide of the mark. His approach was wrong. Stealth was not the right approach with Beatrice. David wanted a new start. "Look, Beatrice, can we meet for dinner? Tonight." David rubbed the back of his neck. She really was amazing, the fact she kept him on his back foot. He was right: She is smart, feisty, kind, beautiful. He waited a few seconds,

"No!" Beatrice needed her brain to start functioning and her heart to stop pounding. She remembered her character! She was strong. She looked at him, "Remember, "I don't date married men. I'm not a model, or actress, or flight attendant or newsreader." She told him dryly. "I don't date married men. Let alone a man who doesn't live with his wife in over 5 years!" She shrugged with a detachment she was far from feeling. "Time to divorce!"

David shook his head, "I don't believe that." He rubbed his jaw. "You won't believe this, because I am usually very upfront. For example, people know I'm married, no secret there, and they know that I don't live with my wife. They know that my marriage was for convenience. For whatever reason. They know that we never lived together. I am not sure if they didn't know that my wife was living in a different city. But I am pretty sure that they knew you weren't living at my address. None of this was a secret." But before Beatrice could speak, "You know that journalist, Angela Sutter, will run a story on us having lunch." David announced baldly. "And before you suggest that I arranged that meeting with Angela Sutter at that restaurant: I didn't. And yeah, I used her sudden appearance at that restaurant. Because I knew, that if she knew about us, she would run a story about us." He said simply. "You can bet, that our separation is over, it will be reported!"

She questioned loudly, "Separation?" He sounded far too sure of himself. Beatrice muttered beneath her breath. "You are wrong."

His eyes flashed at her, as he mumbled, "Want to bet?"

"No!" Beatrice grumbled. "I just need you to release my car door so that I can leave!"