‘I don’t know if you know but it’s Ellie’s birthday today and I thought I’d treat her to a really nice lunch somewhere. You won’t mind if I take her off and she’s a bit late back, will you, Michael?’ she said appealingly.
There was a terrible inevitability about what happened next.
‘Actually, I’d decided to do the same myself. Lunch at The Mariners Bar.’
‘Oh, wow! The Mariners Bar! What a lovely boss you are to take Ellie there!’
‘Why don’t you join us? It will be a better celebration of her birthday if you do.’
‘I’ll come, as well. Make a party of it,’ Harry put in, instantly supporting the idea.
‘I only booked a table for two,’ Elizabeth couldn’t help saying, even though knowing it was a futile attempt to change what wouldn’t be changed now. Her secret dream was already down the drain.
‘No problem. I’m sure the maître d’ will make room for us,’ Michael said, oozing confidence as he smiled at Lucy. ‘We’d be delighted to have the pleasure of your company.’
‘Well, a foursome should be more fun, don’t you think, Ellie?’
The appealing glance over her shoulder forced Elizabeth to smile and say, ‘Certainly no awkward silences with you, Lucy.’
She laughed. ‘That’s settled, then. Thank you for asking me, Michael. And it’s good of you to join in the party, too, Harry.’
The death knell to a happy birthday, Elizabeth thought. Not only would she have to watch Michael being fascinated by her sister, she’d also have to put up with Harry getting under her skin all the time. She slid him a vexed look. His mouth quirked at her, seemingly with more irony than amusement, but that probably didn’t mean anything. No doubt he was anticipating having heaps of fun at her expense.
This lunch was going to be the lunch from hell.
Elizabeth didn’t know how she was going to get through it without throwing in the towel, having hysterics and drowning herself in the marina.
ELIZABETH knew she’d be paired with Harry for the stroll along the boardwalk to the marina, and she was. There was no point in trying to fight for Michael’s company. His preference for Lucy to be at his side had been made so clear, pride dictated that the arrangement be accepted with as much dignified grace as she could muster.
The two of them walked ahead and it was sickening watching the connection between them flourishing. Lucy, of course, was never short of a word, and Michael was lapping up every one of them, enjoying her bubbly personality. It wouldn’t last, Elizabeth told herself, but that was no consolation. The damage was done. Lucy had achieved in one minute flat what she had been unable to draw from Michael in two years. Even if he turned to her later on, she would never be able to forget that.
The boardwalk ran along the water’s edge of the park adjoining The Esplanade, and she tried to distract herself with the people they passed; couples lounging under the shade of trees, children making use of the play areas set up for them, boys scaling the rock-climb. It was a relief that Harry was leaving her to her silence for a while. It was difficult to cope with him at the best of times, and this was the worst.
She could have chosen to tell Lucy about her secret passion for her boss. That would have warned her off although she wouldn’t have understood it. It simply wasn’t in Lucy to pine for a man who didn’t respond to her as she wanted him to respond. She probably would have looked aghast and said, ‘Throw him away, Ellie. He’s not that into you if you’ve waited this long for him to make a move.’
That truth was staring her in the face right now.
And it hurt.
It hurt so badly, she had to keep blinking back the tears that threatened to well into her eyes. Her chest was so tight she could hardly breathe. She’d been a fool to hope, a fool to think today might be the day. It was never going to happen for her.
‘Ellie...’
It was a jolt to her wounded heart, hearing Harry speak her childhood name in a low, caressing tone.
‘I like it,’ he went on. ‘Much better than Elizabeth. It conjures up a more carefree person, softer, more accessible.’
Her spine stiffened. He was doing it again, digging at her. She shot him a hard, mocking look. ‘Don’t get carried away by it. Lucy simply couldn’t say Elizabeth when she was little. She calls me Ellie out of habit.’
‘And affection, I think.’ There was a look of kindness in his eyes that screwed up her stomach as he added, ‘She doesn’t know she’s hurting you, does she?’
Her mind jammed in disbelief over Harry’s insightful comment. ‘What do you mean?’
He grimaced at her prevarication. ‘Give it up, Ellie. You’re not Mickey’s type. I could have told you so but you wouldn’t have believed me.’
Humiliation burned through her. Her cheeks flamed with it. She tore her gaze from the certain knowledge in Harry Finn’s and stared at his brother’s back—the back Michael had turned on her to be with her sister. How had Harry known what she’d yearned for? Had Michael known, too? She couldn’t bear this. She would have to resign from her job, find another.
‘Don’t worry,’ Harry said soothingly. ‘You can keep on working for him if you want to. Mickey doesn’t have a clue. He’s always had tunnel vision—sets his mind on something and nothing else exists.’
Relief reduced some of the heat. Nevertheless, it was still intensely disturbing that Harry was somehow reading her mind. Or was he guessing, picking up clues from her reactions? She hadn’t admitted anything. He couldn’t really know, could he?
‘On the other hand, it would be much better if you did resign,’ he went on. ‘It’s never good to keep being reminded of failure. And no need to go job-hunting. You can come and work for me.’
Work for him? Never in a million years! It spurred her into tackling him head-on, her eyes blazing with the fire of battle. ‘Let me tell you, Harry Finn, I have never failed at any work Michael has given me and working for you has no appeal whatsoever.’
He grinned at her. ‘Think of the pleasure of saying what you think of me at every turn instead of having to keep yourself bottled up around Mickey.’
‘I am not bottled up,’ she declared vehemently.
He sighed. ‘Why not be honest instead of playing the pretend-game? Your fantasy of having Mickey fall at your feet is never going to come true. Face it. Give it up. Look at me as the best tonic for lovesickness you could have. Balls of fire come out of you the moment I’m around.’
‘That’s because you’re so annoying!’
Her voice had risen to a passionate outburst, loud enough to attract Michael’s and Lucy’s attention, breaking their absorption in each other. They paused in their walk, turning around with eyebrows raised.
‘It’s okay,’ Elizabeth quickly assured them. ‘Harry was just being Harry.’
‘Be nice to Elizabeth, Harry,’ Michael chided. ‘It’s her birthday.’
‘I am being nice,’ he protested.
‘Try harder,’ Michael advised, dismissing the distraction to continue his tête-à-tête with Lucy.
‘Right!’ Harry muttered. ‘We need some control here, Ellie, if you want to pretend there’s nothing wrong in your world.’
‘The only thing wrong in my world is you,’ she muttered back fiercely. ‘And don’t call me Ellie.’
‘Elizabeth reigns,’