Lovers' Dance (33 page)

“Nicole, tell your grandmother to have dinner served at once.”

The teenager immediately spun around and raced off to find Matt’s mom.

“Grumps,” Natty said, touching his jacket covered arm this time. “Have you spoken to Mum about letting us get a car? She’s being ridiculous. All our friends have their own cars. It’s embarrassing.”

“Natalia, now is not the time to discuss this,” he chastised.

Natty’s lip quivered, but she nodded and was about to pull away when Grumps patted her hand resting on his arm.

“I’ll have a word with her tomorrow.”

She beamed at him, then beamed at me. I grinned back. Nothing quite like getting your first car. I remembered my first car back home in the States. It was a beat-up, old Volvo, but I loved it. It represented freedom.

Grumps signalled to the nurse, and she instantly came around to help him up from the chair. Natty and I stepped back to give her room.

“Ms DuMont.”

“Madi,” I corrected automatically.

“How long have you and my grandson been courting?”

Courting?
No one used that word anymore. I played with the thought of saying we’d been doing the nasty for a few months, but I doubted Matt would appreciate me giving his granddad a heart attack.

“We’ve been seeing each other for a few months, Mr Bradley,” I responded, once again very polite. Grumps was eyeing me the same way Matt did whenever he thought I was being secretive—a probing look that made me uncomfortable. Come to think of it, Adam had given me the same look last night a couple of times. Did all the Bradley men act the same? That was a terrifying thought. I could barely deal with Matt.

“I see,” he said. I wondered exactly what did he see. The nurse moved forward gripping his arm, and Grumps huffed in annoyance. “I am fully capable of walking once I’m on my feet.”

She released him and stepped back. If his curt reprimand stung, she gave no outward indication of it.

“How long have you lived in England, Ms DuMont?” he asked, slowly smoothing his dark jacket over his stomach. “You’re obviously foreign.”

“I’m actually English,” I started as Natty came closer to her great-granddad.

“Really?” Grumps eyed me up and down again. “You don’t sound English, Ms DuMont.”

“It’s Madi, and that’s because I moved to the States when I was six,” I explained.

Grumps started moving forward, was quite spry for an old man, and I tried to do a quick mental calculation. Matt was thirty-seven, his parents must be around sixty, so that must make him—

“How old are you?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

“Too old for you, Ms DuMont,” he replied blandly. He walked off, dismissing me without a backward glance.
What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
I stared at his back, face twisted in confusion. I noticed Matt making his way over to me, and I forgot about Grumps and his cryptic comment. I forgot to breathe, only realizing it when my lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. How cheesy. Matt literally took my breath away.

“Hey,” I said with a smile when he stopped in front of me.

Matt shot Natty a worried look as he took my hand in his. “Did Grumps behave himself, Trouble?”

She nodded distractedly, peering in the direction her twin had gone. “He was fine. Uncle Matt, can you talk to mum? She won’t let us get a car.”

Matt tilted his head, a bemused smirk on his face. “I’m not getting involved, Trouble.”

Natty pouted at her uncle. “She’s being unfair. Everyone else has a car. Nikki and I are still being chauffeured around like babies.”

Matt shrugged. “That’s because you are babies. Now go away, I want to talk to Madi in private.”

Natty stuck her tongue out at him, then scampered away when Matt shook a threatening open palm at her. I laughed at their antics and my heart twisted at the fond expression on Matt’s face as he observed his niece’s departure. This was a new side to him I’d never seen before.

Matt turned his attention to me, intense grey eyes roving my face. “Poppet, there’s something you should know before dinner.”

I was staring at his lips. He had sexy lips. Every time I was near him, it made me horny. 

“Poppet, listen to me,” he called and my eyes jerked upwards.

“Matt.” My voice was a husky whisper. “How long do we have to stay?”

He frowned, misunderstanding my intentions. “Don’t be like that. I know you’re scared of interacting with my family, but there’s no need for it. The girls seem to like you. I’m certain my parents will eventually come around. Stop fretting,” he ordered.

I blinked slowly at him, very slowly, while the tip of my tongue moistened my lips. Matt’s gaze zoned in on my mouth, then he cleared his throat softly as understanding dawned.

“Are you coming on to me, Madison DuMont?”

I nodded, glancing around to make sure no one could overhear us. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

His mouth split into a sensuous smile. “Absolutely nothing. After dinner, I’ll give you a tour of the house. We’ll stop by my old room, or we could wait until we get to my place. Your choice, poppet.”

He had done it again, sucked me into some sort of liquid vortex of promised pleasure. Matt raised my hand to his lips and pressed a fleeting kiss over my wrist. A flick of his tongue across my skin…Yeah, I was in the vortex.

Matt rubbed his free hand over his face. “Stop distracting me. I need to tell you something.”

I tried to focus. “What is it?” I inhaled deeply, chest rising, and Matt’s eyes dropped lower, no longer on my face. I grinned, liking the effect my small boobs had on him. If I kept this up, we mightn’t have to stay for a dinner I was dreading. Matt would come up with a plausible excuse, and he could take me to his home in Surrey and rock my world.

“Stop it, poppet.” Matt groaned, forcing his eyes upwards. “Otherwise, I won’t be held accountable for my actions, and I don’t think my parents would appreciate me bending you over that antique table and shagging you senseless in front their guests.”

I glanced at said table. It looked fragile. Maybe I should behave. Matt was a determined man and, once he made his mind up to do something, he would get it done.

“What did you want to tell me?” I clasped my hands in front me demurely. Seriously. Something was wrong with me. I needed to start acting right.

Matt took a shaky breath, then got serious as he reached out to grasp my clasped hands. “My ex is here.”

All horniness disappeared. I tugged my hand away.

“Excuse me?” Did I hear him right?
His ex?
I turned around, looking at the people milling around. When I turned back to face Matt, he looked as if he’d swallowed something foul. “Who?”

Matt sighed and his gaze slid over to the left. I followed the movement and died inside when I saw her.

“Oh my God, Matt,” I said, feeling like shit in my borrowed clothes and flip flops. The twins had come through for me on the shoe problem. “She’s…that’s your ex? Is she a frigging supermodel?”

“No. Don’t be silly, poppet,” he replied.

I didn’t believe him. The blonde woman I was staring at looked like a freaking goddess. What the hell? I watched her. Gorgeous wasn’t a good enough description. She was mouth-wateringly stunning, and looking over at us right at that moment.

I turned away and stared at the parquet flooring.

“Poppet.” Matt stroked a finger over my cheek. “I didn’t know she was going to be here tonight.”

I nodded, unable to look at anything else but the floor. Why would he want to be with me when he could be with her? I wasn’t ugly, I knew that, but—fuck me—I knew my level…and Matt’s ex was on a whole different level.   

“Look at me,” Matt commanded softly. It took a few moments, but I did as he asked. He winked at me. “I don’t want her, I don’t love her, so stop frowning and smile. You’re the one I want.”

I chewed my inner cheeks and plastered a bright smile on my face. Matt’s eyebrows lowered as he scrutinized my expression.

“I didn’t know she’d be here, poppet,” he repeated.

“I believe you,” I said, fake smiling. “It would be in bad taste for you to bring me to a dinner party where your ex-girlfriend was a guest, and I know you wouldn’t do that. What is she doing here anyway?”

Matt looked away. It smacked of evasive manoeuvres. “Louisa is a childhood friend. I’ve known her all my life it seems, and both our families are very close.”

My smile stayed in place, but my heart sank lower. A childhood sweetheart? Oh shit. Now I felt worse. Nothing quite like your first experience of love.
Was she his first love?
Dante was my first love, never mind it was unrequited. He was my first love, and I still sometimes had vivid dreams about us hooking up. Of course, I was with Matt now and, most of the times after those ridiculous dreams, I would wake up with his strong arms wrapped around me chasing away thoughts of anyone else.  

We stood there, both silent, observing each other with an uncomfortable feeling growing between us every passing second. Matt put on his trademark stern expression.

“This is not going to be an issue. I won’t allow it to be. She’s my past, and you’re my future. It looks like dinner is about to start so I want to see a real smile on your face, not that poor imitation which, by the way, isn’t fooling anyone. Smile.”

My smile got tighter as I lied. “It’s not fake and stop being bossy.”

Matt held an arm out for me, and I took it without hesitation as we began to follow the other guests. I couldn’t help staring at his ex. She was wearing a sophisticated black cocktail dress that hugged the lines of her figure. Her accessories: diamonds—and I knew they were the real thing. A pair of Louboutins finished her attire. I patted my wild curls self-consciously after noting the sleek chignon of blonde silkiness gracing her head. If she wasn’t a supermodel, then she was Aphrodite. And she was Matt’s ex.

“How long were you two together for?” I murmured as we walked through the massive double doors. We were the last ones to leave the salon.

“Long enough, poppet.”

I squeezed his arm and he twisted his head to arch that eyebrow at me.

“Bullshit answer, Matt.”

He nodded, jaw clenched tightly, before he sighed and shrugged. “Longer than I was happy with and this is not the time, nor the place, to have this discussion.”

He was wearing that aloof expression on his face, the one that signalled he was done talking about it. Whether or not I wanted the conversation to continue didn’t matter. I sighed and mentally prepared myself for the upcoming ordeal. It was bad enough I had embarrassed myself in front Matt’s family, although that situation wasn’t of my own doing. An unlucky twist of fate and Satan’s hounds were wholly responsible for my pool dunking.

Now I had to deal with the fact Matt’s ex was here. Why was she here? Why on earth would she be invited when his parents knew he was bringing me to dinner? It couldn’t be deliberate…could it? No, no, I wouldn’t think that way. Matt had mentioned their families were close. Just having close friends over for grub, friends whose daughter used to screw your son.

It had to be deliberate.

“Stop frowning, poppet,” Matt hissed between clenched teeth as he led me along a hallway with paintings lining the walls. I jerked to a stop in front of one. Matt tugged me forward. Impatiently.

“Is that a—”

“Matisse, yes,” Matt supplied quickly as I dragged my feet. “It’s a copy. The real painting is in one of my father’s vaults somewhere with all the others. Hurry up, poppet. I don’t want us to be the last ones seated.”

I hurried. When we entered another humongous room, I had to pause to take in the grandeur. I knew Matt’s family was loaded, but damn. Crystal chandeliers that wouldn’t look out of place in an exclusive hotel hung from the high ceiling. Ten formally dressed staff waited at designated points around a huge dining table, which glistened and gleamed from the dinnerware. The floor in this room was marble, like the foyer. There were columns, marble columns that matched the floor. And the softest hint of background music—classical, of course.

“Bollocks,” Matt muttered under his breath, eyeing the table with trepidation.

“What?” I muttered back, smoothing a hand over my curls before tugging my t-shirt nervously.

“Place cards, poppet.” Matt glared at the table as the other guests started taking their allocated seats. “Your name better be next to mine.”

I noticed little white cards placed neatly in front each seat on our approach to the fancy table. I echoed Matt’s annoyed words in my head.

“Madi,” Natty called, with a hand beckoning me over. “You’re seated with us.”

I looked to where she and her sister stood. It was at one end of the large table, the end where Grumps sat. Oh shit. I prayed Matt’s name was next to mine. Obviously God was busy dealing with another more important crisis the moment my prayer went through, because there was only one free chair next to the girls. Matt and I exchanged a look.

“It’ll be fine, poppet. I’ll swap with Trouble. I promised not to leave your side tonight.”

Look how well that turned out
, I thought, remembering the pool water closing over my head as I stared a canine-induced death in the eye.