“Thanks, V,” Heath said under his breath, reaching over to give my hand a squeeze and then kiss me on the side of my head.
“Okay then,” I heard a deep voice say and looked over to see Harry’s brother a few feet away, glaring at us. “And here I was thinking I’d misjudged you. Turns out I’m better listening to my first instincts and remembering that leopards don’t change their spots.”
“John, it’s not–” I started to say, but Heath went into full brother-on-a-mission mode before I had a chance to explain.
“What the fuck is your problem, mate?” he snapped, making the situation worse by tightening his grip on my hand and pulling me slightly behind him. “How dare you speak to her like that.”
“Whatever,” John spat. “Good luck, pal.” With that, he gave our linked hands one last furious look and stormed off.
I sighed.
“Who is that idiot?” Heath said, turning to me.
“Harry’s brother.”
Heath’s eyebrows went up into his hairline. “His brother? Why is he acting like such a prick?”
“The whole family aren’t that keen on me. Apart from Mr York, which is a bit of a surprise to be honest. You know, after–”
“That was twenty years ago! Didn’t they give you a chance to explain?”
“Explain what?” Harry said as he drew up next to me and handed me a glass of champagne before kissing me briefly on the lips.
“Explain why your family are treating V like shit over something that happened more than two decades ago.”
Harry stiffened and I rushed in to avert disaster. The last thing I needed was for him to get angry with his family over me. The situation was difficult enough as it was. “It’s fine, Harry. Heath’s just being a bit overprotective.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Harry said through his teeth. Before I could stop him, he gave me a quick one-armed hug and set off towards his family who were all near the bar. I watched as he said something to his brother. John shot an angry retort back. The background noise of the room meant I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but whatever it was it didn’t de-escalate the situation, which was made clear when Harry shoved his brother’s shoulder and John shoved him back. It took their dad stepping in to stop it from going further. I bit my lip. This was the last thing Harry needed tonight.
This event should be a celebration. Mrs York got involved then, and despite how stressful the situation was I had to bite back a smile when she clipped her sons, both of whom were a good foot taller than her, around the ear. My smile dropped however when she caught my eye across the room and scowled at me like this was all my fault for ruining Harry’s night. I looked away and took a large gulp of Shloer from my champagne flute, which I used to disguise the fact that I wasn’t drinking, and wished that I didn’t have to give a bloody speech in front of these people. It fell to me yet again to do most of the talking, Max being mostly non-verbal at these occasions. But that was how we operated – I upheld the reputation of the business and did the schmoozing, and Max was kept from offending too many people.
Toby approached our group with Naomi, Kira Lucas and, to my surprise, Lanie. Even more surprising was how close Lanie was sticking to Naomi as her wide eyes took in the event space. She had on a very pretty evening dress and lowish heels. I’d only ever seen her in a hoodie before so this was a massive change. Kira Lucas’s appearance was less of a surprise given her and her husband’s passion for the environment and sustainable environmentally friendly design. But having the prime minister and his wife here tonight was a huge boost for the project.
“Lanie,” I said, smiling in greeting despite my stress. “You look wonderful.”
“Noo helped me,” Lanie said softly. Naomi pulled her in for a side hug.
“My stylist helped you,” Naomi said through a smile. “And once we got the hem-length past this fun sponge,” she nodded to Toby, who rolled his eyes but not with any real annoyance, “we were golden. This one’s got a killer set of pins on her.” A tray of canapés came past and Noo fully body-blocked the poor waiter so he had to stop at our group. “Ooh! Posh sausage rolls.” She grabbed two and handed one to Lanie. Lanie stared at it for a moment then glanced at Noo who was already shoving hers into her mouth. “Er… if you’re not going to eat that then–” Noo made a grab for Lanie’s sausage roll but Lanie jerked it away and shoved it into her own mouth. Noo pretended to be disappointed, but I could see the small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“Noo’s right, you gorgeous little fountain of youth,” Kira said to Lanie. “I’d kill for your legs.” She grabbed a sausage roll herself and shoved it into her mouth. “OMG! Sam, you have to try these!” Kira semi-shouted, grabbing another one then taking it over to what could only be her bodyguard on the outskirts of the group. She held it out to him, but he remained motionless with his arms crossed across his massive chest. “Your loss, big guy,” she chirped, shoving it into her own mouth to follow the last one.
“What are the Yorks getting into it about?” Toby asked, ignoring Kira’s antics.
I sighed. “The Yorks aren’t my biggest fans and Harry isn’t really accepting that.”
“What weirdos,” Kira said, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re the dog’s bollocks, V.”
I smiled. “Thanks, darling. Quite the compliment, I’m sure.”
“Want Barclay to lock them up in the Tower of London?”
“Er… Kiki, I don’t think that’s a thing,” Naomi said, making an eek face at me.
“Pretty sure that if Barclay gives the word one of these chaps will be happy to sort it. Right, Sam?” She shouted the last over her shoulder to a sausage-roll-refuser, who was now scanning the room. His gaze snapped to Kira, and he gave her a long-suffering look, before going back to his surveillance of the space. She shrugged. “He loves it.”
“Is that why he asked to be the far guard as we were coming in?” Naomi said, smirking into her drink. Kira narrowed her eyes.
“Sam loves being my close protection officer. He’s just being a stubborn old badger today. Right, Sam?”
