After dinner, Daniel was dragged away to compere the charity auction and Anna was left on her own again. She was surprised by how rude these people were. After a few perfunctory sentences, they quickly returned to theirconversations. She wondered if it was because she was with Daniel and their loyalty was to Lucinda, or whether it was because they were so shallow they didn’t want to take the time to get to know anyone new.
She watched, mesmerised, as the auction continued. If they weren’t interested in conversation, they certainly enjoyed flashing the cash, or, she thought cynically, making themselves look good in the process. She couldn’t imagine they were doing it for the sake of the charity.
When the auction drew to its close, Anna thought Daniel would come back to the table, but Lucinda clearly had other ideas and took him off to mingle with her guests. At first Anna waited patiently, but after a while her resentment began to rise. Fuelled by champagne, she decided to make a stand. Getting up, she made her way towards them, determined to be included, even if she wasn’t accepted.
Walking up behind Daniel, she put her arm around his waist. He jumped, but when he looked down a smile spread over his face. He extricated himself from Lucinda and drew her to him. Then, turning to the man he was speaking to, said, ‘You haven’t met Anna, my girlfriend, have you?’
For a moment a flash of doubt crossed the man’s face as he looked from Anna to Lucinda. Then he recovered. ‘Delighted to meet you. How did you two meet?’
‘Anna’s a photographer too,’ Daniel said on her behalf. ‘She’s just had her first exhibition, which, if I say so myself, was a bit of a hit. Anna Wright? You may have heard of her.’
‘Anna Wright? Urban landscapes?’ the man asked. ‘Yes, I’ve seen your photographs and I love them.’
Amazed that he had even heard of her, she replied shyly, ‘I’ve got another exhibition coming up soon. And the landscapes this time are much closer to home. Well, closer to your home anyway. I’m focussing the exhibition on Chester.’
‘Really? How wonderful. I can’t wait to see that.’
And they began Anna’s first genuine conversation, with the exception of Daniel, that she’d had all night.
After a few moments, Lucinda cleared her throat. ‘Well, I think I’d better mingle with the other guests. Daniel, will you—’
‘Yes, thank you, I will enjoy the rest of my evening, now that I’ve completed my duties as MC.’
‘Yes, well, um, thank you for doing that. You really helped me out.’
‘My pleasure,’ Daniel said. ‘Anything to help raise money for such a worthy charity.’
‘Enjoy the rest of your evening then.’ She turned to Anna and said coldly, ‘You too, Anna.’
‘Oh, I intend to,’ Anna said, suddenly realising there was only one way to deal with the Lucindas of this world, and that was to show no fear.
* * *
Anna kicked off her shoes as soon as she was through the door, groaning.
‘I don’t know how women wear these all the time, they’re so painful.’
‘But you do look sensational in them. Mind you, I think you look gorgeous in anything.’
Daniel nuzzled the back of her neck and she leaned into him. ‘And I do like it when you have your hair up,’ he said between kisses. ‘You have such a beautiful neck.’ She wriggled in enjoyment at the tingles he was sending up and down her spine. ‘And although you look amazing in this dress, I can’t wait to get it off you.’
She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing herself closer to him. ‘I’m not sure I’ve quiteforgiven you about the dress,’ she said. ‘The way some of those women looked at me.’
‘Forget about them,’ he said. ‘They’re not important.’
He kissed her and then took her hand to lead her up the stairs. She was glad that the evening had ended so well after such an unpromising start. For the rest of the evening Lucinda had kept her distance — Anna and Daniel had danced and laughed and even had some nice conversations with people. She realised it was always going to be difficult when she was on Lucinda’s turf, but she hoped that tonight Daniel had seen how manipulative Lucinda could be when it came to him.
* * *
On Sunday they took a drive out to Lyme Park with Ben, and spent a happy day in the August sunshine followed by lunch in a country pub. Afterwards, when Ben was playing on a slide, Daniel said, ‘I meant it last night when I said we should go on holiday together.’
‘Good, I’m glad. That would be really nice.’
‘We do need to spend some more time alone with each other. I’m aware that even today Ben is with us.’
‘I don’t mind Ben being with us. I enjoy his company and he’s part of you. It’s just his mother I don’t like hanging around.’
‘I know what you mean. I’m sorry, I have tried to put her off, but she’s not getting the message. I’ll have to try harder. Lucinda has a habit of not giving up until she gets what she wants, but it’s not going to work this time. I’m with you and she’s just going to have to get used to the idea.’
