Page 57 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘I love you too, and as nervous as I am, I’m not off to war, Tris. I’ll be back in a couple of hours, okay? Maybe sooner.’

He smiles again, this one reaching his eyes. He lays a soft kiss on my cheek and I head out into the cool evening.

‘Good evening, Ms Dean,’ says the driver, opening the car door.

‘Hello, Nigel.’

I slide onto the backseat and buckle up while Nigel closes the door and goes around to the driver’s side.

The drive from our flat in the financial district to the Langham doesn’t take long, and before I know it, Penny Mullings is in action.

* * *

I’m buzzing with adrenaline when I slip out of the Langham, cross the road, and open the backdoor of the town car. ‘Hi, Nigel,’ I say, climbing inside.

‘Sorry, Ms Dean. I would have opened your door had I known you were on your way.’

‘All good, Nigel – thanks though,’ I reply, buckling up. ‘Home, please.’

I consciously steady my breathing as I cast my mind back over the past hour.

The stand-out memory was Dunn’s expression when I sidled up to him at the bar and asked if the seat next to him was taken. He wasdelightedto be approached, swiftly engaging me in conversation. As he asked questions and listened to Penny’s potted history, his eyes never left mine and he nodded and smiled in the right places. Textbook active listening techniques, no doubt designed to reel me in. Hah!

When I faked a yawn and said I needed to get up early to fly home to Melbourne, he leapt into action and asked how he could contact me. Apparently, his role as a geological surveyance consultant for the mining industry brings him to Australia ‘all the time’. Never mind that the mining hubs are nowhere near Melbourne. I suppose when you’re pulling a new profession out of your bum, you might flub the details. Penny simply smiled at him and gave him her Aussie contact number, then left before Dunn could make any physical overtures.

I message Ursula and Marie on our new chat thread:

Hook line and sinker

I’ll fill them in on the details tomorrow, but they will be dying to hear if phase one of our plan worked. Ursula is the first to reply:

Excellent. Well done, Poppy.

It amuses me that Ursula always punctuates her messages correctly. I wait for a response from Marie, but none comes – not really that surprising. She’s the least communicative person I’ve ever worked with. Next I message Tristan:

Heading home babe. Keep the ponytail or lose it?

He responds immediately:

Keep it. We can roleplay. *winking face*

‘Hah!’

Nigel’s eyes briefly meet mine in the mirror, then return to the road.

‘Sorry. Just something funny Tristan said.’

‘Of course, Ms Dean.’

I stare out the window as we pass through Central London and start fleshing out Penny Mullings’ naughtier side. My husband wants to roleplay? Well, he’s about to have a night he’ll never forget.

* * *

Kate

‘Hi, Poppy.’

I’m in my office with the door closed, and Poppy has called right on time. ‘So, how did it go?’ I ask, a tad trepidatious. It’s not every day you chat with the woman who spent the previous evening chatting up your fiancé.

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