Love and Liability (Dating Mr Darcy - Book 2) by Katie Oliver Read Free Book Online Page A

some retail therapy. “Look, I’m going out. Please be gone by the time I get back.”
    “Right, then,” Mick said, and scowled. “Fine. It’s past time I moved out, anyway.”
    “I couldn’t agree more.” She brushed past him and went out of the door.
    And she didn’t say goodbye.
    When Holly returned to the flat that afternoon, her arms laden with shopping bags, Mick, along with his lads’ magazines, amplifiers, and bass guitars, was gone, and so was Kate. An extravagant bouquet of white roses sat in the middle of the kitchen table. The flowers smelled heavenly and must’ve cost a fortune.
    She picked up the tiny envelope with a frown. Had Mick sent them? She snorted. Not likely. He hadn’t a romantic bone in his body. Besides, he only ever spent money on motorcycle parts and bass guitars. Holly lifted the envelope flap with her newly French-manicured fingertip and slid out the card.
    By way of apology for being such a rude git,
    Alex
    P.S. — Found one semi-squashed packet of Mentos under my desk. Believe it belongs to you. Will return soonest.
    Holly smiled.
    The front door banged open and Kate came in. “Ooh, they’re gorgeous, aren’t they?” she breathed as she heaved a bag of groceries from her hip onto the counter. “Bloke delivered them just before I went out. Good thing I was here. Who’re they from, anyway?”
    Before Holly could answer, her mobile rang. The number was unfamiliar. “Hello,” she said cautiously.
    “Did you get the flowers?” Alex asked.
    “Yes, thanks. They’re beautiful.” She walked into her bedroom — Kate was unabashedly eavesdropping — and shut the door. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”
    “I did. I was inexcusably rude.”
    “Well…yes.”
    “And I acted like a pretentious tosser.”
    “You did,” Holly agreed, “but I’ll forgive you. This time.”
    “Thank you,” he said gravely. “For my penance, I’ll take you to the OXO Brasserie for lunch on Tuesday.”
    “I see. So taking me to lunch is your punishment — is that what you’re saying?” Holly countered.
    “Absolutely,” he agreed. “I can’t think of anything more mind-numbingly awful than spending lunch seated across a table from you. I’m dreading it already.”
    “It’ll be excruciating.”
    “I’ll pick you up at noon on Tuesday.”
    “No need.” If Alex so much as set foot in the
BritTEEN
offices, there’d be no end of speculation from her co-workers, not to mention Kate. Alex Barrington was gorgeous, and he was hers — well, at least for the duration of Tuesday lunch — and she wanted to keep it that way. “I can meet you there.”
    “No, I insist on doing this properly. I look forward to seeing you again. Oh, and by the way, Ms James — I believe I have something that belongs to you.”
    “What’s that? My Mentos?”
    “No. A pink feather, actually. It came off your sweater the other day. I thought you might want it back.”
    “I wondered what happened to it,” Holly murmured, and rang off. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
    “So, who sent the bouquet?” Kate enquired the moment Holly emerged from her bedroom. “Don’t tell me it was Mick.”
    Holly snorted. “As if he’d ever send me flowers! No. Besides, we’re officially over.”
    “Good,” she approved. “He’s a knob. By the way, Holly,” she called out as she disappeared into the kitchen, “you never
did
tell me who sent you those flowers.”
    “No, I didn’t, did I?” Holly replied tartly, and went into her room and shut the door.

Chapter 9
    At nine-thirty, Sasha called the weekly staff meeting to order. “We’ve come under fire from the Teen Magazine Arbitration Panel for having, and I quote—” she paused “—‘an increasingly sexually oriented ethos’. The TMA want us to publish more responsible, age-appropriate content.”
    “But teen girls want to read articles about sex, and interviews with shirtless boy-band celebs,” one of the beauty sub-editors protested.