The Reunion Lie. Lucy King

she could do him a favour and release him from that particular obligation.

      His abrupt tone might have tugged at Zoe’s heartstrings, but it had taken the other two very aback if the lull in conversation was anything to go by. However, St Catherine’s girls never let conversation stagnate for long, and Zoe wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Samantha recover first.

      ‘Oh, I recognise you now,’ she said with a gleam in her eye and a faintly triumphant smile on her lips, neither of which Zoe liked the look of at all. ‘You’re that Dan Forrester, aren’t you?’

      FOUR

      If ever there was a moment to be off this was it, thought Dan darkly as this bombshell once again rendered their little group momentarily silent, because in his blithe assumption that he wouldn’t be recognised he’d clearly been a naïve idiot. He wasn’t vain and he wasn’t arrogant but he was a bloody fool, because he could virtually see ears pricking and antennae quivering, he could practically hear the grapevine beginning to tremble, and it struck him that there was now every chance that this little charade would eventually end up in the news.

      As a result he was in something of a quandary. If he stayed he’d undoubtedly be digging the hole he was in deeper, but if he left he’d potentially be adding another dimension to the story, because now he thought about it his departure could well be construed as him giving a damn about what Jasmine had done. Which he didn’t. At least not much.

      So what should he do?

      For a split second he hesitated while swiftly weighing up the pros and cons of each option, and then he made his decision. If he left, the outcome of the evening would be out of his hands, it could well end up in the press anyway and the likelihood was that his pride would end up dented all over again. But if he stayed, well, at least he’d be able to exert some sort of control over the proceedings.

      Besides, the hole he was in was entirely of his making. Zoe had tried to dissuade him from the course of action he’d decided to follow but he’d been absolutely hell-bent on it, thick-headedly bulldozing through every one of her very valid objections, so if he really had the integrity he thought he did he owed it to her to see it right through to the end, wherever and whenever that might be.