Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 15

The rest of the evening past uneventfully, well, nearly. David, on his brother's instructions, went to collect Amelia's bag from the table. It was only as David walked purposefully toward the table that he saw that Ella was the only one sitting there. Nothing new there, he thought: She usually scared most of the sensible and sane guys away with her blunt speaking and her low tolerance for besotted fools. David's head reminded him he knew most of the women didn't associate with her in case her antisocial behaviour was contagious. But David's heart reminded him, that was probably not the reason. His heart provoked, if they stood alongside her, they became insignificant, as her beauty outshone theirs,

For the last two years, she only ever appeared to attend these events with her three friends, Evie, Mallory and Amelia. From David's perspective, they were recluses. Evie was practically destitute, Mallory sustained an injury that left her with a noticeable limp, and Amelia was a naïve geek, so they rarely appeared at social events.

Gabriella watched David approach with apprehensions and wondered why he was heading for her table, when he could see quite clearly that she was here alone. No other women around to impress, by using her as the target, she thought as she glared at him. No other women to hear your cutting remarks about my appearance, the words shouted in her head. What was wrong with the man, he was still moving toward this table? Ella was pretty sure that he didn't want to spend time with her, alone, let alone without an audience to hear his witty remarks.

Was she going to have to deal with his caustic monologue? And where was Amelia? He had spent most of the last two years giving her a wide berth, so why the hell was he heading for her now.

Gabriella watched as his eyes scanned the table. He looked beyond it, looked at the chairs that were visible and then narrowed as he considered his options. Ok, so he was looking for something, Ella thought as she watched him weigh up his options. She wasn't going to ask him what he was looking for? Instead, she folded her arms and looked at the dance floor and pretended not to see him, as he got nearer.

Her expression cooled another fraction as she felt his presence as he stepped into her personal space. Her palms started to sweat. Her pulse raced But she kept her gaze on the people on the floor, dancing.

Where the hell was the bag, David thought as he scanned the table. David couldn't see it anywhere. And he was damned if he was going to ask Ella for help. He tried, unsuccessfully, to look beneath the table. He really didn't want to come across as a peeping tom. Why didn't she ask him what he was looking for? Then he could tell her and she could hand it over, or point to it, or just tell him where it was.

David finally grated, "I'm looking for Amelia's hand bag." Ella said nothing. She continued to pretend she did not see him and ignored his statement. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Instead after a few seconds, when she had still failed to say anything to him, he added. "Miss Jones, ..."

Ella glowered at him, idiot, she thought when he addressed her with her surname.

He corrected before he carried on, "Gabriella, do you know where Amelia's bag is?"

"Yes." She replied and added nothing else. Her eyes returned to focus on the dancing groups. Sightlessly she kept her eyes on the dancers while surreptitiously she kept him in sight. Ella felt a touch nervous as she wondered why he was talking to her. If he wanted to find Amelia's bag, he could ask any of the people who were close to the table. Instead he had approached her. Surely he had run out of witty, let alone sarcasm, rejoinders. Right at the moment she was still angry and humiliated by his earlier statements. But she made sure she remained unruffled. All she had to do, is to remain calm, cool and composed, then perhaps he could disappear, she thought.

"Care to tell me where?" David knew it was a stupidly phrased question as soon as he'd voiced it, but he was trying to hold onto his temper. In any case, he didn't need her permission; he just needed to know where the damn bag was.