'I wouldn't go that far. But we've had to do an awful lot of explaining to our other clients this afternoon.' He grimaces. 'It has to be said, insulting one of your major clients on live television isn't exactly normal PR practice.'
'Well, I think they should respect you!' I retort. 'For actually saying what you think! I mean, so few people do that these days. It could be like…, your company motto. "We tell the truth".'
I take a gulp of champagne and look up into silence. Luke's gazing at me, an odd expression on his face.
'Rebecca, you have the uncanniest knack of hitting the nail right on the head,' he says at last. 'That's exactly what some of our clients have said. It's as though we've given ourselves a seal of integrity.'
'Oh,' I say, feeling rather pleased with myself. 'Well, that's good. So you're not ruined.'
'I'm not ruined,' agrees Luke, and gives a little smile. 'Just slightly dented.'
A waiter appears from nowhere and replenishes my glass, and I take a sip. When I look up, Luke's staring at me again.
'You know, Rebecca, you're an extremely perceptive person,' he says. 'You see what other people don't.'
'Oh well.' I wave my champagne glass airily. 'Didn't you hear Zelda? I'm finance guru meets girl-next-door.'
I meet his eye and we both start to laugh.
'You're informative meets approachable.'
'Knowledgeable meets down-to-earth.'
'You're intelligent, meets charming, meets bright, meets…' Luke tails off, staring down into his drink, then looks up.
'Rebecca, I want to apologize,' he says. 'I've been wanting to apologize for a while. That lunch in Harvey Nichols… you were right. I didn't treat you with the respect you deserved. The respect you deserve.'
He breaks off into silence and I stare down at the tablecloth, feeling my cheeks flaming. It's all very well for him to say this now, I'm thinking furiously. It's all very well for him to book a table at the Ritz and order champagne and expect me to smile and say, 'Oh, that's OK.' But underneath all the bright banter, I still feel wounded by that whole episode. And after my success this morning, I'm in fighting mood.
'My piece in the Daily World had nothing to do with that lunch,' I say without looking up. 'Nothing. And for you to insinuate that it did…'
'I know,' says Luke, and sighs. 'I should never have said that. It was a… a defensive, angry remark on a day when, frankly, you had us all on the hop.'
'Really?' I can't help a pleased little smile coming to my lips. 'I had you all on the hop?'
'Are you joking?' says Luke. 'A whole page in the Daily World on one of our clients, completely out of the blue?'
Ha. I quite like that idea, actually. The whole of Brandon C thrown into disarray by Janice and Martin Webster.
'Was Alicia on the hop?' I can't resist asking.
'She was hopping as fast as her Manolos would let her,' says Luke drily. 'Even faster when I discovered she'd actually spoken to you the day before.'
Ha!
'Good,' I hear myself saying childishly – then wish I hadn't. Top businesswomen don't gloat over their enemies being told off. I should have simply nodded, or said 'Ah,' meaningfully.
'So – did I have you on the hop, too?' I say, giving a careless little shrug.
There's silence, and after a while I look up. Luke's gazing at me with an unsmiling expression which makes my heart start to thud.
'You've had me on the hop for quite a while, Rebecca,' he says quietly. He holds my eyes for a few seconds while I stare back, unable to breathe – then looks down at his menu. 'Shall we order?'
The meal seems-to go on all night. We talk and talk and eat, and talk, and eat some more. The food is so delicious I can't say no to anything, and the wine is so delicious I abandon my plan of drinking a businesslike single glass and then sticking to water. By the time I'm toying listlessly with chocolate feuillantine with lavender honey ice-cream and caramelized pears, it's about midnight, and my head is starting to droop.
'How's the chocolate thing?' says Luke, finishing a mouthful of cheesecake.
'Nice,' I say, and push it towards him. 'Not as good as the lemon mousse, though.'
That's the other thing – I'm absolutely stuffed to the brim. I couldn't decide between all the scrummy sounding puddings, so Luke said we should order all the ones we liked the sound of. Which was most of them. So now my stomach feels as though it's the size of a Christmas pudding, and just as heavy.
I honestly feel as if I'll never ever be able to get out of this chair. It's so comfortable, and I'm so warm and cosy, and it's all so pretty, and my head's spinning just enough to make me not want to stand up. Plus… I don't want it all to stop. I don't want the evening to end. I've had such a good time. The amazing thing is how much Luke makes me laugh. You'd think he'd be all serious and boring and intellectual, but really, he's not. In fact, come to think of it, we haven't talked about that unit trust thingy once.
A waiter comes and clears away all our pudding dishes, and brings us each a cup of coffee. I lean back in my chair, close my eyes and take a few delicious sips. Oh God, I could stay here for ever. I'm actually feeling really sleepy by now – partly because I was so nervous last night about Morning Coffee, I hardly slept at all.
'I should go,' I say eventually, and force myself to open my eyes. 'I should go back to…' Where do I live, again? 'Fulham. To Fulham.'
'Right,' says Luke, after a pause, and takes a sip of coffee. He puts his cup down and reaches for the milk.
And as he does so, his hand brushes against mine and stops still. At once I feel my whole body stiffen. My cheeks start to burn, and my heart starts to beat in apprehension.
OK, I'll admit it – I kind of put my hand in his way. Just to see what would happen. I mean, he could easily move his hand back if he wanted to, couldn't he? Pour his milk, make a joke, say goodnight. But he doesn't. Very slowly, he closes his hand over mine.
And now I really can't move. His thumb starts to trace patterns on my wrist, and I can feel how warm and dry his skin is. I look up and meet his gaze, and feel a little jolt inside me. I can't tear my eyes away from his. I can't move my hand. I'm completely transfixed.
'That chap I saw you with in Terrazza,' he says after a while, his thumb still drawing leisurely pictures on my skin. 'Was he anything…'
'Just… you know.' I try to give a careless laugh, but I'm feeling so nervous it comes out as a squeak. 'Some multimillionaire or other.'
Luke stares intently at me for a second – then looks away.
'Right,' he says, as though closing the subject. 'Well. Perhaps we should get you a taxi.' I feel a thud of disappointment, and try not to let it show. 'Or maybe…'
He stops.
There's an endless pause. I can't quite breathe.
Maybe what? What?
'I know them pretty well here,' says Luke at last. 'If we wanted to…' He meets my eyes. 'I expect we could stay.'
I feel an electric shock go through my body.
'Would you like to?'
Unable to speak, I nod my head. Oh God. Oh God, this is the most exciting thing I've ever done.
'OK, wait here,' says Luke. 'I'll go and see if I can get rooms.' He gets up and I stare after him in a daze, my hand cold and bereft.
Rooms. Rooms, plural. So he didn't mean…
He doesn't want to…
Oh God. What's wrong with me?
We travel up in the lift in silence with a smart porter. I glance a couple of times at Luke's face, but he's staring impassively ahead. In fact, he's barely said a word since he went off to ask about staying. I feel a bit chilly inside – in fact, to be honest, I'm half wishing they hadn't had any spare rooms for us after all. But it turns out there was a big cancellation tonight – and it also turns out that Luke is some big-shot client of the Ritz.