Connor by Nhys Glover Page B

o' lad."
    That's when he turned to her and winked, making it clear that he considered her savoury, rather than sweet. It shouldn't have pleased her as much as it did.
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
    The ice sculpture was a monumental piece of fantasy artwork that really bore little relation to Alyssa's song. But it was interesting, which was more than could be said for the socialising so far.
    While they loaded up their plates with 'finger food', which was more about looks than taste, they watched the Guild in their own environment. Everyone seemed to be posing for non-existent cameras; paying little attention to the people they were talking to. She heard discussions about money, fine wine and clothes, none of which interested her.
    The steady, polite trickle of well-wishers came to make Alyssa's acquaintance, but they were more interested in having a new acquaintance they could boast about than any real interest in getting to know the young singer. Alyssa kept a smile plastered on her face and said very little. Every so often Colt would encourage her to eat something off her plate, but she seemed as repulsed by the food as she was by the company.
    When Cam wandered over with Meredith in tow, Allie took a deep breath and internally groaned. It was show time. Cam placed himself on her left while Connor stood on her right, beside Alyssa. However, except for strategically positioning himself close to her, for several minutes Cam remained politely distant.
    She saw him watching Randolph Hall, a tall elegant man with a receding hairline, out of the corner of his eye. At the moment the older man looked their way, Cam reached across the polite distance between them and made as if to wipe a crumb off her cheek, taking the opportunity to stare deeply into her eyes as he did so. It was such an uncharacteristically flirtatious gesture that she drew back and immediately glanced in Meredith's direction.
    Luckily, Meredith was looking off toward the overladen tables with a bored expression on her face. Not so Connor, who almost had steam coming out of his ears. This was supposed to be a fake flirtation, Connor knew that, and yet he couldn't seem to get a handle on his possessiveness. He drew her against his side and his arm went around her shoulder.
    Looking up into Cam's eyes she saw amusement dancing in their brown depths. "Calm it down, Paddy, we don't want to be letting any cat's out of the bag, now do we." His voice was so quiet in the room filled with chatting people that she couldn't believe she heard him. But Connor also appeared to have heard, because his nostrils flared and he glanced away, clearly trying to gain control.
    When Alyssa said she wanted to visit the powder room, Allie took the opportunity to head along with her. She thought Connor needed a moment to get his cat under control and she desperately wanted to know what was wrong with her new friend, who seemed to be getting more drained the longer the evening dragged on. But when Meredith decided to tag along too, at least one purpose was defeated.
    As soon as they were out of the room, Meredith lost her polite mask, and a predatory gleam lit her small, pale-blue eyes.
    "It must be difficult to get used to all this attention after living on the streets for years," she said with saccharin sweetness to Alyssa.
    Had she intentionally misunderstood Alyssa's comment in her introduction about singing for her supper?
    "I wasn't homeless. I had a lovely little unit near Venice Beach," Alyssa replied in surprise.
    "But you worked on the streets, you said so. That's pretty much the same thing, isn't it? And you couldn't have been making enough to feed yourself, let alone put a roof over your head, from that kind of work . Does it actually qualify as work?"
    Now Allie was getting angry. Meredith was doing a perfect imitation of a mean girl from some high school coming-of-age movie. What was her problem? Did she resent Alyssa's fame?
    "It…It wasn't as bad as that. I had some paid gigs at