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moment the doors closed again, Holly made a beeline back to Grant’s group, where she found herself in competition with both Jessica and Macy for his attention. Nina turned to Eddie. ‘What were you and Elizabeth talking about?’
    ‘Nothing important.’
    She knew him better than that. ‘Family matters?’
    ‘Only one part of the family.’
    ‘Three guesses which?’
    ‘Like I said, nothing important.’ Keen to change the subject, he gestured across the room. ‘Oh, hey, there’s Rowan.’ He waved him over.
    ‘Careful, Eddie,’ said Nina teasingly as Rowan approached. ‘He might charm me away from you.’
    ‘Anyone who takes you away from me’ll regret it,’ Eddie rumbled, before giving the taller man a faintly insincere smile. ‘Hi, Rowan. Glad you could make it.’
    ‘Glad to be here!’ Rowan replied. ‘Sorry to have monopolised Nina recently.’
    ‘Yeah, it’ll be good to finally have some time alone with her tonight. That’s if she doesn’t bring a big bloody bundle of work home with her.’
    ‘Yes, she always has been rather obsessive when it comes to Atlantis, hasn’t she?’ said Rowan. ‘While we were setting up the exhibition, she wouldn’t even take time out for a tour of San Francisco. She’s a real slave-driver.’
    ‘Tell me about it,’ said Eddie. He grinned at his wife, who was struggling not to rise to the bait as the teasing was turned on her, and attempted a falsetto New York accent. ‘ “Eddie, can you move these boxes? Eddie, can you jam this booby trap? Eddie, can you kill these bad guys?” ’
    ‘I don’t sound like that,’ Nina objected. She looked at Rowan. ‘Do I?’
    He winked at her. ‘Not at all. But I’d just like to say, Eddie, you’re a very lucky man. Congratulations. To both of you - Nina’s lucky charm obviously works for other people too.’
    Nina touched her pendant, made from a broken scrap of what had turned out to be an Atlantean artefact discovered on an expedition with her parents as a child. ‘Let’s hope it keeps on doing, huh? I’d like the Treasures of Atlantis exhibition to be a huge success.’
    ‘It will be - and it won’t have anything to do with luck, Nina. It’ll all be down to you.’
    ‘And you too.’
    ‘Thank you.’ Rowan smiled, then kissed her.
    ‘Oi, oi,’ said Eddie, nudging Nina away from him. He gestured across the room. ‘Want to dance?’
    The DJ was playing Ricky Martin’s ‘She Bangs’. ‘This isn’t really tango music.’
    ‘So, we’ll improvise. Come on.’
    He led her to the dance floor. Nina put her arms round his waist. ‘Thanks for doing all this.’
    ‘Hey, any excuse for a booze-up.’
    ‘Sentimental as always, huh?’ But she could tell that under his bluff exterior, the broken-nosed, balding Englishman was enjoying the celebration as much as she was.

2
    A few hours later, the party was over, and Nina and Eddie returned to their apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. ‘God, I’m exhausted,’ said Nina, stifling a yawn as she entered. ‘And there’s still loads to do tomorrow.’ She dropped heavily on to the couch and kicked off her shoes.
    ‘Well, at least you don’t have to deal with it on your own,’ Eddie said.
    She smiled at him. ‘Aw, thanks, honey.’
    His tone became sarcastic. ‘I didn’t mean me. I meant your boyfriend, Captain Perfect. He’ll give you a helping hand . . . and try to cop a feel with it.’
    ‘Oh, Eddie ! You’re not really jealous of Rowan, are you?’
    He grinned, exposing the gap between his front teeth. ‘Don’t be daft. I’m just taking the piss.’ A beat. ‘Mostly.’
    ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. Rowan and I broke up a long time ago.’ She thought about it for a moment. ‘God, it’s been twelve years. I was only twenty. I can’t believe how much has happened since then.’
    ‘And how old was he?’
    ‘Twenty-six.’
    ‘So he was a cradle-snatcher?’
    ‘And what does that make you?’ she asked with a smile.