"Please, sit down."
After Carmen sat, Ryan pulled out a chair and settled in behind the bearded man, close enough to hear without being obvious about it. The lounge area wasn't large, and the tables were packed in close together.
The incident with Leonardo had already given Ryan and Carmen a certain easy familiarity. And unlike a lot of Americans, Ryan didn't carry any particular bias toward people from Eastern Europe. His perspective on Eastern European women was, to put it simply, very favorable.
He kept that to himself.
Ryan watched Carmen quietly as she settled in. Tall, long-legged, elegant, with a face that held a natural melancholy even when she was at ease. Her only shortcoming by certain standards was a modest figure, but at close to one-eighty in height that was entirely normal. Not every woman was built like certain rare exceptions who somehow managed both.
Under Ryan's gentle prompting, Carmen began talking about life in Estonia before and after the dramatic changes that swept through Eastern Europe. Ryan kept a posture of attentive listening, absorbing Carmen's words while also staying aware of what was happening at the table behind him.
The bearded man wasn't alone. His voice was low but carried clearly enough.
"Kate is getting too close to that scoundrel. He flirts with every woman he sees, and Kate acts like she doesn't notice..."
There was real anger behind it.
Good. The more, the better.
Ryan stayed exactly as he was.
Anyone would feel uncomfortable watching their girlfriend, let alone their fiancée, orbiting a devastatingly handsome and universally adored public figure.
"The past couple of years have been much better," Carmen said, with a real smile. "My modeling career is starting to build momentum. Tonight my endorsement client invited me, which is how I ended up here. I wasn't expecting to run into Leonardo."
It was clear this girl, not yet twenty, was genuinely disgusted by what she had witnessed. Leonardo had been openly pursuing another woman and then pivoted directly to her without a second thought. Tonight, and the last time they'd crossed paths, Leonardo's manner had annoyed Ryan considerably too.
Ryan raised his voice just slightly, letting his throat go a little rough. "People like Leonardo are too full of themselves. Carmen, you're better off keeping your distance."
The conversation at the table behind them stopped.
Carmen glanced at him, mildly curious about the sudden change in his voice. She gave a small nod. "Mm."
Ryan leaned in slightly and said, "Do you know how he operates? When he couldn't get anywhere with you, he dragged Kate Winslet off to the terrace. Everyone says those two have something going on. They're probably out there right now."
Carmen was about to respond when the man at the table behind them stood up abruptly and walked quickly toward the terrace.
She watched him go, confused.
Ryan reached over and took her hand. "Come on. Let's go see the show." He added, for clarity, "Leonardo's show."
Carmen felt a small jolt of surprise at being taken by the hand by someone she'd just met, but the second half of the sentence made her stand right up. He led her toward the terrace, Carmen going willingly.
"What exactly is happening?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
Ryan kept a comfortable distance behind the bearded man. "The man ahead of us is Kate Winslet's fiancé."
Carmen blinked, then leaned a little closer. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Ryan steered them around a cluster of guests and through two small circles. "Don't you think Leonardo deserves it?"
For all she knew, if Carmen hadn't seen Leonardo with another woman first, this evening might have gone very differently. First impressions in these situations had a way of setting everything else.
Carmen nodded as she walked, her pace picking up. "He definitely needs an education."
Following Ryan's lead, she found herself almost looking forward to whatever came next. This Ryan Anderson wasn't much older than her, but he was genuinely interesting.
Also, she decided, quite calculating. That was both something and something else. Calculating people were rarely boring. Simple people, in her experience from the modeling world, tended to end up as life's supporting cast.
Ryan's own thinking was considerably less complicated: he had met an interesting and beautiful woman, and if something came of it, good. If not, no harm done. His actual priorities were elsewhere, and he wasn't going to let that change.
As for Leonardo, if an opportunity presented itself, he wouldn't miss it.
"Leonardo!" They were still a few steps from the terrace when an angry British roar cut through the ambient noise. "You scoundrel!"
Ryan tugged Carmen. "Quick."
Carmen matched his pace, and a moment later they heard a woman's voice: "Jim Threapleton!"
That name caught the attention of everyone nearby. Heads turned. Several people took a few curious steps toward the terrace.
Ryan stopped where five or six people had gathered, far enough back to avoid being involved, close enough to have a clear view of everything happening on the terrace.
The bearded man's fist, pushing past Kate's outstretched arm, landed squarely on Leonardo's left eye.
Carmen clapped a hand over her mouth. She was surprised, but the hand was mostly there to hide her expression.
Leonardo stood there stunned. He had genuinely not imagined that anyone would punch the lead actor of a billion-and-a-half-dollar film.
Kate, who had been openly living with a man since she was sixteen, was far more clear-headed in a crisis than Leonardo, but even she couldn't do much against a man of Jim's size and temper.
Jim connected again, this time with Leonardo's right eye.
The black suit. Both eyes going dark and puffy. Leonardo had gone from leading man to giant panda in two punches.
A sound came out of Leonardo that didn't suit him at all.
Carmen gripped Ryan's arm with one hand, the other still pressed over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with the effort of not laughing.
"Enough! Jim Threapleton! That's enough! Stop!"
Kate's voice came out with surprising force, and Leonardo, finally surfacing from his shock, made a belated attempt to respond physically. People from both sides were already moving in to pull them apart.
Ryan could see the situation winding down. He leaned toward Carmen. "Let's go."
Carmen nodded and let him guide her out through the edge of the gathering crowd, toward the exit of the banquet hall.
The moment they stepped into the empty corridor outside, Carmen let go entirely. She held onto Ryan's arm and laughed until tears were close, her composure completely gone.
Ryan laughed too. Some things simply deserved to be laughed at.
"Did you see him?" Carmen hugged his arm, delighted. "He actually hid behind Kate!"
A server appeared at the far end of the corridor. Ryan raised a finger to his lips. Carmen caught herself immediately. The two walked out arm in arm, looking for all the world like a perfectly composed gentleman and lady making an early exit.
Once clear of the hotel, Carmen let out another burst of laughter, short and bright.
"That was extremely satisfying," she said.
Ryan nodded. "That little brat really is difficult to like."
Carmen laughed again, then tilted her head at him. "How old are you? You're not older than Leonardo, are you?"
"Twenty," Ryan said.
Carmen stared at him. "You don't seem it."
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Do I look old?"
"No, I mean..." Carmen paused, searching for the right phrasing. They had walked through into the hotel lobby by now, still arm in arm, and she tried again. "You're more mature than Leonardo. Next to you, he looks like a child who hasn't quite grown up yet."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ryan said.
Carmen laughed. "Sure, let's call it that."
At the hotel entrance, Ryan saw his moment. "Can I see you to your car?"
"Thank you, but I'm fine," Carmen said. "My agent is already outside waiting for me."
Ryan didn't push it. Patience, the same quality that had served him well in Abu Dhabi, applied here too.
"It was a genuine pleasure, Carmen." He kept his tone warm but unhurried. "This was a very enjoyable evening."
For Carmen, the evening had started pleasantly, turned irritating, and then, after meeting Ryan, become genuinely entertaining.
"It really was." She smiled, and the Eastern European directness that the modeling world had done nothing to soften came through clearly. "You're more interesting than any American I've met."
"Thank you." Ryan noted, not for the first time, that people outside of America seemed to respond to him rather well. The Arabs. Now Carmen.
He asked, timing it naturally, "May the interesting person call you?"
Carmen laughed. "I didn't bring a card." She rattled off a number. "That's my personal mobile. Sometimes it won't connect if I'm working and don't have it on me."
Ryan touched his forehead. "Got it."
Carmen raised her hand, her long fingers spread in a casual wave. "Goodbye."
Ryan held the glass door open for her. "Goodbye."
She got into a waiting car and was gone.
Ryan stepped back from the entrance, pulled out his phone, wrote down the number, dialed it once to confirm it rang, then hung up and sent a short text.
She hadn't refused when he asked for the number. That was a reasonable beginning.
Carmen Kass was still building toward the top of her industry. For someone at his stage, still fighting to get a foothold, there might be something real there when the timing was right.
He knew his priorities, and he wasn't going to lose sight of them over a woman, however interesting. His career came first. That wasn't going to change.
Some of what his previous life had taught him was simply too deeply part of how he thought now to be argued with.