““Ricco will take care of you," he said. "Ricco thinks you are beautiful-he blushes when your name is mentioned." Ricco took their order and blushed when he put a glass of wine in front of Lauren. Mary's eyes twinkled, but when he left she looked directly at Lauren and said without preamble, "Would you like to talk about Nick?" Lauren choked on her wine. "Please,let's not ruin a lovely lunch. I already know more than enough about him." "What,for example?" Mary persisted gently. "I know that he's an egotistical, arrogant, bad-tempered, dictatorial tyrant!" "And you love him." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Yes," Lauren said angrily. Mary was struggling obviously to hide her amusement at Lauren's tone. "I was certain that you did. I also suspect that he loves you.””
