'hol,' i said, 'when you first came to the agency, i'm sorry i wasn't very... friendly. i know i could have been nicer to you.'
'oh, don't worry about that. we've talked about it before.' she pushed her hair back from her face. 'i'm sure i was an utter pain as well. anyway, it must have been odd, having me show up.'
'it was a bit, but─'
'but you needn't have worried.' she smiled at me. 'funnily enough, lockwood isn't actually my type.'
in my embarrassment, i'm not sure quite what my expression was right then, though i doubt the eerie red glow in the room made it massively attractive. it was sufficient to make holly laugh. she moved to look through another spy-hole at the far end of the window, which gave a different angle on the garden. 'don't look so shocked, lucy.' she said. 'i know how you feel about him. but, if anything, i had my eye on someone else.'
'good god, you don't mean george?'
holly laughed again; her eyes sparkled as she glanced at me sidelong. 'you must know there are other possibilities in this world.'