His voice was softly bewitching, lulling and mesmerising her. He’d finished his glass of wine and she realised she had too. She’d barely been aware of drinking it! Part of her knew that she should deal with her mother on her own, that any suggestion that her boss climb into the picture would just be an added layer of complication she could do without, and yet...
She was seduced by his voice, by the certainty he conveyed that somehow everything was going to be all right...that if he came along the business with her mother would be sorted to a far more satisfactory degree. It was in his nature to take charge and he was good at it, and right now shewantedsomeone to take charge. She had been going out of her mind ever since her private life had been splattered across the tabloids.
‘What’s that?’ She opened the door to whatever he was about to suggest.
‘We both go to see your mother. We can fill her in on what happened, and at least she’ll have a chance to see that I’m not the guy portrayed in those articles—the guy who messes around with women for his own enjoyment and was happy to do the same with you. We had a relationship, but it was consensual and enjoyable, and was our mutual choice to bring it to a close. Meeting me will take the drama out of the situation. And, when we’ve explained that to her, then we can see about filling in the rest of the world...’
CHAPTER EIGHT
WAITINGBYTHEwindow, peering out into the still grey light of a dull, rainy morning that hadn’t quite broken, because it wasn’t yet six, Ellie wondered how she had managed to be coaxed into this so easily.
But he had come through that front door behind which she had been hiding, he had taken control and she had been grateful.
She was also guiltily aware of feeling a sense of relief that someone else would be there when she broke the news to her mother that she wouldn’t, after all, be walking down the aisle, followed swiftly by a trip to the hospital to give birth to those long-awaited grandchildren.
Ellie had known that her mum wanted her to settle down. It was almost as if she didn’t think her job as a mother had been done well unless Ellie got married, had kids and lived happily ever after. Or at least, it would seem,had a bit of fun.Maybe that was part of the reason why she had been happy to see her go to Barbados. Maybe, when Ellie had had her back turned, worrying about her mother had changed into her mother worrying abouther.
How was she to know that having fun would come at painful cost?
Did it make sense that James come with her? Overnight, she’d managed to justify it to herself. Yes, even though her mother would find out that any hat buying expeditions would have to be put on ice, at least she would see that the love affair had been a lovely time out, with neither one taking advantage of the other. She would see that there had been nothing sordid about it.
She wouldn’t see the pain because Ellie would keep that to herself. She would be relieved that her daughter was finding her feet and stretching her wings, getting ready to fly.
A mature, adult fling. She felt giddy when she thought about her mother finding out that her baby was capable of a meaningless fling, even if it was with a guy she might actually approve of—because when James laid on the charm he was as close to irresistible as any human being could get.
James showed up on time, his sleek, black low-slung Porsche pulling up outside her house just as daylight was tentatively beginning to make an appearance. She watched for a few spellbound seconds as he vaulted smoothly out of the car, dressed entirely in black, and bounded up to her front door, which she pulled open before he could ring the doorbell.
‘You’re ready,’ he said appreciatively. ‘I wondered whether I’d get here to find you’d bolted your front door because you had a change of mind.’ He bent to sweep up the small overnight bag she had packed and looked at her quizzically. ‘Is this it?’
‘I keep clothes at Mum’s. I’m just taking a few essentials.’ They’d agreed that he would come for one night because the trip was too long to go there and back in a day. She would stay on for a week or more while he returned to work and doused the flames of curiosity that would be blazing on the office floor. By the time she was ready to return, he had assured her with breezy confidence, everything would be entirely back to normal.
She believed him. It was one more nightmare he’d promised to sort out and she was willing to put her faith in that promise. Having always considered herself to be built of very stern stuff, given all the responsibilities she had taken on her shoulders from such a young age, she was amazed at just how pliable she was when it came to leaning on someone else.
‘No nuisance calls overnight? No lurking men with cameras on the pavement this morning?’
They were walking towards his car and she slipped into the low, leather seat as he opened the boot of the car and slung in her bag.
‘Nothing.’ She felt a familiar tingle as he slid into the driver seat and briefly turned to look at her, one hand resting on the steering wheel, the other on his thigh.
In the barely there half-light his eyes glittered, boring straight into her. Since he’d descended on her, taking her by surprise, he had made no move whatsoever to touch her. In no way at all had he shown any interest in picking up where they had abruptly left off.
Yes, he had mentioned their relationship in passing, almost as an afterthought, andof courseEllie told herself that shewas profoundly gratefulfor that closure.
The last thing she wanted was for him to put her in an impossible situation. No way under the sun would she welcome those sexy dark blue eyes on her, assessing, speculating,encouragingthoughts she knew were too close to the surface for her own good.
He had no idea what she felt, what was going on in her head, and she meant to keep it that way. He had no idea that his very lack of interest would be her source of strength when it came to recovering from her own foolish love.
And then, just as soon as her feet were back under the desk, she would start casually casting around for another job. She would explain, when the time came, that Barbados had opened her eyes to the possibility of a job where going abroad would feature more. She’d think of something to say, because she couldn’t see a way of working alongside him indefinitely. Not feeling the way she did.
He switched on the engine and was manoeuvring along the narrow road, having programmed her mother’s address into his satnav.
Now, she slanted disobedient eyes to the hand resting lightly on the gear stick and shivered. She despised the way she still wanted those hands to touch her, wanted those supple fingers to trail a burning path along her skin, to slip into the cleft between her legs, into her.
With the searing force of a branding iron, images of him were scored into her head, lodged so impossibly tightly that the tipping point between containment and despair, when she was with him now, felt as flimsy as a whisker.
‘Good,’ James returned with a note of smug satisfaction. ‘I made a couple of calls. When you’re in the public arena, it always pays to be cosy with a couple of the more senior of the paparazzi. There’s a hierarchy there, and if you know how to use it it can come in useful. I let the word go out that they can have their story in a couple of days’ time. Pursue, and they’ll find connections they never knew they needed slamming the door on them.’
‘Really?’ Ellie was impressed.
