As I process that new information, I shake my head, my anger easing marginally now that he’s talking. I move into the vestibule, punching the button harder than necessary to call the lift.
My arms are folded across my chest and I glare at Gregory as he and Jackson join me in the lift, Jackson hitting sixty-four.
‘And Trina? Did you know she’s spoken to Nick? She’s obviously digging for dirt. She told him her bribe theory. Except, of course, we know that isn’t just a theory, Gregory, don’t we?’
As soon as I’ve said that last part, a pang of guilt strikes my gut. Hacking at old wounds is low and I know it but right now, the guilt is losing out to temper and the question I can’t find an answer to.Why would Katrina Martin go to Nick Henshaw?
‘Yes. I knew.’
‘How? Since when? More importantly, why don’tIknow?’
The lift doors open and despite his tense body, Gregory remains still, waiting for me to exit first. I want answers and I won’t break the silence until they come.
I expect Jackson to leave and head to his room when we’re in the lounge. Instead, he takes three crystal glasses and a decanter of Scotch and brings them to the breakfast bar where Gregory is standing with his hands locked onto the edge of the granite worktop. One hand has white, strained knuckles, whilst the other is red and angry.
Despite my need to see out this argument, I don’t want him to suffer for protecting me, so as Jackson pours three glasses of Scotch, I fill a towel with ice from the dispenser on the front of the refrigerator then lay Gregory’s hand flat on the worktop and hold the ice against it. I can feel him watching me.
‘Sit,’ I say, hooking a stool with my free hand and moving it behind him.
He does and takes the glass Jackson offers to him, draining half the Scotch in one.
‘After Dubai, I had Trina followed.’
I look at him now, grateful that he’s letting me in.
‘You were right. She won’t give up until she finds something.’ He suddenly looks exhausted. ‘She was photographed with Nick weeks ago. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to put two and two together and come up with a thousand explanations. There’s been no contact since.’
I would have done that, he’s right.
‘You still should’ve told me. If you’ve had her followed since Dubai, you’ve known she’s a threat all this time and I’m not crazy.’
He says nothing, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. That’s my cue to leave. He has some thinking to do and, as he knows they will, the cogs in my head need space to turn. I need to process everything from today and I can’t do that around him. I balance the ice on his hand, drain my Scotch, and make my way to the stairs.
‘I’m sleeping in the spare room.’
His silence makes my weary limbs heavier as I trudge the staircase in my gown and heels.
20
My father used to say you should never go to bed on an argument. I guess that’s true because I’ve woken even more pissed at Gregory than I was when I fell asleep. Yet, I’m now staring at the muscles of his naked back as he climbs out of bed.
Damn it.I know my body and I know I’ll have caved. Whenever he carried me in here from the spare room, I’ll have given myself over to him, probably cuddled into his chest and wrapped my legs up in his. Hell, as I watch him move into an arms-raised stretch, I want him, too.
‘Good morning, beautiful.’
I scowl my silent response, unsure whether I’m more annoyed with him or myself. On a head shake, he leaves the bedroom and when I hear him bound down the stairs to go out for his five-thirty run, I know the coast is clear for me to head to the gym.
‘Still pissed?’ Jackson asks me as I pummel the punch bag.
I land a right hook. ‘What do you think?’
‘I’d say you’re getting a lot of power in those arms these days. Let’s get your elbows involved.’
Mopping my brow with my forearm, I turn my back on the bag, then holding my gloves together in front of me, I thrust an elbow back and up into the throat of the bag like he taught me.
Katrina Martin and Nick Henshaw. Why? Did she question his motive for resigning from Constant Sources? And Francis. Why would someone in private equity invest in a man who ran one company into the ground and was pushed out of another?
I’m on blow number three with my elbow when the gym door opens and Gregory removes his plugs from his ears, looking damn fine with wet hair, masculinity radiating from him. I pause and watch as he peels off his hoody and reveals his toned, bare chest.
