Devon’s face darkened as he studied the spreadsheet and then his eyes bored into hers.
‘Ella. Did I ask for your help?’ His even, reasonable tone held a hint of menace.
She swallowed at the mutinous set to his mouth. Her stomach flipped. It felt as if she’d taken one step too far over the precipice of a cliff.
She shook her head, nervous now.
He rose to his feet. ‘If I wanted help, I’d ask for it. This is my problem. Not yours. Not my father’s. I will sort it out. On my own.’
He was already halfway to the door.
‘You’re being ridiculous.’ She wanted to help him, couldn’t he see that?
‘Ridiculous?’ Devon turned and glared at her.
‘Yes. I’ve found a possible solution. Something that will stop you working all hours. Stop your mother worrying about you. Stop Bets worrying. Your dad.’
‘I don’t needanyoneto worry about me. It’s no one’s business but mine and I’d be grateful if you’d mind your own. Mum, Dad, Bets and you, you’ve all got problems of your own to deal with. I’m handling mine just fine, thank you.’
‘That’s just rude, Devon, and not worthy of you.’ With her arms folded facing him, she sounded braver than she felt.
‘I hardly think you know me well enough to be a judge of that.’
He was so wrong. ‘Idoknow you.’ Good, decent, kind, solid. Yeah, she might not have known him for long but she knew him. ‘You’re a man who does the right thing. You help other people all the time. You look after everyone else. That’s what you do, Devon. So why do you find it so hard to accept help from other people?’
‘I don’t.’
‘Yes, you do.’
He stared stonily back at her. ‘When I want help, I’ll ask for it. But I don’t need it.’
Inside her muscles clenched. She might as well as talk to a block of granite. But she wasn’t prepared to give up. ‘Are you sure about that?’
Devon shot her a filthy look. ‘Absolutely.’
‘You’re being an idiot.’ OK, so finding refuge in insults wasn’t the best tactic but . . . grrr! Her fists bunched at her sides.
‘Yeah, tell me about it.’ He turned away and was already halfway to the door. ‘I was an idiot. That’s what got me into this mess in the first place. I’ll sort myself out. And that means by myself.’
‘So that’s all you can say.’ Ella lifted her chin. ‘Youarean idiot.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know. I think it’s time I left.’
‘Yes, I think it is.’ Something in Ella’s stomach soured.
Devon walked out of the room and out of the front door, pulling it shut with a decided bang.
Ella waited a beat and looked down at Dexter with a wry smile.
When the rap at the door came, she opened the door with a smug expression. ‘Forgot something?’
Dexter trotted out as Devon turned on his heel and strode down the path.
‘Idiot.’ Ella slammed the door. Tess stood in front of her, tail wagging, her tongue hanging out with a doggy grin.
Ella patted her side. Some things you could always count on. ‘Come on then, Tess, it’s just you and me and another five thousand bottles to label up.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
