“Why? What have they said?” Verity’s partners in the agency weren’t my biggest fans.
“The usual. But don’t worry, we’ll never drop you. You make up half the agency’s profits. Your contract is quite safe despite their complaints.”
“They want you to drop me?” My throat suddenly stopped working, and it became hard to swallow. If they took away my career, which let’s be honest, was all I had …
“Only a little, and it’s not happening,” Verity said, meeting my eye with an expression that told meDon’t worry, I got this.
“If you’re certain it’ll be fine.”
“They wouldn’t dare. Appolina and Gracie would eat them alive if they tried some sort of coup,” Verity said, name-checking her finance and operations managers respectively, both of whom had a soft spot for me.
After that, she shooed me up to bed with Kenny following me. “Pick a bedroom,” she told me when we got upstairs.
“Door number three,” I said and opened it. Inside was a massive room painted white with soft furnishings to match (straight out of some showroom) and a gauzy netting over the plush queen-sized bed. “Good God.”
“I know, I know,” Verity said. “The interior decorator turned out to be a basic bitch. But she was efficient.” She turned her nose up at the wall art and shook her head. “Bathroom is next door. On either side. There are about twenty, so no shortage. My room is at the end of the hall with the double doors that look like Marie Antoinette’s sex grotto. I’ll knock in the morn.”
She departed, leaving me and Kenny. I sat on the bed and tried not to feel lost and alone. Kenny laid his head on my knee and whined. “I agree, mate.”
Chapter 8
I slept like a baby despite my misgivings. After a long shower, I’d headed for bed with Kenny forming a protective, restrictive ring around me. It had taken no time at all to fall asleep, which was odd as usually I would have spent the night tossing and turning.
In fact, I slept so late that I awoke to find it nearly lunchtime. A message from Verity on my phone told me she’d opened the door and seen me conked out at a much earlier hour and left me to sleep.You looked done in last night, so you seemed to need it. I’ll ring you tonight and catch you up on what everyone has said today xx.
It was another scorching hot day, and the curtains were blocking out neither light nor heat. I could hear movement in the house. Christ, if there was a burglar, then they could take anything they wanted. I decided to send Kenny down to investigate what the noise was, only to discover my shadow was gone.
“Kenny?” I called, sitting up in bed in a panic. “Kenny, boy, where are you? Kenny!?” I hopped out of bed and raced to the door. The noises in the house grew louder. Maybe it was a builder? I ignored that I was careening around Verity’s house in nothing but an old pair of blue boxers and ran to the end of the corridor and down the stairs, calling out Kenny’s name the whole way. I raced through the foyer and into the massive kitchen, where I found the source of all the noise.
Which was unexpected to say the least.
Kenny was being dragged around the room on the kitchen mat, clinging on with his teeth and claws. His tail wagged at a million miles an hour as he play-fought with the person pulling him, who was laughing uproariously at his huffing and barking.
“Ollie?” I asked. Shocked.
Ollie let the rug go, and Kenny came to a halt. Both dog and man looked up at me, and it felt weird to see two faces so pleased to see me. Kenny ran over and stuck his head in my crotch. “No, off, no, naughty,” I said. “What are you doing here?” I asked Ollie.
“Getting vaguely jealous of a dog, if I’m totally honest,” he answered, his eyes looking south. I clasped my hand over my underwear.
Ollie pointed at them. “I think I bought you those boxers … about four years ago.”
“May I reiterate my earlier question?” I asked peevishly.
He grinned. “Verity rang me first thing this morning. Telling me his lordship was out for the count, and would I be a doll and bring him some supplies for his confinement in Surrey,” he said, and then his smile faded. “Then I saw the news and figured out what had happened. I’m so sorry, Arden.”
“So, you’re here to …” I ignored his second statement.
“I’ve taken today off,” he said brightly. “And told them I’ll work from home all this week. I think they can cope without me. I have Court on Thursday, but other than that, I can be here all week.”
“You don’t need to do that. In fact—”
“Stop,” Ollie said, holding up his hand. “First, you should eat. I’ve made shakshuka.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course he had. And we needed to discuss his staying here, not eat. But my stomach betrayed me and grumbled loudly as he took the lid off the sauté pan on the hob to give it a stir. “Needs another minute. You can save any formal complaints about me being here until we’ve sat down to eat.”
“Well” – I tried to pull myself up to stand taller and straighter – “I will … um, well I’ll go and get dressed then.”
“No need on my account. That’s my favourite view.” He grinned.
