Right again.“Would Emma tell lies about you?”
“No, she hasn’t got a malicious bone in her body.”
Exactly the impression he got. “Who are Jaxon and Alexa?”
“Alexa is the person I work for now, I manage her website, and Jaxon …” Helen studied her nails. “He’s the guy I used to work for.”
“The one who didn’t pay you?”
Helen nodded but didn’t say anything else, and when hurt creased her brow, Seb wondered who the real victim of that unpleasant situation had been. The douche had left her high and dry and desperate enough to steal.
“Was that the first time you’ve ever been in trouble with the police?”
She hesitated.
“Helen?”
“I’ve been arrested twice before.”
“What for?”
“The night Raz tried to hurt Liz, there was a big kerfuffle and the police thought me and her were the culprits. They soon saw that we weren’t. And the time before that, I forgot to pay for something—”
“More stealing?”
“It was a misunderstanding.”
Seb groaned.
“Hey, some people get batshit drunk with showgirls after bad news, others get absentminded. You have no right to judge me.”
Seb ground his teeth, feeling every bit the insensitive jackass as he held her furious glare. “All right. I apologize.”
“Whatever.” Helen sat on the step and blew out a long sigh. “I know my life is a hot mess right now. I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me that.”
His life had been a hot mess too last month when he’d woken in a Las Vegas police cell, except he’d had his mother’s lawyers on hand and Strive’s PR team to help him out of it. Who did Helen have—Tom and Emma?
“What was your bad news?” Seb asked though he’d already figured it out. He sighed. “Ada?”
Helen nodded and haunting memories of his own father’s death punched him in the gut. Seb joined Helen on the step.
“I really am sorry, Hobbs.” They sat in silence for a few minutes watching Harry play. “Emma also told me about Ada. Did you care for her until she passed away?”
“Yeah, she didn’t want to go into a nursing home. She was born in this house. She wanted to die here too. Tom and I were with her when she passed peacefully in her bed.”
Seb’s father had died angry and alone. On the floor. “You did a very noble thing, looking after her for so long.”
“It was the least I could do,” Helen said. “She gave us a home.”
Seb rubbed the back of his neck. How the hell had he gotten here, in someone else’s house, in the middle of the English countryside? Mixed-up with a woman like Helen?
Of all the things he’d expected to discover about his hired girlfriend today, learning she had uber smarts and a heart of gold hadn’t even entered his mind.
“Last question, Hobbs. Why are you in danger of losing this place?”
Helen hugged her knees. “Decades ago, Ada made a deal with Lord Pendlebury, who owned the estate back then, that she could live here rent free. Her parents had worked for the Pendlebury family before her, and she was good friends with one of the Pendlebury children. Now Ada’s gone, the estate manager has arranged for me to have first dibs on buying the cottage from the estate, but I need a mortgage for that and since Jaxon … Well, let’s just say I’ve been left with a huge financial shortfall.”
“How long have you got before the place sells?”
