“Yes. We have a couple of free rooms. You can have one.”
“You’re kidding,” I said, resisting the urge to pinch my own arm. Perhaps I’d fallen asleep on the sofa and was dreaming. Henry couldn’t possibly want me to stay at The Darlington. But his next words proved me wrong.
“Yes. I’m serious. Stay with me.”
“Why would you ask me something like that?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head as if he didn’t quite understand either. “Because I can?”
I shouldn’t stay. I wanted to, but I shouldn’t. This wasn’t my life, and it wasn’t a good idea to become dependent on Henry like this.Leaving felt far too difficult already, and that was just after one night together. “You know I can’t afford to stay here, right?”
“I don’t want your money, Kate.”
“So what do you want?”
“Nothing. Just for you to stay.” He reached for the strap of my rucksack. Not to take it off me, but because it had become twisted and he wanted to fix it. He barely touched me, and yet I felt a tightness in my chest as his fingers brushed against me.
“But why?” It just didn’t make sense.Hedidn’t make sense. He was Henry Darlington. The whole of London was talking about him and his family. Perhaps even the whole country. But me? I was a nobody. Just some homeless girl with problems he’d never understand.
“Because I’ll feel better knowing you have a roof over your head,” he explained matter-of-factly, as if I should have figured it out myself. But we barely knew each other, and there were thousands of other homeless people in this city. Why me?
“Kate...” Henry stepped even closer to me. His smell washed over me, and I felt the warmth of his body. I looked up. His blue eyes were hypnotic, and I didn’t know how I would ever tear myself free of them. “I said it last night and I’ll say it again: I don’t expect anything of you. This hotel has one hundred and thirty-seven rooms, around fifty of which are vacant right now. We have plenty of space, and you’re pretty tiny.”
“I’m not that small,” I protested.
Henry smiled. “You go ahead and tell yourself that, if it makes you feel better.”
I didn’t smile back. I was still too preoccupied with his offer. I wasn’t used to getting anything for free. Everything came at a price. And most of the time, I didn’t pay in pounds, but with myconscience and morals. Yet Henry had made it very clear he wasn’t asking for either.
“If I stay here, I’d like to earn my room,” I said. I never wanted to owe anyone anything again. “I could help clean rooms. Or work in the kitchen.”
“You don’t have to do that. We have enough staff,” Henry assured.
“Perhaps. But I want to help.”
“So you’d stay if I let you work,” he said, sounding almost hopeful, which made no sense to me. He was doing me a favour, not the other way round.
I swallowed hard. His gaze was so intense that I felt I should avoid his eyes—but I didn’t. My heart raced uncontrollably, drowning out all logic. “Yes, I... I think so.”
17
The Darlington offers luxurious rooms starting at around eight hundred pounds per night. It’s not cheap, but still a bargain compared to the most expensive suite, whose nightly cost is a whopping twelve thousand pounds.
Excerpt from a London guidebook
Kate
“You’re kidding me,” I murmured. “This is your cheapest room?”
Henry nodded and placed the room key on the desk. It had a heavy, metal tag engraved with a golden “107.” Despite its vintage appearance, the key used state-of-the-art technology. It was fully digital and worked like an ID card, but the key had to be inserted into the lock rather than just scanned. Not only were the rooms secure as a result, but the hotel’s timeless style was preserved.
“This is your cheapest one?” I repeated incredulously.
I had asked Henry to give me the least expensive room. I didn’t expect a storage room, of course, not at The Darlington, but the room we were standing in now—myroom—was about as far from a storage room as you could get. Warm daylight flooded through the sheer curtains and lit up the space. The beige carpet looked soplush that I gave in to the urge to take off my shoes. There was a lounge area with a sofa, two armchairs, and an antique-looking side table. Further into the room stood a dark-stained wardrobe and a desk, on which lay stationery and a gold pen, both emblazoned with The Darlington logo. The room was a dream. Everything matched, and the result was an effect of absolute perfection that I was afraid to destroy. Still, that didn’t stop me from placing my rucksack down next to an enormous four-poster bed piled high with meticulously arranged pillows. If Henry hadn’t been with me, I’d probably have thrown myself onto the cloud-like heap without a moment’s hesitation.
“Yes. It’s not as well situated, and it’s smaller than the other rooms.”
Smaller? The room was huge, and that didn’t even include the bathroom, which was at least half as big as the bungalow where I’d lived with Randell and my mum. There were two sinks, a rain shower, a bathtub, and a dressing table. Next to the toilet was a bidet. Mirrors lined three of the four walls, and I could see myself from every angle. Apparently rich people had no reservations about seeing their reflections in any and all circumstances.
