“No one important. Just a business contact.”
I raised my eyebrows. “At this time?”
“Yes. I’m usually still at the office now.”
“Doesn’t it annoy you?” The constant notifications had stressed me out in the short time I’d had his phone, and they hadn’t even been intended for me.
He shrugged. “Yes, but that’s part of it. It’s why I try to leave my phone in the kitchen at night, rather than taking it into the bedroom with me. It doesn’t always work.”
“I can steal it again if you want, and then you’ll have your peace. And I’ll finally have a phone again,” I joked. And it was a joke: I’d never steal from Henry again, or from anyone else if I had the choice. I wanted to take the opportunity The Darlington was offering me.
Henry tilted his head. “You said yours was broken?”
“Yes, but it was nevernotbroken. It was ancient. I bought it years ago for a few pounds. So it was only a matter of time before it fell apart,” I answered. In the past months, I’d hardly needed it. There hadn’t been anyone in my life who I wanted to call or message. But now that I had Henry and Grace, it might be nice to have a phone again.
“I have an old phone somewhere,” Henry said.
I snorted. “Show-off.”
He rolled his eyes. “What I’m trying to say is that you’re welcome to have it if you want it.”
“Are you serious?”
“Sure. I don’t need it anymore.”
I raised my eyebrows sceptically. Henry had already given me so much without getting anything in return. Apart from my service of cleaning rooms, which I’d more or less forced him to arrange for me. I still didn’t get it. “Are you telling the truth?”
He laughed. “I am. I have a contract, and I get a new phone every year. I gave Rakesh the one I had last year for his cousin. But I should still have the one from the year before. It’s yours, if you want it.”
I bit my lower lip and saw Henry notice, his eyes lingering on my mouth. Warmth flooded my belly. “I’ll take it. But only if you really don’t need it. And if you want it back, just say.”
“That won’t happen, but fine.”
“Thank you,” I said, just as Henry’s phone vibrated again. We locked eyes and started laughing. This time, Henry didn’t check to see who had messaged. His gaze remained fixed on me, only fuelling the heat in my stomach.
“But you actually wanted to ask me something else, right?”
It had already completely slipped my mind. I cleared my throat, sensing that my voice might betray me and reveal what was happening to my body. “Yes, but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Henry’s mouth twitched into a quick smile. “Ask away.”
“Where does your money come from? Your family’s, I mean. I don’t know anything about it besides that The Darlington is pretty expensive to stay at. But do you really make so much money from it? I mean, you’re not just rich, you’rereallyrich.”
“The hotel is pretty lucrative,” Henry admitted, seeming keen to satisfy my curiosity. “The most expensive suite costs over ten thousand pounds a night, and it adds up to quite a lot. And when you make a lot of money, it’s easy to make even more. My grandparents invested wisely in shares and other companies, and they also bought land and property. When they died, half of their assets went to my parents, and the rest was divided between Ethan, Logan and me.”
“So you earn your money by having money?” I summarised.
Henry nodded. “So to speak.”
“I’m envious,” I confessed, which made him smile. “I have one more question, and then I’m done. I promise.” He looked at me expectantly. “You’ve told me a lot about Logan, but what about Ethan?”
“What about him?”
“Do you get on?”
Henry distractedly ran his hands over the armrests of his chair. “It’s hard to say. We don’t have much to do with each other. He was a little kid when I left for boarding school, and by the time he was sent there himself I’d already started at Oxford. We’ve beenships in the night for most of our lives. So yes, we get on, but we don’t spend more time than necessary together. Not that Ethan would want to. I sometimes worry about him.”
“Why?” I asked, thinking about the smell of weed in his kitchen. Did Henry know that his brother smoked? Perhaps he was just as worried about Ethan’s drug habit as I had been about my mum’s.
