The assurances came easily to Rufus. He’d obviously handled life-and-death situations many times before.
I wondered just what kind of operation this was.
“Does Mr Chase have a large security team?”
As soon as I’d said it, I guessed this was a stupid question. Sebastian probably had to pay attention to his personal security his entire life. He was a billionaire and a member of the aristocratic Chase family, for starters.
“Let’s just say Mr Chase is well aware of his position, and of his visibility. He doesn’t take any chances.”
Rufus stopped at a red traffic light and glanced up at the rear view mirror. He caught my eye and smiled again.
Then his eyes flicked above my face in the mirror and his smile dropped. The reflection of something behind me held his attention.
“What’s up?” I snapped my head round to look at what he was seeing. Just traffic. Nothing special. “Hey, what’s the…”
Before I could finish, the car jerked forward with a screech. Rufus was flooring the gas. We were suddenly hurtling at top speed through a red light.
“What the hell…? That was a red!”
“Miss Malley, you need to hold on tight now,” Rufus called out, swinging a violent left turn down a narrow street.
I fought the urge to squeal in terror. What had he seen? Who were we fleeing now?
The car screeched to the right and I was flung to the left, held in place only by my seatbelt. I clung on to the edge of the seat.
“What’s happening?” I whimpered.
Rufus jabbed at a panel on the dash. There was a pause, then a ringing sound.
“Rufus?” It was Sebastian’s voice. “What’s going on?”
My stomach flipped to hear his voice again. I felt slightly sick. That could have been the motion of the car though.
“Mr Chase,” said Rufus. “We have a problem.”
Sebastian didn’t ask for any details. He must have known what sort of problem Rufus meant. How could he know?
“Get her to Battersea now. Get her on that helicopter. Do whatever you have to do. Just get her there safely.”
“Got it.”
Rufus pressed the phone panel again and Sebastian’s voice vanished. The call was over, as soon as it had begun.
Maybe I should have called out something to Sebastian while he was on the line. Would he have heard me from the back seat?
Did my voice have a physical effect on him, the way his did on me?
It was all irrelevant, because I hadn’t said a word. I was frozen in my seat, trying with all my might to stay upright, as the car streaked along the spiraling London streets.
Police sirens wailed from somewhere behind us. Rufus didn’t react. He pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road and waited.
Were the police stopping us for speeding? The trouble was just piling up now.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as two police cars screamed past us, blue lights flashing.
Rufus waited a moment, then slammed the car back in gear. We roared forward once more.
The city streets were a blur of grey, speckled with the colors of the people walking by. Rufus was still driving too fast, I thought, but the pace was smoother. We glided round the curves and corners of the London streets, apparently heading for the heliport in Battersea.
As we got closer to the river, the traffic started to thicken. The line of vehicles slowed to walking pace.
I looked around frantically. Were we trapped? Was somebody going to run towards the car?
Rufus, as ever, was serene.
“Are we safe here?” My voice was a squeak.
“Please, try to relax.”
“Relax? How can I relax when somebody’s after us? Like, two sets of somebodies. Who the hell is after us anyway?”
Rufus held up a hand and smiled into the rear view mirror again.
“Please. Look at this logically for a moment, Miss Malley. It would be very difficult for anybody to ambush us here in front of all these people. Even if someone were after us. You’ve heard of hiding in plain sight?”
I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to quieten my pounding heart.
“What’s happening? I mean, to him. And to me. Us. Look, I need to know. What’s happening to Sebastian?”
Rufus turned his head and looked right round at me. His eyes were lined and friendly. His voice was eternally calm.
“Hold your nerve, Miss Malley. We’re almost there.”
It felt like we crawled along that street for hours. But it could only have been about ten minutes. Then we started moving at a reasonable speed again.
Rufus guided the car down a narrow space between two grubby brown brick walls. He stopped outside an anonymous-looking office building, all glass and grey panels.
With the same complete composure, he got out of the car and checked all around. Nobody was coming.
He opened my car door. “This is it,” he said. “Come with me, please.”
A woman in a smart blue suit greeted us the minute we stepped inside the building.
“This is Mr Chase’s passenger,” Rufus told her.
“Welcome,” she beamed, taking my arm.
Before I had a chance to take any of it in, I was installed in a helicopter. The lap belt was clicked across me and the blades above me started to whirr.
I just sat quietly and let everyone fuss around me. What else could I do?
The pilot shook my hand, but then fell silent. It was just the two of us in the helicopter. There was no way I was going to interrupt the pilot’s concentration, so I sat in silence, looking out at the landscape.
My stomach was jittery. I’d never been in a helicopter before. Suddenly the noise of the rotary blades was deafening. I gasped and gripped the sides of my seat.
We were in the air!
The helicopter hovered for a moment like a gigantic bumblebee, then headed upwards to the sky. The heliport shrank, little by little, as we climbed higher. My poor stomach lurched.
A selection of magazines had been laid out next to me, but I couldn’t imagine reading anything. I was too wired and nervous.
But as the ground got further away, both the flight and the situation seemed less scary, somehow. It was like we were floating over a model village. I almost forgot we were flying high above London. Something about the altitude calmed my fevered soul and I actually started enjoying the journey.
The grey concrete color began to fade into green as we reached the edge of the city. The river glittered below us like a strip of aluminum foil. Before long, we soared above patchwork fields, in a hundred shades of green and gold.
We were headed to Cornwall, so I knew we had to fly to the far south-west corner of England, right on the very tip of the map. It would take hours to drive the same distance. I had no idea how long the helicopter ride would take.
So it blew my mind when the fields and toy towns beneath me turned to coastline so fast. We began our descent, right next to the jagged blue line of the sea.
How had we reached the edge of England already? It had been, what? An hour?
The pilot spoke for the first time. I nearly leaped out of my skin to hear his voice at last.
“We’re coming in to land now. This is Mr Chase’s property.”
A vast expanse of grass edged closer and closer as we came in to land. Tree branches waved around in the strong gusts of our rotary blades.
The blades slowed as we touched down, then finally came to a stop. The helicopter door flew open.
I silently begged Sebastian to be here, helping me down the steps in his firm grip. Hugging all the stress of the morning away. Kissing me until I forgot all the fear and uncertainty.
But it wasn’t him. It was a woman of about fifty, in an immaculate red pants suit.
My heart sank. She seemed friendly enough. But she wasn’t him.
“Miss Malley!” She was cheerful and jolly, with a cut-glass upper class accent. “So lovely to have you h
ere! Please, follow me.”
We were in the middle of what looked like a meadow or field. I couldn’t see where we were supposed to go. It was all just countryside round here, with the beach to the side. Imposing cliffs overlooked a fierce-looking patch of rocks, foamy and white with sea spray.
Then I saw it. The house.
Boy oh boy. Could you even call an enormous place like that a house? The word seemed too small. Too ordinary.
The biggest, grandest, most spectacular old stately home I had ever seen was right on the other side of the field.
There were no other houses within sight. On the right hand side of the grounds, I noticed a flight of steps leading straight down to the beach.
“Mr Chase wanted me to bring you straight indoors,” said the red-suited woman. “He’s anxious that you’re made as comfortable as possible. Please, step this way. I’ll show you to the drawing room and you can have a spot of lunch in the Blue Room shortly.”
Drawing room?
A place like this was so far outside my comfort zone, it may as well have been the moon. I felt awkward, ungainly and poor.
I followed the friendly woman across the grass towards the door of the house. Close up, I could see all the elaborate brickwork and carved flourishes. It looked like Downton Abbey.
I smoothed down my crumpled shirt and hoped I wouldn’t be mistaken for the gardener.
“Mr Chase hopes to see you later,” the woman added casually.
Her words sent a spurt of adrenalin through my body, followed by a pang of longing deep inside.
Getting involved with Sebastian Chase had more or less deleted my dull, ordinary life. He was like a hurricane, smashing down my barriers. Nothing felt safe, or normal, or familiar any more.
And despite all that, I admitted to myself, I couldn’t get enough of him.
10
The enormous drawing room was oak-paneled, with carved candlesticks fixed to the wall. Everything looked antique, even the lights.
I paced the floor, too restless to sit and drink the tea left on a side table for me. There was so much to look at.
The walls were decorated with oil paintings and a few framed yellowing fragments of paper. I studied one. It was an old map of Cornwall, dated 1776.
One portrait seemed to stare at me with its glassy blue eyes. I realized with a jolt that the figure’s face was just like Sebastian’s. But the guy in the painting wore a ruffled shirt, a fancy-looking collarless jacket and knee pants. He wore his shoulder-length dirty blonde hair in a ponytail.
It must have been a painting from hundreds of years ago. A painting of someone who looked just like Sebastian.
Hold it, that means… It dawned on me at last what it meant. These were portraits of Sebastian’s ancestors.
I studied them all, suddenly desperate to drink in all the information I could about Sebastian’s rich family.
Were these people the ones who made all the family money? What were they like?
Were they all tiger shifters like him?
Someone on the other side of the room cleared his throat. I jumped, guiltily.
“Lunch is served, Miss Malley.” He gestured to another room, leading off this one.
I walked through the open double doors to find a beautifully laid dark wood table with just one place setting. Mine.
The table overlooked a sun terrace. Beyond was what looked like acres of rolling countryside, framed by cliffs and the sea just off to the left. The landscape was dazzling. So was the house. It was probably the most ridiculously fancy building I’d ever stepped inside.
The man who brought me in stood ramrod-straight at the side of the table. Who was this dude? Sebastian’s butler? Another driver? A bank employee? A cook? I had no idea.
He didn’t say a word and he kept his eye straight ahead.
Dealing with domestic staff was definitely not on my resumé. I felt instantly embarrassed, as though I had no right to be sitting at this fine table. By rights, I should be the one there on duty. That was more my station in life. I wasn’t ashamed of it either.
There was no way I was just going to sit there like Lady Snooty. I at least had to acknowledge this guy.
“Hello?”
The man snapped to attention.
“Yes, madam?”
“Is Mr Chase expected home later?”
“No, madam.”
I chewed my lip. That wasn’t what Red Pants Suit Lady had said.
Oh no. Maybe he didn’t plan to come back at all. Maybe he just sent me here to keep me safe but he’s on a plane to Costa Rica. My mind spun ever sillier stories while I tried to cover my disappointment at not seeing Sebastian.
“Is there anything else you need, madam?”
I stared at him, dumbly. Then I realized what he meant. I wasn’t eating yet.
“Oh. No, thank you. I have everything here. You’re very kind.”
There was enough food set out before me to feed a family of twelve. Cold cuts, artisan breads, olives, three different salads, about fifteen types of cheese, little silver pots of all kinds of relish and sauces, a bowl of fruit... I stared at it all in amazement.
Was this a huge lunch party waiting to happen? Should I be sitting at the head of the table, if other people were coming in?
"Um, excuse me?" I waved meekly at the butler guy. “Is this the wrong place? Should I sit somewhere else?"
"Somewhere else, madam?" He poured fancy mineral water into my glass.
"Yeah, you know. I guess I shouldn't be in the host's chair when the other people arrive."
“There are no other people, madam.“ He polished an imaginary mark on the side of a platter with a pristine white cloth. Then he edged the butter dish closer to my plate.
“So who else is coming here for lunch?” Was I being unclear? Not surprising. My brain was pretty befuddled.
He explained patiently, as though to someone with a recent head injury. “There are no others arriving for lunch. This is for you."
I stared at the feast at my fingertips.
"You're kidding, right?"
"No."
"This food is all for me?"
“Of course. Please do enjoy your lunch, madam. I shall be waiting just outside the door, should you need anything."
I gawped at his retreating figure, then back at the food.
It'd be rude to waste it, I reasoned.
I served myself some of the paté and a chunk of bread, then a big scoop of salad with some cheese and cold cuts. It was all outrageously delicious. I sighed as the exquisite paté melted in my mouth.
When I'd eaten plenty, I sat back in my chair, dabbing my lips with the thick linen napkin. I’d barely made a dent in the generous array of dishes. I hoped they wouldn’t go to waste. Although Sebastian could afford to waste entire grocery stores full of food if he really wanted to.
There was a flurry of activity outside the door. It burst open.
Sebastian walked in. After all that.
Sebastian.
* * *
Instantly, my stomach flipped star jumps and my heart seemed to want to pound its way out of my ribs. Just the sight of him turned me into a mass of nerves.
I wondered if he meant what he said about us being fated mates. If he did, he must be feeling a little nervy too. Mustn’t he?
If he did, he wasn’t giving anything away.
“You’re here,” he said, simply.
“Yeah.”
He came to the table and grasped the back of one of the chairs at my side, towering over me. I wondered if I should get up.
“Please, do carry on with your lunch.”
“I’m done,” I said, pushing my plate back a little. “But I could sit with you while you eat?”
“No, thank you. I had a late breakfast.”
“Oh, okay.”
We looked intently at each other again. All the things I wanted to ask but couldn’t dangled in the air between us.
“Your, ah, staff member said you weren’t e
xpected back.”
“Did he? Or she?” Sebastian said this as though his staff members were interchangeable. I guess he had hundreds of employees both at home and work. Maybe they all blended into one mass for him.
“He. It was a he. Say, what’s his name?”
He looked at me as though I’d asked him to name a squirrel scampering past the window. “No idea. Could have been any of them.”
“Do you know any of their names?”
He frowned. “Well, of course. I know some.”
I fell silent. So he didn’t see his staff as individuals. What did that mean for me? After all, I was a member of his staff at the bank. Maybe I still was.
Neither of us said anything for a short while. The awkwardness swirled around us.
He spoke first. “If you’re finished, do you feel like a guided tour of the house?”
“Sure, why not?”
I pretended not to be excited to see him, but my nonchalance was an act. It was all I could do not to reach out and touch him.
He was wearing what I thought was probably standard-issue off-duty uniform for rich British men. Storm-grey pants, a white shirt and a dark fine-knit cashmere sweater. He was still frowning, but his blue eyes glinted as brightly as ever.
When he looked at me, his eyes seemed brighter.
I felt a yearning pull towards him, as though we were connected by some invisible cord. I could hardly stand the thought that we could ever be apart again. Even though we were so unalike. He clearly had a few spoilt rich-boy manners. I was out of my depth in his world.
But his presence made me come alive.
Was this what he meant by ‘fated mates’? Was this what it felt like?
“Come with me,” he said, holding his arm out towards me.
As though I could ever do anything else. It annoyed me how easily he controlled my feelings. I half-wanted to refuse, to show I didn’t have to do everything I was told to do.
But I followed him. Of course I did.
11
Tiger Billionaire: The Whole Story (BBW Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 6
