Reformed Bad Girl

by Shelley Munro

  Hayley spluttered, unable to speak for precious seconds. She set down her teacup with a distinct rattle. “Abbey, can you hear yourself? You’re in debt. Your reputation is probably already shot. You need to budget and get a job. Perhaps you could sell your designer clothes.”

  “So you won’t lend us any money.”

  Part of Hayley wanted to say yes, but she knew a little about gambling addiction from the brochures they displayed in the local library. She hardened her heart. “Show me a budget and what you’re going to do with my money. I might consider it then.”

  “Really?” Abbey’s face burned with hope.

  “I’ll consider it.” Hayley picked up her tea and took a sip. “Dan needs treatment, Abbey. A gambling addiction is an illness, and it won’t go away. Do Mum and Dad know?”

  Abbey shook her head. “They lent us money, but it’s all gone. Dan withdrew it from our account and lost it all at the casino in Kensington.”

  “Hiding the truth won’t help Dan.”

  Abbey stood, swiped a tear from her face and forced a smile. “Thanks for listening. I haven’t always been nice to you, and I’m sorry. I…” She hesitated before continuing, “I’ve been jealous of you, the way you’ve made a life for yourself, despite the mistakes you made when you were younger. I wish I’d trained for a career instead of jumping straight into marriage.”

  Hayley couldn’t say a word because shock knotted her throat. Jealous? She stood and hugged her sister, the backs of her eyes stinging with emotion. For once, she felt as if she was part of the family.

  When they parted, Abbey laughed self-consciously. “I’ll do that budget.”

  Hayley nodded and showed her sister out.

  “Wow,” Suzie said from behind her. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I never thought I’d hear you act so firmly with your snobby sister. Sam is having a positive effect on you.”

  Hayley grinned. “I know. For a while I wondered if hell had frozen over.”

  “You’ve never stood up to her before.”

  “No,” Hayley said. “Maybe I’m growing up, too. I’ll get going on that soup. You must be hungry.”

  Suzie followed her into the kitchen. “You know I am. Sam rang my mobile.”

  Hayley froze and telltale heat and color crept across her cheeks. “Oh?” She turned away to light the gas and plonked the pot of soup on the heat.

  “He asked about you.”

  “And?” Hayley stirred the soup with a wooden spoon.

  “He checked the employee records and noticed you didn’t have a contact phone number or address.”

  “I must have forgotten to fill that part in,” Hayley said.

  “He wants to hire you for a conference next weekend and wanted to know if I had a contact number. And I said, of course I did, since you were my flatmate.”

  Chapter Eight

  “You said what?” Hayley whispered. Her eyes closed while she fought panic. Sam would know she was a big, fat liar.

  “Just kidding,” Suzie said, lifting her hands up in a sign of surrender and offering a cheeky grin. “But really, you should stop fooling around with Sam and tell him the truth. If you don’t, you’re setting yourself for a fall, especially with the way the photographers lurk in the bushes to snap photos of him and his companions.”

  Hayley sucked in a startled breath. She hadn’t considered lurking photographers earlier in the day, and Sam hadn’t mentioned the topic. Granted, he’d worn a cap pulled low over his face. And now she’d guessed why. She sighed. “I know. I know. I really like Sam, but I’ve dug myself into a hole. If I told him the truth now, he’d probably run a mile.”

  “He won’t. He’s one of the good guys, despite his reputation, and I can tell he really likes you.”

  Hayley frowned and came to a decision. “Did Sam leave a number?”

  “No, but I have his cell number.”

  Hayley dithered, longing struggling against her strict and traditional upbringing, her promise to her parents to think carefully before each action instead of reacting to a situation. Impulses. They’d be the death of her, as her parents predicted. Then she thought about Abbey with all her grandiose plans and that decided it for her. She’d live for the moment. It wasn’t as if her parents were here to see or judge her behavior. As she’d said to Abbey before, she was an adult and responsible for her own decisions.

  “I’ll ring him later tonight. Let’s eat first.”

  “Will you do more conferences?”

  “Maybe. Probably,” Hayley amended. She nodded, pleased with the decision. “Yes. I keep fantasizing about my dream flat. It’s time to start looking for a suitable property because I have enough money saved.” Unless she loaned the money to her sister.

  “Why don’t you go out and grab a copy of the Sunday paper from the corner shop? We can start looking for the flat of your dreams. What do you say?”

  “That’s a great idea.” Hayley checked the soup, saw the steam rising and judged it ready. She tipped it into two bowls and sliced fresh French bread to serve on the side.

  “Don’t lend your sister and husband money. You know the old saying about family and lending money. It’s a bad idea. Besides, it sounds as if things are really bad, but your sister is looking for an easy fix instead of mending the problem.” Suzie paused to blow her nose, her blue eyes full of concern.

  “Yeah, I know. That was my first instinct, but Abbey made me feel mean.” Her older sister always made her doubt herself. A stupid rebel who kept taking missteps. Abbey never let her forget her teenage mistakes. The past drifted through her memory, every painful reminder of the bad choices she’d made, the mistakes.

  Suzie reached out and squeezed Hayley’s hand, as if sensing her unease. “Don’t let her do that to you. Don’t let her guilt you into handing over your savings. Promise me?”

  “Yeah, I promise. It’s taken me so long to save this money, I’m not about to give it away no matter how Abbey plays me. Besides, she won’t do a budget, and I’m deadly serious about seeing one.”

  Helen filled Sam’s imagination the entire evening. Difficult to believe he’d given into impulse and tried to find her again when they’d barely parted. He’d never experienced this intense attraction to a woman before, and the secrets she kept only made her more interesting and appealing. Plus she’d never complained once about his suggestions for spending the day. She’d clearly enjoyed viewing the art and the casual lunch they’d shared. His money didn’t seem to matter to her, and she hadn’t expected an expensive meal at a trendy spot or pouted at walking.

  He smiled at the turnaround in his thinking. Maybe there was something to this love at first sight thing. And best of all, they’d managed an outing and remained incognito. It gave him the luxury of time to get to know Helen without the outside pressures of the tabloid press.

  Time for work. The hours spent with Helen had put him behind, not that he minded, but he needed to do some final organization for the three conferences his company had put together for this week. Sam checked the arrangements for the first one, including the special team building exercises and the scavenger hunt the company running the conference wanted him to organize.

  About an hour later his cell phone rang.

  “Hi, it’s Harriet.”

  A delighted grin spread across Sam’s face. He set his pen aside and leaned back in his chair. “How are you?”

  “Good.” She hesitated. “I have something to tell you. I…my name’s not Harriet.”

  His grin widened, and he stretched his hands above his head. “I know.”

  “You know?”

  “Yeah, it’s Helen. It took me a while but the way you laughed and cocked your head gave you away. I have your bracelet by the way.”

  “Oh. I…”

  “You don’t have to explain.”

  “But—”

  “You can tell me about it next time we get together. Okay?”

  “All right,” she said finally. “Suzie said you definitely wante
d to book me for more conferences?”

  “I have one this weekend and another the following weekend. If you can manage it, I’d need you during the afternoons for about an hour each time.”

  “I can do this weekend but next weekend I’m booked to do a fete for both Saturday and Sunday.”

  “What about the evenings? Could you manage Saturday night? Word has spread. You’ll be in big demand, and the weekends you’re free you’ll be spending with me.”

  “I…are you sure?”

  Sam laughed away her clear doubt. “Of course I’m sure. I enjoyed the weekend and want to spend more time with you.”

  “But you never spend more than one night with the same woman.”

  “Who says?” A trace of annoyance passed through him. His bloody reputation.

  “The gossip—”

  Sam made a rude sound, cutting her off. Somehow, he’d keep his private life exactly that. Private. “We’ll make sure there isn’t any gossip.” Somehow, he’d do his level best to make it so, or at least keep their relationship low key for the time being. He’d stay away from the high-profile events, giving work as an excuse. That would help. “I want to see you again.”

  “I…I’d like that, too, but I want to take things slowly. We…ah…jumped into bed,” she finished with a rush. “I’d like to get to know you better before we do that again.”

  Sam’s gut clenched at the idea of not being able to touch her intimately, but if she wanted time, he’d give it to her. As long as she didn’t try to repeat her Cinderella act. “Can I have a contact phone number?”

  “Yes.” She rattled off a number that sounded very familiar.

  “That’s Suzie’s home number.”

  “Um, yes. We’re flatmates.”

  Sam straightened and shook his head. He wondered what other secrets she had and decided he didn’t want to know. He’d enjoy getting to know her and couldn’t wait to become intimate again. It would be sooner rather than later. “Do you have a mobile number?”

  She rattled it off. “It’s turned off while I’m working.”

  “Can I ring you tomorrow night?”

  “I’d like that,” Helen said. “I’ll be home from work at six.”

  Smiling, Hayley hung up and went to find Suzie. She found her watching television. Actually, channel surfing described it better.

  “Good grief. Pick a channel.”

  Suzie’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I like to wind you up. How did the call to Sam go?”

  “I didn’t tell him.”

  “Hayley, you’re such a wimp.”

  “I know. I know. I tried to tell him, and he said he knew. He threw me, and by the time I realized he didn’t really know, I’d lost my chance to tell him the truth about my name. He was talking about the conferences he wanted me to work at and other personal stuff. I panicked. In the end I didn’t say anything.”

  Suzie’s brows rose to challenge her. “Personal stuff, huh? So what’s your name at the moment?”

  “Helen.”

  “I’ll try to remember,” Suzie said dryly. “But don’t blame me if I screw up.”

  Sam rang her every night during the next week. They talked about things they liked and what they’d done during their days. He told her about the female photographer who had forced her way into his current conference and secretly taken photos of him at work. She learned how much he disliked the publicity, but he put on a good face because many of the first nights he attended were for charity and his presence helped to raise money to support his favorite causes. On Thursday, they both had a free night.

  “Come to the movies with me,” Sam said.

  “Yes.” Hayley didn’t need to second-guess her reply.

  “Great. I’ll pick you up at seven, and we’ll go to one of the sessions at Whiteleys.”

  The intercom shrilled minutes before seven and Hayley ran to buzz Sam in. When she opened the door she scarcely recognized him. “Sam?”

  “It’s me. The photographer who I kicked out of the conference decided to follow me about in the hope of a good story,” he said in disgust.

  Hayley stood aside to let him enter, and Sam closed the door behind them. “I like your disguise. It’s like being with another man.”

  He rolled his eyes. “As long as you don’t expect me to dress up in disguises all the time.”

  “I don’t know.” Hayley tucked a wisp of hair behind her left ear. A smirk built inside but she held it back. “Sometimes dressing up is fun. Yes. I can see it now. A cowboy. Chaps sans jeans underneath.”

  “Ride ’em, cowboy?” Disbelief galloped across his handsome face.

  Hayley’s humor faded, replaced by both horror and disbelief. Oh, no. Now she’d done it. Shocked him silly with sexual innuendo. Anxiously, she studied his face, the unfamiliar blond hair and mustache. When she met his gaze, she caught the twinkle in his brown eyes. It took a while to realize because she was so busy chastising herself about her provocative behavior. He threw back his head and roared with laughter. For a moment she stared, caught up in his strength and masculinity, then a smile quivered, tugging at her mouth.

  “You’re playing me,” she said, relief settling the nerves leaping about inside her stomach like a startled deer.

  “Gotcha.” His wink bathed her with another dose of relief and a smidgeon of desire. “We should go, or else we’ll miss the start. Is the action movie we discussed earlier in the week okay?”

  “Perfect,” Hayley said.

  He shook his head as he took her arm. “I still find it difficult to believe you enjoy gruesome movies. While I remember—here’s your bracelet.” He tugged her charm bracelet from his pocket and handed it to her.

  “Thanks.” She fastened it on her wrist, checking the clasp carefully before speaking again. “My love of gruesome comes from having to watch suitable movies during my childhood. I have an aversion to suitable now.”

  They walked down the stairs rather than waiting for the lift.

  “Does that apply to other areas of your life?”

  “Maybe,” Hayley said with a touch of caution. “I can be a touch impulsive.”

  “That’s not a bad thing. Sometimes we need to listen to gut instinct and act straight away.”

  Without warning, tears misted her eyes. Exactly. He’d summed up her feelings perfectly. She’d tried to explain why she did things without writing lists of the pros and cons and discussing it endlessly first with her parents. They didn’t get it.

  Hayley and Sam exited the building, and a cab waited for them.

  “You should have said,” Hayley chided. “We could have come straight down.”

  “No problem. You weren’t long.”

  A flash went off, startling Hayley.

  Sam cursed. “No, don’t look that way.” He pushed her face into his shoulder. “Damn photographer. I need to change my disguise again.” He opened the rear door of the cab and helped her inside. “Keep your face covered,” he warned, his tone grim.

  The flash went off again, but Hayley knew she was safe because her hands covered her face and she stooped in the back seat. Sam joined her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and drawing her close. His heart beat beneath her cheek and he smelled of citrus, soap and man.

  The taxi pulled away, leaving the photographer behind.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Besides, I doubt they managed to get a good photo.”

  “You’d be surprised what they manage with their long lenses.” His grim tone started to scare her because she didn’t want publicity by association.

  “We can buy a cap at one of the late-night stores. Don’t worry. It will be fine.”

  Sam’s curt nod gave way to his more easy-going self and gradually Hayley relaxed.

  The movie was full of violence, half-naked male bodies and a couple of car chases. Pure mindless entertainment and she enjoyed every minute, especially cuddling with Sam in the movie theater.

  He
’d removed his wig and mustache and looked more like the man she’d fallen for. Whoa! Her thoughts screeched to a rapid halt. They were friends and occasional lovers. No commitments between them because they came from two different worlds. And there were lies between them. A relationship usually suffered under that sort of stress. Of course, she could tell the truth, but she’d held her silence for so long now, the truth stood like a solid wall between them.

  “Fancy a drink and a late supper?”

  Hayley wasn’t ready to say goodnight yet. “Sounds great.”

  They found a small Middle Eastern restaurant and dined on bread and dips, pizzas and shared a bottle of red wine. By the time they’d finished, it was late.

  “Why don’t you buy a cap and T-shirt here,” Hayley suggested. “If I put my hair in a ponytail and you wear a different shirt, it will put any watchers off long enough for us to leave without a scene. Besides, I’m of no interest to the press. It’s you they want to corner.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Sam said, and his tone and intense look told her he wasn’t referring to the photographer or any gossip columns.

  With the new disguise in place, they left the mall, walking straight past a photographer, and wandered down Queensway, hailing a passing cab. The journey back to her flat was uneventful. Sam kissed her good night, a brief kiss that did nothing to appease her hopping hormones, but much to stir her desires and impulses. She had to bite her lip hard to stop herself from inviting him to stay the night.

  “Good night,” he said, his voice low and husky. “I’ll ring you tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the conference. I’ve booked a room at the hotel.” His eyes said everything he didn’t, and Hayley’s heart skipped a beat before jumping into a rapid race.

  “We’ll see,” she whispered, and with another heated look, she climbed from the cab and hurried inside.

  “You are such a fraud, Hayley Jones,” she muttered under her breath. Already she wondered if she had enough money to splurge on new lingerie, because she was hopelessly in lust with Sam.