by Jane Linfoot
‘C’mon Millie.’ He grasped the chair arms decisively. ‘Let’s get you out of here, I’m taking you home.’
Somewhere on the periphery of his vision, Cassie began to flap her hands in protest. ‘But aren’t you waiting for Will, I’m sure he won’t be long? What about the … ’
Excellent question Cassie – and what about the challenge? How about stuff the damned challenge, right where it belonged, so it didn’t bring down a decent woman like Millie. Why the hell had he gone through with it? How the hell had he been so blind? When had harmless fun turned so damned cheap?
‘Millie’s back at work tomorrow, and there are things I need to tell her.’ Ignoring Millie’s wide-eyed query, he grasped her wrist. One tug, and she flew her out of her chair, her thigh crashing into his as she stumbled beside him. He was ready to make any bad excuse he could to get her out of here, and fast. ‘Best get off, then we’ll miss the worst of the traffic.’
‘Now you are being ridiculous Ed, its rush hour … ’
Cassie could protests as much as she wanted, he was out of here.
‘We’ll take our chances, thanks for the tea.’ He was already diving through the house, dragging Millie behind him. As soon as they were in the calm of the car he would come clean about the challenge.
Pushing Millie in front of him now, down the steps towards the car, as Cassie arrived, panting, clutching at his elbow.
‘Bye Millie, lovely to meet you, see you again soon!’ Cassie’s face folded into an anxious frown, as she murmured at his shoulder. ‘Aww, she’s so right for you. Whatever you do Ed, don’t mention you know … The thing Will was coming for. Not to Millie.’
So typical of Cassie, never knowing when to stop meddling in his life.
‘Cut out the match-making Cassie. The challenge is over, and coming clean with Millie is the least I can do.’ He swept her hand away, and jumped the steps in one. ‘At least that way it ends honestly.’
‘Telling a woman that you only went out with her for a bet – you might as well give her a slap in the face.’ Her bright blue eyes were piercing and angry. ‘If you tell Millie that, you really don’t deserve her.’
As he swept towards the car, he could still see Cassie in doorway, red-faced and perplexed, and he fought the inner child in him, who still wanted to prove her wrong, at every turn.
He snorted dismissively. What did Cassie know anyway?
***
Ed usually found the cream interior of the Aston simultaneously calming and empowering, with its sleek leather seats and the robust instrument panel, but as they roared away from Cassie’s house he was anything but calm or empowered. In control at all times was how he liked to be, and right now he had the sense that his control was spiraling away from him. He snatched a glance at Millie, just to check she had both feet firmly on the floor. The way his life was unravelling right now, one careless girlie foot on a seat could easily push him over the edge.
‘Are you okay with what Cassie said about your mum?’ Her hand slipped onto his knee, gentle, caring, echoing the concern in her voice.
‘I will be.’ Eventually. When he’d stopped reeling, when he’d had time to assimilate, he was sure he’d feel better about it. ‘Thanks for making me come today, for making me ask.’ He shot her a glance he hoped was grateful enough.
‘I hope you didn’t rush away for me.’ Millie spoke, then wound around to watch him. ‘It’s amazing that you’re taking me home at all, when it’s a three hundred mile round trip. There’s no hurry.’
He shrugged, and grimaced as the traffic slid from a crawl to a halt, hammering his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘Good thing, given the gridlock.’
Damn that they were stuck, when all he wanted was to let rip, roar up the motorway.
‘But I thought you wanted to stay to see Will – didn’t you bring the car specially?’
And there he had it, the perfect opening. He inhaled, to psych himself up, knowing he’d feel better when he’d done it. He owed it to Millie to be honest, and if any woman would understand, she would.
‘There’s something I need to tell you about that.’ He threw a nervous glance, and fleetingly, met her eye. For a second the way she was sitting there, all soft and trusting, flipped his stomach. This was no time for him to go chicken. So long as he missed out the jibe about his bed conveyor-belt bed, if he put the right spin on it, he was sure he could make the whole thing sound above board.
‘Will and I had this bet. We were at a party, and he was going on about how I’d never had a steady girlfriend, and how he was sure I couldn’t manage ten dates with one woman. And I was sure I could.’
He flung a desperate grimace towards her.
‘So what’s this to do with me?’
He bashed on, cutting her off.
‘It sounds worse than it is. It was a challenge, there were incentives – houses, cars.’ He wished it didn’t sound so crass. ‘It was a ridiculous guy thing, that got out of hand, and I should never have involved you.’
This was not coming out well.
‘Are you saying I’m part of some bet of yours?’
Her brow was furrowed with disbelief, but at least she wasn’t shouting, although something in the detached chill of her voice sent warning shivers spiraling down his spine. Dammit, yelling would be a better option.
‘I’m so sorry, Millie, it was meant to be fun, you weren’t ever meant to know. But after what we shared this afternoon, I wanted to tell you.’ He watched, in horror, as she reached down and unclipped her seat belt, flailing for something to say in his defense. ‘Cassie said I shouldn’t say anything, but it didn’t seem fair not to. I’m trying to do the decent thing, to be honest.’
He was going from bad to worse here, given the way her face was folding in disgust.
‘Cassie was in this too?’ Her voice soared indignantly. She scrabbled, turning to kneel on the seat, as she reached into the back of the car, grabbing at her case. ‘Now I’ve heard it all.’
‘It isn’t as bad as it looks.’ He ducked as her travel bag swung past his ear. ‘What the hell are you doing, Millie?’
‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ She spat the words through gritted teeth, as she flung the door open. ‘I’m getting out of the car, and then I’m going home. On my own.’ She was already on the pavement, slamming the door, hair mussed all over her face, running, already merging with the crowds as they swarmed towards the nearby Underground entrance.
‘Wait Millie, I can explain … ’ Ed was out of the car and lunging across the road, but in the two seconds it took to reach the pavement, Millie had gone.
Damn, damn, damn. Why the heck did he do this right outside a tube station? If he’d had half a brain he’d have waited until they were on the motorway. He closed his eyes, shook his head. He could try to follow her, but given the crowds he had little chance of finding her. And if he did catch her up, would she even speak to him?
Would she hell.
Horns were blaring from the road now, irate drivers blasting at his driverless car. Giving up was not his style, but chasing Millie here was pointless.
Cursing, he threw himself back towards his car.
***
‘Hi there stranger, what happened to Derbyshire then?’
Will looked up nonchalantly from his seat under Cassie’s apple tree, his greeting grin fading as he took in Ed’s scowl.
‘Derbyshire just got blown skywards, all my fault.’ Ed threw himself into the chair, and kicked out his feet. ‘Where’s Cassie anyway?’ At least she wasn’t here to gloat.
‘She disappeared when she heard you come back. You can hear the Aston engine approaching from miles away. Muttered something about keeping out of boys business.’ Will rolled his eyes. ‘I guess she’s talking about this challenge you just nailed. How did it go then?’
Ed shrugged. ‘How about the hardest thing I’ve done, in my whole life – I reckon that covers it.’
‘That’s it? Cassie said Millie went down a s
torm with everyone.’
‘Pretty much.’ Except for him, that was. ‘She turned my life upside down and shook it – hard. I guess anyone who saw it found that amusing.’
He twisted his mouth into a rueful, self-deprecating smile. No way was he going to tell Will he felt like he’d cut off his arm now that Millie wasn’t here, even though it was barely fifteen minutes since she left.
‘Cassie says you brought the Aston along, just to show me what I wasn’t going to get.’
‘Exactly. Eat your heart out Will, I failed to fall in love, so the Aston’s still mine.’
‘Nice twist that, not that I ever expected to get my hands on it. I mean, who’d fall in love, after ten dates with a random woman?’
Something in Will’s throwaway tone made his chest tighten.
‘Millie’s not a random woman. She’s individual, strong, compassionate, compelling, interesting, sparky. She might be a right royal pain in the butt, but she’s got more integrity in her little finger than the rest of us put together.’
‘Whoa, no need to take it personally.’ Will swallowed and raised his eyebrows, shuffling uneasily. ‘Whatever she is, whoever she is, she’s won you my flat in Klosters fair and square, and who’d have thought that would be possible? Ed Mitchum, having ten dates with the same woman. That must qualify as some kind of miracle in itself. I’ll have the flat transferred to you as soon as … ’
Ed shook his head. ‘You can keep your flat. I’ve got to the end of it, but I’m certainly not accepting the spoils.’
A whole afternoon of images were flashing through Ed’s head now, all of them featuring Millie. The easy way she’d thrown her head back, laughing when she met Cassie, almost as if she was coming home. That secret smile of reassurance, sent just for him when he was crashing, as he took in the news about his mother. The way her eyes went blurry every time he made her come. Not strictly from this afternoon, but he kept seeing it anyway. But there was one image his brain had on lock-on repeat – Millie, her arms wrapped protectively around the baby on her knee, and that one made his throat constrict, and his guts do a double somersault.
Then there was that final, killing, expression of hurt confusion which spread across her face when he dropped the bombshell about the challenge. And every time the loop stopped on that one, his mouth filled with sour saliva, and he thought he was going to throw up.
‘Okay, take a chill pill. It’s over now, it’s not important, let’s forget it, and move on.’ Will got to his feet. ‘Fancy a beer?’
‘Nope, I’ll head off. I’m off to South America tomorrow, to sort out some deals.’
All planned, and put in place, to make sure he didn’t waver after the whole extended weekend of fun. To make sure the fun didn’t drag on any more, because, when it came to it, he almost hadn’t wanted it to end at all.
‘I didn’t know you were going away so soon.’
‘I need to get back to work. I’ve had two weeks away from the business, and when did I last do that?’
‘When did you ever do that?’ Will stared at him hard, through narrowing eyes.
Ed had been thinking of the South American trip as cooling off time, a chance to reassess – how he felt, what he wanted, where he was going. Except now none of that mattered now, because he’d totally blown it with Millie. No one who looked at you with that much disdain as they ran away from you was going to reconsider anything. The vision of the hurt in her eyes flashed through his head again, this time with the addition of a knife that twisted, and sent a stabbing pain deep into his chest.
‘South America – there’s a whole un-tapped market for our latest blasting software I need to check it out.’ Throwing a line to Will here, buying himself a minute to think.
‘I’m sure.’
Will, laconic as usual, tapping his fingers on the chair arm.
A trip to South America? Cooling off time? A chance to reassess? Ed gave himself a mental kick. How stupid was he? Twenty minutes without Millie, and he already knew.
He was in love with her, damn it.
When the hell had that happened? And how? No idea, apart from the fact that it finally clicked when he saw her with the baby. That pretty much blew his mind. The whole rush through his body, at the realisation he wanted her to have his children. All afternoon, he’d tried to blank it out, suppress the thought … But it was true. At least it gave a rational explanation for why the heat between them was burning like an inferno, when it should have been dying embers. How the hell could he be expected to recognise love, when he’d never known it before?
And typical Millie, as if it isn’t enough that she doesn’t want a man in her life at all, contrary as usual, she had to choose this moment to decide that he was the one man in the world she despised.
Standing up, Ed fished in his pocket for the keys to the Aston, and tossed them casually towards Will.
‘I think these are yours.’
Will snatched them out of the air, his brows knitting quizzically. ‘Meaning?’
Ed snorted. How slow could a guy be?
‘Meaning I’m giving you the damned Aston after all. It’s yours, because it’s the end of the goddam challenge, and scrub what I said before – I’ve fallen in love. I’m in love with Millie Brown, and before you ask, no, she doesn’t know, and I don’t have the first idea what I’m going to do about it either.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘IF you didn’t insist on rolling in the dirt Cracker, you’d get out for your ride a while lot sooner.’
Millie bent her head against the pony’s flank, rubbing at the dried mud vigorously with a brush. There was something very soothing about talking to a pony, and ever since she got back from the dreaded trip to Provence, she’d been pouring her woes out to Cracker.
‘Good thing you’re a good listener, isn’t it boy?’ She slapped his rump, and he gave her bare knee a nuzzle as she headed off to get his tack.
The thing was, all the pony nuzzles in the world weren’t going to make her feel better. Since she’d got back she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t concentrate, and was bursting into tears whenever her favourite songs came on the radio. And it wasn’t just seeing Bella again. She’d written the whole trip off as one big disaster, hurled it into her never-think-of-it-again box, and slammed the lid firmly. But it was refusing to stay there.
So much for a fun weekend. When did fun make you feel like you had a hollow the size of the Pacific Ocean in your stomach?
She stomped back out of the tack room, loosened Crackers head collar, and slipped on his bridle. It was two days since she’d arrived home. Two very long days. Long enough to seem like two weeks. Soon she was going to have to stop going over everything in her head. Obviously someone as hunky as Ed Mitchum would never have looked at her under normal circumstances, without the inducement of a bet. She didn’t know who she was the most furious with – him for the whole bet fiasco, or herself for going along with it. And the worst thing was she’d actually let herself have a good time. Enough of a good time for it to be hurting like mad now it was over.
‘Steady now.’
Gritting her teeth, she pulled a handful of mane through Cracker’s bridle. She only had herself to blame. Ed had made it perfectly clear from the outset that he was there for short term fun. What part of that had she not understood? The bet part was degrading, but the rest was her fault. There’d been the hot sex, and wow, it had been hot. She’d left here thinking she was frigid, and discovered she had the capacity of a sex bomb. So all that was good. She really didn’t have anything to complain about. The joke was, at the time she was sure she’d kept her distance emotionally, thought she’d pulled off the no-strings thing no problem. But now, however much she tried to stop it, mental pictures of Ed Mitchum plagued her, day and night. There was no room for a man in her life at the best of times, and definitely not now. Yet here she was, feeling like the world was about to end. Entirely ridiculous too, when you’d bolted away from the guy in question. Doubly ridiculous when you k
new he’d gone on an extended business trip to South America, most probably to get away from you. It didn’t make any sense, which was why she kept going over and over it.
‘No need to paw the ground, Cracker, I’ll grab the saddle, and we’ll be off.’ She’d just bobbed back into the tack room, when she heard footfalls in the yard.
‘Anyone there?’
Her heart lurched in her rib cage, and thumped into her throat. Shucks. For a moment there she thought it was Ed. Something about the deep growl. Stupid. She took a breath in the gloom. Once her pulse rate slowed again, she’d go to see who it was.
‘Millie?’ A shadow filled the doorway, impossibly broad shoulders blocking the light.
What then..? Only one man she knew whose chiseled cheekbones would show up like that in the gloom.
‘Ed … ’ Gawping now, as she noticed a carrier bag rammed under his arm, but her ability to form words had gone.
‘Hey. Nice shorts.’ He eased to lean against the door frame.
Nice shorts? Was that all he could say? She dodged to see his face better against the light, then wished she hadn’t, when the view of his jaw made her knees sag.
Indignation brought her tongue back to life. ‘I thought you were supposed to be in South America.’
Damn. Over the clatter of her heart beat hammering in her ears, she knew her voice sounded shaky. She swallowed down the butterflies battering to escape from her chest. One glimpse of him should not make her this excited.
‘Ah, South America got shelved.’ He shifted a little shamefacedly, then pushed the bag towards her. ‘I brought you your parcel. It got separated from the rest of your things, and it arrived on my desk this morning.’
‘I see. Thanks.’ Dropping the saddle and the hat she was holding, she took the bag from him, biting back her disappointment as her chest deflated. Of course he hadn’t come because he wanted to see her. How could she have been so stupid as to think that?
‘And I came to say sorry too. I wasn’t sure you’d even see me, after what I did. I shouldn’t have involved you in the dating challenge, it was low, and I’m ashamed.’ One rueful smile slid onto his face.
