‘La dolce vita,’ Hayley agreed, raising her wineglass. ‘The good life.’
Ethan nodded and raised his glass in response. ‘May we have it back someday.’
Over dessert and the last of their bottle of wine, he said, ‘Hayley, I didn’t give you much choice about coming with me, but I’m glad you stuck it out.’
She opened her eyes wide with surprise. They were so blue, the colour seeming even more unusual by the dim light in here, and by the reflection of her dress. Apparently, not coming with him was a thought she had not even considered. A moment later, he caught her looking around the car with more attention, as though wondering about the strange fate that had brought her here.
‘I feel involved,’ she said. ‘You saved me from being shot. You paid my father’s medical and accommodation bills. I know that they were substantial. I suppose I feel like I owe you for that. I want to help you if I can. I know how important family is.’
She felt she owed him something? Despite his determination that there could be nothing between them, Ethan felt oddly disappointed to hear that. It was just his masculine ego, he reasoned, but he would have liked to hear Hayley confess that she was attracted to him.
‘You don’t owe me anything,’ he said. ‘When I paid your father’s bills it was almost blackmail.’
Hayley laughed. ‘You’re right, it was,’ she agreed. ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you.’
He liked her laugh. He liked that she knew how to lighten a moment that needed lightening, because it made the situation more bearable for him, too.
‘It doesn’t matter why you helped my father,’ she said a moment later. ‘I will just always be grateful that you did.’
There was a tiny smear of raspberry sauce on her upper lip. If the table hadn’t been fastened to the ground between them, he would have been tempted to lean across and wipe it clean. Lick it, even.
‘You love him very much?’ Ethan asked.
Hayley nodded. ‘My mother walked out on us when I was very small,’ she said. ‘He raised me on his own.’
‘He did a good job.’
‘Thank you!’ Hayley grinned, looking genuinely pleased. She liked him too. He was sure of it.
If a relationship hadn’t been so obviously impossible, then Ethan realised he might have been feeling in danger right about now.
‘There have been times in my life when I thought Dad was the only person I could ever trust,’ Hayley said. ‘It’s been terrible to have him ill and needing to rely on me and feeling that I couldn’t provide the help he needed.’
‘You’re lucky to have family like that.’
‘I…’ Once again, Hayley looked surprised.
Through the window beside them, a sparkling Italian evening was rushing past.
‘I’ve never thought about it before,’ she said musingly. ‘But you’re right. This is something I don’t tell people very often. I was married once, you know.’
They had known each other for only a couple of days. Although he assumed there was no one in her life at the moment, he knew too little about her to be really surprised by an announcement like this.
He could tell she was nervous by the way she fingered her camera case.
‘Yes?’ he prompted.
‘Not for very long,’ Hayley said quickly. ‘Just long enough to have a honeymoon and get back home to discover my new husband had been having an affair with my best friend.’
Her husband and her best friend? Hayley’s eyes had darkened as she made this confession and Ethan found himself wanting to comfort her for the long-ago pain.
‘That must have been terrible,’ he said. ‘A double loss.’
‘It was,’ Hayley agreed, putting down her wine glass. It rattled slightly against the table. ‘I don’t know how I would have gotten through that without my Dad.’
He couldn’t be sure if she was shaking slightly or if this was the movement of the train. He realised now that, despite her cynicism about weddings — and who could blame her for that, after what she had been through — she had the same strong feelings about family as him. The same strong feelings that kept him locked up in his villa and now sent him careening around the country, trying to keep his daughter safe.
‘You can see why I value my independence,’ she said. ‘I think people can be happy on their own. Not enough people consider that. Not to mention that you are far less likely to be hurt.’
‘Do you hate your work very much?’ he asked.
‘Not all of it. How do you feel about yours?’
‘Truthfully? I like it. I’d planned on spending these past couple of years expanding the business though. Making my partner David into a full business partner as well. Not on the hunt for Tomasi.’
He ended on a rough, angry note. Hayley gave him a pitying look.
‘I love taking photos,’ she said. ‘I love capturing people in one of those surprising moments when an expression on their face, or something that you see them looking at or touching, reveals more about their inner selves than any number of words ever could.’
‘But weddings must be difficult.’
‘After my own, you mean?’
Ethan inclined his head.
‘I suppose they were, at first,’ Hayley said. ‘I had to get back to them though. Either that or find something else to do to earn a living. And there isn’t really anything else that I’m good at.’
He found that difficult to believe. Despite her slight frame and girlish bearing, Hayley Wolfe exuded the sort of easy confidence that suggested she could be very good at anything she put her mind to.
‘Were you very much in love with Erica?’ Hayley asked suddenly.
Brought back into reality with a start, Ethan stared down at his dessert spoon and tried to work out what to say. The answer to Hayley’s question wasn’t as simple as it could have been. And he was beginning to think that when it came to matters of the heart, she deserved an honest response.
‘Of course I loved her,’ he said. ‘We were married. On the day of our wedding, I thought that we would be together for the rest of our lives.’
‘I see.’
Hayley stared down at the table as well. Was it possible that she was feeling jealous over his long dead wife? Ethan felt a pang of compunction and the urge to explain further.
‘Yes, I did love her,’ he said. ‘Erica was beautiful. Everyone loved her.’
‘But not in the same way as you?’
‘The truth about that is, I just don’t know.’ He found himself struggling to find the words to explain the emotions he had gone through such a long time ago. ‘Erica was an intriguing and brave woman. But since she died, I’ve sometimes thought that maybe what I felt for her was closer to fascination than to love. My partner, David, he sometimes seemed to be even more in love with her than I was.’
‘Your partner fell in love with your wife?’ Hayley touched her mouth with a corner of her napkin. ‘That can’t have been easy.’
Ethan tried to force a smile. ‘It wasn’t quite as simple as it sounds. I met Erica while I was already working for my commercial investigation agency. David met her at the same time. He actually asked her out before I did. But things just didn’t work out for him.’
Hayley leaned forward. ‘Do you think he might still mind that?’ she asked.
‘What do you mean?’
Ethan shook his head, bewildered by the sudden change that their conversation had taken.
She raised her fork and used it to point towards the window as though this meant something. He soon realised she was just using this as a gesture to help her think.
‘You’ve made a few enemies,’ she said. ‘Earlier, you were wondering who it might be who gave information about Katy to Tomasi or this Ivan Vasilovich. I was wondering if people like David might know. That woman at the office. Your personal assistant.’
‘Elspeth?’
Now at least he could genuinely smile. The idea was laughable. Elspeth was one of the few people i
n his life that he could actually trust. She might sometimes be rude but he was in no doubt that she loved Katy, and him.
‘You think Elspeth might have betrayed me?’ Ethan asked.
She had the grace to blush. A long pause followed. Hayley seemed to be arranging her thoughts and deciding what to say.
‘You know that somebody must have betrayed you,’ she said. ‘Ivan knew where Katy was, remember. He must have known for a while. No, listen to me.’
He had looked away, the way people did when they didn’t want to hear something. Ethan knew enough about human nature to recognise the truth that he was revealing in avoiding her eyes.
‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ Hayley persisted. ‘In order for Vasilovich to know that Katy was having nightmares and that you were on your way to take her out of the school, he must have had the school’s phone lines bugged. How long do you think it takes to organise something like that?’
She was right about that. Vasilovich had known what Ethan was doing. He had to have been getting the information from somewhere. But Elspeth?
Ethan frowned. He didn’t want to have to suspect her but the truth was, he didn’t want to have to suspect anybody. And hardly anyone had known where Katy was.
‘Just last year she decided to postpone her retirement.’ Very slowly, he thought out loud. ‘She said it was because she lost money in one of the bank collapses and had college fees for one of her sons to consider.’
‘A lot of people suffered in the crash,’ Hayley said.
‘I thought she was looking for a convenient excuse for wanting to postpone retirement for a while,’ Ethan continued. ‘I thought maybe she realised I still needed assistance. That she was offering to help me.’
‘Help you?’
‘Yes. In a way that I would not be very likely to refuse.’
‘And now you’re wondering how bad her financial situation really is?’ Hayley surmised.
‘I don’t want to be thinking like that,’ Ethan said, wretchedly.
‘She’s been with you for a long time?’
‘Virtually my entire career. Back when I was learning the ropes as an investigator she even looked after the family business concerns so that I would have the chance to pursue interests of my own.’ Ethan tapped the dinner table with his fingertip. ‘Elspeth would never betray me,’ he said.
‘Someone did,’ Hayley reminded him.
‘Not Elspeth.’
‘David, then?’
He slammed his fist down against the table. The crockery and glassware rattled and, all around the restaurant car, eyes were turned in their direction.
‘What are you trying to do to me?’ he demanded. ‘These people are like family to me.’
Hayley reached across the table then, resting her fingers softly against his still firm fist.
‘I’m just trying to help,’ she said quietly.
He loosened his fingers and turned his hand around until it was holding hers. She was only trying to help him, he realised. The truth was that someone he trusted must have betrayed him, and that it was going to hurt to find out the truth, whatever it was.
‘I just thought we could use this time to try to work out who it is,’ she explained quietly. ‘Later on, this might turn out to be useful to know.’
‘I know,’ he confessed, ‘If I think of anything I’ll let you know.’
The truth was, of course, that he had no reason at all to trust Hayley, either. No reason except a deep, deep feeling that he could.
***
Their compartment had been made up into sleepers while they ate, and upon returning there was nowhere to sit except on the lower bunk.
‘Bottom or top?’ asked Hayley, feeling surprisingly shy when she saw it.
‘Which would you prefer?’ he asked. ‘I’m not sure I can sleep anyway.’
‘You have to sleep,’ she told him. ‘You need the energy, Ethan. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring but you will handle it better if you’ve rested.’
He slumped heavily into the bottom bunk, his head resting in his hands. Suddenly she had an idea.
‘Move over a bit. Turn around,’ she said, moving up behind him. ‘I know how to help you relax. I’ll give you a massage.’
He looked surprised, but moved over as Hayley had asked. She raised her legs onto the bunk and began rubbing his shoulder through his shirts. His muscles were stiff and tense. When she had been working the balls of her thumbs into them for some moments without any change, she leaned closer to put more of her weight into the task. She could smell his herbal shampoo and, beneath that, the spiciness of his aftershave.
It was his warmth and heat that had the greatest effect on her. He moved his head from side to side as she worked and as she kneeled behind him, she had to resist the urge to kiss the top of his head.
‘I’m really not sure I can relax,’ Ethan said.
She thought again of Katy. Ethan was desperately worried. Of course he wasn’t going to relax.
‘Should I stop?’ she asked.
‘I didn’t say I didn’t like it.’ His voice was deep. When he raised one of his hands and closed it over hers on his shoulder, she froze.
‘I can’t keep going if you won’t let me move,’ she said, hoping there was the right sort of light tone in her voice.
He said nothing but continued to hold her hand still as he turned until he was facing her. His eyes were dark. She was still kneeling up, her face higher than his as he reached both arms towards her and pulled her in closer.
The gesture was so simple and so uncomplicated and comforting and real that it just about took her breath away. Hayley leaned down against him, feeling his breath hot against the top of her chest.
His arms reached all the way around her and his hands pawed greedily at her back.
Hayley wanted to ask him to stop. She wanted to ask if he was sure that she wanted to do this. Didn’t he also think relationships were a mistake? Weren’t they obviously just drawn together by circumstance?
But he raised one of his fingers and placed it against her lips before she could speak.
‘No questions,’ he growled.
She bit his finger.
His eyes widened with surprised. Then she grinned at him, reached for his hand with her own and playfully pretended to kiss the finger better.
‘All right, no questions,’ she agreed, sinking to his level.
He wrapped his arms around her again and raised her slightly before laying her down on the bunk and stretching out beside her. The train was still speeding through into the night and they swayed along with it as he peeled off her new green dress and drew a line of kisses down her belly.
‘I can’t quite believe this. You are so beautiful.’
‘You keep saying that. You’ll make me vain.’
‘It’s true.’
‘You just want to get lucky,’ she teased.
‘Well, that’s true too,’ he admitted.
Then he kissed lower. She scratched at his back and then cried out.
Of course she wanted to know if he might love her, if this might mean anything, but there was so much to be done first. There was love to be made and explored before they slept and in the new day there was a child to find and save.
They made love hungrily and came together in a wave of release. After those few moments, Hayley opened her eyes and realised she was looking at Ethan as he really was, without any of the anxiety that complicated his daily life. He looked calmer now, and relaxed.
Relaxed enough now to finally doze. Hayley looked down at him and smiled. He was beautiful, and, for a while, he was hers.
She eased into the crook of his arm and realised that the biggest question of all was something she had to ask herself. How on earth was she going to get back to normal, solitary life, after this?
Chapter Nine
Ethan woke first in the morning. His arms were still wrapped around Hayley’s sleeping form. He smiled upwards at the top bunk, which had not needed to
be made up after all.
She was thin and light in his arms and, close as they were, they hardly took up any more room in the narrow bunk than he would have, lying here on his own. He brushed a kiss against the warm silkiness of her hair. Was there any chance that a woman like Hayley Wolfe could be seriously interested in him?
He shook his head. Hayley had made it quite clear what she thought of commitment. She thought that ordinary relationships were too risky. She would never consider the only sort that he could offer. Tomasi after both of them. Risk of the most extreme kind.
She snored slightly. The sound was almost unbearably endearing. Ethan kissed her again.
Then he began, as carefully as possible, to disentangle his arms from hers, to pull away. The movement was physical but he was aware of a need to pull away emotionally as well — he was more than ever aware that he could not afford to allow a woman into his life. Right now, she was in danger from Tomasi as well, but there was every chance, once this business was settled, that he would be able to negotiate some kind of protection for Hayley. Let Katy keep in touch with her uncle, for instance — now that he had proved his interest in her safety, some continuing contact seemed possible — if he would let Hayley get back to her normal life. There would be no agreement that Tomasi would honour if he knew that Ethan and Hayley were involved.
Tomasi had made it his life’s concern to hunt down everyone Ethan loved and to destroy them. Ethan could not allow anything to happen to Hayley the way it had happened to Pearl; the way it had happened to Erica.
She was so peaceful lying there. Ethan was glad she had said what she had said about distrusting marriage, about wanting her independence. Although her insistence that it was better to be on her own, away from the possibility of being hurt, had stung him, he had to admit that he would be feeling far more guilty now if she had not made such an admission.
There was no possibility of a future for them but at least, if they both knew that, they could make the most of the time that they would have together.
***
‘Does Katy look much like Erica?’ asked Hayley when she was awake and the conductor had folded their bunks back .
Trusting a Stranger Page 11
