United States of Love: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

by Sue Fortin

  ‘I know when I like something, so I cannot see the point in wasting time looking elsewhere,’ replied Tex.

  Anna went to close the door but he had somehow managed to position himself in the way, one arm casually resting on the roof, the other on the top of the door. He lowered his head so their eyes were level.

  ‘Thank you for your help today.’

  ‘All part of the service,’ replied Anna, her hand still on the door handle.

  ‘I hope you manage to sort everything out with your… err… with Mark,’ said Tex. ‘Make sure you get some legal advice and try not to get upset about it. You will achieve a lot more if you can stay calm.’

  He moved out of the way so she could close the door and stood there with his hands in his pockets, a brooding look on his face, watching her as she drove away.

  Anna knew what Tex had said was right. She definitely needed to speak to her solicitor, and she also needed to stay calm when she confronted Mark about the house sale. However, now she was nearing home, her lovely little flint cottage that she loved dearly, she could feel the anger rising up inside her again, the pure impudence of what Mark had done stirring her fury once more. No way was she going to be able to stay calm.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘Please, Anna, let me explain,’ pleaded Mark, walking across the living room towards her. ‘Sit down. Let’s talk about this civilly.’

  ‘I don’t want to sit down and have some cosy chat about it. I want to know what’s going on.’ Anna could feel anger raging through every part of her body. She actually felt like she could be violent towards him. ‘Tell me!’

  Mark nodded his head slightly as if conceding defeat and capitulating to her demand. ‘Just hear me out before you say anything.’

  ‘Get on with it then.’ Anna folded her arms and jutted out her chin.

  ‘I was going to tell you. No, I was. Don’t raise your eyebrows like that. I tried to tell you a couple of times, but you didn’t want to talk. Every time I said there was something else, you avoided getting into a conversation.’

  Anna sighed inwardly as she took in what Mark was saying and realised that he was right. ‘You could have told me when you first came back. It would have been easier.’

  ‘I didn’t want to upset you as soon as I got here.’ Mark moved closer and put his hand on her arm. ‘Come on, Annie, let’s sit down.’

  Anna shrugged off his gesture, ignoring the pet name he used to call her. She wasn’t that much of a pushover. ‘You can’t just sell the house. Where are we supposed to live? More to the point, why? Why are you selling it?’

  ‘It won’t be that bad. There are loads of places to rent in Chichester. I won’t leave you and Luke homeless, give me some credit.’

  ‘Rent! We’re going to have to rent? Luke needs security. We can’t just rent, we could be asked to move in six months. No, that’s not on, Mark.’

  ‘People rent all the time. You can get twelve-month tenancy agreements. I’ll make sure everything is sorted. Like I said, you won’t be left homeless.’

  ‘You still haven’t answered me. Why are you selling?’ Anna closed her eyes and exhaled, suddenly feeling tired, physically and mentally. She needed to sit down. Her emotions were taking a hammering today. ‘Please, Mark, just tell me.’

  Mark sat down on the opposite sofa to which Anna had slumped into, leaning over, he rested his elbows on his legs, clasping his hands together. He was like a chameleon, thought Anna, one day aggressive and spiteful, the next subdued and sorrowful.

  ‘Mark?’ she asked again, this time more gently.

  ‘Things aren't going so well in the States with the football academy. I need the money from the sale of the house,’ his voice vacillating. ‘The bank's starting to get twitchy for its money and I need to put cash into the business to develop it. Selling the house is the only way I can raise more funds. I know you can’t afford to buy it.’

  ‘What makes you so sure?’

  ‘Well, can you?’

  Anna shook her head and swallowed down her pride. ‘No, I can’t. I wish I could but I just don’t earn enough to get a mortgage.’

  ‘Exactly. Why bother saying that?’

  ‘You still should have asked though,’ said Anna, although she knew she was only point scoring. ‘Isn't there any other way, any other way at all?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What about your business partner? Your parents?’

  ‘No. I've tried everything. I need a lot of money and the house proceeds are the only way to do it.’ He looked up at Anna. ‘I’m sorry, I know I should have told you sooner. I tried. I wish there was some other way, I really do.’

  Anna looked at Mark sitting there. He didn't look his usual confident, some might say arrogant, self. Instead, she saw a vulnerable, forlorn and humiliated man. How could she hate one man so much and yet still feel compassion for him? It was madness. She couldn’t fathom it out at all.

  ‘Will the money actually save the business or will it just get you out of a hole for now? What I mean is, are you sure you’re not just throwing good money after bad? Is the academy actually a viable business?’

  ‘Fucking hell, Anna, you sound like my sodding bank manager!’ Mark leant back, looking up at the ceiling. ‘Of course it’s viable, but if I don’t put the money in now it will be closed within six months, twelve tops.’

  ‘Couldn’t you get a mortgage on the house? That way you could free up the equity without selling it.’

  Mark shook his head. ‘No UK bank is going to lend to a US resident whose business finances are in the shit, and likewise no US bank is going to lend on a UK home. Not these days with the way the economy is for everyone.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mark, but you got yourself into the financial mess you’re in, it’s up to you to sort it out without it affecting Luke, and selling the house is taking away any security I have for him.’ Suddenly she felt empowered. She was standing up to Mark, something she should have done before. ‘You’ve got a responsibility to him until he’s at least eighteen. You have to provide a home for him. I’ll fight it in the courts if I have to. I’m not agreeing to you selling the house.’

  Mark stood up, looking at her for a few seconds, his lips pursed. When he finally spoke, the menace in his voice sent a slither of alarm snaking down Anna’s spine.

  ‘In that case you don’t leave me with any choice. I was hoping to avoid this.’

  He went to his briefcase by the side of the fireplace, and from the inside pocket pulled out a white envelope which had his company logo printed in the top left-hand corner. He tipped the contents onto the coffee table. The half a dozen or so photos that scattered the surface made Anna recoil in horror.

  She looked at Mark, not daring to say what she was thinking. She had forgotten all about them. Intimate photos of her, taken by Mark, one very drunken night probably over ten years ago now.

  ‘I didn’t know you still had those,’ she ventured at last, crouching down at the table, turning them over one by one before attempting to gather them up.

  Mark’s hand clamped down on hers. ‘Oh no you don’t. They’re mine. I took them. They belong to me.’ Before she realised what he was doing, Mark had swooped them up and dropped them back into the envelope. He smiled smugly. ‘Great night that was, don’t you remember?’

  ‘You know I don’t,’ snapped Anna. ‘I was so drunk I didn’t know what I was doing. You, on the other hand, knew exactly what you were doing. Now give me the photos.’

  ‘I don’t think so. You see, they are my insurance policy.’ Mark popped the envelope back into his briefcase, shutting the lid firmly and ensuring it was locked.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Anna struggled to keep the tremor from her voice.

  ‘If you stand in the way of selling the house, if you persist in applying for a divorce, I may just be forced to send copies of these out to your friends and colleagues, oh, and pop them on Facebook.’

  Anna gasped. ‘You wouldn’t!’

  ‘You
wanna bet on that?’

  ‘That’s blackmail.’

  ‘Blackmail is a rather unpleasant word.’ Mark cocked his head to one side. ‘I much prefer to describe it as encouraging you. Encouraging you to see things from a different angle.’

  ‘And you wonder why I want to divorce you!’ Anna could hear herself screeching at him. ‘It’s because you always want things your way, on your terms. You only ever think of yourself and satisfying your needs. Never mind about anyone else and what they want.’ She couldn’t stop herself from screaming at him. The words just continued to flow as the panic took hold. ‘You’re just being difficult about the divorce because you’re not in control. It’s not me you really want, it’s just the money from the house.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to be like this, Anna,’ said Mark calmly. ‘There is another solution.’

  Anna sat bolt upright. ‘What’s that?’ She knew there must be a way. Thank God!

  ‘I could let the business go, move back to the UK. Back here.’ He jabbed his finger towards the floor several times. ‘If you agreed, if you wanted to, we could make a fresh start. You, me, Luke. A family again.’

  ‘Oooh! Who’s the new boy then?’ crooned Christine as she swanned into the business premises. ‘And look at you in your lycra. Very nice. Both of you actually.’

  ‘I wasn’t expecting you,’ said Tex. ‘We didn’t have a meeting booked in, did we? This is Nathan Palmer, my personal trainer.’

  ‘Hello, Nathan.’ Cooed Christine as she shook hands with him. Tex didn’t miss the coy smile and fluttering of eyelashes that she did so well. ‘No, no meeting, Tex, not at all. I just thought I would pop in. It’s been a bit quiet from you. I just wanted to make sure you were happy with all the arrangements.’

  Tex wasn’t entirely sure if Christine was actually talking about the artwork he was buying or whether she was talking in code, referring to their short but sweet merger. After that evening at the Fish and Fly, he thought he had made it clear he wasn’t looking for any sort of relationship with her, he thought she had understood this. Now though, he wasn’t so sure.

  ‘I could pop back in half an hour, if that helps at all,’ suggested Nathan.

  ‘No, it’s fine…’ began Tex, but was interrupted by Christine.

  ‘Actually, if you could just give us five minutes, Nathan, that would be great. I just need to speak to Tex about something.’

  ‘Sure, no problem, I’ll just wait in the car.’

  ‘No need for that,’ interjected Tex. What the hell Christine was playing at he didn’t know. ‘Me and Christine will go into the office.’

  As soon as the door was shut, Christine pounced on Tex, wrapping her arms around his neck. ‘I was hoping you might want to reconsider your decision about us. I’ve missed you. I don’t like just having a professional relationship.’ She let go momentarily to make quotation marks in the air, before replacing her hands around his neck and moving in for a kiss.

  Tex moved his head backwards out of reach. Taking hold of her hands, he unhooked them.

  ‘Look, Christine, I’m sorry but I meant what I said. It’s better this way. Believe me. I’m sorry if you expected more.’

  ‘Let me get this straight. I didn’t actually mean anything to you, it literally was just a couple of shags. And now you’ve got Little Miss Bilingual in your sights, you don’t want me. I saw you and her the other day, trotting around the town. I thought you two looked a bit cosy, which is what made me come over today. I thought to myself, Tex’s not the shag-them-and-leave-them sort. No, he’s more of a gentleman. I was obviously wrong.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Christine. I thought you knew it wasn’t anything serious.’

  ‘Well, you were wrong. I may have thought that myself initially, but after spending time with you, Tex, I really liked you.’ She held up her hand. ‘And don’t apologise again. I understand this time.’

  ‘I hope this doesn’t affect our working relationship,’ said Tex, which he really did mean, as Christine had a great eye for art and had negotiated a very good deal for him. ‘I would hate to lose you from this project.’

  Christine looked at him thoughtfully. ‘I don’t have any choice in the matter.’ She paused in the doorway. ‘I will see you at the end of the week for our meeting then.’

  After she had gone, Tex let out a deep sigh. That had been awkward, but Christine seemed okay about it in the end. For a moment there he thought maybe Anna’s belief about it being dangerous to mix business with pleasure would be proved right. Since Anna, he had not given his fling with Christine another thought. In fact, the resistance and intrigue surrounding Anna was too much of a distraction. For some reason he felt a strong pull towards her and everyone else just fell by the wayside. Quite strange and quite different to anything he had experienced before.

  Anna wasn’t particularly looking forward to furniture shopping with Tex, but Jamie was paying her, and as Tex was officially her client now she couldn’t really refuse. She knew Tex would ask her about her confronting Mark over the house sale, and she also knew that he probably wouldn’t be impressed with the outcome.

  ‘Sorry, but am I understanding you correctly?’ frowned Tex as he and Anna wandered around the local furniture shop looking at the beds. ‘Mark needs to sell the house to support his business, and you are going to let him because you feel sorry for him? Not only that, but you have not been to see a solicitor?’

  ‘Pretty much,’ bristled Anna. ‘What about this bed? Is this the sort of thing you’re looking for or is the bedstead a bit girly for you?’

  ‘I don’t like the metal frame. I would prefer a leather headboard. And you are changing the subject.’

  ‘There’s nothing else to say and I am actually here to find you a bed.’ Anna walked off towards some more king-size beds. ‘What about this one? It’s got the headboard you like and the mattress is really deep.’ She pushed down on it with her hand. ‘Quite firm.’

  Tex stood on the opposite side of the bed. ‘The only way to tell is to test it.’ He laid down on the bed, stretching his jeaned legs and trainered feet out, putting his hands behind his head. ‘Come on, lay down. What do you think?’

  ‘It’s up to you. You’re the one who will be sleeping in it. Not me.’

  Anna could have sworn he was trying to supress a grin, those eyes of his dancing mischievously behind his thick lashes.

  He patted the bed. ‘I’d still like your opinion. Do you think it’s too firm?’

  Deciding to play him at his own game, Anna lay down on the bed next to him. She was glad that she had worn trousers and a jumper, much more modest for clambering onto beds with Tex.

  ‘It feels fine to me. What you’ve got to bear in mind though is moving around, you have to try all different positions.’

  As if to demonstrate, Anna bounced her body up and down a couple of times, then rolled onto her side so her back was to Tex, more fidgeting before rolling over onto her other side, only to find that Tex had rolled over too, and they were now face to face. She gave a little yelp of surprise but decided to brazen it out. A game of brinkmanship.

  A smile played at the corners of Tex’s mouth. ‘Well, would it be comfortable enough to spend the night on?’

  ‘From a purely hypothetical point of view, yes. It would be very comfortable.’ Anna wasn’t sure if she’d be able to hold her nerve as she stifled the sudden urge to move closer and kiss him.

  ‘You really should see a solicitor,’ said Tex softly. He reached across and held her arm so she couldn’t move away. ‘You may be agreeing to this because you feel sorry for him but he still has a responsibility to his son. And so do you.’

  ‘Thanks for the advice but I am capable of looking after myself and my son. I’ve managed fine for the past year.’

  Tex let go of her arm and, taking umbrage, Anna hoiked herself off the bed. He’d touched a nerve bringing into question her responsibility towards Luke. Being a good single parent had been her top priority, something she prided herself
with having carried out successfully. She wasn’t about to let anyone cast doubt upon that.

  Tex’s comment continued to niggle away at Anna for the rest of the afternoon, despite her endeavours to disregard it. Now, with the atmosphere between them uneasy, she kept the exchanges purely professional, only discussing Tex’s requirements for furnishing his apartment.

  The king-size bed and two single beds could be delivered within the week but the sofa was on a back order of four weeks.

  ‘We could see about hiring a sofa and dining suite if that will help,’ suggested Anna, aware that Tex needed these items for next weekend as his sister wasn’t wasting any time in visiting.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing and selecting the necessary furniture from a hire store in nearby Worthing. Anna hadn’t enjoyed the starch atmosphere, or the stilted and awkward exchange of goodbyes that rounded off the day.

  ‘If I’m honest, I have to agree with Tex,’ said Zoe matter-of-factly as she slipped off the stool at the workbench of Nails by Natasha. ‘Mark has a responsibility to Luke and can’t just make him homeless. I really don’t know why you won’t seek legal advice.’

  ‘I’m still working on the alternatives,’ grumbled Anna as she admired her newly manicured nails.

  This little treat was part of Anna’s plan to bring the old Zoe back to life. Zoe had protested that beautiful nails and nappies didn’t exactly go together, but Anna had been adamant and refused to let her sister-in-law off the hook.

  ‘I can’t see what the alternatives are, other than you and Mark getting back together, which actually isn’t an alternative at all.’ Zoe turned and raised her eyebrows at Anna, in the way that mums do when they correct their children for saying something rather silly.

  ‘Don’t worry, that’s definitely not an option,’ Anna remarked as she headed for the reception desk. ‘Put your purse away, Zoe, this is mine and Nathan’s treat.’

  ‘Really? You two are becoming quite a pair of schemers.’ Zoe smiled at her sister-in-law.

  Anna carried on the conversation once they had left the nail bar. ‘I asked Mark for a divorce, but he’s not playing ball. In fact, he’s threatening to blackmail me.’