Eva put her tea aside and danced her fingertips across his chest. “Do you want me to tickle you, Mr Scott, because I will!”
“What I want,” he told her casually, “is for you to move in with me.”
Eva sat up in surprise, and her face split with a grin. “Daniel! I don’t know what to say! I mean…I do, but— You’re sure, aren’t you?”
“I know you’ve got your own place and it’s a big thing to ask you to leave it,” Daniel replied. “But I’d like us to live together somewhere whenever you’re ready to say yes.”
“I’ve half-moved in already. Bit by bit.” Eva kissed him, then whispered, “We can make the house ours, can’t we?”
“Our home.” He smiled, touching his forehead to hers.
Chapter Seventeen
Eva parked outside the gallery. She’d packed her car with as many of her belongings as would fit. It was the first trip to load up and move into Daniel’s. And as such, new beginnings and all that, she needed to have a word with Rupert.
She smiled at the receptionist as she went into the gallery. “Is Rupert in? I need to have a word.”
“He’s out at lunch at the mom—”
“Eva!” The doors swished open to admit Rupert, his pinstripe jacket thrown over one shoulder. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Eva nodded politely. Her skin was covered in goosebumps, but she was fairly sure it wasn’t down to the air conditioning. “Rupert. I just popped by to have a word. If you have time?”
“Step into the office.” His tone was cooler than the conditioned air and he turned his back on her to stride across the lobby towards the stairs without waiting.
Eva gave the receptionist a small wave and followed Rupert up the stairs. She saw a flash of colour from the corner of her eye, and knowing Daniel’s artwork was here made her feel as if he was too. He had endured so much, and she only had to confront a creep.
“I’ve had Lyndsey in here this morning.” Rupert opened the office door and threw his jacket onto a mahogany coat stand just inside the room. “Chattering on with all sorts of rubbish about keys and your house.”
“That’s what I want to talk about.” Eva loitered in the open doorway, not confident enough to close the door behind her. She wasn’t thrilled at the thought of being shut in with him. “I know what you did, Rupert.”
“I’ve never heard such rubbish in my life. Making your bed, wasn’t it? Carrying bloody vases around?” He laughed, but the sound was cold. “Is it that boyfriend of yours? Been sharing his marching powder?”
Eva shook her head. “It was you. You did it.” Her controlled voice began to rise in pitch. “You had the opportunity to take my keys, because whoever it was had keys to get in, and— It was you, I know it was!”
“I applaud you, Eva, I really do.” Rupert puffed out his chest and folded his arms. “Why bother with the guy who owns the gallery when you can fuck the artist and get to the top?”
“What?” Rage flared inside Eva and she slammed the door behind her. Was it just Rupert who thought that, or everyone in Brighton? “You really think I— That the only reason I didn’t want to go out with you is because I thought ooh, goodie, I’ve snared a famous artist? No, actually, it’s because I don’t like you. Do you understand? How dare you! And I don’t care if Daniel is famous or not—and it has nothing to do with you anyway!”
“It will when I’m hosting your boyfriend’s auction and your chavs are displaying their work proudly in my gallery!” he shouted, his face reddening. “I know a few journos who’d like to hear about his coke habit, maybe I’ll have an anonymous word in an ear or two? Do they still do doorstepping these days?”
“Oh, a threat? To go to the press?” Eva’s throat tightened and she saw Lee Carswell again, a frightened little boy standing in front of the camera in a police station. The media might never know who Daniel had once been, but they loved to destroy a golden boy, and Daniel Scott would be savaged. “And that would be wise, would it, with your gallery stuffed full of Daniel’s work?”
“Would it be wise to drum up scandal and column inches about a man whose work is in my gallery, this bringing in even more proles?” He tapped his finger against his chin. “You really are pretty but stupid, Eva, I didn’t quite realise until now.”
“Proles? Wow… Do you have any respect for anyone?” Eva shook with anger, ice creeping into her voice. “You don’t, do you? Not a shred. You disgust me.”
“Trot on, I’ve got calls to make.” Rupert’s hand closed over her elbow. “And when the journalists are rooting through his bins, be sure to tell Daniel you sent them!”
Eva froze as he grabbed her arm, her flesh prickling as if an army of insects were walking over her. “You dare, Rupert—I will rip your phones out myself! This is your revenge, is it? Because I wouldn’t go out with you, you’ll try to destroy a decent man? Well, I hope the press enjoy rooting through his bins and finding nothing but empty tubes of paint and my old lipsticks!”
“Like the used condom the pair of you left in my office?” He jabbed his finger into her face. “There’re tarts like you all over the scene, darling. Wait until he gets a sniff of the art groupies and you’ll be out like the slut he thinks you are! When it happens, come back to Uncle Rupert and maybe, maybe, I’ll let you hang a little drawing on my toilet wall.”
He pushed her back against the door and kissed her, his mouth tasting of cigars and whiskey. Eva tried to battle her shock at his outrage towards her, tried to push him off, tried to scream against his damp lips. She knew then what she had noticed during that unimpressive kiss on their failed date. This was power for Rupert, not love, or affection, or even lust. He wanted to control and possess.
Out of nowhere, there was a knock at the door. Rupert started back, releasing her elbow and wiping his hand across his mouth as the knock sounded again. There was a trace of Eva’s dark coral lipstick on his face.
Eva shoved him away. “You bastard! You obnoxious shit!”
“What the fuck is this?” Daniel threw the door open, Lyndsey following in his wake. For a moment they were silent, then he stalked into the office, his black eyes blazing with fury as he pointed at Rupert. “You piece of shit!”
Eva grabbed Daniel by the arm. All she could think of was his warning—that Rupert might decide that Daniel had attacked him, and Daniel would be back behind bars. “Time to leave…come on…”
“Come on, bad boy!” Rupert beckoned Daniel forward and his arm tensed, his muscles tightening beneath her hand. “Didn’t you know this is what tarts do? I had her over the desk a couple of days ago, didn’t she tell you?”
“You filthy pig!” Lyndsey’s voice was a brittle whisper and she shrank back into the doorway. “You dirty, filthy, lying pig.”
Eva shook her head and tried to drag Daniel into the corridor after Lyndsey. She heaved for breath as she spoke. “How dare you, you revolting, repulsive man?”
“Daniel, please.” Lyndsey joined in as Daniel pulled his arm free and started into the office, the air fizzing with fury. He was going to hit Rupert, Eva realised. He would hit Rupert and Rupert would report him and—
“This isn’t finished,” Daniel told him in a voice as cold as ice, his tone somehow too calm despite his fury. Even Rupert was stilled, his ruddy face paling. “This isn’t finished at all, but you are. You’re fucking done!”
“We need to leave, Daniel. Now.”
“I’m going home,” Lyndsey decided. “Can I have a lift, Eva? I don’t want—“
She stifled a sob against her hand and Daniel turned, telling them both, “Let’s get out of here.” He looked at Eva then, and she wondered when their gazes met if he had seen that tiny smidgeon of doubt, the one she had dismissed immediately.
They headed along the corridor, Eva primed for the sound of Rupert in pursuit. But she heard nothing. Not even the sound of him making his threatened telephone calls.
“I just wanted to draw a line under it,” Eva said, her voice quiet as they
went through the foyer. “It was stupid of me.”
“Not your fault,” Daniel told her, taking a deep breath of fresh air as the doors opened for them. “I mean it, though, I’ll finish the fucker.”
There was such venom in his words, and it surprised her to hear it echoed in Lyndsey when she added, “That’s the worst thing, I feel sick thinking that he did that.”
Eva drew her best friend and her lover into an embrace. “Let’s just…just calm down a bit, shall we? He’s a horrible man, Lyndsey—” Daniel would help, wouldn’t he? He could find Lyndsey a new job with all those contacts of his. “But we need to go. Erm… I can squeeze you into my car, Lynds, if you still want that lift? Do you want to come back to ours and help me unload?”
“Could you drop me at Miles’ office instead? Is that all right?”
“Yes, of course, anywhere you like.” Eva kissed Lyndsey’s cheek, then Daniel’s. “I’ll see you at home, darling?”
“I’ve got something on tonight that I can’t cancel, but I don’t want you in your own,” Daniel told them, his voice still clipped with contained anger. “Lyndsey, how’d you fancy coming over and keeping Eva company for a few hours? I’ll even buy you a takeaway.”
“Shall we have Thai, Lyndsey?” Eva tried to smile. They’d make the best of it—they had to. Lyndsey nodded, weeping, and blinked fresh tears away, but there was something in Daniel’s face that she couldn’t read and this mysterious something he was suddenly doing… What was it?
“If you want to report this to the police,” Daniel told Eva, “I’m one hundred percent with you. And, Lyndsey, I know a dozen galleries that’ll jump to take you on, don’t worry.”
“Thank you, darling.” Eva stroked his jaw, which seemed tight with contained rage. “I will go to the police. Lynds, let’s head off. I’ll see you later, Daniel.”
Eva unlocked the car and opened the passenger door for Lyndsey. “You’ll just need to hold this box on your knee, if that’s okay.”
“I’ll see you later, Daniel.” Lyndsey smiled as Daniel brushed his lips against Eva’s cheek.
“I’ll follow in my car,” he told them. “I want to stay close.”
Eva checked in her rear-view mirror as she drove Lyndsey to Miles’ office. All the way there, Daniel’s blue sports car with its white stripe on the bonnet followed behind like a guardian angel.
Chapter Eighteen
Eva put her pair of pottery candlesticks on the wide blank ledge above the fireplace in Daniel’s lounge. They looked rather small there, so she crossed the room and put them on the windowsill. A little bit better, perhaps. It was nice to do normal things like this, to try to calm herself down from what had happened earlier. She’d rung the police, and they’d been kind and said they’d make a note on the file, but Eva knew there wasn’t much they could do. Unless Rupert committed an even bigger outrage, and Eva really hoped he wouldn’t.
She had given up asking Daniel what he was up to that evening. Despite the combined efforts of her cajoling, kissing and tickling, he wouldn’t yield up his secret. Maybe it was something to do with his previous life, something that would have to remain a secret.
“Do they look okay on the windowsill? Or are they too diddy?”
“They look great. I like that my house is suddenly full of candlesticks.” Daniel fastened the remaining buttons on his clean black shirt. “And thank you for trusting me enough to not demand an explanation about tonight. Tickling got you nowhere either, but you’ll find out soon enough.”
“All I’m saying is, it better not be a lads’ night out with Miles!” Eva laughed at the idea of it, an entire evening of Miles staring at the lenses of Daniel’s sunglasses while warning him about the dangers of a 1930s flat roof.
“You found me out.” He slipped his arms around her. “And I’m not going to challenge Rupert to a duel either, I’ll leave that to the coppers. Just have a good time and I’ll be back before midnight.”
Eva nodded sagely. “Or your car turns into a pumpkin.” She heard someone on the driveway and told herself not to panic. “That’ll be Lynds!”
“Takeaway money’s on the hall table. I promised it’d be my treat.” He kissed her nose. “Don’t wake the neighbours.”
“Don’t worry, darling, we can do that when you get back later.” Eva laughed as she headed to the front door.
“I’ll bring dessert. Just for us.” Daniel’s keys jangled as he twirled them on his fingertip. The bright smile that he bestowed on Eva disappeared into the much-photographed artistic scowl as the door opened to admit Lyndsey, her arms filled with bright pink flowers.
“Lynds! Are you practicing for your wedding, or are those a gift?” Eva gave her a hug.
“They’re for you. Miles and I wanted to do something to show you how much we love you.” She held out the flowers. “I know I can be an old silly, but you had such a horrid day.”
“You’ll ruin my reputation if you put them in a window.” Daniel kissed Eva’s cheek. “Have a good night.”
Eva laughed again. “Bye, darling! See you later!” She turned to Lyndsey. “These are gorgeous. Let’s put them in the vase that got moved about. Make something happy of it.”
“Put them in the middle of a prominent window,” Lyndsey told her as told Daniel closed the front door. “What a gorgeous house, not bad for a boy from care!”
Eva showed Lyndsey into the kitchen and carefully laid the flowers down on the marble worktop. “He’s done really well for someone who had a hell of a lot against him.” If only Lyndsey knew.
“How does a person just end up in a home, though?” Lyndsey perched on a stool and rested her elbows on the counter surface. “Does he not have any parents? I imagine you know all there is to know about the mysterious Mr Scott!”
“Let’s just say he had a very difficult childhood. He could’ve been one of the outreach kids.” Eva tried to think of Kieran and Sam, Jayden and Wai, rather than Lee Carswell. “And now he has an enormous kitchen with its own wine fridge. Would you like to choose?”
Eva knew that sounded flippant, but she was doing her best to skate over the ice.
“Anything rosé for me.” She drummed her fingers against the marble. “The police haven’t rung me yet to ask me what happened, but I imagine they’ll get to it. What a rotter Rupe was!”
Eva produced a Spanish rosado from the fridge and took two glasses from the cupboard. “I don’t think there’s much they can do, Lynds. I rang them earlier, and they didn’t exactly fob me off, but I get the impression that they’ll only act if he does something far worse. I doubt he will, I hope he won’t. But I don’t think they’ll be phoning you or Daniel.”
“I suppose you can’t put a man away for a life for a snog, even if it was a horrible sleazy one!” She pouted. “Is that where Daniel’s gone off to tonight? To box his rotten old ears?”
Eva winced as she poured the wine. “It was foul. And when I saw my lipstick on his face afterwards, it somehow made it worse. Do you know what I mean? Like him making my bed…as if there’s intimacy where there isn’t.” She pushed the wine across the worktop to Lyndsey. “Daniel’s busy tonight. Something important, apparently.”
“A mystery something?”
“Would appear so…” Eva grinned. “I joked and said he was going on the razzle with Miles! Can you imagine what that would be like?”
“Poor old Miles, he’s not the most artistic boy, but he is trying.” Lyndsey laughed. “I’m educating him!”
“I was impressed that he’d actually been to look at Daniel’s paintings. More than can be said about most of the people who turned up for the private view!”
“We’ve now unofficially sold them all. People like the darkness, it would seem.”
Nodding, Eva pushed away the image of that wronged little boy again. “That’s one of Daniel’s talents, I think, expressing something very dark which is inside us all.”
“Even unicorns,” Lyndsey told her with a wink.
Eva patted
Lyndsey’s hand. In her gentlest voice, she asked, “Are you okay after what happened earlier? You seemed really upset.” There had been something in the way Lyndsey had reacted that worried Eva. Had Rupert made a pass at her, despite what she’d said the other day?
“It made me think—” Her lips wavered again, just the hint of a wobble. “It reminded me of something that happened once, I won’t depress you with it!”
“Oh, Lynds…” Eva put aside her glass to hug her friend. “If you’d feel better for a chat about it, you can tell me. That’s what friends are for.”
“You’ve never asked me where my dad is, in all the years we’ve known each other.” And Eva hadn’t, because Lyndsey had never mentioned anyone but her dotty mum. It wasn’t the sort of thing someone could ask either, especially not with Lyndsey’s penchant for drama. “I haven’t seen him since I was six.”
“I’d always assumed your mum and dad had split up.” Eva now thought she knew the reason why. A child of six, his own daughter? Rupert’s vile kiss came back to her, and she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “Gosh, Lynds, I’m so sorry.”
“Well, that’s why I won’t ever go back to work with Rupert.” She shrugged, her lip firm once more. “Someone should teach him a lesson though, something he won’t forget. People like that should suffer the way I did, we do. Prison wouldn’t do it, they’d come out and throw money around and do it to someone else. It needs to be a real lesson, something they have to live with, like a disease that eats away at them. A rotten, horrible disease.”
Eva knew Lyndsey wasn’t exaggerating. To have gone through whatever she had as a child, at the hands of a parent who should’ve protected her, had to have left a scar. One she had dressed up behind smiles and pretty frocks and manicures, but the shadow was still there.
Was that why she hadn’t liked Daniel’s art, because the darkness in his work too closely resembled her own? A child unprotected and afraid.
“I rather think Daniel will use his contacts to teach him a lesson. Rupert can’t go on doing that. Creepy, horrible man. He’ll get his comeuppance, you’ll see.”
The Colour of Mermaids Page 23
