Once the technician had set up her slides, a quick glance at the clock told Evie she was twenty minutes late. Not ideal, but surely not the end of the world?
‘So sorry to have kept you waiting,’ she said, wincing as the PA system emitted a shrill squeal of feedback. She tried to focus on her notes, but her hands were shaking so much she almost dropped the lot on the floor. Plus, her vision seemed to have gone a little blurry, and then there was this heat rising up from her legs … Legs which had become unaccountably heavy and were refusing to move.
Evie forced a smile and looked out across the room. The delegates regarded her with folded arms and flat expressions; not one person met her eye. That was when she noticed Michael. He stood at the back of the room, his hands clutched in front of his body as though he were praying. The sight of a familiar face, even one so newly familiar, gave Evie courage. When he smiled it was like a secret, as though they were the only two people there, and when he nodded, just the tiniest movement of his head, Evie felt her body relax and her nerves slip away. She took a deep, calming breath. Half an hour of talking, that was all she had to do. Everyone said she was a chatterbox, and talking was talking, no matter how many people were in the room. And so what if they were glaring at her, giving her the silent treatment? After everything she’d put up with to get here, she was damn well going to make them listen, whether they enjoyed it or not.
She looked at the screen behind her, where the words “Cladding For The Cost-Conscious” were projected in foot-high lettering.
‘Part of the Go Green ethos is delivering quality products to customers, without costing the earth,’ Evie began. Her voice was quiet at first, tentative, but soon she found her flow and began to lose herself in the moment. Every so often she would look out across the audience, hoping to find some nods of encouragement, some signs of engagement. There was nothing. Except Michael, of course. Leaning against the wall, watching her with eyes that spoke of interest and curiosity.
She delivered the material flawlessly – a masterclass in how to over-prepare. A few of the delegates clapped half-heartedly as she gathered up her materials, but when she looked across to give Michael a thumbs up, he’d already gone.
*
Evie sipped her coffee and stared glumly at the TV screen on the wall. The promised storm had hit South Wales an hour ago, and the scrolling news strip told her that all travel would be disrupted for the next twelve hours at least. The hotel bar was quiet and cold. Evie’s hair had dried, but she still felt chilled through, despite having changed out of her power suit and into a pair of jeans and a woolly jumper.
‘High winds have shut down train services across the region.’ The newsreader had perfectly coiffed hair that looked as though it wouldn’t move in a force sixty gale. Her skin was Photoshop perfect, her eyes glittery under the studio lights. ‘Snow is expected this afternoon, which may cause drifts up to five feet high.’
‘Brilliant. Just what I don’t need right now.’
Evie looked up. Michael was watching the screen over her shoulder.
‘Do you think it will be okay by the time the conference finishes?’ she said. She shuffled along the smooth leather seat as Michael sat down with a sigh.
‘Not likely. Are you staying here tonight?’
‘No. I’m catching a train at four.’
Michael waved his hand at the TV. ‘I doubt there’ll be any trains until tomorrow at the earliest. I just reserved a room – you should get yourself one, before they book up.’
‘I think I’ll hang on and see if things improve,’ she said, sitting on her hands to warm them up. ‘I really need to get out of here today. My grandparents are meeting me later and they’ll be really anxious if I don’t make it.’
‘Can’t you phone them and let them know?’ Michael gestured to the waiter and ordered coffee for himself and another for Evie. She smiled gratefully, then shook her head.
‘There’s this meeting in the morning. It’s really important to them, and I have to be there. I really, really need to get to Bristol tonight.’
‘Bristol? I’m going there tomorrow, too.’
‘Really?’
Michael nodded and took a glug of coffee. ‘I live there. Well, some of the time. And I’m supposed to be at a meeting first thing as well. I’ll have to get it put back.’
‘You must be pretty important,’ Evie said, half joking. ‘What, you just click your fingers and everyone rearranges their whole schedule?’
‘Well, if I’m not there the meeting can’t happen. It’s got nothing to do with being important.’
On the TV, a politician was being interviewed on the steps of a tall white building. The interviewer looked frozen solid.
‘Do you live in Bristol?’ Michael asked.
Evie pushed her cold coffee to one side and picked up her fresh one, letting the steam warm her face. ‘I grew up there. Now I live in Manchester.’
‘Where you work for Lee, Lee and Meredith,’ Michael said, pointing to her chest. ‘I see you got Martha to relent and give you your badge. A badge for …’ he looked again, then sat back and grinned. ‘Someone called Phoebe Sloan.’
Evie pulled a face. ‘Martha’s revenge. She wouldn’t change it, no matter what I said. And she knew perfectly well what my name is. Said she must have misheard me.’
‘Evie Stone, Phoebe Sloan. I can see how she might have got confused.’
‘Well, I can’t. She did it on purpose. She’s definitely got it in for me.’
‘But you’re wearing it anyway.’
Evie shrugged. ‘Not one single person other than you has spoken to me. Don’t suppose it makes much difference what my name is.’
Michael smiled. ‘What do Lee, Lee and Meredith do? I assume you’re not a partner – yet.’
Nor am I ever likely to be, Evie thought. She said, ‘It’s a bit of a mouthful already, don’t you think? They’re architects. And total pains in the …’ Evie stopped herself and flushed. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t be calling down my employers. It’s not exactly professional.’
‘Despite the fact they sent you here, like a lamb to the slaughter.’
Evie’s head jerked up in surprise. But Michael’s expression was kind, not mocking. She sighed. ‘Was it that obvious?’
‘That you hadn’t given a talk like that before? Only a bit.’ He grinned at her raised eyebrow. ‘Well, okay. Maybe a lot. That’s why they went easy on you. I think they felt a bit sorry for you.’
‘That was them going easy? Jeez, I’d hate to see them when they’re giving someone a hard time.’
‘Yes, you would. Honestly, they ripped the last guy to shreds.’
‘I’m glad I was late, then. I’d never have gone on at all if I’d seen that.’ She swallowed. ‘Thanks, by the way. You really helped me get through it.’
‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘You did. You were …’ Evie tailed off. This was so weird. She felt a kind of intimacy with this man, but he was practically a stranger. She wanted to tell him how much it had meant to her, having him there while she gave her talk, but that would sound totally ridiculous.
She said nothing and sipped her coffee. Michael filled the silence, telling her how the first speaker had so enraged the more militant delegates, they’d ended up shouting him off the stage.
Evie pulled a face. ‘But this conference is all about green issues. The environment and conservation. I thought they’d be, well, nicer people.’
Michael laughed. ‘What, into free love and saving the planet? Eco warriors and activists?’
Evie shrugged. Apart from the free love, it was how she herself might have been described a few years ago. These days she preferred less confrontational methods when it came to environmental issues, but she was no less passionate.
‘These people are industry professionals,’ Michael said. ‘Hard-nosed businessmen. And women, of course,’ he added when Evie bristled. ‘The conference circuit, it’s like a game. They’re not here to learn anything new, they’re not interested in green issues or any other issue. They’re here to network like crazy, and score points off each other.’
What does that say about you? Evie wondered. But then again, by the look of the other delegates, Michael was as much an outsider as her.
‘Presumably my boss knew exactly what she was letting me in for when she sent me here,’ she said.
‘Exactly.’
‘Well, it was good experience.’
‘That’s the spirit. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’
Evie grimaced. ‘Actually, it was the only way she’d let me take two weeks off. As I’d be in the area I might as well save her the trip, was how my boss put it to me. Which meant, get your arse down there or else.’
Michael spluttered out his drink in a sudden fit of coughing. He gestured helplessly with one hand, trying to mop up the table with a napkin. Evie patted him on the back, tentatively at first, then a little harder. His body was warm, his shoulders straining against the fabric of his white cotton shirt.
‘What’s so funny?’ Evie asked when he’d recovered.
‘Sorry,’ he said, wiping his eyes. ‘It’s just that you don’t look like the kind of woman who would say “arse” like that. You’re so petite, so … Well, anyway. It took me unawares.’
‘You should never judge a book by its cover,’ she told him, and she wondered what else he had been about to say – so petite and so … what?
He stood up and stretched. ‘Are you attending any of the seminars this afternoon?’
Evie, now level with his thighs, tried not to notice how they, too, strained at the fabric of his tailored trousers. He was clearly a guy who worked out.
Don’t go there, Evie, said a voice in her head. She pinched her lips together in annoyance. Of course she wasn’t going to go there. Not after what had happened with James. But it didn’t do any harm to look, did it?
She slid out of the booth and swung her bag over her shoulder. ‘Unfortunately not. Just popping in and out, was the plan. Besides, I’m hardly dressed for it now, am I?’
Michael’s eyes travelled from her feet to her face slowly enough for Evie’s cheeks to flush again. ‘You look fine to me. But listen, if you’re still here when I finish – I mean, if you don’t manage to get your train after all – do you fancy having dinner together? There’s a free bar for delegates, and the food’s not bad, or so I’ve been told. You should sort yourself out with a room, though. Just in case.’
She nodded, wondering how her face could be so hot when the rest of her body was freezing. ‘Thanks. Okay. Yes, I would. I mean, I will.’
‘Right then. See you later. Probably.’
‘Maybe,’ Evie said.
She watched him walk out of the bar, then turned her attention back to the TV screen, where the twenty-four hour news scrolled on interminably.
‘All trains servicing South Wales have been cancelled until further notice,’ the newsreader told her with a knowing look.
‘Oh dear,’ Evie whispered. She’d have to call her grandparents and give them the bad news. Hopefully she’d still be able to make the meeting – there might be a train out of here first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, she’d just have to make the best of it. There was, after all, nothing she could do about the weather.
She headed to the reception area, wheeling her suitcase behind her, and was relieved to see that Martha had been replaced by a cheerful-looking woman with curly grey hair.
‘I might need to stay here tonight,’ Evie said, rooting through her bag for her credit card.
‘We’ve only got a couple of rooms left, my dear. And they’re both executive suites, I’m afraid. But there is another hotel around the corner – I could phone them and see if they have a single room?’
Evie stopped, the card clutched in her hand like a talisman. Should she? The sensible thing to do – the practical thing to do – was to get a room at a hotel nearer to the station so she’d be able to jump on the first train to Bristol as soon as possible. This woman with the twinkly eyes and the curls would be happy to help her find one, she was sure. And an executive suite would cost a fortune. A fortune she didn’t have.
And Michael was really far too good looking to have dinner with, however innocent it might be. He was a temptation she’d be wise to avoid. Those eyes, that ready smile. The easy intimacy she already felt existed between them.
Not a good idea.
Yes, she really should do the sensible thing and put as much distance between her and Michael as possible.
On the other hand, this hotel wasn’t that far from the station – the taxi journey had taken less than five minutes, once the driver figured out where he was going – and at least it was comfortable, and safe. And she’d given her grandparents the number so they’d know where she was if they needed to call her.
It would be crazy to start looking around for somewhere else to stay, in a snow storm, in an unfamiliar town, when there was a perfectly suitable hotel right here.
Evie slapped her card on the counter and gave the woman a beaming smile. ‘That’s okay. I’m sure I can claim it back on expenses. Besides, I’ve got a dinner date for tonight.’
Chapter 3
Evie stretched out her legs against the cool cotton sheets and smiled to herself. Her body felt loose and relaxed, like she was floating on a raft of fluffy cushions in a warm, friendly sea. She ran her hand over her stomach and thought about another hand, a much bigger hand, with rougher skin and insistent fingers, exploring her body eagerly.
She smiled a delicious, contented smile, and thought about a pair of brown eyes gazing down on her, a gorgeous mouth with full, perfectly shaped lips kissing her on her forehead, on her nose, her mouth, and then moving down her body. Looking back up at her adoringly while she ran her fingers through thick, dark hair.
‘Oh, shit.’
Evie sat up, wincing as some kind of heavy object slammed against the inside of her skull. At least, that was what it felt like. She pressed her palms to the sides of her head to try and contain the pain, and squinted against the early morning sunshine.
Pain. Pins boring into her eyes. A cement mixer churning in her stomach. Disorientated, Evie squeezed her lids together then opened her eyes. She was in a hotel suite, that was clear. There was the standard-issue desk and chair, plus the extra seating area that transformed it from a bog-standard room; there was the tea tray with jiggers of milk and sachets of coffee. And lots of empty biscuit wrappers. But was it her hotel room or …? She tried to remember if Michael had said whether his room was also a suite, but her mind refused to help her out. There were only parts of images, of hands and lips and hair and flesh pressed against flesh. Whether these were the remnants of a vivid dream or actual memories, Evie had no idea.