Authors: Ellen Wolf
‘
I didn’t have to be in those photos.’ She speared a ruby red cherry tomato in her salad. ‘You did it for your own nasty reasons.’
‘
It depends how you look at it.’ Turning philosophical, he shrugged and sipped some of the wine that came with the meal. His eyebrows rose as she refused to have any, sticking to water. ‘No vices?’ He asked, watching her over the rim of his glass.
‘
You wanted me to be in them to make a statement.’ She wasn’t ready to give up, not when her stomach still churned from the memories of his kiss and the embrace they shared for the camera. ‘To make me look like your latest bimbo.’
‘
You don’t look like a bimbo at all, Emily.’ Was it amusement that colored his voice? He shook his dark head and watched her open her mouth to respond, cutting her off with his calm remark. ‘You are very beautiful, that’s true, but you’ve got class as well. Nobody in his right mind would ever consider you a bimbo, believe me. More so a
femme fatale
, if anything.’
He thought she was beautiful. It shouldn’t have mattered a bit what he thought of her, she reminded herself sternly, as a surprising wave of satisfaction washed over her at his words. And she had the weirdest feeling that he was as surprised as she was at admitting it, his almost annoyed expression telling her he hadn’t intended to share his opinion with her.
‘
The article is coming out next Friday.’ He was back to business, his voice brisk and efficient. ‘Which is one day before our engagement party. That’s enough time for people to see it and draw their own conclusions. It can’t hurt to make sure they see us together in my country hideaway, can it? It will pave the road to the finale of this sordid story.’
‘
Can’t wait to read it,’ she said acidly, his laughter a response that irked her even more. ‘It’s not every day a girl can look forward to the whole world finding out that she broke up her sister’s engagement and slept with her fiancé.’
He stopped laughing, his features serious and pensive.
‘
It won’t be some gutter story, Emily. If I wanted a trash gossip, I would find a totally different kind of paper for it, believe me. It’s mostly about the house and its history, introducing me as its new owner. It has been a landmark here for the longest time, and you would be surprised how many people were miffed to find out I got it.’
‘
Why?’ She was genuinely curious, unable to imagine anyone unhappy to have him as a neighbor. Anyone, that was, who hadn’t had the misfortune to cross his path in the wrong way, of course.
‘
Let’s see.’ He leaned back in his chair, a small smile playing around his mouth. ‘For one, I’m not a local. My family has the unhealthy combination of a working-class mother and an exotic father. I made my money abroad and inherited even more, and my bank account is a thorn in the side of many impoverished local land owners. They have a pedigree tracing back to William the Conqueror, while mine is lost in the sands of the Sahara. You can take your pick, which is the worst, but none of it helps.’
So he wasn’t completely English, after all. She had to think about Sophie and her disappointment at finding his name so utterly mundane.
‘
Sahara?’ she asked against her better judgment. It shouldn’t concern her where he came from, as long as he disappeared from her life soon.
‘
Egypt.’ His calm face betrayed nothing. Still, she could sense some vulnerability behind his façade, the way his jaw stiffened as if he waited for her to make some disparaging comment. He might have played it cool, but there must have been times when his father’s birthplace had caused him grief. And he expected her to react similarly. What surprised her even more, was her own inexplicable need to make him see she wasn’t like that at all.
‘
Egypt?’ An impulsive sense of excitement took over. ‘I always wanted to go there. I used to be crazy about the ancient times, and my room was plastered with all kind of maps and photos of the pyramids and temples. I was hoping to become an archeologist and actually get to see them in person one day.’
‘
But you didn’t.’ He stated the obvious, her revelation definitely taking away some of the previous edge. ‘Why?’
‘
Marlene convinced me that I wouldn’t make it that far. Told me I would end up in some shire, digging up clay shards and sinking into the mud instead. Not everyone can take part in those types of expeditions, she said. And the money I would make as a budding archeologist here at home would be very lousy, too.’
‘
That’s certainly something to be concerned about,’ he agreed, suspiciously amicable. ‘I’ll bet it didn’t hurt her to have you around to run most of the business, either.’
She had thought the same herself many times, only to push it aside, embarrassed to be so petty. Admitting it in front of James was out of the question, his already sky-high aversion to her family needing no extra fuel.
‘
Well, it was for the best in the end,’ she said, her fingers playing absentmindedly with the silver salad fork. ‘Most probably she was right. Still, I hope to travel there one day, after the unrests calm down.’
‘
Actually, I don’t think you will have to wait that long, Emily.’
His words, dangerously calm and confident, hung between them in the silence that followed.
She felt the air in the room thicken with tension, all blood leaving her face as she watched him, her fork slipping out of her suddenly lifeless fingers.
‘
What do you mean, James?’
It was a silly question really; she knew the moment it left her numb lips. Deep down, she knew exactly what he meant, however insane and impossible it sounded. The only thing she didn’t know was how to react to it. Her compliance went only so far, and not a step further.
Bracing herself against his wrath, she waited, her insides frozen into an icy ball, cold and painful. Waited for him to continue, so she could finally tell him what she should have said before, the realization hitting her with sudden clarity that she had been as naïve as a child. Waited to tell James McMaster to go to the only place he deserved, in her opinion. To hell.
It wouldn’t be an easy victory to persuade her to come with him, he knew it. He watched her eyes widen in surprise that quickly turned to shock. Most probably it wouldn’t help if he admitted that she wasn’t the only one surprised by the turn of events. Because he hadn’t planned any of that, not until that moment, at least. Bringing her over for lunch was nothing more than exactly what he planned to do, their chat about how to proceed for the next two weeks his main, if not only, objective.
But Emily had taken him by surprise again. For a second, he wasn’t sure what he felt for the girl with soft brown eyes and pink lips he had tasted only a short time ago. Was it still the anger and resentment that guided him when he spotted Sophie at the party only days ago? Was it hatred to feel so pathetically weak and out of control, something he didn’t experience ever since the day Steve saved him from going to juvenile detention?
Because she managed to shake his resolve about what was the best way to proceed, there was no doubt about it. Was she dangerous to him? Absolutely so, he thought dazedly, her presence somehow undermining everything he considered stable and secure. Around Emily, his brain stopped working. It was as simple as that. She made him reckless and daring, his impulsive decisions an affront to everything he held dear. Hadn’t he spent most of his adult life shaping himself to rely on his logic and common sense, carefully assessing and evaluating every step he took? It had worked beautifully so far, hadn’t it?
So, why was it that Emily destroyed all that with one casual smile or look, without even realizing what damage she was causing? He hadn’t planned on confessing anything at all, originally having no part for her in his plan to punish Sophie. That came later, after he met her. Something he didn’t dare to analyze had pushed him to tangle her into his miserable net of pretenses, if only to keep her close to him for a while.
Today was no different. Her remarks about Egypt, unexpected and filling him with more joy than they had any right to do, triggered something inside him, something that he had not considered.
He felt as if his body and mind had split, his basic instincts taking over and winning the battle with the more sane and reasonable part of him. That part stood by and watched in horror as he slid down the path of self-destruction. Why else would he even consider doing what he knew was to follow?
Taking her to Egypt never even featured in his most insane plans. There was no need for it, either. He planned to visit his family in Alexandria soon, if only to humor his old grandmother. To his utter surprise, the old woman had asked him if his mother wished to come along, if only to visit his father’s grave. It was an olive branch and admission of guilt all in one, he thought then, trying to guess his mom’s response. Violet had moved on with her life, the memory of her failed romance definitely not keeping her up at night any longer.
Or so he thought, because her reaction to the invitation was nothing he had imagined. They spoke on the phone, his mom still in New York where she was running her gallery and searching for a director to take her place when she came to England. She planned to split her time between the two countries, since James had decided to settle down in Britain.
There had been a long pause in their conversation after he mentioned his grandmother’s crazy idea for her to come and visit. He expected her to say something angry or at least dismissive, after the way his father’s family had dealt with her in the past. Instead, her voice was almost shy as she finally responded, leaving him totally bewildered.
‘
I would like it very much, James.’ Her voice broke slightly as she added, ‘I would like to see where he rests.’
He had wanted to remind her that his father wasn’t resting alone, his wife was buried at his side. Maybe his mother had a short memory, but he certainly didn’t. It was one thing to go there on his own as he had in the past, his lack of any memories of his dad making it a quest of discovery. For his mother, it would be a painful reminder of what she had lost.
In the end they agreed that she would accompany him after her move had been taken care of, which would be in about a month. Luckily his impulsive decision to go to Alexandria at the moment found justification within the business empire he controlled. He had some very definite plans for the future, the fast-approaching merger a turning point for what he had decided to do afterwards. Nobody would be surprised to see him again, even if he happened to arrive a few days earlier than expected.
Emily liked Egypt. She wanted to go there and see its wonders. That thought pushed him toward his crazy idea. He knew it. The way her eyes lit up as she spoke of her dashed dreams of visiting his father’s homeland had seduced him into his impulsive offer that was impossible to take back. So he had to proceed the only way he knew, pushing forward and refusing to accept retreat.
‘
I need to spend a few days with my family,’ he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. It was her fault, too. The insecurity more suited for an adolescent boy trying to ask a girl out for a date was something foreign to him. He dated women he liked, without the alien weakness that crippled him around the girl who watched him at the moment with huge, accusing eyes. ‘You can come with me, Emily. It’s just a few days, but it will certainly make our whirlwind romance much more legit, don’t you agree?’
‘
I… I just don’t know where to start.’ For a second she was speechless, only to wake from her stupor and hiss at him like an angry kitten. ‘There are so many reasons, this is insane and not happening, I have difficulty picking one.’
‘
Take your time and start with the most obvious one,’ he advised kindly, enjoying the sight of her anger-flushed face more than he should. Was this part of her appeal? This beauty that radiated from her pale features framed by dark, wavy tresses?
No, if he were to be honest, that wasn’t it. He had dated enough beautiful women to know that a pretty face wasn’t enough to bring him to his knees. Maybe it was the memory of her tear-stained face in the hospital all those years ago? As much as he didn’t want to think about it, he remembered the sudden lighting of emotion that struck him then as he watched her from the safety of distance. He had buried it deep, under the thick layer of resentment he felt after Steve’s death. He thought it dead, forgotten, or at least paled with time. And yet here they were, twelve years later.
‘
I am not insane enough to go anywhere with you, let alone another country, James.’
He made an effort to listen to her, knowing that in the end things would turn out the way he wanted.
‘
God knows what could happen.’ She must have noticed how unimpressed he was with her argument, because she took a deep breath and continued, obviously on a roll.
‘
And of course, there is the question of me disappearing out of the blue for a few days. You, of all people, after all this snooping you did about our family, should know I am there, in the restaurant, every single day. Don’t you think it would look suspicious if I disappeared suddenly, without a good reason?’
‘
It’s called a vacation, Emily.’ He smiled patiently, shaking his dark head. ‘Yes, I did some snooping around, as you put it. So, I know first-hand that you never take any time off. Marlene and Sophie vacation on a regular basis, while you stay behind. When was the last time you went anywhere?’