VANCE (3 page)

With wolf-like grace, Vance slips out of the car. His disarming grin is plastered on his face, but I see iron in his eyes. It makes me more frightened of him than the punk. “My friend doesn’t want to party with you,” he says brightly. “I suggest you go find someone with a little less taste.”

“You think you can take me!” the man snarls. He releases his grip on my arm and pushes his face into Vance’s. He is a little shorter than Vance, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. He bristles with aggression.

Vance, still smiling pleasantly, moves with lightning speed. I stare wide-eyed as he twists the punk’s arm behind his back and thrusts him face first into the wall of the club.
 

“We can do this one of two ways, my friend,” Vance says in a soft voice. “First, you can just walk away and carry on being pond scum, or second, I can put you in the hospital and you’ll be eating fluids through a straw sticking out of your butt for the next six months.”

The punk makes to retort, but Vance twists his arm harder. I wince at the brutality of the motion and look around, concerned that someone might see or a cop might pass by. The last thing I want is to spend the night in jail.

“Okay, okay,” the man whines. “Let me go. I won’t cause any trouble.”

Vance lets him go and steps away. “Have a good evening.”

The punk shoots him an ugly look and stalks away. I shudder as he passes me by, and my stomach lurches.

“Are you okay?” Vance asks in a concerned voice. He draws closer, and the danger he’d exuded evaporates. I have to fight the urge to reach out and hug him.

“Yes, thank you,” I say, hearing the shakiness in my voice.
 

“You don’t sound all right,” he replies gently. “Come on, get in the car. I’ll take you home.”

I let him guide me to the car, and I sink into the luxurious passenger seat. My heart is still pounding hard and I can’t believe that Vance appeared out of nowhere in my moment of need. My head starts to swim and I close my eyes.

“You don’t look well,” Vance says, getting in next to me. “In fact, you’ve gone very pale.”

I open my eyes and meet the intensity of his gaze. There seemed to be genuine concern in his expression and I feel a warm sensation go through me. I breathe deeply. “I’m okay,” I say, mustering a smile.
 
“It’s just the shock. I feel better now. Thank you so much for sorting out that guy. You were amazing!”
 
I realise how gushing I must sound, and dip my eyes.
 
“Thank you.”

“Thank you,” he says. “It’s not every day I get called amazing.”

“I find that hard to believe,” I blurt out. “Your wife is a very lucky woman.”

His mouth quirks and his nostrils flare a little. “I’m not sure she would agree.”

A heavy silence settles, and I sense that Mrs Drake is a sensitive subject. “Anyway, thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. If you don’t mind dropping me at the taxi rank I can get a cab home.”

“I’m not leaving you now, Holly,” he scoffs. “I wouldn’t be much of a knight in shining armour if I just dumped you now, would I? I’ll take you straight home.”

I tingle again, impressed by how well mannered he is. I also feel a sense of disappointment that our time together is going to be over soon. I want to get to know him better, though of course that isn’t right. He is married, and therefore strictly a no-go area. My gaze lingers on his strong bare arms, now on display thanks to the tight black t-shirt he is wearing. It flatters his physique, and the dark jeans he wears compliment the shirt perfectly. I edge closer, breathing in his spicy aftershave.

“Thanks,” I say, trying not to sound too crushed. “It’s real kind of you.”

He doesn’t answer straight away, and gives me an unreadable response. “Um, if you’re feeling better maybe we don’t have to go back straight away,” he says tentatively.

My eyes widen. “Excuse me?”

“What I mean is, I’ve got a few hours to kill and I want to explore your fair town,” Vance goes on quickly. “It’s a little early for me to go back to the hotel. Maybe we could grab a cup of coffee somewhere? I bet you could do with a hot drink.”

The gears of my mind work through the implications of what he is saying. I want to jump at the chance of spending more time with him, but reservations still gnaw at my resolve. “Won’t Mrs Drake be wondering where you are?” I ask. “Is she still at the hotel?”

Vance forms his mouth into a thin line. “Estelle has one of her legendary migraines,” he says in a tone coated with sardonic weariness. “She’s resting in our room, and the last thing she wants me crashing around.
 
I’ve been banished for the duration.” He shoots me a sideways glance and his eyes dance with mischief. “Come on, Holly, let’s go out and play. I’ll buy you ice-cream and a soda pop.”

He is so impressively sweet-natured, I have to laugh. “Okay,” I say, powerless to resist his boyish charms, “but I still need to stop off at the taxi rank. I need to make sure Jules gets a ride home.”

“Jules? You mean that crazy maid that works at your place?”

“You know her?” I ask, surprised.

Vance nods enthusiastically. “We ran into each other earlier.
 
She’s a very vivacious soul.”

“I’m sorry if she caused you any trouble,” I reply, feeling mortified. “She’s been told about pestering guests before.”

“Oh she isn’t any trouble,” Vance replies. “I like her. I don’t want her to get into any trouble.”

“Okay, but if she gets too annoying just tell me and I’ll have a word with her.”

“Will do, but I doubt that will be necessary. So, you’re friends then?”

I shrug. “I suppose we are, kind of. Jules seems to be friends with everyone.”

“She couldn’t say enough good things about you earlier,” he replies. He gives me another of his piercing looks. “I’m glad she likes you, it means she has good taste.”

I look at him in bafflement, unable to find a suitable response. I feel my cheeks going red.
 

“Don’t get embarrassed,” he chuckles. “You’re a very nice person, Holly. Now, where’s this taxi rank you want me to go to?”

Chapter 4

I make arrangements with Jeb and he goes straight away to collect Jules. Vance and I then go on to a small late night coffee shop I sometimes go to on my days off. It is tucked away on the edge of the town square, and overlooks the park. As I’d hoped, there are only a couple of patrons in, and we sit on the comfortable sofa in the far corner of the room. The lighting is low, and Vance looks very mysterious and sultry in the warm glow.

As a consequence, I struggle to keep my hormones in check. I have to keep telling myself he is not available, and even if was, I am not. I am not going to get my heart broken again, no matter how charming and brave Vance is.

“So, what brings you to Pikeshaw?” I ask in a neutral voice when he returns from the counter with our coffees. “You and Mrs Drake don’t strike me as the type of people to come to a small town like ours very often.”

“You should never judge by appearances,” Vance says cryptically. “What’s wrong with your town anyway? I think it’s very pleasant. Much nicer than where I grew up.”

“Oh? Where was that?”

“I grew up in a slum in the Ukraine,” he says, his tone deadly serious.

I am not sure how to respond to this. “I, I mean, I wouldn’t have guessed it.”

“You mean I look too much like a rich playboy jerk,” he says with a sly grin.

“No!” I exclaim, nearly spilling my coffee. “I mean, you just look . . . different,” I trail away lamely and decide to cut my losses. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“You didn’t offend me. Actually I am a rich playboy jerk, well it’s the impression I like to give, though the allowance Estelle gives me doesn’t let me be as rich or as jerky as I might like.”

There are so many questions I want to ask, but I am unsure whether he would take offence if I pry too much. I decide to err on the side of caution. “You and Estelle are on vacation then?”
             

He dips his gaze for a moment. “Not exactly, we are here on business. We’re in antiques and we’re down here to talk to a collector.”

“How fascinating,” I say, now genuinely intrigued by the couple. “You run your own business?”

“In a manner of speaking, but let’s not talk about me, it’s boring. I want to know more about you.”

The request startles me, and I am not sure what to say. “Well, there’s not much to tell. I work at the Cherry Tree, as you know, and I grew up here. I live with my aunt and a cat called Captain Razzamataz.”

He laughs. It is a rich, gorgeous sound and I want to curl up against his chest to feel it reverberate through me. “Sounds like a pretty nice life you got.”

“I suppose so,” I say. “I am very lucky.”

“Apart from an aunt and a cat is there no one special on the scene?”

“No, I’m single,” I reply, feeling uncomfortable. “I’ve been single since just after High School, in fact.”

He raises his eyebrows at me. “I’m really surprised. What’s the reason for that?”

I am a little stunned by his directness, and my instinct is to fabricate an excuse. But I don’t want to lie to him, and and part of me feels I can trust him, so I decide to take a risk and tell him the truth. “There was someone I really cared about,” I say, looking into the depths of my coffee. “His name was Dominic, and we’d technically been dating since fifth grade.”

“Childhood sweethearts,” says Vance, “how sweet.”

“More like dumb,” I reply sourly. “I thought Dominic was the man of my dreams. We even got engaged when we were eighteen. I really believed we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

“Something tells me things didn’t turn out so rosy in paradise.”

I taste bitterness in my mouth as I recall those bleak times. “I thought Dominic was the one. He made me laugh and feel special, and we shared a deep connection, even as kids.”
 
I pause, and press the coffee cup to my chest. “He was . . . my first, you know what I mean?”

“I get the picture,” Vance says.

“It was wonderful,” I say, forgetting I am talking to a virtual stranger. “It was not how I expected it to be, and I thought then he’d be the only man for me. Only he had other ideas.”

“He cheated on you?”

“More than that,” I reply. “He controlled me. It started after we got engaged. He got a job with an insurance firm, and I started work at a restaurant. We decided to rent an apartment together. I was all ready to play the little woman and make a cosy home for us both, and things were great for a while. It is wonderful, like something out of a fairy tale. But then he started to change. He started drinking and going out late. When I confronted him, he’d get mad, abusive.”

Fire kindled in Vance’s eyes.
 
“He hit you?”

I shook my head. “No, Dominic preferred to hurt me mentally rather than physically. He told me about all the women he’d slept with, even showed me videos of some of them he recorded on his phone. Most of them were supposedly my friends from High School. In fact, he’d been cheating on me when we are still at school. They were laughing at me behind me back.”

“Why didn’t you leave him?”

“I almost did, but he said I’d be sorry. He said he’d tell people I was the one cheating on him, that I was violent and unstable. He was very persuasive and everyone liked him, so people would believe him over me.
 
I was shy and had zero confidence. I believed what he said, and couldn’t bear the idea of having other people think that I was a horrible person.”

“He sounds like a complete bastard,” Vance says in a tight voice.

“The worse thing is he convinced me that it was my fault he behaved the way he did. He said I was fat and ugly, even though I was the same weight as I am now. He forced me to go on a diet. I became a walking skeleton, and he wouldn’t let me go out on my own. He forced me to give up work because he didn’t want me talking to other men. I became a prisoner, never going out and waiting on him hand and foot.”

“But you got away eventually,” Vance reasons, “or you would still be in there and not here to tell the tale.”

I smile mirthlessly. “I collapsed with exhaustion and I had to go to hospital. Dominic made up some phoney story that I had a drinking problem to cover what was going on. After I got discharged I went straight to my Mom’s. I knew I couldn’t carry on the way I was, but that only made things worse.”

“How can anything be as worse as what you’d already been through?”

I swallow hard, almost regretting how much I’d opened up. But there is no point holding anything back now.
 
“Moving back in with Mom turned out to be a big mistake. Like everyone else she thought Dominic was wonderful. She was angry and confused that I’d walked out on him. To make matters worse he started telling everyone that I had been cheating on him. I started getting nasty phone calls, emails and texts and stuff is thrown at our home. The victimisation went on for months and started to take its toll on Mom. She wanted me to go back to him. He told her he was willing to give me a second chance.”

Vance sits very still, his brow creased as if he is concentrating hard. “What happened?” he says in a hushed voice.