Chapter 23
The next morning the two of them walked in together from Aiden’s flat, Tallulah having resigned herself to the fact that everyone knew about them anyway. There was no point in appearing furtive as well. That would just be undignified.
As Aiden went into his own office, he kissed her.
“Not at work.” She couldn’t help smiling.
He tugged on her ponytail. “I forgot. There’s no one here but us.” His smile mocked her concerns, but at least he’d bounced back from the Gareth interview.
Tallulah started the coffee, ignoring the fact that Aiden had made her an impressive cappuccino before they’d left his flat. She needed more caffeine even if he didn’t.
The phone rang at nine o’clock. It was the CFO’s secretary. “Mr Riordon will be able to meet with Mr Marlowe at twelve thirty,” she said. “He has a site visit this morning.”
“Thanks.” Tallulah marked it in the diary and let Aiden know.
At nine thirty Kyle burst into her office. “Where were you last night?”
“What?” She stared at him blankly.
“You didn’t come home last night.”
Tallulah narrowed her eyes. “You often don’t come back home.” She sounded like a defensive teenager herself.
“And what did you say to me?”
“I’m sorry, Kyle. I should have called you.” Although he’s hardly ever in the flat. How was I to know he’d be home last night?
“Too right. Remember that in future.” He jabbed his forefinger at her.
“Will do.” It would be a relief when he moved back to his foster parents.
“How about lunch?” he suggested.
“Okay.” She hadn’t seen Kyle for a few days. “Just after 12.30? I’ll meet you in reception.” She’d have to shepherd the CFO through first, so hopefully he’d be on time.
At 12.25 Malcolm Riordon arrived, pushing the door open and bursting in.
His face was flushed, unsurprising considering the heat, but he also looked worried. He loomed over her desk, breathing heavily. “Do you know what this meeting’s about?”
“You’ll have to talk to Mr Marlowe,” she said. Why do people keep asking me? They must know it’s my job to be discrete. It would drive me mad if I had to do this job for the rest of my life.
As soon as the door closed behind him, she picked up her bag and left.
Kyle waited in the reception area.
“Tanya not coming?”
“No, she’s having lunch with a couple of friends,” he said.
The two of them ate in a small café close to work and, afterwards, bought ice-creams at a small street stall. They sat outside on the steps of the Marlowe building to eat them, lingering in the sun, before returning to work. It was almost one thirty when Tallulah pushed open the door to her office. She unlocked her computer and went to see if Aiden was in and if he wanted anything.
She halted in the doorway, unsure of what she was seeing. Aiden sat on the floor, head in his hands. He met her eyes and groaned.
“What happened?” She knelt on the floor next to him.
“That bastard hit me.” He pointed at the glass paperweight on the floor next to him. “He lost his temper when I said I’d called the auditors in, picked that up, and threw it at me.”
“Are you okay?” She touched the mark on his forehead.
“I think so. I was only unconscious for a few minutes, but when I came around, he’d gone.
“You were unconscious?” A streak of blood led from his forehead to his chin. “You need to see a doctor.”
“I’m all right.” A large bruise had begun to appear over his eyebrow.
“You could be concussed.”
He struggled to his feet.
“I’ll call a taxi.” Tallulah picked up the phone on his desk and connected with reception. “We need to let the police know as well.”
“No, I don’t think—”
“He assaulted you. You could have been killed.”
“Tallulah?” Aiden collapsed into the seat behind his desk. “You’re overreacting. I’m fine.”
“I’m not. I’m being efficient.” She sat on the edge of his desk and closed her eyes. When she’d spotted him on the floor and seen how he’d looked blank and unfocussed, she’d been afraid. “You’re bleeding.”
She leaned over him to touch the bruise again.
He winced. “My father’s going to be devastated.”
The phone rang. The taxi had arrived, and still protesting, Aiden allowed Tallulah to shepherd him into the lift and down to reception. She instructed the driver to take them straight to the nearest accident and emergency department. They walked through the door into chaos.
Aiden closed his eyes. “I’m fine. There’s no need for all this.”
“I suppose you normally go private,” she said.
“Everyone does in the US.”
It was two hours before they were seen, and if she hadn’t been so worried, Tallulah would have let Aiden walk out. It was an indication of how bad he felt that he sat in a plastic chair and waited.
When they were finally called, Aiden pushed himself to his feet. There was no colour in his face, and the bruise on his head had begun to take on an impressive range of hues. Fortunately, the doctor’s opinion was that he would be fine, but he shouldn’t be left alone for twenty-four hours.
“Will you stay with me?” He rested his head against the back of his seat in the taxi.
“Of course I will.” Tallulah wasn’t going to leave him alone.
“We’re not going back to work?”
“No.”
Aiden must have been feeling awful because he didn’t argue, and when they got back to the flat, he stretched out on the sofa with a groan. “My head’s killing me.”
“I’m not surprised.” Tallulah went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water from the tap. She dug out the painkillers the doctor had prescribed and tipped two of them into Aiden’s hand.
“I don’t like drugs.”
“It’s either these or put up with the headache.” Tallulah took the glass back after he swallowed the pills. “Why don’t you rest? I’ve got to keep waking you anyway.”
She carried the glass into the kitchen and rinsed it. When she came back, Aiden’s eyes were closed. She bent over him, worried, but he was breathing regularly. She resisted the urge to poke him just to see if he’d wake up.
What was Malcolm Riordon thinking of? Successful businessmen didn’t assault each other. At least not in her experience.
Pacing to the window, she peered out at the street, paced back, and checked on Aiden again. She picked up her phone and called the office. Someone from Aiden’s family ought to know about what had happened. “I’d like to speak to Francesca Marlowe. This is Aiden Marlowe’s assistant.”
“Miss Marlowe has taken a few days leave,” she was told when she was put through to her secretary. “Can I take a message?”
“Thanks,” Tallulah said. “I’ll pass that to Mr Marlowe. He’ll know how to get hold of her.”
Aiden was still sleeping, so Tallulah prowled around the flat looking for something to do. There were a couple of books in one of the bedrooms, but nothing she wanted to read. She picked one up and flipped through it until it was time to wake Aiden. He looked grumpy but coherent, so she asked him if he wanted to call his family.
“No.” He lay back down on the sofa after drinking a glass of water.
“Why don’t you go to bed,” she said. “You’ll be more comfortable.”
He rubbed his head. “I’m not an invalid. I’ve just had a bang on the head.”
“Are the painkillers working?”
“I suppose.” He grimaced. “It’s a dull ache rather than a throbbing pain. Bloody Malcolm. Did you call the police?”
“Yes. They said they’d come and talk to you.” In her opinion, Malcolm Riordon should be locked up for the rest of his unnatural life.
“This is going to kill my father. Malcolm’s been with him for years.” Aiden pulled himself into a sitting position. “I bet he’ll wish he hadn’t stirred things up.”
“You couldn’t have just let it go,” Tallulah said. “It’s a betrayal as well as a crime.”
Aiden raised a hand to his head again. “I probably won’t press charges for the assault. I don’t think he meant to hit me so hard. He probably didn’t mean to hit me at all, but he always had a bit of a temper.”
“He should have been taught to control it as a child,” Tallulah said. “It’s outrageous that a grown man would behave like that.”
“Come and sit next to me?” Aiden patted the sofa at his side. “I need comfort.”
Tallulah raised her eyebrows but sat next to him on the sofa.
He pulled her against his side. “I’ll be glad to get back to my life in New York. No one in my company throws things at the CEO.” He leaned his head against the back of the sofa. “I wonder if Father will agree to Francesca taking over, once the problem’s sorted.”
Tallulah squeezed her eyes closed. Of course she’d realised he would be going back to New York, but she hadn’t realised it would be so soon. What will I do when he’s gone? It was going to be painful.
“London’s full of bloody maniacs. Look at Sasha.”
“She came from New York,” Tallulah protested.
“She was normal until she got here.”
“Right.” Sasha sounded like she’d been completely mental for a while. Of course Tallulah didn’t know her, except from Aiden’s description.
“It hasn’t been all bad here,” he said. “I met you.”
“Yes.”
“Tallulah?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to lose you. Would you come back to New York with me?”
“No.” The words jumped from Tallulah’s mouth before she thought.
“That’s right. Let me down lightly.”
“You aren’t thinking straight.” She didn’t want to upset him. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, when your head’s not hurting so much. We’ll work something out.”
“You think I’m befuddled?”
“I didn’t say that.” Tallulah forced patience into her voice. “Don’t think about anything. You’re supposed to rest, remember.”
“Hmm.”
Move to New York?
The idea circled round her mind, but it was such a big step. What will I do there? Follow Aiden about? Give up my own dreams? And suppose it didn’t last? She lay awake most of the night thinking about it. There had to be a way.
Aiden was much better the next morning, although he had a huge multi-coloured bruise spreading across his face. It didn’t affect his energy.
“It throbs,” he said, “but not like it did yesterday. How am I supposed to explain it though?”
“I think you should take the day off.”
“I’d love to. I can’t. I need to get things sorted out. I’m meeting with the auditors this morning. Come on, Tallulah. Hurry up.”
Tallulah scowled. Lack of sleep made her seriously grumpy. She was wearing the clothes from the day before and felt grubby and tired. “Can I go home to change?”
“If you must. Why don’t you just buy something? There are shops around the corner. I’ll pay, or the company will.”
She couldn’t understand why Aiden wasn’t as wrecked as she was. He was wounded as well as sleep-deprived. It’s not fair. “Okay.” The shops would be open by nine, and she could have another shower at work.
Aiden left work at lunchtime to go down to Surrey to see his father. He obviously had a plan which he hadn’t bothered to share with Tallulah.
Malcolm Riordon hadn’t come in to work, and there was no sign of Gareth or Francesca. Aiden had all but Francesca’s passes cancelled before he left and told Tallulah she should take the afternoon off. She heaved a sigh of relief, so tired she felt other worldly.
She spent the afternoon walking in the park in an effort to stay awake and went straight to bed as soon as she got home. She was woken by the intercom from the front door and pushed herself groggily to her feet, staggering over to the answer machine.
“Yes?”
“It’s Aiden. Can I come up?”
She tightened the belt on her robe as she pushed the door release. “Come on.”
There was no sign of Kyle. Tallulah glanced at her watch. It was eleven o’clock. She’d had five hours sleep. That wasn’t bad.
There was a rap on her door, and she opened it to find Aiden there, still dressed in his business suit. “I thought you meant to stay down in Surrey.”
“I’d had enough.” He pushed a streak of hair out of his eyes. “Dad was pretty upset, but he went to bed. Francesca was there as well. She’s avoiding Gareth. I don’t think she’s decided what she’s going to do about him. She isn’t speaking to me though.”
“Where is he?”
“At home, as far as I know. I wasn’t going to interrogate Fran.” He sank onto the sofa, pulling her down with him. His eyes were weary.
“She’ll get over it,” Tallulah said. “She must know you had no choice.”
“Let’s not talk about it. It was horrible.” He pulled her to him and slid one hand into the opening of her robe, his hand absently caressing her skin. His head sank back against the sofa.
“Are you staying the night?”
“If that’s okay.”
“Come on then.” She removed his hand from her breast where it was giving her ideas and stood up, tugging on his arm. “You need to sleep.”
“You’re always telling me to sleep.” He pushed himself up and followed her to the sleeping area. “Are you going to take that robe off?”
“Once you’ve stripped.” She folded her arms and tapped her bare foot on the floor.
He started to unbutton his shirt. “The auditors are due to start on Monday.”
“Good.”
“I’m going down to Surrey on Friday for a meeting with my father and some of the other senior management. Come with me?”
“Just for the day?”
“Hell, yes. We might have to stay for dinner, but I’m not staying overnight.”
“Okay.” It’s work, Tallulah thought. I can put up with the Frigidaire queen for one day.