Chapter Eighteen
Myles
Myles was about to go and find Darcy. She’d taken forever in the restrooms and he hoped she hadn’t eaten anything out of the ordinary or drunk so much champagne that she was sick. When he finally saw her come back into the ballroom he could tell something was wrong.
He was at her side in seconds. ‘There you are. I was about to come and look for you.’ The sparkle had disappeared from her eyes. She looked right through him and he had no idea why. ‘What’s wrong? Have you had too much to drink?’
‘Oh, you’d like that wouldn’t you.’
He guided her by her elbow away from anyone who could overhear their conversation but as soon as he did, Neil appeared beside them, his wife on his arm. ‘Myles, it’s time to show us what you English men have in the way of talent on the dance floor.’
Myles tried to laugh it off and get back to Darcy but his boss was having none of it so he took Darcy’s hand. ‘It looks like we don’t have a choice.’ He led them over to the small dance floor that had opened up, tables having been shifted to the sides of the room.
The orchestra struck up a slow rendition of ‘O Holy Night’, following on from a faster number, and Myles took Darcy in his arms. But rather than looking into her eyes, feeling her close to him, bodies pressing up together, she was rigid as though he was making her do something unpleasant.
‘What’s going on, Darcy?’ He moved her around the dance floor.
She pushed her hands against his chest in an effort to get away but he grabbed one hand, his other arm around her waist, and turned her again as they changed direction. ‘Darcy, talk to me.’
‘Darcy?’ She pulled back enough with her upper body that she was looking right at him rather than her head resting against his chest to one side. ‘I would’ve thought by now you’d know my name.’
He exhaled. It was already turning into a long night, with endless business talk that he really couldn’t face much more of. He kept her dancing to the sounds of the piano and violin, smiled as they glided past the potential new client dancing with his wife.
When they’d passed them by, he whispered into Darcy’s ear. ‘Please enlighten me, because I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.’ Even with a face full of anger, she was still beautiful. She had small frown lines at the top of her nose when she pulled the face she was making now, but it made her real, it made her honest. She was easily the best girl here, both inside and out, and he’d watched her from a distance as she warmed to his colleagues, chatted with people as though she’d known them years rather than minutes. He was in awe of her calm demeanour, the social graces she could carry off with skill and finesse.
‘Cinderella. That’s my name, isn’t it?’ She stopped now and as they were in the way of everyone else, he steered her off the dance floor over to a table, but she refused to sit down. ‘I’m Cinderella. I want everything to sparkle. I fuss around, sweeping and adding unnecessary touches when guests would rather be left alone.’
‘Darcy—’
‘Don’t Darcy me. In fact, don’t bother talking to me.’
He remembered his long email rant he’d sent in a fit of rage right after he’d shut the door in her face that day. His colleague had picked the wrong time to tag onto the end of a business email a casual ‘hope it’s all good over at the Inn’ and he’d unleashed his anger. He’d never once thought it would be shared or used against him. Especially not tonight, and certainly not by Darcy.
‘How did you know?’ he asked, his voice low.
‘Does it matter?’ Her voice didn’t follow suit.
He took her hand and led her out of the ballroom. She resisted but a tight grip ensured the conversation didn’t continue until they were alone, back in the corridor where she’d helped him remove the tag from his shirt, where her fingers had touched the skin on his neck and sent shivers cascading through his body.
When a member of staff passed them by Darcy described her jacket and the girl shuffled off to find it for her.
‘You’re leaving?’ he asked.
She didn’t answer.
‘I sent the email when I was angry,’ he tried to explain, ducking his head, moving it side to side in an attempt to grab her gaze, but she wouldn’t look at him.
‘You still sent it.’ She looked hard at the wall.
He put his hand on the side of her face and tried to turn her to look at him and when she finally relented he saw the tears building in her eyes, more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her before.
‘You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?’ She tried to move past him but he stopped her. He had her against the wall and she almost relented, her body softening as the heat of his chest kept her there. But she soon remembered how she’d intended this to go and pushed him away. ‘I heard a woman telling Holly, the magazine editor staying at the Inn right now, the woman who will put together a feature on the Inn, on me.’
His hand grazed his jaw. ‘I had no idea that would ever happen. I reacted in the heat of the moment.’
‘The things you said!’
‘Now wait a minute, I said the same things to you if I remember, when you put that tree in my apartment.’
‘I was trying to help!’
When the girl returned with Darcy’s jacket she shrugged it on and they didn’t say another word until she’d left them alone again.
‘I didn’t want that help, I didn’t ask for it, Darcy. All I can do now is apologise for sending the email. I’ll talk to Holly, I’ll let her know it was me, it was in my head, it wasn’t you or the way you are with guests. To be honest, I don’t really want my comments included in a bloody magazine article either. It’d be embarrassing.’ His attempt at injecting a little bit of self-pity fell flat.
‘She wouldn’t be naming you, don’t worry. She wouldn’t need to. The damage would be done. The magazine has a circulation of thousands!’
She tried to walk away and he put an arm either side of her, against the wall, his face inches from hers. ‘The editor won’t use it, especially if I tell her the whole story.’ He felt her breath – a breath of relief? – as he moved closer, convinced he had calmed her down enough. ‘Come back and dance with me. This is a date, and I don’t know about you but I’d really like it to continue.’
‘You’re an arrogant—’
He put his fingers across her lips. ‘Don’t say anything you’ll regret.’
When he took his hand away she was momentarily flummoxed, but it didn’t last long. ‘This was a mistake, Myles. Mixing business with pleasure is always a bad idea. I never should’ve agreed to come.’
She ducked under his arm, left the corridor and by the time he rounded the corner she’d already disappeared into the elevator and the doors shut. The last glimpse he got was Darcy looking at the floor beneath her.
He ran to the elevators and pressed the button to call the other one, hoping to catch her downstairs. But as he waited impatiently, Neil caught him and asked where his lovely lady had disappeared off to.
‘She’s not feeling well, and apologises, but says to thank you for a wonderful night.’
Neil and his wife sympathised but if they suspected he was lying they didn’t let on, and he had no choice but to conform and go to talk with the potential client, who, it seemed, was completely sold on the company.
Tonight he’d hoped to have the same effect on Darcy, but clearly it wasn’t meant to be.