‘Well thank you, Miss Roussel,’ Madge said, an hour later. ‘Maybe you can apologise to the remaining candidates on your way out for keeping them waiting. That interview was a lot longer than we anticipated.’

Isaac rolled his eyes. Madge really was a tough nut to crack. Bella had absolutely shone in the interview and Madge’s expression of disapproval hadn’t changed at all.

He stood up. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

Bella didn’t say anything but he could see that she was less than happy with that.

He escorted her out of the building and as soon as they were outside she turned on him.

‘You didn’t think to tell me that my breasts were hanging out?’

‘Believe me I tried, but you wouldn’t even look at me. Besides, do you not think it might have been better to actually wear a bra with that dress?’ he hissed back.

‘I didn’t put one on last night, there wasn’t time when I came rushing out to save your ass.’

‘My ass did not need saving,’ Isaac said and then, knowing that she had every right to be angry with him, he decided to stop snapping back at her. ‘I do appreciate what you did though. I’m sorry that you got hurt, that’s the last thing I would want.’

She was clearly thrown by this as she had nothing to say in return.

‘I am sorry,’ he said, seizing the advantage. ‘When I said to you last night that I was on the streets myself when I was a teenager, that wasn’t a lie. It was only for a few weeks but the people I met who also lived on the streets were remarkable people and so many of them were willing to help me when they had nothing themselves. This charity is very important to me. Lots of people try to get into working for this charity in order to get into my other companies or to get to me and so I try to make sure that the people we have working here genuinely do care about the homeless. Asking them if they care for the homeless in the interview isn’t good enough as most people will just trot out anything in an interview to make themselves sound good or to get the job. A lot of the stuff that comes out of a candidate’s mouth in an interview is either completely exaggerated at best or completely made up. They tell you what you want to hear. I want to get an idea of the kind of people applying for the job before the interview and this method has worked very well for me in the past. I should have told you the truth, I know that. But I kept thinking that this was the perfect way to see the real Bella, chat to you over dinner, see how you tick. Before I knew it, several hours had passed and I was enjoying myself more than I have for a very long time. I didn’t want to ruin that.’

‘But you came back last night,’ Bella said. ‘Was all that part of the test too?’

‘No, I wanted to see you again. That was the only reason I came back. I wanted to tell you the truth but… There didn’t seem to be a right time.’

‘You’re a coward.’

‘I was scared of losing what we had, yes. I’ve never felt that kind of connection with someone before. You felt it too. I know that.’

Bella stared at him.

‘I felt a connection with a man called Zach who doesn’t even exist. I have no idea what was real and what was a lie. Maybe you were just telling me what I wanted to hear,’ she said, using his words against him.

‘What we had was real, you know that. That kiss was real.’

Just then Claudia, his PA, popped her head out of the door. ‘Mr Scott, Madge says she’s waiting for you.’

Isaac nodded and he turned back to Bella.

‘I think you did very well in the interview.’

‘You’re the only one,’ Bella said. ‘I’d like to say it was nice meeting you, but that would be a lie. Goodbye Isaac.’

She walked off and didn’t look back.

He stared after her for a moment before he went back into the interview room where to his surprise Madge was sweeping all the application forms into the bin.

‘What are you doing? We still have three more candidates to interview,’ Isaac said.

‘Well that would be completely redundant as we have quite clearly found the perfect person for the role.’

Isaac smiled. ‘You liked Bella?’

‘Isaac, she is marvellous. After talking to her for the last hour, I’d quite like to rename the charity the Bella Roussel Foundation instead.’ Madge pulled her jacket back on and did up the buttons. She picked up her notepad and made for the door.

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’m going for lunch. If you want to waste your time interviewing the three other candidates, be my guest. I wasn’t even supposed to be part of the panel today, but I can’t say I trusted either of you to make the right decision on who to employ. But now we’ve found her, I’ve got a job to be getting on with.’

‘Eric, do you feel the same?’ Isaac said, not really caring if he did or not.

Eric flicked through his copies of the application forms, umming and erming as he killed for time.

‘Eric, do you?’ Madge snapped from the door, folding her arms across her chest.

Eric nodded, clearly fearing for his life. ‘But we can’t not interview the others. They could complain that they were not given a fair chance. We could already be risking some kind of complaint from those you got rid of before the interviews this morning.’

Isaac nodded his agreement. ‘Fine, but let’s make it quick.’

‘Knock yourselves out,’ Madge said, airily, waving her hand in the air as she walked out the office.

Isaac sighed as he walked out into the waiting area. It was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Bella walked into Pots & Paints, the pottery painting café owned by Eden. She needed to let off steam to her sister. Eden would listen and make all the right noises and give her a big hug, which was exactly what she needed right now. She was equally delighted and disappointed to see Rome was having lunch in the café with Freya.

Rome would be sympathetic and supportive too but he would also get angry and protective and in addition it meant that Bella would have to edit her version of events slightly. She certainly couldn’t tell Rome that twenty-four hours before she’d been lying half naked on her sofa kissing Isaac as he lay on top of her.

‘Bella!’ Eden came running towards her. ‘Bob told Steve who told Alec who came in here for coffee earlier that he’d seen you on the St. Mary’s ferry with bruises over your face. I’ve been calling you all morning. Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine. It’s a long story. Sorry, I didn’t have my phone on me. I just went home now to get it and get changed.’

‘Well sit down and I’ll get you a cup of tea and a slice of cake,’ Eden said.

‘Do you have any of that delicious coconut cake?’ Bella asked.

Eden smiled. ‘Coming right up.’

Rome kicked out the chair at his table, indicating that she should sit down.

‘Who do I need to beat up for that?’ Rome said, pointing to her bruise.

Bella was very sorely tempted to say Isaac Scott but she didn’t hate the man that much.

‘No one, I’m OK. Let me have my cake and I promise I’ll tell you everything. I’m starving.’ She gave Freya a big hug. ‘Lovely to see you back from your holiday. I know we all missed you. Did you have a good time?’

Freya grinned at her. ‘It was brilliant, I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain and, Bella, the ice cream is amazing.’

Bella watched her with a smile as she talked about her holiday. Freya had short pixie-cut hair that was streaked with hues of blues and green amongst the blonde. She had a tiny blue nose stud and had those gorgeous feline flicks on her eyes that Bella had never managed to pull off successfully with the liquid eyeliner Freya had bought her once as a Christmas present.

‘Sounds great,’ Bella said. ‘I hope you took lots of photos.’

‘Freya has been telling me all morning about the wonderful Roberto that she met,’ Rome said, dryly. ‘I’m sure she has lots of photos of him.’

‘You met someone?’ Bella said, her own troubles momentarily forgotten. Freya never dated anyone and Bella had long suspected that was because she held a torch for her brother, though she didn’t know why. Bella loved Rome but Freya was so bubbly and fun and Rome was so serious and, quite frankly, him not realising how wonderful Freya was and sweeping her off her feet was a definite negative in Bella’s book.

Freya blushed, the huge smile saying it all. ‘He was just a holiday fling. A very sexy, holiday fling.’

Rome rolled his eyes and deliberately changed the subject. ‘I want to know what happened to your face.’

‘I want to know more about Roberto,’ Bella said, obtrusively. Freya deserved to be happy and she clearly wasn’t going to find that with Rome. After the death of his fiancée six years before, he’d never let anyone in since.

‘Oh we met at the Trevi Fountain, while I was doing the whole throw-a-coin-over-your-shoulder-into-the-fountain thing, and we just clicked. Have you ever met someone where the chemistry is off the charts from the very first time you meet? Where you can talk for hours and hours and never get bored or run out of things to say. And when you kiss him, it’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before.’

Bella nodded, hating that Isaac had been that person for her.

‘It was ridiculous how easily we got on. It was as if we had known each other our whole lives.’

‘It sounds magical,’ Eden said, as she handed Bella her slice of cake and sat down at the table with them.

Bella looked around the shop. Eden’s lovely assistant, Clare Crissell was behind the till today but even on the days that Clare didn’t help, Eden always seemed to have time to have tea or cake with Bella and Rome whenever they popped in. As it was, there was one family in the corner happily painting their pig, owl and dragon moneyboxes while a young couple were painting a large cake plate together and giggling and whispering to each other while they did it. None of them needed Eden’s attention.

‘It was,’ Freya said, dreamily.

‘This is all great,’ Rome said. ‘But in all seriousness Bella, why are you covered in bruises? We were worried this morning when we heard. And then we couldn’t get hold of you. What’s going on?’

Bella sighed. Rome was not going to take kindly to her taking in a complete stranger but if she was going to tell the truth about Isaac Scott, and she knew she had to, there was no other way round it.

She took a bite of cake to help give her courage. ‘Oh Eden, this is incredible.’

Rome arched an impatient eyebrow at her and she swallowed the cake and then spilled the whole story, telling them almost every detail, including that she and Isaac had kissed, but leaving out the fact that the kiss had turned to something a lot more heated very quickly. They didn’t need to know every detail.

‘Let me get this straight,’ Rome said, once she’d finished. ‘You let a complete stranger stay in your house?’

Bella rolled her eyes; of course he would focus on that part.

‘Yes but—’

‘That man that I saw, that was him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Bella, he was huge. He could have snapped you in half.’

‘But he didn’t.’

‘But he could have. Where’s your sense? You’re a smart girl, went to university, got a first in Business Studies. You have a lot more brains than me and then you do something like this.’

‘I trusted him.’

Rome shook his head angrily and Bella knew he was right. It had been a stupid thing to do. And the worst thing was that trust had been betrayed. Isaac had lied to her. And if he had lied to her about who he was, then he could have easily lied to her about not being a serial killer too, even if that was unlikely on Hope Island.

‘I can’t believe Isaac Scott did that to you,’ Eden said, stealing a chunk of cake from Bella’s plate. ‘He’s just moved his office here so I’ve only met him a few times but he seems really nice and I’ve heard only good things about him. He is well thought of by his staff, the company has a great reputation. Everyone that has met him says what a nice bloke he is. And then he does something like this.’

‘Well I can kind of understand why,’ Bella said, annoyed that she was defending him. ‘He says people use the charity to get to him or his other companies and he wanted to make sure that the people who work for the charity genuinely do care for the homeless.’

‘I get that. But he could have tested you to see what your reaction was to having a homeless person outside your front door but as soon as he stepped foot in your house, he should have told you the truth then. He definitely shouldn’t have carried on the charade for the rest of the night, let alone two nights,’ Eden said.

‘I feel such a fool,’ Bella said. ‘I thought that what we had was really special.’

‘If you felt that, then I imagine he felt that too,’ Freya said, practically. ‘By the sounds of it, the original goal was to get to know you. There was no need for him to pretend that he liked you or to kiss you. He could have just chatted to you and then left. But he came back because he couldn’t stay away, not because he wanted to test you even more. Don’t doubt what you had. He shouldn’t have lied and he knows that, but once he told the lie about who he was, it was really hard to undo it without losing the connection that you had. And you shouldn’t throw away what you had so easily either. That kind of connection is really hard to come by.’

‘He’ll be my boss. If I get the job. That could be painfully awkward.’

‘So?’ Freya shrugged. ‘People meet their husbands and wives at work all the time. I would never be put off dating someone just because I worked with them.’

Rome choked on his coffee. ‘You’d really date someone from work?’

Bella smirked at Eden and she shook her head with affection for her brother.

‘Of course. The way I see it is it’s only weird if you let it be. If I date someone from work, we’d both be mature adults not little children. There’s no need for it to get silly.’ Freya paused. ‘Would you never date someone from work?’

Rome stared at her for a moment then down at his coffee mug. ‘I don’t really do dating at all. Relationships, falling in love. It’s not for me.’

‘You can’t stop yourself falling in love, Rome,’ Eden said. ‘It just happens and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can stop yourself from acting on it but then it just eats away at you until you can fall out of love with them and sometimes that never happens. No matter how much you want it to. If you’re in love and you’re lucky enough that the other person returns those feelings then you should never let anything get in the way, whether that’s work, or a friendship or a silly little lie. You should grab it with both hands and never let it go.’

They all stared at her and Eden flushed.

Suddenly Bella’s phone rang in the back pocket of her jeans. She fished it out and saw it was a local number she didn’t recognise but something told her that Isaac was on the other end of the phone.

She answered it.

‘Miss Roussel, it’s Isaac Scott.’

God his voice was sexy and she hated that she thought that about him. She mouthed that it was Isaac to the rest of the table.

‘We were very impressed with your interview and we’ve decided to offer you the job,’ Isaac said, keeping it all professional.

Bella had nothing to say. She wanted this job but she still felt so conflicted over what had happened with Isaac over the weekend. And could they honestly work with each other when there was so much chemistry flying between them? What if something happened? Or, even worse, what if nothing happened? And there was still the fact that he had lied to her. Could she ever trust him again?

‘We’re keen for you to start work straight away. Would you be able to start tomorrow?’ Isaac said.

She looked round the table at Rome, whose arms were folded angrily across his chest, and Eden and Freya, who were looking at her with hope.

‘I’ll think about it,’ Bella said before she hung up.

Eden stared at her in surprise. ‘Did you just hang up on Isaac Scott?’

Bella nodded, suddenly regretting that decision.

‘From what I hear, he’s a man who always gets what he wants,’ Freya said. ‘I’ll give him half hour before he’s banging down your door.’

‘Well, he’ll be out of luck then because I’m here,’ Bella said, stubbornly.

‘Look, if you really don’t want the job or you can’t face working for him, I get that,’ Eden said. ‘But at least have the decency to tell him. Other people applied for that job and if you don’t want it he can offer it to someone else.’

Bella immediately felt guilty; Eden was right.

‘Well I’d better get home so I can talk to him.’

She stood up and waved goodbye. She probably didn’t have much time to make up her mind about the job and she had no idea what she should do.

* * *

It had been over an hour since Isaac had called. Bella had checked the time of the call on her phone several times. He hadn’t called back and he hadn’t come banging on her door. But then he had offered her the job and she had said she’d think about it. Why would he call her again?

She had made her mind up and changed it again several times. What kind of man would Isaac Scott be like to work for? Would there be other tests and hoops to jump through? And how could she even look at him knowing that he had kissed her so intimately? She had never done that with a man before. She took ages to build up to a kiss, let alone making love to someone. But after that promise to Eden and Rome she had decided to grab the chance and now she was embarrassed by it. She had made a fool of herself in front of her future boss. There was also a part of her that wanted to pursue what they had and she knew she couldn’t really do that if she worked for him. Would it be better to turn the job down so they could see each other without the complications of work? But then did she really have the luxury of refusing work? She needed the job, she needed the money and here was a job that was perfect for her offered on a plate. She would just have to get on with it. Be professional, do the job and see what happened.

Suddenly there was a knocking on the door and Bella wondered if Rome had come to give her another lecture.

She opened it and saw Isaac standing on her doorstep looking all sexy and annoyed. A jolt of desire slammed into her. It wasn’t just that he was beautiful, it was the chemistry that had bubbled between them over the last two nights, how easy it had been to talk to him and that kiss they had started and never finished that lay between them. The air almost sparked as they stood staring at each other. Part of her wanted to grab him, drag him into the house and finish the kiss off properly before he officially became her boss.

She was distracted with a joyous bark and she tore her eyes away from him to see that Isaac wasn’t alone. Alfie, her beloved husky-labrador cross that she was supposed to adopt a few weeks before, was standing next to Isaac wagging his tail.

‘Alfie!’ Bella said, sinking to her knees and wrapping her arms around the big dog. Alfie licked her face, giving her a thorough washing as his whole body shook with the ferocity of his tail wagging. What was he doing here with Isaac?

‘Consider him an introductory bonus,’ Isaac said.

Her head snapped up. ‘What?’

‘He’s yours. I’ve bought enough food for a month and there’s a bed, toys and food bowls in the car. I also bought pet insurance for a year.’

‘You bought Alfie for me?’ She stared at him in shock. How had he remembered what she’d said not just about wanting a dog but Alfie in particular?

‘It took a lot of persuading for the dog home to give him to me. Apparently he was reserved.’

Oh god. This man. She hugged Alfie tight, tears clogging her throat. He was hers now. She wouldn’t be alone any more. And Alfie had his forever home. He wouldn’t be living the rest of his life in a cold cage at the dog home. He was here, he could sleep on the sofa and curl up in front of the fire and he would be loved so much.

‘You have no idea what this means to me,’ Bella said, pressing her face to the top of Alfie’s head.

‘I have some idea,’ Isaac said.

He turned and walked back to the car and she watched as he lifted a huge dog bed and several bags out of the boot and came back to her. She shifted sideways so he could go into her house and he left them in her hall before coming back out again.

Alfie licked inside her ear and she let out a giggle as she stroked his velvety head. ‘I love you too.’

‘I think you’ll be very happy in your new home,’ Isaac said, patting Alfie’s back.

She looked up at him and saw the affection in his eyes as he watched her with Alfie.

‘Thank you.’ She leapt up to hug Isaac but he stepped back out of her reach, holding his hands out to stop her.

‘Let’s keep this professional, Miss Roussel. Let’s not forget that if you take this job then I will be your boss and, as we’ve both already said, nothing will happen between us.’

Bella nodded, taking a step back herself. She felt a bit hurt but what did she expect? She had enforced that rule herself. It was all so complicated but it seemed that Isaac didn’t have any issues drawing the line between them.

‘Will you accept the job?’ Isaac asked.

Bella knew that he wouldn’t ask again. She could see that she had pissed him off by making him come down to her house.

‘Yes.’

Isaac nodded, seriously. It was so stilted between them and Bella hated that but despite this wonderful generous gesture she wasn’t sure if she could forgive him yet.

He stuck his hand out and she looked at it for a second before she shook it, a spark leaping between them as soon as they touched. Her eyes shot up to look at him and she knew that he’d felt it too. ‘Congratulations, Miss Roussel. I’ll see you tomorrow at nine o’clock.’

He held her hand a fraction longer than he should have and then let her go. He hesitated for a second, looking as if he wanted to say something more, before he turned and walked down the path. He got in the car and drove off without giving her another glance.

Bella watched him go until he turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

Alfie gave another bark, distracting her from her new boss. She knelt down to stroke and fuss him again. She had a new job, she had Alfie but she couldn’t stop the swirl of emotions flooding her body. Nerves, excitement, anger and disappointment twisted in her gut. The next day was going to be a strange one.