Chapter Fifteen

When Nick finally arrived at the barn he found Lizzie curled up on the sofa watching an American soap opera with half an eye.

‘If you’re watching that, you must be feeling rough.’

Unfurling her long legs from the sofa, she moved towards him with her arms outstretched. ‘Nick, I’m so sorry.’

As she easily settled into his arms, his chest tightened. He was going to miss this when she’d gone. Not just someone to come home to, but Lizzie to come home to. ‘I’ll take the hug, but what are you sorry about?’

‘Dragging you into all this mess.’

‘Dragging me in? If I recall correctly, I was the one who hauled you back to England with me. And I don’t regret a single minute.’

‘Tell me that tomorrow when you find yourself plastered all over the papers as my latest love interest.’

He laughed incredulously. ‘Yeah, that’s really going to harm my reputation, people thinking I’m having an affair with Elizabeth Donavue.’

‘It might do, if Sally believes it.’

He recalled Sally’s face as she’d drawn back from kissing him and felt a wave of misgiving. Sally probably would put two and two together and believe he’d ended things because he’d started sleeping with Lizzie. While he didn’t care too much about the dint to his reputation, he was annoyed that a couple of bastards, out to make money from Lizzie’s misfortune, might end up hurting Sally, too. ‘We’ve already established Sally and I aren’t in a relationship.’ He shifted away from Lizzie slightly, enough so he could keep his equilibrium vaguely in tact. ‘You know, you’ve got to stop worrying so much. In a few months’ time nobody will remember any of this. I’m going up to call Dan now, see if he’s filed the lawsuit yet. Do you want to listen in?’

She nodded. ‘I’ll be there in a minute.’

While Nick strode upstairs to his office to make the call, Lizzie hunted down the printout of the email Catherine had sent through – the details of her villa by the sea. She’d spent all afternoon eyeing it longingly, but now she wasn’t sure. Nick had looked so tired when he’d come in. Obviously travelling between the barn and his office in London was really taking its toll. How could she now ask him to drop everything and go on holiday with her?

Plus there was Sally to consider. Sally, who she conveniently kept forgetting. No matter how much he continued to deny they were serious, what sort of woman did it make her that she was considering tempting Nick into an affair, when he was already sleeping with someone else?

Sighing wistfully, she scrunched the picture into the palm of her hand and climbed the stairs to join him.

‘That’s great news, Dan,’ she heard him saying on the phone when she quietly eased the study door open. ‘Damages for rape, blackmail, defamation of character … yes, we’ll take whatever we can. By the time he’s had his lawyer read through that, Charles will rue the day he ever hurt her.’ He smiled when he noticed Lizzie and put Dan onto speakerphone. ‘I’ve got Lizzie with me now, Dan.’ He glanced at her. ‘Dan was just saying he’s filed the lawsuit. Charles has a week to answer the charges.’

‘So soon?’ She’d assumed this would drag on for months.

Nick grinned. ‘I think Dan’s pulled strings we’re not allowed to ask him about. You’d have to take the fifth on that, hey buddie?’

The American chuckled. ‘Sure thing. Suffice to say there’s a ground swell of support for you here, Elizabeth. Seeing what you’ve gone through, and how you’re standing up to him rather than letting him get away with his shameful behaviour, has encouraged more and more women to come forward with their own experiences. I’m quietly confident.’

Nick laughed. ‘Dan and the word quiet do not go together in the same sentence. Seriously though Dan, we appreciate all you’ve done on this. I owe you.’

‘You don’t owe me a damn thing,’ Dan’s voice boomed back. ‘Consider us even. Now, you folks relax and leave it in the capable hands of your American friends. I’ll keep you updated.’

Nick said goodbye and cut the call.

Perching on the edge of his desk, Lizzie felt dazed. ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is all happening so fast.’

‘Dan’s a good man with a lot of important connections. He’ll get us the right verdict, trust me.’ He pulled his chair out slightly so he could look at her properly. ‘It’s a crying shame we can’t put Charles in jail, where he belongs, but at least this way he’ll be ruined and your reputation back in order.’

Lizzie chewed her bottom lip. ‘I’m not so sure it will be that easy. Restoring my reputation, I mean.’

‘It will,’ he asserted, his voice allowing no argument. ‘When the outcome of this civil case hits the media, everyone will know who is the victim here. It will work out, Lizzie. Trust me.’

She nodded, on the verge of tears again. Two weeks ago she’d been staring down a cold, dark tunnel, with no exit in sight. Now one was being dangled, teasingly, in front of her nose.

‘What’s that?’ he asked, noticing the sheet of paper balled up in her hand.

Quickly she glanced down, feeling foolish. ‘Nothing really.’

‘What does nothing really mean? Is it something, or isn’t it?’

She rolled her eyes at him. ‘Okay, it’s something that seemed like a good idea earlier, after the altercation with the journalist.’ Feeling oddly nervous, she attempted to smooth out the printout. ‘The other night, you asked me to picture something to make me relax. A beach you said, with sand and warm turquoise water. Well, I could really do with a bit of that right now. I mean, staying here has been terrific, exactly what I needed, but now the press know I’m here.’ Her mouth ran out of words and she ended up shrugging awkwardly.

‘You want to go on holiday for a while?’ he asked softly.

‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘It occurred to me I haven’t had a break for years. Now seems like a good time.’ She glanced up at him. ‘Just a few days, you know. Maybe a week? If you can’t take the time off, I’ll understand, I know how busy you’ve been.’

‘You want me to go with you?’ he blurted, looking totally shocked.

‘Well, yes, obviously. I mean it wouldn’t be much fun on my own.’ Heck, she couldn’t think of anything worse. Leave Nick when, by the sound of things, she only had a short time left with him? The thought knotted her stomach. ‘Of course if you don’t want to come …’ She let the sentence hang.

He shook his head. ‘No, I mean, yes.’ A rueful grin spread across his face. ‘I’ve never been good at double negatives. Yes, of course, if you’d like me to come, I’d love to join you.’ He frowned slightly. ‘When were you planning on going?’

Oops. She tried to look shamefaced. ‘I was thinking, maybe tomorrow?’ His eyebrows shot skywards. ‘I know it’s short notice,’ she added quickly, ‘and I can wait if you need to sort stuff out, but …’

‘You really want to get away?’

Her mouth felt dry and her heart was thumping away like the clappers. All she could do was nod. This was more than just a break in the sun. It was her and Nick and a romantic hideaway. It was a fantasy, a pipedream, but one she so desperately wanted to come true.

‘You don’t muck around when you set your mind on something, do you?’ He ran a hand through his hair, which she now understood was his way of taking time out, pausing to think. ‘I should be okay, as long as I can work wherever we’re going. Where is that, by the way?’

Joy swept through her, exploding out in a bubble of laughter. ‘Sardinia. I’ve got a friend who has a villa there.’ She waved the picture under his nose, but he barely glanced at it.

‘Okay then, good.’ A bemused smile spread across his face. ‘It looks like we’re going on holiday then.’

‘Yes, it does. I’m off to pack.’ Feeling almost giddy with delight, she almost skipped towards the door. ‘By the way, what did Dan mean by you being even now?’

‘Nothing, really. He practiced law in the UK for a while and got into trouble with his accounts.’ He smiled. ‘I guess I saved his financial ass a few times.’

‘You’re good at that, you know, saving people’s asses. You’re saving mine now.’

‘Well, it’s nice to get the credit, but it’s Dan who’s doing the hard work.’ He deliberately looked her over. ‘Mind you, as asses go, yours is high on the list of ones I would like to save.’

He was teasing, she knew it, but it didn’t stop her almost gliding down the corridor. She was going to a Mediterranean island with Nick. Sun, sea, sand and … Raising her eyes to the ceiling, she pushed open her bedroom door. She was supposed to have convinced herself having an affair with Nick was the wrong thing to do. But she was tired of being sensible, especially when her body was crying out for her to be naughty.