Chapter Two

At the sound of Charles’s name on Nick’s lips, Lizzie shivered. ‘Charles is a bastard. I’m ashamed to say, he was also my boyfriend.’

She risked a glance at Nick. His expression was serious, concerned, but there was no judgement. Whatever else had gone on between them, he was still her friend. He was on her side. He nodded for her to continue.

‘Charles started off as my personal trainer.’

Nick’s lips twitched. ‘Very show biz.’

‘Yes, I know, but, hey, I’m a model. I’m paid to look good.’ She fidgeted with her hands, more embarrassed than she’d thought at discussing her love life with him. And this was only the start of the story. ‘I thought Charles was different to the guys I’d been dating. Less shallow. Less inclined to make sure his best side was facing the camera when we went out.’

‘It wasn’t anything to do with his rippling torso then?’

‘Well, that might also have been a factor,’ she had to admit. ‘But, in all honesty, mostly I liked him because he was attentive and easy to be with. Don’t laugh, but he seemed genuine.’

‘Yeah, a genuine low life.’

She snorted. ‘Yes, well, clearly when it comes to men, my judgement is shot to pieces.’

‘You won’t get any argument from me over that statement,’ he muttered darkly. ‘Go on.’

‘A few nights ago Charles and I arranged to meet up in the bar of the Beverly Wilshire.’ Nick whistled and without thinking, she stuck her tongue out at him. It took her back to her childhood, when life had been simple, uncomplicated by the surge of puberty and emotions other than friendship. ‘It’s the only place in town, honey,’ she drawled. ‘Charles and I had a couple of drinks together and he seemed in good form. I remember thinking, this is pleasant. Then another man came up and introduced himself. One of Charles’s friends.’ The lightness of a few moments ago vanished and sickness and disgust crept back. She’d had sex with that man – someone she’d only just met – and she couldn’t remember any of it. ‘Sorry, I don’t think I can do this.’

Nick unfurled his body from the armchair and walked towards her, arms outstretched, but Lizzie jumped to her feet and moved away. How could she talk about the sordid things she’d obviously done with one man, while being comforted by another? Even more so, when that man was Nick.

A mixture of hurt and frustration flashed across his face as his rejected arms fell uselessly to his side. ‘I know this is hard for you, but I need to know what happened,’ he told her stiffly as he sat back down in the armchair. ‘If I don’t, I can’t help.’ His eyes pleaded with her. ‘I want to help.’

She understood, but God, on a scale of 1 to 10 of the most cringe-making things a woman could discuss with the man she had a crush on, this must rate somewhere near 100. Perching on the side of a small table, her legs like blancmange, she cleared her throat and tried again. ‘I can’t remember the friend’s name. Matthew, maybe? All I know is it wasn’t long after he joined us that I started to feel funny. Like I was drunk, though I’d only had two glasses of wine. My head felt as if it was spinning off my shoulders so I told Charles and he checked me into a room at the hotel, telling me I needed to lie down.’ Her hands were trembling so she clasped them in her lap. ‘That’s it. The rest is a blank until I woke up in the hotel room the following morning. There was a note on the bedside table from Charles saying he hoped I felt better and that he’d come round later that evening to check up on me.’

‘You don’t remember anything of what happened during the night? No flashbacks, no blurred images?’

‘No. When I woke I was naked and I knew I must have had sex. The smell …’ She shut her eyes, still smelling it now. ‘I remember wondering what sort of man Charles was that he’d made love to a woman so clearly out of it.’ Her voice grew smaller and smaller. ‘I didn’t have to wait long to find out. He came round that evening and handed me an envelope full of photographs.’ Finally she raised her eyes to Nick. ‘You said you’d seen them?’

He nodded. ‘And before you ask, yes the video clips as well.’

Swallowing hard, Lizzie blinked. There were thousands, maybe millions of people watching her have sex at this very moment. With not one, but two men. And Nick had seen it, too – Nick, who hadn’t even found sex with her appealing enough when she’d been a virgin. Right now he must be thinking she was only one step up from a whore.

‘Charles threatened to take the pictures to the press if I didn’t pay up.’ She rushed the words now, desperate to get to the end of the sordid tale. ‘I could have found the money, but I remember thinking bugger him. He’d already degraded me. He wasn’t going to make money out of me, too. I had no thought for the consequences. I just didn’t want to let him win.’

‘So you didn’t pay up and Mr Genuine followed through with his threat.’

She flinched. ‘I didn’t need the reminder of how gullible I was.’

He leaned forward and ran a hand across his face, instantly contrite. ‘No, you didn’t. Sorry.’

‘I wasn’t aware of what he’d done until I read the newspaper the next morning.’ For the rest of her life she’d remember the horror and disgust, the disbelief when she’d turned to that page. ‘The phones started ringing then and they just wouldn’t stop.’ Shaking away the memory, she remembered what had puzzled her earlier. ‘How did you get past the security downstairs? I explicitly told them not to let anybody upstairs without buzzing me first.’

‘The guard did buzz up, but you didn’t answer. I told him I was your lawyer, and that if he didn’t let me up, I’d have him done for kidnapping.’ His mouth curved at the memory. ‘It was the best I could come up with at the time.’

‘Are the press still out there?’

‘Oh yes, in force.’ He gave her a direct look. ‘I don’t think I realised quite how famous you are.’

‘After this fiasco I’ll be a damned sight more so, and for all the wrong reasons.’ Tears threatened again. Angrily she rubbed them away. ‘God, what a mess.’

‘Lizzie, have you contacted the police?’

Vigorously she shook her head. ‘No. What good would it do? I haven’t got any evidence to prove I didn’t wilfully go to bed with the pair of them. Charles was my boyfriend, for heaven’s sake. I can hardly cry rape. Not when the pictures show how much I’m apparently enjoying myself.’

‘You were drugged,’ Nick stated quietly.

‘Yes, I think I was. Either that or I’d had a lot more to drink than I thought.’ She let out a frustrated sigh. ‘I’ve got no proof of that, though. It’s been too long after the event. There won’t be anything in my bloodstream any more.’

Nick had done his best to sit quietly while Lizzie had been speaking. She would never know what it had cost him to remain outwardly calm, while inside he’d swung between wanting to shake her and wanting to find Charles and shove a fist into his smirking face. Then haul him up by his fancy lapels and punch him again. Why had she lowered herself so much to go out with that snake in the first place? Didn’t she realise how special she was? Far too special to be sleeping with a glorified bodybuilder.

He tried to rein in his anger, but some of it seeped out as he spoke. ‘Why didn’t you go to the police straight away? As soon as the bastard turned up with pictures?’

She recoiled sharply. ‘Oh sure, that was my first reaction. Charles, thanks so much for showing me those photos. Do you mind if I call the police while you wait here? Oh and do help yourself to a drink.’ She let out a humourless laugh. ‘I wasn’t thinking, damn it. I was too stunned, too shocked. And, oh God …’ Tears once again flowed freely down her cheeks. ‘I was ashamed. There were pictures of me naked, having sex with two men. I couldn’t bear the thought of talking to a starchy police officer about it. Heck, to anyone about it. Plus I never for one moment thought Charles would do as he’d threatened.’ She grabbed the last tissue from the box. ‘I thought I meant something to him. Even when I realised he only wanted me for a meal ticket, I stupidly believed what we’d shared would be enough to stop him from humiliating me. Guess I was wrong.’

Nick’s gut twisted as he stared at her puffy blue eyes, the blonde hair that hung limply around her shoulders. It was humiliating to realise he was as much in love with her today as he had been all those years ago, yet in her eyes they were so estranged she hadn’t even bothered to call him when all this had kicked off. He’d had to barge over uninvited, uncertain of his reception. He couldn’t even haul her into his arms because she was sitting on that blasted table, as far away from him as she could possibly be, her body language screaming leave me alone. He was left sitting on the armchair, looking at her helplessly. ‘We’ll work all this out, Lizzie.’

‘I don’t see how. I’ve been such a bloody fool.’ Agitated, she pushed off the table and began to pace.

‘If you’re guilty of anything, it’s being too trusting.’ He clasped his hands together to stop from reaching out to her. ‘What about your contact at the agency? Don’t you have a manager or agent or whatever the term is? Someone who can handle the press for you?’

‘Yes, yes I do.’ She laughed sadly. ‘I didn’t even think of calling her. Too terrified of her reaction, I guess.’

He scowled at her. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

‘No. Deep down, I know it’s more to do with one man’s greed than my naivety, but …’ She buried her head in her hands. ‘God, I’ve just signed a contract to be the face of a new perfume. Innocence.’ She began to laugh uncontrollably.

Simmering with anger he walked over and grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Get ahold of yourself, Lizzie,’ he told her tersely. ‘This will all blow over.’

‘Easy for you to say. You don’t earn a living from your face.’

He’d never hated her job more. ‘You’re worth more than just your face,’ he snapped. ‘Even if this ruins your career, so what? There are other things you can do. Jobs that use your brain instead of your looks.’

‘Like what, Nick? If you can think of another job for a woman like me, with no qualifications and no experience other than smiling in front of a camera, that can earn me what I’m earning now, don’t keep it to yourself. Spit it out.’

Great. Now he’d managed to make her angry. Still, better angry than feeling sorry for herself. He rubbed at his eyes. Crikey, he was tired. The time difference was finally catching up with him. ‘Okay, I’m sorry. It won’t come to that, anyway. For the time being you need to talk to your agent and get her to issue a statement that puts your side of things. We also need to talk to the police.’ He saw her look of horror, but didn’t back down. ‘Charles drugged you, raped you, then tried to blackmail you. Yes, the police need to know.’

‘I don’t want them involved.’

Her shoulders set in a stubborn line but he ignored them. ‘Tough. We’re calling them. And then I’m taking you back to England for a while.’

At that casually dropped bombshell, she gasped. ‘Oh, you are, are you? Who on earth suddenly made you my keeper?’

‘I’m not your keeper, but I am going to take care of you.’

‘Thanks, but I can take care of myself.’

He thought about retorting that on current evidence she wasn’t doing a great job of it, but held his tongue. She was no longer the young girl he’d dreamt of protecting. She was a grown woman, capable of making her own choices. Still, she needed to face the truth. ‘You’re a mess,’ he told her bluntly. ‘You’re not sleeping or eating properly, which means you’re also not thinking clearly. I’m taking you back to give you time to recover, both mentally and physically. The press won’t know you’re there. It will give you some breathing space.’

‘And if I don’t want to go?’ The stubborn glint that he knew of old was back in her eyes.

‘I can’t force you. It’s your decision.’ Then he fixed her with a glare of his own. ‘But make sure whatever you decide, you do it for the right reason and not because you don’t like being told what to do by me.’

Lizzie took a long, hard look at Nick’s strong profile. When she’d been young, she’d had him wrapped round her little finger. As soon as she’d grown up, that had stopped. Evident the moment she’d asked him to make love to her and he hadn’t. Now he was glaring at her, daring her not to do as he’d said. ‘I want to tell you to butt out,’ she admitted, surprised by the tremor in her voice. ‘I know I’ve made a spectacular mess of things right now, but up to this point I’ve done pretty well, actually. I’ve made it to the top of my profession in one of the toughest cities in the world. Without your or anyone else’s help.’

‘I know that. You’re strong and determined. Always have been. But admitting you need help doesn’t make you less capable. It simply makes you sensible.’

She acknowledged his comment with a small smile. ‘Low blow.’

‘I can fight dirty if the outcome is important to me.’

Beneath her chest, her heart fluttered a little. The thought of leaning on someone else for a while, especially if that someone was Nick, was making her feel almost giddy with relief. ‘Okay, I’ll come back with you, but because I want to, not because you’re telling me to.’

‘Good.’ His dark brown eyes warmed with amusement, as if he knew exactly how much it had cost her to say that. ‘First things first though. Call the agency.’

‘They’re going to kill me,’ she muttered as she plugged the phone back in. ‘My career has been built on a squeaky clean, ice maiden, butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth image. It doesn’t exactly fit with lurid newspaper photographs showing me engaged in three in the bed sexual romps. I’ll probably never work again.’

‘Bollocks,’ Nick cut in tersely. ‘You will. Charles isn’t going to win this one. If the police don’t have enough evidence to lock him away, we’ll attack from another direction. By the time we’ve finished with him, it will be Charles that nobody will want to work with again, not you.’

As she dialled the agency number, Lizzie wondered if she’d ever seen Nick this angry. He was the calm, mild-mannered one. As a child she’d soon learnt not to bother winding him up; he never rose to the bait. Robert, on the other hand, she’d been able to wind up like a top, getting him to flare into anger at the slightest provocation. What she wouldn’t give to have her brother do that again. ‘I don’t expect you to help me with this, Nick,’ she asserted, waiting for the agency to pick up. ‘I’ve got money. I’ll find an attorney to handle it.’ The last thing she needed was to be indebted to him even further.

‘I know you’ve got money,’ he replied tightly. ‘But I’ve got connections. I know a good lawyer, or attorney as you Yanks call them, and he happens to be based in LA. If anyone can get you justice, Dan Rutherford can.’

Just then the receptionist answered. Figuring now was the time to put her effort into saving her career, rather than arguing with Nick, she turned away and asked to speak to Maria. Agent and friend. At least she had been before this mess had hit the headlines.