Chapter Forty-Three

17 August, 11.30 p.m.

Drew had to take a deep breath. The moon was washing the front of the house and the raked gravel they were parked on, with clear light. Lori released her seat belt and the noise was loud in the quiet night.

‘My name is Mallory France. My friends call me Lori, but my pen name is Mallory Francis. When we met at Christmas I was an office manager who wanted to be a writer. Now I am a writer.’ Her voice wobbled. ‘Like you.’

He began to have maybe a tiny inkling of what had been going on. Pride and independence came into it, but Lori was still talking. ‘My mother and father run a holistic retreat in Santorini, with my younger brother. I have a younger sister and a four-year-old niece, Misty, whom you’ve met. The rest of the family – well, you’ll see.’ She was looking at the house. ‘Soon, I think’

Lights had come on in the windows, presumably at the sound of the car. The front door opened. ‘I think we should go inside.’

Two minutes later Drew found himself in a square, high-ceilinged foyer, with a black and white chequerboard floor and a magnificent staircase, shaking hands with Dan Howe.

‘Dan Howe. My ex-brother-in-law. Misty’s dad,’ Lori introduced them.

Shit! The guy was as big and physically impressive off-screen as he was on. And looking you over as if you’re a pimply teen who wants to take his kid sister to the Prom.

Realisation was hitting him like falling bricks. ‘Mallory France. Your sister is Skylark France.’

‘Misty’s mother.’ Lori nodded.

He could see it now; a resemblance between the sisters, but where Lark France was delicate, ethereal and fey, Lori was warm and earthy, like the woman standing on the other side of Dan Howe.

Nevada Shaw, glowing with expectant motherhood, was giggling the throaty giggle that had launched a string of box office rom-coms straight at the awards ceremonies, like heat-seeking missiles. She was looking from him to Lori. ‘Andrew and would that also be … Drew?’ She gave Lori a sparklingly wicked look.

Lori was blushing. It looked glorious. ‘Take no notice.’ Lori gave her not quite sister-in-law a narrow-eyed glare. ‘She knows nothing.’

Nevada lifted her head in a provocative gesture and gave him her hand. I’m holding the hand of Nevada Shaw. ‘I’m Misty’s step-mum. I think you’ve met her.’

Drew was doing some very fast thinking. As Misty had been mentioned when Lori introduced him, ‘yes’ was an obvious answer, but something else was clearly expected. And he was still holding Nevada Shaw’s hand. ‘If I admit that I have, will that serve to incriminate me?’

Nevada shot Lori a delighted look. ‘I like this one – you can keep him.’

‘Thank you,’ Lori replied dryly.

Dan was looking from one to the other of them, unimpressed at the byplay. ‘There’s something cryptic going on here that I’m missing.’

‘Yes, darling.’ Nevada let go of Drew and cuddled herself under her husband’s arm. ‘And you can go on missing it,’ she told him kindly. ‘We’re going to leave these two together now.’ A distinct prod in her husband’s ribs.

‘We are?’

‘Definitely.’ Nevada shepherded her husband towards an open door at the rear of the hall. ‘Don’t keep each other up too late.’ She was laughing as she closed the door.

Drew wasn’t entirely sure what that last remark meant. He suspected that it might be Nevada giving her blessing to … At this point his overloaded mind gave up the struggle. He simply stepped forward, into Lori’s space. She put up a hand to touch his cheekbone. ‘Nevada doesn’t really know anything. Misty chattered about Christmas. She mentioned your name. Nevada was winding us all up. I think you passed.’

‘Thank God for that.’ The relief was genuine. ‘Um …’ He couldn’t help himself. ‘Did she just mean what I think she meant?’

‘I think maybe she did.’ Lori was laughing. ‘God, that was convoluted.’

Easily, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Lori leaned into him. He was more than ready to hold her. He stood still, inhaling the scent of her hair. No cinnamon now, just lemons and Lori. ‘We don’t have to … I didn’t expect … Oh hell, can I just kiss you?’

‘I thought you’d changed your mind.’ She reached up on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. He took five thorough minutes to show her exactly how much he had not changed his mind. They came up for air, briefly, then he showed her again. It was exquisite. Breathing heavily he held her away from him. ‘Does it sound daft to say I missed you?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘No-o, not daft exactly.’ She stepped out of his arms, to pull him towards a doorway at the front of the house. ‘I’m not sure I understand everything though.’ There was a darkness in her eyes. ‘We do need that talk.’

Drew followed Lori. As the door opened a familiar white and orange head popped up from behind the arm of a chair. After a short stare, it popped down again. Griff obviously didn’t consider him interesting enough to lose sleeping time.

Suitably chastened, Drew looked around the room. It would probably have been referred to as a small salon, when the house was built. Where the lady of the house conducted her correspondence and read scandalous novels under cover of doing fine needle-point. Now it had good quality reproduction wallpaper and a mix of old and new furniture that worked surprisingly well.

Drew took a moment to ease the darkness of uncertainty out of Lori’s eyes. She tasted better each time he kissed her, and her body pressed against him. The fabric of his suit trousers was uncomfortably tight, but this unfortunately was not the time. Maybe there was cause for that darkness.

They settled on a sofa, side by side. Drew put out a hand and Lori took it. He trailed a finger over the top of hers. She shivered in a way that gave his heart a little kick.

Drew cleared his throat. ‘When Devlin, that’s the friend in the helicopter, dropped me off, I just holed up in my flat. I was afraid to contact anyone – we’d worked out that whoever snatched me had to be someone who knew the arrangements for the kidnap, but I didn’t know exactly who, or if they were working for someone else. I was afraid they might be watching, hacking into my mail … anything. I couldn’t be sure who I could trust and I definitely didn’t want anything to come near you and Misty. The police think I got free myself and called Devlin. I’m not exactly comfortable with that and I don’t imagine they would be very happy if they find out it’s not true, but I hope they never will.’

He could see from the way her eyes shifted that she knew just how unhappy the police might be. ‘It was a conscious decision and I’d do it again. Even more, now I know who Misty is. Who you are. The press would have a field day.’ He shut his eyes, briefly. He could imagine the headlines. ‘It didn’t take long for Devlin to work out who was responsible. He set up a sting, which confirmed what he suspected. You know about the arrests and the trial?’ Silently Lori nodded. Drew couldn’t help the sigh. ‘I thought, once someone had been arrested, and I could come out of hiding, that I’d be able to get in touch. But I had to leave for America almost immediately and then when I got back, you were gone …’ His heart scrunched with the memory. ‘I could have dug deeper – the P.I. might have found you, I think. But … I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know whether that was what you wanted. To disappear. I thought you might have been squatting at the barn, illegally,’ he confessed. ‘Another reason for not involving the police. And … I just didn’t know whether …’ He shrugged. ‘It was just a few days with a stranger.’

‘Drew!’ He saw the hurt in her face. ‘I didn’t intend to disappear. Misty and I were at the barn by accident.’ As she explained, an icy finger inched its way down his spine. If Lark France hadn’t dumped her daughter for the Christmas holidays …

How long would it have taken them to find your … body?

He shook himself mentally. The past could be a bad enough place, without constructing alternative realities in it. And you would know all about that.

Lori was studying his face. ‘When you didn’t contact me. I didn’t think that you couldn’t. That was so stupid. I told myself that it was just … well a bit of a thing. Ships in the night, and all that. I still … I still kind of wondered if it was all a stunt that had gone wrong,’ she confessed, softly.

‘And I wondered if there would be an exposé in the papers, if you’d tell your story for money.’ He gave a shaky laugh. ‘Maybe we both have work to do in trusting each other.’

‘We need to learn about each other,’ she corrected, quietly. ‘I didn’t tell you about the writing. That was pride,’ she said bluntly. ‘The same reason I don’t usually talk about Lark and Dan and Nevada. That will probably come out eventually.’ She made a small deflecting gesture, that made Drew want to gather her in and kiss her until they both passed out from lack of air. But that wasn’t the right thing now. ‘I wanted to make it on my own,’ she continued softly. ‘To be chosen, if I was chosen, because of me. Of what I wrote, not because someone might be influenced by the family I happen to belong to. Does that make sense?’

‘Perfect sense.’ Gallant, crazy, adorable, perfect sense. ‘So …’ He let go of Lori’s hand to lean forward, pressing his fingertips together and letting his hands lie loosely between his knees. He hadn’t intended the gesture, but as he moved he saw her eyes widen. He looked down. His shirt sleeve had ridden up. The scar of the cuff was fading, but still visible.

‘Drew.’ The pain in her voice when she said his name made what he was about to say even harder, but he had to say it. It was tangled up with what they both were.

The knowledge had been building in his head. Now it had risen, inextricably, to a point where he had to voice it. ‘I …’ He looked over his shoulder at her. Her face was concerned, puzzled. ‘I don’t want to say this, but I think you will understand. I hope that you’ve got an idea of how I feel, and where I’d like this to go. Where I’d like us to go.’ He managed a smile. Probably lop-sided and clearly not as reassuring as he wanted, seeing that the darkness was back in her eyes. Grey, such a clear pure grey. Get on with it, Vitruvius. ‘I don’t think we should see each other until after the trial.’

‘Oh.’ It was less an exclamation, more a long exhale.

‘Do you understand?’ He turned fully towards her, searching her face, saw the moment when she did. ‘I can’t talk much about it, and I’m praying it will be over quickly, but whatever happens in court, it’s going to be messy and there will be stuff in the media and some of that probably won’t be pleasant. And if we’re known to be together, some of it will come your way, not because of Christmas, but simply because you’re involved with me.’ He clenched his fist. ‘I know the kidnapping brought us together.’ He tried a wobbly smile. It felt like crap. It probably looked worse. ‘I don’t want us, or the start of your career to be tainted by it. I think we need to stay apart, until it’s over.’

He couldn’t read her expression, but she hadn’t burst into tears, or thumped him, or yelled for her brother-in-law. Yet. ‘After that …’ he said tentatively. ‘Well, people saw us meeting today, when Jessmayne introduced us. Maybe we can meet again at some other event, and take it from there?’

The silence was long and thoughtful. Not because she was trying to torment him, but because she was working things through. He could see it in her face. At last she nodded. ‘If that’s how you want it.’ Her eyes were intent, holding his. ‘I’d like to be there for you, and I’m not afraid of standing beside you, but I get that you would feel better if I didn’t, and that you want to be free and clear before we …’ There was a deliciously delicate flush slowly working up from her collar. ‘… take this any further.’ He watched the colour climb, enchanted and really turned on. Hell!

She gave him a tremulous smile. ‘If you hadn’t been kidnapped and we really had met for the first time today, we might still have liked the look of each other.’

‘If I’d had a grain of sense.’ Relief eased the tension in a dozen muscles. ‘Although I have to warn you that there is a commonly held belief that I don’t. You know that I do dangerous stuff.’ Might as well get the whole thing on the table. ‘It’s part of who I am.’

‘Cross that bridge when we come to it.’ She reached out and brushed his hair from his face. He wanted to turn his face into her palm and purr like Griff and then hold on to her and never let her go. ‘Just take care, Drew, please. And I’ll see you on the other side.’

‘Oh.’ Nevada emerged from the back of the house, as Lori shut the front door. ‘He’s gone?’

Lori paused, until she heard the car. ‘Yes.’ Nevada looked disappointed. Not half as disappointed as I am. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘Oh, sweetie.’ Nevada gathered her into a hug. ‘You know what I say – the good ones always are.’ Her face had turned inwards and Lori knew she was thinking back to when Dan had been trying hard to stand by his newborn daughter and a wife who’d decided she no longer loved him. ‘Is it the trial thing?’ Smart cookie.

‘Yes.’ Lori inhaled Nevada’s expensive perfume and felt comforted. ‘He doesn’t want me to be involved.’

‘Then he’s a gentleman,’ Nevada decided. ‘Old school, but still sweet when you can find one. You don’t need to say any more now. You can tell us all about it when it’s finished.’ She stepped away. ‘Now come and reassure Dan that he doesn’t have to play the heavy brother-in-law.’ Nevada turned her mouth down in a comical grimace. ‘I think he was rather looking forward to it.’

The parcel arrived the next day, by special delivery. Puzzled, Lori opened the packing box. Inside was another box, the kind that held printer paper. It was heavy and there was a card. ‘But it’s still not everything.’

There was no signature, but Lori didn’t really need one. She lifted the lid.

His name was on the cover page, under the title.

Stren’s Story