Heat in the Kitchen (11 page)

Ella didn't think she would but then had the reality of her upbringing been any better? Matt was opening up her mind but she was still very resentful of Daniel, of her mother, of the whole sorry situation.

'You know, I always knew I'd been named after my father. I thought it had been some kind of act of love. To know that my mother gave me my name out of spite so that I could be traced easily back to him….' Ella's voice broke.

Matt hugged her closer. 'You have a beautiful name. It doesn't matter how you came by it. It's
your
name and so long as you like it, nothing else is relevant. The four of us were all lovingly given French and English names. Zander and I have English first names and French middle names and Tess and Ronnie have French first names and English middle names. But it took eighteen years and our parents' death for our whole life to be unravelled as a complete sham.' Matt tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Tonight was about Ella, not him.

Ella looked up at him and stroked his face. Matt gazed down at her as he took her hand in his and kissed the palm.

'Most people have stuff going on in their pasts Ella. What matters is how we deal with it.'

'Have you dealt with yours?'

'Tonight is about you, not me. Mine only surfaces once a year on the anniversary of the day we buried them.'

'The day we met.'

Matt gave her a pointed look.

'I'm sorry.'

'What for?'

'For being there, when you obviously wanted to be on your own.'

'Ah! But
now
, I'm glad you were there.' He lightly kissed her lips. It warmed her heart.

Ella wasn't quite ready to let go of all that she'd heard tonight. 'I wonder why Mr Brown convinced him to stay away when I was a teenager, when he also said he thought I had a right to know Daniel. That doesn't make sense.'

'Hmm, I can't answer that, but you said your mother had been to see him at the school at the time you were moved to another one. Maybe he sensed at that time that Daniel turning up might make things more difficult for you. Imagine if he had come on the scene, tried to get custody and failed.'

'Yeah, I suppose.'

'Mr Brown did keep in touch and between him and Daniel encouraged your music. They kept an eye on you from a distance Ella. You may not feel it just now but it does sound as if Daniel genuinely cares about you and has wanted what was best for you. Mistakenly, perhaps he thought staying away was also best for you. He didn't have to come and tell you tonight, he could have gone to ground and ignored it, but he sought you out. He wanted you to have prior warning. Sounds like he loves you Ella.' When she stayed silent, he decided to hit home the last point.

'Sounds like he'd like to be a part of your life now.'

He sat her up so he could see her clearly. 'The question is, are you going to let him? Are you going to contact him again?'

'I don't know,' she whispered, sounding torn between her pain and wanting to get to know the man who had unwittingly given her life.

Matt gave her another lingering kiss and pulled her to him for a hug.

'Well, it's very late. Go sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning.' He looked at his watch. 'Wow, it's two o'clock. I'd better be off. The press may come after you tomorrow and I don't want to stir the pot any more for you by being caught coming out of your apartment!'

*

Matt encouraged her off his lap and stood up.

'How are you going to get back? You could stay if you like.'

Matt gave her a knowing look.

'In the spare room!'

'Pity.'

Ella playfully batted him on the arm. 'Don't you ever think of anything else?'

He whispered in her ear. 'I can think of lots of things…' he paused, '…I'd like to do with you Daniella Lewis-Cannon.'

She stepped back.

Laughing, he said 'but not tonight. One day soon. You have enough to contend with just now. At least you'll be out in Quinaard soon and the press will hopefully move on to another target while you're gone.'

'Oh, I almost forgot I was going there.' Ella looked anxious.

'Hey, you'll love it. Azzam might flirt outrageously with you but you'll be safe. Remember I'll be there too. I won't be busy in the kitchen getting the banquet ready all the time. And anyway, as a matter of honour, Azzam would never touch someone else's woman.' With that he kissed her on the cheek and slipped his jacket on.

'And whose woman would I be exactly?'

'Mine.'

'Oh, is that right?'

'Oh yes.'

Ella felt a warm glow at having him state that so categorically but now felt anxious for an altogether different reason - how long would he think that, particularly when she couldn't get beyond the rape. A man like Matt wouldn't wait around for her to overcome her fears for too long.

She noticed his car keys in his hand.

'I thought you'd come with Zander to the concert?'

'I did. We drove to Elephant and Castle and then took the Tube in.'

'Then how did he get home?'

'Zander was right behind me when we overheard Daniel's revelation. We left to go home but by the time we'd got to the Underground, I'd decided I was coming here. I left Zander to head for home whilst I headed back to Elephant and Castle to get the car.'

Ella winced. 'Bet he just loved being abandoned! Did he say anything?'

'Not a lot. He did mutter something about being a white knight, but over the years, I've learnt it's best to just ignore his fishing attempts.'

'But won't he….' Matt put his finger against her lips.

'Ella, Zander was fine. He can ask all he likes and ponder all he likes, put two and two together and think he's got the right answer, but he knows I don't say anything I don't want to. He may wonder how well I know you and he may take the piss out of me but he trusts my judgement. Besides, I'm the eldest, what can he do?' Matt grinned that big, wide, gorgeous grin of his and Ella couldn't help but smile.

'Better.' He liked that she'd finally smiled. 'In my experience with the press, you're better to be upfront with a statement - they like digging but if you open up they'll go dig someone else's dirt and leave you alone more quickly. Let me know if I can do anything.'

With that he gave her one last fleeting kiss and headed on his way.

*

Zander pushed the newspaper across the kitchen table towards him. Matt looked up from his own paper and glanced at it. Staring back at him was a large photo of Ella underneath the headline 'Business magnate's dirty secret.' Matt made a disgusted sound and pushed the paper away.

'Got anything to say?'

'No.'

Clearly he had! Matt was only ever tight lipped when he felt deeply and, apart from their parents' death, there was precious little else he cared that much about - other than the numerous occasions the girls had pulled the wool over their eyes as to what they were up to and stayed out all night! Matt may be extrovert and confident and behave as if he took little seriously but there was a depth to him that he didn't let people see. Even Zander, who was his other half and his best friend was shut out of that place until Matt was ready to share. Of the two, Zander was the one who generally kept his feelings to himself and yet he was far easier to read than Matt could be.

'It says there that Daniel Lewis raped her mother and abandoned her.'

'What!'
Matt grabbed the paper and read what was written. 'That is all a complete pack of lies. Whoever fed this rubbish to the newspaper will be sorry.'

Zander didn't think Matt was aware he'd spoken out loud. He stared across at him, realising just how much Ella must mean to him. He felt a fleeting pang of envy - did he ever want to find the one person that he would care that much about?

'That's where you took off to last night isn't it? Abandoning me to the vagaries of the public transport system.'

Matt looked up ready to glower at him when he realised Zander was pulling his leg.

'Thought you needed a reminder sometimes of how other people live baby brother.'

'I get that reminder every day
old man
, as you well know. It's you, who travels everywhere by car or taxi, that needs the reminder. Your attempt at changing the subject is pathetic by the way.'

'Didn't realise there was a subject to change.'

Zander shook his head and picked up another paper. 'You know where to find me if you want to talk, or need any help.'

Zander was the best brother a man could have. 'Thanks bro.'

'What's the goss then? How was the concert last night?'

Matt and Zander both looked up as their youngest sister joined them for breakfast.

'The concert was great Ronnie, you should have been there. You'd have loved it. Ella had a few guests with her and one of them was that new string quartet which came third in that talent show you watch.'

'Mmm, I don't know what was better - the sound they made or the four sets of very long legs disappearing into miniscule skirts we were forced to endure!'

'Matthew! That's a really sexist thing to say.'

Matt grinned at her. She felt so strongly about how women were still treated that she was easy to wind up.

'Oh, you beast!' She threw the nail file she'd been using at him.

'Hey, that's a dangerous weapon you've got there. Zander, protect me!'

Zander laughed to himself at their antics and carried on reading.

'Oh my god! That's Ella.' Ronnie grabbed the paper and quickly read the article. 'Oh no, that's awful for her. Fancy finding out who your dad is like that. I'm going to see what I can do to help.'

And as quickly as she'd arrived in the kitchen, Ronnie was gone.

'You didn't tell her it was a pack of lies.'

Matt looked up from his paper. 'No.'

Zander continued to look at him in silence.

Matt sighed. 'Look, you know Ronnie will go rushing over there and be whatever Ella needs. That's good enough for me.'

Zander continued to stare.

'There's nothing much going on between us. I told you last night. I met her a few weeks ago and helped her out. Until last night I hadn't seen her since.'

Matt was clearly in denial. Zander knew better than to say another word otherwise he would be getting something a lot bigger than a nail file thrown at
him
!

Chapter 7

She flopped down on the bed and sunk into the most gloriously, luxurious mattress. She sighed out loud. Divine! It was so soft, she felt like she was floating on a cloud. Coming out to Quinaard was worth it just to have this divine bed and sumptuous suite.

She couldn't believe the grandeur of her surroundings. She was sure her mouth had dropped open when she'd first set eyes on the vast palace and stayed open for the duration of the walk to her suite. She only hoped she hadn't drooled. She was on the fourth floor and there were another two floors above. Modern touches like the lift her escort had used mingled beautifully with paintings and furniture that looked to be hundreds of years old. She felt dazzled by all the gold on display in the ornaments, statues and wall inlays. The doors to the lift merged seamlessly with the surrounding wall, each door padded with a rich, oriental tapestry.

In her suite, the lounge was twice the size of hers at home. She even had a baby grand piano to practice on! She was almost too frightened to touch any of the ornaments in case she broke something that turned out to be a priceless heirloom. She'd never seen anything on this scale of opulence.

The bedroom had a four poster bed covered in pillows and what felt like a silk throw, right in the middle of the room. The bed itself was big enough to sleep a family of four! Ottomans were placed along the top and bottom ends of the bed, each covered in a padded silk seat. The main colour scheme of the suite was a deep, rich burgundy. She'd glimpsed the opulence of the bathroom when she'd been shown to her suite, but didn't have the energy right now to inspect it more closely.

Even though she'd travelled in first class luxury right from the moment the limousine had picked her up at her apartment, courtesy of Prince Azzam, she felt bone weary. She'd been up since three a.m. and it was now four in the afternoon Quinaard time. She'd been hounded by the paparazzi morning, noon and night for the last three days. As Matt had predicted, they'd been there when she'd woken after he'd left and some of them had still been there, chasing the limo down the street when she'd left for the airport. A couple of them had managed to get into her building. Even though her agent had issued a statement saying she was delighted to have the chance to get to know her father, the press had relentlessly pursued her. She'd gone out as little as possible, kept her curtains closed and her phone unplugged. She'd felt like a prisoner in her own home. When she had had to go out they'd jostled her in the street. She didn't know how high profile celebrities coped with it on a regular basis.

As the bed embraced her, her mind began to shut down and for what felt like the first time in three days her eyes drifted shut.

*

When his knocking received no response Matt tried the handle. The door was unlocked. He'd have to tell her that it didn't lock automatically. He stepped inside.

'Ella?' He was met with silence. He knew she hadn't left her suite so he went through to check she was okay.

He stopped at the bed and looked down at her sleeping form. He felt a slight jolt in his heart. He hadn't seen her since Sunday, although he knew through Ronnie's updates that she'd coped with the unwanted publicity. The jolt must just be relief to be able to see for himself that she was alright.

She looked beautiful lying there with her hand tucked under her head. Her now naturally coloured strawberry blond hair formed a shroud around her head. As he noticed her hair colour for the first time, he gave a little smile and wondered how many washes she'd had to endure to get the purple out! She had on a long floaty dress with a square neckline that just exposed the swell of her breasts. At that moment the need to have her had never felt stronger but given her reaction when she was awake, he didn't think she'd appreciate sleep sex. For the sake of his sanity he really hoped their time here would result in a more intimate relationship. He didn't know where this would go, he just knew he wanted her more than any other woman he'd ever spent time with.