How to Win a Guy in 10 Dates (15 page)

‘We’d better be heading off, if that’s okay with you Millie?’ Ed was already standing, tucking in his shirt, clicking his keys.

And in a blur, they were in the hall, spilling out of the door, Ed tickling Bella’s fingers as he said goodbye.

‘Okay?’ Sophie spoke under her breath as she cradled Millie’s shoulder with her spare arm, and patted her, anxiously. Then she raised her voice again, and a quizzical eyebrow. ‘One great guy you’ve found here Mills.’

‘He’s not mine, really he’s not.’ And really not wishing he was.

‘I believe you, thousands wouldn’t.’ Sophie waved from the doorstep. ‘Take care, see you guys again soon.’

Out on the pavement, beyond the neat designer hedge, Millie blinked in the afternoon sun, and let out a long shuddering sigh, which came to a premature end as she realised the limo was drawing away.

‘Where’s the car going Ed?’

Smothering a grin, he pushed his hand into his pocket, tossed his keys into the air.

‘Change of vehicle, I’m afraid.’ He nodded towards a sleek sports car. ‘I had it brought here whilst we were inside. I need to show this baby to my best friend Will. He’ll be at Cassie’s later – just to dangle it in front of him, make him jealous, you understand.’

Now she’d heard it all. She scoured his face in disbelief. ‘Guys do stuff like that?’

‘Yes, they do.’ He flashed her an unapologetic smirk. ‘And before you get in, I need a solid assurance you aren’t going to put your feet on the upholstery.’

She snorted. ‘I can walk.’

‘Now you’re being silly.’ He held the door open for her. ‘Jump in, and hold on tight.’

So cosy baby-cuddler had legged it, and testosterone-fuelled macho-man was here in his place.

She sniffed, to emphasise how un-impressed she was.

‘Sounds more like a plane than a car.’ Her head jerked against the head rest as Ed pulled away, and a nano second later they screeched to a halt at the end of the road.

He grinned across at her, as they pulled out into the line of traffic. ‘That went well then.’

‘As you said after your mother’s soiree, it depends who you are, and where you were standing.’ She returned his grin, less shaky now. ‘I’m just glad it’s over.’

‘Well, you and Sophie were great, there were no tensions, I didn’t pick up any jealousy vibes at all.’

‘Jealousy? Who said anything about jealousy?’ She stared at him, incredulous, hearing her voice soaring high. ‘You thought that’s why I didn’t want to see Sophie?’

Damn, damn, damn. Why had she said that? It was out before she could stop it.

‘Well if it wasn’t jealousy, why the hell was it?’ The sideways glance he shot her bore straight to her soul.

Millie avoided his eye, stared out of the window.

That was one secret she couldn’t share with anyone.

ED could tell from the way Cassie was swishing that she was in her element. She’d swished them into the house when they arrived, swished them out into the garden with the cream tea and strawberries, and even though they’d collapsed onto the easy chairs in the shade of the apple tree now, she was still damn well swishing.

‘Isn’t this lovely?’ She beamed down at them, in a way that made his blood boil, and even though he was the victor here, and this was the final set-piece of the challenge, he wasn’t enjoying rubbing her nose in it half as much as he’d anticipated. He shot a sideways glance at Millie, sitting in the next chair, coolly winding her dress strands around her fingers, and grimaced. At least she was holding up well in the face of the whirlwind that was Cassie Mitchum.

‘It might be lovely if you’d sit down.’

He guessed the real satisfaction was going to come when he showed Will the car that he wasn’t going to surrender, because, as predicted, he’d completed every step of the challenge, and managed not to fall in love. Not even come close.

‘Okay, keep your hair on.’ Cassie posted him one filthy look, as with one last twirl, she collapsed into a chair beside them.

Millie was laughing openly now.

Ed rounded on her. ‘What’s wrong with you, Millie?’

She pursed away the laughter. ‘Are you two always like this? You’ve been like squabbling ten tear olds ever since we arrived.’

‘Good point, well made Millie.’ Cassie glared at him. ‘Ed is always impossible.’

So ridiculous, he decided to let that go.

Millie cleared her throat. ‘So did Ed tell you why we’ve come Cassie?’

‘Sorry?’ Cassie on the spot, opening and closing her pretty mouth.

Ed cut in, before Millie could elaborate. ‘I didn’t because I thought we might not actually … ’

Millie’s eye-roll said she wasn’t going to let him off that lightly.

‘If Ed’s determined not to ask, I will.’ Millie raised her eyebrows at Cassie, and drew in a long breath. ‘You saw Lizzie, when you were in America – did she mention anything about Ed?’

Go straight for the jugular, why don’t you.

Millie spun to Cassie. ‘You will tell us if you know anything won’t you Cassie, because it’s important for Ed to know.’

‘Oh dear.’ Cassie sniffed deeply, chewed on her thumb as she hesitated. ‘I did see Lizzie, four years ago. I was traveling in the States, and I wasn’t even sure she’d agree to see me, but she did and we spent a couple of nights together. It wasn’t until the last night that she mentioned anything about you Ed. At first I thought she wasn’t going to, but in the end I had the feeling she was relieved to talk about it – finally. I was the first person in the family she’d ever agreed to see, apparently.’

Millie rounded on her fiercely. ‘So why didn’t you tell Ed when you came back?’

With fire-power like that, Ed was pleased Millie was fighting for him not against him.

‘Lizzie asked me not to say anything. And you know how Ed is.’ Cassie sent her a conspiratorial grimace. ‘Impossible at the best of times. Even if Lizzie had asked me to tell him everything, he wouldn’t have listened. So it was easier to leave it. That way I wasn’t breaking Lizzie’s confidence, and I wasn’t really short-changing Ed either. What she said was fairly shocking, and I didn’t want to hurt people.’ She gave a shivery shrug, offered a weak smile of excuse.

Ed blocked the constricting waves gripping his stomach. ‘So let’s get it over with. What the hell did she say?’

Cassie stared at her fingers. ‘When she got pregnant she was sixteen, with a really promising academic future. Mum and Dad were appalled, and she fought them to let her have the baby. They eventually agreed, but only on condition she gave the baby up and let them adopt it. Then they insisted she got on with her life.’

‘Hang on, this isn’t an ‘it’ we’re talking about, this is me!’

Cassie carried on as if she hadn’t heard him.

‘Lizzie was so furious with them, the only way she could handle it was by leaving completely. She kept contact to the bare minimum, because she said when she was in America, the pain was further away. Now she’s older, she doesn’t blame our parents, she knows they had her best interests at heart. She did marry, but she didn’t have any more children, because she knew that if anything happened to them she couldn’t go through the pain of losing another child. I think she always hoped you would contact her. For what it’s worth, I got the feeling being made to give you up pretty much broke her.’

‘Okay.’ Ed rubbed a thumb hard across his forehead struggling to take it in.

Except when had any of it ever been okay? At least he knew now.

So Millie had been right all along. Grinding his teeth, as the garden and the warm afternoon flickered in and out of focus. His mother hadn’t left him. Not voluntarily. His guts had momentarily dematerialised, and when he opened his mouth to speak, there weren’t any words. When he finally looked up Millie was staring at him, her cheeks blotchy and wet.

‘I told you Ed, I knew she was strong.’ She sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. ‘She had you because she loved you, and she didn’t choose or mean to leave you. She did it because she was made to.’

So that had wiped the smile off Cassie’s face. Just for once, bubbly, irrepressible, hideously annoying Cassie wasn’t bouncing. And for once she wasn’t gloating either. All of them, sitting under the apple tree, staring at the patches of blue sky through the gaps in the leaves. Not saying anything, because what the hell was there to say.

Ed slapped a hand to his head, as his body finally began to respond to his brain again. ‘So all my life I’ve hated her for something that wasn’t her fault. What a screw-up.’ He brought his fist down, and banged his knee.

Feeling the pressure of a light hand on his forearm now. Millie. Letting him know it was all good, that he could move through the anger that had been devouring his soul his whole life. That at last he would be able to trust, because just as Millie had said, none of it had been his mother’s choice.

Sliding around to watch Millie now. Make-up smudges under her eyes, hair like a tornado just passed through, anxiously rubbing her thumb over that pout. This unassuming, scruff of a girl who, one last time, had flipped his life upside down. How the hell did she keep doing that? As she caught his eye, her lips curved into the smallest, sweetest smile of encouragement that turned his legs molten in a heartbeat. He pushed that thought right to the back of his head and buried it. Fast. Under a mental rock fall. Even now she was effortlessly, sexy as hell, firing a rocket of latent lust through his groin, yet full of more goodness than anyone he’d ever known. Remembering what they were actually doing here, a yank of guilt ripped through his gut.

Here they were, waiting for Will, to wrap up the challenge, Millie, sitting there all raw, and soft, yet so wise and honest and strong, and somehow this was entirely the wrong place for her to be. A rush of shame engulfed him as he thought of the challenge. How cheap did that make him, faced with a woman of Millie’s integrity? The whole damn thing that had begun so harmlessly now showed him his true colours, sordid, tawdry and disgusting beside the amazing woman he’d been using. This was no place for Millie. A woman like her deserved so much better than this.

‘C’mon Millie.’ He grasped the chair arms decisively. ‘Let’s get you out of here, I’m taking you home.’

Somewhere on the periphery of his vision, Cassie began to flap her hands in protest. ‘But aren’t you waiting for Will, I’m sure he won’t be long? What about the … ’

Excellent question Cassie – and what about the challenge? How about stuff the damned challenge, right where it belonged, so it didn’t bring down a decent woman like Millie. Why the hell had he gone through with it? How the hell had he been so blind? When had harmless fun turned so damned cheap?

‘Millie’s back at work tomorrow, and there are things I need to tell her.’ Ignoring Millie’s wide-eyed query, he grasped her wrist. One tug, and she flew her out of her chair, her thigh crashing into his as she stumbled beside him. He was ready to make any bad excuse he could to get her out of here, and fast. ‘Best get off, then we’ll miss the worst of the traffic.’

‘Now you are being ridiculous Ed, its rush hour … ’

Cassie could protests as much as she wanted, he was out of here.

‘We’ll take our chances, thanks for the tea.’ He was already diving through the house, dragging Millie behind him. As soon as they were in the calm of the car he would come clean about the challenge.

Pushing Millie in front of him now, down the steps towards the car, as Cassie arrived, panting, clutching at his elbow.

‘Bye Millie, lovely to meet you, see you again soon!’ Cassie’s face folded into an anxious frown, as she murmured at his shoulder. ‘Aww, she’s so right for you. Whatever you do Ed, don’t mention you know …  The thing Will was coming for. Not to Millie.’

So typical of Cassie, never knowing when to stop meddling in his life.

‘Cut out the match-making Cassie. The challenge is over, and coming clean with Millie is the least I can do.’ He swept her hand away, and jumped the steps in one. ‘At least that way it ends honestly.’

‘Telling a woman that you only went out with her for a bet – you might as well give her a slap in the face.’ Her bright blue eyes were piercing and angry. ‘If you tell Millie that, you really don’t deserve her.’

As he swept towards the car, he could still see Cassie in doorway, red-faced and perplexed, and he fought the inner child in him, who still wanted to prove her wrong, at every turn.

He snorted dismissively. What did Cassie know anyway?

***

Ed usually found the cream interior of the Aston simultaneously calming and empowering, with its sleek leather seats and the robust instrument panel, but as they roared away from Cassie’s house he was anything but calm or empowered. In control at all times was how he liked to be, and right now he had the sense that his control was spiraling away from him. He snatched a glance at Millie, just to check she had both feet firmly on the floor. The way his life was unravelling right now, one careless girlie foot on a seat could easily push him over the edge.

‘Are you okay with what Cassie said about your mum?’ Her hand slipped onto his knee, gentle, caring, echoing the concern in her voice.

‘I will be.’ Eventually. When he’d stopped reeling, when he’d had time to assimilate, he was sure he’d feel better about it. ‘Thanks for making me come today, for making me ask.’ He shot her a glance he hoped was grateful enough.

‘I hope you didn’t rush away for me.’ Millie spoke, then wound around to watch him. ‘It’s amazing that you’re taking me home at all, when it’s a three hundred mile round trip. There’s no hurry.’

He shrugged, and grimaced as the traffic slid from a crawl to a halt, hammering his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘Good thing, given the gridlock.’

Damn that they were stuck, when all he wanted was to let rip, roar up the motorway.

‘But I thought you wanted to stay to see Will – didn’t you bring the car specially?’

And there he had it, the perfect opening. He inhaled, to psych himself up, knowing he’d feel better when he’d done it. He owed it to Millie to be honest, and if any woman would understand, she would.

‘There’s something I need to tell you about that.’ He threw a nervous glance, and fleetingly, met her eye. For a second the way she was sitting there, all soft and trusting, flipped his stomach. This was no time for him to go chicken. So long as he missed out the jibe about his bed conveyor-belt bed, if he put the right spin on it, he was sure he could make the whole thing sound above board.

‘Will and I had this bet. We were at a party, and he was going on about how I’d never had a steady girlfriend, and how he was sure I couldn’t manage ten dates with one woman. And I was sure I could.’

He flung a desperate grimace towards her.

‘So what’s this to do with me?’

He bashed on, cutting her off.

‘It sounds worse than it is. It was a challenge, there were incentives – houses, cars.’ He wished it didn’t sound so crass. ‘It was a ridiculous guy thing, that got out of hand, and I should never have involved you.’

This was not coming out well.

‘Are you saying I’m part of some bet of yours?’

Her brow was furrowed with disbelief, but at least she wasn’t shouting, although something in the detached chill of her voice sent warning shivers spiraling down his spine. Dammit, yelling would be a better option.

‘I’m so sorry, Millie, it was meant to be fun, you weren’t ever meant to know. But after what we shared this afternoon, I wanted to tell you.’ He watched, in horror, as she reached down and unclipped her seat belt, flailing for something to say in his defense. ‘Cassie said I shouldn’t say anything, but it didn’t seem fair not to. I’m trying to do the decent thing, to be honest.’

He was going from bad to worse here, given the way her face was folding in disgust.

‘Cassie was in this too?’ Her voice soared indignantly. She scrabbled, turning to kneel on the seat, as she reached into the back of the car, grabbing at her case. ‘Now I’ve heard it all.’

‘It isn’t as bad as it looks.’ He ducked as her travel bag swung past his ear. ‘What the hell are you doing, Millie?’

‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ She spat the words through gritted teeth, as she flung the door open. ‘I’m getting out of the car, and then I’m going home. On my own.’ She was already on the pavement, slamming the door, hair mussed all over her face, running, already merging with the crowds as they swarmed towards the nearby Underground entrance.

‘Wait Millie, I can explain … ’ Ed was out of the car and lunging across the road, but in the two seconds it took to reach the pavement, Millie had gone.

Damn, damn, damn. Why the heck did he do this right outside a tube station? If he’d had half a brain he’d have waited until they were on the motorway. He closed his eyes, shook his head. He could try to follow her, but given the crowds he had little chance of finding her. And if he did catch her up, would she even speak to him?