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Placing the wrapping paper to one side, he held her present in his hands, his forehead furrowed.
‘My name doesn’t start with the letter Q.’
‘I know,’ she replied, trying to sound cool, even though everything inside her was anything but.
Running his fingers over the fur, he inspected her handiwork. His hand stilled as he found an uneven edge. ‘You made this?’
She shrugged.
His smile was broad. ‘You made this for me.’
Estelle forced her lips to stay shut. This was not how she thought this would go down. Eveline had been right. The amount of time and effort she’d put into creating the fur Q had demonstrated just how much she’d been thinking about James.
He placed it carefully on his desk, then held her gaze. ‘Thank you. I’ll think of you every time I look at it.’
Oh, god. She swallowed. Quick! Think of something cutting to say!
His phone rang. Not breaking eye contact, he reached to pick it up, only glancing at the screen when it was in front of him.
His expression immediately changed.
Pushing off the desk, he moved towards the door. ‘I’ve got to take this.’
Chester and Joy went to follow.
‘Stay,’ he said to them.
James went into the corridor, closing the door behind him, but not before Estelle heard him say the word ‘Char’.
11
‘Hey, hey, it’s alright. Just tell me what’s going on so I can sort it,’ James said into his phone as he strode towards the door to the main house.
Max stuck his head into the corridor. ‘Boss-man!’
James held up his hand, his fingers splayed to indicate he needed five minutes, and continued on.
‘Hang on, let me find somewhere quiet,’ he said into the phone.
The door to the main house was unlocked.
Fuck’s sake. Was it his mum? Elyse?
Taking the stairs two at a time, he made his way to his room. There were women’s clothes on the bed.
‘Char, don’t go anywhere,’ he said into the phone before pressing it into his chest and calling out, ‘Elyse?’
Elyse wandered out of his bathroom, her hair in a turban and a tiny towel barely covering her modesty. ‘Hi, I thought you were done.’
‘What are you doing here?’
She shrugged. ‘Your shower’s better than mine.’
‘You can’t use it.’
‘Why not?’
‘I need to take this call.’
