Page 154 of Pure Recklessness

I nodded. Now everything made sense.

‘Thank you for telling me,’ I said softly. ‘I know it can’t have been easy.’

‘Thanks for listening. And for bringing me here. Dotty would’ve freaked if she knew I got to have the museum all to myself!’ Ellie’s face brightened.

‘What would Dotty do now if she was here with us tonight?’ I asked.

‘She would’ve made a beeline for the Dinosaurs Gallery, Earth Hall and gone to the volcanoes and earthquakes section like we did. Then to the Mammals Gallery and Treasures Gallery. After that, she would’ve raided the gift shop.’

‘Then we should do all of those things in her honour.’ I smiled.

‘The gift shop is closed though, isn’t it?’ She frowned.

‘Not any more,’ I said, firing off a text to Uma to make sure it was opened immediately. ‘When you’re with me, you can have anything you want.’

‘Anything?’ She looked up at me, eyes wide. ‘Even the roaring T. rex?’

‘Perhaps not the actual one in the Dinosaur Gallery, but a life-size replica? Abso-fucking-lutely.’

‘I was joking, but thanks.’ Ellie smiled. ‘This has been brilliant. I’ll remember this night for the rest of my life. It means more than you could ever know.’

Warmth flooded my chest and I kissed her gently on the cheek.

‘No thanks necessary,’ I said, pushing the conflicting feelings out of my mind. I was supposed to be drawing a line under things tonight.

But how could I now?

I knew I had a reputation for being heartless, but even I wasn’t that callous.

Ellie had just relived one of the most painful times in her life.

She’d opened up to me.

Bared her soul.

There was no way I could just drop her home and wave her off after that.

She’d said that she’d remember this night for the rest of her life, so I had to continue to make it memorable. For the right reasons.

‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and see those galleries for Dotty, then empty the gift shop. I’ll let Geoff know to go home and get the Range Rover. Sounds like we’ll be bringing back lots of extra cargo.’

58

ELLIE

As Blake and I stepped into his penthouse clutching half a dozen bags of souvenirs, a wave of happiness washed over me.

We’d had the best time at the Natural History Museum.

After we went to both the Mammals and Treasures Galleries, Blake took me to the gift shop.

At first, I said I’d just take a pen. But he’d rolled his eyes and said he hadn’t arranged for them to open the shop just to buy one item.

He’d said that unless we spent a minimum of five hundred pounds, the staff would call him Scrooge, so his reputation was on the line.

I knew he was lying.

Blake Devlin didn’t care what people thought about him.