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"I'm afraid I've hit a technical glitch, we've got a power cut at the hotel." She pushed back her shoulders. "I'm going to have to get to the nearest town and fax it to you." A gaping cavern of silence yawned open at the other end of the phone. "I'm heading out with it now." Amy paused, waiting for any sign of confirmation. Still nothing. The cavern was getting big enough to fall into. She tried to resist the urge to babble, to fill the silence with sound. A flicker of annoyance charged her body. Talk about making you feel uncomfortable. What had been a feeling of panic was fast turning into anger.
"Fiona. I'm sorry about this but–"
"You've got one hour, that's it. If it's not on my desk by eleven o' clock we run without you."
"Thanks, Fi—"
"Don't thank me, just get it done." The line went dead.
Amy turned her phone off with a jabbing digit, glaring at it. "And a good day to you too."
A modicum of politeness wouldn't have gone amiss. Did the woman have no compassion? If it had been Janine she'd have teased her and offered support, but it wasn't Janine, and that was the point. It was a whole new ball game and Amy felt as if she was playing it blindfolded. She only knew half the rules. For the first time she wished she hadn't badgered her father into giving her the feature. He'd been right. It wasn't the usual route. Her enthusiasm had got the better of her and she'd picked herself the hardest path, as usual. She threw the phone on the bed, still glaring at it.
"Amy?"
"Sorry." She found a smile for him.
He held out her shoes and her handbag.
"Oh, what a total hero you are." She winked. "Right." She snatched up her printed copy. "She's given me an extra hour. We've got until eleven. Let's find somewhere we can get this fax sent."
They raced out of the room and down the stairs.
The woman on reception was marginally friendlier than the imperious little upstart who had greeted them the evening before. She apologized for the inconvenience and she did have a suggestion.
"Head toward Thirsk. You'll see a general store on your right hand side. The owner has a generator and a fax machine. Even if his power is out you should be able to send your documents."
"Thanks. Come on, we'll have to make it quick." Sebastian urged her on.
She snatched up her bag and her printed copy and marched out alongside him. "I was hoping for a lucky break on this job, what a joke."
"We've got time, we'll get it sent."
"I wish I had your faith."
He held the Land Rover door opened for her and she climbed in. When he took the driver's seat he reached over to pull her seat belt on, which she had ignored. "You certainly are having your adventure aren't you?"
"Well, I suppose so. I hadn't thought of it like that." He was right, to some extent, but dodging Fiona's snide comments wasn't the sort of adventure she had hoped for. She glanced at him as he revved the engine and set off down the private lane toward the main road. He was the real adventure. Mr. Sebastian Armitage was every bit the adventure she'd secretly craved.
"It was what you wanted, an adventure, wasn't it?" He was teasing her again.
She threw him a dirty look, but he was smiling at the countryside ahead. He hauled the Land Rover out of the lane and onto the main road. She hoped he knew where he was going.
"Yes, I did want an adventure, but I also wanted to find facts along the way and produce a relevant report." The gauge on the speedo was rising rapidly. She glanced from it to the clock next to it, and bit her lip.
"You'll do that, and it means we've got another few days together, right? That can't be a bad thing." He flickered his eyebrows.
"Yes, Sebastian, we've got another few days." She gave him a stern, disapproving glance, but couldn't hold back her smile. She turned to her window and composed her face. "However…I haven't got any new facts yet, that's not good." All she could see ahead were hedges and green hills and she was beginning to think the world was against her. She craned her neck every time they hurtled around a bend, looking for this fabled convenience store.
"We are having fun though?"
Of course he was having fun. It wasn't his neck on the line. "Sebastian. That's beside the point. I'm not having fun with the job."
"But you are enjoying yourself?"
"Oh, I get it. You want me to tell you how much I appreciate you distracting me from my job?" She couldn't resist, if he was going to enjoy her deadline jeopardy, he was going to have to take some of the blame.
"A man likes to be appreciated."
