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“I’ll be right back,” Reece said as he left the room, bolting up the stairs to knock on her bedroom door. When she didn’t answer, he let himself in. The room was empty. Where had she gone?
He headed for the kitchen to check with Maggie, but she wasn’t there either. Now there were two missing females. Where had everyone gone?
He retraced his steps to the library. Marcus was on the phone doing damage control, but looked up as he entered. “Have you seen Maggie?”
“I saw her leave a few minutes past. I think she was heading to the village.”
“Oh,” he said in relief. “I’ll catch up with her when she gets back.” He backed out of the room. “If you’re through with me, I’m going to try to track down Nicole. I think she might have tried to walk to the ruins.”
Marcus’s brows rose at that surprising bit of info. “She knows about the ruins?”
“Yeah, I showed them to her the first day we were here.”
His brother frowned. “You never show anyone the ruins.”
“I showed them to her,” Reece said as he turned on his heel, leaving the house and his brother behind.
~ ~ ~
As soon as Nicole hit London, she called Laura, asking her to meet her at the airport with the rest of her belongings. She wasn’t worried about what her friend would say to the press. Her reputation was already ruined.
She bought her ticket for the flight home, waiting impatiently for Laura to arrive. She paced back and forth in the waiting area, staring at the teleprompter to force time to go faster and wishing to slow it down when it sped up. She was an emotional wreck.
She started to wonder about Reece, but she quickly slammed the lid on the subject. He was the last thing she should be thinking about at a time like this.
She sent an email to her editor, asking Audrey to meet her at the airport when she arrived in New York. She was going to hand over her notes then board a plane for North Carolina. She wanted her mother. She wanted her family. She wanted to bury her head in her pillow and cry.
~ ~ ~
Reece drove back to London in a fury, speeding down the country lanes like a race car driver, taking the turns on two wheels, and nearly decimating a herd of sheep that had wandered into the road. He had to get to Nicole before she disappeared. He had to know why she’d left.
There’d been no explanation. No note. Only silence. He tried calling the phone number she gave him, but it went to voicemail every time. Where had she gone? He thought her friend Laura would know, so he dialed the number to the house. It rang five times before it was finally answered.
“Hello,” Laura said.
He was disappointed it wasn’t Nicole. “Laura, hello. It’s Reece Collins. Is Nicole there by any chance?”
There was a slight pause. “She’s not here, but if she was, I wouldn’t give her the phone. You’ve got a lot of nerve calling here. You’re a real piece of work.”
“What are you talking about? Is Nicole there or not?”
“No, she’s not here any longer. She flew out of London hours ago. She’s on her way home.”
Reece cursed beneath his breath. He’d missed her. Damn that Maggie! He ridden over to the ruins on the off chance of finding her, but there had been no sign of her, either coming or going.
He rode back to the house and waited for Maggie to return from the village. He questioned her about Nicole’s whereabouts, but she gave him no information. It wasn’t until Marcus left for London that she’d told him the truth. She’d driven an overwrought Nicole to the train station and put her on a train for London.
Maggie had lectured him for hours about his treatment of the girl. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so angry with him. He’d always been her little angel, while Marcus was the devil incarnate, but today she seemed to see horns on Colin instead of a halo. Why? Yes, he screwed up royally, but that was no reason to rake him over the coals and set his ear on fire.
He’d torn out of the driveway and down the lane, almost slamming into the closed gates. He saw a van pulled up alongside of the road, flipping them the international sign of ‘bugger off’ before speeding away.
~ ~ ~
Laura arrived at the airport thirty minutes before the flight was to depart. She rushed up to Nicole, hugging her. “I’m sorry I took so long. There was an unexpected phone call just as I was walking out the door.”
Nicole’s eyes widened. “Was it him?”
“Yeah, and I told him what for.”
