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Her expression tightened. ‘So, I like a bad boy. It’s not unusual, you know.’
Wham. It felt like being punched in the gut. Her words couldn’t have been clearer. I don’t fancy you. Nick knew he could put on black leathers and shove a stud through his nose but he’d still look like the blasted boy next door.
‘Sorry.’ He let out a long, slow breath. ‘I didn’t mean to pry or to criticise.’
They walked on, but now the atmosphere between them was charged and Lizzie looked as tense as she had in LA. Change the bloody subject.
‘The pub’s not far. In fact, if you look over to your left, you’ll see the roof peeping out from between the hills.’ He slid a sideways glance at her. ‘Hopefully after you’ve eaten you’ll be sufficiently revived to keep up on the way back.’
‘Funny man.’ With a toss of her head she marched out ahead of him. Distracted by the sight of her trim behind, Nick stepped straight into a mound of sheep dung.
Chapter Six
Barring their altercation on the way to the pub — and how upsetting had that been, hearing Nick talk about this Sally woman. The one he appeared to be seeing for a quick shag when he felt in the mood, and then in the next breath criticising her own choice of companion. Apart from that though, it had been a good day. In fact Lizzie wondered if it might even go down in her diary as one of the best she’d had in recent memory. What it had lacked in sparkle and glitz, had been amply made up with fresh air, laughter and blessed peace. Back at the barn now, and having eaten Nick’s excellent steak and chips, washed down with half a bottle of very nice Merlot, she lay on the sofa, pleasantly exhausted. Nick had disappeared off to his study a while ago and she was summoning up the energy to climb the stairs to bed. It made her laugh to see it was only ten o’clock. In LA the evening would only just be getting started. Here, in the English countryside, all she was fit for was curling up and going to sleep.
Reluctantly she tore her body from the too comfortable sofa and climbed up the stairs. Nick’s deep voice echoed from his study as he talked to someone on the phone. She came to an abrupt halt when she realised he was talking about her.
‘Dan, I don’t have to remind you how much we need to sort this out, for Lizzie’s sake. Are you really going to tell me you haven’t found anything on this guy?’
Her hackles rose. Why hadn’t Nick told her he was going to be discussing her situation with his attorney friend tonight? Not only that, why hadn’t he let her join in? Angrily she pushed open the door. Nick acknowledged her with a frown before turning his attention back to the person on the phone.
‘Sorry, mate, I know you’re trying your best. I’ll mull it over again this end and call you back later.’ With a hiss of frustration he ended the call and turned to face her. ‘Dan’s been following up on some leads, but it doesn’t look as if any have been successful so far.’
‘And when, exactly, were you going to tell me about this?’ Her voice sounded horribly shrill, but she was cross.
‘I’m not sure, exactly, but some time tomorrow morning.’
‘Don’t you think you should have consulted me before discussing my private life with one of your friends?’
‘Hey, that’s not fair.’ He leapt to his feet and moved to touch her shoulder but she shrugged off his hand. ‘That’s not how it was,’ he replied stiffly. ‘You agreed to let Dan be your attorney. All I’m trying to do is help. Can’t you see that?’
‘Yes, I can. What I can’t understand is why you think you can do this without talking to me. It’s my mess, my life.’
He sighed deeply and turned to look out of the window, leaving her with a view of the rigid set of his shoulders. ‘Today you looked happy. The torment had disappeared from your eyes. I didn’t want to bring it back again so soon.’
Oh God, what could she say to that? The sincerity of his quietly spoken words knocked the anger from her. But it didn’t mean he was right.
‘Nick.’
He glanced back over his shoulder, his dark eyes watchful.
‘I understand you were trying to protect me, and I thank you for it. But I’m no longer a little girl who needs you to look after her. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need wrapping in cotton wool and cosseting.’
‘Message understood.’ Slowly he moved to sit back at his desk. ‘I guess it was naive of me to think you might need rescuing. You’ve always been strong, not to mention fiercely independent.’ Once seated, he smiled, though his eyes were . . . sad? That was it. Why on earth was he sad? ‘I promise not to exclude you from now on.’
The last thing she wanted to do was upset him, but he looked so drained, defeated almost, she knew she had. Maybe one day she’d understand what was going on in that super brain of his, but clearly it wasn’t going to be today. ‘I didn’t mean to sound so mean. You know how grateful I am for everything you’re doing.’
* * *
Nick tried to smile at her, but his face was so tight he couldn’t manage it, so instead he turned his attention to his computer. Gratitude. That was all she was ever going to feel towards him, and it was about time he got the bloody message. He’d been trying to come to her rescue like a flaming superhero — erase the bad man, win the girl. He should have known better. All Lizzie needed was a friend to advise her. Not Superman to take over. He had to stop morphing into this moping, lovesick fool every time he saw her. It was really starting to piss him off — God knows what it was doing to her.
‘Why don’t you go to bed, Lizzie,’ he replied finally, aware she was still hovering. ‘I promise I’ll run through everything with you tomorrow morning.’
She gave him a curt nod and left the room. To give her space — give them both space — he took a few minutes to go through his emails. Just as he was gearing up to go to bed, his mobile rang. He looked at the caller ID and sighed.
Then sucked in a breath and shoved a smile on his face. ‘Sally.’
‘Well, hello stranger. You’re answering your phone so you can’t have totally disappeared off the planet.’
