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This time his smile was more genuine. ‘Yes, sorry. Something came up.’ He cringed at his awful phrasing.
‘Something?’
And yes, he deserved that question. Time he had the conversation with her he should have done the moment he’d brought Lizzie here. ‘A friend of mine is in trouble. She’s staying with me at the barn for a while until we can sort it out.’
‘She?’
Damn, why was he feeling so guilty? ‘Yes. She.’
There was a brief pause before Sally replied. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Another pause. ‘Is this friend the same one you once mentioned to me? The one who headed off to the States and broke your heart?’
He’d spilled his feelings to Sally one drunken evening, not long after Lizzie had returned home following the funeral. What had started out as a quick drink after work had ended with them both having too much to drink, and going back to his flat. Sally had listened, made sympathetic noises, then told him she’d just had her own heart broken by a guy who’d cheated on her. Drowning in their shared misery, they’d gone on to have sloppy, drunken, consolation sex. After that it had become an unspoken agreement that when one of them needed cheering up, or someone to share something with, they’d hook up. ‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘It’s the same friend.’
‘Ah. Is she okay?’
Nick had never told Sally exactly who his ‘friend’ was, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. ‘She will be,’ he said firmly.
There was another silence and Nick guessed Sally was put out that he was being so tight-lipped, but even if he hadn’t wanted to protect Lizzie’s privacy, he still wouldn’t have wanted to talk to his sometime lover about the woman he loved.
‘So, I guess me popping over this weekend is a bad idea then?’
Nick shut his eyes, leaning back on his chair. ‘It would be better if you didn’t come over, yes.’ Christ, this was awkward. He felt like he was cheating on her, and in effect he was, even if just with his mind. It didn’t matter that Sally knew the score. She was a great woman. She deserved more than being someone’s occasional shag. ‘Look, Sally—’
‘It’s fine,’ she interrupted. ‘Whatever spiel you were going to give me about this not being fair on me, you can forget it. I went into this with my eyes wide open. I hope you manage to help your friend. I’ll still be here when she goes back to the States.’
‘That’s not right.’ He let out a long, deep sigh. ‘You deserve more than this.’
‘I think you’ve forgotten what I said at the beginning. I’m not after any more than this. I’ll see you in the office?’
‘Yes. I’ll be in next week.’
When he put down the phone he felt sadder than he had in a long, long while. What was wrong with him that he was pining after a woman who didn’t want him, not like that, when he should be out there looking for someone who did? And why, instead of doing that, was he making do with some half-baked relationship where they were both using each other, rather than supporting each other, protecting each other? Loving each other?
* * *
Lizzie wished she hadn’t listened to all that. Wished instead she’d walked away as soon as she’d heard Nick talking on the phone again. She’d only come back to his office to apologise again for being such a bitch to him.
She turned to move, and the damn floorboard creaked.
‘Lizzie?’
Forcing a smile on her face, she opened the door. ‘Sorry. I just came back to apologise again, and then I heard you on the phone, so . . .’ I listened in, like a nosy cow, and now wished I hadn’t. ‘I didn’t want to intrude.’ She twisted her hands, feeling stupid. Not only was she putting on him in terms of his hospitality, his work, now she was getting in the way of his love life. ‘Look, I can go away for the weekend. Give you and Sally some privacy.’
He exhaled harshly, shoving a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know how much you overheard, but I have no interest in seeing Sally while you’re here.’ His dark eyes rested on hers. ‘You are far more important to me.’
Inside her chest her heart stuttered, then did a long, slow flip. Funny how none of the men she’d ever slept with had told her that. Determined not to think about how important she would remain when she went back home, and he picked up his affair again, Lizzie went up to him and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you.’
Chapter Seven
When Lizzie walked down to the kitchen the next morning, Nick was nowhere to be seen. She knew he wasn’t in bed, because he’d left the door to his room wide open. The king-sized bed was rumpled but empty and there had been no sound of a shower. For the briefest of moments she wondered if he’d decided to drive into the office to avoid talking to her about his late night chat with Dan, but when she looked out of the window his car was still on the drive. It was then she noticed the lone runner, making his way across the fields towards the barn. Even from a distance, she could tell it was him. A tall, rangy figure dressed in T-shirt and shorts. The sight made her smile. He’d never been one for all the gear, something that had always amused her and Robert. Here was a man who did so much exercise he needed the lycra leggings and climate control vests, yet he was happier wearing tatty T-shirts and shorts, leaving the latest athletic fashions to the fair weather joggers.
She opened the door for him and he stood on the step, panting slightly. About the same way she panted when she walked up the stairs. ‘Morning.’
He eyed up her dressing gown clad figure. ‘Morning, sleepyhead. When are you going to get up early enough to come and join me?’
Her eyes strayed to his legs. Used to seeing male legs smothered with fake tan and waxed hairless, Nick’s were a novelty. Pale and covered in a fine layer of dark hair, they were muscular and most definitely male. ‘It all depends on how far, and how fast, you’re planning on going.’ Reluctantly she shifted her gaze back to his face.
‘Worried it won’t be fast enough or far enough?’
