The door closed behind him and Laura sank down on the sofa, finally giving in to the tears that had threatened the whole time her brother was there. How could she go after Daniel? What was the point? He wasn't interested in the fact that she was in love with him. He'd made it plain he couldn't accommodate a relationship, and she'd made it clear to him that she had no interest in one. It was too late.
In a temper, Laura kicked the exercise books off the sofa and curled up in a ball. It was so unfair! All those years making such an effort to avoid falling in love, only for it to happen anyway without her having any say in the matter!
****
"Daniel. I need a word, please."
Ben had used his full name. That was not a good sign. "What—now?"
"Yes, now."
Rolling his eyes, Daniel left the photocopier to its own devices and followed Ben into his office. His brother sat down and indicated the chair opposite.
Daniel sat. "What's up?"
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps you could tell me."
"What are you talking about?"
Ben steepled his fingers together on the desk and looked across at him. "It's been six weeks since you came back from that first trip to the Costa Verde. Thankfully, you've been back there again for two of those six, because in the other four, so far you've had Becky in tears, me tearing my hair out, and for your information, the office junior walked out this morning and she's refusing to come back. And—most telling of all—Natalie has asked me for a reference. She's job hunting."
Daniel's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure . . . what you're getting at." Although a sinking feeling told him he did.
"Then let me spell it out for you. I'll start by saying you're my brother and my best friend, and I will love you to the ends of the earth."
Shocked, Daniel was surprised to feel a tear prick at the corner of his eye. He and Ben never did the touchy-feely stuff.
"But?"
"But you're unbearable, Dan, you really are. Since your trip in August you've been like a bear with a sore head, barely communicating with anyone – and when you do, it's only to snap our heads off."
He stared, dumb, at Ben's pale, serious face. "I'm sorry. I've . . . been out of sorts a little."
Ben shook his head. "Not 'a little,' Daniel. A lot. We can't take it anymore."
With the surprise wearing off, Daniel moved to a defensive position. "Oh? And what are you intending to do about it?"
Ben shook his head and pointed at Daniel's chest. "It's more of a question of what you're going to do about it."
"I don't . . ."
"If you don't hunt up this Laura Matheson, then I'll do it for you and drag you to her myself."
Daniel's mouth dropped open. "How did you . . . ?"
"Natalie's not stupid. Why do you think she's hunting for another job? She knows she'll never have you because you're in love with someone else."
"Why, that little . . ."
"No. There's no blame here. We're all grateful to her for the insight. And Becky's over the moon you've finally found someone. She just wants you to sort it out before she personally strangles you."
Daniel sagged, beaten, in the chair. "Okay, okay. I like Laura, but I wouldn't say I'm in love with her. I . . ." He stopped, dumbfounded, as the truth hit him.
Ben grinned. "Yep. That's the 'aha!' moment alright. Wish I had my camera."
"Oh no." Daniel's eyes were wide with shock. "No, no. This is disastrous!"
"Only you could say being in love is disastrous. In what way is it disastrous?"
"Ben, you know I can't . . ." He stopped. No point dragging his brother off on a guilt trip.
Ben dropped his joking expression. "What? You can't have a relationship because I have one? Because I have family commitments? Because of the boys?"
He got up from his chair and came around to perch on the edge of the desk, laying a hand on Daniel's arm.
"No, Daniel. No more. Becky and I have talked about this. We felt terrible when you broke up with Fliss, but we were so caught up in things . . . and then when you were seeing Natalie, well, I guess we didn't want that one to work. You seemed happy travelling and being a bachelor. We didn't realise . . . I mean, we knew you'd been getting a little travel-weary lately, but when you came back from Portugal, we knew something was seriously wrong. When you went back out there, Natalie gave us her diagnosis."
Daniel gave a small shrug of defeat. "A diagnosis is all well and good, but I don't see a cure in the offing, do you?"
Ben stood and paced the office. "Yes, I do. We've already made progress in that direction. Becky loves the few hours she's doing here and the break from the boys. That was an inspired idea of yours."
"Actually, it was Laura's," Daniel muttered.
Ben raised an eyebrow. "I like her already. So now all we have to do is hire someone to do a sizeable proportion of your travelling."
"And that someone is going to cost money."
Ben shrugged. "Speculate to accumulate and all that. Besides, if Natalie goes, I'll need you here anyway. So that means all you have to do is find Laura and tell her you're in love with her."
"Oh, that's all, is it? You have this all figured out, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"And if I don't go along with it?"
"Then I'll expand the company to include somewhere remote with no communication network whatsoever, and put you in charge there."
Daniel laughed despite himself. "Have I really been that bad?"
Ben was about to answer, probably with colourful vocabulary, when there was a tentative knock at the door and Becky poked her head cautiously round it.
"Daniel? There's a call for you. He says it's important and he's not taking any excuses."
Daniel frowned. "Who is it?"
"Someone called Steve Matheson."
****
By the time school finished on Monday, Laura was exhausted. Between wondering over Steve's altered view on life and wallowing in her own misery, she'd barely slept over the weekend.
With a sigh, she tidied up after her class, a particularly riotous lot who always left an inordinate number of rulers, pens, and goodness knew what else littering the place. Lifting a tall pile of textbooks onto a top shelf, she let out a yelp as the precariously stacked pile next to it tumbled past her head onto the floor, where several landed on her feet before she could jump out of the way. Hopping on one foot to rub her ankle and cursing with unusual vigour, wearily she stooped to pick them up.
"I see you're back on form."
There was no mistaking the deep, velvet tones of the voice behind her. Holding her breath, Laura rose and turned to see his tall figure standing just inside the doorway. With several books still unnoticed in her arms, she walked slowly towards him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Welcoming as always, I see." Daniel was still smiling, but as she drew closer to him, it changed into a frown. "You've lost weight."
There was a giggle from the corridor, and Laura spun around to see two of her students watching. Crossly, she marched over and slammed the door. Only when she heard their footsteps fade did she swing back to face Daniel.
"Don't be so hard on them," he said. "Perhaps they're not used to seeing their teacher with an eligible bachelor." His expression serious again, he asked, "Why are you so thin?"
"Never mind my weight!" she snapped at him, still embarrassed by her students. "How did you know where to find me?"
"I charmed the receptionist into giving me a guest pass and telling me where your classroom is. I told her I was your long-lost cousin on a surprise visit from Australia."
"I don't mean that," Laura said with exasperation, although she could well believe it. "I mean, how did you even know where I work?"
"Your brother told me," he said quietly.
"My brother! Steve told you? When? I mean, how . . . ?"
"You're a little overwrought. Perhaps you should sit down." He pushed her gently into a chair, removing the
books from her arms and placing them on a nearby desk.
"I am not overwrought, and stop manhandling me!" Laura shook off his arm. "I want to know what's going on, that's all!"
Daniel leaned against the wall, and for the first time, Laura realised he too must have lost weight as she took in his leaner frame, the gaunt line of his jaw, the tired lines at his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, hesitating as though he didn't know where to start.
"Steve phoned me this morning at my office," he told her.
"But why did he . . . and how did he know where . . . I haven't told him about you . . ."
"He looked up Stone Brothers on the Internet. I must say he came on a bit strong at first. Like a father brandishing a shotgun! Wanting to know what I'd been doing to his little sister to leave her in such a state, what my intentions were, that sort of thing. He demanded I come and sort things out with you but he wouldn't tell me where you live, only where you work—for security purposes, I suppose."
Laura's cheeks burned bright red with anger and embarrassment. How dare Steve do a thing like that? When she first saw Daniel standing in the doorway, for a brief moment her heart had leapt at the thought that he'd come because he wanted some sort of future for them, after all. But no. He'd come because he'd been threatened by an angry older brother who'd stuck his nose in something he knew absolutely nothing about.
"I'll kill him!" she said furiously. "This has nothing whatsoever to do with him!" Making an effort to calm down, she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Daniel. Steve should never have called you, and he certainly shouldn't have spoken to you that way. He has no idea what he's talking about. I haven't even told him about you. He's jumping to ridiculous conclusions. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."
She began to gather her things together, but Daniel's arm shot out to stop her.
"I haven't come for nothing, Laura. And don't be so hard on Steve. He did what he thought was best. Besides, his call came through precisely two minutes after Ben told me if I didn't come and find you, he'd do it for me."
"He did?" Laura was thrown off guard again, but she still had no idea why he'd gone to all this trouble, and it was best not to give anything away until she knew.
"I needed to see you," Daniel said in earnest, startling her with the intensity in those deep blue eyes of his.
Her defences up, not daring to hope, Laura snapped, "I don't know why. You've left it long enough!"
Exasperated, Daniel started to pace up and down the classroom. "I know, and you have every right to be angry with me."
"On the contrary, I have no right at all. You never promised anything. I haven't been in touch with you, either. I assumed you wouldn't want me to. And if you did, then I'm sorry, but as I said before, quick flings aren't my style."
"Is that what you still think?" There was surprise on his face. "That all I want is an affair with you?"
"Well, isn't it?" Laura shot back. "We've been through all this before, Daniel. You have no time for proper relationships and I understand that. But if you've come here to act on . . . on that chemistry you were always so insistent about, on a casual basis, then . . ."
"That's not what I've come back for!" His eyes blazed.
"Then why did you?"
"Because I've been going crazy and I finally worked out why. Or Ben did, because I've been so insufferable. It was only when the new office junior left and Ben told me he might have to send me to some remote outpost that I realised how impossible I've been. I blamed it on overwork, but I think I already knew deep down. Ever since I went back to the Quinta to meet with Paulo . . ." He stopped pacing and caught her gaze. "I realised how much I missed you not being there. How much I missed you, full stop."
Closing the gap between them, he hesitated a long moment as though gauging her reaction. He lowered his mouth to hers, gentle in apology, and then his lips moved across her cheeks as he tenderly kissed away the tears that had started to fall.
Laura, too tired and stunned to fight him, leaned in to breathe in his familiar scent.
"You don't know how much I've missed you," he whispered.
"Yes, I do," she murmured, "because I've missed you just as much."
When she pulled away, Daniel's brows knitted together. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head, forcing back more tears. How could she tell him how it felt to be in his arms after weeks of thinking she would never feel their warmth again? To be with the man she loved? But that was the problem. He'd said he missed her, but he hadn't said he loved her.
The door swung open and Jean burst in with an armful of books, stopping dead when she saw the two of them so close together, their expressions so serious. Blustering her way through an apology, she beat a hasty retreat.
"I'm getting tired of our affectionate exchanges happening in public places," Daniel muttered. "Don't you think this might be an appropriate moment to reveal your home address?"
Laura stared at him bleakly. What had she been thinking? For those few glorious moments, she'd revelled in the notion that he'd missed her, that he'd come to find her—but it didn't change anything. Fumbled attempts at some long-distance affair that could never work held no appeal for her.
Laura shook her head. She couldn't do this. Parting from him in Portugal had caused her more pain than she could ever have imagined. She couldn't go through all that again—become addicted to his kisses and closeness when all he could offer her was an affair going nowhere.
"Laura, what's going on in that head of yours?" he asked warily.
"I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm just not the type to have an affair."
"Who said anything about having an affair?"
"You did," Laura said uncertainly. "I think."
"No, I didn't." Daniel rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Maybe at the start . . . I was attracted to you, and I didn't see the harm in a little flirting. But the more I got to know you, things changed, only I wouldn't admit to myself they had. Don't you see?"
"No, I don't see. If you don't want an affair, then why have you come? What do you want?"
He threw his hands in the air. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Laura. I love you. I want to marry you, and have a family with you, and hold hands with you on the beach when we're eighty. Is that plain English enough for you?"
Laura's mouth gaped, and he gently pushed it closed. "I think that's the first time I've seen you speechless." His expression became serious again. "Say yes, Laura. Put me out of my misery."
Laura stood, tears rolling down her face. Daniel loved her. He wanted to marry her.
"Daniel, your work . . ."
He placed a finger across her lips. "Ben has agreed that the business is growing so much, it needs both of us based in London. I can have my shot at suburban domesticity now." He shrugged. "And who knows? If it keeps on growing, some day we might need someone based in each of the countries we travel to." He winked. "Portugal, maybe."
Laura couldn't stop crying.
Daniel brushed the tears away with his thumb. "Laura. Say yes."
She sniffed, then threw her arms around his neck, burrowing her face in his chest to dampen his shirt. "Yes!"
Epilogue
Laura turned to look at the rows of flower-decked chairs behind her – at her friends, her mother, Steve and his new wife, Ben and his family. She spotted Maria dabbing a handkerchief to her eyes, her ambition to host Laura's wedding before she retired so unexpectedly realised.
The late October weather had been kind to them, graciously allowing them to hold the ceremony outside in the afternoon sun before retiring indoors to the function room, where Maria had outdone herself.
They had just finished the part where the groom is told he can kiss the bride, and Laura was still blushing from the thorough way Daniel had carried out his instructions, with everyone she knew looking delightedly on. She thought she might burst with happiness.
Later, much later, when she was exhausted from the dancing and the excitement, they walked hand in hand down the path to th
eir room.
"Why are you grinning like the Cheshire Cat?" Daniel asked her.
"I was thinking how glad I am that you changed your mind."
"About what?"
"About not being the marrying kind."
"I never said that, did I?" There was a mischievous glint in his eye.
"You know very well you did," she chided.
"So I did. And it was true, at the time. It was also a good excuse for not admitting to myself that I might be changing my mind. You said something along the same lines yourself, I recall."
Laura smiled. "I suppose I did." She moved closer in. "Won't you miss it? The travelling, I mean?"
Firmly, he shook his head. "No. I've served my time. I want to concentrate on settling down with my wife and making babies and growing old gracefully. We'll find some up-and-coming youngster to scurry around all over Europe."
Laura smoothed the smile lines around his eyes with a fingertip. "Do you think you'll be able to find someone who can live up to your standards?"
Exasperated, Daniel scooped her into his arms to carry her over the threshold. "Why don't you stop thinking about business for a while and concentrate on pleasure instead, Mrs. Stone?"
Obediently, Laura did just that.
About the Author
Helen Pollard writes contemporary romance with old-fashioned heart. She believes there will always be a place for romantic fiction, no matter how fast-paced and cynical the world becomes. Readers still want that feel-good factor - to escape from their own world for a while and see how a budding romance can blossom and overcome adversity to develop into love ... and we all need a little love.
A Yorkshire lass, Helen is married, with two teenagers. They share space with a Jekyll and Hyde cat that alternates between being obsessively affectionate and viciously psychotic. Antiseptic cream is always close at hand.
When Helen’s not working or writing, it goes without saying that she loves to read. She enjoys a good coffee in a quiet bookshop, and appreciates the company of family and close friends.
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