An Ordinary Girl

by Barabara Elsborg

  Dalton suspected he was opening and closing his mouth like a floundering fish.

  The guy sighed. “Come in.”

  As Dalton stepped inside, Ash came rushing toward him. “What are you doing here? I can’t find my passport. Noah’s not answering his phone… Oh my God, is it Noah? Something’s happened?”

  She paled and staggered, and the dark-haired guy grabbed her elbow.

  “He’s fine,” Dalton said. “I wrecked his phone, washed it with his pants and he’s lost your number. He called me in a panic from a pay phone when you didn’t turn up for the train. I told him to get on it and I’d come and see what was wrong. You’ve lost your passport?” Did Kay not get my text?

  “We’ve searched everywhere,” Ash said.

  “How did you know where Ash lived?” the guy asked.

  “Noah told me.” He turned to Ash. “He’s staying in the Hotel Regencia. You can catch a later train.”

  “Not without a passport.” Ash let out a heavy sigh.

  “Maybe one of your housemates took it by accident,” Dalton said.

  “We’ve searched everywhere,” she said. “Mike’s out, but Ronan’s been helping me look. Kay did her room. I’ve taken mine apart.”

  Dalton had a clear choice now. He could offer more sympathy, suggest Ash call the hotel and leave Noah a message explaining what had happened then leave. Or he could put an end to this and tell the truth.

  “Is Kay here?” he asked.

  “No, she had a text message about forty minutes ago and said she had to go out,” Ash said.

  Fucking bitch. “She has your passport.”

  Ash’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”

  Because I’m a fucking bastard. “I told her to take it.”

  Ash turned white and Dalton’s guilt sat like a rock in his stomach.

  “In there. Now,” Ronan snapped, and pointed to a door down the hall.

  Dalton went into the living room and dropped onto a chair. Ash and Ronan sat opposite. Ash looked as though she wanted to throw up, and Ronan’s face was dark with fury.

  “This better be good,” Ronan said.

  Dalton took a deep breath. “Noah and I are old friends. We were at school together. Seven months ago, Noah’s older brother Ilya asked me keep an eye on him for payment. Noah had just been discharged from the hospital. I gave up my job and moved in with him. Noah doesn’t know I’ve done this for money.” Dalton swallowed to bring moisture into his mouth and looked straight at Ash. “Noah was intrigued by you from the moment you dropped food at his feet. The first spark of interest he’d shown in anyone or anything for months. I reported to Ilya and he said to find a way to bring the pair of you together. He gave me tickets for the club in Covent Garden. I traced you through the catering company Kay works for and I paid Kay to persuade you to come.”

  Ash stared at him without blinking. She had her arms wrapped around herself. Dalton didn’t dare to look at Ronan. He could feel the waves of enmity rolling across the room, thickening the air, making it hard to breathe.

  “You were never meant to be more than a quick fuck, just an ordinary girl for him to have fun with, but I know you mean more to Noah than that. Ilya knows it too and now that Noah’s shown signs of improvement, Ilya wants you gone.”

  “He thinks I’m not good enough for Noah,” Ash whispered.

  Dalton nodded. “Ilya told me to make sure Noah went to Paris and you didn’t. I paid Kay to take your passport.”

  Ash visibly shrank, curling in on herself. Ronan put his arm around her.

  “Not much of a friend, are you?” Ronan spat out the words.

  “No, I’m not. I should never have agreed to do this in the first place. Not for money anyway. But once I had, I’d provided Ilya with the means to persuade me to continue. And Ilya is very persuasive.”

  “So why tell the truth now?” Ronan asked.

  Dalton took a deep breath. “Because Noah needs you, Ash. In Paris and in his life. It’s not up to his brother who Noah chooses to be with. He can make his own decisions. The fact that he’s making any decisions is progress. If you’d seen him seven months ago… What happened in Afghanistan might stay locked in him forever, but you’re the light in his world, and I don’t want him scuttling back to the dark.”

  Ronan rose to his feet and pulled Ash to hers. “We’re going to search Kay’s room. You sit there and do nothing. Don’t even breathe.”

  Dalton knew he’d already done far too much.

  As she followed Ronan up the stairs, Ash’s heart pounded hard enough to burst through her ribs.

  “What did I do?” she asked. “Why would she do this?”

  “You did nothing other than be kind to her. Some people resent the generosity of others because it reminds them of their own failings. As to why? For money and because she’s jealous. If Noah didn’t want her, she didn’t want him to want you either.”

  Ronan pushed open the door to Kay’s room and Ash hesitated.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “We don’t go in each other’s rooms unless we’re invited.”

  “You’re not a bloody vampire. Do you want to go to Paris or not?”

  Ash stepped over the threshold.

  * * * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, they’d found nothing and Ash’s adrenaline rush had faded, leaving her lightheaded with exhaustion.

  “Okay.” Ronan sighed. “Downstairs.”

  In the living room, Dalton rose to his feet. “Any luck?”

  “Kay must have taken it with her,” Ronan said. “We need to get her back here. Any ideas?”

  “You’ll only get one chance,” Dalton said. “If she suspects anything, she’s going to delay returning until it’s too late. I texted saying to let you find the passport and she hasn’t. She’s working her own agenda now.”

  “Why not tell her the truth?” Ash snapped, suddenly furious. “Tell her I know what she did and I’m throwing all her stuff outside in the street if she doesn’t get back within the hour? One more hour and I’ll set fire to it.”

  Ronan and Dalton stared at her.

  “She might not answer you or me,” Ronan said. “Let Mike do it. I’ll call him.”

  * * * * *

  Ten minutes later, Mike called back to say Kay was on her way home on the offer of a takeout from her favorite Chinese restaurant. Ronan brought his laptop down and checked the trains. Ash called the Hotel Regencia in Paris and left a message for Noah. I’m on my way. Ash. She wanted to say love but the word stuck in her throat.

  * * * * *

  Forty minutes later, Kay turned up while Ash paced in the living room. The moment they stood face-to-face, Ash’s fists clenched. Kay’s gaze flicked between Ash and Dalton.

  “Don’t even try to wriggle out of this,” Ash snapped.

  Kay sighed. She put her hand in her bag and held out the passport. Ash opened it to check it was okay.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t given you a moustache.” Kay sniggered.

  “God, you really are a bitch,” Ronan said.

  She pouted. “It was just a prank.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” Ronan said.

  Ash faced her. “I don’t want you here when I get back. I want you to pack up your stuff and leave.”

  “You can’t make me. It’s not your house.” Kay crossed her arms.

  “As a matter—” Ash began.

  “We don’t want you,” Ronan said. “It won’t be pleasant living here with no one speaking to you. Think you’ll get to watch what you want on the TV? Think we’ll share our food? Let you go first in the bathroom? Call someone who thinks they’re your friend, pack up and leave. Any damage you do, any trouble you cause, you’ll live to regret.” He turned to Dalton. “Take Ash to the station. Help her get on the train. I’m going to help Kay disappear from our lives.”

  At that moment, Ash had never loved Ronan more.

  * * * * *

  Ninety minutes later, Ash sat on a Eurostar train at St. P
ancras, waiting for it to depart. She’d told Dalton to drop her off outside, but he’d come with her and tried to pay for her extortionately expensive ticket, but she wouldn’t let him.

  “I’m sorry,” Dalton had said.

  Ash knew he was, but that didn’t make everything okay again.

  “I’ve no right to ask this favor but I’m going to anyway. Please don’t tell Noah what I’ve done. I want to do it myself. Face-to-face.”

  “You’re supposed to be his friend.”

  “I want to show him that I can be. Please.”

  So Ash had agreed to keep quiet.

  The train manager announced the train was about to leave. The door alarm sounded and the doors hissed closed. Ash sighed and settled back in her seat, looking through the window as the train pulled out of the station. She might be late but at least she was on her way.

  * * * * *

  Noah spent much of the two-and-a-quarter-hour journey on the Eurostar going through a multitude of scenarios regarding Ash’s nonappearance, ranging from a grisly death under a bus to her changing her mind. As annoyed as he would be if she’d changed her mind, Noah really hoped she hadn’t had an accident. He consoled himself with the thought that if there’d been a serious problem, she or Dalton would have found some way to contact him.

  Every time a Eurostar employee walked down the train, Noah imagined they were bringing him a message, but they never stopped. In desperation, he paid a guy twenty quid to use his mobile so he could call Dalton, but the speed of the train made the reception so bad, he’d not been able to understand a word he’d said. It was just a garbled series of cut off words. Ash…can’t…Kay…late.

  Noah consumed the bottle of wine he’d bought to share with Ash, and because he was too frustrated and worried to walk to the buffet, he drank it on an empty stomach. By the time he stepped from the train into the Gare du Nord in Paris, he was in a filthy mood. Noah took a taxi to the Hotel Regencia. He’d call Dalton when he got there.

  * * * * *

  A porter leapt forward to take Noah’s bags almost before he’d stepped from the taxi. Noah glanced up at the façade of the hotel. Not a place he’d stayed in before, but it looked okay. Not that he cared. He wished he’d not got on the train.

  Noah headed for the reception and someone called his name.

  “Noah?”

  He turned and straightened in surprise. “Valentina.”

  Valentina rushed toward him and threw her arms around him.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Working with you.”

  Noah mentally groaned. Why hadn’t he thought to ask Wolfe who was doing the interview?

  “How are you?” she asked.

  “Fine,” Noah said. What other answer was there? “Are you staying here?” Of course she bloody was.

  “Yes. Come and have a drink.” Valentina clung to his arm.

  “Let me check in. I need to see if there are any messages.”

  Valentina’s parents were friends of his father, and the two families had spent holidays together. Most of the time she’d mooned after Ilya, but a couple of years ago she’d turned her attention on Noah. He wasn’t interested. She annoyed him. Too obsessed with celebrities, too obsessed with herself.

  Noah handed over his credit card to the man behind the counter and asked in French if there were any messages.

  “No sir.”

  Noah frowned. “Are you sure? Would you check again?”

  The man ran his finger down a page in a book. “Nothing, sir.”

  Disappointed, his stomach in knots, Noah slipped his key into his pocket.

  “I’ll have your bags taken to your room, sir.”

  “Thanks.”

  Noah turned, and Valentina stood at his back. “I’ve ordered us a bottle of champagne.” She tucked her arm through his. “I heard you’d been ill. I’m so pleased you’re better.”

  He ought to phone Dalton to find out what had happened to Ash, but why hadn’t she left him a message? He had to assume he’d been dumped. Noah allowed himself to be guided to the bar. One drink and he’d leave.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was almost midnight when Ash arrived. The taxi driver didn’t speak English, but by the time she’d pronounced the hotel name in five different ways, he’d finally nodded and now they sat outside Hotel Regencia. Ash slung her rucksack over her shoulder and made her way to the reception. A slim guy in a smart black suit looked up at her approach. Damn, was that a sneer?

  “Bonsoir, mademoiselle.”

  “Bonsoir. Do you speak English?”

  “Yes. How may I help you?”

  “My name is Ash Elleston. I’m staying with Noah Golitsin. Could you tell me which room he’s in, please?”

  The guy frowned, and the relief Ash felt to have finally made it wavered like a heat mirage.

  “I can’t provide that information.”

  Ash bristled. “But we’re together.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m unable to give details of our guests.”

  He didn’t look sorry, and Ash straightened her spine. “I know he’s staying here. I’m staying here too. I left a message for him earlier this evening.”

  The guy consulted a book. “Who did you speak to?”

  “I didn’t take their name.”

  “What time was this?”

  “Around eight. Look, can you call Noah’s room and tell him I’m here?”

  “That would mean admitting he’s a guest. I can’t—”

  “Call him,” Ash snapped.

  The guy rolled his eyes and picked up the phone. He waited for a while and then put it down. “No answer. I’m sorry.”

  Ash exhaled. What she supposed to do now?

  Was Noah asleep?

  Not in the room?

  Pissed off with her?

  None of the above?

  She’d slept almost all the way on the train, knocked out through nervous exhaustion. She’d refuel and decide what to do.

  “Is there somewhere to eat?” she asked.

  “The bar.” He nodded to the far side of the ultramodern reception area.

  Ash trudged over, pushed open the glass door and happiness filled her when she saw Noah. But as the door closed behind her, it took her smile with it. He sat on a leather couch next to a gorgeous, rake-thin woman with a long neck and creamy skin. She’d clearly been poured into her tight red dress. On the table in front of them were two bottles of champagne.

  Oh Noah. It hadn’t taken him long. Heart heavy with misery, Ash continued to stand there, looking at him, waiting for him to spot her. I am not going to cry.

  “Permettez-moi de vous acheter quelque chose a boire.”

  Ash turned toward the voice and saw a guy in a linen suit smiling at her.

  “I don’t speak French,” she muttered.

  His smile widened. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked in accent-less English.

  Ash glanced at Noah who’d still not seen her, thought about saying yes and instead shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  She walked over on leaden legs and stood in front of the table. The woman spotted her first and put her hand on Noah’s knee. Ash could have run then, turned tail and gone all the way home, but she clung to the hope that this wasn’t what it seemed. She dropped the rucksack, sat beside him and put her hand on his other knee.

  The shock then joy on Noah’s face shattered all her worries.

  “Ash,” he gasped, and pulled her into his arms. “Where the fuck have you been?” He slurred his words and she realized he was drunk. Idiot.

  “Mislaid passport. I caught a later train.”

  He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe she was there and then laughed. “Valentina meet Ash.”

  The blonde had a hand like a bird’s wing, small and delicate. Ash resisted the temptation to squeeze hard.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Ash said, and received a slight nod in return.

  “Want a drink?” Noah offered Ash his c
hampagne.

  He’d had quite enough. Ash took the glass.

  Noah slung his arm around her shoulder. “Thank you for coming,” he whispered.

  Snooty Bitch poured out more champagne for herself. Not leaving yet then.

  “Valentina’s doing the interview tomorrow for Hello,” Noah said.

  “Want me to see if I can get you Sandra McKinnock’s autograph?” Valentina smiled at her. “Grant Matthews might even be with her.”

  Ash knew kindness when she saw it, and this wasn’t kindness. “Yes, please. Could you have her make it out to her biggest, hugest, greatest, most fantastic fan?”

  The sarcasm won her a sneer. Noah had his eyes closed and was slumped back on the couch, semi-comatose.

  Valentina gave her a vicious smile. “What are you wearing for Noah’s father’s party next week?”

  “Not sure,” Ash said. A party?

  “I have the most stupendous gown. Huge pink thing. Layer upon layer upon layer. It’s not often you get chance to wear a proper ball gown. We all make the most of it.” She looked at Noah and sighed. “Well, I’d better call it a night.” She nudged him awake and he jerked upright. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. We might as well go together. ’Night, sweetie,” she said, and kissed him on the lips.

  Ash didn’t let a flicker of emotion cross her face. She’d seen the game played before.

  When Valentina had gone, Noah sighed. “I’m drunk.”

  No kidding. Ash drank the whole glass in one go.

  He gaped at her and then laughed. “You do know one glass of that costs over a hundred pounds?”

  Ash clapped her hand over her mouth to stop it from spilling out as she spluttered her amazement. She swallowed hard. “You’re joking?”

  Noah got to his feet and wobbled. “Nope. Valentina paid.” Ash grabbed her rucksack and stood up beside him. He frowned. “Hold still.”

  “You’re the one swaying.”

  “Too much to drink. Your fault.” Noah hiccupped.

  Ash abandoned thoughts of having something to eat and propelled Noah out of the bar. Her plans for a romantic rendezvous were diminishing by the second. “What room are we in?”