When they’d finished, he said quietly, ‘What I suggest we do now is sit down, listen to some music, and just ignore whatever’s outside. They can’t get in, they can’t see into my living room—and eventually they’ll realise they don’t have a story and they’ll go away.’
She let him lead her into his living room, and made no protest when he settled her on his lap, holding her close. Despite knowing what was outside, she felt safe here with James, and finally the stresses of the last week caught up with her and she fell asleep.
James had noticed the dark shadows under Charlotte’s eyes. No doubt she’d slept as badly as he had, the last few days. He could always carry her down the stairs to his bed—but he very much doubted she’d continue sleeping through it. She wasn’t a toddler. And if she woke while he were carrying her off, given her traumatic past…No, there was only one thing for it.
‘Charlotte,’ he said softly, stroking her cheek.
She murmured, and snuggled closer.
‘Much as I would love to stay here like this,’ he said, ‘we’ll both get a crick in our necks. The press isn’t going away just yet, so why don’t you grab a couple of hours’ sleep on my bed?’
Her eyelids snapped open at that. ‘Your bed.’
‘I’ll sleep in the spare room,’ he said. ‘But my bed’s more comfortable, which is why I’m offering it to you.’
‘I…’
‘I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep again,’ he said. ‘You’ll be safe. It’ll be fine.’
She shivered. ‘If you’re sure.’
‘I’m sure.’ He brushed his lips against her cheek. ‘I did think about carrying you downstairs, but it’s a bit too macho. Even for someone with an ego the size of Mars.’
‘I apologised for that, a long time ago.’
He laughed. ‘I know. I’m just teasing. Come on.’ He gently urged her to her feet, then led her downstairs to his room. He pulled the duvet back for her.
‘James, I…’
‘It’ll be more comfortable. And I’m staying above the quilt, OK? Just a nap. And we’ll escape the press in a few hours’ time.’
‘Thank you,’ she said quietly.
He settled the duvet round her, then lay next to her. Although he desperately wanted to hold her close, he was going to take this slowly. At her pace. Right now, the most important thing was for Charlotte to feel safe. Protected. By him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE next morning, Charlotte was woken by an alarm—an alarm that definitely wasn’t hers.
She opened her eyes with a jolt, instantly aware that she was still in James’s bed. And at almost the same moment she realised that James was still lying beside her. His body was curled round hers and his arm was draped over her, holding her close. A more intimate position than she’d been in with anyone for years.
‘Good morning,’ James said softly.
The weight of his arm lifted from her, and a moment or two later the shrill of the alarm clock stopped.
‘Good morning.’ She swallowed hard and turned onto her back, preparing to face him.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she fibbed.
As if he guessed that, actually, she was incredibly nervous, he said quietly, ‘I’m sorry. I honestly meant to go to the spare room as soon as you went to sleep, then wake you at three and drive you home myself. Except…’ He smiled ruefully. ‘I fell asleep, too. Luckily my alarm’s a twenty-four-hour one or we’d both be late for work.’
‘You must be freezing.’ The duvet was still between them, so he’d had no covers over him during the night.
‘It wasn’t that cold last night. I’m OK.’ He dismissed it with a smile.
He’d spent the night with her. Slept beside her.
But he hadn’t taken advantage of her.
James Alexander really was the man she’d hoped he was. A man who’d keep his word. A man she could trust.
Charlotte shifted to her side, and curved her palm along his jaw. ‘Thank you.’
‘Why?’ he asked.
‘For being honourable.’
‘Not all men are like the one who…’ He stopped, clearly not wanting to voice it, and hurt her.
‘Date-raped me.’ At his widened eyes, she said quietly, ‘I’ve come to terms with it, James. I’ve had counselling. I can say the word without flinching. I won’t forget it, and I’m afraid I can’t forgive it either—but I’m also not going to let it ruin the rest of my life.’
‘I’m glad of that. I’m only sorry that I’ve exposed you to gossip and speculation.’
‘It can’t be as bad as when it actually happened,’ Charlotte said. ‘As you told me last night, if I think about it rationally, the people I work with are my friends. They know me. They’ll be on my side.’
‘Surely your coll—’ He stopped abruptly.
‘Michael worked at the hospital, too, in the finance department. And he was a charmer. Everyone liked him. People took sides.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Walking into work the next day…I was convinced everyone would know. And that he’d come onto the ward, pretending that nothing had happened.’
James drew her closer. ‘Did he?’
‘No. The police arrested him. But I had to face him in court, months later.’ She shivered. ‘He said what he did wasn’t that bad because we’d been out together a few times and it was the next step in our relationship. He said he’d just rushed me a bit— and I wasn’t a virgin, so it wasn’t as if he’d done anything that bad.’
‘Yes, he bloody well had!’ James said. ‘He didn’t have the right to make you do anything. I want to beat the guy to a pulp.’
‘Apart from the fact that you need your hands in working order in Theatre, I don’t somehow think the prison warders will let you do that,’ she said dryly.
‘So the jury convicted him?’
She shivered. ‘I remember going to the sentencing and my solicitor holding my hand. I was so scared they’d blame me and he’d be let off, even though other women had come forward anonymously—they hadn’t spoken up beforehand because they didn’t think anyone would believe them. They thought he’d say they were trying to get revenge on him for dumping them.’
‘I…Charlotte, I don’t know what to say. I can’t understand how a man could…It’s just…’ He shook his head in apparent disbelief.
‘He was damaged, too. I had to remind myself he needed help to stop. Just as I needed help to come to terms with what happened.’ She moved closer, needing James’s warmth. ‘They gave him seven years. And when it was all over, I just felt drained. I remembered coming to Penhally when I was a kid, staying with Uncle Nick and Aunt Annabel. I loved Cornwall. There’s something about the sea, something healing about the beaches here. So I rang Nick and asked if I could come and stay. He found me a flat and this job came up at St Piran’s.’
‘And everything was fine until I interfered.’
‘You were trying to do what you thought was the right thing.’
‘And it was the wrong thing. I know that now. And I’m truly sorry.’ He stroked her hair. ‘It’s a lot to ask, but if you could find it in you to forgive me, make a fresh start?’
She nodded. ‘I have to admit, I missed you, too. Even when I was angry with you.’She paused. ‘Maybe we can have dinner tonight.’
‘I’d like that. A lot.’ He looked steadily at her. ‘Though there’s something I need you to be clear about. You know what I do for a living. If we agree a time and a place, I can’t promise to be on time and I can’t promise that I won’t stand you up.’
Charlotte knew immediately what he meant, though she had no idea why he was making the point. She already knew the situation. He’d been late for several of their dance lessons for the same reason. ‘If one of your patients develops complications, of course you’re not going to leave someone else to deal with it.’
‘Though I’ll give you as much warning as I can if I can’t make it or I’m going to be late.’
‘That goes
for me, too,’ she reminded him. ‘I might get called to the children’s ward or the special baby care unit. It’s part and parcel of what we do, James. And it’s pretty obvious: if you want to date someone who works regular hours, you don’t date a medic.’
‘I’m glad w’re Eclear on that.’ He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. ‘We need to get ready for work. I’m afraid I can’t do much about clean clothes, though you’re welcome to a pair of my jeans and a shirt, if you want them. My bathroom’s through that door over there, and I’ll find you a clean towel and a new toothbrush.’
‘Thanks, but I’d rather shower and change at home.’ She grimaced. ‘I just hate the idea of having a shower and then having to put dirty clothes back on. But I’ll say yes please to the toothbrush. Very gratefully.’
‘I’ll sort it now. How about some breakfast? Coffee?’
She shook her head. ‘I need to get going.’
‘Pandora?’ he guessed.
‘She’ll be OK—I left her plenty of water and I fed her before I decided to come and see you. And the catflap works on her microchip, so letting her in and out isn’t a problem.’ She bit her lip. ‘But are the paparazzi still going to be waiting out there?’
‘They’ll think,’ James said, ‘that I drove you home at stupid o’clock in the morning to avoid them.’
Which had been the original plan.
‘They won’t think I’ve stayed the night?’
‘If they’re anything like the ones who usually trail me, they know I don’t let anyone stay the night,’ he said dryly, ‘so there’s no point in staying until breakfast.’
It took her a while to digest that. So James didn’t let anyone that close? What about his reputation as a man who dated more women than she’d had hot dinners?
She already knew the answer. Press exaggeration.
So the fact James had allowed her closer than he normally allowed people…that was definite food for thought.
When she emerged from the bathroom after washing her face and cleaning her teeth, he smiled at her. ‘I’ve checked outside and the coast’s clear.’
‘Thanks. And, um, thanks for last night.’
‘My pleasure. I’ll see you at work.’
She drove home, showered and changed, and then walked to work. For the first time in more than a week she greeted everyone with a smile that reached her eyes. She actually caught herself singing in the corridor on the way to the children’s ward. And she regretted that she hadn’t suggested to James that he should sit in on her operation that morning, closing a hole in a three-year-old boy’s heart using a balloon on the end of a catheter. Although the operation still involved a general anaesthetic, it meant that the little boy didn’t need to have openheart surgery involving having his heart stopped and being put on bypass, and he’d recover within a day and without scarring across his chest.
James caught up with her at lunchtime. ‘Good morning?’
‘ASD with a septal occluder in the cath lab,’ she said. ‘It worked, and little Barney’s doing fine.’
‘Next time you do one of those, I want to be nosy,’James said. She smiled. ‘Next time, I’ll invite you along.’
‘Good.’ He did a swift check to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard. ‘Dinner tonight. Anywhere in particular you’d like me to book?’
‘My place, and I’m cooking,’ she said. ‘Because then we can talk without worrying about who’s listening in and how many cameras are around.’
‘Fair point,’ he said. ‘Half-seven?’
‘Perfect.’
As always, James was on time, and Charlotte answered the door very quickly.
‘I don’t think I was followed,’ James said. ‘I took the long way round, just in case. But I think we’ve finished being a nine days’ wonder.’
‘Good,’ Charlotte said feelingly.
‘I was going to bring you flowers, but was I was terrified of getting it wrong and making you think I was being flashy.’
‘A small bunch of flowers,’ Charlotte said with a grin, ‘is perfectly acceptable. Just not a whole florist’s.’
He handed her a carrier bag that contained two bottles of wine and some seriously good chocolate. ‘I hope these are OK. I didn’t know whether to bring red or white, so I brought both.’
And both were much posher than the wine she normally bought. She squeezed his hand. ‘James, you’re trying too hard—and you only needed to bring yourself. This is just supper, like you’ve had here before. Nothing that fussy. Come and sit down. Dinner will be about another ten minutes.’
The second that James was sitting on the sofa, Pandora leapt onto his lap, settled herself, and started purring.
‘Given her background, I think I’m flattered,’ James said, stroking the cat.
It was the most relaxed evening she’d spent with him since the evening before the ball, and it was only when she offered James another coffee that he looked at the clock. ‘It’s getting late. I really ought to be going—so, regretfully, I’d better say no to the coffee.’
She saw him to the door.
‘Thank you for this evening. I really enjoyed it,’ he said. His gaze dropped to her mouth, and then back to her eyes—as if asking permission.
‘James,’ she said softly. ‘If you want to kiss me goodnight, then kiss me.’
‘I want to. But I don’t want to rush you, do anything you’re uncomfortable with.’
She smiled wryly. ‘Says the man who brought me pain au chocolat and then licked chocolate from my mouth. In my office. When anyone could’ve walked in.’
‘If I’d known what had happened to you, I would never have pushed you like that.’
‘So what’s the difference now? You said that what I told you didn’t change the way you saw me.’
‘It hasn’t. I still think you’re incredibly gorgeous.’
‘A week ago, you wouldn’t have hesitated. So knowing about Michael has changed things.’
‘In a way.’ He looked serious. ‘Charlotte, as long as you know that I’m listening to you—and if you say stop, I’ll stop immediately—’
She smiled at him. ‘James, just shut up and kiss me.’
She slid her hands behind his neck, drew his face down to hers, and brushed her mouth against his.
He responded instantly, letting her deepen the kiss and wrapping his arms round her so she was left in no doubt of his physical arousal yet at the same time keeping his tough light and unthreatening.
When the kiss finally ended, he asked softly, ‘OK?’
‘Very OK.’
‘Good.’ He touched his mouth briefly to hers. ‘Sleep well. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
Over the next few days, Charlotte and James spent more time together outside work—to the point where it was as if the ball had never happened. Somehow they’d managed to recapture their old easiness, even though Charlotte was very aware that James was being careful with her and just the tiniest bit overprotective.
At the weekend, they explored the local coast and found a quiet, practically deserted beach; as they walked along the shoreline, barefooted and holding hands, James finally opened up to her.
‘Before you, my life was a mess,’ he said. ‘I really crashed and burned with Sophia.’
Sensing that he needed to tell her, the way she’d told him about what had happened with Michael, she just squeezed his hand and listened.
‘She was part of my crowd. My family knew hers, and I guess I thought she was my type.’ He smiled wryly. ‘Tall, slender and beautiful, with this cloud of dark hair. On paper we were suited, with similar backgrounds and what have you.’
Charlotte could hear the ‘but’, and voiced it.
He sighed. ‘I’m a doctor. Yes, I’ve chosen a flashy specialty and I love the challenges of my job—but I do it because I want to make people better. I want to make a difference to people’s lives. And that’s what Sophia couldn’t understand—that my patients come before my social life and always will. She wante
d me to have a clinic in Harley Street and work nine to five.’ He grimaced. ‘Actually, I think she wanted me to change specialties. Go into plastics, like your cousin Jack.’
‘And that’s not what you wanted?’
‘No. If I had gone into plastics, I would’ve wanted to do what he did. Specialise in burns. I mean, of course there are good reasons why people need cosmetic surgery. The boy who gets bullied at school because his ears stick out, so he wants them pinned back to make him less of a target; the girl who’s so selfconscious about her nose that she can’t bring herself to date or believe that someone would want her. Sure.’ He sighed. ‘Though even then I’d say one of the talking treatments would help more, because a few surface changes aren’t going to be enough to repair psychological damage. But Sophia wasn’t thinking about that sort of plastics. She was thinking more along the lines of face lifts and botox—I think she liked the idea of me being plastic surgeon to the celebs, and then she could add my patients to her social circle.’
‘Ouch.’
He shrugged. ‘If I was late for a party or something—and I admit, I often was—she’d flounce off and hit the shops until she’d spent her way out of a bad mood, or she’d fly off somewhere for a few days to chill out. With Dad owning the hotel chain, she was assured of the best suites in the best hotels in the most fashionable cities.’
Privately, Charlotte felt that James’s ex sounded as if she needed to grow up.
‘Marrying her was the biggest mistake of my life. I think I knew that even on our wedding day. It was a bit on the glitzy side, even for me. Her wedding dress was more catwalk than bride, and…’ he grimaced ‘…although she insisted on tight security and had a hissy fit when unofficial pictures appeared in the gossip magazines, I think she enjoyed all the attention.’
Attention that Charlotte most definitely didn’t.
‘But I wasn’t the husband she needed. I put my job before her, and I didn’t try hard enough to make the marriage work,’ James said.
‘It takes two to make a marriage,’ Charlotte reminded him softly.
‘But it wasn’t all her fault. I didn’t meet her expectations. And she decided that if I wasn’t going to give her the attention she wanted, she’d find it elsewhere.’ He sighed. ‘The first thing I knew about it was when I saw the pictures in Great! magazine. Topless, on my father’s yacht, draped over an up-and-coming Italian model. The exposure…’ he gave a wry smile at the pun ‘…was good for his career. And it did me a favour, really. It made me realise that this wasn’t how I wanted to live, and something had to change.’
Brides of Penhally Bay - Vol 4 Page 46