Jake laughed at the expression on Chase’s face.
“Just take it. Trust me, in a few minutes you’ll not only thank me for it, you’ll be wanting another one!”
“Plus it’ll make you look more human to the other parents,” Bree added with a laugh. “They find Jake intimidating enough. The last thing they need is two of you out there brooding.”
Both men looked at Bree with a glare, that had they been directed at anyone else would have been completely terrifying, but the two women just laughed at having their point made for them.
Jake gave his wife a searing kiss before taking them to the garden.
The previously muted sound of children playing turned into a crescendo of screaming and giggles as they stepped out to find what must have been every three-year-old in the entire town running around the back garden.
Smiling at sight of the children’s party clothes stained with grass and smears of cake, Beth let Bree lead her to a couple of unoccupied chairs on one side of the garden. Before they could reach them, a tall dark-haired woman approached.
“Julie?” Beth exclaimed as their old purser approached, giving her a big hug.
“Beth, are you okay?” Julie asked. “We’ve been worried about you with everything on the news.”
“I’m okay, thanks,” Beth said, feeling a well of warmth inside at the genuine concern in Julie’s voice. After the birth of Julie’s second child five years ago she had resigned from the airline to become a full-time mum, meaning Beth hadn’t seen her since. She shouldn’t have been surprised to find that Bree had kept in touch. Bree really was one of the nicest people she’d ever met.
“How are your family?”
“They’re great,” Julie said. “The kids will be running around here somewhere, and Vincent is over there grilling.” She waved over to where he stood turning burgers.
“I have no idea how he managed to get Jake to relinquish control of the barbecue,” Bree laughed. “We’re just going to sit for a few minutes. Catch up properly later?”
“Of course. Lovely to see you, Beth,” Julie said, giving Beth another hug before she wandered off.
“Don’t tell me Simon is going to pop up as well?” Beth asked with a smile.
“Unfortunately not,” Beth replied. “He had to head back straight after the wedding and couldn’t get any more time off, but he’s coming next week when he’s on night-stop in London.”
Simon had moved to an airline based out of New York a couple of years previously and although they all stayed in touch, mostly thanks to email, Beth realized it had been well over six months since she had had the chance to catch up with him in person. She’d been looking forward to catching up after the wedding, but that had gone down the toilet with everything else. Missing out on time together was turning out to be a recurring theme with her friends. She vowed to make more of an effort to be a part of their lives. Her current situation made her realize just how lucky she was to have them.
“How are your dad and Anne?” Bree asked once they were finally seated.
“They’re okay. They’re going to pull through,” Beth said. Life wouldn’t be the same for them, but they were going to make it and that had to be enough.
“Thank God,” Bree replied, slumping back into her chair. She took a deep breath as if all the tension had leaked out of her. “So spill.”
“I have no idea where to start,” Beth said.
Bree turned to face her, sliding her sunglasses down her nose to peer over the top of them.
“Don’t even try it. You know exactly what I mean. What’s going on with Chase?”
“What do you mean? You already know him,” Beth said.
“Know him? I owe my life to that man. But what I want to know is what’s going on between you two.”
“Nothing,” Beth said with a sigh.
“If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, Beth, but don’t lie to yourself. I’ve seen the way you look at each other and it’s not nothing.”
“I’m not lying. Chase has made it clear we don’t have any kind of a future.”
“So there was something?” Bree asked.
Rather than answer, Beth looked over at Chase, who stood chatting with Jake on the other side of the garden. He was leaning against the wall, and his throat undulated as he took a deep draw from his bottle of beer. Beth realized that for the first time since she’d met him he actually looked relaxed. His eyes were still roaming the garden restlessly, but the coiled energy he usually exuded was gone. In its place was a casual demeanor that seemed to amplify his sex appeal. As if the man wasn’t appealing enough, the easy confidence that rolled off of him as he laughed with Jake made every cell in her body long to walk over and touch him.
“You’re in love with him,” Bree said, studying her intently.
“What?” Beth spluttered, feeling heat rise in her neck and face as she looked at Bree. “I’m not. I can’t be. I’ve only known him a week. I can’t.” But even as she denied it, she realized it was true. She was head over heels, irrevocably in love with Chase. Her heart pounded at the realization.
Bree didn’t say a word, just looked at her steadily.
“Oh God. What am I going to do?” she pleaded with Bree, desperately wishing her friend could help, but knowing there was nothing to be done.
“What do you want?” Bree asked her.
What do I want? she thought. She knew what she wanted, but it was impossible. Finally, in the face of Bree’s unwavering patience, she answered her friend.
“I want something I can’t have.”
“Why can’t you have it?”
“You know I make bad choices.”
Bree leant over, briefly touching her hand. “You don’t make bad choices. You were let down by one man, and I know that hurts, but you have to at least try and keep that in proportion. Chase is a good man and you know it as surely as I do, so what’s the real problem?”
“Chase has made it clear that it’s over. Our first week together he saw me for me, I just know he did. Now all he sees is the heiress.”
“What do you mean?” Bree asked.
“He’s been cold from the minute we got to the estate.” Just thinking about the sudden change in Chase’s behavior hurt. Who would have realized that something she’d been familiar with her whole life would still have the power to hurt so much?
“Cold?” Bree asked. “Have you seen the way that man looks at you? I don’t know how his gaze hasn’t burnt your clothes off.” She fanned her face with her hand to demonstrate her point. “Never mind how intense he was when he thought you might agree to sit where he couldn’t see you.”
“He’s just trying to protect me. That’s his job.”
“Beth, you are not a job to that man. I pinkie promise it. Whether you want him or not Chase is already yours.”
Beth looked at her friend, slack-jawed. There was no way Bree would pinkie promise if she didn’t believe it was true. But how could it be true? Despite everything was it possible Chase felt something more for her than she was seeing? She turned the idea over in her mind. How much of what Bree was seeing was just the bias of a friend? How much of the way the idea hooked its claws into Beth, igniting hope, was just about her wanting it to be true? Finally she came to one irrefutable conclusion.
“If that’s true then it’s obviously not enough. Not for him anyway,” she said.
Bree looked at her knowingly. “He withdrew when you got back to the estate?”
Beth nodded.
“I know you won’t like this, and I know he certainly won’t like this, but I think Chase is intimidated.”
“I tried to tell him that that isn’t who I am,” Beth said.
“Do you remember the first time I came to your estate?” Bree asked.
Casting her mind back, Beth remembered when she’d finally admitted to Simon and Bree who she really was. She’d invited them to come visit the family home and meet her father. She wanted him to meet the people who’d had such a
strong impact on her. The people who had accepted her despite the secrets she’d kept from them. Who had wanted nothing from her but friendship, even once they knew who she really was. Bree had hardly uttered a word for the first couple of hours. It had only been after Beth’s father had insisted on them playing with the giant Connect Four in the garden that she had relaxed, that and the three housemates having a heart to heart about how strange the situation was.
“Do you remember how insecure I felt?”
“I’d forgotten about that,” Beth admitted.
“Now remember that we had already shared a house and been through so much together that I could admit to being afraid.”
“We made a pinkie promise,” Beth said.
“Yep. You promised me that you were still just Beth and that we would be best friends forever.”
“A promise we’ve kept.” Beth smiled. “Emma made Chase do a pinkie promise earlier. Apparently if you don’t keep them you die!”
They both fell into fits of giggles. It was several minutes before they pulled themselves together enough to speak again. Beth hadn’t realized how much she needed this, to just laugh and be normal.
“You die? Just as well we’ve kept ours then! What did she make Chase promise?”
With Bree’s questions all sense of normality was abruptly washed away.
Beth pulled a face before answering. “He promised to keep me safe.”
They both looked over to where Chase was now standing alone. Their eyes met, the force of his gaze making her swallow hard. All conscious thought emptied from her brain as she allowed herself to stare at the man who held in his hands not only her life, but her heart.
“Beth,” Bree said quietly, tone serious as she broke into her friend’s reverie.
She looked at Bree in question.
“If you love that man I suggest you do whatever it takes to remind him of the woman behind the inheritance.”
Beth let the suggestion sink in. She wanted to. The question was, was she brave enough to risk her heart again?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Are you okay?” Beth asked as Chase shifted in his chair. He had readily agreed when she had said she wanted to go to the office and catch up on her files after Emma’s party. With controlled access her office building was one of the more secure places they could be. However, they had been sitting in her office for hours now and he was starting to stiffen up.
“I’m good,” he said.
Catching up with Jake had been great. His friend was genuinely happy, Bree was obviously still a good influence on him, and married life was working out well. Jake had changed, but it was for the better. He hadn’t lost any of his edge, but his confidence had a comfortable natural feel to it, whereas before it had been all ice and steel. The two men had chatted, their old competitiveness coming to the surface in just about every subject they discussed, but it had been a much-needed reminder to be better. To always push harder. Unfortunately, sitting still with nothing to think about but the woman in front of him made that hard to hang on to.
Beth raised her eyebrows at his reply. “You had about twenty children pile on you earlier. I’d be surprised if you weren’t at least sporting some bruises.”
“A few bruises aren’t going to bother me. Besides it was fun.”
She eyed him as if trying to figure something out but after a few beats simply nodded. “It was, wasn’t it?”
She turned her head back to her paperwork.
Whether she believed him or not, he wouldn’t even notice a couple of light bruises from some kids. Sitting alone with Beth for hours was another matter. He had to concentrate on their surroundings to keep her safe. Unfortunately, she was a distraction that was difficult to ignore. He kept finding himself staring at her, as if by simply looking he could commit her every detail to memory. Today she’d been the Beth of those few days when they’d been in hiding. Not the heiress he’d been confronted with since their return. The fact another couple of buttons on her blouse had come undone really wasn’t helping either, and despite his best efforts his eyes kept drifting towards them.
With her hair a little messed up, her cheeks holding the glow from an afternoon of laughter even if she was frowning now, she looked real.
“Can I talk this through with you?” she asked, breaking his thoughts.
“You want to discuss your business with me?”
“Yes. Something doesn’t feel right here, but I can’t figure it out.”
Chase tensed. This was the chance he was looking for. He needed an excuse to find out more about her family business and this was it. Guilt pinched at him as he contemplated using Beth to get what he wanted, but he knew he couldn’t miss the opportunity to get to the bottom of things. He’d just take it one step at a time for now, he decided, trying to assuage his guilt at misleading her. She might not have been responsible for the crash that led to his dad’s death, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know anything. From what he’d seen, her family meant the world to her. The question was, did that mean she’d cover for them, even if they destroyed a man’s business, his family and had ultimately taken his life?
“I don’t know anything about your company though,” he said, mentally slapping himself. It was like he didn’t want her to tell him things.
“I know, but I value your opinion. It would help me to talk out loud and try and sort through it. You might be able to see things more clearly than I can because you’re not part of it.”
“Okay, but don’t tell me anything you’re not comfortable sharing,” he said, a warm glow suffusing him as he realized she genuinely wanted his input. He’d spent his life as a soldier, meaning most people assumed he didn’t have a brain of his own. The fact that Beth saw beyond his career unlocked something inside him that he hadn’t realized had been shut away.
“I’m struggling because there doesn’t seem to be one big thing, but when I look through all of our records over the last year there are lots of little things that don’t seem to be quite right.”
“Tell me about them,” Chase asked, a spark of excitement flaring.
“Well, I’m reviewing the costs for the fleet that included the aircraft that crashed recently. We are supposed to be plowing all our resources into the new airliner launch, which means that the existing fleet is just being maintained rather than having any upgrade or development work. That means that the costs associated with them should be pretty static and predictable, but the costs for some of the parts just don’t look right. Like we weren’t spending enough on some things but too much on others. It’s probably nothing, but it doesn’t feel right.” She looked up at Chase. “I know I keep saying that, but I don’t know how else to explain it.”
He considered what she was saying. “Is there any pattern to the areas where there is over- or under-spending?”
“I, umm I don’t know actually,” she said. “I’ll ask.” She dialed a number on her desk phone. After a few rings a recorded message kicked in.
“You are through to the office of Richard Cooper, Purchasing Director. Please leave a message after the tone and someone from the office will return your call.”
“He must have finished for the day,” she said as she hung up.
“It is after nine,” Chase pointed out, grinning when Beth’s eyes widened.
“Oh gosh. I can’t believe it’s so late.” She looked out the window, taking in the dusky sky as the summer sun was beginning to set. She spun back to face him, her mouth a big O.
“You must be starving. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You were busy. I’m here to protect you. Not worry about my stomach,” he said. He was ravenous but had gone without food often enough in the past for far less pleasant reasons than watching Beth work. He wasn’t about to complain despite the protests from his stomach.
“Right, let’s go get some dinner. Would you mind calling Edith to let her know we won’t be back to the house for a few more hours? If you do that I’ll print out some repor
ts so we can take them with us and keep talking while we eat if you don’t mind?”
“Happy to help.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Smiling to herself, Beth was bundling the printed files into her laptop bag so she could bring them to dinner when her office was opened with such force it banged against the wall, almost smacking the newcomer in the face on its way back. Before she’d even registered what was happening Chase was on his feet and standing between her and the angry man who had just appeared.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Elizabeth?”
“Back off,” Chase growled, all sense of the relaxed companion having slipped away. The raw protector was back.
“Who the devil are you to tell me to back off? This is my company, and I want to know what’s going on.”
Beth hustled to her feet and dashed around her desk. Curling her hand around Chase’s upper arm, she tried to reassure him. He was doing his best to protect her, but, even angry as he was, Oliver Taylor didn’t pose any danger.
“I need to talk to him,” she said softly.
Chase turned to face her, the angry squint of his eyes softening when she gave a small nod.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Chase said flatly.
“I know, but I need to do this.”
“Fine, but I’m staying,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, grateful for the warm feeling that filled her to know he’d be there for her. His presence gave her the confidence she knew she needed for this conversation. She squeezed softly, trying to let him know she appreciated the concern. She should have sought Oliver out as soon as she’d come into the office, but she hadn’t been able to face it. After their call the evening before she had been dreading seeing him, rehashing the same conversation and hurting him even more.
Staring at her hand on Chase’s arm, Oliver’s eyes pinched tighter, and she let her hand fall. Not because she was doing anything wrong, she told herself, but because she didn’t want to add to Oliver’s unhappiness. She didn’t believe he loved her like a man should love a woman, yet he seemed to want them to be together and now really wasn’t the time to give him cause to be jealous.
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