How to Win a Guy in 10 Dates

by Jane Linfoot

  ‘I’d say we have a deal, Mr Mitchum.’

  ***

  Millie had travelled in style with her parents, but it was never quite so smooth as flying into London later that week with Ed. She’d insisted on keeping her personal travel bag with her. The rest of her parcels had been whisked away, with the promise that they’d be back home before she was. And once the private jet landed, she still felt like her feet hadn’t touched the ground.

  ‘You okay over there?’ Ed glanced up from his laptop, lobbed another of those melting smiles she still wasn’t immune to, across the back seat of the limo. ‘You don’t mind if I check my mail? There’s a big deal going through today.’

  ‘I’m fine. Enjoying the scenery. Crossing London always feels like coming home.’ She shot him wry grin, curled her feet more tightly underneath her. ‘Even the North Circular has a certain glamour when you’ve been deprived of it. And it’s good that the sun’s out, even if the sky isn’t as blue as in Provence.’

  Good thing it was all happening at the speed of light, not giving her any time to think about the heavy ache in her chest. And the stony drag in her gut had to be down to the flight, and not anything to do with the fact she was dreading saying goodbye to Ed, being back on her own again. Dammit. She gave herself a mental kick. This was exactly what she should have avoided. She was not attached to Ed. Definitely not. Once she was home again, and busy, she’d be fine.

  At least this far she had managed not to worry too much about seeing Sophie. And Bella, the baby. The thought of Bella was much worse. But now, as they turned into Camden Square, yesterday’s butterflies morphed into a flock of seagulls, and as they drifted to a halt outside the house, the bird-wings began flapping, wildly.

  Swallowing hard, she groped for the boots she’d kicked off earlier.

  Now was not the time to deposit that delicious in-flight lunch on the limo seat.

  ‘Nice place they’ve got here.’ Ed next to her on the back seat nodded his appreciation.

  ‘Yes, Rob’s family own a bank or something, and it’s a lovely house, they’ve been here three years.’ No idea how she was getting the words out at all, let alone how she was sounding so nonchalant.

  ‘C’mon you, we’re already running late.’ Not waiting for the chauffeur, Ed was out the second the car stopped, and hauling her onto the pavement the next, then Sophie was there too, baby Bella on her hip, ushering them through the wide front door into the house in a flurry of hugs and kisses.

  If Sophie was surprised by their visit she didn’t let on, as she led the way into the elegant lounge, now humanised by toys scattered across the designer rugs and sofas. She was as friendly as she had been when Millie had rung to say they were coming. A little more rounded, a little less perfectly groomed than before, yet glowing and relaxed – being a mum suited her. Millie sighed inwardly as she settled on the edge of a velvet sofa, tried to stop her chest imploding. Whatever her own pain, she didn’t begrudge Sophie her happiness.

  ‘There aren’t many days when we’re home alone, are there Bella?’ Sophie dropped a kiss on Bella’s head, lowered her to the floor, and the child shot off on all fours, making a bee-line for Ed.

  Across the room, Millie sat, in silence. Gritting her teeth. Keeping hold, arms wrapped tight around her stomach. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t do it. She mustn’t compare Bella to the baby she herself might have had. Bella wasn’t even a baby now, she was a living, breathing person, demanding, exacting. She was just eight months younger than hers would have been, and everyone was so right that she couldn’t have coped alone. Could she? She bit back the lump in her throat, took a jagged breath, and knew she’d been right to stay away. She’d only seen Bella once, briefly, just after she’d been born. But she had to be strong now. So long as she kept her distance here she’d cope.

  From the way she was eyeballing Ed, Bella already had a huge will of her own.

  What was it about that man and his magnetism?

  ‘Watch out, she could be sticky!’ Sophie’s warning came too late. Bella was already hauling herself up, wiping her hands all over Ed’s trouser leg.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ He picked up a teddy from the floor and waggled it in Bella’s direction, receiving squawks of laughter in return.

  ‘Hazard of babies, I forget not everyone’s used to it.’ Sophie glowed appreciatively in Ed’s direction. ‘Wow, she’s taken to you.’

  ‘I’ve got an army of nephews and nieces.’ He gave a laid back chuckle, as Bella grasped his finger, and set about gnawing on the sleeve of his jacket. ‘That’s why I’m used to baby slobber.’

  As she watched this chilled, child-friendly Ed, Millie struggled to keep her eyes from popping out of her head. Who’d have thought? A hoard of nephews and nieces she hadn’t even heard about. Although there was no reason why she should have. She’d had four short days of wickedness with him – that was all she’d had, all she was going to have. If there was a tiny twang of regret that it wouldn’t be more, she wasn’t about to acknowledge it. That army of nieces and nephews would be for someone else to discover, not her.

  ‘Shall I go and make some drinks, seeing as I’m the free one here?’ Millie stood up, smoothed her hands over the crumples in her dress, and moved towards the door. An excuse for escape, as she desperately tried to banish the image of Josh’s thunderous face, the morning she emerged from the bathroom with a pregnancy testing stick in her hand. Those two blue lines, shaping her future. That had been the day he walked out on her.

  ‘That would be wonderful.’ The lightness of Sophie’s words were at odds with her concerned frown. ‘Shout if there’s anything you can’t find.’

  By the time Millie returned with a tray of drinks, Bella was snuggled on Ed’s lap, exploring his pockets.

  ‘I thought we’d stick to cold drinks.’ Millie handed Sophie a glass, clunked Ed’s on the table beside him, and headed back to her chair.

  She sneaked a look at her watch as she sipped her juice. They were due at Cassie’s by three. Ten more minutes and they’d be heading off. Not so much more to endure.

  ‘Hey, watch out Ed, there’s nothing Bella loves more than keys.’ Sophie laughed, as Bella grabbed Ed’s keys, and he tried unsuccessfully to wrestle them back. ‘I can see she’s already got you wrapped around her little finger.’

  Millie watched guardedly, letting out a sigh of relief as Ed moved to get up. Great, they were leaving even earlier than she thought.

  Sophie held out her arms to take Bella from Ed. But instead he set off towards Millie, and in two strides he was in front of her.

  Behind him, Millie saw Sophie’s face crumple in desperation, but she was helpless.

  ‘Come and talk to Auntie Millie whilst I have my juice.’

  Millie gasped as a warm, squirming Bella hit her full in the solar plexus, and the smell of clean baby enveloped her in a sickening cloud. ‘Oh my!’

  Don’t panic! Don’t hyperventilate!

  One squishy hand hit her chin, then Bella’s head hit her chest, and easy as that, she was cuddling her. Not so hard.

  Sophie lurched across the room. ‘I’m so sorry Mills.’

  And somewhere beyond that, Ed was back in his chair, a beatific smile on his face.

  ‘All okay Mills?’ Sophie swooped on Bella, disentangling sticky clutching fingers from Millie’s hair. ‘Hey, someone needs changing!’

  And then it was over, and Millie began to breathe again.

  ‘We’d better be heading off, if that’s okay with you Millie?’ Ed was already standing, tucking in his shirt, clicking his keys.

  And in a blur, they were in the hall, spilling out of the door, Ed tickling Bella’s fingers as he said goodbye.

  ‘Okay?’ Sophie spoke under her breath as she cradled Millie’s shoulder with her spare arm, and patted her, anxiously. Then she raised her voice again, and a quizzical eyebrow. ‘One great guy you’ve found here Mills.’

  ‘He’s not mine, really he’s not.’ And really not wishing he
was.

  ‘I believe you, thousands wouldn’t.’ Sophie waved from the doorstep. ‘Take care, see you guys again soon.’

  Out on the pavement, beyond the neat designer hedge, Millie blinked in the afternoon sun, and let out a long shuddering sigh, which came to a premature end as she realised the limo was drawing away.

  ‘Where’s the car going Ed?’

  Smothering a grin, he pushed his hand into his pocket, tossed his keys into the air.

  ‘Change of vehicle, I’m afraid.’ He nodded towards a sleek sports car. ‘I had it brought here whilst we were inside. I need to show this baby to my best friend Will. He’ll be at Cassie’s later – just to dangle it in front of him, make him jealous, you understand.’

  Now she’d heard it all. She scoured his face in disbelief. ‘Guys do stuff like that?’

  ‘Yes, they do.’ He flashed her an unapologetic smirk. ‘And before you get in, I need a solid assurance you aren’t going to put your feet on the upholstery.’

  She snorted. ‘I can walk.’

  ‘Now you’re being silly.’ He held the door open for her. ‘Jump in, and hold on tight.’

  So cosy baby-cuddler had legged it, and testosterone-fuelled macho-man was here in his place.

  She sniffed, to emphasise how un-impressed she was.

  ‘Sounds more like a plane than a car.’ Her head jerked against the head rest as Ed pulled away, and a nano second later they screeched to a halt at the end of the road.

  He grinned across at her, as they pulled out into the line of traffic. ‘That went well then.’

  ‘As you said after your mother’s soiree, it depends who you are, and where you were standing.’ She returned his grin, less shaky now. ‘I’m just glad it’s over.’

  ‘Well, you and Sophie were great, there were no tensions, I didn’t pick up any jealousy vibes at all.’

  ‘Jealousy? Who said anything about jealousy?’ She stared at him, incredulous, hearing her voice soaring high. ‘You thought that’s why I didn’t want to see Sophie?’

  Damn, damn, damn. Why had she said that? It was out before she could stop it.

  ‘Well if it wasn’t jealousy, why the hell was it?’ The sideways glance he shot her bore straight to her soul.

  Millie avoided his eye, stared out of the window.

  That was one secret she couldn’t share with anyone.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ED could tell from the way Cassie was swishing that she was in her element. She’d swished them into the house when they arrived, swished them out into the garden with the cream tea and strawberries, and even though they’d collapsed onto the easy chairs in the shade of the apple tree now, she was still damn well swishing.

  ‘Isn’t this lovely?’ She beamed down at them, in a way that made his blood boil, and even though he was the victor here, and this was the final set-piece of the challenge, he wasn’t enjoying rubbing her nose in it half as much as he’d anticipated. He shot a sideways glance at Millie, sitting in the next chair, coolly winding her dress strands around her fingers, and grimaced. At least she was holding up well in the face of the whirlwind that was Cassie Mitchum.

  ‘It might be lovely if you’d sit down.’

  He guessed the real satisfaction was going to come when he showed Will the car that he wasn’t going to surrender, because, as predicted, he’d completed every step of the challenge, and managed not to fall in love. Not even come close.

  ‘Okay, keep your hair on.’ Cassie posted him one filthy look, as with one last twirl, she collapsed into a chair beside them.

  Millie was laughing openly now.

  Ed rounded on her. ‘What’s wrong with you, Millie?’

  She pursed away the laughter. ‘Are you two always like this? You’ve been like squabbling ten tear olds ever since we arrived.’

  ‘Good point, well made Millie.’ Cassie glared at him. ‘Ed is always impossible.’

  So ridiculous, he decided to let that go.

  Millie cleared her throat. ‘So did Ed tell you why we’ve come Cassie?’

  ‘Sorry?’ Cassie on the spot, opening and closing her pretty mouth.

  Ed cut in, before Millie could elaborate. ‘I didn’t because I thought we might not actually … ’

  Millie’s eye-roll said she wasn’t going to let him off that lightly.

  ‘If Ed’s determined not to ask, I will.’ Millie raised her eyebrows at Cassie, and drew in a long breath. ‘You saw Lizzie, when you were in America – did she mention anything about Ed?’

  Go straight for the jugular, why don’t you.

  Millie spun to Cassie. ‘You will tell us if you know anything won’t you Cassie, because it’s important for Ed to know.’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Cassie sniffed deeply, chewed on her thumb as she hesitated. ‘I did see Lizzie, four years ago. I was traveling in the States, and I wasn’t even sure she’d agree to see me, but she did and we spent a couple of nights together. It wasn’t until the last night that she mentioned anything about you Ed. At first I thought she wasn’t going to, but in the end I had the feeling she was relieved to talk about it – finally. I was the first person in the family she’d ever agreed to see, apparently.’

  Millie rounded on her fiercely. ‘So why didn’t you tell Ed when you came back?’

  With fire-power like that, Ed was pleased Millie was fighting for him not against him.

  ‘Lizzie asked me not to say anything. And you know how Ed is.’ Cassie sent her a conspiratorial grimace. ‘Impossible at the best of times. Even if Lizzie had asked me to tell him everything, he wouldn’t have listened. So it was easier to leave it. That way I wasn’t breaking Lizzie’s confidence, and I wasn’t really short-changing Ed either. What she said was fairly shocking, and I didn’t want to hurt people.’ She gave a shivery shrug, offered a weak smile of excuse.

  Ed blocked the constricting waves gripping his stomach. ‘So let’s get it over with. What the hell did she say?’

  Cassie stared at her fingers. ‘When she got pregnant she was sixteen, with a really promising academic future. Mum and Dad were appalled, and she fought them to let her have the baby. They eventually agreed, but only on condition she gave the baby up and let them adopt it. Then they insisted she got on with her life.’

  ‘Hang on, this isn’t an ‘it’ we’re talking about, this is me!’

  Cassie carried on as if she hadn’t heard him.

  ‘Lizzie was so furious with them, the only way she could handle it was by leaving completely. She kept contact to the bare minimum, because she said when she was in America, the pain was further away. Now she’s older, she doesn’t blame our parents, she knows they had her best interests at heart. She did marry, but she didn’t have any more children, because she knew that if anything happened to them she couldn’t go through the pain of losing another child. I think she always hoped you would contact her. For what it’s worth, I got the feeling being made to give you up pretty much broke her.’

  ‘Okay.’ Ed rubbed a thumb hard across his forehead struggling to take it in.

  Except when had any of it ever been okay? At least he knew now.

  So Millie had been right all along. Grinding his teeth, as the garden and the warm afternoon flickered in and out of focus. His mother hadn’t left him. Not voluntarily. His guts had momentarily dematerialised, and when he opened his mouth to speak, there weren’t any words. When he finally looked up Millie was staring at him, her cheeks blotchy and wet.

  ‘I told you Ed, I knew she was strong.’ She sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. ‘She had you because she loved you, and she didn’t choose or mean to leave you. She did it because she was made to.’

  So that had wiped the smile off Cassie’s face. Just for once, bubbly, irrepressible, hideously annoying Cassie wasn’t bouncing. And for once she wasn’t gloating either. All of them, sitting under the apple tree, staring at the patches of blue sky through the gaps in the leaves. Not saying anything, because what the hell was there to say.
/>
  Ed slapped a hand to his head, as his body finally began to respond to his brain again. ‘So all my life I’ve hated her for something that wasn’t her fault. What a screw-up.’ He brought his fist down, and banged his knee.

  Feeling the pressure of a light hand on his forearm now. Millie. Letting him know it was all good, that he could move through the anger that had been devouring his soul his whole life. That at last he would be able to trust, because just as Millie had said, none of it had been his mother’s choice.

  Sliding around to watch Millie now. Make-up smudges under her eyes, hair like a tornado just passed through, anxiously rubbing her thumb over that pout. This unassuming, scruff of a girl who, one last time, had flipped his life upside down. How the hell did she keep doing that? As she caught his eye, her lips curved into the smallest, sweetest smile of encouragement that turned his legs molten in a heartbeat. He pushed that thought right to the back of his head and buried it. Fast. Under a mental rock fall. Even now she was effortlessly, sexy as hell, firing a rocket of latent lust through his groin, yet full of more goodness than anyone he’d ever known. Remembering what they were actually doing here, a yank of guilt ripped through his gut.

  Here they were, waiting for Will, to wrap up the challenge, Millie, sitting there all raw, and soft, yet so wise and honest and strong, and somehow this was entirely the wrong place for her to be. A rush of shame engulfed him as he thought of the challenge. How cheap did that make him, faced with a woman of Millie’s integrity? The whole damn thing that had begun so harmlessly now showed him his true colours, sordid, tawdry and disgusting beside the amazing woman he’d been using. This was no place for Millie. A woman like her deserved so much better than this.