Redeemed By Her Innocence (HQR Presents)

by Bella Frances

  ‘I can’t believe this,’ she said, turning her back on him. ‘You’ve made me feel like a complete idiot.’

  He sighed. ‘I wanted to help you. I liked you. I was incredibly attracted to you and last night—there was so much going on...in my life.’

  ‘So it was just a case of right time, right place. She’ll do.’

  ‘That’s not how it was.’

  The roses on her cheeks had bloomed now and her eyes blazed blue. If he’d been aiming for a better understanding he’d completely failed. He could feel himself getting into dangerous waters and he cursed this stupid situation. He cursed his indebtedness to Maria, and the cord that linked him back to his father. He cursed the whole damn lot of them that had now caught this woman up in the mess of his life.

  He cursed it because she was a breath of clean air, and now he felt as if even she had been polluted.

  ‘Well, that’s how it felt to me, so do you see how it makes me feel? Do you?’

  She spoke with pain in her voice and sorrow in her eyes and he felt a sickening lurch in his gut—she wasn’t a player. She was pinning everything on him and he’d really hurt her. He’d built this up, she’d been sucked in, and then he’d not even given her the time of day.

  Even after five years the Achilles heel still gave him pain, this weeping sore of guilt that never dried up. He should be properly laying down the boundaries with Maria’s brother instead of playing along, playing games with people like her.

  She was too nice for this. Far too nice. She wasn’t Maria...

  ‘I see now,’ he said, quietly. ‘But it wasn’t a case of “she’ll do”. You’re more than that.’

  He was saying words, walking down an avenue in the dark, not seeing where he was stepping, feeling his way along, and all of a sudden he’d arrived at a dead end. He had to stop wandering and turn around and say the words that were stoppered in his throat.

  ‘I like you, Jacquelyn.’

  It was as much a revelation to him as it was to her, but the moment the words left his lips he realised he meant them. And not just in the way a man commented on the temperature of the water in his whisky, liking it at room temperature, not chilled—he meant properly, thoroughly, the way he liked to taste the peat of the land, or the sherry of the casks, appreciating the layers and textures of the whisky itself.

  ‘You like me?’

  But he’d called it wrong again. Whatever she’d wanted to hear it wasn’t that. Muscles were twitching on her face. Her eyes turned glassy but if she had opened her mouth and raged at him he couldn’t have felt worse.

  He reached his arms out but she hunched her shoulders.

  ‘I do. I like you,’ he said woodenly, confirming it to himself. He wanted to treat her well—not badly. He wanted her to like him too. And if her business was so important to her, he could make it up to her that way. He could step past his own rules and cut her some slack. It wouldn’t cost anything other than a bit of back-pedalling and calling in some favours.

  ‘I want to help you and all I was saying before is that Ariana’s not right for House, but I know hundreds of other investors who might take you on, mentor schemes. Or work with an ideas agency. Rebrand. I can set that up today. Right now...’

  He touched her, the bare skin of her arm above where she clutched herself, holding her elbows round her body like a shell.

  ‘Come on. I know this seems like a disaster—but what have you got to lose?’

  ‘You have no idea,’ she whispered back.

  Well, it seemed he’d done a lot of damage. A lot more than he’d realised, but he was trying to make up for it by offering her what he’d never offered anyone. He didn’t do personal recommendations, and he didn’t do pro bono work that was in any way directly related to House. He wanted... Dammit, he was completely determined now that she would benefit in some way from his business connections.

  It was the least he could do.

  ‘I have to head to New York. My accountant’s waiting for me and I really can’t put it off any longer. Come with me.’

  As he said the words he was gripped by an enthusiasm that was so totally foreign to him. The thought of spending more time with Jacquelyn now was exactly what he wanted.

  ‘I’ll have it set up—we’ll get you a day with the best people in New York.’

  ‘No, no. Hang on. You’re just saying words now. I’m not going to get on another plane with you for yet another waste of time.’

  ‘It won’t be a waste of time, Jacquelyn.’

  ‘Really?’ she scoffed. ‘You really expect me to believe that?’

  She should be biting his hand off instead of standing there stubborn as a mule, shaking her head. Didn’t she know what she was being offered? This wasn’t just a gimmick. This was real. This, he could deliver for her.

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  She almost laughed but he could see her falter a moment, a sliver of doubt reach her eyes, but then she recovered herself and stood there haughtily, regally, and it made him want her even more.

  ‘So what’s changed?’ she said.

  He levelled her a direct stare, he absorbed her face—the lips he’d kissed, the eyes that had flooded with unspilt tears—he saw arms that had held him and he wanted that warmth again. It had been absent for so long, so many years, and he wasn’t going to deny himself any longer, not when he’d been offered it by a woman like her.

  ‘I respect you. I respect that you called me on how I treated you. And the fact that you’re still standing here. You came face-to-face with some pretty unpleasant people and you didn’t flip out and run screaming. That says a lot.’

  She stood a little taller. He saw it and it fed the sense that he was right, he could trust her.

  ‘Just because I haven’t run screaming doesn’t mean I want any more of it. That’s not why I signed up for this trip and I absolutely won’t sign up for another where I’m likely to meet people like those two guys that were out there.’

  ‘You’re absolutely right,’ he said quietly. ‘And I am going to deal with it. It’s been a long time coming but I can’t live my life with this shadow hanging over me.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked, her clear blue eyes widening.

  ‘I don’t know yet. I can’t turn him in. But I can’t go on pretending that I don’t know what he does. What he did. But don’t worry,’ he said, suddenly sensing her fear. ‘Nothing will happen in New York. Nothing except the start of the next phase of Ariana.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE AIR-CONDITIONING WASHED OVER Jacquelyn’s skin like a tide over pebbles as soon as she stepped inside the vast, gleaming Manhattan skyscraper. People bustled everywhere, a blur of confident strides and efficient handshakes, moving through the building and into elevators that flew skywards in glass caskets.

  Jacquelyn stood beside Nikos, crushed so close she could see the tiny spiral of navy ink that peeped above his shirt collar, a tendril of the Sanskrit symbol that snaked over the back of his neck. She had been fascinated by it, kissed it, compared it to the others that covered various parts of his magnificent back and chest. But that was then—that night, never to be repeated. And this was now.

  This was where she took every single chance that was offered to her and really made something of her business. This was the start of something wonderful. She was in a different league. Just being here made everything feel more possible. It was brighter, sharper, shinier, the people clear-eyed and confident. It was like the pixels of a perfect world, some computer-animated version of what the working week should really be like.

  She tugged the cashmere cardigan over her shoulders, grateful for the hastily acquired luxury wardrobe that had been arranged for her—‘an investment in your future’, Nikos had said, dismissing her initial indignation at anyone offering charity, particularly when it involved making clothing choices on her behalf.<
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  He was right. She couldn’t arrive in Manhattan in a crushed sundress or a borrowed bikini. Instead she’d accepted the bags and boxes that were delivered on the plane and trailed her fingers through the best quality silk blouses in every colour. Cashmere cardigans and pencil skirts. Beige and patent heels, scarves and handbags. Lace underwear, lace-trimmed stockings. As someone who normally made her own clothes, she was completely spoilt for choice.

  ‘I’ve got a lot to catch up on so I’ll leave you with Lauren for most of the morning,’ said Nikos as they walked along the moonstone carpets of his corporate suite, his eyes landing on everyone and theirs on him as he cut such a handsome dash in his slate-grey suit and pale blue shirt.

  ‘Make every second count. Every person you meet will introduce you to another ten. At the very least you’ll meet some people at the top of their game. You’ll go back with a new strategy, a new look, a relaunch, and maybe suppliers, a designer, who knows...?’

  He paused at a desk where an attractive young woman was sitting, and leaned his fingers on it. She looked up at him with an air of happy familiarity and Jacquelyn took a mental note.

  ‘Any messages?’ he said with a raised eyebrow, picking up the tablet the girl handed him and beginning to swipe.

  ‘Oh, nothing really. You were AWOL for four days so, let’s see, about four hundred.’

  ‘Well within your capabilities, Lauren. Let me introduce you to Jacquelyn Jones. Your extraordinary organisational skills will be put to the test setting up her itinerary for the next few days. And adapting mine. I want Jacquelyn to come with me to the gala tomorrow evening and to dinner with Kostas.’

  ‘I’ve already made a start,’ said Lauren, flicking her eyes to the screen and then up to Jacquelyn. ‘We have time with Monique on Madison Avenue.’

  ‘Good choice,’ said Nikos as he continued to absently flick through the electronic pad. ‘What else?’

  ‘This afternoon a VIP preview of the Bridal Exhibition and then a slot with the House Ideas people before dinner...’

  Jacquelyn noticed that Lauren’s voice trailed up questioningly and the pause that stilled Nikos’s fingers as he swiped the screen.

  ‘The House team? I would prefer Jacquelyn linked with an external agency. Try Cube. And for dinner, get a table at Joro—eight o’clock.’

  ‘Of course. And a suite at...?’

  He handed her the tablet.

  ‘I’ve checked these. There’s no sign of a meeting with Mark. Set that up for this morning. And no suite. Jacquelyn will stay with me, as my guest.’

  With that he turned on his heel and walked off.

  ‘Find Mark. I don’t care where he is—I need to see him now.’

  Jacquelyn was aware her mouth was open. So this was the CEO in his home environment, everybody scuttling about following his orders. Command and control. Well, not with her.

  She should have had a conversation with him about their sleeping arrangements before now, and she couldn’t very well shout Separate bedrooms! down the hallway after him. But as soon as she could, she’d tell him. There was no way she was going to let herself get into bed with him again.

  With every passing hour she’d rued the moment she’d abandoned the principles that had kept her safe her whole life. Yes, she’d experienced pleasure like she’d never known, and she’d felt it deeply, too deeply. But to Nikos? It was just sex.

  And maybe he wanted more; then he would have to find it elsewhere. She wasn’t going to wring herself out all over again, she thought, turning back round to look at the efficient Lauren.

  ‘Welcome to House,’ the young woman said, turning on a megawatt smile and beaming up at her. ‘We’ll have your itinerary sorted within the hour.’ She lifted the phone. ‘Mark,’ she said. ‘Nikos wants to see you immediately.’

  Lauren stood up, a perfect little pixie of health and vitality, and Jacquelyn felt an uncharacteristic stab of jealousy, wondering just how much of Nikos’s life his personal assistant had access to.

  ‘I’ll take you to the Wellbeing Suite to wait.’

  The hallway was screened off on one side with a sweep of cherrywood doors into which Nikos had disappeared, and glass on the other, through which she could see people in meetings, at desks, walking and talking, and that air of purposeful, happy busyness—the magic dust she’d longed to sprinkle in Ariana.

  She’d already had to call Victor to tell him to focus only on the two made-to-measure orders they had waiting. She’d died inside, hearing the tone of disappointment in his voice when she’d told him she couldn’t yet confirm what was going to happen to their collection, or to the team of seamstresses and machinists that worked for them, but they both knew that there was no money to cover their wages, not unless a miracle happened, and happened soon.

  ‘Have you worked for Nikos for long?’ Jacquelyn said, heaving herself back to the moment, as they walked back along the moonstone carpet.

  ‘Four years. I met him when I was an undergrad at Athens University. He sponsors ten students every year and I was one of the lucky ones. I was offered an internship here while I got my MBA from Harvard. He’s a fantastic boss. I couldn’t wish for anyone better to work for.’

  They’d stopped at the edge of a wide open lounge, where the shiny white doors of a sparkly kitchen area and large wooden table, beanbags and gym equipment announced themselves as the Wellbeing Suite. Vibrant citrus fruits were piled high in bowls, muffins and pastries sat alongside neat rows of bowls of berries and granola, and coffee filled the space with inviting scent.

  ‘This is amazing,’ said Jacquelyn. ‘You can all help yourselves to this? Any time you like?’

  ‘Yes—this is just for little breaks during the day. We have a full gym and a juice bar and café too. And of course access to all the perks that the House retail staff have. He thinks of everything.’

  Jacquelyn looked around and thought of the poor girls who worked at the cutting factory in the out-of-town warehouse. They were so loyal to Ariana, when the heating had failed in the winter they’d worn fingerless gloves while she’d plugged in old electric fires for them, as they’d waited for the engineer. They’d work double shifts and go the extra mile every time she needed them. And now, if she didn’t go home with good news, they wouldn’t even have jobs.

  ‘Yes, it is an amazing place to work. Although this is a first. I’ve never known him to do this kind of thing before. You must have made a very big impression.’

  ‘I’m trying to save my business. I’ll take all the help I can get,’ she said, with steel in her voice that cut right through the happy little bubble that seemed to pervade every inch of the House International Head Office.

  ‘You’ll get the best from Nikos,’ replied Lauren, smiling back sweetly. ‘He’s in a league of his own. It’s the fact that he’s willing to mentor a friend that’s so unique. Honestly, it’s great. It’s the single thing that’s drummed into us. There’s personal, and there’s business—but there’s never both. No relationships, no favours for friends. Nada.’

  ‘I’m not his friend,’ she said, wondering herself what she was. ‘I’m—’

  ‘Oh, please—that is not my business. It’s another line I don’t cross.’

  Jacquelyn opened her mouth to reply but her phone buzzed, and the call that she had been dreading lit up her screen.

  ‘Hi, Dad,’ she said, walking away from Lauren towards the bowl of gleaming oranges. She didn’t need to check her watch to know that it was three in the afternoon in Marbella, that he would have been playing golf in the morning and he and Mum would be enjoying a snack on their terrace, reading the English newspapers and chatting about their dinner plans.

  ‘Hello there, sweetheart. Just thought I’d give you a call to see how things are.’

  Jacquelyn touched an orange, feeling the bumps of the skin, imagining her father standing at the kitchen bench, her
mother right beside him, the high sierra mountains and the bright blue sky behind.

  ‘Oh, that’s nice. How are you two? Is it still as hot? It’s been weeks since we had a drop of rain. I’m beginning to wish for winter, already.’

  She put the orange down and picked up some other fruit she didn’t recognise. The fine hairs on its skin were foreign and strange as she rolled it around in her palm.

  ‘Yes, it’s hot here too. So how did it go, then? The Wedding Awards?’

  ‘Same as ever. The food was very nice, but the band was different this year. Some new faces, but loads of people still there that you’d remember. I met Martin Lopez. He was asking after you. He’s retiring soon too.’

  ‘Is that right? Maybe he’ll join me for a round of golf out here.’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said. She could hear the edge in his voice. He was biding his time to ask her.

  ‘I heard Tim Brinley got an award. I hope nobody applauded.’

  ‘He got an award and he tried to speak to me—to apologise. It’s fine, Dad. I don’t bear him any grudges.’

  ‘He never did deserve you,’ he said gruffly. ‘And the Australian? He was there?’

  There it came. His voice had weakened with age but there was no mistaking the sharpness of his intellect and Jacquelyn winced. It was only a matter of time before word got back to them that she had been seen with Nikos, or that she’d called Victor to say she was in New York.

  ‘Yes, Nikos Karellis was there. He presented an award,’ she said in a monotone voice, hoping for insouciance. ‘Martin Lopez introduced us and we had a chat about the business. He was in the frame as a financier but it wasn’t such a good match, Dad.’

  When he didn’t say anything she knew she wasn’t going to get away with that. They probably knew other stuff too. Somebody could easily have seen her standing outside his suite after he’d had his shower. People were always jumping to conclusions.