Page 43 of The Upper Crush

She grabbed her jacket. ‘I can drive us over.’

James went to his desk and picked his keys up. ‘I know where to go.’

‘I’m not getting in your car.’

‘Thank you for your consideration,’ he replied, moving to the door.

‘Meaning?’

‘I like to keep her clean.’

Her? ‘And I’m dirty, am I?’

His lips twitched and her stomach did a somersault.

‘I know your boots are…’

Oh. ‘Well then, Max, you can either go with James in whatever crass overcompensation for personal shortcomings he drives, or come in the Defender with me.’

She stomped to the door and the two men let her pass.

Estelle: Urgent! On way to manor with JHS to check out the site. Release the hounds!

Henry: On it

Willow: Did you mean to send that to the group chat?

Estelle: Fuck! No

Libby: Delete your messages before Eveline sees them

Estelle: Deleted message

Estelle: Deleted message

Eveline: Before I see what?

Estelle: It’s a surprise. I’ll see you later xxx

A loud and aggressive car horn made Estelle jump and drop her phone into the footwell.

‘Fuck’s sake!’ She bent to retrieve it, then glanced through the window towards the garage. One of the wooden doors was open and a black Ferrari exited, the number plate reading ‘JHS 1’.

‘Now there’s a surprise,’ she huffed as the car growled across the gravel towards the main road.

‘Oh, no you don’t,’ she growled back. ‘You follow me, sunshine.’

Slamming the Defender into gear, she swerved to cut him off, assuming James wouldn’t want his shiny toy getting into an argument with her beat-up Land Rover.

She was right, and he came to an abrupt stop.

Smiling, she eased onto the road, knowing exactly how she was going to drive James to the edge of reason during the short journey to her family home.

9

James’s fingers tapped the leather steering wheel impatiently, his gaze flicking to the speedometer on the dashboard.

‘She’s a very careful driver,’ Max said from the passenger seat.

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