Page 61 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘And that’s what you want?’
‘Absolutely,’ she responded, her voice suddenly several shades closer to fake bright and breezy. ‘You asked for my dating advice last night, and that’s it. Trust your mother – she’ll do a sterling job. Perhaps she and I are just kindred spirits.’ She gave a phony laugh. ‘Both great at organising people.’
Although Lexie wasn’t so hot at organising herself, so everyone kept pointing out. And looking at the mess of this place, they weren’t wrong. But hell knows, she would need a distraction. Maybe she’d start working on her own crap for once. Or maybe not. No need to go crazy.
At last, his awkward body seemed to loosen and he took a long, deep breath. There. He looked better about the whole thing already. Thank God. They would just have to soldier on past it, like the iffy drunken liaison it had been.
‘I’m sorry about last night. It should never have happened.’ Lexie squirmed inside the covers as she spoke.
‘Right,’ he replied. He put the bags down on the floor as though they were suddenly too heavy. As he straightened himself he ran a hand over his face. He looked tired. ‘It was … a regrettable situation. Please accept my apologies for letting things get out of hand. I’m meant to be your employer.’
He sank back into the chair he’d slept in. ‘You’d be within your rights to … ’
There he was again, setting out the boundaries. Drawing a mark around himself in the sand. She wished he’d just pass the bacon to her side of the line and leave her to scrub off the shame with the free hotel toiletries.
‘Rest assured, I won’t let it happen again,’ he continued. ‘I’ll show willing with Mother’s matchmaking as soon as we get back to Nutgrass.’
His words were businesslike, but Lexie couldn’t help noticing he didn’t seem as tough around the edges as usual. Sitting hunched forward on the chair, he reminded her of a Steiff bear who’d had the stuffing knocked out of him. She’d embarrassed him as well as herself. Nice work, Lexie.
‘That’s settled then,’ she said to her knees. They were unlikely to disagree. ‘Brilliant. Your mother will be thrilled.’
‘And maybe she’ll stop asking absurd questions about you.’
‘Absurd,’ Lexie repeated, her concurring knees echoing the word back at her. That was the last time she was treating them to a tube of Veet.
Somehow, the bear in the chair seemed to rearrange his stuffing and he stood up, finally looking purposeful.
His mouth pulled itself into a smile which didn’t bother to inform his eyes. ‘Then we have a plan. Excellent.’ He brushed down his suit trousers. ‘I’ll … leave you to it. Take the day off, or something. Get yourself back in order.’
Lexie cringed as his gaze moved round the room, settling on various piles of mess.
‘OK, you can go now,’ she said, keen for this to be over. There were only three things she needed to deal with humiliation and a hangover, and none of them was Ben Carrington.
He lifted the bags from the floor and she winced at the thought of her bacon disappearing. Perhaps she did need him for one of the things.
To her relief, he pushed a pile of make-up to one side and set it down on the side table next to the kettle, which he flicked on. OK, maybe that was two of the things. Damn it.
‘I’ll tackle today’s conference alone. We’ll leave this evening, if you’re up to it.’
‘I’ll be up to it,’ she confirmed, matching his efficient tone. Just as soon as she’d fixed up the third thing, which was finding her battered laptop and choosing a cheesy film to curl up with. After the Zoltar debacle, maybe she’d even watchBig. There was nothing like immersing herself in someone else’s troubles to help her forget her own. At least she hadn’t woken up six foot and hairy.
And yet, after last night, something had definitely shifted. Could she ever go back to being the person she was before that kiss? Or had her fortune, or lack thereof, already been decided?
Chapter 31
‘Get out o’ thur, you bloody blighters!’
Tom was on his hands and knees on the front lawn. Lexie wasn’t quite sure what he was up to, but it seemed to involve a trowel and a lot of West Country swear words. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead with a muddy forearm and squinted as she approached.
‘How be, young grockle? Nice to see yer back. You kids enjoy yer trip?’
Lexie fiddled with the cuff of her flamingo mac.
‘Er, yes, thanks, Tom. It was … how shall I put it? Enlightening.’
Although in truth, she felt more like a mushroom in the dark. The drive back with Ben the night before had been sombre, as though something had died a humiliating death. Had he been disappointed with her drunken behaviour? It was hard to tell, but he’d since been avoiding her. At least being ignored gave her plenty of time to catch up on social media admin. The point of the trip had been to give her plenty of material, after all. It was just a shame most of it was not for sharing.
‘Anyway, how are you?’ She crouched to Tom’s level. As kooky as this place always was, she felt a strange comfort at being back with her trusted inmates.
