His Final Bargain(28)

'Oh, darling,' Samantha said with an audible sigh of relief. 'I'm so  glad you called back so quickly. I'm bringing Ewan up to London to see  the specialist tomorrow. You know how we've been on that waiting list  for months and months? Well, there's been a sudden cancellation. I know  you're probably tied up with your little nanny job, but I was hoping  since you're back in London for a couple of days that you could come  with me. Do you think you could get an hour or two off? You know how  hard I find managing him all by myself. I called the agency and asked  for a respite carer to come with me but there's no one available at such  short notice. I was just hoping you could come with us. I know it's a  lot to ask.'

Eliza felt her insides twist into cripplingly tight knots of guilt. How  could she say no? She knew it wasn't the physical support with Ewan that  Samantha was after. She knew how much hope Samantha had invested in  seeing this particular specialist. She also knew Samantha was going to  be completely shattered when the specialist gave her the same prognosis  every other specialist she had taken Ewan to had done.

How could she let her face that all by herself?

Leo would be tied up with his work most of the day as well as his  meeting with the bursar so it shouldn't cause too much of a problem.  Marella probably wouldn't mind giving her a couple of hours. She needn't  even ask Leo's permission. He would probably say no in any case. He  would probably assume she was going against his orders and sneaking in a  passionate session with her fiancé.

If only he knew …

'Of course I'll come with you,' she said. 'Text me the address and the time and I'll be there.'

'You're an angel,' Samantha said. 'I honestly don't know what I'd do without you.'

Eliza took an uneven breath and slowly released it. 'I thought you were  calling about the stuff in the press … I guess you've seen it by now,  otherwise you wouldn't have known I was here. I should have called you  first to warn you. I'm sorry. It all sounds so horribly sordid.'

'Oh, sweetie, don't worry about that,' Samantha said. 'I know what the  press are like. They make up stuff all the time. You can't believe a  word you read these days. It's just pure sensationalism. I know you  would never leave Ewan.'

Eliza felt guilt come down on her like a tower of bricks. But I had left  him! The words were jammed in her throat, stuck behind a wall of  strangling emotion.

'See you tomorrow, darling,' Samantha said. 'Love you.'

'Love you, too.' Eliza gave a long, heavy sigh as she switched the phone  off. And, taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and walked back to  where Leo was waiting for her.

He stood up when she came back to the table. 'Is everything all right?'

Eliza gave him a brief forced smile as she sat down. 'Of course.' She  picked up her wine glass and cradled it in both hands to keep them  occupied.

'Who was it?'

'Just a friend.'

'Eliza.'

She brought up her gaze and her chin. 'Yes?'

'I don't need to remind you of the rules, do I?'

'Would you like to screen all my calls while you're at it?' She put her  glass down with a little clunk. 'Or how about you scroll through my  emails and texts?'

He frowned and reached for his own wine glass. 'I'm sorry. I don't want to spoil our truce.'

'Truce? Is that what you call this?' She waved a hand to encompass the romantic setting.

'Look, I don't want to spend the only time we have alone together  arguing. That wasn't the point of going out to dinner this evening.'

'What is the point?' Was it to make her fall in love with him again and  then drop her cold? Was it to make her feel even more wretched about her  other life once this was over?

He took one of her tightly clenched hands and began to massage her stiff  fingers until they softened and relaxed. 'The point is to get to know  one another better,' he said. 'I've noticed we either have mad,  passionate sex or argue like fiends when we are alone. I want to try  doing something different for a change.'

Eliza looked at her hand in his, the way his olive skin was so much of a  contrast to her creamy one. She felt the stirring of her body the  longer he held her. Those fingers had touched every part of her body.  They could make her sizzle with excitement just by looking at them. It  was becoming harder and harder to keep her emotions hidden away. She  wasn't supposed to be falling in love with him again. She wasn't  supposed to be dreaming of a life with him.                       
       
           



       

That was not an option for her.

She raised her gaze back to meet his. 'What did you have in mind?'

He smiled a slow smile that made his eyes become soft and warm, and  another lock on her heart loosened. 'Why don't you wait and see?'

An hour later they were on a dance floor, not in an exclusive nightclub  or a hotel ballroom, but on the balcony of their hotel suite. Champagne  was in an ice bucket, romantic music was playing from the sound system  and the vista of the city of London was spread out below them in a  glittering array of twinkling lights and famous landmarks.

Eliza was in Leo's arms, dancing like Cinderella at the ball. The clock  had moved way past midnight but this was one night she didn't want to  end. She had never considered herself a particularly good dancer but  somehow in Leo's arms she felt as if she was floating across the  balcony, their bodies at one and their footwork perfectly in tune, apart  from a couple of early missteps on her part.

She leaned her head against his chest and breathed in the warm citrus and clean male scent of him. 'This is nice … '

His hand pressed against the small of her back to bring her closer. 'Where did you learn to dance?' he asked.

She looked up at him with a rueful smile. 'I know, I'm rubbish at it, aren't I? I've probably mashed your toes to a pulp.'

He gave a deep chuckle and kissed her forehead. 'Don't worry. I can still walk.'

Eliza laid her head back down against his chest as she thought of Ewan  sitting in that chair, his legs and arms useless, his once brilliant  brain now in scattered fragments that could no longer connect.

The line of that old nursery rhyme played inside her head, as it had  done so many times over the last five and a half years: All the King's  horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again …





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


THE NEXT DAY, Leo got back earlier than he'd expected from his meetings.  He had particularly enjoyed the one with the community school bursar.  He had made a commitment to the school and he couldn't wait to tell  Eliza about it. The project she had set her heart on would go ahead, no  matter how things turned out when her time with him was up.

Last night he had sensed a shift in their relationship. In the past they  had had sex, last night they had made love. He had felt the difference  in her kisses and caresses. He wondered if she had sensed the difference  in his.

Did it mean she might reconsider her engagement? He had done a quick  Internet search on her fiancé but he hadn't uncovered much at all. It  surprised him for in this day and age just about everyone had a social  media page or blog or website. Was the man some sort of recluse? It had  niggled at him all day. After what had come out in the papers yesterday,  why hadn't the guy stormed into the hotel and punched Leo's lights out?  It didn't make sense. If Ewan Brockman loved Eliza, then surely he  would have come forward and demanded an explanation.

It was time to have a no holds barred conversation with her. Something  wasn't quite adding up and he wasn't going to stop digging until he  found out what it was-and there was no time like the present.

Leo came into the suite to find Marella sitting on the sofa with a book while Alessandra was having a nap in the next room.

'Where's Eliza?' he asked as he put his briefcase down.

'She went to do a bit of shopping,' Marella said, closing the book and  putting it to one side. 'She's only been gone a couple of hours. I told  her to take all the time she wanted. She should be back soon. Why don't  you call her and meet her for a drink? I'll give Alessandra her bath and  supper.'

'Good idea.' He gave her an appreciative smile and reached for his  phone. He frowned as the call went through to message bank. He sent her a  text but there was no response.

'She's probably turned her phone off,' Marella said.

'Did she say where she was intending to shop?'

Marella pursed her lips for a moment. 'I think she said something about going to Queen Square.'

He frowned as he put his phone back in his pocket. Queen Square was  where the world-renowned UCL Institute of Neurology was situated. He'd  driven past it a couple of times on previous trips to London. Great  Ormond Street Hospital was close by. Why was Eliza going there? Sure,  there were plenty of shops in the Bloomsbury district, but why had she  told Marella she was going to Queen Square of all places?

Leo saw her from half a block away. She was standing talking with an  older woman in her fifties outside the UCL Institute of Neurology. The  older woman looked very distressed. She kept mopping at her eyes with a  scrunched up tissue. Eliza was holding the hand of a gaunt young man in  his late twenties who was strapped in a wheelchair, complete with  breathing apparatus and a urinary catheter that was just visible under  the tartan blanket that covered his thin, muscle-wasted legs.