In the Brazilian's Debt(51)
CHAPTER TEN
GUILT CHASED LIZZIE all the way to the door of the grooms’ accommodation, where she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. ‘Chico!’ she exclaimed, swinging round. Clutching her chest, she caught her breath. ‘You frightened me half to death.’
‘What’s wrong, Lizzie?’
‘What’s wrong is, you have to let me go.’
‘Not until you tell me why you’re so upset. What did Danny tell you?’
Lizzie was trapped between his dangerously familiar frame, and the cold, unyielding door; her emotions went into overdrive. ‘Just let me go!’
‘Not until you tell me what’s wrong.’
Passions soared as they glared at each other. ‘My grandmother’s ill and the estate has been repossessed,’ Lizzie blurted. ‘Are you satisfied now?’
‘What?’ Chico said quietly.
She pulled away. ‘Don’t try to stop me. I have to go.’
‘In the middle of the course?’
‘Yes, in the middle of the course. I can’t stay here and allow events to unfold without having anything to say about it. I have a responsibility to fulfil, as the last—’ she hesitated, hunting for the right words ‘—as the last responsible person in the Fane family. I have to do something. Can’t you see that?’
She looked in vain for some flicker of understanding or compassion in Chico’s face, but he remained expressionless. ‘So, you’re leaving,’ he said.
‘I have to.’
‘I’ll miss you.’
Of all the things he might have said, that was the last thing she had expected. ‘Will you?’
‘Of course. Can’t you tell me more?’
She couldn’t tell him what was happening at Rottingdean when she wasn’t sure herself. It hurt knowing that, however right it felt when she was with Chico, it was never enough to keep them together, and that this time it was almost certainly goodbye. His face gave nothing away, and when he leaned forward, she pressed back. Undeterred, he fisted her hair, drew her head back, and drove his mouth down on hers. For a moment her mind blanked. Chico’s kisses were like a drug she could never get enough of, but this felt depressingly like a last goodbye.
‘Will you let me help you?’ he said again as they broke free.
‘I don’t know what you can do to help,’ she confessed.
‘Money can do a lot of things, Lizzie.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘This is something I have to do by myself.’
‘It may not be that easy.’
‘When is life ever easy?’
‘It might be easier if you sometimes allowed people in.’
She looked at him with surprise. ‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning, I’ve got people who could look into this for you—while you finish the course,’ he said pointedly. ‘It’s worth bearing in mind that without the accreditation from here your business plan will stand little chance.’