The Millionaire's Agenda

Beth sat on one of the chairs at the table. ‘Will Gina’s daddy die?’ she asked suddenly, and her voice wobbled precariously.

Chloe looked over at her, and suddenly she knew why she was quieter than usual; she wasn’t shy, she was worried. ‘He’s very poorly, but people get sick and then they get better again when they take the right medicine.’

‘Or they go to heaven like Mummy.’ Beth kicked her foot against the leg of the table. ‘I don’t want my daddy to be sick and go to hospital.’

Chloe went across to her and knelt down beside her. ‘Your daddy is fine, Beth,’ she said gently. ‘He’s back at the office working really hard.’

‘He hasn’t gone to hospital?’

‘No, darling, he’s his usual self. A bit grouchy now and then, but on the whole wonderful.’

Beth giggled at that, and looked a lot happier.

Smiling, Chloe went back to making the dinner. ‘You know, you remind me of someone in a nursery rhyme,’ she said. ‘Someone with one shoe on and one shoe off—was it Humpty Dumpty?’

Beth thought about this for a moment then shook her head.

‘Was it the three blind mice?’

Beth giggled. ‘Mice don’t wear shoes, silly.’

It was strange how the sound of a child’s laughter was so infectious. Chloe found herself smiling as she worked. And it was only later, after they had eaten and she was clearing away the dishes, that she realised that for the first time in weeks she had gone several hours without thinking once about Nile.

Steven closed the front door with a feeling of relief. What a night, he thought, shaking the snow off his coat before hanging it up in the vestibule.

‘Hello?’ He walked down the hallway, expecting to find Chloe in the lounge. He was impatient to talk to her about this business of her leaving. But all the lights were off in the lounge and the fire was dwindling down to just a red glow.

He retraced his steps and went upstairs.

The bedside lamp was still on in Beth’s room and it cast a warm pink light over the patchwork quilt and the peacefully sleeping child. Steven went over to tuck her in and kiss her cheek. Then his eyes moved to Chloe, who was curled up in the chair next to her. She was also fast asleep.

He wondered suddenly if he had been working her too hard recently. Perhaps he was even a little bit guilty of taking her for granted? That would change if he could persuade her to stay, he told himself.

His eyes moved over her. She looked vulnerable in sleep; her glasses were pushed up on top of her head, and she looked different without them. Steven noticed the delicate heart-shape of her face, and the fact that her cheekbones were well-defined. Her dark lashes looked incredibly long against the pallor of her skin. Her mouth curved in a soft smile. She was exceptionally pretty—why had he never noticed that before?

He smiled as he noted Beth’s storybook balancing from her fingertips, about to drop at any moment to the floor. But as he took the book from her he frowned as he noticed for the first time that she was no longer wearing her engagement ring. How long had that been missing?

Now he came to think about it, she hadn’t been her usual bouncy self these last few weeks. Her customary cheerful optimism that usually made him smile had been completely absent.

‘Chloe?’ He touched her arm gently, feeling almost protective about her; she looked so young and vulnerable sleeping there. ‘Chloe, honey, wake up.’

Her eyes flickered open; bright sapphire-blue, they stared up at him and for a moment he felt as disorientated as she looked. She had the most gorgeous eyes…why had he never noticed that before either?

‘Nile…?’ She murmured the name huskily.

‘No, it’s Steven. You’re at my house, remember?’

‘Oh…yes.’ If there was a faint flicker of disappointment in her eyes her lashes came down swiftly to hide her emotions. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t usually doze off like that. I guess I must be making up for the fact that I’ve had some sleepless nights recently.’

He watched as she tried to gather herself together, smoothing down her skirt, slipping her feet back into her shoes and then running her fingers over the arms of the chair as she searched for her glasses.

‘Have you seen my glasses anywhere?’ she murmured, looking around her in an unfocused way.

He reached out and pulled them down from the top of her head, smiling as he noticed the bright flush of embarrassment in her cheeks.

‘Sorry…I haven’t woken up yet.’

‘Stop apologising. I should be apologising to you for keeping you here so late.’ He sat on the edge of the bed, his knees almost touching hers. ‘Thanks for coming over here, Chloe.’

‘That’s OK. I don’t mind at all.’

Unless it was her imagination, Steven seemed to be looking at her very intently, most unlike the way he usually looked at her. She felt such a mess. She tried to push her hair back neatly into place as tendrils escaped to curl softly around her face. ‘What time is it?’

He glanced at his gold wrist-watch. ‘Almost ten o’clock.’

Steven glanced back up at her and something about the way his dark eyes moved over her face made her stomach dip.

Maybe it was his close proximity but Chloe felt suddenly very conscious of him, very aware of the raw power of his masculinity.

He smiled. ‘Come on downstairs and we’ll have a drink.’

‘No, I’d better go.’ She stood up. ‘I’ve got loads to do at home and I want to have a shower.’

‘Chloe, you can’t go anywhere tonight,’ Steven told her softly. ‘The weather is diabolical, and so are the roads. It’s taken me ages to get home. You’re welcome to stay in the spare bedroom.’

‘It can’t be that bad, surely?’ She crossed over to look out of the bedroom window. The snow was coming down so heavily that it almost obliterated the driveway in a white-out.

‘Dire, isn’t it?’ Steven said. ‘You’d never think it was April.’

‘No, you wouldn’t.’ Chloe pulled the curtains closed and turned to look at him. ‘Guess you’re stuck with me, then.’

‘Well, I’m hoping so.’

The tone of his voice seemed strangely weighted on those words and he was watching her with an intensity that she really wasn’t used to.

‘Chloe, you are not thinking of handing in your notice at work, are you?’

The abrupt question took her aback. ‘Why are you asking me that?’

‘I was looking for the list for the accounts department and I found that letter from Brittas in your desk,’ he said quietly.

‘Oh…I see.’ She felt her skin colouring with embarrassment as she remembered leaving the letter there in order to answer it in her lunch hour, but lunch had been overtaken by work and she hadn’t got around to it. ‘I was going to talk to you about that this afternoon—’

‘So are you thinking of leaving?’ Steven stood up from the bed. ‘Look, whatever Brittas are offering I’ll better,’ he said sharply.

The intensity of his tone startled her. ‘Well, actually, I wasn’t going to hand in my notice. I was going to ask you for a pay rise,’ she said truthfully.

‘Really?’ He pushed a hand through the darkness of his hair. ‘Thank God for that; you gave me quite a jolt.’