Holiday With The Millionaire

‘Where is the suspect now, Lara?’

She gulped. ‘At my feet.’ Police, she’d asked for the police. Maybe she should have asked for an ambulance?

‘Lara, what do you mean, the suspect is at your feet? Are you in any danger?’

Her mouth was suddenly dry. Maybe she shouldn’t have drunk all that wine? ‘No. I don’t think so. He’s unconscious. I hit him.’

The operator spoke slowly. ‘Without putting yourself in any danger, can I ask you to check that he’s breathing? I’m adding an ambulance to the dispatch call.’

Lara bent her knees and squinted at the guy on the floor. He was lit only by the TV glowing on the far wall. His chest was rising and falling slowly.

She took a deep breath. For a man who was breaking into people’s homes he was actually very handsome. He didn’t have that furtive, shady look about him. There was a hint of suntan under the shadow along his jawline. He gave a little groan and she jumped back.

‘Yes, yes, he’s breathing. But I think he’s going to wake up.’

‘Lara, take yourself to a safe place. The police are on their way and will be at your address in under two minutes. Keep this phone with you. You can keep talking to me if you’re scared.’

She backed off out of the room and headed to the front door. Her head was starting to throb. This was turning into a nightmare.

Maybe this was her fault. This was a prestigious London address—of course they would be at risk of housebreaking. The house had a state-of-the-art alarm system—which she hadn’t put on yet. She would have done on her way to bed. She just hadn’t got that far yet.

Something struck her as strange. How had the burglar got in? The front door was still closed. None of the windows seemed open. What if he’d damaged the house somewhere? Through the window the glow of blue lights in the distance made her breathe a sigh of relief.

How was she going to explain this to Addison?

* * *

This was the worst jet-lag ever.

‘Sir, can you open your eyes for me, please?’

And why was this bed so hard?

‘Sir?’

‘Yeow!’ Someone had nipped the soft flesh on his hand. He sat bolt upright, ignoring the pounding headache.

Wow. He swayed. Dizzy. That was a new experience for him. He hadn’t been dizzy since that time he’d been knocked out while playing football ten years ago.

Knocked out. He narrowed his gaze as the pieces started to fall into place. Two policemen. Two green-suited paramedics—one male, one female. And another female dressed in a pink fuzzy pyjama suit with her blonde hair in some kind of weird bundle on top of her head. She looked like some kind of giant kid’s toy.

He lifted his hand to the back of his head and winced. ‘Someone want to tell me what on earth is going on here?’ He frowned and turned to face the pink teddy bear. ‘And who the hell are you?’

The teddy-bear face looked indignant. He could tell she was trying to place his Irish accent, which got thicker the angrier he was. ‘Who am I? Who are you? You broke into my house!’

One of the policemen stepped forward but Reuben held up his hand. ‘Wait a minute—you’re not Addison. This isn’t your house.’

He stood up and dusted himself off. ‘And I didn’t break in anywhere. I have a key...’ he pulled it from his back pocket ‘...because I am supposed to be staying here. So who are you exactly?’

The policeman looked from one to the other. ‘It would probably help if you could both identify who you are.’

The paramedic stepped forward. ‘I’m not finished yet.’ She held up a penlight and shone it into Reuben’s eyes. He flinched but didn’t object. He knew better. After a second she gave a nod. ‘Both pupils equal and reactive.’ She stepped back to write some notes.

Reuben pulled his wallet out from his back pocket and handed it to one of the policemen. ‘Reuben Tyler. I just landed from LA a few hours ago.’ He folded his arms across his chest. ‘My own apartment is under repair. It took damage during the recent storm and when they went to do repairs they discovered asbestos in the roof.’ He turned to glare at the teddy bear again. She really was quite cute. If he hadn’t been having such a bad day he might have been quite taken by her strange get-up, perfect skin and mussed-up hair. ‘My friend Caleb Connor, who owns this place, said I could stay here while he and his family were on holiday.’

The policeman turned towards the teddy bear, who was shifting uncomfortably on her feet at the mention of Caleb’s name. ‘And you are?’

‘I’m Lara Callaway. I work for the Connors. I’m their nanny.’

Ah, their nanny. Things were starting to fall into place in his brain. Caleb had said the last nanny had left and they’d hired someone new.

‘And I can verify this with the Connors?’

He watched as she gulped and glanced at the clock. This was a girl who obviously wasn’t used to being around the police.

‘Well...not right now. They’ll be midway across the Atlantic—and they’re going to a place with no phone or internet.’ She turned around to look at Reuben. ‘You’re not going to take him at his word, are you? I’ve never seen him before—and I’ve never heard Mr Connor mention his name. He could be anyone.’

Reuben rolled his eyes and sighed. The teddy bear was starting to get annoying. He glanced about the living room, his eyes fixing on a distant photo frame. He stalked across the room and picked it up, thrusting it towards the policeman while glaring at Lara. ‘Here, photographic evidence. That’s me and Caleb at an awards ceremony around five years ago. And...’ he pulled his phone from his pocket ‘...here’s a text from Caleb, telling me how to switch off his alarm.’

He ran his eyes up and down Lara’s fuzzy-covered frame. She might be wearing the most unsexy nightwear in the world but it still gave a hint of her curves. She wiggled her pink painted toes as if she could sense his gaze on her. ‘And as for the nanny...’ he gestured with his head towards her ‘...I’ve never heard of her. According to Caleb, I would be the only one staying here.’ He gave a little laugh. ‘As for no phone and no internet? I’ll bet Caleb didn’t know that before he left. He might be on the other side of the Atlantic but I’m pretty sure we’ll hear him blow up from here.’

All he really wanted to do was get his head down—and maybe find something to eat. His head ached and he couldn’t believe the commotion. So much for some quiet downtime.

Lara looked flustered by his words. ‘I’ve worked for the family for the last six months. The nanny before me left. Addison—Mrs Connor—said I could stay here for the next couple of weeks. I’ve had a bit of a...misunderstanding and she agreed at short notice.’

Reuben’s ears pricked up at her words and he couldn’t stop a smile appearing on his face. She was obviously easily flustered, not used to being around the police and feeling distinctly uneasy. Then again, she was in her nightwear—even if it did cover every part of her body—and it was obvious she’d decided to have feast in front of the TV. Probably not the scene you wanted all these people to see.

‘What was the misunderstanding?’ he pressed. He was amused now. ‘The one that made you hit me over the head with something.’

He looked around the floor to see what she’d hit him with and saw the remains of something on the floor. He bent down and picked up the broken marble and gold trophy. His mouth fell open. ‘You hit me with the Businessman of the Year award? Oh, wow, Caleb will be mad.’ He pointed over to the photo of Caleb and himself, showing Caleb clearly holding up the award with pride.

If she’d been flustered before she looked positively pained now. ‘But I didn’t know who you were. And I thought you were a burglar. I thought you were going to attack me.’ Her voice started to wobble and her eyes started to fill. ‘I didn’t know what to do.’

The policeman put a hand on her arm. ‘We understand, but Mr Tyler does have a right to press charges.’

‘Charges?’ She could barely get the word out and he could see her start to shake.

‘For assault.’

She wobbled. She looked as if her legs were going to give out completely.

Enough. He needed this to be over with.

‘There won’t be any charges. Not from me anyway. I’m sure Ms Callaway will be able to speak to Caleb about replacing his award.’ He looked towards the other policeman, who’d been talking quietly into his radio. ‘Have you verified us yet? Can we finish this?’

The paramedic raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Actually, no, we can’t. You were knocked out, Mr Tyler. We should really take you to hospital to be checked over.’

‘No. No. I definitely don’t want to do that.’