Heiress on the Run

He was being ridiculous. How could it be harder to concentrate without Faith beside him, fidgeting, talking and thinking, than it was when she was there?

But somehow, it was.

Pushing his files across the table, since he clearly wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on them tonight, Dominic leant back in his seat and considered. Where would she have gone? They were on a plane, for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t as if she could have run away. If they’d been sitting in any other area of the aircraft, he’d have suspected her of running off to first class to try and win over the affections of a wealthy businessman.

He glanced around the small section of seats on his side of the curtain. No sign of her. The only other occupants—an elderly gentleman in a suit and a woman with a pashmina wrapped around her, almost covering her face—were both asleep.

Maybe she’d gone back to business class to find a new friend there. Maybe the promise of a job with him wasn’t enough. Maybe she just needed him for the flight home, and now she’d moved onto looking for her next opportunity...

Dominic forced himself to stop that line of thought. Just because certain women behaved that way, taking what they wanted then running, leaving destruction in their path, didn’t mean that Faith would. He should give her the benefit of the doubt. Hadn’t he just told her he trusted her enough to hand over a significant amount of money? Of course, money came easy to him, these days. Reputation was much harder won.

On the other hand, she was his employee. His responsibility.

The only responsible thing to do, really, was go find her.

To Dominic’s surprise, there was no sign of Faith in business class. He got some funny looks as he peered across darkened seats, trying to spot a dark, curly head, but he ignored them. Maybe she’d found a steward or something to talk to? At least she hadn’t been heading the right way to try and bother the pilot...

Pushing through the curtain, business class gave way to economy, where the occasional empty seats ended, replaced by cramped and crowded rows of people. Many were sleeping—it was the middle of the night, after all—but there were more screens and lights on than in either of the other sections. Dominic supposed it was harder to get some shut-eye when you were crammed in like cattle.

Faith must have disappeared into the bathroom, he decided. He just hoped that she was alone—the last thing his reputation needed was an article in the press about him and his employee being banned from an airline for joining the mile-high club. It wouldn’t matter to a reporter that Dominic hadn’t been the man with Faith at the time. Those sort of details never did, he’d found.

But then, as he turned back to try and get some more work done before landing, he spotted her and stopped, just to watch.

She was crouched down at the front of the economy section, just beside the seats with the space for a baby’s bassinet against the wall; he must have walked right past her on his way through. Her dark head was bent over a bundle in her arms, and when she looked up at the parents of the child she was holding, her face glowed. Smiling, she whispered away in rapid Italian, all while tucking in blankets and stroking the baby’s fine, downy hair.

This wasn’t what he’d expected. In fact, this wasn’t even recognisable as the woman he’d hired. Except... As he got closer, he caught a few English words scattered in her conversation. Big Ben. Madame Tussauds. The Tube.

A smile tugged at the corner of Dominic’s mouth. She was offering them tourist advice. Planning their trip to London with them.

Without drawing attention to himself, Dominic slipped past, back through the curtain to where his files were waiting.

Perhaps he had hired the right woman, after all.

CHAPTER THREE

IT TOOK FAITH a moment to remember where she was when she woke up the next morning. Smooth white cotton sheets, rain battering the window, the glow of a reading lamp she obviously hadn’t managed to turn off before she passed out the night before. Definitely not the flat she’d shared with Antonio and, given the rain, probably not even Rome.

No, Faith knew that rain. Knew that cold splatter and relentless fall.

She was in England. London.

Exactly where she shouldn’t be, ever again.

Faith buried her head deeper into the pillow, as if she could block out the grey and the rain and the sheer London-ness of it all. She hadn’t had a choice, she reminded herself. She’d made the best decision she could in a difficult situation.

But she couldn’t help but wonder about all the people she’d left behind when she ditched the city she loved the first time. Were they still there? What would she do if she saw one of them on the street? Turn and walk the other way, or brazen it out?

She guessed she wouldn’t know unless it happened.

Hopefully it wouldn’t. In and out, that was the key. Do the job, take the money and run.

So, back to the job. And her employer.

Dominic had chosen the most expensive of the airport hotels once they’d landed in Heathrow, which hadn’t really surprised her at that point. To be honest, she could have slept in a chair in the terminal, she was so tired. But the blissfully soft pillows and firm mattress of the hotel room were a definite improvement.

Reluctantly pushing herself up into a seated position, shoulders resting against the headboard, she tried to wake up enough to get a handle on the day ahead. Dominic had said the Americans were arriving around eleven, and it was only eight-thirty. So she had plenty of time to shower, dress...wait. What was she going to wear? She had her uniforms from the Roman Holiday Tour Company, she had her going-out-for-dinner dress and she had some jeans and plain T-shirts. She hadn’t exactly packed for corporate events when she’d left Rome. She’d packed for an overnight in London and then another tour.

It would have to be the uniforms, she supposed, for now at least. Maybe she could ask Dominic about an advance on her wages, or even a clothing allowance. Given the disapproving look he’d given her outfit in the bar the night before, she suspected he might be amenable.

A knock on the door dragged her thoughts away from her wardrobe and onto her growling stomach. Was that room service? Had she remembered to leave the breakfast card out the night before? She really hoped so. She was useless without a decent meal in the morning.

Swinging her legs out of bed, she glanced down at her rather skimpy red nightgown—a present from Antonio, of course. He never did have any concept of subtle. Still, she supposed that room service had probably seen much worse.

Except, when she yanked open the door with a smile, it wasn’t room service.

Dominic’s eyes travelled down over her body at an offensively quick speed. Any other man, Faith knew, would have lingered over her curves, outlined in red silk. Any other man would have enjoyed the view of her bare legs.

Her new employer, however, merely catalogued her attire and raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Do you always open your door dressed like a lingerie model?’

Faith felt the heat flush to her face. ‘I thought you were room service with breakfast.’

‘I’m afraid if you want breakfast you’ll have to get dressed. Assuming you have something more suitable to wear...’ His eyes flicked over her shoulder to where her skirt and blouse from the day before lay draped over a chair. Faith winced when she noticed the pale pink lace bra lying on top of them.

‘Actually, that was something I wanted to talk to you about...’

Dominic glanced at his watch. ‘No time. Get dressed and we’ll talk over coffee, before we head over to arrivals.’

‘I thought your clients didn’t get in until eleven?’ Faith asked, confused.

‘They don’t.’ Dominic was already walking away down the corridor. ‘But you need a briefing before they arrive.’

He turned a corner and was gone. Apparently busy executives didn’t have time to finish conversations properly. Or tell people where to meet them when they were decently dressed.

An elderly couple appeared at the end of the corridor and Faith realised, a little belatedly, that she was standing in the open in her really inappropriate nightie. Stepping back inside her room, she shut the door firmly behind her and headed for the shower.

Time to prove to Lord Dominic Beresford that she was capable of doing any job he needed doing, whatever she was wearing.

* * *

Good God, did she sleep in that every night? Even when she was alone and exhausted and straight off a plane, Faith managed to slip into a sexy little number for bed. Dominic shook his head. What kind of a devil temptress had he hired?

Unless, of course, she’d put it on especially for him that morning. Unless she planned to seduce and ruin him, just like Katarina had tried to do. Just like his mother had done to his father.

It was all still a little too neat. Dominic didn’t believe in coincidences, or serendipity, or any of the other things Faith had chattered about on the plane, her smile too wide, her lips too tempting. She’d been in exactly the right place at exactly the right time and, in his experience, that sort of thing didn’t happen without some forward planning.

Still, he did need a tour guide, and she seemed to be an adequate one. All he had to do was stay out of her way while she worked, and she’d never get the chance to put any sort of plans into action. It would be fine.

As soon as he could erase that image of her in fiery red silk from his brain.