Getting It Right This Time (29 page)

He cleared his throat.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you for being here this morning despite the late hour of my invitation last night. As you know I have asked you here today as I have an announcement to make.”

Silence descended, but then Underwood’s derisive laugh burst forth like the squawk of a thieving, conniving seagull. “Fucking hell, Johnston. Do you want a mountain to stand on? Or maybe we should set fire to a bush? Who do you think you are calling us here like we’re a pack of God damn groupies and then holding court like you’re God? You’re a joke.”

Mark’s chest burned as he fought to keep his smile firmly in place. “You think so?”

“Yeah, I do. Now get on with it. I’m a busy man.”

“Really? Then explain why a busy man such as yourself continues to sniff around my ass like a dog who wants to mount it?”

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A chorus of laughter and knowing smiles rippled amongst Underwood’s peers. He glanced left and right before glaring at Mark, his face bright red with anger and humiliation. “You’re only of any interest to me because the public thinks you’re some sort of celebrity. You sell pictures asshole, that’s all.”

“Then why go after my father three years ago, Underwood? Didn’t you have the guts to face me with your bullshit then? Had to bully an old man into leaving the country first?”

Mark knew the other journalists were scribbling down every word he said--maybe even the cameras were rolling, but he couldn’t care less. This life was over for him. The heavy weight on his shoulders slowly dispersed with each passing minute. And as he looked into the bitter and resentful eyes of his nemesis, it made him want to laugh out loud. Love made a man better, stronger and more focused. Love made a man fight another man with everything he had in order to protect it, and this was the last time Mark would take Underwood on.

He was rid of Marcia and he would be rid of Underwood.

Underwood pointed his finger at him. “You are no better than your old man, Johnston.

You’ve got your success, your money, your God damn mansion but underneath it all, you’re the same as he is. Pathetic, scared of failure and using other people’s lives like you own them.” He paused, his puffy man boobs rising and falling with each ragged breath. “Hey, and do you know something? I’ll be there when you drop the car on them as well.”

The collective intake of breath scraped along the inner workings of Mark’s gut like sharpened claws. His hands were curled into fists at his sides and his smile gone but Mark couldn’t help it.

He shook with the effort it took to stay still--to maintain the distance between him and Underwood and not lunge forward and pummel the scum into the ground. He would not falter. He would not serve a prison sentence at the cost of one of man’s goading.

Turning his gaze on the rest of the audience, Mark stared at them as they stood looking at him. He’d give them their story but it wouldn’t be about him and Underwood rolling around on the pavement outside his office block. He forced his smile back into place.

“As I was saying--”

“That’s it?” Underwood took a step forward. “What’s the matter? You got to make sure there are no witnesses before you get heavy-handed with me, Johnston? You’re a bloody coward.”

Mark swerved his gaze toward him. “And you need to shut your mouth and let me finish talking.”

Underwood grinned, revealing his crooked teeth yellowed by cigarettes and cheap red wine.

“Is that right?”

“If you can hold that poisonous tongue of yours, Underwood, you’ll hear exactly why this is over between us.”

“What is?”

“Our fight. The press. Your whole bloody obsession with my life and my clients. It’s over, I’m out.”

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“What the fuck…”

Mark turned, cleared his throat and the frown from his face. “Ladies and gentlemen, the main reason I called you here today is to state I will be stepping back from the theatre business for the foreseeable future. As of tomorrow, my PA and future associate Liam Strong will be running The Johnston’s Agency. The associate agents will continue as they are, yet coordinate with Liam who will be dealing with producers, directors and so forth. I will continue as head of the company, but will no longer be taking part in client’s premieres, promotion or general guidance. My client list will be shared equally and amicably amongst my associates.”

He paused to let the news sink in. A long moment of silence ensued but as Mark already predicted, Underwood was the first to speak. “Bullshit.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, but didn’t answer. Instead he turned back to the camera in front of him. “So officially as of tomorrow--”

“And what has Marcia Langton got to say about you disappearing and her having to answer to your ass-wiper, Johnston?” Underwood yelled.

The camera swung round and gave Underwood the stage he craved. Mark inwardly cursed.

His announcement had to be televised--Kate had to know how publicly and truly he needed to be with and loved her and Jess. Mark’s mouth curved into a slow smile when he realized this was perfect. He stood on the ideal platform to show Underwood in all his conniving, devious glory.

“Hasn’t Marcia told you this already, Underwood?” He grinned.

Underwood threw a panicked glance at the camera and then back at Mark. “What?”

“I know you’ve been working with her to destroy me. She confessed.”

Mark saw the camera focus back on him through his peripheral vision. Kate would see it all.

She would know the background of what had gone on. She would know just how close Marcia and Underwood came to undoing their relationship and possibly everything Mark worked so hard for.

“You are one paranoid son of a….”

Mark held up his hand, smiled. “Face it. You’re not as close to a potential superstar as you’d like to think, Underwood. But with your super-intelligent investigative skills I’m sure you can track Marcia down in no time and get the money she promised you, can’t you?”

Underwood opened his mouth but nothing came out. Leaving him standing there, Mark addressed the rest of the now smirking media and looked directly into the camera, his heart thundering as a sudden attack of nerves and adrenaline, spiked by potential liberty, raced through his blood.

“And the reason behind my decision to leave the business for the next few months? Well, that is something I want the whole world to know.” He threw up his arms and grinned. “I am leaving the industry to spend time with the woman I love and her daughter. Kate and Jessica Marshall are everything to me and always will be. I just hope and pray they’ll have me. And if they do?” He looked at each of the faces in turn. “I ask that you leave us alone to live our lives.” He turned to Underwood. “And as for you.”

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Underwood sneered. “What? I get special treatment, do I?”

Mark slowly nodded. “Oh, yes. As for you, I have enough evidence, witness statements and God knows what else to prove to every editor in the country how slanderous the stuff you write is.

How your work is eighty percent guesswork and hearsay, the other twenty percent fabricated crap.

So the deal for you? Leave me and mine alone or I’ll make sure your entire career is left in pieces.”

He turned away as a small cheer erupted from the gathered throng and their cameras and microphones lowered--interview over.

“You’re an asshole, Johnston!” Underwood yelled.

Mark stopped, yards from his car. “Yeah? Well, why not leave this asshole the hell alone and see if Marcia Langton has left the country without paying you for your impeccable work.”

Laughing, Mark slid into his car and screeched away, leaving Underwood frantically dialing and re-dialing his phone. Mark was already ten minutes late for his appointment with the jewelers, and the last thing he wanted was for that particular door to be closed when he got there.

Chapter 17

“Yay! You win!”

Kate clapped her hands together and pulled Jess into her lap before tumbling backward onto the bed. Closing her eyes, Kate breathed in the scent of strawberry shampoo and familiarity when Jess put her head to hers, softly humming the theme tune to
Dora the Explorer
.

The time had come to stop hiding and face their future. After her conversation with Lucy yesterday, and her subsequent cry, Kate had decided enough was enough. Mark made her happy, and he made Jess happy. The fact his face sold papers, and he successfully made other people’s dreams come true, added up to nothing more than an illustration of how good he was at his job.

And Kate needed him. And therein lay the problem. The same problem that had existed ever since she’d walked into the Theatre Royal three months ago and saw him standing in the bar. She wanted him. For her. For Jess. Not as a piece of public property but the last few days, while she’d been alone without distractions had opened her eyes--she’d been unhappy in her marriage with James because he wanted her to be a different person than she was, to live a life that wasn’t hers.

And she’d been asking the same of Mark--how dare she?

How dare she ask him to change or alter one single thing that made him who he was. She closed her eyes and pressed a kiss to Jess’s temple. And if he’d still have them--Kate and Jess wanted him just the way he was, and with everything that came with him. They’d find a way to deal with the press and the likes of Marcia in good time.

“Can I go watch TV, Mummy?”

Jess’s voice broke through Kate’s reverie. She let her arm fall back onto the mattress, thus releasing Jess from her maternal headlock. “Sure, but you won’t have long. As soon as the lady calls, we have to leave, okay?”

Scrambling off the bed, Jess ran into the next room and the sacred TV that held Elmo inside like a furry red treasure. Pushing off the bed, Kate wandered to the window. The hotel was on the very outskirts of Foxton, built along the docks. Her gaze was drawn across the water to the fancy apartments on the other side. Kate grimaced. She could remember going there with her father as a child. They would walk hand in hand along that side of the dock, and she would listen as he pointed out disused moorings, locks and the huge anchor chains with links the size of her four-year-old hand. Now the history was buried in the foundations of apartments only afforded by the rich and sometimes famous.

Not for her.

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The rain spat its first drops against the glass. Kate looked up. Gunmetal clouds skittered across the sky, the wind herding them closer and closer together. Within minutes, it turned leaden and the few drops became a downpour. She turned away and walked back into the room. She and Jess were embarking on a new part of their lives and deep inside Kate knew they would be okay.

They would always have one another to lean on if things didn’t work out.

Jess came bounding into the room and Kate quickly swiped at her face. “Whoa, slow down.”

She laughed.

Jess’s stared, her green eyes wide. She grabbed Kate’s hand. “Quick, quick! Mark’s on TV!”

Kate frowned, threw a glance toward the open bedroom door. Mark’s voice filtered toward her from the main room of the suite. She looked down at Jess in stunned silence, before picking her up and racing from the room. Dropping into an armchair she stared at the TV, oblivious to Jess climbing onto her lap.

“See, Mummy,” she said, pointing at the screen. “It’s Mark.”

Unable to speak, Kate nodded. Mark stood outside his office block announcing to the whole of Foxton, possibly the country, he wanted to be with her and Jess if they wanted him, as well as walking away from the business for the long-term. Kate wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.

Could she let him do this? He’d worked so hard to build up his client list, his reputation, his success--all from scratch. Would Liam really be able to take on Mark’s associate agents and keep a multi-million pound business running smoothly? Yet her insides churned with excitement and her heart beat so fast she could barely catch her breath. A slow smile curved her lips. He clearly had as much choice in their separation as she did--none whatsoever.

They could be together, and they could be happy.

If they disappeared for a while, let the press see there wasn’t a story, no scandal or hidden secrets, then they could return to Foxton and be a family. Her smile stretched to a grin, and she tightened her arms around her baby girl. They’d faced enough interference in two months to fill two years, yet Mark still fought for them. And damn it, how could she have not done the same?

Why was she hiding out in a hotel instead of standing by his side?

Jessica’s warm fingers touched her face. “Does Mark want us to live with him, Mummy?”

Still grinning like a Cheshire Cat, Kate looked down into the emerald green depths of her daughter’s eyes. “Yes, sweetheart, I think he does.”

Jessica’s forehead wrinkled. “And do you want him to live with us?”

A weight dropped into Kate’s belly. Had her instinct been wrong? Didn’t Jess like Mark as much as she thought? Guilt seared her cheeks. “Don’t you?”

Jessica brought her other hand up and cupped Kate’s jaw. “I want Mark to be my new daddy but if you don’t like him as much as me, he’s not allowed.”

A lump the size of Mount Vesuvius rose in Kate’s throat, causing burning hot tears to leap into her eyes. She swallowed, laughed and pulled Jess into a bear hug. “You are amazing, do you know that?”

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Getting It Right This Time

“Do you like Mark, Mummy?”

Pressing a kiss to her daughter’s head of soft curls, Kate said, “I love him.”

And with that Jess wriggled out of her embrace and gave an almighty screech before leaping from her lap and dancing in circles around the room. “You love Mark, and Mark loves us! You love Mark, and Mark loves us!”

Standing up, Kate laughed right along with her. She strode forward and grasped Jess’s hands in hers and the two of them danced the happy dance the length and breadth of the room. They squealed and laughed, danced and jumped. Kate felt the stress and worry of the last few days filter away until nothing was left but pure joy.