Pitch Black: A Romantic Thriller (Blackwood Security Book 1) (18 page)

“Hold on. You got Ash sacked?”

“It was easier than I dreamed. I just told George I saw her walloping Samara, and the old fool believed me. He’s so gullible.”

Luke thought back to his visit to the vet. The way Ash had stepped in to help stop that teenager hitting her horse, he couldn’t imagine her doing the same herself.

“So you lied and lost Ash her job?”

“Well, yeah. But something like that was bound to happen sooner or later. Everyone knows she’s psycho. Arabella heard from Bethany at school she got done for assault on her ex-husband. She might even have escaped from prison. Nobody’s quite sure.”

“You’ve got no idea what you’re saying,” Luke said, his chest tight.

“Yes I do. You should be thanking me. I saw her here at the weekend, standing in the kitchen like she owned the place. She’d soon have stuck her claws in you and taken all your money.”

“You saw her? I didn’t even know you were here.”

“Well, I didn’t come in, obviously, not after I looked through the window. I didn’t want to walk in on the two of you fucking.”

“Mind your language. And that’s not why she was here.”

“Oh, please, I’m sixteen, not stupid. She was wearing your underwear for goodness sake.” Tia’s voice rose an octave, and Luke resisted the urge to cover his ears.

“You don’t know her. She’s not interested in my money,” Luke said through gritted teeth. More than ever before, he felt the urge to throttle his sister.

“Of course she is. She works on a farm. She earns less in a week than I spend on manicures.”

“So? That doesn’t make her a bad person. And how can you spend that much on manicures?”

“I’m not going to a cheap place. The polish chips too easily. It’s a false economy. Anyway, she’s a nasty cow. She even told you I’d been taking drugs. You told school, and I got called in to see the counsellor. Do you realise how embarrassing that was?” Tia’s voice was so high, Luke half expected the neighbourhood’s dogs to come running.

“Well you
had
been taking drugs, hadn’t you?” he yelled.

“That’s not the point.” Tia came back with impeccable women’s logic.

Luke knew he wasn’t going to win that argument and he wasn’t going to waste time trying. He had something more important to do—find Ash.
 

He turned his back on Tia and tried calling her. Voicemail. He cursed under his breath.

“It’s Luke. Can you call me? Urgently?” He rattled off his number again, just in case, then grabbed his car keys. He’d deal with his sister later.

The Porsche slewed to a halt in front of Ash’s place, leaving a line of black rubber. Luke leapt out and hammered on the door. Nothing. The trailer was in darkness and nothing stirred inside Dammit! She’d left already.

Next door, the curtain twitched. By the time Susie answered his hasty knock, she’d had time to cover herself in perfume and put on some lipstick. The cloud of scent that wafted out made Luke cough.

“Luke, what a nice surprise! Would you like a cappuccino?” She twirled her hair around her finger and stuck out her chest.

Couldn’t a girl have a normal conversation with him, just for once?

“Save it, Susie, I need to find Ash. Do you know where she went?”

Her face fell, and he felt guilty. He’d get his assistant to send a box of chocolates or something.

“I’ve got no idea. George said he was going to have to sack her over some ridiculous story about hitting a horse, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Does she have any friends round here?”

“No, I don’t think so. She stayed with Carol for a while, but she said she was glad to get out of there. She reckoned Carol bugged her room.” Susie paused, still twirling. “She can’t drive so she must have gone by public transport. A cab’s too expensive, so maybe the bus? Or a train? That would be faster—my money’s on rail.”

“Thanks.”

Luke turned on his tail and headed back to his car, ignoring Susie’s cry of, “Why do you care, anyway?”

He broke most of the speed limits on his way to the train station, praying that Susie had guessed right. The car park was packed, so he abandoned his car in a no-parking zone right outside the entrance and ran inside.

The two platforms offered Ash two chances to leave. He paused to scan them, trying to focus among the herd of Christmas shoppers lugging their bags.

A brunette at the end of the northern platform caught his eye. He could spot Ash’s ass anywhere. And there it was, climbing onto a train. He sprinted down the platform and ran into the carriage she’d gone into. He saw her pert bottom at the far end, sliding into a seat.

When he skidded to a halt in front of her, her eyes widened.

“You’re leaving? Without telling me?” he spluttered, trying to catch his breath. Way to go, Luke. He wanted to impress her with his suaveness, but what came out was more desperation.

“What good would that have done?” She didn’t smile. “Would you have tried to talk me out of it?”

“Of course I would.”

“Why? Everyone in the village reckons I’m only one step down from being an axe murderer. It would hardly do your reputation any good to be seen with me.”

“You think I give a fuck about my reputation?” He raked his hands through his hair. “Look, I like you. I mean I really like you. I want to get to know you, and I can’t do that if you run off, can I?”

Luke had wanted to tell her that on Saturday. Hell, he’d wanted to do more than tell her, but Norovirus threw up on that plan.

Ash didn’t speak. Not in words, and not with her eyes. Her face was a blank mask as the guard out on the platform whistled the one-minute signal.

Luke tried again. “Please stay, if only for tonight. Just to talk. Otherwise I’ll have to go with you to…” Luke looked around. “Wherever the hell this train is going.”

A lady sitting opposite spoke up with the husky voice of a forty-a-day smoker. “Better stay here, love. He’s obviously sweet on you. What have you got to lose?” Turning to Luke, she added, “This train’s going to Manchester, cutie.”

Silence descended on the carriage. Luke wasn’t the only one waiting for Ash’s answer. She appeared to shrink under the gaze of thirty travellers.

“Please, Ash?”

“Okay,” she whispered.

A round of applause echoed as Luke slung Ash’s bag over his shoulder and grabbed her hand. They made it onto the platform a second before the doors closed. As the red lights on the final carriage faded into the distance, he put his arm around her waist and guided her back out to his Porsche.

“Come on, let’s give the village something to gossip about.”

Chapter 19

THE ROAR OF the Porsche’s engine eclipsed our silence as we rode back to Luke’s place. Was I doing the right thing? My heart and mind were conflicted, but I had little to lose at that point. If nothing else, I could rest for a few days then head north as I’d originally planned.

Luke took my hand again as he led me from the car. His palms were sweaty, no doubt caused by his dash through the station. I was getting used to him leading me around, and while my head told me I should rebel, my heart persuaded me to hold off. Grasshoppers invaded my stomach as he fitted his key in the front door. When I left on Sunday, I’d expected to come back, but not under these circumstances.

“Have you eaten?” Luke asked.

I shook my head. My appetite had deserted me again.

“What the…?” Luke started as the door swung open.

“Fuck,” I muttered, leaping in front of Luke. The house had been trashed. “Stay here, I’ll check the place.”

Shit! I forgot I was supposed to be playing the helpless female.

Luckily Luke didn’t notice. “You don’t have to. It was Tia.”

The vase from the hall table lay shattered on the floor, a puddle of water spreading around it. The table itself rested on its side, the polished surface chipped and scratched. I picked up a screwdriver from the floor and looked up at an abstract painting now more fucked than the artist intended.

“Your sister did…this?”

“We had an argument.”

The carnage continued from the dining room to the den. If a tornado had swept through the place, there would have been less damage.

“Must have been some fight.”

His sigh settled in the still air. “It was.”

I almost asked what they’d argued over, but realised I knew. “It was about me, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. She told me what she’d done, about getting you sacked, and I blew up at her.” He looked up at his broken surfboard. “She didn’t take it too well.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“No reason for you to be sorry. It’s Tia that’s the problem.”

I bent to pick up stray pool balls from the den floor. “I’m contributing to it.” How did one teenager make so much mess in so little time?

“Hey, leave that.” Luke crouched beside me and turned my chin to face him. “Nora can clear that up tomorrow.”

“Nora?”

“My housekeeper. She works Monday to Friday. Now will you leave it?”

“I’ll help her in the morning.”

“Fine. But tonight we’re going to bed.”

He stood, lifting me with him, then wrapped me up in his arms. His motives were a mystery, but he’d cared enough to come after me.

“Were you planning on doing that together?”

“Do you want to?”

Fuck it, a girl had needs. “Make me forget,” I whispered, and kissed him. 

I might be playing with fire, but my dry spell could compete with the Sahara. From the way Luke kissed me back, he wanted it as much as I did.

On tiptoes, my mouth was level with his, and as I nibbled on his bottom lip, he pressed into me and let his tongue explore. I couldn’t complain about his technique. Before I knew it, we’d fallen back on the sofa, and I’d lost my top in the process. That was hardly fair, so I sat up and dragged Luke’s shirt over his head. Now I was free to explore his exquisite abs.

He ran his tongue along my collarbone and I shivered. Not from the cold—the atmosphere had turned steamy, and the mercury was still rising. My breasts were treated to equal attention before he continued his journey south. Heat pooled between my legs as he paused at my belly button. Oh, for fuck’s sake, hurry up!

Before he unzipped my jeans, he met my eyes. “Are you okay with this?”

“If you don’t get a fucking move on I’m gonna spontaneously combust.”

His answering smile was slow and lazy. “We can’t have that.” He peeled my jeans off and my knickers swiftly followed. Before he got to the good bit, he lay back and inspected me.

“So that’s what you’ve been hiding.”

I wriggled as he ran a fingertip down my side, cursing myself for being ticklish. “Which part of hurry up didn’t you understand?”

The vibrations of his laughter rippled through me, followed by a surge of warmth as he slid a finger inside. His mouth muffled my gasp as he added a second, hitting exactly the right spot. Wars had been won and lost since I last had an orgasm, even a DIY one, so the fireworks went off quickly. As I exploded under him my back arched up off the sofa, and when I fell back to earth, my grin matched his.

“I love being able to make you smile like that,” he said.

Cheesy, yeah. But cute.

I gave myself a minute, but fair was fair. Luke deserved payback. I unbuttoned his jeans and found a gift as impressive as the rest of him. He breathed harder as I trailed my lips across his smooth chest, matching my kisses to my strokes.

I’d got halfway down his stomach when he stopped me. “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, but if you keep that up I won’t last long. And I don’t have any protection downstairs.”

“Not the kind of guy to carry a condom in your wallet then?”

“Despite the rumours to the contrary, no, I’m not.”

“Perhaps you should start?”

Luke levered himself off the sofa then pulled me up. We tried to run for the stairs, but my gait was more of a stagger. My legs hadn’t quite recovered.

The serenity of Luke’s bedroom décor was at odds with our desperation. Somewhere between the stairs and the door Luke lost his trousers, and we landed on the bed in a tangle of limbs. Having spent a bit of time at the stables lately, I’d become well educated on the origins of the phrase “hung like a horse.” And he was.