See You at the Show (36 page)

“And I’m not like that?”

“Jesus, no!”

“Good.
 
That’s good.”
 
He leaned forward to kiss her again.
 
“I love you, Stevie.”

“Yeah.
 
Right back at ya, Prime Minister.”

He smiled, desperate to see her naked after so many days away from her, wanting to make love to her so badly.
 
“I’m going to have a very, very quick shower, and then maybe you can welcome me home properly, ok?”

“Yeah, ok.
 
I guess you deserve that, after all those incredibly boring meetings you must have had to sit through.”

He laughed, so relieved to be home and find she was still here because every day he was away he feared he’d come back to find her gone.
 
He was asking a lot of her, and there was a hell of a lot more asking to be done, but not tonight.
 
Tonight he just wanted to enjoy being home.
 
“Just give me ten minutes, ok?”

She smiled, letting him go, watching as he walked off to go upstairs and get showered and changed.
 

He lived, most of the time, in
Downing Street
but there were many nights when he came here, to his more secluded and very private new home.
 
Nobody – except those who needed to – knew that this was where Prime Minister Madison kept his secret lover.
 
And even when the secret was out Stevie hoped with all her heart that this place would stay as undiscovered as it had been so far.
 
It was bad enough sharing it with the stringent security that existed around Daniel and his life but at least
they
were discreet.
 
She doubted the press and media would be.

She still had her own flat in
North London
.
 
That was her independence and she refused to let that part of her go, but if things moved on with Daniel who knew what else she’d be willing to give up.
 
Because she was feeling the need to go there less and less.

She went back into the kitchen, pulling herself up onto the worktop and taking out her ‘phone, speed-dialling Johnny.
 
The band was over in
L.A.
– back home for Johnny and Mark - promoting their new album and getting ready for their soon-to-begin American and European Arena tour.
 
She still missed the buzz being with the guys used to give her in the run up to a tour but when she weighed that up against living without Daniel there was no competition.
 
Daniel won.

Johnny’s soft American voice came loud and clear down the line.
 
“Hey stranger!
 
How’re things?”

“We’re going public, Johnny.
 
Tonight.
 
And I’m bricking it.
 
This isn’t gonna go well, I just know it isn’t.”

“Is Daniel worried?”

“No.”
 
She really needed a cigarette but that was something else she’d given up for Daniel.
 
When he wasn’t around, anyway.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I’m living in the real world here, Johnny.
 
They’re gonna freak when they see me.”

“If Daniel isn’t worried…”

“Daniel isn’t worried because Daniel is currently living in a world where everyone loves him and he thinks because of that they’re just gonna accept this tattooed biker rock chick as his partner.
 
It sounds ridiculous even saying it.
 
It’s just not gonna happen.”

“Will you just slow down, honey?
 
Come on.
 
Get back in control here, you’re freaking me out.”

She took a deep breath.
 
Being accepted was only part of the problem.
 
Whether she was or she wasn’t she’d still be out there, linked in the most intimate way possible to the British Prime Minister in the full glare of the public eye.
 
People would want to know about her.
 
Some people would want to know more than others.
 
And that’s what unnerved Stevie more than anything.
 
She’d put off talking to Daniel.
 
She’d put off telling him everything.
 
But had she left it too late?

“You’ve gone all quiet now.
 
You wanna tell me what’s up?” Johnny asked, knocking her back to reality.

“Shit!
 
I don’t know, Johnny.
 
I’m all over the place today.
 
I just don’t know if I can do this.”

“Listen, baby, if you’re not ready then tell him.
 
He can’t force you to do anything.”

“I’m sick of the secrecy, J.
 
I’m tired of hiding.”

“And he’s still worth all this is he?
 
All this crap he’s putting you through?”

She started kicking her heels against the cupboard doors.
 
She really could do with a cigarette; her nerves were shot to pieces.

“He’s worth it.”

“You sure about that?”

“How’s Mark?” she asked, avoiding the question.

“Drinking himself stupid, staying out all night, sleeping with anything that smiles at him, shoving shitloads of coke up his nose any chance he gets…we lost him for two days in Vegas last week.
 
He’s fine.”

She closed her eyes for a second as memories of Mark Cassidy flooded her head.
 
Memories she could do without tonight.

“He misses you, Stevie.”

The words hit her harder than she’d expected them to; because it was the first time she’d heard them.
 
“Does he?”
 
Why had she asked that?
 
She didn’t need to know the answer.
 
It wouldn’t do any good.

“Do you care?”

She needed that cigarette more than ever now.
 
“Yeah, I care.”
 
More than she wanted to.
 
She heard Daniel’s voice from upstairs, singing along to the radio.
 
“I’ve gotta go, Johnny.
 
Big night and all that.”

“Hey, Stevie?”

“Yeah?”

“Knock ‘em dead, kiddo.”

She threw her ‘phone aside, not sure exactly what she’d got out of that conversation.
 
If anything.
 
Sometimes it was just nice to hear Johnny’s voice, that Californian accent that reminded her so much of – well, it was just nice.

“Is everything ok?”

She looked up as Daniel walked into the room and she slid down from the bench, walking over to him.
 
He had just a white towel wrapped around his waist and he smelt of peppermint and grapefruit, his skin still warm and damp from the shower.

“Everything’s fine, baby.”

She felt her stomach flip over as she looked at him.
 
The Prime Minister.
 
What the hell was she doing here?
 
All of a sudden a million reasons why this was all wrong flooded her head and she let go of him, walking away.

“I can’t do this, Daniel.”

“Stevie…”

He followed her into the living room as she flung herself down onto one of the sofas.
 
“Can’t do what?”
 
He sat down next to her and she looked up at him.

“This.
 
Us.
 
This isn’t my world.
 
I don’t belong here.”

“Says who?”
 

“Look at me!
 
Come on, Daniel; get your head out the fucking clouds will you?
 
Stop pretending everything is fine because it isn’t.
 
I can’t go out there tonight, I can’t do it.”

“Hey, hey, will you just calm down.”

She pushed a hand through her hair, turning away from him.
 
“I
am
calm.”

“It sounds like it.”

He took her hand and she let him, although she still didn’t look at him.
 
“Stevie?”

 
Ok.
 
Do you know what?” she said, looking back at him, kneeling up beside him.
 
“Let’s just do this.
 
Fuck them all!
 
I have
never
cared what other people think of me so why should I start now?”

There were a hundred reasons why she should start now but what was the point?
 
She wasn’t going to give him up, she couldn’t do that.
 
And if that was the case then what was the point in putting this off any longer?
 
It was going to happen sometime.
 
It might as well be now.

He smiled.
 
“Are you sure?
 
Because…”

She wasn’t sure, of course she wasn’t, but the time had come to stop thinking about everything and just do it.
 
So she shut him up with a kiss.
 
A long, deep kiss.
 
“Just make love to me, Daniel.
 
Please.
 
Just do that.”

 
Because, right now, it was the only thing that was going to come anywhere close to calming her down.
 
Daniel Madison, Prime Minister, was about to introduce her to the world.
 
And whatever happened after that would just have to be dealt with.
 
One way or another.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Angus wasn’t happy.
 
He was irritated, and mainly with himself for believing that Daniel Madison would forget Stevie Stone the second he’d set foot inside Number Ten.
 
Naivety wasn’t something Angus was prone to but he’d certainly displayed it in this situation, and now here they were with the press and the media out in their droves just waiting to see who this mystery woman was that had snared the heart of one of the most popular Prime Minister’s the country had ever seen.
 
Would that still be the case when they caught sight of Stevie Stone?
 

He looked at his watch as he waited at the entrance of the hotel, listening to the buzz of the waiting photographers and journalists.
 
They didn’t have a name, they had no idea who this woman was that was about to step out of that car with Daniel Madison.
 
They had no idea at all.
 
But Angus knew everything about her.
 
He knew every little detail, every lie, every secret.
 
And tomorrow he’d make the ‘phone call, he’d put the wheels in motion so yes, he knew all about Stevie Stone and before long, so would everybody else.
 
Only then could he be certain that she’d be out of Daniel’s life.
 
Forever.
 

***

Samantha felt sick to her stomach.
 
She didn’t want to watch what was going to happen any second now but she couldn’t take her eyes off the TV screen as the black Jaguar pulled up outside the hotel and the waiting press surged forward to catch a glimpse of this woman that had taken her husband away from her.
 
This woman that Angus had assured her wouldn’t be in Daniel’s life for long and yet here she still was.
 
And now Daniel was making his new relationship common knowledge and all Samantha had were divorce papers and the promise of a hefty settlement that she didn’t want and certainly didn’t need.
 
She wanted Daniel.
 
She wanted her husband, she wanted that life she’d always dreamed of.
 
Angus had told her it was still going to happen, Daniel would come to his senses all too soon, he’d promised her that would happen.
 
So all Samantha could do was pray that he was right because this was so painful to have to sit back and watch from the sidelines.
 

Every time she left the house she got looks of pity and sympathy and she couldn’t begin to think of the looks she was going to get once they’d seen this woman.
 
But she was going to continue to hold her head high and not let anyone know how hard this was for her.
 
She’d continue to do that because one day she’d be back where she belonged.
 
By Daniel’s side.
 
And everything would be right with her world.
 
Just as it should be.

***

Mark didn’t care anymore.
 
Nothing mattered, nothing was important.
 
He got through most days on a diet of alcohol, coke and a big dose of auto-pilot because the one thing that had kept him on the right track was gone.
 
She was gone and he couldn’t deal with that.
 
He was trying, in his own way he was trying but every day was a constant battle with his feelings and he was exhausted.
 
He should be happy to be back in his home country, back in
California
, a place he loved, but he just wanted to be where she was.
 
This was too far away.