The Darkest of Shadows (37 page)

I waited for Lawrence to finish his discussion, something about a new train network in the south of France, before I reached over and touched his arm. I didn’t need to say anything for him to understand my request, and without any delay he rose, startling a few of the men seated around us.

“If you’ll excuse me gentlemen.” He gave a general nod to the group, and various generic responses echoed back at him. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He placed my hand on his arm, and with Nicholas in tow, we started to walk across the room, only to discover that escaping the lounge was much easier than getting out of the room. Many people stopped to have a quick word with us as we moved, but many people, each having a quick conversation, adds up to a long delay. Nicholas found the whole situation amusing and eventually gave up waiting.

“I’ll meet you in the foyer,” he whispered in my ear, and disappeared into the crowd.

“Cheat,” I whispered to his retreating back.

“Good evening, Miss Owen.” A voice spoke from beside me, and when I turned toward the sound, I found our little IT man.

My face broke into a grin, and I excused myself from the group around Lawrence and turned my attention toward him. “Good evening to you.” I stretched out my hand, and he engulfed it in his. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure that we’ve been properly introduced.”

“Oliver Chestwick.” He nodded in greeting. He must have been all of twenty-five, if that. He wasn’t terribly tall; he was thin and had straight, ordinary brown hair. Nothing remarkable, except when you looked into his eyes and saw a wealth of intelligence reflected back at you.

“Hello, Oliver.” It was nice to have a name other than “IT man.” “You did well tonight.” I gave congratulations where it was due.

He looked surprised. “Do you think so?”

“Absolutely.” I grinned. “You held your own better than I expected.”

“I can’t believe I’m here,” he admitted in a rush of words. “It’s surreal. Do you think he noticed me?” he asked, seeming suddenly shy, unsure, and his gaze flicked over my shoulder to where Lawrence stood speaking with others.

I laughed aloud, then nodded. “Yes, Oliver, he definitely noticed you.” He noticed everything. My laughter must have disturbed Lawrence, because I felt him stir beside me, and then a large, warm hand slipped around my stomach, drawing me back against his chest.

“Oliver.” It didn’t surprise me that Lawrence knew who he was; it did surprise Oliver, whose face paled slightly under the force of Lawrence’s undivided attention.

“Hello, Mr. Monterey.” He held out a hand, and they shook; even as intimidated as he was, his hand didn’t tremble a bit.

My amused gaze met Lawrence’s. “Oliver wasn’t quite sure that you would notice him.”

“I notice anyone who makes Lilly laugh,” he said. “I especially notice young men who have the skill to sit through that discussion and not look like a fool.”

Oliver face gravitated between astonishment and awe. “Thanks.” He finally managed. “I think.”

“Definitely, take it as a compliment,” I assured him. “You deserved it, and I’m pretty sure there are a few people much higher in the company than you are, who should be very wary for their own jobs. You have a bright future ahead of you.”

Oliver looked set to burst.

“Come see me on Monday morning, before you leave,” Lawrence threw over his shoulder as we walked away. I couldn’t see Oliver’s face, but I could have imagined it. I chuckled quietly as we walked way.

“You are very special,” I told Lawrence, as we walked purposefully toward the door. He didn’t accept any more interruptions now.

“Why am I special?” he queried, sidestepping a woman who moved into our path.

“Because you could have just as easily ignored that kid, but you didn’t.”

“It’s self-serving,” he corrected. “Why would I ignore talent like that? With a little coaching, that kid could be exceptional in the business world. I’ve never seen someone who could keep calm and focused in such a pressurized situation, especially someone that young and inexperienced.”

“You want to mold him in your image.”

“Something like that.” He smiled.

“You still didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did. He was pretty impressive.”

“He had to be.” Lawrence and I finally made it into the foyer. “That kid had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impress the biggest names in business. It was all or nothing, and he knew that if he didn’t take the chance now, he wouldn’t get another one.”

“He took it.”

Lawrence nodded. “He did.”

Nicholas met us near the outside doors, and Lawrence’s first words to him had me laughing. “You can’t have Oliver Chestwick,” he announced.

Nicholas grinned in response. “I only really considered it for a moment,” he admitted. “But I realized that I don’t have enough to offer him that would entice him away from you.”

They both shook hands, then Nicholas kissed me gently on the check. “How much longer are you both in town?” he asked.

“About a week,” Lawrence answered.

“I might see you before you go then,” he suggested.

“Definitely,” Lawrence responded, and then we were finally heading home.

I reluctantly opened my eyes the next morning and realized I really didn’t want to get up.

“Stay here.” Lawrence sat down on the edge of the bed beside me; he was already dressed.

“Why do you look so bright and cheerful this early in the morning?” I groaned, and buried my head back into the pillow.

“Because I wake up next to you every day.” He kissed the back of my head, the only bit that wasn’t still buried in the pillow.

“That’s hardly a reason to be happy.” I spoke into the pillow.

“I beg to differ.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t have kept me up half the night when we got home, I would be just as bright and cheerful,” I snapped, rolling over to frown at him.

“It was totally worth it.” He grinned and placed a lazy kiss on my lips. “I’ll happily give up your company this morning for a repeat of last night.”

Lawrence had barely managed to wait till we got into the bedroom the night before. He seemed to need the comfort of touch, maybe to reassure himself that I was indeed OK. By the time we finished it was nearly three am, hence my far from alert state this morning.

“Yes, well, as much as I don’t want to admit it, if you want me to go out tonight, I’m going to have to sleep.” I shouldn’t be missing the morning meeting, but he had left me with little option. I was drained from the events of yesterday with Patrick, and then add the lack of a proper sleep. I was not going to be anywhere near able to back up to a formal function tonight without more rest.

“I’m the reason you’re tired,” he said. “Well, a good part of the reason. So I’ll take the consequences. Sleep. I’ll handle the boys today. I’d rather have you alert and happy tonight than stuck in this meeting today.”

I was asleep before he left the room.

By the time I woke, it was past three in the afternoon, and I was positive that Lawrence had been in to check on me, probably more than once, because there was a collection of things on the bed beside me that could only have come from him.

One was a cup of coffee that was still hot, thank God, and that got first priority. The rest were gifts. Lawrence didn’t normally buy me clothes, but somehow he had managed to find time, or maybe he just ordered it in; regardless, he got me a stunning Armani dress, very formal, very couture, and very beautiful. It was a dull gold color, made of silk. From what I could see of it—and there wasn’t much of it to see—it had a halter neck with a dramatic plunging neckline that would probably expose my belly button (I was going to need the magic tape for that one) and was totally backless; it hung over my hips, where it seemed to all clasp together over my stomach with a huge diamond brooch, then would fall with easy grace to the floor. And if I’m not mistaken, it had a very small train. Holy cow!

Matching shoes and a pair of diamond earrings finished off the image and would have me looking like a movie star walking the red carpet. I wasn’t quite sure how well I was going to pull this all off, but he got it for me, and I couldn’t not wear it. I hoped it warmed up a little, however, or I was going to be very, very cold tonight.

I found a folded sheet of paper under some of the boxes, and scrawled in Lawrence’s broad handwriting was instruction for me to rest. We would be leaving for the dinner at 5:30 p.m., earlier than usual for dinner, but it wasn’t a normal function for us, so it would take some extra attention. I had a few hours, and I would need all of them to get ready.

I ordered up something to eat and set about making myself beautiful. I had a stylist coming to do my hair and makeup, something I was now immensely thankful for, considering what I had to wear. I knew my own attempts wouldn’t do it justice.

When I was dressed, the stylist gone, and everything ready, I snapped a picture and texted it off.

I was waiting in the lounge when Lawrence finally made his appearance, just before five o’clock. I turned from the view out the huge windows and watched as he walked into the room. He obviously wasn’t expecting me to be waiting, because when his eyes flicked toward me he stopped dead. I watched with a growing sense of pride as his eyes widened and his mouth nearly fell open. When I smiled at his reaction, he seemed to shake himself out of it and crossed the room to me.

His hands reached out and ran down the sides of the dress, gently running over the exposed skin at my sides and finally coming to rest on my hips. He growled low in his throat and pressed his forehead against mine. “Jesus Christ, woman,” he ground out, the words sounded almost painfully forced. “You are so beautiful. Do you have any idea how good you look in that dress?”

“I’m beginning to see,” I told him truthfully. His reaction was heartwarming and honest. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I think it might have been a mistake to get you to wear that tonight,” he admitted, as he stepped back a few paces, and I could see his hands twitching beside him. “How on earth am I going to keep my hands off you?” he asked seriously.

“Just think about a repeat of last night when this is all over,” I teased.

“Oh, there will be a repeat,” he told me, as he walked toward the bedroom to get ready. “There will be more than one, I assure you.”

“Geez, Lilly.” Charlie’s voice interrupted my happy thoughts. “You look great,” he announced as he walked into the lounge, closely followed by Frost. They were both dressed in a formal tux, no doubt so that they could blend in with the invited guests tonight.

“Thanks Charlie.” I grinned at him. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

“Ah, this old thing?” He mocked surprise, and as I knew that tux was probably worth about three grand, I knew he was joking. Like me, Charlie and Frost got an allowance for clothes, which had to be as high-end as my own on occasion—and this was obviously one of those occasions.

We arrived before everyone else at the hotel. It was one of the newer establishments in London and had a very modern decor; light, open spaces and a very minimalistic approach. It was also very expensive and very private, with high-tech security systems and personnel throughout.

Charlie and Frost took off almost immediately to coordinate that while Lawrence and I, and a handful of staff from the London offices, finalized the presentation and the order of events for the night.

My phone buzzed almost continually for the next hour as people asked last minute questions and worried through problems that couldn’t possibly wait. Lawrence had passed me his own phone in the car when it started ringing, as he had been busy going through security details with Frost and Charlie. I hadn’t had a chance to give it back to him yet. So between my own phone and answering his, I was just about run off my feet.

I had taken up position off to the side of the room, near where Lawrence and the others were talking, and every so often Charlie would come back to check on me. He had one of those little communications pieces clipped to his ear, but I was on the phone and didn’t have a chance to really talk to him.

I was immensely glad I had been able to sleep that morning, because if this continued, I’d be tired before the party even started.

“Who’s idea was this?” I asked Lawrence, during a lull in the chaos.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he replied. People had started to arrive, and the room was gradually filling. We would be staying in the same room for the whole of the evening, unlike the function the night before. There would be no escape to the more comfortable lounge later on. Not unless I was really lucky and managed to sneak out. “Just be thankful that I don’t make you get up there and give a speech,” he added, with a wicked gleam to his smile.

“Oh, yeah, that’ll never happen.” I gave him a tap with my hip as he passed me.

“Let’s get this over with.”

It was ironic, when I thought about it. Lawrence paid for this whole event, he gave the dinner and the alcohol and the entertainment, and the only ones who actually worked were he and I. Not only did he pay, but he formed a good part of the entertainment. He gave a long speech about the company and where he wanted to see it go in the next five to ten years; he told them about the biggest of the projects that we were currently working on; and he told them about the newest additions to his empire. He picked specific projects relevant to the people who were there and congratulated them personally on the work they had done. He talked about the business world in general and thanked the MDs for their work, their guidance, and their commitment to the company. He was a master story teller and a brilliant public speaker. Everyone hung on his every word; you couldn’t pay for entertainment like that. He was mesmerizing.