Nick was frozen. He knew there was something he should be doing now but unfortunately, he could not for the life of him take his eyes off the blonde woman standing beside him, from the sweeping lines of her dress to her long lashes and smoky eye shadow highlighting the almost unnatural bright blue of her eyes. In all his years having to attend these poxy events, he’d never been more grateful for the dress code. Goodie frowned at his paralyzed state and leaned across him to press the lift button. Ah, yes, Nick thought; that was the something he was supposed to do. He shook his head to clear it and dragged his eyes away from her, only to keep glancing back. He noticed again the tension in her frame as the doors closed, and he wished for the millionth time he knew why.
‘No Salem?’ he asked into the suffocating silence, his voice slightly strangled for some reason.
‘With Sam,’ she told him as the doors swept back and she walked out into the lobby, her heels clicking on the tiles. Nick’s mouth fell open; her entire back was exposed. He was suddenly torn between praising the Lord for the invention of backless dresses and wanting to rip his own jacket off to cover her. The thought of every last person in the ballroom being party to the view he had right now made a curious flash of rage shoot through him and his face flush red. Maybe he was coming down with something. After a few paces, she stopped and turned; this was the routine over the last two weeks – she would walk out, check the area, then allow Nick to walk on past her and follow behind. When he didn’t move she put her hands on her hips, a slight frown marring her perfect features. Although he could feel her irritation, he knew she wouldn’t say anything, what with the whole invisible-presence thing seeming to extend to any unnecessary speech on her part. Ed shuffled out of the lift still fiddling, this time with his belt, and then looked back at Nick.
‘Uh … you coming or what?’ Ed asked him. ‘Thiswasyour sodding idea.’
Nick jerked back to full consciousness. ‘Right … yes, let’s …’ he looked over at Goodie for a moment and again lost his train of thought.
‘You all right, mate?’ Ed asked, trying to flatten his hair with little noticeable effect. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t go if you’re not firing on all cylinders – it’s not like I’ll be able to handle that crowd on my own; I’d make a right pig’s ear of it.’
‘I’m fine, Ed,’ Nick snapped, dragging his eyes from Goodie and striding forward. ‘And stop bloody fidgeting.’
* * *
All the wayover in the limo Ed seemed to be getting more and more worked up. He was twisting in his seat, pulling at his clothes, and chewing his lip so hard he’d nearly split it.
‘Ed, calm down,’ Nick told him for what felt like the hundredth time, unable to keep the frustration from his voice.
‘I can’t just calm down ’cause you keep growling it at me, you bastard; that’s not how panic attacks work. This is ridiculous; I’m going home.’
‘We’re here now, you freak, no going back,’ Nick told him firmly as the limo joined the queue outside the Savoy.
‘Shit, shit, shit,’ muttered Ed, his eyes taking on a wild look as he searched for a means of escape. Each limo in front of them was moving on smoothly and the queue was rapidly diminishing. It felt weird to actually be sitting in the back with Goodie for a change instead of driving his own car up front, even if she had separated herself as much as possible from them by perching on the backwards-facing seat opposite.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ warned Nick as he watched Ed look longingly at the door handle nearest to him. ‘The press can see us from there; you’d be eaten alive.’
‘I’m going to be eaten alive anyway,’ Ed replied, his voice breaking as if he were about to cry and his movements becoming more jerky and anxious as he stared out of the window at the beautiful, glamorous people disembarking from their cars. That’s when Goodie moved. She had been looking out of her window doing the whole invisible-presence thing, but on hearing Ed’s broken voice her head snapped around. She leaned forward into his personal space and placed her hands over his shaking ones to steady them and stop their fiddling.
‘These people,’ she told him in a low, fierce voice, ‘they arenothing. Do you hear me?’
Ed nodded slowly, struck dumb by the unprecedented physical contact from Goodie.
‘You are worth a thousand of them. You workmagicwith your science. You willchange the world. This, this night, these people – to you they should be nothing. You use them to get what you need, and then you forget about them. They are but sand in your eye for a moment, do not let them stand in the way of what you want.’
Goodie slid back into her seat, withdrawing her hands from Ed’s but keeping eye contact.
‘I’m scared,’ Ed whispered.
‘There is no courage without fear,’ Goodie told him before throwing open the door to an explosion of flashes from the waiting press. Once she was out of the car, Ed glanced at a shocked and silent Nick for a moment before squaring his shoulders and pushing out of the limo after her.
* * *
‘Well,that’s what we’re hoping, Sir Talbot,’ Nick said across the group he and Ed were standing in. ‘Of course, driving energy prices down isn’t going to be popular with everyone, but yes, that’s the ultimate aim once we’re up and running.’ Somehow Nick had managed to manoeuvre a still-nervous-but-holding-it-together Ed into the exact group he’d wanted to discuss the project with. Sir Talbot was commissioner of the Energy Advisory Board, Ian Mowat ran a multi-billion pound Haulage Company and Irene Blake was the Minister for Energy. The more positive buzz these people heard about what they were trying to do, the better, as far as Nick was concerned.
‘So, Mr Chambers.’ All eyes in the circle swung to the tall, dark-haired woman who had just joined their group. Nick recognized her and wracked his brains to try to remember her name. He nudged Bertie, who was standing between him and Ed, but Bertie was staring spellbound at the woman with a vacant expression; not for the first time did Nick miss his ultra-efficient previous assistant, who would have already muttered the woman’s name into his ear by now. ‘It seems this idea will be making you and your company money. By all accounts, you have enough ofthatto be going on with as it is.’ She had a slightly more pronounced Russian accent than Goodie and she was strikingly beautiful, her long, gold gown almost dazzling.
Nick inclined his head to agree. There was no point arguing that he had money; he’d worked hard for it. Her perfect, fire-engine-red lips smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes. ‘What I would like to know is how this will benefit those who cannot afford energy? Is it only the privileged that will reap the rewards?’
‘Good point, Miss …’
‘My name is Natasha Alkaev.’
‘Of course, Miss Alkaev,’ Nick said smoothly, causing Bertie to let out a small squeak as Nick stood on his foot. ‘Forgive me, I don’t know what I was thinking; of course, I recognize you.’ Natasha laughed.
‘Don’t worry, Mr Chambers,’ she said through a genuine smile now. ‘I didn’t peg you as the type to be perusing the pages ofVoguein your downtime.’
Nick smiled back; he was surprised by her; some of the supermodels he had dated would not have taken that slight so well. ‘In answer to your question: yes, we hope this will benefit those most in need of electricity and power. As you may already be aware, the projects in Africa where merry-go-rounds were installed to power villages were not as successful as hoped. We think we can provide a better solution, given the access.’
