‘Goodie,’ he called softly, and she nodded without breaking eye contact. He took a risk and brought his hand up to the side of her face to cup her jaw, his thumb going to the small crescent scar next to her eye and his fingers sliding into her silky hair. ‘I don’t want you to sleep on the floor.’ She frowned slightly, as if she wasn’t following the thread of the conversation. ‘What will it take for you to sleep in one of the bedrooms?’
‘An alarm system that covers the perimeter of the entire house, with motion sensors at every door and window, a direct line to me, the far guards and the central office.’ Her eyes were still locked with his, and she spoke automatically, as if she wasn’t even really aware of what she was saying.
‘Right,’ he muttered, his face descending even closer to hers.
‘Ahem.’ He heard Mrs Beckett clear her throat when his mouth was literally a hair’s breadth from Goodie’s, and he closed his eyes in frustration. He loved Mrs B.; she was a most excellent woman, but her timing was atrocious. Goodie blinked and took a frenzied step back, smacking straight into one of the chairs. Her face was clouded with anger and maybe even fear until she reined it in. Nick had never seen her in the least bit clumsy before; she was always so composed, her movements always controlled. But yes, he affected her, that much she couldn’t hide. One side of his mouth hitched up in a lopsided grin and the fear in Goodie’s expression was replaced entirely with anger. Mrs B. turned back to the stove, but not before she gave Nick a disapproving look. He winked at her and reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone.
‘Conner? … Right, need you to set up an alarm system at the country house … High spec, best you can get … no, no that’s not good enough; it’s got to be today. I don’t care if it’s Easter weekend.’ Nick frowned as his head of security in London banged on about all the reasons they couldn’t do any installation today: things like delivery times, workforce, transport. Nick rolled his eyes; if he still had his old, eminently competent assistant and not Bertie,shewould be dealing with this crap right now.
‘Conner,’ Nick said again, his tone now a good deal firmer, ‘I want this donetoday.I don’t care how much it costs; keep throwing numbers around until you get results … whatever, okay? Right, good. I’ll expect someone here by lunchtime.’
He disconnected the call and searched the kitchen for Goodie. She was standing next to Salem at the door to the dog’s room, as far from him as she could get without actually leaving the room. For the first time since Nick had managed to tempt Salem with a biscuit he was baring his teeth at him, his ears flattened against his head. Nick knew it wasn’t just Goodie’s anger Salem was reacting to: the dog could smell the fear in the air. Nick slowly returned his phone to his pocket and took a step towards her. Salem gave a low growl and he stopped in his tracks, lifting both his hands palm up.
‘You are crazy man,’ Goodie said, her Russian accent stronger now. ‘You already have an alarm system. The only weak point is here. I can easily sleep here. You think I haven’t slept in worst places?’ Her voice lowered almost to a whisper. ‘You have no idea the places I’ve slept in before, the conditions I’ve survived. Don’t patronize me. This –’ she threw her hand out to the dog’s room ‘– this is nothing to me.’
‘I don’t care what conditions you slept in before,’ Nick said slowly, holding her gaze and crossing his arms over his chest. ‘You’ll not sleep on the goddamn floor inmyhouse. It’s time you realized thatyouwork forme.’ Goodie’s eyebrows went up at that. ‘And you will do as I say.’ Her mouth opened to speak but he cut her off. ‘Now, I was led to believe that you are mycloseprotection officer. Since I’ve not laid eyes on you for the last –’ he checked his watch ‘– sixteen hours, I’d say that was a very loose interpretation of that job title.’ By this stage Goodie’s slight frame was literally vibrating with anger, her face flushed red. Nick was so enthralled by the absence of her emotionless mask that he decided to push his luck. ‘You will be joining my family today. You will be having meals with us and you will be spending time with us. This invisible presence bullshit ends right now.’
‘I will do my job as I see fit.’
‘You’ll do as I say … that is unless you’rescaredto spend time with my family.’ Her sharply indrawn breath of outrage almost made him smile. ‘After all, I do realize that we can be a little intimidating en masse; but I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to worry about –’
‘Fine,’ Goodie snapped. ‘Whatever you say,sir.’
Nick clenched his jaw. He’d let that go.
For now.
Chapter9
Camouflage
‘Ah!Tils, darling. You look ravishing as always,’ Clive said through a smile that was just that little bit too wide.
They were in the drawing room and it was four o’clock, which in the Chambers household meant afternoon tea. Mrs Beckett and Nick’s mum had brought out all manner of food so far, and Nick knew this would only be the first wave. His dad and uncle were sitting together in their favourite armchairs, which were very conveniently placed for the coffee table piled high with food. Nick, Bertie and Clive were standing by the massive fireplace sipping their tea. Nick hadn’t realized that Clive’s relationship with his sister had progressed to the level where she would ask him for the Easter weekend, so his unexpected arrival that afternoon had been a surprise, and not an altogether good one.
‘Oh gosh, Clive, don’t be an idiot,’ Tilly said as she breezed into the room, closely followed by a dishevelled, red-eyed but smiling Ed and a laughing Arabella. ‘I still haven’t changed since doing the horses.’ She gave Clive a kiss on the cheek through a mouthful of sandwich and Clive smiled at her, but Nick could see his jaw was tight for some reason and his eyes had flashed at the ‘idiot’ comment. Clive could dish it out, but he had always had a problem taking it when it came to being teased.
‘I took Eddie to see the horses, Uncle Nicky,’ Arabella said proudly, skirting Clive to get to the sandwiches. ‘He said he’d never even patted a horse before in hisentire life. Can you imagine?’ Arabella’s face was totally aghast, as if a life without horses was a fate worse than death.
‘I think we’ve remedied that one now, kid,’ Ed said, ruffling Arabella’s hair and giving her a wink.
‘But Ed, I thought you said you were allergic to horses and more than a little scared of them,’ Nick said, his lips twitching.
‘Arabella has her own special brand of flooding therapy,’ Ed told him. ‘I’ve brushed a horse …’
‘Groomed.’
‘Sorry, Bels, I mean I’vegroomeda horse, I’ve fed a horse, I’ve shovelled a horse’s crap, I’ve even sat on a horse.’
‘He’s cured!’ Arabella shouted, smiling and throwing her hands in the air. Nick took in Ed’s red-rimmed eyes and slightly swollen, mottled face, and pressed his lips together.
‘Yes, well,’ Tils said, her voice shaking with suppressed laughter. ‘He was only bittenonceI suppose, and Merlin didn’tquitemanage to throw him off, so I’m sure he’s much more keen on horses now, darling.’
Ed was smiling at Tils. It was obvious to Nick why he had endured his equine torture session. He’d been in Tils and Arabella’s company for only twenty-four hours now, but it appeared that he was firmly under their spell. Clive must have also noticed the way Ed was looking at Tils, and he wasted no time in reaching out and pulling her into him to plant a possessive kiss on the side of her head. Ed looked away quickly from this display and hurried over to the coffee table to grab a cake.
‘Alright, squirt?’ Clive said to Arabella, giving her a forced smile.
‘Fine thanks,’ Bels returned in a small voice, retreating from him and her mother to the other side of the room to stand next to her grandfather and her great-uncle. Nick frowned. The way Bels shrank away from Clive seemed odd; she was a very outgoing child. He glanced at Goodie and noticed that she was staring at Clive; then her gaze dropped to Clive’s hand on Tils’s shoulder, where Nick could see he had Tils in an almost white-knuckle grip. She eventually caught Clive’s eye but he looked away from her cold, unblinking expression quickly.
