Forever Scarred

By

Jackie Williams

Front cover Photography

By

Natalie Williams

&

Cloverleaf Designs

To honour all the men and women

whose sacrifice keeps us safe.

I thank my beautiful daughter Natalie for her endless patience and her fabulous photographs.

And I thank my favourite Twerp for listening to all my endless waffling and still coming up with a brilliant title.

Chapter One

The sound was minute, barely there in the afternoon calm and he wondered if anyone else would have ever paid any attention to it, but to him it was as loud and as stark as gunfire.

He remained motionless, his breathing measured and calm, his legs placed wide, steady as a rock and his hands hanging loosely, ready to strike. He tuned out the sound of the water cascading past his legs and the whispering of the leaves on the trees above his head as he listened to the unnatural silence of the forest close around him.

For a moment he was distracted and his eyebrows contracted slightly as he thought he felt a second pair of eyes upon him but then the original sound was back loud and clear in the unnatural silence and he decided he had imagined the secondary sensation.

He concentrated on the first sound. It was barely a ripple in the atmosphere around him, but it was there none-the-less and he tried to hide a knowing smile as the water chilled his fingers and cooled his forearms.

He blew out of the side of his mouth to lift the hair that had fallen over his eye and he turned his head a fraction to gauge the distance of the sound just a little more accurately.

The wind danced through the treetops way above his head, letting the sunshine sparkle on the river flowing between his legs. The water reached just above his knees and he could feel the cold pressure on his thick waders as the water swirled around them.

He was about to move and confront the irritating intrusion that had caught his ear when he caught a shadow on the dappled bed of the river. He slipped his arms deeper into the water, his fingertips scraping the gravel on the river-bed. He forced himself to focus, keeping quietly calm, his breathing even, his stance aware yet relaxed while his whole body was ready and prepared to strike at the best possible moment.

His eyes opened wide as the sun glinted on the bottom of the river and he caught sight of the full length of the shadow between his hands. It would be a pity to let this one get away. He was rather fond of fresh trout and this one was a monster.

He waited, poised in readiness as he quickly worked out all the possible scenarios. And then, as the sound at his shoulder caught his attention once again, he dipped his fingers, curled them beneath his prey and gently caught the huge fish in his firm hands.

He launched himself out of the water and back up onto the riverbank, gripping the fish tightly now as it struggled and strained in his grasp. He tapped it across the back of its head and dropped it to the grass, then he spun like lightening towards the unnatural sound that had threatened to lose him his dinner.

He roared out loud as he scooped up the now squealing little boy from his crouched position behind some overhanging bushes. There was a huge laugh from further up the riverbank and Joe lifted his chin in acknowledgement of his friend David as he lumbered through the bushes making his way towards his neatly captured son.

Joe squeezed the squirming urchin in his arms as the boy laughed brightly in his ear.

“How Joe? How did you know I was there? I was real quiet this time, just like papa said I must be and you still knew I was hiding.” His tiny voice bubbled through the forest and Joe grinned down at the dark eyed boy.

“You were too quiet this time Robbie. You scared the birds away and if there are no birds it’s because there is something else around frightening them. Like you, you little rascal.” Joe declared as he gave Robbie a quick tickle below his ribs before he placed the child on the leaf strewn ground and showed him the monster trout that he had hauled from the water.

Robbie considered the fish with wide brown eyes.

“Cool, he’s a whopper. You going to eat him by yourself Joe? Or are you going to share?”

Joe looked down at the huge fish.

“I think it might be a little too big for just one person Robbie. You think your dad might fancy some fish tonight? I don’t think I’m going to be able to manage him alone.”

David reached them at last and opened his eyes wide at the size of the beautiful trout. He had heard Joe’s last words and he looked down at his son.

“Well, I agree that Joe can be a greedy devil. He needs to keep his strength up being the size he is, but I think that this one is too big even for him to eat by himself. Maybe we should give it to Patrick to cook. We could all have some for dinner tonight.” David ruffled his son’s wavy hair as he looked over at his friend with concerned eyes. “You are coming to the Chateau tonight, I take it? The last of the guests have gone so we have three days clear until the next conference mob arrives.” He sighed and took a deep breath. “I hope they are better than the last bunch of idiots. I was beginning to lose the will to live.” His tone gave away a deep loathing of their previous clients.

Joe gave a snort as he pulled a wicked looking knife from a pocket in his trousers, and gutted the fish with a quick clean efficiency. He threw the entrails into the fast flowing river and wiped his knife, first on the grass at the edge of the water and then on a cloth from his pocket.

“Yeah, I’ll come tonight if it’s not going to put you to any trouble. It’ll be good to have some decent conversation for a change. If I have to put up with one more inane remark about the benefits of cosmetic surgery, I swear I will punch the person so hard they will need some of the blasted treatment themselves.” He spoke bitterly.

David placed a firm hand on Joe’s shoulder.

“Just put it down to ignorance Joe. They don’t mean anything by it. They actually think that they are helping.”

Joe snorted again. He’d had as much help as he could take.

“Huh! I know way more than I need to about cosmetic surgery. I don’t know if I can take any more of it Dave. I’m beginning to think that if they can’t put up with the way I look then it’s more their problem than mine. I don’t think I can bear to have anything else done. It’s way too painful and the results aren’t brilliant. I can hardly feel anything in my skin as it is and I don’t want to make it any worse. I don’t think they realize that the skin has to come from somewhere else on my body. That last lot of treatment just about finished me off. They took a slice out of my back this time and there’s barely any feeling there now too.” He grimaced at the thought.

Robbie stared up at the two men towering above him.

“Why can’t you feel your skin Joe?” He reached up a tiny hand and Joe looked down and then squatted to the boy’s level. He didn’t stop the child as he placed his hot palm gently against Joe’s leathery, uneven cheek.

Joe gave a grim smile.

“The nerve endings were damaged by chemicals Robbie. When the bomb blast caught me I was right in the way and my face and hands were really messed up. Every time I have something done to make me look better it damages the nerves even more.” He had never hidden anything from the boy. There was no point really what with the way he looked and most of their visitors had problems too, but there was only so much a four year old could understand.

Robbie brought his other hand up against Joe’s face. He patted his cheeks gently and then leaned in to close the gap between them. He suddenly pressed his dewy cherub lips onto Joe’s bruised nose and blew a huge raspberry. He giggled madly at the buzzing sensation that quivered through his own lips and then he wiped the moisture from Joe’s nose with the back of his tiny hand.

“So why do you have stuff done if it makes you feel worse Joe?” He looked wide eyed at the man in front of him and Joe stared right back.

He spoke between almost gritted teeth.

“To make me look like normal I suppose Robbie. My face is horrible and it scares some people. They don’t understand why I look like this so I tried to make myself look better. I had a new nose last time, but they took some of my rib to make it and some skin from my back too. It’s still very sore.”

Robbie frowned at the big man in front of him and then looked up at his father. David’s face was immobile, his mouth set in a firm line as he fought the sudden tightness that gripped his chest.

And then the little boy’s face broke into a huge smile. He patted Joe’s cheeks between his palms again.

“Those people are being silly Joe. Your face is not horrible. Monsieur Claudel who brings the gas has a really ugly face and I don’t think he was even blown up ever. And you are not scary either. Papa, tell him that he’s being silly. Your face is fine Joe. I don’t want you to do anything to it. I like you just as you are.”

Joe put his big hands over the boy’s and stifled a laugh as he thought of the unfortunate Monsieur Claudel. He certainly wasn’t the most handsome man around but it made him smile to think that Robbie thought him the ugliest. He breathed out a deep, relieved breath and smiled grimly.

“Well that settles it then. No more of this awful treatment. If you say I’m fine Robbie, then I’m fine”

Robbie wriggled away from the big man and bent down to inspect the trout that still lay on the riverbank. He pulled a cloth bag from his pocket with a sudden flourish and pushed the huge fish inside. He picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder, then looked up at the two silent men.

“I’ll take this to Uncle Patrick for our dinner. Come on you two, mama and Ellen will be waiting for us.”

David bent down and gave his son a friendly pat on the backside as he scampered away from the riverbank and onto the path through the forest to the Chateau.

“Don’t run too far ahead kiddo, we’ll be with you in a mo.” David smiled as his son waved a hand over his shoulder and disappeared along the path.

Joe closed his eyes for just a moment. He took a deep breath and then squared his shoulders as he moved to follow the boy. David stepped along right beside him.

Lucy stood quietly on the opposite bank of the river. She stared at the man standing so still in the water, admiring his strong forearms and muscled shoulders that showed through the material of his dark t-shirt as he bent forwards to slide his hands into the flowing water.

She had been about to rush forward, kick off her heels and plunge her hot feet into the crystal clear, cool water when she had first noticed him from a distance away, back by the bend in the river. His quiet calm was unnerving and for a moment she just stood there staring at his strong back and solid thighs, but then she had inched forwards, not daring to make a sound as he concentrated on something in the water at his feet.

She kept back from the bank and then ducked silently into the dark bushes, worried that he would accuse her of trespassing, but then she realized that she was not his concern. She stood waiting for him to catch the fish that had obviously gained his undivided attention.

From this angle she couldn’t see his face, but his body was undoubtedly glorious and she leaned forwards to gain a better view from behind the bushes, curious to see his hidden features. Eventually drawing level with him, she smiled slightly as she realized that she had an even better view of the beautiful muscles cording his arms and shoulders. She noticed his hard, square jawline but his dark, shining hair had flopped forwards covering his cheek and eyes.

Then she heard him as he puffed out a short breath from the corner of his mouth, lifting his hair away from his face as he slipped his hands deeper into the water and she almost cried out in shock.

The top two thirds of the man’s face was a mask of waxy red skin. His hooded eyes were black ringed and there was a dark bruise covering his swollen nose. It looked as though he had been smashed in the face with a superheated shovel.

For a moment Lucy stood frozen in place and then she almost rushed forward to see if she could help him, but he suddenly let out a huge roar and leapt from the water, hauling out an enormous fish in his firm, capable hands.

The next second he had cuffed the fish across the back of its head and spun faster than she had ever seen a man move before. He tore into a nearby bush and grabbed a wriggling, squealing child from its depths.

For a moment she thought the captured boy was screaming blue murder and she was about to charge forward to his rescue but the next second she heard peels of high pitched laughter and saw the happy grin on the child’s face. He was not scared of the big man at all, just delighted to be caught spying. She gave another small smile of her own and her heart did an odd flip flop in her chest as the boy leaned forwards and gave the scarred man a kiss on the end of his bruised nose. The man dropped the boy to the floor and showed the child the fish as he pulled out a long, lethal looking knife from a leather pouch strapped to his leg, with which he proceeded to gut the fish expertly.

Another sound came to her and a second man ploughed out of the bushes and joined the first. He patted the child fondly on the head and as the boy looked up Lucy immediately saw the resemblance between the two even though the second man’s face was almost as disfigured as the first. One of his eyes was half closed and scar tissue ran in almost to his lips across his cheek. But he was grinning too, looking happy and unconcerned.

The sound of the boy’s high pitched voice reached her hiding place and her whole body shivered as she heard the fisherman respond with deep reverberating tones. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the sounds flood her brain.

And then she remembered how it would look if she were discovered spying on the two men who obviously were part of the estate staff. Though she hadn’t seen all of the correspondence, she had seen enough of the brochures to know that the place was run by ex-service men. They would be alert and she had already seen how fast the one man could move. If she was spotted there was no way she would be able to run and hide.

She took another cautious step back from the river making sure she kept herself hidden. She hadn’t even announced herself to the people at the Chateau yet and she didn’t want to be caught sneaking in a private entrance. She had detoured from the main driveway when her satellite navigation system had guided her from the town, along the track and up a back route via the woods and into the grounds.

She hoped that there wouldn’t be a problem with her arriving a few days early for their conference, but Carter Freeman had insisted that she come and check out the venue before he arrived.

It had been an order that she couldn’t flout if she wanted to keep her job. What with having to pay off an almighty debt run up by that scoundrel of a previous boyfriend and keeping her situation away from the ears of her employer, she just couldn’t afford to go against his orders.

She walked slowly back to where she had left her car after seeing the wonderfully tempting river and wrinkled her nose as she climbed back in to the stuffy interior. After driving for several hours she had just wanted to stretch her legs and cool her feet before intruding at the chateau.

She knew that there would be room as she had been told the date the previous guests would leave, but she still wasn’t looking forward to appearing unannounced. Carter had suggested that it was a good idea, just to see if the people running the course would live up to the hype and their own expectations, but Lucy had thought it a rude and ridiculous idea. The conference and team building sessions had been recommended by several other firms of telephone salesmen and it wasn’t as if they had only just started up. The Chateau had apparently been running similar courses for nearly five years.

She swung the car around, using several manoeuvres to turn on the narrow track and then she drove slowly back to the main entrance, thinking about the man she had seen fishing. Her heart gave the same odd flip and she drew in a deep breath as she remembered the sound of his deep voice and all the bunched muscles on his body.

She rolled her eyes at herself. She had just removed one very costly distraction in her life and she was fighting hard to stay under the radar of her very hands on boss. There was no way she was going to take become involved with any man while here, especially one with the issues he must have.

She thought about the man’s disfigured face and although she had been momentarily shocked when she first saw the bruising, she remembered how the little boy had leaned forwards and tenderly kissed that scarred face without a trace of fear or revulsion and she made a note to herself that if she was lucky enough to meet him, to do exactly the same, though she probably shouldn’t kiss his nose on their first meeting.

She smiled to herself at the thought as she steered the car towards the huge imposing Chateau, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t throw her out, leaving her struggling to find accommodation at such short notice.

David looked over at his friend and colleague.

“Robbie’s right you know. There’s not a damned thing wrong with your face Joe. It’s the one you’ve got so everyone else had better get used to it. After all it’s been nearly six years since it happened.” He spoke with a grim determination that could only have come from firsthand experience.

Joe bumped his friend’s arm with his elbow and let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll accept my face the day you accept your body Dave and not a moment before.”

David marched along-side Joe and gave a huge, happy grin.

“Oh, I accepted my newly fashioned body very nearly five years ago. It was the day Geraldine and I stopped just flirting with one another and actually decided it was more like love than anything else. Ellen nearly ruined it all by coming in at the crucial moment. It was Christmas Eve, if I remember rightly. Geraldine came into my room after we had finished dinner and kissed the shit out of me. Best Christmas present I ever had and I didn’t care what I looked like after that.”

Joe laughed loudly as he remembered the day after he had arrived at the Chateau, the day that David began to smile once again. He quirked up his lips and then spoke wistfully.

“Yeah, well, if I ever get half as lucky as you and Patrick then I’ll be satisfied, but I can’t see it happening now. I think I’ve met every woman around here and they all do that awful fixed staring thing, like they think I’m going to be embarrassed if they look away.”

There wasn’t much David could say to that. He’d seen it with his own eyes often enough. He turned to follow his son, assuming that Joe would walk alongside him but his friend had turned back to the river. He was scanning the opposite bank as if expecting to see someone standing there.

David frowned.

“Anything wrong Joe?” His friend didn’t respond immediately. And then he turned quizzically towards David.

“Has Patrick left Ellen alone at the Chateau?” It would have been such an unusual event that he scarcely knew why he asked.

David’s frown deepened.

“I doubt it. He doesn’t leave her side much as it is let alone now she’s pregnant. He barely deserts her even to do the cooking. He keeps insisting that he needs her help with the veg all the time. They have barely been apart since, well, you know since when. It was the New Year’s Eve dinner dance, the same year Geraldine and I got it together. Why do you ask?”

Joe tilted his head to the side, listening carefully.

“Can you hear that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I thought someone was on the other side of the river earlier, before I caught Robbie. I could feel them looking at me. And now I swear I can hear a car engine. It would have to be someone on the estate for me to be able to pick that up.”

David stood silently and listened hard for a few moments.

“Can’t hear a damned thing, but then I have one less ear than you. Doesn’t help much. If it had been one of us or the staff they would have made themselves known to you rather than sit there spying. I wonder who it was?”

That David didn’t doubt Joe’s assertion that someone had been there was unsurprising. Joe was a quiet man, thoughtful and of few words if he didn’t take to you, but he heard everything, had supersensitive hearing which was why it was nearly impossible to catch the man out.

Joe scanned the opposite river bank one last time and then gave it up. Whoever had been there was long gone. He turned back to the path.

“I hope we didn’t lose one of that last bunch of idiots. You did count them in and out Dave? Please tell me that none of them were missing when you waved them goodbye.”

David laughed.

“Nope they were definitely all gone so no worries there. All accounted for at point of departure. Let’s go and see if it’s a visitor. Geraldine is likely to bite someone’s head off if they turn up unexpectedly at the moment. She’s at the grouchy stage.” David was referring to his own wife’s pregnancy. She was just over three months gone with their second child and the morning sickness was relentless.

Joe took one last glance back at the river. He knew someone had been standing there observing him. He wasn’t entirely happy that he hadn’t been able to pinpoint the fact slightly earlier, but there was no worrying about whoever it was now. Unless they were heading for the chateau they had probably just been lost and had found their way by mistake onto one of the Chateau tracks. There were several that led up from the town and so he walked in silence beside David, listening to Robbie chattering away to himself as he took the prize fish home for their dinner.

Chapter Two

Ellen leaned back from her huge desk and placed her hands in the small of her back. She groaned as the twinges shot through her stomach. She gave a deep sigh and leaned forwards again as she stared at the paper work in front of her, comparing it to what was on the computer screen at her side.

She hated book work. It was the only thing she couldn’t bear about her project. Everything else had been a doddle in comparison, but she had been too stubborn to hire someone else to do the work for her. At first it had been because she needed to keep an eye on how every penny was spent but it had soon become obvious that the chateau expenses were running very high and she didn’t want anyone telling her that the project might become unviable. She had changed strategies the previous year and now she was showing enough profit to expand.

It wasn’t as if she needed to make a load of money for herself. She had plenty lying around in the bank for herself and her husband, a fortunate legacy from a long deceased relative, but she had spent the vast majority of the money on the chateau and she was determined to see that the project worked. It was more the principal of the venture that she had started.

She wanted those that had money to burn, to pay for those who had given everything. The war wounded service men and women and their families had given up so much. While none of them wanted to be pitied or regarded as a charity case, they more than deserved a luxury break at little or no expense and none of the embarrassment or hassle that they often received at ordinary hotels. Since they had increased the corporate revenue the scheme was actually making a profit, but it had come at a price she wasn’t sure that she liked.

The events had been increased to twice every six weeks, rather than the odd weekend that she had originally intended, but the extra income was enormous and was funding the building of three self-contained cottages down by the river.

Joe would be living in one of the cottages. He almost lived by the river full time anyway in one of the tiny fishing cabins that he decked out comfortably to suit his own needs. He preferred to be away from the Chateau when the business guests arrived. The way some of the people treated him was appalling and she had been tempted to say something to the visitors that had just left. He had only just begun recovering from his last set of operations and they were damned lucky that he had been up to the job, not that some of their guests could see that. They spoke to him as though he was an idiot and one had even called into question his suitability to the job.

It had been with great satisfaction that she had seen Joe rise to the challenge once again and pull out all the stops, inventing new and difficult, but not impossible challenges for the group. It had only been as they were leaving that Ellen realized that Joe’s talents at team building had fallen on a few completely deaf ears. There was always someone in the group who would spoil what had appeared to be a wonderful event. One of the men on the last course even had the cheek to hand her the card of an eminent surgeon to pass onto Joe, stating that if he mentioned his name, he would be sure to get a good discount.

Ellen had waited just long enough for the surgically enhanced specimen to leave the grounds before she tore up the card furiously. The damage that been inflicted on the men around her wasn’t something you could fix with a stroke of a knife, a dollop of some kind of implant and a few thousand pounds. The men had the best treatment money could buy through the army veterans services at the expense of the British taxpayer, but it wasn’t going to fix any of their wounds easily or permanently.

She looked over the figures in front of her and gave a small smile as she agreed the final addition. Absolutely a profit. Not large but gratifying all the same. A few more intense weeks like this

one and they would have just a little breathing space, maybe even enough money to keep the chateau open for most of the winter.

They had decided early on to close the huge old place between New Year and the end of February. It was partly to give themselves a well-earned break but also to keep the running costs to a minimum. The expenditure of keeping the temperature up in all the rooms and the lack of outdoor facilities during the wet winter months had swayed their decision after their first year at the venture. But many of their clients just wanted the break anyway. They weren’t worried about outdoor activities so long as they could sit by the roasting fires and use the fabulous indoor facilities, or maybe have a dance in the ballroom and a couple of quiz nights just to keep their brains in order.

Ellen looked up as she heard a noise in the doorway.

Patrick stood leaning against the door frame. He looked relaxed and happy and he came forwards quickly, circling the desk and winding his arms around his wife. He splayed his hands across her swollen stomach.

“You look tired Ellen. Leave this and come and talk to me while I cook. You should come and see the size of the trout that Joe caught in the river today. Robbie was so excited he nearly burst a blood vessel telling me how Joe lifted the mighty beast with his hands. You would have thought he was talking about Jonah and the whale.”

Ellen gave a small laugh as she relished the feeling of her husband’s warm hands on her belly.

“The only one around here feeling remotely like a whale is me. I am grabbing the exclusivity on that title for the next few weeks as Geraldine isn’t due until November.”

Patrick leaned in and nuzzled his wife’s warm neck. He would never get over this feeling of happiness. His life had been made complete when they had eventually married some five years previously but that was before Ellen had told him that she was, at last, expecting his baby. Now every single thing in the whole world paled into insignificance in relation to the way he felt about becoming a father.

“You shouldn’t be working so hard Ellen. We really need to find someone to take on the office stuff. I don’t want you bogged down with this side of things as well as entertaining our guests and looking after our baby.” The concern was deeply etched in his tones.

Ellen gave a small stretch and then stopped as she felt the baby kick and wriggle inside her.

“I know, I should have interviewed someone for the position ages ago, but I really don’t want anyone local. I don’t want anyone gossiping about our financial position whether it be good or bad and knowing the people around here, I don’t think anyone would be able to keep it quiet whether they intended to or not.” She shoved the papers across the desk and groaned as she turned to her husband. “It feels as if I have some kind of alien inside me.” She rubbed her side where her stomach protruded at an odd angle.

Patrick moved her hand gently out of the way and placed his hand on the hard lump. He circled it gently, talking quietly as he moved his big hand across Ellen’s belly.

“Come on baby, give your mum a rest. I know there’s not much room in there but you only have to be good for just another month and then you get to do some exciting stuff with your dad.” His voice was low and he spoke directly to the lump which immediately stopped moving and stayed quiet.

Ellen gave out a small laugh.

“Well at least he obeys your orders. He must know that you are a Major.” She leaned up, touched her hand gently to her husband’s cheek and gave him a kiss under his chin.

Patrick growled down at her.

“Don’t start that sort of thing now. I have dinner to prepare and I’m looking forward to some intelligent conversation tonight.” He closed his eyes as Ellen reached up and dragged his face nearer to hers. “If you carry on, I won’t be responsible for how late dinner is going to be.” He warned as he nuzzled his nose into her hair and breathed in her scent. But she couldn’t resist him, she never had been able to from the moment she first met him in the darkened forest surrounding the chateau, and she leaned in for another kiss.

Patrick groaned, there was no way he could stop himself. Apart from three self-inflicted months of torture after first meeting Ellen, he had never been able to resist her either and now was no exception.

He was about to drag her up out of the chair and carry her up to the nearest available bedroom when there was a small cough at the door. He spun around and stared at the blonde haired beauty who stood in the doorway. Ellen eased herself up from the chair and smiled at the woman.

“Hello, can we help you? The chateau is closed for a few days so unfortunately we can’t offer any accommodation at the moment.”

The young woman’s own smile faltered.

“Damn. I told Carter that this was a bad idea. He sent me a few days early and I told him it was a cheek, but he’s such an arrogant arse, he just wouldn’t back down. Do you know if there are any other hotels nearby?”

Patrick stifled a huge laugh as he took in the woman’s annoyed expression. She hadn’t even blinked at the horrific scars that covered the side of his face and he appreciated that.

“And who is Carter? Is this someone we should know about?” He asked, the held back laughter evident in his tone.

Ellen stepped forwards and held her hand out to the woman.

“I think you must mean Carter Freeman. I don’t know anyone else with that first name. And yes, he was a little forceful when booking. He almost gave me instructions about what events he expects when the whole point of the weekend is that your team come across previously unknown problems and have to solve them within the group. You must be his secretary Lucy. We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago. I’m Ellen and this is my husband Patrick Reeves.”

The young woman gave another smile, her rosy cheeks dimpling as she took Ellen’s hand and spoke with a warm laugh in her voice.

“Yes, that’s right. We discussed some things when I confirmed the booking. I’m Lucy Collins and I’m really pleased to meet you both at last.” She paused and gauged the obviously relaxed and happy couple in front of her before adding. “And just so that you know, Carter is a complete idiot actually. If I didn’t have to earn a lot of money quickly I would have given up working with his lousy insurance company ages ago.” Lucy gave an awkward cough and then a slightly nervous laugh. “Please don’t tell him I said that. I really need this job and it pays well so I will have to put up with him whatever happens here.” She cleared her throat and changed the subject to her most important predicament. “Look, I’m really sorry about all of this. I told him he was being extremely presumptuous and that it probably wasn’t going to be convenient, but he told me it would be a test to see if you are as good as you say you are and ready for the unexpected. But don’t worry about it, I’m sure I can find another hotel near here for a couple of days.” She smiled again and turned to head out of the office.

Ellen and Patrick looked at one another and came to a silent decision. Patrick moved forwards and spoke quickly.

“It’s fine Lucy. It’s not a problem. We were going to have a couple of days off but if you don’t mind sorting yourself out with any entertainment and can ignore us all being very casual then there’s no reason why you can’t stay here. It’s not as though we don’t have the room.”

Lucy looked up at the big man. He was handsome despite the scarring and he exuded an air of almost overpowering confidence. She glanced at his heavily pregnant wife standing by the desk, wondering if there would be any conflict between the two of them but Ellen’s smile was open and genuine as she nodded in agreement with her husband.

“Well if you’re sure I won’t be putting you to any trouble, it would really help me out and earn you some brownie points with the boss.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows.

“Not sure I care about brownie points from someone like him, but we would like them if it means that you will recommend us to other companies.”

Ellen moved to stand beside Patrick.

“Why don’t I show Lucy to a room? I think I hear Dave and Joe just coming in. We can make some introductions and then get you settled while my husband here gets on with cooking our dinner.”

Lucy nodded.

“Thanks, this is so kind of you. I’ll just stay out of your way for the next couple of days and let you all relax. I’ll see to myself entirely. I only have one small bag. I’ll grab it from the car.” She turned swiftly and then cried out in surprise as she stepped straight into the fisherman’s hard chest. He was a lot bigger than she had realized now she was close up.

She bounced away from him, tripping over her feet as her heart gave an almighty leap in her chest, and then the man suddenly lurched forwards. He grabbed around her waist to prevent her from falling and spluttered out an apology.

“Sorry, I thought you knew I was right behind you.” He set her back on her feet as she stared up at him. He wasn’t quite as tall as Patrick Reeves but he was still well over six feet, wide in the shoulder and all the muscles she had noticed down at the river were even more evident close up.

She blinked slowly, calming her heaving chest as she took in the vicious scarring that covered most of his face. The blackened bruises and swollen nose were obviously something new and she guessed that he had had some recent surgery, but his sapphire blue eyes honed in on her, impaling her with their intensity.

His hands were still on her waist, nearly encircling her completely but she didn’t try to escape them. The feeling of warmth and safety was too wonderful to describe. He was very close to her and she caught a waft of his aftershave, mixed with a hint of river water, but the almost overpowering scent was of man, hard and muscled and almost dangerous. She breathed in deeply, sucking it into her senses, never wanting to forget it. She almost stammered as she spoke.

“Th…thanks, I nearly went over. I didn’t hear you come up behind me.”

Joe’s lips twitched up into a smile and he gave a small laugh, his merry blue eyes dancing as he stared down at her.

“Obviously. Probably because you were moaning so loudly about your wonderful boss. He sounds like a barrel of joy. Now, I wonder if that’s anything I can bribe you with later on in the week? Could be good for when we are working in teams and I need to be on the winning side.” He grinned slyly and Lucy opened her mouth to protest before she realized that he was probably joking. She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him.

“Oh, very funny aren’t we. I knew I should have kept my big mouth shut. I need this damned job, so I would be forever in your debt if you would keep quiet about that little indiscretion.”

Ellen moved up behind Lucy. She looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows at Joe, who suddenly remembered that he still had his hands around the young woman’s waist. He dropped them quickly and stepped back as Ellen touched Lucy’s arm and guided her back towards the front entrance.

“I’m just going to settle Lucy in and then we are going to have dinner. That should just give you time to clear up this hall Joe. Fancy coming in here with your fishing gear on. Go change and then meet us in the kitchen later.”

Joe stared down at his waders and at the footprints that stretched across the black and white polished tiles, then he gave Ellen a sheepish look.

“Oops! Sorry Ellen. I’ll get onto it straight away. See you later Lucy.” He gave her a quick wink out of a hooded blue eye and then turned towards another doorway off the hall.

Joe stood with his back hard up against the door to the scullery and breathed deeply. His hands were still tingling and his body was almost vibrating with a need that he could barely understand.

He had been on auto pilot as soon as he had walked in through the front entrance and seen the back of the most beautiful hourglass figure he had ever had the pleasure to lay his eyes upon. Encased in an efficient black business suit with her tiny waist cinched in with a wide black belt and a set of pins to die for showing beneath the hem of her knee length skirt, the woman had drawn him directly to her. He knew immediately that this was who he had felt watching him from across the river and his heart beat cranked up a few notches.

When she had turned and fallen into him, his heart had leapt violently in his chest and was still pounding an erratic rhythm that wasn’t calming even now.

He’d caught sight of the delicious dimple peeking in her apple red cheek as she had realized that he was joking about bribing her and his heart gave another unexpectedly violent somersault.

Her dark blonde hair was tied in a sloppy sort of bun at the base of her neck and tendrils of soft hair had been escaping from the clip that held it all in place. Her dark brown eyes had only shown shock at him being there, not at what he looked like.

He leaned against the door trying to catch his breath as he imagined her hair blonde tumbling across her naked shoulders and he felt as though someone had punched all the air out of him. He couldn’t seem to find enough of it to breathe.

With her full figure, heart shaped face and full red lips, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

He dragged in a ragged breath and shook himself as he stepped away from the door. He bent to begin tugging off his waders furiously. There was absolutely no point in thinking about the woman, she was way out of his league, but his heart wasn’t listening to his head.

Lucy. The name rolled off his tongue and he closed his eyes as the vision of her swept over him again. Her breasts had filled the white shirt she wore under the black jacket and her hips splayed wide beneath the tiny waist. He had seen how round and perfect her ass was as he first walked into the hall. Now he just wanted to feel it in his palms, to glide his hands up that perfect body and mold those beautiful breasts with his fingertips, to put his lips to her nipples and flick his tongue across their tightening peaks while she cried out his name as he took her.

He began to sweat as his mind flipped between the gorgeously erotic pictures of her in his bed.

Shit!

He was in deep trouble and he knew it.

He stood up straight again without taking off the waders and blew out the breath he had been so desperate to pull into his lungs. There was no way any of those dreams were going to happen. He caught sight of the reflection of himself in the scullery window and winced as he saw a stranger staring back at him. He wondered if he’d ever get used to the shock as he took in the multitude of scars, the black eyes and crappy, swollen nose.

What woman would ever want him now? He had never considered himself anything like good-looking in the first place and any relationships had been difficult enough before being blown to shit. Army life was hard, with long months of separation and worry. It was not what most women wanted. And even if any of those that did fancy a bit of a thrill with a big, tough army guy had come on to him, it wasn’t what he was looking for. He had never been a one night stand type of man. He wanted a woman for keeps and not just a few hours of unfulfilling passion.

He didn’t think that he would ever have any type relationship now. He’d only had sex once since the bomb that had ruined him and even then he’d had to pay for it, something he swore he would never do again. He had come away from the mercifully brief encounter feeling dirtier than he had ever been before, even filthier than when he was up to his neck in dust and sand while out in Afghanistan.

He glanced back at the closed door and listened as he heard heels clipping across the tiled floor towards the staircase. He knew it was Lucy. Ellen tended to wear flat pumps even when dressed up, which wasn’t often these days and David’s wife Geraldine, never ‘clipped’ at anything. She had more of a slinky, graceful glide that she managed to keep up under all situations.

He thought about the evening ahead. There was no way he could sit in Lucy’s company during dinner. He wouldn’t be able to think of a damned thing but wanting her and as that was never going to happen he would rather he didn’t see her at all. He was going to have to put up with her making him sweat enough at the weekend when the rest of her group descended on them and he decided to put off the moment until then.

He strode through the scullery and into the big kitchen. Patrick stood by the long kitchen table, a lethally sharp knife in his hand as he looked down at the enormous trout Joe had caught. He glanced up as Joe marched towards the back door.

“Where are you going? I thought you were staying for dinner. I’m going to make a béarnaise sauce to go with this trout. It’s an absolute beauty.”

His voice brought Joe to a sharp halt, his hand poised to turn the door knob. He didn’t look up at Patrick as he replied gruffly.

“No, I can’t stay. You lot enjoy the trout. I just remembered some stuff I have to do. I’ll grab something later down at the cabin. The freezer is well stocked.” His voice had an odd tone to it and he hoped that Patrick wouldn’t notice.

Patrick noticed immediately. He frowned and put the knife down on the table.

“What stuff? Can’t you do it later or tomorrow? We have a few days off, remember.”

Joe grunted glumly, unable to keep the misery out of his tone.

“This can’t wait. I need to set something up and check to see how it works before that new lot gets here. I may need time to make adjustments if it doesn’t work out.”

Patrick looked at the set of Joe’s shoulders and knew that there was nothing to go and prepare, but he didn’t say anything on the subject. He picked up the knife again and sliced one side off the trout. He wrapped it quickly in some foil, walked up to Joe and slapped it into his hand, looking carefully into his eyes as he passed it over.

“You had better take this then. It’ll be nicer fresh than anything from the freezer. Do you want something to go with it? I’ve prepared a load of veg already.”

Joe shook his head as he kept his eyes on the floor.

“I bought bread this morning, that’ll be good enough. I’ll bung it on the barbeque later. I don’t really fancy anything at the moment.” His tone still didn’t sound normal and Patrick was silent for a few seconds and then he gave a grim smile as he cuffed Joe on the shoulder.

“Yeah, sure there’s nothing around here that you fancy.” He gave a small snort and turned back to the remainder of the trout as Joe opened the kitchen door and walked off into the forest.

Chapter Three

Lucy stared down at the piece of fish sitting on the plate in front of her. It was a beautiful soft pink colour and perfectly cooked.

Patrick had served it as a starter with some crusty homemade bread that was still hot from the oven and a delicious sauce that was obviously laden with butter filled calories, but her appetite had left her as soon as she realized that no one else was going to join them at the kitchen table.

She met Geraldine and David soon after arriving. The delightful Robbie was with them and he immediately launched into a much embellished adventure of how he had caught the fish with Joe. She smiled and listened and gasped in all the right places until David gave him a gentle cuff over his head and told him not to tell their guest a load of rubbish. Joe had caught the fish and had then caught Robbie too.

Geraldine laughed at the boy’s angry pout at his father, but Robbie didn’t take long to return to his naturally cheerful mood. He caught Lucy’s hand and brought her to the big oak kitchen table where he pulled out a heavy chair with much grunting and puffing and then waited for her to sit down before he dropped into the chair beside her.

It was only as Patrick served up the trout that she realized that one person was missing. Joe obviously wasn’t going to be eating with them. She tried to hide her disappointment behind the obvious question.

“So where is our intrepid fisherman? Isn’t he joining us after all?”

Patrick glanced at Ellen and then turned to Lucy.

“He intended to but after he met you he remembered that he had to test some equipment out before the rest of your group arrive. He’s caught up with something that he must sort out or he won’t be happy using it. He didn’t want to leave it in case he has to make any adjustments. Joe is very dedicated to his work.” His tone was deep and meaningful.

Lucy stared at the big man for a moment wondering if there was a hidden meaning in his words and then looked back down at the fish on her plate. A sudden lump lodged in her throat as she realized that Joe was probably avoiding her for some reason and it prevented her from asking anything else about him.

Ellen looked knowingly over at Patrick and it seemed as though a silent message was sent between them. She gave a small sigh and turned to David.

“Will you go down and check he has taken his meds and is wearing his mask later? I know he’s been told he can leave it off more often, but the scarring will be helped and the swelling will go down quicker the longer he wears it.”

David nodded at his sister.

“I’ll drive down later if he doesn’t come back up.” He looked up at Lucy and began to explain. “Joe had his nose remade about six weeks ago and he had a new skin graft over one of his cheeks. Something had gone wrong with the previous one. His body suddenly began rejecting the grafted skin for some reason. We’re hoping that this one will take better and last longer. He’s still on a lot of antibiotics and he is meant to wear a pressure mask to reduce the scars but they’re damned uncomfortable and we all know from experience that it’s tempting to leave it off.” He looked back to his sister. “I have to go down there anyway. He still has my spare set of legs and I want them back.”

Lucy nearly choked on the tiny piece of trout that she had managed to put in her mouth.

“Your spare legs?” She stammered out and then flushed deeply as she realized how shocked she sounded.

But David just laughed.

“It’s my own fault. I keep getting them wet. I should wear waders but sometimes the urge just gets to me and I just have to tweak that zip wire a bit and have a go. I always end up in the river and the water isn’t good for the joints in my legs.” He leaned down and tapped at a place below the level of the table. A dull thunk rang around the room. “False legs.” He clarified and smiled at Lucy.

Lucy managed to swallow the trout. She wasn’t sure what she was more shocked about. The fact that David had two false legs and she hadn’t even noticed or the thought of a zip wire that ended up in the river. She decided to find out more about the zip wire as that was her biggest concern.

“This zip wire? Is it part of our course?” There was a tremble in her voice that she couldn’t disguise but David didn’t seem to notice. He laughed again.

“Yes, it’s fantastic fun. Runs right from the top of the ridge down into the ravine. I can get it that taught it’s almost on free fall. Saved Ellen’s life when Patrick used it in a slight emergency we once had.” David gave a grateful nod to Patrick. He raised his glass a fraction at the memory of an incident that they would probably all rather forget and then took a sip of the wine that Geraldine had poured.

Lucy grabbed up her glass and took a big slurp too. She decided that she would question Ellen about having her life saved at a later date. The zip wire itself sounded far more terrifying.

“Top of the ridge? What ridge? Is it very high?” Her hand shook as she replaced her glass on the table. She took a couple of calming breaths before she took another forkful of the trout.

Patrick lifted his chin.

“It’s not so much that the ridge is high, but that the ravine is very deep. There are steps down the side but it takes an age and they are uncomfortably steep in places. Ellen had the idea of a zip wire for the kids when she first bought this place but I have to confess that it’s mostly the adults that use it. And Joe uses it in the team building stuff of course. You will love it when you’re flying through the air at breakneck speed with only a handbrake and the water to stop you. There’s a small cable car too, but no one ever uses that and we certainly wouldn’t use it on corporate weekends.”

Lucy’s fork clattered to her plate. She had turned an odd shade of green.

“I don’t do heights very well.” Her voice was a taught whisper. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to take part in that sort of team building stuff. Maybe Joe can work something out so I can use the steps.”

Ellen laughed lightly.

“You’ll be lucky. That’s the whole point of these types of exercises. It’s all about helping each other overcome barriers, taking you out of your comfort zone and encouraging you to do things that you’ve never tried before. He has brilliant success with it which is why the courses are so popular. It gives a team the confidence to overcome anything and that applies to work life too.”

Lucy looked down at her plate. The remaining piece trout suddenly made her feel as though she was going to be sick. She picked up the dropped fork and pushed the fish around the plate, desperately trying not to appear rude by not eating it.

Robbie started talking again and the conversation suddenly centered on him for which Lucy was very grateful. She kept her head down and listened as he chattered on about his adventures in the forest, but didn’t join in again until the trout had been taken away and a huge portion of delicious smelling pie had been placed in front of her.

She automatically pressed her fork into the pastry and noticed how the layers flaked away so crisply. She waited until the others had been served and then lifted a small mouthful to her lips. She almost moaned aloud when the pastry immediately melted in her mouth. Her taste buds began to sing as her tongue met succulent pieces of meat covered delicious juices and she groaned as she suddenly found her appetite again and began to consume another calorie filled, buttery creation.

“Please tell me we don’t eat like this all the time.” She managed to speak between mouthfuls. “I don’t think my hips will survive three filled with this kind of food. Do you ever serve anything slimming?”

David gasped and looked positively shocked at her words.

“Slimming? Does anyone here even know what that means? This is France! We do not do slimming here. And we’re all ex-army, well us guys are and so are most of our guests normally. They wouldn’t know a thing about slimming if it jumped up and bit them.” He looked around the table as if daring anyone to contradict him. “I shouldn’t worry about it Lucy, by the time Joe has put you through your paces and run you through your course each day, you’ll need a dinner like this in the evening.”

Lucy looked slightly confused for a moment.

“I’m not sure I am in the right hotel. You’ve already shocked me with the zip wire contraption. Carter told us that it was all team building and problem solving, but he never clarified exactly what we would be doing. He intimated a more, well, a more desk based experience.” She spoke slightly nervously.

Geraldine let out a gusty laugh and then quickly stifled it as David frowned at her.

“Maybe we had best just let Lucy and her team, find out what they are in for when the rest of them arrive. I understand that there are twenty two of you coming?”

Lucy looked curiously at Geraldine for a moment. The beautiful French woman obviously knew a lot more than David was telling her. She turned back to David.

“Yes, we’re a pretty big firm. It’s insurance mostly but we do have a loans department too. Carter will be sending the rest of the staff over in groups if he thinks this course is suitable. There are over two hundred of us in the company and it’s just the managers and one selected team member of each department coming this time. Carter is very concerned that the two sides of the company don’t work as well as possible together. He feels that our profits could be maximized by greater and more efficient communication between the staff.” Her mouth went dry as she spoke and she sipped at her wine again nervously.

Ellen looked up at Lucy curiously.

“And you feel the same?”

Lucy turned to Ellen and rolled her eyes.

“Well, if it was any other company I would say anything’s possible, but Carter is a law unto himself. He’s like a bulldozer. He just runs over anything in his path if he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He has a suggestion box that he encourages the staff to put ideas into, but he never even looks at them. He empties the box straight into the bin every Friday and then just does what he likes. I should think the rest of the staff are celebrating that he’s not going to be there for a couple of days.” She put another forkful of the heavenly pie into her mouth and closed her eyes as all the flavours hit her.

Patrick glanced over at David and a knowing look passed between the two of them. They had met men like Carter Freeman before. They all needed taking down several pegs but there was a right and wrong way of doing it. Patrick thought that they knew the right way.

He looked over to Lucy.

“Well let’s just hope that he learns a few things while he’s here. I’m sure if anyone can help your company it will be Joe. He’s a brilliant negotiator and strategist. We rely on him entirely. He’s the real deal when it comes to courses like this.”

Lucy looked up at Patrick and met his gaze full on. She decided to take a chance. If these men were not afraid of their injuries then there was no reason that she should be either. She gave a small, slightly cheeky smile.

“The real deal eh? Including his legs?” She glanced over to David and gave a quick wink.

David let out a huge guffaw of laughter and had to cover his mouth with his serviette as he almost spluttered pastry halfway across the table.

“Ha! You are going to fit in here perfectly Lucy. But just so you know, it’s only Patrick and myself with missing limbs, Joe just has a missing face.”

Lucy glanced back to Patrick again as he leaned down and tapped his leg under the table. The same thunking noise that had come from David now could be heard over by Patrick. She opened her eyes wide, amazed that she hadn’t noticed a thing amiss with either of them, apart from a few facial scars which she suddenly realized she hardly aware of any more. She stared at Patrick’s hands, to check that she hadn’t missed anything else and then before she could reign in her tongue, she spoke again.

“And you have to get your spare legs tuned up by Joe too, I take it?”

Patrick smiled widely.

“Just the one actually, but yes, I have that one serviced by Joe too. Fortunately for us, him being a trained mechanic, he’s pretty good at that sort of thing.”

Robbie touched her arm and looked up at Lucy with adoring eyes.

“Joe’s good at everything Lucy. He’s brilliant at finding me when I’m hiding really secretly.”

Lucy smiled down at the boy.

“Yes, I expect he is. Well, I’m sorry he wasn’t able to join us for dinner. It would have been nice getting to know him a little better, though it sounds as though I will have had enough of him by the end of the weekend. I wasn’t really expecting to have to slide down zip wires.”

Geraldine gave a small chuckle.

“Yes, you will be doing that and you will ‘ave a wonderful night time romp through the forest and campfires and canoeing.” Her heavily accented voice did nothing to calm Lucy.

She looked positively horrified.

“But I’m not used to any of that sort of thing. I’m a personal assistant, a secretary, I can even do some filing and accounts, but I’m not an out-door person at all. None of the team are. We’re all a bunch of office staff and half of us are unfit and over forty too. Carter told us we would all be about resolving things through strategies and planning.”

Patrick looked over at her worried face.

“Well, he’s right up to a point, but don’t worry about it. You will all be fine Lucy. And age has nothing to do with it. You can’t possibly be a day over twenty five. I’m thirty seven myself. It is all about doing strategic working but there are other ways to use your brain that can be very helpful when in a team. We had to use these types of exercise all the time in the army. It’s the only way you can survive all the rubbish that gets shoved at you.” His voice was calm and she knew that he was trying to be reassuring.

“Huh!” She gave a small, unhappy grunt. “Maybe I need to hear that from the man that is going to be putting us all through this torture. I really wish he had been able to stay for dinner.” She hadn’t caught Patrick’s small smile at something over her shoulder.  She dug her fork back into the pie, and then jumped as there was a quiet whisper in her ear.

“Your wish is my command, my Lady. It’s all about the strategies.” Joe suddenly appeared at her side.

Lucy let out a small shriek of surprise and dropped her fork again as she pressed a delicate hand to her thumping chest, while Robbie let out a howl of laughter and shimmied his chair away from Lucy.

“Hey Joe, pull up a chair. Did you finish your thingy already?” He ran to fetch cutlery and placed it neatly on the table before sitting in his seat again.

Joe put his hand on the boy’s head and ruffled his hair, then he took a chair from the side of the room and dragged it into the gap at the table.

“Yes, didn’t take as long as I thought it would.”

Ellen smiled as she dished out another huge piece of pie onto a plate and Patrick passed Joe a bowl of vegetables.

“Glad you could join us after all Joe. I take it everything is okay now?”

Joe gave his friend a swift nod.

“Yes, sorry I wasn’t here earlier. It was just me being over-cautious as usual. You know how I can be when trying something new. I swear all the worrying is bad for the heart but I’m hoping the equipment will be up to the strain it’s going to go through.” He gave Lucy a sideways glance and Patrick’s smile widened.

“Yes, sometimes you just have to let things just run their course.”

Ellen looked up at her husband, knowing that he wasn’t talking about any equipment they had on the estate. That was all of the very top quality and it wasn’t just Joe that knew how to maintain and use it.

She rested her hand over her stomach and rubbed where the baby had begun pressing again as she flicked her eyes around the table.

Lucy’s dimpled cheeks were flushed a becoming shade of pink and Joe was tucking contentedly into his pie. His scarred, swollen face was as unreadable as usual, but his eyes were bright and sparkling and Ellen smiled to herself and crossed her fingers secretly.

Lucy’s appetite had suddenly come flooding back as Joe pulled his chair up beside her. He didn’t look in her direction, but she knew that he was observing her from the corner of his eye.

She picked up the dropped fork and lifted a tender piece of the succulent meat from under the mouthwatering pastry and slipped it into her mouth.

She was so glad that Joe had reappeared she hadn’t taken any notice of how silent he had been until now. It was the second time he had surprised her with his stealth and she wondered if his job had involved more than just mechanics while in the army.

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looked over at Joe’s hand as he topped up her glass of wine before filling one of his own.

The knuckles and back of his hand was covered in a map of scar tissue but his fingertips looked perfect and his nails were short, clean and neatly filed. She chanced a glance up at his face again and took in all the bruising. It was just turning to the greenish purple stage. And then she looked lower, across the battered skin of his cheek to his full lips and jaw. It was almost odd how they were still almost perfect. She could see the slight cleft in the centre of his chin and his smoothly shaven jaw was hard and square. His lips moved gently as he ate and his tongue suddenly flicked out to reach a flake of pastry that had stuck to the generous arch of his top lip.

He was wearing a fresh linen shirt and dark denim jeans. The waders had been removed but she couldn’t see below the top of the table to discover what replaced them. He had obviously had a quick freshen up while he was out of the Chateau and she wondered where he had gone to do it. The scent of his now familiar aftershave wafted over her and she took in a deep breath, filing her senses with the beautifully spicy scent.

Her heartbeat picked up yet again and she willed it to calm but it just wouldn’t. She said a shy thank you to him as he suddenly picked up her wine and passed it to her and then she looked directly into his sparkling blue eyes.

Joe stared right back at her, gauging her reaction to him, to his scarring, his misshapen nose, his replacement eyelids that never quite closed and his wax like forehead that showed no expression. He knew his face looked like a badly sewn patchwork quilt but she didn’t appear afraid of him, just slightly curious and he wondered if she would ask what had happened.

It wouldn’t be easy to explain. He had hardly known himself and as he was the only survivor of the catastrophe and he had never found out the full story. All he knew was that one minute he was looking inside the engine of their broken down AV, desperately trying to figure out what had gone wrong and how to fix it before they were caught up in some gun battle, and the next he was flat on his back in what he assumed was a bed with the most excruciating, burning pain racking his entire body.

The place had smelt of disinfectant and body fluid. He could hear soft beeping noises going on around him and had surmised that he was in a hospital somewhere, but he couldn’t be sure as he had been unable to see a thing.

He had tried to raise his hands to his eyes to clear the obstruction to his view but the excruciating pain and a warning murmur as he felt a slight pressure on his forearms, told him to stop.

He had listened carefully through the mind numbing pain that gripped him, and a cold fear had swept over him as a woman’s gentle voice told him that he had been covered in acid during a bomb attack and while they were positive that his legs would mend perfectly from where they had been broken by the force of the blast, they were still unsure that he would recover his sight. He was lucky to be alive as the rest of his team had been killed instantly so he was to keep still and stay quiet and to touch the button under his fingertip if the pain grew to be too much.

He had flicked a pain racked fore-finger immediately and had felt the smooth surface of a plastic stud. He pressed it more firmly and had been rewarded by falling into a deep sleep a few moments later.  Much later he had woken to the sound of his mother weeping desperately at his side.

His hearing had become acute during the weeks waiting for the leg pins and facial bandages to be removed permanently. The treatments between had been an unending round of torture, but almost miraculously his legs had mended perfectly and he had retained his sight and strangely enough his sense of smell too, which had amazed him when he had eventually been allowed stand up with the help of a pair of crutches, to look in the mirror at his ruined face.

His ravaged eyelids had been replaced with flaps of skin taken from his inner thighs, his eyelashes and brows were transplanted black hair follicles from his forearms, but his cheeks were raw and pitted from the acid burn. His forehead hadn’t escaped either and was a now a wax like immobile sheet of skin from his inner forearm and his nose had all but disappeared but they promised that even that could be repaired in time.

He remembered feeling the horror and the shock, even after he had been warned that it was going to be bad and for a long while he had wished that he had been blinded too so that he would never have to know how much he had changed.

The only relief came in that his lips and chin had escaped the worst of the blast of acid. He had apparently thrown up his hands in an automatic reaction and though they had been coated with the vile burning fluid, the damage hadn’t been as noticeable. They had hurt like hell but had recovered more quickly than the rest of him.

His treatment was ongoing. The recent operation to replace his nose had been deemed a success, and in many ways it was seeing that he now actually had one and could throw away his prosthesis that had looked false no matter what disguising tactics he had used, but the treatment had been painful in so many ways and nothing was ever going to restore his face to the way it had been before. He was glad he had finally decided that he couldn’t take any more.

He gave Lucy a quick smile which she returned easily and then dug back into his food.

While he had still been in the army things hadn’t been too bad for him but once out in the big wide world he had discovered a weird form of cruelty that he could barely describe. People didn’t even know they were doing it half of the time, offering stupid suggestions of bio oil and cosmetic surgery, while they could barely look him in the eye. Working with Patrick and David had helped his insecurities no end, but in others they were painfully evident.

His lack of female company was one of the worst.

He was a red blooded male and at twenty nine years old he had an almost overpowering urge to find a woman to share his life. He wanted someone who would love him for who he was and not one who was worried about what he looked like. It was a pity that his face was the first thing everyone saw. None of the women he had met previously could hold eye contact with him. They looked nervously at somewhere just over his shoulder or took endless amounts of time rummaging in their handbags while they spoke to him.

Lucy had certainly captured his attention on the looks front and while he had initially decided to cut and run, as soon as he’d reached his cabin by the river, he realized what a fool he was being. He remembered Patrick talking about his own self-inflicted heartache. It had been a complete waste of his and Ellen’s time.

He quickly realized that hiding himself away wasn’t giving her the chance to get to know him, to forget about the horrendously obvious scars that covered his face and the hidden ones that encased his heart. He had put the side of trout in the fridge, stripped and jumped into the shower for a quick spruce up and then raced back up to the Chateau.

Seeing Lucy sitting at the table, her expression one of horror as Geraldine had given her a rundown of a few of the tasks they would be completing during the course, had made him smile. She was kidding herself if she thought she wasn’t the outdoorsy type. She just didn’t know it yet and he was determined that he was going to show her. Her silence in the woods had given her natural affinity with nature away. It was a rare gift to be able to hide oneself without alerting the birds or animals, and especially rare if he hadn’t been sure she was there.

He glanced over her once again as she took another mouthful of the pie. Her lips moved delicately and the dimple peeped out as she chewed.

God! She was beautiful!

She had changed out of her formal suit and shirt and was now wearing a pair of soft linen trousers in a dark blue. Her shirt was made of the same material but in a gentle rose pink that matched the glow on her cheeks. Her hair was still swept up but even more of the tendrils had escaped the blonde mass and she kept blowing them gently as she tried to keep them out of her mouth as she ate.

He tried to be objective about it. There was really no chance that she would ever be more than a client and strictly speaking he should never try to become involved with one of their guests, but Lucy looked to be about twenty five, maybe a little older. She would know her own mind when it came to men, regardless of what he wanted to happen.

And he did want something to happen. He wanted it with an ache so deep he could scarcely breathe. Everything about her was enticing him. From the way she looked to her delicate scent, from her clothes, to her fabulous body. She certainly wasn’t anywhere near fat but her body had curves to die for and she was tucking into her food as though she really enjoyed it.

But there wasn’t a thing he could do to make anything happen unless she made a move first. There was no way he could, what with the way he looked. She might be hiding the fact that she thought him repulsive and there was no way he could stomach the rejection if she refused him.

He put the last mouthful of delicious pie into his mouth and sat back in his chair, staring at her back and shoulders thoughtfully, as she twisted the stem of the glass in her hand.

Chapter Four

Lucy lay back in the huge bed and breathed deeply as she stared through the arched doorway to her own private lounge.

She couldn’t make out what on earth was wrong with her. Her heart kept thumping erratically and she couldn’t keep her mind on any subject. She had unpacked her clothes and had showered in the fabulous wet room that adjoined her bedroom in an effort to calm her jumping stomach.

She had been embarrassed to discover that Ellen had given her their most luxurious suite of rooms, but they were absolutely lovely and while normally she would have preferred something a little simpler there was no way she was going to give them up. She had never stayed anywhere so beautiful in the whole of her life.

And what with the debts she now owed she doubted that she would ever again.

Her previous boyfriend had been a bitter disappointment. Apparently so wonderful and caring for three long years after moving in together, and then she had discovered that almost everything about him was a complete sham.

The knock on the door by the debt collector had been the first she had known about Stewart’s out of control gambling habit. It seemed that he had lived a lie for far too long. His fabulous job in banking was the fabric of his overactive imagination and his credit card debts had been moved on to collectors.

It wouldn’t even have mattered to Lucy that he worked as a hotel porter if he had told her the truth from the beginning, but he had lied to her, making up tales of fantastic banking deals when the only dealing he was really doing was with a deck of cards.

The worst of his betrayal came when she discovered that almost everything he had ever bought while with her, all the dinners, the clothes, the cars and had been purchased with a credit card that bore their joint names. And the mortgage on their beautiful little house was now her sole responsibility.

Lucy was just as liable for the debts as Stewart and there was no way she could get out of it.

Stewart had just shrugged uncomfortably when she confronted him with the evidence of his uncontrollable finances. He packed a couple of bags and upped and left immediately, leaving her devastated on two levels. The churning loss of the man who she had thought was the love of her life and the undeserved loss of her financial security.

She had spent months negotiating with the people they owed money to and at last she had come to arrangements that they were apparently all happy with. It meant she would be up to her eyeballs in debt for the next five years, and she would have to take any job she could get, but after that she would be free. She crossed her fingers as she sent up a silent prayer that her boss would never find out who she was actually indebted to.

She doubted she would ever trust another man again and this confused her even more as she remembered the way Joe’s strong, safe hands had felt about her waist.

She could trust him.

It came through loud and clear and she sighed as thought of the way his sensuous lips had moved as he had eaten the pie, followed by a delicious cream dessert.

She frowned slightly as she wondered how Carter was going to react to the sight of the three war torn men. He was a handsome man and he knew it. He wore designer clothes on all occasions and had his hair trimmed into the latest style at least once a fortnight.

Lucy considered the haircuts Patrick, David and Joe wore. Over their ears and down to their collars, almost shaggy where the army style had long grown out, though she suspected that this was partly to cover some of the scarring that each man bore. Patrick and David were obviously limbless too, but their facial injuries paled into insignificance when compared to Joe.

She winced as she thought of the bruising on Joe’s face. The pain he had suffered must have been excruciating. The agony he must have suffered on an emotional level since being injured, she couldn’t even begin to imagine. But his demeanor was carefree and just as filled with fun as either of the other two men.

Patrick and David were obviously besotted with their wives and David’s son was a little charmer, apparently born just ten months after he and Geraldine had fallen in love. The pride and joy in David’s tone when he told her that Geraldine was expecting again, as they ate their dessert had left her almost choking with emotion.

Patrick had sounded just as proud when he told her that Ellen was expecting their first child after nearly five years of marriage. She had only a few weeks to go and they could barely wait to have their baby in their arms.

The love the two couples had for each other was self-evident. And the love they all had for Joe was more than apparent too.

She rolled over on the bed and was about to go to the fabulous wet room to brush her teeth and to apply a light moisturizer to her face, when she heard the buzzing of her mobile phone in her handbag.

She rummaged around inside and was a little disconcerted to discover that she had five missed calls, all from Carter Freeman. She sighed and sat up on the side of the bed, pushing back the heavy drapes that caught at her hair as she put the phone to her ear and returned his calls.

She sat in shock a few moments later as the phone line went dead while she was in the middle of protesting at his hair-brained idea. She looked over at the beautiful French ormolu clock that sat ticking gently on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. Nine-thirty in the evening. Way too late for her to be asking favours of this magnitude, but she didn’t see what other choice she had.

She rolled her eyes and slipped from the bed. She dragged her linen trousers back on, pulled her shirt over her still damp hair and shoved her feet into her comfy pumps, then she opened the door into the wide hallway and made her way beneath sparkling chandeliers, downstairs towards Ellen and Patrick’s office.

She could hear soft voices coming from within the office and she knocked briefly, waiting for a response before entering.

Patrick looked up from the big leather chair as she opened the door. Someone who she assumed was Joe sat on the desk, one long leg swinging, his face completely hidden by a surgical mask that only left small holes for his eyes, nostrils and mouth. He turned away from Lucy sharply, but she came forwards quickly and laid a hand on his arm.

“You don’t need to hide this from me.” She looked him right in the eye as she spoke quietly and Joe swiveled back towards her. “I needed to speak to Patrick or Ellen urgently. I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”

Joe looked down at her hand on his arm, then gave a huge sigh and looked into her eyes.

“Sorry, force of habit. A lot of people don’t like it.” His voice was gritty and strained.

Lucy narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke determinedly as she looked right back at him.

“I’m not a lot of people. You do what you need to do and don’t worry about what the hell anyone else thinks.” She looked up at him as he stood. He was a lot taller and wider than her and for a moment she felt overpowered by his massive frame, but he smiled inside the mask, the outer edge of his hooded eyes crinkling slightly as he spoke.

“Thanks Lucy, I know it looks awful. I’m meant to wear it until we’re sure the skin graft has taken but I can’t stand the thing. It itches like crazy most of the time and I only put it on when nobody unused to it is about...” He turned back to Patrick. “Well, if that’s all sorted, I’ll be going home so that you can talk to Lucy privately.” He made his way towards the door but Lucy stopped him again.

“No, don’t go Joe. You need to hear this too.” She took a deep breath and ploughed on. “Carter Freeman has changed the schedule to suit himself as usual. He and the rest of the group are going to be here tomorrow evening. They are all taking the early ferry to Calais tomorrow and then driving straight here. Carter says that as you have been able to accommodate me than he can’t see why the weekend can’t start now.” She turned towards Patrick and shook her head in despair. “I told him that you all needed the break but he didn’t even acknowledge that I’d spoken. He put his phone down immediately and now he’s turned it off.”

Patrick frowned deeply and placed his hands firmly on the desk.

“What on earth type of boss is this bloody Carter Freeman? My wife is having a baby in a month and needs a few days break. Joe needs to rest too. He’s not fully healed and mustn’t overdo it. And he isn’t fully set up after our previous guest’s event. We need those three days.” He glared up at Lucy who tried not to flinch from his angry glance.

Joe suddenly leaned forwards and placed a calming hand on Patrick’s shoulder.

“Hey, come on Patrick, we can’t take this out on Freeman’s personal assistant. It’s not her fault that the guy is an arrogant prick. Look, I’m well enough to take this guy on any day and what with the new equipment and Michael on board at the restaurant, I don’t have to use the mud slide or the tunneling gear so I can stay out of the dirt. Freeman sounds a right berk and won’t know what we do with other groups so why don’t you play it to gain the best advantage. The inconvenience alone should be worth double the original quote and if they are all more or less on their way then I don’t see how he can refuse. We can tell him that it’s our mid-week pricing package. We could have the next weekend off then and the extra money would mean some of our more deserving cases could have a break.”

Patrick stared hard at Joe and then looked back to Lucy.

“I’ll have to clear it with Ellen first, but I have to say that the chance of having more of our own guys getting a luxury break is very tempting. Do you think he’d go for it?” He quickly moved the mouse on the computer and punched in some numbers. “What do reckon? Forty grand instead of twenty. If he doesn’t like it, he can just go back home again. He’s already paid us a substantial deposit so we won’t lose out financially even if he does tell you all to leave immediately. The only thing I would worry about would be his recommendations or lack of them.”

Lucy sucked in her cheeks and considered for a few seconds.

“I think he’ll go for it. I don’t think his ego would bear the humiliation if you told him to get lost. His marketing budget was well over a million last year so I don’t see how an extra twenty thousand is going to affect him, especially if he gets better production out of the company.”

Joe let out a laugh

“Over a million? Jees, if only we had anything like that kind of money to burn. We wouldn’t have to do these weekends nearly as often. Maybe you should tell him that it’s going to cost sixty grand. We could throw in an extra day, maybe an extra hog roast and we can open the tree walk and set up the climbing tower. Why not make it really worth the extra money so that Freeman doesn’t feel he’s being hard done by.”

Lucy felt as though she was going to faint. She grabbed hold of the edge of the table to steady herself and her voice shook as she spoke.

“What on earth are a tree walk and a climbing tower? I’m not sure the group is going to be up for that kind of thing. I was worried was when you were talking about the zip wire.”

Patrick began to explain about how the team had to construct a thirty foot tower from wooden boxes and help the others get to the top before abseiling back down again, but Joe suddenly leapt forwards and grabbed Lucy’s shoulders as her eyes flickered shut and she began to sway.

“Patrick stop! Don’t talk about it anymore. I think she suffers from vertigo, look she’s terrified!” Joe gathered an almost senseless Lucy into his arms and turned her towards him, enfolding her within his embrace.

Her breathing was coming in shallow gasps and she buried her face in Joe’s chest. His by now familiar scent surrounded her, calling her quickly back to safety and she lifted her chin as she realized that she was making a fool of herself in front of these two brave men. She hadn’t heard Joe’s words but she gave herself a small shake and spoke again.

“I’m s…sorry.” Her voice trembled as she began to pull away from her haven. “I don’t know what came over me. I think I must be tired from the travelling.” She covered her moment’s weakness, far too embarrassed to tell them she was petrified of heights to the point of near paralysis. She didn’t know why she had such a violent reaction to even talking about the subject, she just knew that if she was anywhere high, she had the almost overpowering desire to throw herself into the air, wanting, needing the feeling of sudden release. If she didn’t lock herself down she would have killed herself years ago.

Joe’s arms were still holding her, his muscles bunching beneath his shirt, heat pulsing through the material, enfolding her in warmth. She fought the urge to nuzzle against him and pulled back more firmly.

Joe eyed her carefully as his hands slipped from her waist.

“You sure you’re okay? Seems like you are more than tired.” He quizzed her gently.

Lucy shook her head and took another step back. She couldn’t possibly tell these men of her irrational fear after what they had obviously suffered. It paled into insignificance in comparison and she was more embarrassed than she cared to admit.

“Just came over a little light headed. I shouldn’t have had the wine. I don’t have much of a head for it.” She pressed her fingertips to her brow, desperate to regain some calm. It took her a few moments to realize that the pounding in her chest was nothing to do with the thought of a thirty foot tower of boxes, but everything to do with being in Joe’s arms. She risked a glance towards him wondering if he was feeling as confused as her, but her stomach dropped when she saw only curiosity in his eyes.

Patrick was staring between the two of them, the faintest of smiles evident at the corner of his mouth.

“Yes, the wine can be a little potent. Heady even. Maybe Joe should escort you back to your room?”

Lucy glanced up at Joe who was staring at Patrick, his eyes narrowed.

“Yes, of course.” His voice sounded stiff and slightly forced.

Lucy stepped back from the desk almost too embarrassed to speak.

“No, don’t worry, I will be fine by myself. I’m perfectly capable of finding my own way back.” She turned back to the door, willing her feet to move quickly. There was no way that she could be in Joe’s presence any longer. Her heart fluttered madly again and she stumbled as she crossed the threshold into the hall.

Joe was beside her in a second. Before she could even right herself he had picked her up, his arms beneath her knees and around her back, holding her close to his chest as he carried her towards the wide staircase. She automatically flung her arms around his neck and stared up at him.

“Put me down Joe. Honestly I was fine on my feet. I just tripped.” But she didn’t struggle to free herself.

Joe grunted and tightened his arms around her.

“And have you fall down these stairs and hurt yourself. No way.” He marched quickly up the stairs, carrying her as if she weighed no more than a feather, and took her along the corridor to her room. He stopped at door way and let her down.

For a moment Lucy thought she might collapse again. Her head was spinning in confusion, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Everything about Joe was calling to her. His scent, his strength, his voice. Something rose up inside her and she could barely contain the feeling that filled her with need. She didn’t want anything else. She just wanted him.

She quickly turned the handle on the door and stepped into her room, feeling the loss of his warmth immediately.

“Thanks.” Her voice was soft and she cleared her throat as she looked back at Joe.

He stared at her, his hands half fisted at his sides, his shoulders tense.

“What time does your boss arrive exactly? I’ll need to schedule something if he’s going to arrive very early.”

Lucy shook her head.

“Not until the evening.” And then she frowned. “Well, he said not until the evening, but I took the early ferry and was here at about four, so maybe they will need something organized. You can never tell with Carter. He changes his mind at a moment’s notice.” She gave an odd little shiver and looked down at the floor.

Joe leaned against the door frame and stared down at her. Something was off about this whole scenario and he wanted to know what it was.

“Why do you work for him Lucy? Does he have some hold over you?” His voice was only just above a whisper.

She looked up sharply as she considered not answering. She couldn’t possibly tell him how much debt she was in or what hold Carter Freeman held over her. She gave an involuntary shiver and then shrugged it away.

“It’s just a job Joe. I need to keep the wolf from the door as much as anyone else.” She stepped further away from him trying to put some distance between them, not trusting herself to keep her mouth shut.

But Joe wasn’t quite as easily put off as she had hoped.

“And you can’t find another? He sounds as though he’s a nightmare to work for.” His tone was slightly strained.

She took hold of the door and began to close it as she looked deep into his eyes.

“It’s not so bad and the pay is good. I’ve worked for him for nearly six months now so I’m used to it. I don’t want to leave and then find myself in a worse position.” She stood half hidden behind the door and Joe stepped away from the frame at last.

He took a deep breath and then stepped back into the thickly carpeted hall.

“Right, I suppose there is that. I’ll say goodnight then. If you want anything in the night you had probably best just go and find it. We don’t have any night staff on tonight as we weren’t expecting guests. Most stuff is in the kitchen or scullery next door to it so just help yourself. David and Geraldine have a suite on the top floor, but neither myself or Ellen and Patrick live in the Chateau. They will be in their cottage and I’ll be down at my cabin by the river. If there’s anything urgent and you can’t raise David, call me on the phone. Just dial three and I’ll pick up, okay?” He waited until Lucy nodded and then added as swift. “Night then, See you tomorrow.”

Lucy lifted her chin.

“Night Joe. See you tomorrow.” She closed the door as he turned and walked swiftly along the hall then she leaned against the heavy dark wood. Her heart was racing, her mind jumping from one thought to another. There was no doubt that she found the big man attractive. She had no clue as to why, with his ravaged face it wasn’t as if he was devastatingly handsome, but her heart didn’t seem to care what the reason. It flipped over again as she touched her own body, the imprint of his hugely muscled arms still warm on her skin.

And then she shook some sense into herself. He had carried her because she had almost asked him to. Appearing to be faint and then stumbling about like a fool, he must think her a complete flake. She moved through the sitting room to the bedroom and slipped out of her clothes, folding them carefully and placing them in the huge wardrobe that stood facing the end of the bed. Then she quickly walked into the bathroom, rinsed her face and brushed her teeth before climbing naked into the cool cotton sheets on the vast four poster bed.

She lay, staring up at the canopy above her, trying not to think of Joe and where he might be sleeping down near the river and she came over all hot again. The perspiration broke out on her forehead and her skin became clammy and warm. She swished back the drape and stood up, moving over to one of the high arched windows in her room. The room overlooked the beautiful formal gardens that covered the grounds in front of the chateau. She fiddled with the catch on the window and then managed to push the heavy glass open a few inches.

Cool, flower scented air wafted up at her and the sound of voices broke the peace of the surrounding forest.

Joe jogged down the main staircase and moved across the hallway quickly. He didn’t want to meet Patrick again that night. The man was positively nauseating the way he kept giving Joe meaningful glances. Just because he was deliriously happy himself, he had to try and make everyone else go round grinning like a fool and generally behave in a ridiculous manner. Ellen was hardly any better either and David and Geraldine had been positively gleeful during dinner.

Lucy was beautiful that was for sure and she didn’t appear to find his face, or lack of one, off putting, but he knew that she would never look at him in the same way as she would a man without the dreadful injuries. He bit back the feelings of bitterness. There was nothing he could do about it. She would be gone in a few days and he would be able to forget her over time.

His heart lurched in his chest as he thought of how her blonde hair had cascaded over his arm, how her now familiar perfume had wafted up at him, branding him with her scent. He took a long slow breath as he moved quietly across the huge hallway. He had to get himself under control. He couldn’t let her into his heart like this only to have it broken at the end of the week. He should never have carried her up the stairs. It was only going to lead to him thinking about her even more. Joe shook his head and tried to get the feeling of her body heat and her luscious curves to leave him.

He was about to push the huge front door open and slide out into the night when there was a small cough from inside the office and he knew that he had been rumbled.

“You rushing off Joe? We’ll walk with you part of the way. Give us a second to close down the computer and we’ll be right with you.”

Joe stopped by the door and waited as Ellen walked out into the hall.

“Patrick won’t be a moment. He just told me about that Freeman guy. Is he some kind of control freak or something?” She yawned as she moved across the floor.

Joe gave a grim smile.

“The something I think. I wonder why he’s pushing us like this? They are just a telephone sales company from what I gather. Lucy seems to think the workforce don’t really know what they are coming here for. Freeman told them it was a more desk based experience. I have the feeling that there are going to be a few unhappy faces by the end of the week unless I can work out something that’s not too strenuous. Maybe we’ll get them map reading around the forest or something.”

Ellen yawned again and looked back to the office as she spoke.

“You’ll find something suitable Joe, you always do.”

Patrick came out and closed the door quietly behind him. He walked over to his wife and pulled her into his side, gathering her gently and supporting her as they turned towards the front door.

“You said to Lucy to help herself to anything from the kitchen?” He asked Joe quietly and Joe nodded.

“She’ll buzz David or me if she has any problems, but she was pretty tired from the drive. She’ll probably sleep right through.”

Ellen smiled softly.

“I don’t think she’ll be calling on David to help her with anything.”

Patrick snorted a laugh as he pulled the door closed behind him and grinned at Joe.

“You got that right. The way she was looking at you mate, I’m almost willing to bet there are going to be wedding bells before the end of the week.”

Joe let out a quiet groan.

“Oh, be quiet the two of you. Just because you lot are all loved up you think that the rest of us want to be. I like being on my own. I don’t need anyone.” It was only after he had spoken the words that he heard a small creak above him. He glanced upwards, just in time to catch Lucy staring back down at him from her bedroom window. He held her gaze for one long moment and then her shoulders slumped and she turned and disappeared from his view.

Chapter Five

“Sixty thousand Euros! You have to be completely off your head!” The voice echoed loudly enough to be heard all around the huge entrance hall. There was some nervous shuffling of feet and some murmured agreements from the gathered company waiting to hear their fate.

A deep voice rumbled in response.

“You have put us to considerable inconvenience Freeman. Extra staff had to be engaged as I had given everyone three days off. We have had to work overtime to get the place ready since our previous clients only left yesterday morning and you forced one of your staff to stay overnight last night. There are expenses incurred when you try to change our way of operating. We can do it of course, but it comes at a price and sixty thousand euros is my price. This is a luxury chateau experience. We are offering you a full board service and all of our in house facilities will be available for you to enjoy each evening. For twenty two of you it’s an excellent package. You can take it or get yourself and your staff out of my wife’s chateau.” Patrick pushed back his chair and stood up.

Freeman leaned back in his chair and kept his eyes on his fingernails. Having once seen the vile looking man standing in front of him, he wasn’t keen on doing it again. He wondered how on earth he had ever found a wife in the first place but then realized that Reeves had probably been married before whatever had happened to him had ruined his looks.  Freeman was a master at getting his own way and how this twisted lump of garbage could hold the shots over him at this stage he didn’t quite know but it seemed that with twenty tired staff waiting at the door, this man had him by the balls. He cleared his throat.

“I never said I wouldn’t pay it, especially as you are offering an extra day. I was just curious to know why the price had tripled. I was expecting double but this amount seems fantastic.” He watched the tall man slowly sit back down in his chair.

Patrick hid a moment’s satisfaction at Joe’s idea of upping the price even more before he took a deep calming breath and began to explain.

“The course is set up a certain way for you and your staff to get the most out of it in the shortest space of time. Many of the resources that we use are not just things that we can keep from one course to another. It takes time to prepare and set up. Even as we speak my course expert is out preparing events for you and your staff, but whereas he may have been able to accomplish everything by himself in three or four days, your early arrival has meant that we have had to employ casual staff too. That doesn’t come cheap. We have also had to bring in extra catering and cleaning staff at short notice. The problems are not insurmountable but you are the one who has to pay for them seeing as it was you that moved the goalposts. To be frank with you Freeman, I have a very pregnant wife and as much stress as I can manage at the moment so if you don’t want to take this deal then I really don’t care. Your ten thousand pound deposit is non-refundable so I’m really not worried what you do.”

Freeman sat silently for a few seconds and then reached into his pocket for his business credit card. He threw it on the desk and unfolded himself from the chair.

“I’ll leave that for you to sort out. Is there anyone around who can show me and my staff to our rooms?” His tone was icily calm but Patrick recognized defeat when he saw it. He smiled inwardly before remarking in a friendly tone as the two of them moved towards the door.

“Geraldine will be down in one moment. She’s just making sure all the arrangements for your rooms are adequate. It’s actually made it slightly easier with Miss Collins already being here. She’s been a vast help.” Patrick held the door open and waited until Freeman walked through.

Freeman grunted.

“Yes, well if she has been that helpful maybe I should be charging a daily rate for her services. We could come to some arrangement with the bill at the end of our visit.”

Patrick gave a grim laugh as he closed the office door behind him.

“You can forget that Freeman. She’s taken the bridal suite so I’m afraid any of her back pay will be taken up in offsetting the room costs. Ah! Here’s Geraldine.” He smiled up at the dark haired beauty who stood by the rest of the guests. “Everything in order?” He asked and his sister in law answered in richly accented English.

“Yes, of course, I’ll take our guests up in just a moment. Ellen was asking for you Patrick. She is in the salon. I made ‘er some tea but she is not very comfortable.”

Patrick frowned immediately and turned to Freeman.

“I beg your pardon, you will have to excuse me. I must go and check on my wife.” He walked away from the group without further ado or even a backwards glance.

Freeman turned to Geraldine, a sickly smile pasted onto his face as he looked the beautiful woman up and down.

“Yes, well I would much rather you show us to out rooms than Mr. Reeves. He seems more than a little tetchy about our early arrival.”

Geraldine narrowed her eyes but then gave the man in front of her an expressive Gaelic shrug.

“If you would like to follow me. I ‘ave given out keycards for each room so I will just see you all settled before I ‘ave to attend to other duties. Dinner with be in the dining room at seven thirty. You are welcome to wander the grounds and use the facilities in the chateau as you please. There is a swimming pool in the cellar along with a sauna and other treatment rooms. You might as well acquaint yourselves with them now as you will probably need them later in the week.” She turned towards the wide stairs but Freeman caught her arm and pulled her towards him as he spoke quietly.

“I understand that my secretary has taken the bridal suite. I wondered if we could put my things in there too. We have a sort of an arrangement.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head as if that explained exactly what he meant.

Geraldine stared down at his hand where it grasped her forearm. She waited until he unwound his long fingers and then she shrugged again.

“Miss Collins ‘as not mentioned anything to me about this. I will check the arrangement with ‘er first.”

Freeman cleared his throat and walked beside Geraldine as the mounted the stairs.

“It’s more of a surprise than an arrangement. She will be thrilled to see me.” He coughed into his hand.

Geraldine rolled her eyes as she turned away from Lucy’s boss. There was no way she was going to let this arrogant fool anywhere near his secretary, especially after the way she had seen how Lucy and Joe reacted to one another but she decided not to say anything more to this horrible man. She had noticed the revolted sneer on his face as he spoke to Patrick and she hadn’t needed to see anything else to know her opinion of him.

“I’m sure she will be delighted, but as you ‘ave just arrived and Miss Collins is already very busy with helping our grounds man, I think I will show you to our own room. She can decide later on if she wants you to share with ‘er. Don’t forget that we dine at seven thirty.” Geraldine opened the door at her left and showed her guest inside. She then dismissed him with a glance and carried on along the corridor assigning rooms to each of the guests in turn.

Freeman stopped dead inside his room. What the fuck was Collins doing working with a grounds man?

He stared round at the sumptuously appointed bedroom. Everything was in the best possible taste and of the finest quality. He wasn’t happy that Lucy wasn’t there with him but he was convinced that she would come around to his way of thinking within the next few days and even if she wasn’t that keen, he was absolutely sure he could change her mind with his new contract of employment. He shrugged off his jacket and hung it in the vast wardrobe that graced his room and then he wandered over towards the window, wondering what sort of view they had given him.

But it wasn’t the view of the gardens or the forest that caught is attention as he parted the shimmeringly soft drapes that covered his windows. His eyes were at once riveted to the woman who stared up at the disgustingly disfigured man in front of her. For a single moment he thought he actually wanted to vomit at the sight of the man’s ruined face, but then he pulled himself together and raised the window a fraction in order to hear their conversation.

“Looks as though your workmates have arrived.” The man’s voice was low but clear.

Lucy looked back over her shoulder towards the front of the chateau.

“Yes, I knew that they wouldn’t be late. It’s all part of Carter’s game plan. He loves wrong footing anyone.”

The disfigured man raised his eyebrows as much as he could in his stiff face.

“Does that man have any idea of whom he is dealing with on this course. Nothing puts us off our game plan and anyone that thinks they can is in for a huge surprise.” He looked up just in time to see some drapes in an open window above his head, wafting in the breeze. He steered Lucy along the gravel path towards the arboretum at the side of the chateau.

She returned his gaze and then looked up through the trees to the sky above them.

“I can see why you love it here. This alone would keep me from going home. It’s absolutely beautiful.”

She felt the big man raise his face to the bloodshot evening sky.

“Yeah. I love it here at all times of the year. It’s always changing. Never static. Some people don’t appreciate nature at its best.”

Lucy returned her gaze to Joe.

“So how long have you been here then? I know that the place belongs to Ellen and David, but they must have been here longer than you. David and Geraldine look pretty well established with Robbie and Patrick and Ellen…phew! Did you feel the heat coming from those two? They are positively disgusting in their own happiness.”

Joe laughed beside her.

“I know what you mean but they didn’t have an easy start.” He didn’t elaborate further but gave a smile as he carried on. “They are completely in love. I don’t think anything could ever tear them apart again now.” He sounded happy at their good fortune.

There was a short and slightly uncomfortable silence before Lucy spoke again.

“So is there anyone in your life Joe?” She sounded slightly strangled and he looked down at her through hooded eyes wondering why she was asking as she had obviously overheard him say not the previous night.

“No.” His voice resonated around the grounds. “I have everything I need here, I haven’t wanted for anything since I began working for the two of them. I’m not going to start looking backwards now.” He lied as he turned to stare into the forest hoping that she wouldn’t ask him anything else about his personal life. He didn’t want to talk about being blown up or how it had affected his life and he certainly didn’t want to give her the opportunity of bringing anything like cosmetic surgery up. If he found out that she had been surgically enhanced when she didn’t need to be, he thought he might actually be sick.

Lucy eyed his broad shoulders as he stood solidly in the middle of the path. She had heard the defensive tone in his voice and wondered for a few moments why he was so against having a relationship. But then she saw his shoulder give an involuntary dip and she realized immediately that his bravado was all just a show. Of course he wanted a relationship. He wanted everything that his friends had but clearly he couldn’t get over the huge hurdle of what people saw when they first met him. She gave a tiny snort of derision and he suddenly swung back to her.

“You think I’m joking? Relationships are not for everyone you know.” His voice was hard and his eyes glinted dangerously.

Lucy backed up a step.

“No, of course not, I was just wondering, that’s all. As it happens I don’t want a relationship either. I’ve just managed to get myself out of a terrible one so I’m not likely to be looking for anyone else at the moment, but I wouldn’t like to stay that way forever. I would like a husband and children one day.” Her voice was soft, almost fragile and Joe took a sudden stride towards her.

“Who hurt you Lucy?” He demanded as he growled out the words.

She stared up into his gleaming blue eyes wondering at the fire that suddenly appeared in them. She almost stammered out her words.

“He was just an idiot who fooled me for far too long. It’s over now though and I can start to look forward again, but I’m not interested in falling straight back into a relationship again. I’m looking forward to some alone time.” She bit back the bitterness at her situation. Mortgaged up to the hilt and paying nearly every penny of her wages over to clear the outstanding debts, alone time was all she could possibly afford. She lifted her chin defiantly though and turned back to the chateau. “I’d better get back there. Carter will want to see me and I might have to do some emailing or other work for him.”

Joe grunted.

“Huh, well get it all done today as I’m confiscating all forms of communications device first thing in the morning, laptops and tablets included.” He let out a laugh at her horrified expression. “It’s okay Lucy, there are plenty of static computers available in the chateau, you only need to ask and one will be made available to you. It’s the mobile devices that I am talking about. I don’t want anything getting damaged or anyone cheating during the course. You’d be surprised what lengths some of our clients go to, to win in any team competitions that I set, especially the map reading ones. Google Earth and a GPS on a mobile phone have a lot to answer for.”

It was Lucy’s turn to laugh.

“Well good luck with getting Carter’s phone from him. I think it’s glued to his ear most of the time.” She began heading back to the chateau. Joe walked along beside her.

“Oh I’ll get it alright, don’t you worry about that. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that normally work and within a few minutes I usually have about ten to fifteen secreted devices. Just make sure you don’t have one on you or I will be seriously disappointed now that I have gone to the trouble of telling you that you won’t get away with having one.”

Lucy looked up at him. She was on the more immobile side of his face and she couldn’t see his exact expression, but his beautiful lips were curled up in the corner. She let out another light laugh.

“Now do I look the sort of woman who cheats at anything?”

Joe gave her quick glance. He took into her soft, doe like eyes and at her rosy apple cheeks.

“Absolutely not, so let’s keep it that way.” He stopped as they came up to the chateau entrance and Joe glanced up at the tall man coming down the steps towards them. “I’m going to go and check the zip wire and the tree walk. We start at six in the morning and I don’t want to get up at four just to go over the things again. I’ll see you over dinner later.” And he turned away from the man’s revolted expression and quickly strode back towards the forest.

Carter Freeman had only heard a snippet of their conversation but he had seen the pair of them walking towards the forest at the side of the chateau. He glowered as he ripped his suit from his body and lugged on jeans and a black t-shirt. He tensed the muscles in his arms a few times just to get the veins protruding and then walked out of the door to go and find his secretary.

He jogged down the steps of the chateau just as Lucy and the hideously disfigured man walked around the corner. He recognised the man as the one he had seen with Lucy walking into the forest but he was surprised to find her laughing with him. It took all of his self-control not to vomit at the sight of him.

He walked up to his secretary as the big man she had been laughing with suddenly strode away from the chateau.

“Gawd, you would think they could find some staff that look a little more normal. It’s like an exhibition at a circus freak show.” He stared at the man’s disappearing back.

Lucy frowned up at the perfectly groomed man at her side. It was a fact that Carter was very handsome, even she couldn’t deny that. His dark hair was perfectly cut, his cleaner than clean shave gave him the look of someone half his age and his plucked eyebrows gave him the air of a model but his whole demeanour was fake. His over moisturized skin even had a plastic look to it.

She narrowed her eyes as she noticed his clenched hands and pumped up veins in his forearms and almost laughed as she thought about Joe’s massive muscles that needed no pumping at all.

“You could show a little more compassion for those men. They didn’t ask for their bodies to be blown apart. I wonder how you would cope if you had to live with everyone judging you just because of the way you look.”

Carter tilted his head back and laughed.

“But that’s my whole point Lucy. Everyone is judged by the way they look. It’s impossible not to. Your face is the first thing everyone sees. You would think that he would have done a little more about getting himself back to something less ghastly. There are excellent plastic surgeons about nowadays you know.”

Lucy glared up at the arrogant man at her side. She felt sick to be even associated with him.

“Do you have any idea of the amount that Joe has already gone through, that all these men have gone through just to get to where they are now? Joe has had over forty operations on his face and hands already. Do you think he cares one jot about your bloody plastic surgeon!” Her tone was like acid and Carter looked down at her curiously.

“Well, well, the man has a champion in you Miss Collins, I can see that. I wonder how you become so fully acquainted with those facts seeing as you have been here for less than twenty four hours.” His voice slithered over her and he moved closer to her side.

Lucy lifted her chin.

“It’s nothing to do with being his champion. And I discovered about his operations from Ellen. She was telling me a little about Joe last night when she showed me to my room. He’s still recovering from the last one and we’re lucky he can manage the job. It was just conversation that’s all.” She didn’t want Carter thinking she felt any more than friendship for Joe.

Freeman grunted, seemingly satisfied with her answer. He pulled his phone from his pocket and checked for messages.

“There are a couple of emails I need you to attend to in a while. I’m going to have a quick look around the place and then I’ll see you back in your room to discuss any other mailings and calls that need to be made. This isn’t a holiday you know Lucy. We can’t let the business suffer just because I’m not in the office for a few days. I’ll need to keep those left behind on their toes.”

Lucy rolled her eyes but nodded all the same as she carried on up the steps back into the chateau. She met David just inside the door and flushed as she saw his furious expression. It was obvious that he had heard her and Carter talking. She tried to avoid his gaze as she walked across the hall towards the grand staircase.

David didn’t turn towards her but stared as Carter Freeman puffed out his chest at the bottom of the steps and then strode off around the side of the chateau. He spoke just as Lucy reached the first step.

“Why do you work for that man? He displays the worst kind of arrogance that I have ever seen.” David’s voice didn’t hold any bitterness and Lucy turned to him in surprise.

She came back across the hall to him.

“It’s just a job David. I can’t live without money and this position pays reasonably well. So long as I have the paycheck in the bank at the end of the month then I’ll put up with the arrogant bastard.”

David suddenly looked down at her, his eyes assessing her words.

“But there must be other jobs available. I can’t understand why anyone would want to work for that pig. All of the rest of your staff look miserable too. It’s as though he takes pleasure in keeping people downtrodden.”

Lucy shook her head.

“The rest of the staff are okay with it. We all know it’s just a power trip with him. He likes to know that we won’t leave due to the money and he thinks he can do anything while he keeps on paying.”

David frowned suddenly.

“Are you saying he has some kind of hold on you all? Someway he keeps you with his company beyond the money issue?”

Lucy flushed bright red, shocked that her words had made that impression. She tried to steer him away from any more awkward questions.

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m only working for him because I have a mortgage and need to keep up with the payments. Why the others stay there is up to them. I’m just going to change for dinner. Helping Joe with those logs has made me uncomfortably hot. I didn’t realize that I was going to be lugging twelve foot pine poles around the forest. I can’t imagine what we are going to use them for.”

David gave a laugh.

“It will be a lovely surprise for you in the morning. See you at dinner in a while.” He turned away from the doors and walked through to the kitchen to see how Patrick was getting on with the preparations.

Joe marched through the forest desperate to get away from Lucy for a few moments. He had been surprised but pleased when she said that she would love to help set up a few things while the rest of the guests were unpacking and settling themselves into their rooms.

Now he fisted his hands at his sides as he remembered her scent as she had walked by his side, her legs taking almost two steps to one of his. He had seen the perspiration on her forehead when she had pulled and lifted and struggled with the logs he had directed her to help him move. She hadn’t complained once as her nail broke or when her hair snagged on a wayward twig or even when she grazed her arm on the dry bark of the log. She had just rolled her eyes a couple of times, tucked her hair back into its loose bun and then sucked her arm, quickly getting rid of the smear of blood. Then she smiled at him so her dimples showed in her cheeks and he had thought his heart was going to leap out of his chest.

That had all been bad enough, but when they had to move a giant log together she had bent forwards to pick up her end, the neckline of her t-shirt had fallen forwards and as he looked up to make sure she was ready to lift, he had been treated to a view of the most perfectly delectable cleavage that he had ever seen in his life. The soft, pale globes of her beautifully full breasts touched in the middle and all he could think about was burying his face between them and letting his tongue trail down the heated, sensitive skin.

His heart had flipped over in his chest and if his skin could have flushed he knew he would have been tomato red. For about the only time in the last six years he was glad that his face didn’t show much expression because if it had, she would have seen everything he felt about her show at that moment.

He had gulped nervously as the blood that should have been in his face suddenly turned south and ended up in his groin, telling him almost painfully that it was years since he’s had the kind of relief that he needed now. He wanted her. He wanted so badly that he’d had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying or doing something he would probably regret later.

He’d turned away as soon as the log had been in the right position and had kept his back to her for more than a few minutes while he thought of anything and everything that didn’t include a soft voluptuous body or deliciously scented skin. It seemed like forever before he could turn around again but Lucy hadn’t appeared to notice anything untoward and for that he was deeply grateful. He would have died of humiliation if she had seen the evidence of his arousal and then scorned him.

He tamped down the feelings as he walked away from the chateau, like he had so many times before, but he stopped suddenly as he realized that he had actually never had feeling like this before.

Of course he’s been aroused on previous occasions, but not like this. Not from the mere sight of a generous cleavage. Nor could he ever remember wanting to taste someone’s skin quite so badly before. It was like a white hot need in his whole chest. His body reacted again and he began to walk towards his cabin by the river, knowing no other way to get this feeling out of his system other than some quick self-relief. He wasn’t keen on doing that either, but this was a need that wasn’t going to go away anytime soon and he was scared that at his first sight of Lucy again, he would be standing to attention for all the world to see.

Chapter Six

“You cannot be serious!” Freeman stared hard at Joe as he demanded everyone hand over their mobile devices. “Nobody touches my phone except me.” He folded his arms across his chest and stood with his legs slightly apart and his chin held high.

Joe glared back at him and explained quietly.

“You will not need them on any of the exercises today. Apart from the fact that they could become lost or damaged, they will be more hindrance than a help because you will be tempted to use them instead of each other. The whole point of these exercises is to get your staff to work as a team. There’s no room for anyone with their own agenda in a company as important as yours.” He noticed a slightly mollified expression come over Freeman’s face as he knew it would with a little flattery.

A young woman standing at Freeman’s side suddenly stepped forwards spoke up.

“What if there’s an emergency? I mean, we didn’t even know we would be doing this kind of stuff and I’m not sure I’m really prepared to go running about in the forest. How will we get in contact with anyone to help us?” Her wining voice grated on Joe’s ears but he answered the question easily enough.

“It’s a good point Miss…er Miss?” He waited as the woman glanced up at Freeman before she answered.

“Jessica Dennison. I’m Mr. Freeman’s head of human resources.”

Joe nodded in acknowledgement before answering the question.

“Around the grounds you will see these green boxes. There is a telephone with direct links to either the chateau or to the emergency services. Each telephone has an identification number so that you can be located within minutes. There is one of these boxes at one hundred metre intervals around the chateau grounds so you will never be more than fifty metres form one and I have a mobile phone if there is a real emergency. We haven’t had to use them yet so let’s try and keep it that way during the next few days. David is just as experienced as I and will be helping us today. He will head up the other team if we decide to make a competition out of anything. Right, I want all those mobile devices and anything else of any value whatsoever put in the locker by the stables before we leave. Jewellery, watches anything that may break, get lost or be ruined, you won’t need them and we won’t pay for them if anything happens to them. Then I want you all to follow me, but please pay attention to the route.  You will have to make your own way around the estate as one of the challenges and it helps if you can recognize the layout of the place.” He glanced around at the gathered crowd of twenty two men and women and tried hard not to catch Lucy’s eye as she smiled at him.

The evening before had gone better than he had hoped. What with a freezing cold shower and a good long look through some very dull catalogues while he chose some furniture for his new house that was being built just along the river from his cabin, he’d managed to calm his need of her. He was still desperate to be with her, but the early morning start and the need for calm as he talked the teams through the activities kept him under control. He had gone to bed early and taken another cold shower in the morning after a night full of luscious breasts and rosy, dimpled smiles had him waking with a hard on as stiff as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Joe cleared his throat and his mind and waited while several of the team members, including Carter Freeman and his head of human resources moved towards the steel box at the side of the building but he smiled as he noticed that both Freeman and Jessica Dennison kept their hands in their pockets as they moved nearer to the locker.

He smiled grimly, knowing that he would probably get complaints from the two of them soon, but he had warned them so he wasn’t going to care too much.

He waited until the groups had gathered again and then strode off into the forest with the people following him chatting to each other as they walked. He shook his head a little, knowing that none of them had observed where they were walking but were just blindly following the person in front of them. He glanced back at David who gave a quick nod and disappeared quietly into the undergrowth. Joe slowed down and let a couple of people pass him on the path. He doubted that they had even noticed that he stood to one side. As the group wandered along the darkening path he stepped back into the bushes and melded into the forest. He followed the group silently for more than fifteen minutes before someone actually pointed out that their guides had apparently disappeared.

There was some general chattering and even some embarrassed laughter before Freeman stepped up and stood at the front to the group.

“This is obviously a test that we have failed badly people. Does anyone know exactly when or where our two guides actually left us?” He looked around at the group but no one spoke up. “Okay, so I think this is one of those tests to see if we can find out way back to the chateau. Fortunately we noticed that they had left us fairly quickly. I think if those at the back would like to turn around and lead the way back, we can find our hosts probably gloating at us a short way back up the path.”

There was some muffled laughter as everyone turned around and then there was a sudden silence at the back of the crowd.

“What’s the hold up?” Freeman called over everyone’s head. He forced his way through the throng of staff and immediately saw their problem. There were at least three distinct paths merging into one and they could have come from any of them. He looked down at the forest floor to see if the ground gave him any clue with footprints and the like but the mass of brown leaves looked as disturbed on all of them. Jessica sidled up beside him and slipped her phone out of her pocket. Freeman gave her a quick glance and then looked down as he saw that she had her GPS on and working. He looked at the image and then turned to his staff, beckoning them to come forward.

“This way everyone. Follow me. We’ll show this bunch that we can find our way in a forest without any help from them.” And he began walking purposefully along the path angling to the right. Jessica headed up the column of people with him and every so often she looked at her phone but it wasn’t long before there were some unhappy voices from the group behind them.

“We didn’t walk for this far before. And we never walked up a hill this steep. We’re heading down into a valley. Are you sure we are on the right path?” There were one or two grumbles of agreement and Freeman came to a stop once again.

He looked down at his flustered assistant who shook her phone and turned it the other way around as if that would make a difference to the map she was looking at. She reloaded the image and checked the GPS signal. Nothing made a blind bit of difference. The path looked like it was the correct one but it obviously wasn’t.

“I thought I was sure. Look, this is me holding the phone and this is us on the path. The chateau should be right here.” She pointed at the phone and then looked up at the surrounding greenery. The chateau was clearly not where she expected it to be.

Freeman snatched the phone from her and set it to a different application. He looked at the signal bar to check it would work and then punched in some numbers. Nothing happened.

“Bastards have some kind of signal jammer set up. This thing is useless.” He shoved the telephone back at Jessica and rammed his hands in his pockets. The two disfigured men were making him look a fool on purpose. He knew they were probably watching from somewhere close by and he wondered if they were expecting him to make a fool of himself yet again, but he wasn’t about to make that mistake twice. He called out into the trees.

“Okay fellas, you’ve had your joke and obviously we were completely suckered. We admit defeat so you can come out of hiding and show us how to do it properly.” There was some rustling in the bushes to his right and David suddenly appeared right beside them.

“Just wanted to prove a point about the phones. You cannot rely on them in situations like this. One little problem and you gave up using your own initiative and tried to rely on something that is far more unreliable than your own brains.” He then proceeded to tell them all the signs they should have looked for. Half an hour later with plenty of demonstrating and allowing the people to discover signs for themselves, he thought that most of them would have been able to find their way back up the path given just a few careful observations. He went to the head of the group and started walking along an almost overgrown path and five minutes later they came out by the river where they met a smiling Lucy standing alongsideJoe.

Freeman stopped dead as he saw his secretary standing very close to the big man.

“How the fuck did you get here?” He demanded of Lucy as he strode up to her and stood far too close, totally ignoring the way Joe suddenly seemed to grow enormously in size. Lucy’s smile faded and she stepped back quickly from her angry boss.

“I just followed Joe like he asked. I didn’t realize that no one else had seen him disappear into the forest until it was too late. If I had turned back to tell you I would have lost him and become disorientated myself.” Her voice was quiet, almost embarrassed as she explained what had happened.

Jessica came to stand by Freeman.

“You could have called to us or something. You made us look like complete idiots!” The woman was almost shrieking at Lucy.

Joe stepped forwards and spoke calmly.

“I’m afraid you managed that all by yourself Miss Dennison. I did tell you to take note of where you were going and to not trust any devices.”

Joe had been sorry that he was going to have to make a fool out of Lucy as well as the rest of the group when he had slipped into the undergrowth. He had walked almost a hundred metres before he realized that there was at least one person following him. Someone really quiet, and for a moment he wondered if David was playing a joke on him. He had turned quickly into some dense bushes and had waited until the person was just past him before he stepped out behind them and placed his hand over the person’s mouth. He realized immediately it was a woman more due to her size than anything else, but he kept his hand there all the same. He only did it because he didn’t want her to scream and let the others know that they had been deserted but he hadn’t expected her swift reaction.

A sharp elbow jabbed him hard in the stomach and before he could trap the offending arm a swift foot stamped down painfully on his shin. It took every bit of his self-control not to snap back the woman’s head and wring her blasted neck.

He grunted as he pressed his knee into the back of hers and felt her dropping to the ground. He went with her and pressed her body against the forest floor. A muffled squeal met his ears as he tried to subdue the struggling woman. He didn’t want her to shout to the rest of the group to alert them. He breathed in deeply as he sat up across her back and pressed her face gently into the leaves. It took him a second to realize that the scent in his nostrils was already ingrained in his mind. Blonde hair fell from a coloured band at the back of her head and it dropped in familiar waves about her neck.

“Lucy!” His shocked whisper stopped her struggling far more quickly than he could physically subdue her frenzied thrashing. He lifted up from her body and turned her over between his knees.

“Joe! Shit! You scared the life out of me!” She struggled to sit up, spitting leaves and dirt as Joe spun from her body.

“Jesus Lucy! You have some kind of elbow on you. That bloody hurt.” Joe rubbed his flat stomach and un-tucked his t-shirt. He tugged it downwards, desperately trying to disguise the throbbing that had begun in his groin the moment he had realized who he was sitting on.

Lucy rubbed her elbow and tried to look at it.

“Hurt me probably more than you. What the hell do you think you’re doing sneaking up on me like that? I was only following your instructions and trailing you.” She let go of her arm and sat breathing heavily on the overgrown path. She rubbed a hand across her face to remove some of the dirt.

Joe pulled a big white handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to Lucy. She took it and wiped her face all over before shaking it out and then handing it back to him.

“Sorry.” Joe squatted down beside her. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just didn’t want you to give the game away. The way they are jabbering on they could be walking for miles before they have any idea that no one is with them. It makes for a great exercise for them to have to work together to find the way back out of here.” He looked at where Lucy had her hand pressed to her forehead. He noticed her wince and he reached forwards to remove her hand. There was a faint red mark on her forehead. “Shit! I’ve hurt you!” He grabbed his handkerchief again and poured some water from a bottle at his waist. He pressed the cool cloth gently against the graze as his eyes raked her face for other injuries he may have caused.

Lucy sat still for a moment and then shuffled back from him. His masculine scent mixed with his spicy aftershave was too much for her. It took all she had not to throw herself into his muscled arms.

“I’m fine Joe. It’s nothing.” She pushed his hand away from her face and tried to catch her hair back up in the band, then she began slapping at her shirt as she tried to remove the filth of the forest floor

Joe looked down at her as she brushed the dead leaves from her front. It took him a few moments to realize that they were now totally alone in the forest. The sound of the group had long since passed but he knew that David would be keeping up with them.

“Lucy, I am so sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt you for the world.” His tone was agonized as he glanced at the slight graze on her forehead. It burned his gut to think that he had caused her harm.

She looked up at him and smiled.

“You didn’t hurt me Joe. It’s just a graze. I should have realized that it was you. It was my own fault.”

His heart was pounding in his chest partly due to anger at himself for hurting her but mostly because he could still feel the heat from where she had been trapped beneath his body. Joe shook his head.

“No, it’s my job to know who is on my tail. I’m just rusty. It’s never happened before here.”

Lucy looked up at him quizzically.

“What do you mean? Hasn’t anyone seen you sneak off like that? It wasn’t like you were hiding or anything. The others were just distracted, that’s all.”

Joe nodded in agreement.

“But that’s the point. Up until now everyone has been distracted. You are the first to ever see me leave the group in nearly five years.”

Lucy smiled up at him.

“Don’t be daft. Someone must have seen you before now. I saw David disappear too. He was on the other side of the path. It was just easier for me to follow you.”

Joe’s eyes clouded for a moment as he realized what she was saying. She wasn’t following him deliberately. She was just following the nearest person to her. His heart sagged in his chest and he moved back from her, trying to give them both some space.

There was a rustle behind them and suddenly David appeared from behind the bushes. He lifted his chin at Lucy, his eyes shining with admiration.

“Well done love. You are the first to manage that feat.” He looked over at Joe and nodded. “I’ll head them off for a bit and give you twenty minutes to get down to the river. I’ll meet you there with the rest of the group.” He gave Lucy one last smile and melded back into the bushes.

Joe stuck his hand out to Lucy who grabbed it and hauled herself from the ground. She dusted off the remainder of the clinging leaves and looked up at Joe again.

“Ready?” She asked as he stared down at her.

He cleared his throat noisily.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Are you sure you are okay with that bump on the head?” He still sounded worried.

She gave him a quick smile and his heart leapt in his chest as he saw her dimples peek out once again.

“It’ll take more than a measly bump on the head to take me down. Come on, let’s get down to the river before the others. We can give them all a big surprise.” She smiled widely and stood back as Joe took one last glance at her and then stepped onto the path in front of them.

Jessica Dennison drew in a shocked breath and turned to her boss.

“Can you believe how he just spoke to us? That man is an idiot. He has no idea who we are. I want to leave immediately.” She stood with her hands on her hips and glared up at Freeman.

Carter Freeman stared down at the woman in front of him.

“I think we should let it go Jessica. These are just teething problems. Everything will be sorted out by the end of the day. If it comes to it, I can always complain to his boss. He might look tough but it’s always the money that talks.” He looked over his shoulder and suddenly stopped speaking when he saw David smiling widely at him.

“You can give it a try if you like mate…go on then, I’m waiting. What complaint would you like to make?” David grinned now as Freeman squirmed in his shoes.

He had completely forgotten that David was the joint owner of the chateau and project. Freeman gritted his teeth and said nothing while the woman at his side made odd squeaking sounds in the back of her throat. It took him a moment or two to realize that she was grinding her teeth in fury. He looked at his secretary who although wasn’t grinning quite like a Cheshire cat, had a definite smirk on her face.

“Do you want to share how you came to be here with these men and not with the group? I thought the whole point of the exercise was that we stick together.” He sounded more than a little annoyed.

Joe stepped forwards.

“I asked you to follow me. Miss Collins was just following my instructions a little better than the rest of you. Now if half of the group would like to go with David, the others can come with me and we’ll all meet back here to change activities in two hours.” He walked through the middle of the group indicating who each person should go with. He kept Freeman and Jessica in his own group and made sure Lucy was in David’s. He didn’t want her mixed up in anything these two were going to muck up. He even felt a bit sorry for the rest of the group and vowed to swap them around after these two tasks were performed.

Chapter Seven

The sweat ran down Lucy’s back but there was no way she was going to give up. They had made the pine logs into a high wall using nothing but the wood itself combined with plenty of initiative and determination. It had taken them a good twenty minutes to actually work out how you could even do it, but one of the staff had suddenly remembered seeing an episode of Little House on the Prairie where they had made a log cabin. They used the same principals and soon had a three sided structure that presented one face as a wall of wood.

David had been somewhat impressed. On most other occasions he had to give massive hints and even had to tell the groups on occasions. This lot had at least some modicum of intelligence and more importantly, were willing to give someone else’s idea a try. It wasn’t how he would have done it himself because if they were meant to be using it as a wall to keep an enemy out, it had some big flaws, but on the whole it worked. There were groans from the crowd when he advised them that the wall, while sturdy enough, now had nice easy footholds for an enemy to use to climb over it.

“We want to keep the other team off our backs for another hour. They could climb over this in minutes. We need to make the wall solid and a lot higher. This way we have used a lot of the wood as supports. We need to be more efficient.”

It was Lucy who pointed out that there were four lengths of wood considerably longer than the others.

“Well, if we had something to dig with we could use the longer pieces as braces and slot the other bits between. We would need to dig it down a long way though for it to have enough strength though.”

David gave her a huge smile.

“Well done Miss Collins. And you’re right about the depth of the holes needed, but don’t forget, this is an ancient forest floor. The ground has been built up over centuries with fallen leaves. It’s dead soft and dead easy to dig so the next question is, what are we going to use to dig with?”

There was a short silence and then a faint voice piped up at the back of the group.

“There’s plenty of smaller branches lying about. If we could bend and split a couple so they are pointed we can use them to break the soil and lift it out with some sheets of that bark. We could all work on a digging point at the same time if we measure it all out carefully. That would save time and keep us all occupied. It’s not as though we could work with many more than two on each hole anyway.”

David grinned again.

“Well done! Come on, let’s get this wall built. We’ll keep your boss at bay for another hour!”

There was laughter in the air as they all suddenly walked to the edges of the path looking for suitable branches to split and bark to use as shovels. It wasn’t long before they were breaking the soil and digging into the soft earth.

Half an hour later they were slotting the logs between their poles and in minutes, with a few careful placement of some rope pulleys they had built a twelve foot high wall of solid wood. It was sturdy enough too but someone had found some young willow branches down by the river and for extra strength, instead of using the rope that they decided as a group might come in handy for another project, they bound the supporting poles together at the top with the sinewy branches.

David stood back to admire their work and found Lucy at his side.

“Just in time I think.” She cocked her ear at the wall of wood. There were distinct groans coming from along the path the other side.

David gathered the group and held his finger over his mouth to indicate that they needed to be quiet. He gathered them together and pointed over his shoulder along the path. They all quickly made their way to the next activity and left the sounds of annoyed people behind them.

Joe was sick to death of his group. Well, sick to death of two people in it. The last exercise had been a near waste of time. It was a fairly simple task, a test of the group’s ability to work together but Freeman and Jessica Dennison had taken over completely. And then they hadn’t been willing to share any of the responsibility when it had all gone wrong. They had assumed that getting the group through the spiders web of ropes that Joe had knotted together and stung across the forest path, would be a simple activity, but as each gap was to only be used once it was a little more difficult than they had expected.

After struggling with the weakest people attempting to lift some of the heaviest, they soon found themselves in more problems when they realized that they hadn’t left a gap at the bottom of the web big enough for the last person. Freeman had taken over, instructing his team with bad advice as to who should go through the web where. They had managed it at last, only to find the there was no gap big enough for Freeman to crawl through and the next one large enough for him was right at the top with no way for him to reach it.

Freeman snorted in disgust as he realized that he was trapped on the wrong side of the web. Joe had started them on the task again, asking others for their opinions, encouraging them to find a better system but this time Miss Dennison had taken over. She sent Freeman through first to help with the lifting on his side, which wasn’t such a bad idea, but then she left herself and another female stuck because neither of them were tall enough to get through the gap at the top without a good leg up and they discovered too late that neither of them were strong enough to support the other single handed.

The team had eventually made it through when Joe put a quiet but thoughtful man in charge. Within minutes the whole team was on the other side of the web easily, with minimum fuss, but Freeman and Dennison had glared furiously at the man who almost quaked under their combined gaze.

They made their way back along the forest path towards the river but groans went up as they saw the twelve foot high wooden wall now blocking their way. The wild rhododendrons hemmed them in at both sides leaving them with no other route to follow unless they went back up the trail and through the spider’s web again.

Joe admired the workmanship involved and as he tested the wall’s strength. It was very sturdy and he wondered who had come up with the idea of lashing the poles together with willow. It made the whole thing very strong.

Fortunately his group had learned a thing or two in the last activity and they had more of an idea of how to get the group over the barricade. Sensibly they sat Freeman on the top of the wall after two of the strongest men gave him a leg up. Freeman could then help with pulling up some of the less agile and weaker ladies. He could also reach down to the last man left on the wrong side of the barrier, the tallest and fittest guy, to give him a hand up when he took a running jump at the wall.

Joe congratulated them all on a good job and then wished he hadn’t as Freeman took all the credit for being the only helpful member of the team as he had been on top of the wall. He had entirely forgotten all of the lifters and carriers who had pushed, pulled and cajoled their team mates over and then helped them down at the other side.

They arrived at the river just in time to see David’s team swinging over the water on the ropes they had saved from the wall building exercise. Loud whoops accompanied the general camaraderie and Joe’s team looked on with envy.

Freeman immediately went to the riverbank and stood with his hands on his hips. He turned to face Joe.

“And this is meant to teach my team what exactly? I’m not paying sixty grand for this lot to just muck about playing Tarzan.” His tone was acidic.

Joe held his gaze and answered.

“David is showing them how to rely on their own strength as well as on that of others. That wall must have taken some building to get done in the short space of time. Now they are letting off some steam. Looks to me as though they are having a good time while they are doing it, so it was a good idea to keep hold of the rope pulleys.” He smiled and his heart soared as he saw Lucy fly through the air, her hair streaming out like a golden cascade behind her as she screamed her way across to the other side of the river.

Jessica came up beside her boss.

“That’s not hard. Anyone can hang onto a rope and let themselves go.” She smirked up at Freeman who stared at Joe in turn.

“So is that what we are doing next? Swinging about on ropes?”

Joe frowned at the man in front of him and then decided to play along.

“Yes, actually it is. And you can go first.” He turned to David who was watching the exchange from the other side of the river along with two of his group. The rope was situated on a narrow bend in the river and David looked on expectantly as Freeman grabbed hold of the rope. He stood and waited to catch the man as he came over, but freeman motioned him and the others away with his hand. The two men holding the other end of the rope looked at David for a second but he just shrugged and waved them back.

“Mr. Freeman clearly thinks he knows what he’s doing.”

“This will be a doddle.” Freeman raised his arms and settled them high on the rope, then he took a running jump and suddenly leapt from the edge of the bank.

But he hadn’t considered why David and two of the other team had been waiting at the river bank. The rope jerked through their hands as he launched himself and the overhead branch plunged down once his weight was hanging from below it. Joe had to grin at the horrified look on Freeman’s face as he realized that he was now below the bank on the other side. There was nothing he could do. The men were no longer holding the rope as a counter weight and he had leapt so violently that he spun out of control. His back hit the bank hard and he let go of the rope.

The water was only waist high but he wasn’t in a good position and he sat down in the water which promptly closed over the top of his head. He came up spluttering just as Joe slithered down the bank and waded across to him to help him up.

Freeman spat out river water and fury in the same measure.

“Why the fuck didn’t you warn me that the men were holding the weight or that the damned tree would do that? My phone and my watch are going to be ruined!” He raged as he stood up and shook the water out of his hair and then raised the cuff of his shirt. The gold band encircling his wrist dripped water and Freeman wiped the face of what appeared to be a top of the range Rolex.

Joe surmised that the Freeman didn’t need rescuing and scrambled up the other bank. He held his hand out to give the man a pull up but it was brushed angrily away.

David looked down at him as he struggled with the weight of his own wet clothes and only spoke when Freeman had eventually hauled himself up to the bank.

“You waved us away. We thought you had a plan of your own.” He said innocently. “And the tree doesn’t bend nearly so much if you don’t leap off the side of the bank. In fact it hardly moves at all if you are gentle enough with it. You need to learn to work with the equipment you are given, not against it. And as to your phone and valuables, well you were warned not to bring them with you.” He turned away from the furious man and waved towards the others. “I think we should all take an early lunch. Mr. Freeman needs a change of clothes and I’m sure you could all do with a break too. We’ll head off back to the chateau and then come out again this afternoon, but first, unless you all want to climb over that wooden wall again then you are going to have to swing over here or wade through. Please don’t jump, just let yourselves swing. We’ll hold the rope as a counter weight and make sure that you don’t take a bath.”

Jessica took position in the rear of the group. She wanted to see how the others fared before she gave the swing a go. The others all made it over with varying success. A few of them needed help landing. But David and Joe were on hand to grab them. Jessica took her turn and squealed as she landed against Joe’s chest. She flung herself back from him as he held out a steadying arm.

“Don’t touch me!” She spat at him harshly and visibly shuddered as she lowered her gaze from his face to the forest floor.

For a moment Joe couldn’t understand her problem but then Freeman stepped forwards and spoke very quietly in Joe’s ear.

“How dare you frighten my staff. You shouldn’t get too close to them with a face like that. It’s off putting enough at a distance. Close up it’s horrendous.”

For a moment Joe wasn’t sure he had heard the man correctly but then he staggered away from him, unable to believe what he had just heard. Freeman moved quickly over to Jessica and bent to say something to her. She gave a snort of derisory laughter as she listened to the man whisper something in her ear.

David looked at Joe curiously. Even with a near expressionless face he could see the pain etched in Joe’s blue eyes. He moved to his friend’s side and frowned at him.

“Anything wrong? Are they getting at you?” David’s tone was full of concern.

Joe pulled himself together. There was nothing he could do about their attitude except ignore it. He glared at Freeman before he answered stubbornly.

“No, everything is fine. Mr. Freeman was just pointing out something that I probably should have guessed for myself.” He glowered at the man in front of him, determined to not let him see the pain he had just caused, but inside he was dying. He didn’t need to be told that his face was a mess. He saw it every day for himself. He had to live with the knowledge that his face took some getting used to, but he had thought that a grown woman would have a little more compassion. His eyes flicked over to Jessica Dennison and he stared as she shuddered again as she caught his eye.

For just one moment he thought he was angry with her for her condemnation of him, but suddenly Lucy was at his side, smiling up at him, her eyes glowing in exhilaration, her dimpled cheeks flushed with excitement and it was as though the sun had blossomed in his heart. He took another quick glance back at Jessica as she conversed quietly with her boss and realized that their narrow minded attitude just made him pity them. He straightened his shoulders and fisted his hands at his sides so that he wouldn’t punch Freeman in the face.

Lucy was still standing beside him. He could smell her deliciously perfumed hair and he turned his gaze to her friendly smile.

“Let’s go. We can cross back over the river at the ford further up. It’ll only be a few inches deep at this time of year and there are stepping stones so we probably won’t even get out feet wet.”

Lucy let out a great bellow of laughter.

“So you mean that we didn’t need to cross the river via the ropes in the first place! Ha! I can’t wait to see Carter’s face when he realizes that he hadn’t needed to get wet!”

Joe let out a laugh too. It would hold a certain satisfaction that was for sure. He guided Lucy towards the rest of the group who followed David along the river path.

Chapter Eight

Carter Freeman stood in front of the mirror in his room and checked his hair once again. He had been horrified to find it full of tiny green weeds after his impromptu dunk in the river. After he showered and re dressed, he had bagged up his soaking clothes and gave them to a smirking Geraldine who had knocked on his door to inform him that they would be happy to launder them.

“Most of our guests are at lunch already Monsieur Freeman. Please go down and join them as soon as you are able.” She handed the bag of wet clothes to the young woman behind her who immediately left to take them to the laundry room. Geraldine turned back to Carter. “I think my ‘usband and Joe want to take you to the zip wire this afternoon. I shouldn’t wear anything too special as you are bound to get wet again.” She looked at his Hugo Boss shirt and then down at his Armani jeans.

Carter nodded curtly. He stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out his IPhone that had miraculously survived its submersion in the river. He placed it on the dressing table alongside his Rolex and looked up at Geraldine, wondering for the umpteenth time why on earth someone so incredibly beautiful was with someone as ugly as her husband. He had decided the night before that she must have been married to him before the bomb, but had since been informed that this wasn’t the case. He couldn’t imagine what the attraction was. He cleared his throat before asking her if Lucy was with the group already in the dining room.

“Is my secretary still up here do you know? I need her to send some emails and the like and now would be an excellent time.”

Geraldine inclined her head.

“I think she is still ‘ere Monsieur. If you want you can just call ‘er room from your telephone.”

Carter glanced back in the mirror and smoothed back an invisible stray hair. Then he pressed a dampened fingertip to his eyebrow and Geraldine raised her own eyebrows in amazement as he proceeded to shape the line of dark hair.

“No, I’ll knock as I am passing her door anyway. We’ll be down to lunch as soon as possible but I must check in with head office.”

Geraldine was a little unhappy at his response but there was little she could do about it. She turned to head back along the corridor and Carter Freeman followed her. She heard him knock on Lucy’s door but she couldn’t hang around without being seen and she didn’t want to be caught eves-dropping. She was sure there was something not quite right about the tall arrogant man and she was determined to find out what it was.

Lucy opened the door at the light tapping. She had hoped that it would be Geraldine come for a quick gossip but Carter Freeman stood in her doorway, his tall frame taking up most of the door’s space. He moved forwards quickly and Lucy had to step back to avoid a collision with him.

“Oh, hello! I wasn’t expecting to see you at my door.” She sounded as surprised as she felt.

Freeman glanced around the fabulous room and pursed his lips. He moved through the sitting room and into the sumptuously appointed bedroom. Lucy followed him and stood in the doorway as he walked over to the huge bed and ran his hand slowly down the rich drapes.

“Looks like it was a good idea for you to come the day early. This is impressive to say the least.” He glanced back at his secretary his eyes filled with lust.

Lucy took a step back into the lounge.

“I didn’t ask to be put in here. Ellen chose the room for me. They have all been very kind especially as I hadn’t a clue where else to go if they had decided I couldn’t stay.”

Carter followed her back out of the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. She tried to duck away but his other hand came up swiftly and held her in a vice like grasp.

“I can see that you had no choice but this room is plenty big enough for two Lucy.” He paused and she tried to pull herself away. He held on tightly. “In fact I would almost say that it is a condition of your continued employment.” His voice was low and threatening.

Lucy gasped and wrenched herself from his grasp. She backed up against the closed door.

“You can’t mean that Carter!” Her shocked tone didn’t put him off for a moment. He stalked forwards coming in close to her. He lifted his arms and placed a hand firmly on the door either side of her shoulders. She attempted to duck beneath one of his arms but he shifted his hand quickly, keeping her trapped within the cage of his arms and stepped even closer. His body was a breath away from hers and she felt her heart rate pick up. The feeling wasn’t a pleasant one.

“I mean exactly that Miss Collins. I think our arrangements for work should go to the next level. I know you need this job. In fact you won’t be able to get any other job, I’ve made absolutely certain of that, so you may as well give in and enjoy the ride. I’m absolutely certain that I will”

Lucy glared up at him.

“What do you mean? You know nothing about me. I could find another job easily. I don’t need to work for you Carter so stop threatening me.” She tried to disguise the tremble in her voice.

Carter suddenly stepped away from her and gave out a huge laugh.

“Lucy, Lucy, Lucy! Do you think that I don’t check up on the backgrounds of my staff. I run an international investment company. I have to know every single person I employ is completely reliable. I make in depth check into every single person who works for me. I have to confess that your back ground check made for some interesting reading. Nearly fifty thousand pounds of short term unsecured debt and a mortgage on top. You were lucky that my company would finance you. It’s right at the top end of our limits.”

Lucy gaped at him. She had no idea that he knew she was indebted to his company. She hadn’t known herself until a few weeks after she had started working for him as she was under the impression that the company sold insurance. It did but that was only one of its departments. She had been desperate to keep the knowledge of her debts a secret but it seemed that Carter had known about it for a while. She closed her mouth and gulped back her shock before she spoke bitterly.

“Well if I had known what a shark infested pool I was swimming in, I might have tried harder to stay on dry land. So you know I owe you the money, well I’m keeping up with the payments so you can’t foreclose on me.”

Carter laughed again.

“And how long do you think you would last if I told you that I no longer needed a secretary. Your resume will not look good if there is a dismissal on there for breaking a confidentiality agreement.”

Lucy frowned.

“Not that I have ever broken any agreement anyway but I don’t remember signing one in the first place so I don’t see how that could affect me.” She tried to look and sound confident but her world was crashing down around her.

Carter shook his head.

“You don’t understand Lucy. As my personal secretary you have signed on my behalf many times. I have your signature on hundreds of documents in my office. It really wouldn’t be hard to place one on any contract I like. You would never be able to prove you hadn’t signed anything and as you know the workings of the company almost inside out, no court would ever believe that you didn’t know exactly what you were getting into.”

Lucy took in a sharp breath.

“You can’t threaten me like this.” She hissed up at him.

Carter smiled down at her.

“I’m not threatening you Lucy. I am just explaining your options and how they will be affected if you allow me in your bed. I don’t really know why you aren’t leaping at the chance. Hundreds of other women do almost daily. I’m not a selfish lover. I would make it good for you too.” His voice was a smooth as a rattlesnakes skin and Lucy thought that she was about to vomit.

Her features hardened and she was about to reach forwards and slap him when there was a sharp knock on the door. She almost cried out in relief but stopped when Carter lugged the door open for her and glared at the man outside the door.

Joe almost stepped back in surprise but managed to hold his ground as he saw Lucy’s whiter than white face behind Freeman’s shoulder.

“Geraldine wants to know if you two are coming down for lunch.” He growled out as Lucy took her chance and barreled past Freeman.

“Yes, I’m starving. All that lugging about and walking this morning has given me a massive appetite. I’ll walk down with you Joe.” She stepped out of the room and into the corridor, the relief obvious on her face.

Joe didn’t look at her but continued to stare at Freeman.

“I take it that you are coming too. Close Miss Collins door behind you please. We wouldn’t like uninvited guests in her room.” The menace in his tone was clear and Carter narrowed his eyes.

“No, I completely agree and we can finish our business later anyway.” He stepped out into the hall and closed the door with a hard bang. Lucy gave an involuntary jump and immediately headed off down the stairs with Joe leaving Carter to walk slowly on behind her.

Joe was so angry he could barely speak. Geraldine had come running to him in the dining room and had voiced her fears for Lucy. Joe had come charging up the stairs two at a time and had only just restrained himself from barreling through her door.

“Why on earth did you let him into your room? That man’s like some kind of leech. You should stay away from him as much as possible.”

Having got over her shock, Lucy was now angry.

“I didn’t let him in. I opened the door thinking it was going to be Geraldine and he came barging in. I had no choice as he was already in before I could say no and actually I can’t really say no as he’s my boss and he may have needed me to do something for him.” She hissed out as they marched towards the dining room.

Joe caught hold of her arm and spun her towards him. His blue eyes were full of concern.

“There’s only one thing that guy wants you to do for him. He’s making it pretty plain what he wants. You really need to start looking for another job Lucy.”

She closed her eyes for just a moment and then squared her shoulders.

“I know but it will take a little time to find one. The jobs market is tough back home right now. I have to tread carefully Joe.” She didn’t dare tell him how carefully.

They reached the lavish dining room a few moments later and Lucy joined in the queue for the buffet while Joe walked mingled in with the rest of the guests.

Lucy looked along the fabulous selection. There was freshly made bread, cold meats and cheeses and a huge selection of salads. She grabbed a plate and piled it with a hastily gathered selection then she found a table with some other work friends and sat down to eat.

Her mind was in turmoil. How the hell had Carter found out that she owed his company. It had been a shock to her own system when she discovered that the insurance company he ran and that she worked for also had a banking subsidiary. She was undecided about the banking title part. She still considered them to be loan sharks but as she had no other choice if she was to keep a roof over her head, she had signed the financial agreement. It was only a few months later that she had discovered the connection between the two institutions and now it seemed that Carter had too.

She moved the food around her plate, thinking she would throw up if she actually consumed anything. He wanted her to sleep with him or he was going to foreclose on the loan. He would see her out of a job and left with nothing if she didn’t agree to his disgusting arrangement. He wouldn’t even leave her with any self-respect. The thought made the bile rise in her throat and she had to place a napkin over her mouth.

One of the men at her table leaned forwards.

“Are you okay Lucy? You’ve gone awfully pale.”

Lucy removed the napkin and grabbed hold of the jug of water in the centre of the table. She poured a full glass and gulped it down.

“Dehydrated I think. I was sweating like a pig lugging those logs around earlier.”

There was a general laugh from her friends and everyone agreed that it had indeed been hard work. The conversation continued and there was speculation about the rest of the day but Lucy barely heard what was happening around the table. Her mind was consumed with the thought of Carter Freeman and how she was going to keep herself out of his clutches.

She suddenly saw Geraldine crossing the dining room and she shoved back from the table, excusing herself quickly from her work colleagues.

“Hey, Geraldine. I left my laptop in my room and I’m just too tired to go back up there at the moment. Do you think I could use one of your computers to look something up? I think I forgot to make a transfer into my bank and I’m going to be charged if I don’t sort it out.”

Geraldine nodded immediately.

“Do you want to do it now or later? I can arrange for you to have some privacy in the office if you want to look at it all tonight.”

Lucy shook her head.

“Now would be better, I don’t want to take the chance. You have no idea of the fees banks charge even if you only a day late with a payment. It’s all Carter’s fault. If he hadn’t sent me out here three days early I wouldn’t have forgotten to do it.” She thought she sounded plausible.

Geraldine smiled.

“Yes, of course. That man has a lot to answer for. Come, I will see if we can open up the one in the kitchen quickly. Patrick won’t mind if you sit in there for a few minutes, he’ll only be looking up recipes on the internet anyway.”

Lucy followed Geraldine out of the dining room, through one of the passages into the scullery and then on into the kitchen where they had all eaten on the first night.

Patrick was up to his elbows in flour and Ellen sat in a chair at the end of the table alternating wafting herself with a fan and chopping up carrots. She smiled up at Lucy as she walked in.

“My husband is a slave driver.” She waved the small knife in front of the carrots. “I was in the middle of all that office work and he drags me away in here. Says that working my brain is too stressful at the moment.”

Patrick gave a laugh.

“Oh yes! It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you hate the office work and I am just saving myself from you being miserable later…What can we do for you Lucy?”

Lucy moved around the table.

“Geraldine said I might be able to use the computer in here. David wore me out earlier and I couldn’t be bothered to walk back up the stairs to use my own. I need to check something on my bank account. I will get charged if I haven’t transferred the money and what with coming over in such a rush, I can’t remember if I have done it.”

Patrick nodded towards a computer sitting on the huge dresser that ran the length of the wall.

“You’ll have to forgive me. I was looking up some new recipes. If you can just save that website into my favourites then go ahead.”

Lucy touched a few of the buttons and then took a quick glance over her shoulder to see that the others were not looking.

She quickly logged into her bank account and then onto her pay slip pages. Everything was in order. Her current account held a little more than she needed as she wasn’t spending any personal money this week, so she quickly transferred the extra to ensure that the mortgage and debts were covered for another month and then she opened up the pages containing the details of her outstanding loan agreement.

The terms and conditions were pages long and she was never going to have time to go through it all now, but one or two things leapt out her immediately.

She was over a barrel with the timings of the payments. There was no get out early clause and no transfer deal available. She sighed deeply and wondered if she knew anyone who would be able to understand these things at a glance. She had read the documentation when she had agreed the loan but she hadn’t had any other options than to agree. There was no other company that would accept her amount of unsecured debt.

She sighed and closed the pages again. At least she had given herself some breathing space. Another month of mortgage and loan payments covered meant that she had a little time to gather her resources before she was either forced to give in to Carter Freeman’s odious demands or find herself another job.

She flicked the screen back to Patrick’s recipes.

“Thanks. Just as well I thought of it. I would have been in trouble otherwise.”

Ellen put down the knife and looked up at Lucy. Patrick had disappeared into the scullery and the door had closed to behind him.

“Are you okay Lucy? Do you need any help?” Ellen’s tone was sincere.

Lucy shook her head, not trusting her voice for a moment. She swallowed before she spoke, hoping she would sound somewhere near normal.

“No, no, everything is fine. I just hate paying bank charges if I don’t have to. Right, well I had better get back to the others. I wouldn’t want this afternoon’s activities beginning without me. I might miss getting unbelievably hot and sweaty again!”

She rolled her eyes and Ellen laughed loudly, holding her swollen belly as it rose and fell with her chuckles. She winced slightly and stopped laughing as the baby gave her a jab with an elbow or a foot.

“Do I tell Joe how keen you are when I see him later?” She grinned as she rubbed a hand over her stomach.

Lucy smiled down at her and shook her head quickly.

“Perhaps we had best keep it between ourselves for the moment. I’ll break it to him at a later date.” She gave Ellen a quick wave and returned to the hall where the last of her work colleagues were just beginning to file outside.

She tagged onto the end of the group not really thinking of what they would be doing next but going over every option in her head to get out of the trap that Carter Freeman had laid for her.

Chapter Nine

“So, have any of you used this kind of equipment before?” David’s eyes cast around the group. Two people put up their hands a little nervously and David brought them to the front of the group.

Joe took them to the side and began asking them some quiet questions.

David carried on explaining to the remaining group as he showed them the harness and equipment.

“We will be taking turns on the zip wire. There is a safety harness and Joe will be at the bottom to attempt to catch you. I say attempt because it’s down to you to slow yourself down with this brake. There is also an auto brake that slows you down as you get near the bottom of the run but this is the thing that actually stops you.” He demonstrated using the red lever just above the handles. “It’s not a problem if you don’t use it, you just get wet but as Mr. Freeman will assert, the river water is pretty chilly, so let’s avoid it if we can.” There was a general slightly nervous chuckle around the group and Freeman turned a deep shade of purple.

Everyone gathered round listening quietly as David showed them all how the equipment worked and then Joe selected one of the more nervous women to double up on the zip wire with him. It took a moment to harness them both in and then they were off, the woman screaming all the way as they plunged down into the ravine.

David laughed a few moments later as he looked over the ravine edge to see Joe standing on the bank of the river with his finger stuck in his ear waggling it to and fro, obviously trying to get the hearing back in it. The woman was laughing and flapping her hands, clearly trying to apologize to him.

David turned to the group again as the harness and pulleys suddenly reappeared at the top of the wire.

“So who’s next?” There was much cajoling and banter from the group as another hapless victim was shoved forwards. David was pleased to see how the group was opening up to one another. He could see the difference in their attitude already and hoped that their peacock of a boss could see it too.

He worked through the rest of the group. Some of them hit the water at the bottom but none looked as though they were worried about it. Freeman waited until he was last and then took hold of the bars and jumped off the edge seemingly without a care in the world. David noticed that he stopped himself a few feet from the water’s edge.

Two hours and several descents later even the most nervous person in the group was happy and confident enough to leap over the edge of the ravine without a care in the world. The ensemble came whizzing back up to the top for a last time and unable to resist having a go, David worked on the wire tension for a few moments. He disabled the auto brake and stood at the edge of the ravine. He noticed that Joe was shaking his head as he pulled a few of the people back from the cable run in, then he waved his hand in the air as a signal that it was safe for David to go.

David leapt into the air and the zip wire screamed as he came down faster than anyone would have believed possible. Joe stepped back out of his way and watched as David hit the water with an almighty splash. There was a sudden odd cracking sound. David sank under the water and then came up spluttering.

“Shit! I broke my leg!” He groaned as the water dripped from his face. He hopped up and one or two of the guests gasped in shock as he made his way lopsidedly to the bank. “Bugger, ‘scuse me ladies, but I haven’t broken it for a while and it’s a flipping nuisance.” He dragged himself up the bank and sat on the edge as several of the group came forwards to help him. He waved them away as one woman shouted for someone to call an ambulance at the sight of his twisted limb. Then David stuck his hand inside the waistband of his trousers and fiddled with something at his thigh before he leaned forwards and pulled at his boot.

His leg came out of the bottom of his trousers and the whole thing flopped backwards at the knee joint.

The man nearest David immediately slumped towards the ground in a faint and was caught just before he hit the floor by the man behind him.

Freeman came forwards and stood with his hands on his hips.

“Oh bloody funny! You nearly scared us half to death with that trick.”

David frowned up at him.

“What trick? It’s no laughing matter. Joe has only just got round to fixing my other set.”

Freeman suddenly reached forwards and dragged David up by his shoulder. David was immediately off balance and nearly toppled to the ground again, but Joe came and steadied him.

David’s trouser leg wafted limply beneath his thigh and there was a collective gasp from the group.

“You really do have a false leg?” Freeman stepped back and immediately cursed. “Shit! I can’t believe I am being shown this stuff by a bunch of flipping cripples. How in God’s name do you even think you are qualified to run this course?”

David had regained his balance but he still leaned on Joe for support.

“Of course I am bloody qualified. I spent nearly ten years getting qualified. Having false legs doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly not able to do my job. You didn’t even notice until I bust the damn thing.” He defended himself angrily.

Jessica came up to David and before David could protest, suddenly reached down and pulled up his other trouser leg. She let out a gasp as she saw the metal ensemble inside his trouser leg.

“You have two false legs!” She accused and began to shake her head. She turned to Freeman. “This is ridiculous Carter. These men can’t do this job in their state. I think we should leave.”

But one of the other men in the team suddenly spoke up.

“Well I for one think it’s perfectly clear that they do their job wonderfully. And actually if you think about it, it’s probably just as well he does have false legs or one of them really may have been broken.”

The man who had almost passed out, though still pale, was now standing again.

He took a deep breath and moved to the front of the shocked crowd.

“Yeah! I agree with Frank. Not sure what came over me. It was the knee thing I think. Looked awful from where I was standing. Freaked me out for a moment.”

David gave a quick laugh.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot that it looks pretty grim. Freaks me out too if you really want to know.” He turned to Joe. “Would you mind nipping to your cabin to get my spare one? And please get the right leg. I don’t want to look a complete idiot trying to walk around with two left feet.”

Joe barked out a laugh and lowered a still dripping David to the ground again. He disappeared into the forest and came back ten minutes later with another leg in his hand. David took a few seconds to reattach the new one and then stood up, about to carry on with the afternoon session. He looked at his watch. They just had time to do some bridge building before they would need to start the long walk back to the chateau.

He was about to begin with a talk on the concept when Joe help up his hand. He looked along the track and a few seconds later the Land Rover appeared and a frantic Geraldine screeched to a stop beside the group.

She leaned out to the window and spoke to David rapidly. David paled for a moment and then turned to the group.

“I’m really sorry but we will have to cut the session short. My sister has gone into early labour and I’m afraid that I will be needed up at the chateau. You are most welcome to come back to the chateau now and use the leisure facilities for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll leave you with Joe to accompany . Freeman, can I rely on you to bring up the rear and make sure everyone gets back to the chateau please?”

Carter Freeman actually looked pleased at being given some responsibility at last, and nodded his head.

“If you speak to your sister or brother in law please give them out best wishes.” He sounded almost genuine and David nodded in return as he climbed into the car and set off back to the chateau with Geraldine.

Joe looked at a loss for a few seconds and then rallied the group. They set off at a smart pace for the chateau, stopping every few minutes for him to make sure the group was keeping pace.

Everyone immediately set off to use the hotel facilities when they arrived back. Some of the women booked themselves into the treatment rooms for massages or beauty regimes, while the men enjoyed the squash courts and the swimming pool.

Joe went straight into the kitchen to see if he could glean anymore information from David about Ellen’s condition. He walked in to utter chaos.

Geraldine was struggling as she attempted to haul a huge pig onto the spit roast while their over-burdened helper Vanessa held the prong at the other end as gamely as she could. Robbie was jumping up and down on a chair and singing ‘Frere Jacque’ at the top of his quavering voice while David flapped around, his clothes still dripping river water with the telephone stuck to his ear, being completely unhelpful.

Joe quickly washed his hands at the sink and grabbed then the pig from Geraldine. He lay it on the table and took the lethal looking prong from Vanessa who looked relieved until Robbie picked it up again and looked as though he was about to stab his father with it. Joe rolled his eyes and shook his head at the boy who dropped the prong quickly and sat down on the chair.

Joe pushed Geraldine into another chair and took the phone out of David’s hand. He waited until there was relative calm before he spoke.

“We don’t have to do the hog roast tonight. It’s far too late and far too complicated to get it going and I wouldn’t even like to guess what Patrick puts in the marinade. There’s loads of stuff here that would make dinner easier. I don’t think anyone will complain about the change in plans given the circumstances. There’s that huge pie Patrick made yesterday that we only need to heat and we can take something from the freezer. There’s always loads of prepared stuff in there. I’m sure there he made a massive lasagna just last week. The veg is already prepared and only needs a light steaming. We can serve fruit and cheese for desert.”

Geraldine slumped into a chair obviously glad to have someone take over.

“I am sorry Joe. We just panicked. I think this pregnancy ‘as made my brain stop working. Yes, of course you are right. David is ‘opeless as he is so worried and he can’t get through to Patrick to find out what is ‘appening to Ellen.”

Joe put a comforting hand on her shoulder before he turned to his friend and spoke in a gentle but commanding tone.

“Dave, we need cups of tea and Robbie needs some milk and a biscuit. It’s useless trying to contact Patrick right now. His phone will be turned off if he’s in the hospital. He will let us have any news as soon as he can. Now you make the tea while I find that lasagna.”

He grabbed up the pig, slung it over his shoulder and marched through to the huge larder. By the time he came back with a massive dish of lasagna, calm once again reigned in the kitchen.

Vanessa was tipping mixed veg into a steamer and Geraldine was moving a vast saucepan of new potatoes onto the huge stove. She spoke over her shoulder.

“I’ll do a load of garlic bread and a tomato and fresh ‘erb salad as well. I think that will suit everyone.”

They all took a moment to drink their tea and Geraldine made up some sandwiches for Robbie.

David looked pale but he was holding himself together and he looked over at Joe gratefully.

“Sorry about that. My mind went into overdrive. I’m just so worried about her. They have waited so long for this baby.”

Geraldine sat by her husband and put a hand on his arm.

“I am sure she and the baby are going to be fine. It’s just a little early, that’s all. Babies come at their own pace not at anyone else’s schedule.”

David nodded and calmed visibly.

“Yes, of course. I know you’re right.” He looked around the kitchen and checked that everything appeared to be underway before going across to the computer to see if Patrick had anything special planned for that evening that they needed to use up.

He opened the open pages on the tabs and was a little surprised to see a set of wage slips appear before his eyes. He turned to Geraldine.

“Was Lucy using this today? She’s left herself logged on. If you think she’s finished I’ll shut it down for her.”

Geraldine came up behind him and peered over his shoulder curiously.

“She finished hours ago, but you would know that. She left here just after lunch to join you lot at the ravine. She only came down here to check something on her bank account.”

David frowned at Joe. Something felt wrong.

“Did you see her up at the zip wire?”

Joe was already shaking his head.

“She wasn’t there at all. I knew she didn’t like the sound of it so I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t show up. Someone said she was using the computer and I just assumed that idiot Freeman had given her some work that stopped her from coming with us. I haven’t seen her since she left the bedroom and I escorted to lunch this afternoon. Geraldine had asked me to go up there because she wasn’t happy about something Freeman had said.”

Geraldine broke in.

“That vile man just wants to get into ‘er underwear. He is disgusting and she detests him, I know it. I sent Joe up because I thought he was going to cause a problem. He ‘as already asked me to move his bags into her rooms. I refused yesterday, but this afternoon he was going on about ‘aving her send some emails. I do not trust that man and that’s why I asked you to go and look for her. She said she was too tired to walk back up to her room so I showed her down ‘ere after lunch to check some personal banking things and then she left to go with you.”

Joe looked over at David.

“I never saw her this afternoon, but there are a lot of them. If she had been at the back of the group I might not have noticed her. I went down the zip wire pretty early.”

David would have laughed if he hadn’t been quite so worried.

“You, not notice her? Come off it Joe. If you didn’t see her then she wasn’t there. She must have gone to have a treatment or something. We should go and ask the girls there before they go home for the evening.”

Geraldine shook her head.

“She didn’t have any treatments. I had a meeting with all the beauty room staff. We thought it would be a good time as everyone was out. Naomi and Rebecca had a brilliant idea for a ladies event when our next group comes over. We wanted to run over the details with the other beauticians before we go ahead and suggest anything to Ellen.”

Joe glanced at Geraldine once more. She shook her head and gave him one of her Gaelic shrugs indicating that she knew no more before he moved towards the door.

“I’ll go and check her room. Dave, can you go and quietly ask if any of the other staff saw her leave with the group. Geraldine, stay here and keep cooking. I’m sure there’s just a mix up but I really think we need to find her.” He looked out of the window at the darkening sky and tried not to think of her being outside somewhere.

It was only at dinner time, two hours later, that they were sure that Lucy as not in the chateau. Several of the company remembered her not eating her lunch and looking dreadfully pale. They thought she had returned to her room but couple of them disagreed with this and remembered her being with them as they approached the top of the ravine, but it was only as Freeman entered the dining room with a flushed but simpering Jessica that her whereabouts was confirmed.

Jessica twirled a wisp of bleached blonde hair as she spoke to the men.

“She was too yellow to do the zip wire challenge. It’s so lame but she’s scared of heights so I told her that I’d seen the sign for the steps down to the river and I assumed that she’d gone down them and just come back here.” Jessica didn’t even seem bothered that Lucy was still not around.

David walked up to her.

“And what the hell made you think those steps would be a good idea for someone with a fear of heights? Jesus! She’d have been a million times better off coming down the wire with one of us.”

Joe stood beside David, his heart in his mouth as he glared at Freeman.

“You were at the rear making sure all of your staff were accounted for. What the hell happened? Did you just forget about her?”

Freeman actually managed to look apologetic.

“I just assumed she had made it down and walked back to the chateau. We were down there for over two hours. It wouldn’t have taken her that long to walk back here.”

Joe clenched his fists at his side so that he couldn’t strangle the man in front of him, and spoke to David.

“I’ll go to the ravine now. She could have fallen or anything. She may even be there on those bloody steps still or lost on the path back up here. You stay here Dave and make sure this lot stay put for the evening. I’ll go and see if I can find her. I’ll take a phone and check in every fifteen minutes. If she turns up just let me know.” He jogged out of the dining room door and ran through to the scullery.

He tamped down his rage at Jessica and Freeman and grabbed up a couple of big flashlights, then he checked the phone in his pocket and ran out through the back door into the forest.

It took him ten minutes at a good run before he was at the bottom of the ravine steps and it had darkened considerably by the time he arrived there. He shone the torch upwards and studied the rock face before he set off up the steep and narrow steps.

Ellen had been the first one to see how steep and dangerous the steps were when she had bought the chateau five years previously. It was one of the reasons why she had installed the zip wire and the cable car. He was over a third of the way up before he heard the plaintive whimper. Another dozen steps and he could hear her gentle weeping. It was only a few more seconds before he found her clinging to the rock face, her fingernails broken and bleeding, her arms trembling under the strain of hanging on to the narrow ledge.

He managed to stand on the same step as her and tried to pull her into his arms, but she had locked down everything she had and was now in an almost trancelike state.

“Lucy.” He spoke as softly as he could. “Lucy, it’s me, Joe. You’re safe now sweetheart. I’ll get you down. Just let me take your hands and I’ll hold you as we go down together.” There was no response but he noticed that her weeping had stopped. He tried again. “Lucy, just nod if you know I’m here, okay? I know that you are petrified but I’m here now. You’re safe with me. I won’t let you fall.” He waited for a few seconds more and then was at last rewarded with a nearly imperceptible nod of her head.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and suddenly Lucy spoke through clenched teeth.

“I can’t move. I thought I was going to fall.” He voice was a whisper of fear.

Joe placed his hand over one of hers.

“No, we are not going to fall. We are going to walk very carefully down these steps together. You are going to place both of your hands on my shoulders and you will come down with me on the step behind.”

She shook her head quickly and Joe noticed that her beautiful hair had fallen from its band once again. It glistened like silver in the moonlight and he couldn’t resist. He reached up his free hand and touched the wayward strands. Her hair felt like the softest silk he had ever touched and he couldn’t resist raising it to his nose. It smelled of sunshine and flowers and he took another breath before he tucked it back up behind her ear. It was only then that he noticed that she was staring at him with her deep, doe like eyes.

“Joe?” She asked in a wondering voice.

Joe came to his senses at last and took her other hand into his then he twisted her gently until she was turned around on the rock. He slowly placed her hands on his shoulders as he took a step down. He kept eye contact with her all the way as he stepped backwards and at last they reached the bottom of the ravine. He immediately pulled Lucy into his chest and cradled her there while she wept tears of relief.

He had been ignoring the buzzing of his phone in his pocket for several minutes but now he snatched it out quickly without letting Lucy go. He kept her held tight to his chest with one arm while he murmured into the phone.

“I have her, yes stuck on the steps. She’s been there hours and she’s in shock. I’m going to take her to my cabin. I can give her some tea and check that she’s not injured. I’ll call you back…no, don’t worry about coming down. I’m sure she’ll be fine in a while. She just needs some hot fluids and plenty of sugar. You stay there and entertain the guests. Keep Geraldine and Robbie company. We’ll be fine down here. In fact it’s probably best if we stay here for a while. If I see either that Freeman or that idiot Jessica I will probably strangle them.”

He put the phone back into his pocket and lifted Lucy into his arms. It wasn’t far to his cabin. He shouldered through the door and immediately walked through to the small bedroom at the side. There was just about room for the double bed and he immediately pulled back the covers, tugged off her trainers and slid the trembling Lucy between the sheets. He tried to pull himself away from her so that he could go and make tea, but she clung on to his neck tightly and he ended up lying on the bed with her.

“Don’t go.” She whispered, her lips hot against his neck. “I just want to feel safe.”

Her sweet breath against his skin had his heart pounding inside his ribs. It came to the point where it was almost painful. He nudged her arm and spoke into her soft hair.

“Let me make you some tea Lucy. You’ve been up there hours. You need something to drink. And we need to bathe your hands too.”

She sighed into his neck and her arms slipped from him at last.

“Okay, if you insist. I confess that I am a little thirsty.”

Joe slipped back out of the warmth of the bed and tucked the big duvet in around her. He walked into his kitchen and ran water into the kettle before he took out a small first aid kit from the cupboard. He walked back to the bedroom and tended to her bleeding fingers. They didn’t look nearly so bad once they had been cleaned up. He cut one or two of the nails where she had scraped them ragged and dabbed some antiseptic ointment over her skinned knuckles, then he walked back out to the kitchen and took a look in the fridge. He was relieved to see that he had some milk. He quickly made mugs of tea and took them through to Lucy who lay in the bed staring up at the wooden ceiling.

She struggled to sit up against the pillows and Joe put the tea down on the bedside cabinet and lifted her against the headboard, plumping the pillows behind her back before he let her go again.

She glanced up at him shyly.

“I am so sorry to cause all this fuss. I thought I was going to be there all night.”

Joe took a big slurp of his own tea as he swung his legs up on the bed and settled in beside her.

“Why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you. If you had only let me know how you felt I would have worked something out. We wouldn’t have made you do the zip wire if you were truly that scared.” He gazed down at her tear stained face, wanting to kill Freeman and Jessica as Lucy snuggled in beside him.

Lucy gave an involuntary shiver then she shrugged, took a quick gulp of the hot sweet tea and spoke quietly.

“Phobias don’t make people rational Joe. I was simply petrified. I can’t explain it because it’s doesn’t happen in situations you might expect. I can be in an airplane and thirty thousand feet high but that’s fine. I can be on the ferry looking down into the water from behind the rail and that’s fine too. I know because I did it on my way over here. But I can’t walk across the Millennium Bridge in London and I can’t stand on the pier at Southend On Sea. I can see the water moving beneath me through the slats of planking. It maybe only ten feet beneath me, and even knowing that I can swim, I will be in a blind funk about falling off the damn thing. I’m fine on an escalator in the shopping centre but not when I was trying to get to the top of the Eifel Tower or standing six feet above the river on the canal and before you ask about the leaping across the river on the rope swing this morning, that was fine because I felt safe hanging onto the rope. I don’t know what triggers it. It wasn’t the zip wire that made me chicken out this afternoon. It was the drop from the edge over the ravine.”

Joe sat quietly, listening to her reason things out and then he answered as she sipped at her tea.

“Well, it’s not rational to be afraid of spiders either but loads of people are. One of my mates actually called out the fire brigade once. There was a big hairy one sitting on the door frame to his bedroom and he couldn’t walk past the thing. When the fire brigade told him they would fine him for wasting their time he ended up calling me to come and get it out. He said if he left it and it wandered off, he wouldn’t know where it was in the house. Reckoned he’d never sleep again. It never occurred to him that he probably had twenty others in the house already but just hadn’t spotted them.”

Lucy gave a nervous chuckle. The hot tea was making her feel a lot better really quickly.

“The fire brigade? Really?”

Joe nodded and smiled slyly.

“You can imagine what they said. Especially when they asked his name and he answered Major Marcus Tennant. He was so angry when they wouldn’t come out and rescue him. Of course I never told a soul back at barracks. He’s as big as Patrick but his nickname is now Incy!”

Lucy nearly spluttered her tea as she laughed out loud at Joe’s innocent expression.

“You sod! I bet he loves you for that.”

Joe smiled down at her and finished his tea.

“I’m going to look for something for us to eat. There’s a trout I caught early this morning if you fancy that, or I can get something out of the freezer if you would prefer something else.”

Lucy suddenly looked embarrassed.

“I don’t want to put you to any more trouble Joe. I can survive until I get back to the chateau.”

Joe laughed.

“It’s nothing to do with you believe me. Ellen went into labour this afternoon. Geraldine and David are cooking with the help of Vanessa who is actually the chambermaid and not on very good terms with anything in the kitchen except the washing machine. Now Geraldine is an okay cook normally but she’s a bit irrational what with being in the early stages of pregnancy and not liking smells or anything at the moment and David wouldn’t know how to fry an egg. As I am starving and you must be as well, due to not eating any lunch, I am going to cook something. I’ll put the trout on the barbeque. It’ll be delicious.” He pushed himself out of the bed and slipped his boots back on.

Lucy immediately slid to the side of the bed after him.

“What do you mean, Ellen went into labour. It’s too early surely?” She pushed her own feet back into her trainers.

Joe stood and held her arm to make sure she was steady before she stood up.

“I don’t know exactly what happened. Geraldine came and told us as we finished the zip wire runs. After we discovered you were missing and I didn’t bother finding anything else out. We know that Patrick has taken her to the hospital so she’s having the best care available. He’ll call Dave as soon as there’s any news. Right, feel up to sitting outside under the stars while I cook?”

Lucy nodded. She knew she would sit anywhere with this man. Her heart had been pounding in her chest the whole while they talked and it had nothing to do with getting over the shock of being scared witless by the steps.

“Yes, that would be lovely.”

Joe had a glowing fire going in minutes and then he took the trout from the fridge and skewered it on willow twigs. He waited until the flames died and there were just hot coals in the grate and then laid the fish across the metal frame of the barbeque. He brought out plates and cutlery and even a bottle of wine. He warmed a loaf of bread, apologizing for having to serve that morning’s baguette rather than fresh, but it tasted delicious toasted over the fire.

They ate the freshly grilled trout, picking it straight from the bones and dipped the bread in melted garlic butter that Joe had prepared with freshly chopped garlic cloves and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

Lucy wasn’t sure that she had ever had a more delicious meal in her life. She sat back in the wooden chair and stared up through the trees to the stars above.

“This is just so beautiful Joe. No wonder you love it here so much. It’s the perfect place to live.” She sighed contentedly and sipped at her wine.

Joe nodded his head, but he wasn’t looking at the stars. He was staring at Lucy, drinking in her beauty as he listened to her soft voice, loving her luscious curves as her breasts rose and fell as she breathed inside her t-shirt. He was having difficulty keeping his hands to himself and he wrapped them around his wine glass for safety.

He began telling her about the cottage that he was helping build further up the river. She adored the sound of it and asked him for every single detail.

After a couple of hours of gentle conversation, he picked up their plates and walked through to his kitchen. He ran water over the dishes and stacked them back in the cupboard. When he turned Lucy was standing behind him. Her eyes glowed in the dim lighting of the cabin and her hair shone like strands of gold. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“We should get you back up to the chateau. You must be shattered after hanging onto that blasted cliff face all afternoon. You’ll be missing that fabulous room.”

Lucy took a visible gulp of air and shook her head, sending her hair tumbling around her shoulders.

“No. I actually prefer the simplicity down here. I’m not really that type of girl. It’s okay for a day or two but all that splendor can be a little overwhelming.”

Joe laughed gently.

“Well, I never heard anyone complain that the chateau was too fabulous before. Everyone else loves it. Ellen is even thinking of upgrading some of the other rooms to suites. She thinks she can manage it if she uses a few more of the attic rooms for our more mobile guests.”

Lucy smiled up at him.

“I’m sure that would be lovely if you were coming on a holiday, but all the time? I’m not so sure. I know David and Geraldine live there but Ellen and Patrick clearly prefer their little cottage on the estate and you don’t want to live there either so maybe it’s not just me that likes the simple things in life.” She suddenly seemed nervous and she hesitated, her eyes dropping to the floor before she spoke again. “Joe, can we stay here for the night?” Her voice came out in a strangled whisper.

Joe was silent for a moment. He dragged the air into his lungs and tried to keep his heart rate somewhere near normal.

“There’s only the one bed Lucy…though I suppose I could sleep on the floor.”

Lucy gave a small quizzical frown as she looked back up at him and then she breathed out slowly before she spoke.

“I don’t take up that much room Joe. We could keep our clothes on if you’re worried I might attack you in the night or something. I just don’t want to go up to the chateau. Everyone will make a fuss and I will feel so stupid. That flipping Jessica will be gloating at me and Carter will be a nightmare. It’s just one night Joe.” She knew she sounded desperate, but she wanted to stay in the cabin so much she just couldn’t help herself.

Joe hesitated for a second more and then gave up fighting her. This might be the only time he ever had her in his bed. He knew it didn’t mean anything to her, but to have her lying by his side, to smell her scent on his pillow, to hear her breathing next to him throughout the night, it was more than he could have ever hoped for and the temptation was impossible to resist.

He ducked his head in agreement.

“Okay. I’ll just call Dave and tell him we’re staying down here. Don’t want him panicking about anyone else. Why don’t you get yourself comfortable? I’ll be back in five.”

Lucy breathed out a relieved breath that she wasn’t aware that she had been holding. She knew that Joe didn’t really want her there and that he was just being polite but she had to be beside him for one night. She needed to keep the feeling of his hot, hard body, to feel his breath on her face and to hear his heart thumping steadily, close to her for just a few hours more.

She quickly walked to the bathroom and washed her face and body in the cold water from the tap. She rubbed her teeth as best as she could with her finger and the toothpaste then she folded her clothes and crept back to the bedroom. She slid between the cool sheets wearing just her knickers and bra.

She listened to the water running in the bathroom and it was only a few moments later that Joe walked back into the bedroom. He had taken off his t-shirt but wore a vest beneath and he had replaced his combat trousers with soft pyjama bottoms. He stood at the side of the bed for a long moment as he stared down at her and then as she scooted to the other side of the mattress Joe slid into the bed and pulled the duvet over them. He stayed right on the edge of the bed and turned his back to her.

“Night Lucy.” He said quietly in the dark.

“Night Joe.” She replied.

Chapter Ten

The screaming woke him. He bolted forwards as the excruciating pain hit him full in the face. Everything around him was burning and he wasn’t sure if the animal sounds of terror were coming from his own throat or from the scattered remains of the charred bodies lying at his feet. Then there was someone lifting him and he was fighting them, screaming for them to let him die. Voices slammed into his head and he could hear someone telling him that he had no face, that he would never be the same again and the pain redoubled in his chest.

And then the agony just disappeared. He slumped back into the pillows, rolling over towards the source of comfort as tender warmth surrounded him, enfolded him. He didn’t know what this soothing balm was that they were spreading over him, but he wanted more of it. It was over his hands on his face, a softness on his leathery cheeks that he had never experienced before, and then there was something more.

The heat was spreading, not burning him just bathing him in sensations he had thought he would never feel again. He couldn’t help himself, he let out a deep groan of pure pleasure as he realized that something had changed and he was actually still in a beautiful erotic dream. He held onto the sensations, never wanting them to end as he felt himself thrust his hips forwards into the deepest pleasure he had ever felt in his life.

He could hear soft moans in his ear and the scrape of ragged fingernails at his back and suddenly he jolted back into the present.

Startlingly liquid brown eyes gazed up at him, kiss swollen lips smiled lazily up at him.

“Jesus! Lucy! What the hell have I done to you?” He tried to drag himself from on top of her but a slim leg was about his waist holding him firmly in place.

“Don’t stop Joe.” She breathed up at him as her back arched beneath him. “Don’t you dare stop now.” Her eyes fluttered closed and he felt her hips grind against him as she let out a deep moan of pleasure.

He still didn’t move. His mind was in turmoil. Had he forced himself on her? Had he raped her?

“Lucy, are you okay? I don’t know what happened.” He stared at the vision of beauty beneath him.

She nodded slowly as she lifted her head.

“I want you Joe. Please make love to me.” Her moist tongue reached out of her mouth and traced a line of fire around his lips. She dragged a hand down his back and shudders of pure pleasure shot up his spine, then she lifted her hips again and he couldn’t stop himself.

He thrust into her deeply and he heard a groan fill the air around them. He buried his head into her neck and held still again not daring to hope that she actually wanted him as much as he wanted her. He breathed in as though it would be his last breath on this earth. Her questing fingers moved across his shoulders, feeling every muscle, searching his skin as they made their way up the back of his neck and into his hair.

She pulled his face to hers and found his lips with her own and suddenly any resistance was over for him. There was no holding back now. He gathered her in his iron arms and began to move his hips rhythmically. He was so deeply embedded in her, her moisture covering him with a warmth so fluid that he couldn’t tell where he ended and she started.

He could smell her arousal and he wanted to taste it. He moved slowly, sliding his wet tongue down the valley between her breasts, lapping at her tender skin before moving to the sensuous globes of sweet flesh. He sucked a hard peak into his mouth, reveling in the feeling of the ever tightening flesh. He held her breasts in his hands and massaged gently, listening to her moan out her pleasure at the increasing sensations. He slid down further to her soft stomach. Her skin smelled of flowers and salt and he dipped his tongue into her navel.

When he reached the centre of her sex he couldn’t hold back. His lips ravaged the tender pink folds, his tongue tasted deeply, swirling over her tender bud. His moans of desire matched her breaths of release, and after she came in his mouth and he had tasted her true essence he moved back, climbing her body slowly, spreading her legs wide, pushing her knees to her chest and draping her legs over his shoulders.

He pressed himself into her soft, welcoming depths and just knew that he would never feel this good ever again.

Lucy hadn’t been sleeping. She had listened to his regular breathing and had been about to count to a thousand for the second time when something changed. His arms twitched and he was suddenly writhing in the bed.

His scream of agony had wrenched her heart from her body and she moved closer to him, her hands running over his face, her body pressed against him trying anything that would give him comfort. He had seemed to calm down but then he was rising, pushing her back on the bed. She knew he was still asleep but his cock was rock hard on her thigh and his hands were all over her breasts. She reached up her back and released the clip of her bra and he fell onto her, licking at her nipples moulding his hands to her breasts.

A few moments later he had shucked out of his pyjamas and vest. His fingers hooked into the top of her pants and she helped him as she wriggled out of them. She clung onto his huge muscled shoulders as seconds later his huge cock surged inside her. Her back arched to meet him as he thrust slowly but deeply and she felt as if she couldn’t get any closer to heaven.

It was only when she scraped his back with a broken fingernail that he suddenly woke and realized what he was doing. For a few seconds he fought to escape from her but there was no way she was going to let that happen. This might be her only chance to be with him. She would be leaving in two days and who knew if she would ever be able to come back. If she couldn’t escape the trap Freeman had laid for her she might never be free to feel like this again. She pressed her leg tightly around his back and held him inside as she touched his face and begged him not to stop.

And then she felt his surrender. It was complete and total and she had never experienced anything quite like it. The muscles in his shoulders and back bunched and released over and over as he thrust into her. He buried his face in her neck and cried out her name and she knew she would never find a feeling like this ever again.

She loved him. It was that simple. This big, broken man whose eyes shone with life, whose gentleness poured out through his scarred face and whose body she worshipped, was the only one for her. The feelings she thought she knew as love couldn’t compare with this overwhelming tidal wave that encompassed her heart and gripped it hard.

Joe moved down her body and she let him take her just as he wanted, let him taste her core, bathe in her juices. She came in his mouth and cried out in wonder as all the stars in the night sky tore through her vision and then he was inside her again, thrusting deeply, taking his time as he brought her to the edge of an endless universe and toppled over the brink with her.

His climax rocked his world. White hot light burned through his brain and for a moment he thought he had passed out with pleasure. The shuddering in his loins went on forever as he emptied himself deep into her body.

He pressed his face into her hair and breathed out her name.

“Lucy…”

The woman beneath him lay pliant in his arms, her gasps of air erratic, her heart pounding against his chest. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She stared back up at him and raised her hand to brush his sweat soaked fringe from his face.

“Joe…” She sighed on a whispering breath.

He leaned down and took her lips with his own once again, only breaking the kiss when he felt as though his lungs were going to implode.

“Lucy, I don’t know what happened. When I woke you were beneath me. I didn’t mean…I don’t…” He couldn’t explain why it had happened. He knew that she hadn’t objected but he wanted to her to know that he would have never hurt her for the world.

She smiled up at him and laid a gentle hand on his cheek.

“Shhh…It’s okay. You were dreaming. I don’t know what it was about but it sounded so painful. I just wanted to comfort you. When you began to make love to me, I didn’t want you to stop.” Her eyes were glowing in the dark.

He rested his forehead on hers and gulped in some air. He didn’t want this to be wrong but he didn’t want her to be making love with him out of pity.

“I have no excuse Lucy. I forced my way on top of you. I know I’m not like other men. My face…” He trailed off for a moment and then gulped out the words. “I have to know that you’re sure you are okay with this?”

She wound her hands around the back of his head and pulled his lips back to hers for another blistering kiss.

“More than okay Joe.” She whispered against his lips. She pressed her hand against his chest and ran her fingertips over his tight nipple. “You are just perfect.” When she pulled back he was hard against her thigh again.

“Oh god!” He groaned out, unable to stop the roar of passion in his voice, but Lucy wasn’t afraid. She maneuvered her hips and swivelled out from beneath him. She forced him over onto his back and straddled his waist, then she slid back down his taught body and impaled herself on his huge erection, pressing herself onto him until he was as deep as he could go. She raised her body and then slid back down on him as she watched his eyes roll up into his head as the ecstasy took him.

She ground her hips back down onto him and leaned forwards. His mouth searched for her breasts, took a nipple and suckled hard as his fingertips brought the other to an aching peak. She cried out in wonder that anyone could make her feel this good, feel this alive. She would take this pleasure, and would give it back to him a thousand times over.

And then he grabbed her around the waist, flipped up over her in a moment, bringing her to her knees as he rose up behind her. He pushed her forwards, spreading her legs with his thighs. He entered her in one smooth thrust as his hands moulded her peach like bottom, pulling her towards him. She cried out again, his name trembling from her lips as he set up a rhythm that had her gasping in moments.

As her orgasm rippled through her she felt his whole body tighten, every muscle screaming with tension and then he roared out his release as he held her hips tightly against him, his passion buried deep inside her.

Lucy blinked in the sunshine, confused for a moment as she stretched her aching body. And then she felt someone stir beside her. She rolled over in the bed and came up against a solid wall of heated muscle. She snuggled closer and breathed in his wonderful scent.

She couldn’t count the times he had made love to her during the night. Everything had disappeared into a passion hazed blur that went on for hours and hours. All she knew was that she wanted him, now and forever, anyway, anyhow.

A huge muscled arm draped lazily over her body and she felt a leg trapping her to the sweat dampened sheets. She looked up into his ragged face, raised her finger to trace the outline of his beautiful lips and she knew that she had never seen a man quite so handsome.

A blue eye glistened at her, twinkling fondly as he came to.

“Hey…” His mouth opened wide in a deep yawn.

“Hey…” She answered him and kissed the cleft in his chin.

He pulled her in close to him and kissed her lazily before he suddenly glanced up at the open window. The sunshine was glaring through the trees and dappling on the quilt. He shot up in bed.

“Christ! What’s the time?” He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and looked at the screen. “Shit!” He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up, obviously not caring that he was completely naked.

Lucy lay in the bed admiring his beautiful body as she laughed at his agitation.

“So what is the time? Not that I care. I don’t want to get out of bed yet.” She stretched lazily, lifting her arms above her head.

Joe hopped about on one foot, tearing his eyes away from the tantalizing glimpse of rounded breasts and reddened nipples as he dragged on fresh underpants and a vest. He gave her a quick grin.

“No, I’m sure you don’t. I can’t say that I do either especially as I know what you have on offer, but I have to go and help Dave. We don’t even know if Ellen is okay and Geraldine is as sick as a dog every morning. It’ll be chaos up at the chateau if I don’t show my face there quickly.”

Lucy sat up in the bed and pushed her hair from her face. She gave a great sigh and shifted to the edge of the bed. The muscles in her legs shrieked in defiance and she grimaced slightly.

Joe came and squatted in front of her, his eyes full of concern.

“You okay?” He rubbed his big hands up and down her thighs barely resisting the temptation to push her backwards in the bed, spread her legs and feast on her delicious womanly places.

She smiled up at him and caught hold of his face. She let her lips linger on his for a moment.

“More than okay Joe, you know that. Come on, hand me my clothes. I can’t just sit about here naked while you ogle me.”

He began flinging the covers about wildly until he came up with her knickers and her bra. She slipped them on and scrabbled around for her t-shirt and trousers.

Joe lugged on a shirt and pulled his combats over his lean legs. He shoved his feet into his boots and helped Lucy into her trainers. They were just about to walk out of the cabin when they heard the Land Rover pull up outside.

David stepped out of the car and grinned as Lucy twisted her hair into a low bun and tied it with a band.

“So, safe and sound then? No nightmares about being stranded in the dark?”

Lucy gave an embarrassed smile back.

“Of course not. I was in Joe’s capable hands.” She ignored David’s guffaw of ribald laughter. “Have you heard anything from Patrick?”

David smiled warmly.

“Little girl at about five thirty this morning. Ellen is exhausted and they will be keeping her in today and tomorrow for checks but everything went well. Baby weighed just under seven pounds so not even a problem there. They must have had the dates slightly wrong.”

Joe slapped David on the shoulder.

“So Uncle Dave, what’s on the agenda today for our victims? Apart from you making breakfast that is.” He dodged David’s fist and opened the car door for Lucy.

They were back up at the chateau in minutes and Lucy immediately ran up the stairs to shower and change before she went to the kitchen to help with breakfast. She opened her room door and was about to walk through to the bedroom when Carter Freeman appeared just inside the door.

Lucy stopped dead and stared at him aghast as she realized that he was wearing only his dressing gown. She cast her eyes towards the bed and suppressed a shiver when she saw that the covers were rumpled and the pillow indented.

“What are you doing in my room?” She hissed when she eventually found her voice.

Carter let out a grim laugh.

“Well I would have thought that was obvious. I was waiting for you. I assumed that you would come back here last night but I understand you spent the night with that poor excuse for a man who is helping run this idiotic course.”

Lucy stood her ground. Being with Joe for the night had made her a lot stronger.

“If it’s any of your business, yes, I did spend the night with him and I bloody enjoyed it. He a thousand times the man you will ever be.” She spat out the words with as much venom as she could muster.

Freeman walked forwards and Lucy nearly vomited as she saw his pale, hairless legs appear beneath the robe. It looked as though he waxed them; they were far smoother than her own.

He stood very close to her and lifted a strand of her hair. He leaned in and sniffed at the side of her neck. He jerked his head back quickly.

“I can smell him on you, you filthy tart. Did you enjoy having a freak between your legs? Did you make him feel like a real man for once in his miserable life?” His voice was low and menacing.

Lucy tore herself away from her odious boss and walked back to her door. She opened it wide and stood back.

“Get out! Get out now before I tell someone what a lowlife shit you are. And don’t come back to my room. I don’t care how you got in, just don’t try it again or there will be consequences.”

Freeman sauntered over to her. He stood by the doorway for a moment as he looked her up and down.

“Oh I will enjoy the day when you are homeless and penniless, begging on your knees before me. I’m in no hurry Lucy. I know how tight you are for money. Don’t forget that I hold all the aces here. You will lose everything if you don’t do as I say and don’t think this is just a threat. I will have you sucking my cock and licking my ass before long my dear, and you will be grateful that I let you do it.” He suddenly stormed from the room and Lucy slammed the door quickly behind him.

She stood with her back against the door breathing hard. She was beginning to believe that giving everything up and declaring herself bankrupt was worth it just to escape this man’s vile clutches, but then she thought of her own self esteem. How would she ever be able to hold her head high knowing she had walked away, turned her back on her problems and taken the easy option out? She just couldn’t do it to herself. She had to find a way to bring Carter Freeman down. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but there had to be a way.

Lucy stood in the kitchen dishing rashers of bacon into a heated tureen and tipping mountains of mushrooms into the biggest frying pan she had ever seen in her life. She turned them as they sizzled and a few moments later was scooping them into heat proof glassware and carrying them through to the dining room.

She avoided eye contact with the people giving her curious stares and she quickly returned to the kitchen to fetch the pots of tea and coffee.

An hour later they were all outside and down by the river again, this time wearing life jackets and waterproofs.

Joe gave her a small smile before he spoke to the group.

“We’re going canoeing this morning. Along the route you will be given various tasks to complete as a group. The river leads right into town and the Fol Anglais restaurant is expecting us for lunch. The amount of points your teams raise will amount to the menu on offer at the restaurant. It could be ‘a la carte” or ‘repas du jour’ depending on how your team gets on.” He looked over at the woman sniggering in the back of the group. “And would you mind explaining what’s so funny?” He asked her.

“I know a little French. The Mad Englishman’s restaurant. I was wondering who thought that title up.”

Joe smiled widely.

“Huh! Actually that’s Ellen’s idea of a joke. It’s Ellen’s and Patrick’s restaurant. They opened it three years ago when the chateau restaurant became so popular the quantity of bookings couldn’t be accommodated. The chef at the Fol is brilliant, more geared up to French cuisine but still on our wave length, so don’t worry, whatever meal you end up getting, none of you will starve.” He began steering the group towards the canoes that were stretched along the river bank.

Freeman tried to get himself paired with Lucy but Joe was helped by the ever attentive Jessica and he managed to get Lucy accompanied by another young and capable woman.

The morning went well with both of the teams doing their best. Everyone took part in all the various tasks and there was great excitement as the scores were added up.

Joe had to take a sneaky grin when Freeman’s group actually won the ‘A la carte’ menu. None of the group realized that the whole affair would be conducted entirely in French. The restaurant served very traditional French cuisine and there were lots of laughs when Jessica was faced with a plate of some pale, spongy delicacy. It was only as she gamely reached the halfway mark of her dinner that the waitress pointed out that she was actually eating jellied calves brains.

Freeman had ducked out of his squid when it turned up very lightly cooked in its own ink. He moved several inches away from the now gagging Jessica.

Lucy congratulated herself on coming in the losing group and for remembering from school lessons that dinde was turkey and she dug into her ‘meal of the day’ with gusto, but she also remembered to share her portion of delicious fries with those who made less fortunate choices.

The highlight of the meal was when the genuinely delighted chef brought out a huge, struggling lobster from the fish counter. He placed it on the table in front of the lucky recipient, speared it through the back of its head with a wicked looking knife, then immediately plunged it into the boiling wine and onions that had been brought out in a huge pot on its own gas ring. The horrified diner had nearly passed out in shock when the lobster was laid upon his plate three minutes later and dressed with a little of the cooking sauce, stir fried samphire and what appeared to be a pair of nut crackers.

The canoes were taken by truck back to their docking point and the teams spent the afternoon traversing the tree walk and attempting to erect and abseil down the block tower. They all made their way back to the chateau for a late afternoon seminar on team building and problem solving and then split up to enjoy the relaxing facilities at the chateau.

The evening hog roast came too soon for both Lucy and Joe. While they had managed a couple of smiles at each other during the day they hadn’t had a moment to talk privately. Lucy had no idea what she was going to say to him. She was desperate to tell him that she loved him but she knew that her personal problems would keep her silent. There was no way she could burden him with her past. She sat miserably in the long dining room trying to avoid his gaze but at the same time desperate to throw herself into his muscled arms.

It was no easier for Joe. His heart was screaming at him to do something, say anything to keep her here with him. She was leaving in the morning. He couldn’t bear the thought of her out of his sight and if he didn’t act now he knew he would lose his chance.

He sidled around the room making his way towards her but was constantly stopped by the members of the group wanting to shake his hand. They had all gained so much, had come out of their shells, found new friendships and vowed never to be downtrodden again. Joe wasn’t quite sure if that was the effect that Freeman was hoping for but the group felt strong and resilient and they all wanted to come back in the future. Not one of them backed away from him now. Not one of the shuddered as they took his scarred hand. There were laughs and promises of meeting in the future. If he hadn’t been so desperate to talk to Lucy he would have actually enjoyed the evening.

In the end, as the local band turned up, he gave up attempting to talk to her. He knew actions would speak louder than words and with only hours to make his feelings known there was no way he could afford to be shy. At near midnight he ducked out of the dancing and general celebrations and went for some air outside at the front of the hotel. He looked up to Lucy’s window and noticed that it was open. The drapes fluttered slightly in the breeze and a lump in his throat hitched as he saw a light come on and a shadow pass across the front of the window.

He was about to call up to her when he noticed that the shadow was unusually large for a woman. A second later the curtain swished back and Joe shifted back into the shadows as Carter Freeman stuck his head out of the window. He glanced around at the formal gardens and then his head disappeared back inside the room.

For a moment Joe wanted to be sick. She had invited her boss to her room. Geraldine had been wrong. Lucy did want the vile man.

His heart collapsed in his chest and he was about to turn away from the window and walk back to his cabin in the forest when he heard a stifled shriek. There was a short masculine chuckle and then silence. The light went off above him and he would have walked away if his super sensitive hearing hadn’t picked up the sound of flesh striking flesh. He’d seen and been involved in enough bar fights to know that sound when he heard it.

Every nerve in his body exploded. Ten seconds later he had climbed the outside wall of the chateau, grateful for the huge forsythia that grew against the stone, and was standing posed on the stone window frame. Ten seconds after that he was inside Lucy’s lounge, pressed against the wall, ears alert for any sound. He could hear voices coming from the bedroom. One low and graveled, the other higher and panicked.

He moved silently around the room, stepping carefully so as not to make a sound. He came up to the bedroom door and listened, breathing as shallowly as possible so as to keep his presence a secret.

He pressed his ear to the door panel and listened as Lucy spoke.

“You can’t do this Carter. I’m going to take legal advice as soon as I am home again.” Her voice was steely but still scared.

Freeman growled back at her.

“Slap me again woman and you’ll lose more than your precious virtue. You’re daft if you think any lawyer is going to take your case. No one is even going to look at it. I don’t even know why you are objecting so much. At least I am decent to look at. I can’t believe that you actually slept with that guy. He is hideous, needs to be put out of his misery. If he’d been a dog they would have put him down along with the rest of this patched up crew.”

There was another sudden slap of a hand on skin and Lucy hissed out some words.

“Each one of them is worth a thousand of you Carter. You disgust me and your inhumanity would disgust every person I know. Now get out of my room and don’t come back.”

Joe heard the slight hiss of silk robes and he sprang away from the door. He hid in the shadows by the window as Lucy threw the door open. Carter Freeman strutted out.

“You are going to regret this Lucy. I told you that you would be begging for me to have you. Well now I’m not so sure. Used goods and all that. Not sure I want to go where someone like him has been. Not sure any other man would.”

Lucy shoved Freeman towards the door.

“Shut up! You are the most vile person I have ever had the misfortune to cross. I’m handing in my notice as of now. Do you think I can’t find a man willing to take care of me if I wanted to! Ruin me Carter! I don’t care if you take everything I have, I’ll do what I have to do and find a way to survive.”

Freeman moved towards the door.

“Remember what I said Lucy. Think about it overnight. You don’t have to make any immediate decisions but just remember, I won’t care if you end up in the gutter. You crawled into it by yourself, I’m sure if you play your cards right you will be able to use your charms on one of these vulnerable men to climb back out.” He stalked out of the room and Lucy slammed the door behind him. She turned the key in the lock and stormed back across the room towards her bedroom. It was only as she was about to cross the threshold that she noticed a shadow by the window. She was about to scream in fright when Joe stepped forwards.

His face was a mask of pain. His breath was tight in his chest. He didn’t wait for any explanation from her.

“Is that what last night was about? You just need a man to save you from ruin?” The agony in his tone tore at her heart.

She shook her head and took a step towards him.

“No, last night was just about us Joe, but you knew that.”

Joe fisted his hands at his sides as the memory of Freeman’s words tore through his heart.

“I don’t believe you.” The bitterness in his voice was all too evident. “I should have seen it for what it was. No one as beautiful as you could ever want someone like me. What did you do it for? Because if it was because you pity me then I didn’t need it. I don’t need it.” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I was coming to you tonight to try and persuade you to stay, but it looks as though you have an agenda of your own that I can’t accept. You should have told me about it Lucy, even without last night I would have helped you, but you didn’t trust me, you’ve lied to me. I can’t accept that.” He pushed away from the wall and strode towards the door.

Lucy grabbed his arm as he passed. She stared up at his scarred face. It was the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her life, normally strong and sure, full of vigour and determination, but just at his moment it was etched with pain. Pain she couldn’t do anything to erase. If he had decided that she was a liar and a cheat then she wasn’t going to bother defending herself to someone who clearly didn’t want to listen. Though it broke her heart to do it, she had to let him discover that she had told him the truth.

“I never had any agenda Joe and my business is private. I didn’t want to share it with anyone because I was embarrassed about finding myself in such a situation. I’ll admit that my life is a mess, but it was all forced on me. Until Carter found out about it I was doing fine, sorting everything myself. No man is going to dictate that I sleep with him to resolve my problems, and I include you in that statement. If you couldn’t tell that I gave you everything last night then you don’t deserve me either. Get out of my room!” She pushed his arm away from her and shoved him towards the door

Joe took an involuntary step and then stood transfixed for a moment. He couldn’t believe what she was saying but then his brain caught up with his mouth. He had just told her that he considered her a liar. His heart plunged to his stomach as he suddenly realized what he was losing.

“Lucy…Don’t do this. I didn’t mean…I don’t know what I was saying.” The words tumbled from his mouth.

Lucy took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. She could see the desperation in his face but she had had enough. This man had been trained to protect people and he thought he could protect her too but no one could save her from Freeman but herself. Whatever she felt for Joe would have to be buried deep in her heart. She would sink or swim on her own.

“That man is trying to get me into his bed by blackmailing me Joe and while that could be flattering in some macabre sort of masochistic way, it is still disgusting. And you just accused me of sleeping with you out of pity for your situation or so that I could relieve myself of that problem.” Her eyes glinted fire at him as her tone brooked no argument. “I have never treated you any differently from any other man. Your scars mean nothing to me, to be honest after actually meeting you and falling in love with you they kind of pale into insignificance. If you want to know the truth, even if I could be bothered to notice them I would still actually think you are the most handsome man I ever met in my life. But you clearly don’t want to accept that. Well, that’s your problem Joe, not mine. I have enough to do keeping my head above the water. If you want to wallow in your own shit, then I’m afraid you can do it by yourself. Now get out!”

Joe’s mouth had fallen open at her obvious honesty. She loved him. His heart swelled as he saw the truth shining in her eyes but he knew it was too late. He took one more look at her furious expression, then he turned his head so that she wouldn’t see the tears glistening in his eyes, and left the room.

Chapter Eleven

Lucy packed her bags quickly. She was relieved that she had brought her own car and wouldn’t need to beg a lift from anyone. She was going to try and escape before everyone else from her company was up for breakfast.

But she was thwarted almost as soon as she walked into the corridor. Geraldine was passing with an armful of bed linen and caught hold of her arm.

“Ah! You are awake at last. Come and see. Ellen and Patrick are ‘ere with their daughter. They arrived with her early and are excited to show her off.”

Lucy walked down into the dining room and was delighted to see a beaming Patrick with his arms full of a bright red, screaming baby. Ellen looked tired but thrilled as she loaded scrambled eggs onto her plate. She smiled up at Lucy.

“Hey! Come and meet Rose. Only two days old and she’s being a little demon.”

Lucy dropped her bag by the door and walked up to Patrick and Ellen. She peered at the tiny baby and smiled as she held out a finger and brushed the child’s cheek.

“Congratulations. I thought you were stopping in the hospital another day or two.” Patrick rolled his eyes at Ellen as he lowered the screaming bundle towards Lucy and suddenly Rose was in her arms. He smiled indulgently as Lucy juggled with the bawling child.

“Ellen couldn’t stand it there. She was desperate to come home and as everything was fine with mother and child the doctors said she was okay to leave. I’m going to take them both to our cottage to rest as soon as we have had some breakfast. The hospital food was a bit grim.”

Lucy looked down at the tiny child in her arms. She had never held a baby before and was suddenly almost overcome with nerves as she bounced the baby gently in her arms.

“She’s so beautiful.” She whispered almost to herself as she held the precious bundle tightly to her chest. Rose suddenly stopped crying and looked up at her with curious blue eyes. She raised a tiny fist and waved it in the air. Lucy laughed and bent her head to kiss the little girl on the forehead. Her skin was so soft that Lucy wasn’t sure if she had actually touched her for a moment. She looked up at Ellen again. “So everything was fine in the end. You are both so lucky. I am so happy for the two of you. You will be fabulous parents.” Patrick took Rose back into his arms and raised his child to his own lips. He murmured quietly to Rose and curled his long finger under her chin. Ellen rolled her eyes and shook her head as she realized that she had a competitor for Patrick’s affections at last.

She left him to cope with Rose and waved her fork in the air as she motioned to Lucy.

“Come and have breakfast with us. We can chat while it’s still relatively quiet. Well, that’s if Rose stays quiet too.” She looked at her daughter who appeared to have dropped to sleep in her father’s arms.

Lucy grabbed a plate and filled it with mushrooms and scrambled eggs. She took a slice of toast and went to sit with her hosts. She looked around the dining room. There were only three other early risers there.

“Is Joe coming in for breakfast?” She asked, wondering if she would prefer to see him or avoid him. Her heart was still torn and she wasn’t sure what to do for the best. She blinked hard as she remembered the look on his face as he had left her room the night before. She swallowed an errant tear and concentrated hard on her mushrooms.

She had spent a near sleepless night going over in her head what she had said to Joe. She knew that she had been harsh, but he had called her a liar and a fraud and she was still struggling to get past his accusations. She wanted to explain the whole ghastly affair to him, to let him know what she had to do to get her finances back on a steady footing, but then she worried that he might try to help her out of mere pity and she didn’t want that. She was still figuring out what to do but she didn’t want to leave things as they had last night. If he hadn’t surprised her so soon after getting rid of Freeman she might have tried to explain to him more fully, but the way he had just assumed that she was using him had been too much for her to bear. She had given herself to him, heart and soul and she thought that he would be able to see her true feelings. If he couldn’t trust her then she didn’t know how to put things right.

Geraldine spoke up as Ellen looked towards the door.

“He will be ‘ere in a while. He was just having a coffee in the kitchen. He looks terrible. I don’t think he had much sleep…” She gave a huge grin. “Maybe he was chilly last night. I don’t suppose his cabin was nearly as warm as it had been the night before.”

Ellen glanced up at Geraldine’s mischievous expression and then looked curiously at Lucy’s brightly flushed cheeks. She let out a great laugh as she suddenly realized what must have happened but she kept her eyes down and her mouth shut as Joe walked in.

His eyes caught Lucy’s for a fraction of a second but he quickly moved towards the buffet breakfast and was soon surrounded by the crowd of Lucy’s hungry co-workers who suddenly appeared at the same time.

She rolled her eyes. So much for a quiet few words and escaping the chateau un-noticed.

Carter Freeman arrived with Jessica Dennison hanging onto his arm and Lucy was revolted to see that both of them had swollen lips. Carter even sported a smear of lipstick beside his ear and Jessica’s cheeks and neck were covered in stubble burn.

Everyone was keen to eat but as soon as the group was seated Carter Freeman stood up. He banged his knife on the side of his tea cup to catch everyone’s attention.

“I want to say a few words while everyone is present. These have been a fabulous few days for us as a company. All the things we have learned will be put to excellent use back in the workplace. We have all gained enormously from what we have learned and I’m sure that we will be seeing more of our hosts in the future. At this point I would like to offer Ellen and Patrick Reeves our heartiest congratulations on their newfound parenthood. Rose is a delight to behold.” There were mere murmurs of agreement that suddenly erupted into a round of applause with people calling out to Ellen and Patrick. Carter waved his hands for silence again. “I know I came to this chateau with my own agenda for the staff here but I have to say that they have passed my tests with flying colours. I have learned a few things about myself…No, not that I am an arrogant bastard, I already knew that.” He waited until the howls of laughter died down. “I have learned to listen to others and that’s a big step for me. Who could possibly forget my dunk in the river or my getting us lost in the forest?” There was more laughter from some of his audience. “In view of this fabulous experience that we will be sharing with all our other business associates, I would like to make a special presentation to someone who has made this trip a memorable experience. Lucy, would you like to come and take this envelope?”

Lucy’s head shot up from her plate of mushrooms.

“I don’t deserve any special presentation.” She stammered out but suddenly saw the sickly smile on Carter’s face. “Oh, sorry…you want me to hand out the presentation.” Her cheeks flushed a deep pink.

Carter rolled his eyes and some of the staff tittered at Lucy’s humiliation.

“Yes Lucy. You are my personal assistant. That’s what I employ you for.”

Lucy decided that now was not the right time to remind him that she had resigned the previous evening and slid out of her chair. She walked across the room to Carter Freeman in slight trepidation. She had seen through his speech immediately and didn’t believe a word that he said. She knew he was up to something bad but couldn’t guess what.

He held out an envelope to her.

“Would you please present that to our wonderful course leader, Joe. We couldn’t possibly have had such a splendid few days without all his hard work and unending patience.”

Lucy took the envelope with trembling fingers and walked slowly across the dining room floor. She knew that this wouldn’t be good. She wanted to tear up the envelope and run but her feet kept moving. She couldn’t look Joe in the eye as she stopped in front of him and handed the envelope over. There was a round of applause as Joe frowned over towards Freeman and then back down at the envelope. He paused for a moment as he drew in a breath and then he slid his finger under the flap and he opened it.

There were two pieces of paper inside.

The first was small and stiff. He picked it out and turned it over. His heart stilled in his chest as he saw the name of the cosmetic surgery clinic. He lifted his hooded eyes slowly to Carter Freeman. The man’s smirk was a mile wide. Joe held his gaze for a moment and then looked back down into the envelope. He slid out the other piece of paper. It was folded in two across the middle. He waited for a few moments, calming the pulse that was beating hard in his throat and hardening his heart in the silence of the dining room. Then opened the paper out and stood staring at it for a long moment. It was a cheque for twenty thousand pounds.

Joe’s eyes flicked to Lucy who was staring at the cosmetic surgery card in horrified amazement. He knew that she hadn’t planned this but she had clearly guessed it would be something insulting and she had still given it to him. He watched her carefully as she suddenly lifted her chin and glared up at Carter Freeman’s arrogance. She fisted her hands at her sides and Joe tore his gaze from her back to Freeman. His voice was like ice as he spoke from between gritted teeth.

“I thank you for your obvious concern at my welfare. You are clearly under the impression that I need to have something done about the way I look, but unfortunately apart from the fact that nothing more can be done to improve my situation, I cannot accept any donations from members of the public, however I would hate for your money to go to waste.” He picked up the cheque and walked quickly across the room. He handed it to Patrick who was staring open mouthed at the scene taking place in front of his very eyes. “I’m passing this onto you Patrick. I’m sure you will find an excellent use for it where it can benefit far more deserving cases than me.” Joe didn’t catch anyone else’s eye. He screwed up the envelope that contained the card with the surgery details and slammed it down hard on the table then he strode from the dining room, his head held high while everyone else sat there in stunned silence.

David suddenly rose to his feet and glared towards Freeman.

“You shit faced bastard! What the fuck do you think you are playing at?” There was no hiding his fury. Patrick calmly passed Rose to Ellen and stood up beside David. The pair of them appeared to grow frighteningly large.

“You had best get out of this chateau before I throw you out.” Patrick’s voice was only just above a whisper but the menace it contained reverberated around the silent room and penetrated even Carter Freeman’s feeble brain. He coughed uncomfortably.

“It was meant as a gesture of good will. I am only trying to help the poor man. To go through the rest of his life looking like that must be a terrible strain on him. I pity him.”

That was it. The final insult had been cast.

Geraldine shrieked as David launched himself over the table, knocking crockery, cutlery and food all over the place. He bulldozed his way through the stunned crowd, looking as though he was about to wring Freeman’s neck. Patrick was right behind him, his face contorted with rage as he snarled with fury.

“Get out! Get out of this chateau now you slimy bastard! Do not stop to retrieve your bag. If I can be bothered I will send it on. Just leave before I smash your fucking face so hard even your mother won’t recognize you!”

There were some indrawn breaths at his threats and people suddenly began to move. Several ran for the door and effectively blocked it. Geraldine tried to calm the situation down, shouting above the commotion that Patrick had only meant his harsh words for Freeman.

Rose began to cry again and Ellen quickly cuddled her to her chest and moved towards the small door to the kitchen.

Lucy marched straight up to Carter Freeman, the glare on her face telling everyone exactly what she thought of him. Then without any warning she drew her fist back and punched him square on the jaw. He staggered backwards and fell into Jessica who flapped her arms and screamed blue murder.

Carter quickly regained his feet and scowled down at Lucy as he rubbed his jaw.

“What the hell was that for? The man is hideous and you’re the one that slept with him out of pity. I should have thought you would be pleased I was trying to do something for the guy. Going around looking like that, I’m surprised he ever gets anyone into his bed.”

Lucy glared up at her ex-boss and spoke through gritted teeth.

“You stupid, stupid man. Can’t you even see past a couple of scars? Joe doesn’t need anyone’s help, least of all yours. He is just perfect exactly as he is.” She turned away from Freeman who was grabbed by the arms and manhandled from the room by David and Patrick.

Jessica screamed at anyone who came near her and Lucy couldn’t help herself. She moved in front of the woman and slapped her hard across the jaw before she spoke.

“For goodness sake shut up Jessica! Everyone is sick of the sound of your pathetic voice.” And with that parting shot Lucy turned around and walked out of the door. She picked up her bags and marched out of the chateau towards her car. She didn’t stop even when she heard Geraldine calling out her name as she threw her bags into the back of the car. She gave one last look up at the beautiful chateau and then started the engine and drove back down the long driveway that she had only driven up a few days before.

Chapter Twelve

Lucy walked slowly from room to room. The house wasn’t large and as it was almost empty it didn’t take her long, but in each room she stopped and turned around, reliving moments that she had thought she had forgotten. She ran her fingers down the curtains that she had so lovingly sewn, she smiled as she found the strip of wallpaper that she had hung upside down by accident and not noticed for weeks. There was even the slight stain on the carpet where she had spilled a glass of red wine and spent hours frantically scrubbing to try and get the colour out.

She glanced up into the corner of the ceiling as she walked up the stairs, to where a black wooden beam met the wall and she spied the spider that had lived there since she and Stewart had bought the place three years previously. The corner wasn’t even that high, but neither she nor Stewart could bear to hoover the spider up. They had tried to brush the web with the aid of a broom but both of them had given up after becoming too nervous to use it in case the hairy creature fell down upon their heads.

They hadn’t been there forever but she had made an attachment to the house that she hadn’t been ready to let go and her heart gave a lurch in her chest as she realized that this would soon all belong to someone else. The worst thing about the whole situation was that whatever she did she would still be paying that slime of a man for the next four years. Even if she raised the money she couldn’t pay it off immediately.

She had been to two sets of specialist lawyers and it was just as Carter Freeman had said, the contract was wrapped up in cast iron. There was no way out and no recourse to the law. The lawyers both agreed that given her position in the company she must have known exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed the papers. It seemed that she would just have to live with it.

Worse still, she could prove nothing about the blackmail or the threats to her future success at finding another job. She was out of money, out of options and out of time.

The only thing that was in her favour was that the buyers of the house were willing to pay her asking price. The deal had gone through quickly. She would have enough money to pay off the mortgage company and leave herself with savings to cover the payments of the unsecured debts to Freeman while still giving herself a few thousand pounds to try and set herself up again.

Her brother Michael had offered her accommodation for as long as she had needed it and while he was obviously confused as to why she had left her well paid job, he didn’t pry. Lucy had made an excuse that he had pretended to believe and for that she was grateful. She couldn’t tell him the truth. If she did she knew that he would take the law into his own hands and probably only end up in trouble himself. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She wouldn’t let his life and that of his family be ruined too, so she kept quiet about the true circumstances.

She ran her fingertips along the windowsill and stared out into the pretty, flower-filled garden below her bedroom. She opened the window and a tear slipped down her cheek as the delicate perfume wafted up to her. She had lovingly planted all of flowers in the riotous border especially for their scent. She closed the window again and shut the beautiful fragrance out.

She turned away from the window, walked back down the stairs and through into the kitchen. She glanced into the fridge. There was just some milk and a bottle of wine. She gave out a grim laugh. Should she actually spend a few pounds, order in a takeaway and drink the bottle of wine? She had one more night in the house and then the removal van would be here in the morning.

She pulled the local Chinese restaurant menu out from beside the telephone and quickly chose a couple of dishes. After calling them from her mobile, as the phone lines had already been disconnected, she arranged a delivery and went to open the wine. She twisted the top without looking and then rolled her eyes as she realized that this was one of the last bottles that she had bought while on the ferry home from France and the French still used corks.

She looked around the kitchen trying to decide which box she had put all her cutlery in. The cork screw would be in one of those.

She kicked a couple of boxes that sat on the floor and then shook a couple more that stood on the counter, wishing that she had been a little more specific in her labeling, but then she heard the jangle of knives and forks in the second one she picked up. She had just pulled the top open and rummaged through to find the cork screw when she heard a knock on her front door.

With the cork screw still in her hand she grabbed her handbag and stepped over even more boxes as she went to pay for her dinner. She opened the door with a smile on her lips.

“Wow, that was fast. I only ordered ten minutes…” The words died on her lips as the tall frame of Carter Freeman stood on her doorstep. She attempted to slam the door back shut but he had a foot inside the threshold and he pushed it open forcefully and then closed it gently behind him. Lucy jumped and dropped her handbag in surprise but managed to wrap her hand around the corkscrew and slide it up her cardigan sleeve. “What do you want?”

Carter moved forwards slowly, a sneering smile on his face.

“You know what I want Lucy. It’s what I have always wanted from you.” He let his eyes wander slowly up and down her body.

Lucy folded her arms across her chest and spoke fiercely.

“Huh! Last time I spoke to you, you said I was used goods. What’s changed your mind?”

Carter gave out a brutal laugh.

“Well that was over two months ago. I should think that gargoyle’s stench has worn off by now and I know that you haven’t been sleeping with anyone else. You’ve been too busy trying to sell up and find yourself a job. Fifteen interviews is it? And no one wants poor old Lucy Collins.” He laughed loudly.

Lucy frowned, the depths of his depravity now shocking her to her core.

“How on earth do you know how many interviews I’ve been to? You’ve been spying on me.” She declared.

Freeman shrugged lazily.

“Well not spying exactly, but I do have access to a fabulous computer expert. She can hack just about anyone’s computer and as you have arranged nearly everything you do via email, it’s not been hard to keep up.”

Lucy’s mouth fell open.

“Why you bastard! I should have known you were something to do with my failure to secure a place when all my interviews have gone so well. You’ve been telling the companies lies about me just to make sure I can’t get a job. Well damn you! I’ll take that to the police. They will be able to see what you’ve done.”

Freeman laughed again.

“I said that my computer lady was an expert Lucy. Do you think that if she can get into all your accounts so easily that she can’t get out undetected as well?”

Lucy’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He had everything on his side. He was so rich he could just buy anyone, anything he wanted. She scowled at the vile specimen in front of her.

“Just answer me one thing. Why me? Why do you want me so badly that you’d go to these lengths to try and get me in your bed? You have said it yourself, you’re not a bad looking guy, you have plenty of money and like splashing the cash. You could get easily other women to sleep with you if you wanted them. What’s so special about me?”

Freeman stepped forwards and raised his hand to her cheek. She withstood the pressure to shudder as he brushed a fingertip down her face.

“So lovely.” He whispered and for just a moment his eyes clouded over, but then they immediately came back into focus. He stepped back from her. “It’s simple really Lucy. If I want a woman, I have her. I always get what I want, even if it takes a little persuasion to get it. I refuse to take no for an answer. For months at work I had been trying to get you to notice me, but every time I had you on my own you turned up that cute button nose of yours and gave me the heave ho. Well, I have decided that it won’t go on any longer. I will have you Lucy.”

Lucy shuddered. It was clear that he wasn’t going to give up. She tried another tactic.

“But I don’t even work for you anymore and you have Jessica. Surely she keeps you busy. She seemed to keep you happy enough with her while we were in France. I distinctly remember seeing you both looking as if you had been at it all night on the morning we left the chateau.”

Freeman threw his head back and laughed loudly.

“Jessica Dennison! Are you mad! She was just available for the night. She’s a fraud Lucy, made of plastic. Every part of her face and body has been nipped or tucked or had something done to enhance or tighten it. It’s like fucking a plastic doll. She must have so few nerve endings left, I doubt that she feels much herself. She’s not a real woman, not real like you.”

Lucy suddenly began to panic. It was clear the Freeman wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“So what has happened to make you come here tonight? It’s been nearly two months since we came back from France. I haven’t heard a word from you in all that time, so why now? This really is not a good time to discuss anything. I’m moving in the morning.”

Freeman smiled lazily.

“I know that Lucy. I know everything about you and I’ve already spoken to your brother to tell him that you won’t need his hospitality.”

Lucy stiffened as she listened to his words.

“What? How dare you interfere in my life like this? I’m going to Michael’s house tomorrow and there’s not a damn thing that you can do about it.” Her voice was more powerful than she felt.

Freeman’s laughter echoed around the empty hallway.

“But you don’t understand Lucy. You don’t need to move house at all. I have bought this place and I insist on you staying. I will be paying off your loan in the morning and bringing what you owe to my own company. I will be adding it to your outstanding debt and you won’t be able to pay the principal off for at least five years. I should think that should bring you to your senses if nothing else. You’re going to be mine Lucy, for as long as I want.”

She would have fallen over in shock if there hadn’t been another knock on the door at that precise moment. Hearing what might be her only chance to get rid of him without using the corkscrew, she swiftly moved past Freeman and opened the door.

Mr. Cheng from the local Chinese restaurant stood on the doorstep with a bag of hot food. His face dropped in dismay as he saw Freeman standing there.

“Oh! I think I have brought wrong order. This is meal for one.” His sorrowful tone helped Lucy take her chance.

She grabbed up her handbag from the floor.

“No that’s absolutely right Mr. Cheng. Mr. Freeman was just leaving.” Carter scowled at Lucy as she stood back to let him out. He walked out of the door and pushed past Mr. Cheng.

“That’s okay Lucy. I can wait until tomorrow to see you. After all, what are another few hours between friends?” He sauntered off down the path and walked back to his car.

Lucy stood there staring after him as his big car pulled away from the verge and it was only when Mr. Cheng gave a small cough that she came back to her senses. She rummaged in her bag for the right money and handed it over to the waiting man. He didn’t leave immediately but looked curiously into Lucy’s pale face.

“I don’t like that man. He arrogant. What he wan in few hours?”

Lucy shook her head and took the bag of food from him.

“Nothing really. Nothing important at all.” She closed her eyes for a second and looked back outside, then added in a whisper. “He just wants to take over my life.” She spoke quietly and didn’t think that Mr. Cheng could have heard but he raised his eyebrows in surprise at her comment.

“Did he threaten you? You wan help Lucy? I can ask Kosi and Karl down here if you wan. Take them five minutes to come.”

Lucy shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll just move out of here before he arrives.”

Mr. Cheng raised his eyebrows.

“You movin’ out Lucy? Why you no tell us?”

She looked at him sadly.

“I have no choice. I have no choices left at all.” She gave him a watery smile. “I’m moving into Michael’s for a while so I’ll still be around. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing long term though. I’ll be fine Mr. Cheng, I’ll still order your food, don’t you worry.”

She stepped back and the man smiled at her and moved away from the door.

“Well, okay, but if he come and you no like him, you call me. Okay? I send boys.”

He lifted his chin defiantly as Lucy nodded and closed the door at last. She slammed home the bolt and walked through to her kitchen.

Her appetite had disappeared completely along with the urge to open the wine. She leaned back against the counter and let the tears flow down her cheeks. When the tears began to drip from her chin she grabbed the napkin out of the food bag to stem the flow.

None of this was her fault, though she blamed herself for not seeing through Stewart sooner. He had fooled her right from the start and left her with debts that she thought she could overcome, but with someone as controlling as Freeman on her back then she was beaten. She had done the best she could but her best just wasn’t good enough.

Her best wasn’t even good enough for Joe. She had thought that he had feelings for her, that he might have tried to find her, come after her, but she had heard nothing. She sobbed into her hands again and then walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and held the pillow against her body and dreamed of Joe lying with her, his hot skin on her body, his hard muscles bunching as he took her so passionately. She’d had one night with him, one night of the most beautiful feelings possible, desire, passion and love pouring unrestrained from of both of them.

Her heart thudded hard against her ribs at the glorious memories. She knew it was love on her part. There was no other explanation for the emotions that she had experienced or the feelings she still held. She thought Joe had felt the same way, but maybe it was different for him, maybe he really wasn’t looking for love and she was just a quick lay to release a bit of pent up tension. Maybe he got lucky every time a new set of clients went to the chateau.

She rolled over in the bed and closed her eyes tightly as she prayed that he didn’t take women to his bed every time the chateau had guests. She didn’t want him to see her as a quick fling. She wanted to dream of him, wanted to feel him one last time before she gave in to Carter Freeman. She couldn’t even run away. Freeman had made that perfectly clear when he had mentioned her brother Michael. He had a wife and family and probably a mortgage with Freeman too. There was no way she could bring her troubles down on his family. She would just have to get it over with. Maybe Freeman would get bored with her, maybe she wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

She clutched at straws that she knew didn’t exist and lay breathing quietly, feverishly hoping that some kind of world disaster would befall the planet before Freeman sealed her fate the next day.

Chapter Thirteen

Robbie was crying into his father’s trouser leg and David was scowling at Joe furiously.

“Damn it Joe! How could you forget him? You were the one who suggested the blasted game in the first place. He was hiding for bloody hours. If Geraldine hadn’t wondered why he didn’t come in for his tea he might have been out there all night. You know how desperate he is to beat you at your own game and once it got dark we would never have found him.”

Patrick stood silently to the side waiting for Joe’s explanation.

Joe felt terrible. He swallowed noisily as he squatted down to Robbie’s level, wondering what on earth he could say to make it up to the child. He really hadn’t meant to forget the boy but his mind seemed to wander of its own accord these days and there wasn’t much he was able to do about it. Random thoughts of blonde hair and dimples intruded into everything he did. His heart rate picked up at the mere thought of the woman he had turned away.

He stared at the dark haired boy in front of him and put Lucy from his mind for just one moment. He had to make this right with his little pal. He tugged at Robbie’s shoulders gently and felt marginally better when the child actually turned towards him and snuggled into his chest. Joe cleared his throat before he spoke softly into Robbie’s ear.

“Hey kiddo, I’m really sorry. I had some things on my mind and you were so quiet this time I just forgot you were even there. It will never happen again Robbie. I didn’t mean for you to be frightened.”

Robbie wound his arms around Joe’s neck. He gulped down his tears and wiped his nose on Joe’s shirt before pulling back and looking up with glistening eyes.

“That fox really scared me Joe. He was as big as a wolf and he came right up to me and looked at me with huge red eyes. His tongue was hanging out too. I thought he was going to eat me Joe!” Robbie’s lips began trembling again.

Joe gulped down his guilt and ruffled Robbie’s hair. He gave him a big, confident smile.

“Don’t be daft. No measly fox could have eaten you even if he was as big as a wolf. You are way too big and tough and you don’t look a bit like Red Riding Hood anyway. No basket of goodies for grandma for a start.”

Robbie gave a small watery smile and wrapped his little arms around Joe’s neck again.

“Do wolves only eat girls then? We shouldn’t let Ellen take Rose out walking in the forest, though I think the sound of her bawling would probably frighten the big bad fox away. She’s real loud Joe. She would be rubbish at hiding.” He released his grip, rubbed his eyes and grinned at Joe, then leaned forwards and planed a wet kiss on the end of his nose.

Patrick let out a small sigh of relief. It seemed that the immediate crisis was over. At least Robbie had been found and Geraldine had at last been persuaded to go and lie down after an evening of complete and utter panic.

Patrick bent down to Robbie and whispered something in his ear. Robbie opened his eyes wide and then scooted off out of the kitchen to find a bowl of homemade ice-cream in the freezer.

As soon as the boy had disappeared into the scullery Patrick frowned at Joe again.

“This has got to stop Joe. We can’t run the place like this. Last week there was the problem with the harness on the zip wire. If Dave hadn’t noticed at the last moment, someone could have been killed. The week before it was the climbing tower. If that had come down with those twelve guys still on it we would have all been slung in jail. And then there was the canoe race into town. Who’s flipping idea was that? You let the whole situation get out of control and there was a massive row with the locals. The Maire actually came and spoke to me about it.”

Joe groaned loudly and closed his eyes. He sank into the chair nearest the table and laid his head on his arms as his huge shoulders slumped in defeat.

“I’ll leave. I can’t do this anymore. You’re right I’m not on my game, someone is going to get hurt and it will be my fault. I can’t damage the reputation of this place. It wouldn’t be fair to those who need it. I’ll pack up tonight and go in the morning.”

David rolled his eyes and sat down beside his friend. He put a friendly arm over his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.

“Don’t be stupid mate. We don’t want you to leave. We just need you to focus. Look, we’re not daft. We know what or rather who the problem is. We’ve both been through it ourselves to differing extents. Women can be the very devil in disguise sometimes. We just have to find a way to put it right.”

Joe looked up at him briefly, his eyes were red rimmed and he looked thoroughly beaten.

“How? How do I put it right? She doesn’t even work for that slime anymore. I know because I checked. That awful woman Jessica Dennison took great delight in telling me that Lucy had been dismissed for irregular practices and due to the data protection act she couldn’t tell me her whereabouts. I’ve been through the obvious channels like the electoral register but she’s not listed in any of counties that surround her office. I can’t find her. The last night she was here I good as told her she was a fraud and a liar. She left without even saying goodbye. Whatever I want doesn’t even matter as it’s quite clear that she doesn’t want me. She could have rung me. She could have written, anything to give me some kind of hope, but I haven’t heard a word from her.”

Patrick snorted in derision.

“Women are sometimes like that Joe. If you remember, I nearly lost Ellen just because she hadn’t stuck her head in the right flipping post box for over three months! You’ll have to do all the running if you want her. You just have to dig deeper and look harder. We have plenty of people who can help. What about Alex? Have you asked him to have a dig about? He’s all into the computer stuff now. Since we were all blown up he’s been in the office. He’s an absolute demon with anything computer based. The U.S. agencies were even trying to poach him last year.”

David grinned and slapped Joe on the back.

“Come on Joe. You don’t want to miss this chance. You can’t let a little spat come between you and true love. You just wounded her a little. She’ll get over it if you find her and go after her. It was obvious that she thought the sun shone out of your backside.”

They stopped talking as the kitchen door opened and Ellen walked through holding Rose in her arms.

“Geraldine is sleeping now and Robbie appears to be quite happy with that bowl of ice cream. I was about to go home Patrick. Are you coming?”

Patrick shook his head and pointed his finger at the back of Joe’s bent head.

“No, not for a while. Need to help a lovesick comrade. We can’t possibly leave him in this state. It’s pathetic to behold.”

Joe had just enough fight in him to land a quick elbow to Patrick’s stomach.

“Shut up Patrick. Ellen doesn’t want to hear any of my shit.”

Patrick rubbed his stomach and laughed as Ellen came to stand beside him. She looked at up at her husband quizzically. He answered her unasked question.

“He’s moping about Lucy. He’s getting desperate and doesn’t know how to go about finding her. They had a bit of a spat the last night she was here when we were still in the hospital with Rose and what with the debacle of the next morning, he was unable to apologize. Now he’s like a complete flag and can’t get a thing right. He needs our help big time.”

Ellen looked down at Joe as he slumped over his arms again.

“I knew something must have happened but what with trying to calm all those people down that morning and being so busy since I hadn’t thought about how you might be feeling. Why didn’t you say something before and why haven’t you called her?”

Joe managed to roll his eyes.

“Couldn’t be anything to do with not having her phone number or anything could it?” He asked sarcastically.

Ellen gave a great sigh and moved over to the kitchen computer. She passed Rose to Patrick then punched in a few numbers and scrolled down the screen for a minute. She stood up straight again.

“There you go. Lucy’s home telephone number. She gave it to me when we were sorting out the booking for the group. Apparently Freeman turns his mobile off a lot of the time.”

Joe sat stunned and then leapt for the phone that sat beside the computer.

The others all looked very pleased and began filing out of the room but then they heard Joe slam down the phone again.

“It’s been disconnected. The number is no longer in use.” His voice had dropped to a mere whisper.

Ellen walked back to the computer screen and checked the number. She dialed it herself and then looked at the phone curiously as a mechanical voice told her exactly the same thing it had told Joe.

“Hmm. That’s odd. People don’t often change their home telephone numbers. Hang on, I have another idea.”  She looked at some more details on her screen and then opened an internet search and began typing in the website of a bank. Then she stood for a couple of seconds tapping the side of the computer, obviously thinking. Three minutes later she had a copy of Lucy’s bank statement up in front of her.

“Well I’ll be damned!” Patrick breathed out. “And how on earth did you work out her password?”

Ellen shrugged.

“I remembered that Geraldine said she had left her banking details logged on the night she was stuck on the steps, so I just looked in the history initially. Then I just put her name in as an account holder. Her personal code was more of a guess. I didn’t want to rush into it as banks normally only let you have three goes, but most people tend to use dates or names they know already. I just guessed her brother’s initials as he is marked as her next of kin on the copy of her passport that she left here as ID, plus her own birthdate. It worked first time.”

Joe stared at the screen. His eyes were reading down the figures on the bank statement.

“Hey! Look at this. This can’t be right. Why is she paying all that money over to the company she worked for?”

Ellen peered over his shoulder.

“You’re not meant to be looking at her private affairs Joe. Just her address.”

He shrugged and concentrated on the columns and totals.

“Can’t help it when you see figures like that, and look at this one at the bottom. That’s the same monthly figure as her mortgage and now that’s changed to Freeman Investments too. That doesn’t seem very likely as she doesn’t even work for them anymore. Look, there have been no deposits since the transfer she made while she was over here.” Joe put his finger on a date and then stated the obvious. “She’s out of work with no income.”

Patrick frowned at the screen.

“That Freeman Investments is not a bank that I ever heard of before. Maybe it’s a subsidiary of Freeman’s own insurance company or something. Open a new tab and Google them Joe.”

It took only a few seconds to discover that Freeman Investments was essentially a short term loan company. The interest rates were high and the company’s customers were locked in for years. It was clearly the last option left to the clients before bankruptcy. The company used several different names but it all boiled down to the same thing in the end. Short term lending with sky high interest rates.

Joe sat back on the chair and slapped his forehead with his hand.

“Shit! She was in deeper trouble than I thought. That last night she was here I heard them arguing. I climbed up into her room and he was there. He was trying to get her to sleep with him. She kicked him out after she slapped him. When she saw me she said that Freeman was blackmailing her, but I had overheard him saying that she had only slept with me to get me on her side. I thought she was using the blackmail thing as an excuse for him being in her bedroom again. I called her a liar but she was telling the truth and he’s pulling the rug from under her. She’ll be left homeless and penniless by that vile piece of crap and I let it happen to her.” He stood up. “I’ll get the overnight ferry. Now I know where she is maybe I can convince her to change her mind and come back here.”

David frowned as he stared at Lucy’s bank statement.

“That’s all fine Joe, but it won’t get rid of her debt. That bastard has obviously pulled a fast on her. He owns her house, her car, he even holds all the markers on this previous stuff. That’s in joint names but it seems that she’s paying it all. Who’s this Stewart MacDonald person? His name is on these debts but it doesn’t look as though he pays a penny. I can’t see anything coming into her account from him.”

Joe looked up.

“That must be the old boyfriend. She said that she had escaped from one awful relationship. Seems like Freeman wants her to start another. I need to see this leech and convince him to let all this stuff go. I don’t know how I can prove the blackmail bit but he has been trying to get her in his bed…” He suddenly staggered out of the chair. “My God! He’s leaving her with no choices at all. If she doesn’t do exactly as he wants then she really will be homeless. She’ll have to go to him, she won’t have any other choice.”

Ellen quickly moved in front of the screen.

“That last payment was made at the beginning of the month. She still has two days before the next payment has to be made. Freeman can’t do anything until she misses a payment, but she doesn’t seem to have any money coming in so she won’t be able to pay this months’ direct debit. I’ll check out the brother. If he’s nearby maybe he can go and see she’s okay. In the meantime I’ll transfer some funds to cover the next payment.” She glanced at Patrick who nodded immediately and then she began tapping away quickly. A few seconds later she let out a groan. “I checked with land registry for her brother’s house too. His mortgage is also held by Freeman Investments. The man has just taken over a new finance company. The whole family will be completely in his hands.”

David shook his head.

“A single man can’t have this much power. It shouldn’t be allowed. I wonder how many others he’s doing it to. I wonder if we can get a client list up.”

Patrick picked up the telephone.

“We might not be able to but I bet Alex can. I’m calling him now. We need to get a team onto this. He can’t be allowed to get away with it. Blackmail is illegal and so is demanding money with menaces. I think trying to persuade someone into your bed by stealing their home and income counts as menacing, especially with a creep like that.”

Ellen looked up at David.

“Call the boys and Gemma too if she’s home. She should be just about finished her latest tour. We need all the people we can get. I’ll pack a bag and be with you in twenty minutes.”

Patrick shook his head and handed Rose back to her.

“Ellen, you had a baby only two months ago. We have twenty two guests arriving in four days and Geraldine is too tired to lift a finger. You are staying here tonight to keep our business running and we will inform you of everything that goes on. Hopefully we will all be back by Friday.”

Ellen looked slightly annoyed but didn’t protest. She knew Patrick was right.

Joe frowned at the two men at his side.

“What do you mean? Back by Friday? You don’t need to come with me. I can handle Freeman on my own.”

David grinned at him.

“Yeah! We know that but Freeman doesn’t. He might be better persuaded by force of numbers, and I feel like kicking his slimy arse too.”

Joe rolled his eyes.

“He thinks we’re just rubbish anyway. I doubt if a whole platoon of our mates are going to change his ignorant mind about anything.”

Patrick breathed in deeply.

“You weren’t in Special Services Joe. I don’t mean to sound as though I am showing off, but no one here has ever seen me in action. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve. If I tell Freeman he is going to give this up, he will give it up. No question. But it would be nice to have some back up. There’s always safety in numbers and we are going to need an alibi for what I have in mind too. I think a reunion party at the Cat and Fiddle is required. Oh, and don’t bother with the ferry either, it’ll take too long to get us there. There’s nine o’clock flight out of Brest. If we hurry we can just about manage that.” He kissed both Rose and Ellen and was already on his way to the door.

David ruffled Ellen’s hair.

“Do you mind putting Robbie to bed before you turn in for the night? Tell Geraldine I’ll call her later. Get the team on the blower sis. Have them all waiting up at Luton airport for us. We’ll be there at about eleven.” He followed Patrick and Joe out of the room.

Chapter Fourteen

James strode up to David and grabbed him in a bear hug. He cuffed Joe over the top of his head and then stood back as he looked up at Patrick.

“Major Reeves! Haven’t seen you since your wedding. You’re looking well. How are Ellen and baby Rose? Dave has been keeping me up to date with the news.” He took Patrick’s outstretched hand and shook it warmly.

Patrick smiled back at the man.

“I haven’t been called that in a while. Patrick will do. We don’t stand on ceremony anymore. Ellen and Rose are just fine. You’ll have to make a trip and come to see them.”

James nodded and then dodged quickly as David suddenly swerved round Patrick and caught James around the waist, they laughed as they grappled, trying to bring each other down but David stopped when his heel caught James’s shin. He grinned as the solid thunk of leather on metal echoed around the arrivals lounge.

David looked down with a knowing smile.

“I thought you looked a bit too steady on your feet. So you did opt for amputation in the end. Big decision buddy. You didn’t tell me you had had it done. Are you okay with it all?”

James gave a rueful smile.

“Didn’t have a choice in the end Dave. I hung it out until last year but it was a nightmare. Agony if I’m completely honest. The pins hadn’t got anything to pin into by the last op. I should have had this done in the first place. Would have saved a lot of time, money and shed loads of pain. I sometimes get the odd feeling that my legs are still there, but I’m working through that. I’ve been able to go back to work so I’m really happy. And I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized that I wasn’t hobbling about on that awful pair of crutches anymore.” His face took on a more serious demeanour. “Ellen said Joe was in trouble. The others are outside. What can we do to help?”

David rolled his eyes.

“Let’s get to the pub first. We can fill you in there. We need some equipment though. You’re barely allowed to bring a tube of toothpaste through the airport security these days.”

James nodded.

“Nightmare ain’t it. Well Gemma is the only one with access to that sort of shit nowadays. I’m not even officially serving anymore and us office wallahs don’t get access to much more than a ball point pen.”

Joe came forwards.

“I’m actually hoping that the pen will be mightier than the sword in this affair, well the computer keyboard to be exact, but it amounts to the same thing. I just need you lot to look threatening if the need arises, and I mean really threatening. I need to teach some piece of shit a lesson that he’ll never forget.”

James looked positively thrilled.

“Excellent! Kicking butt used to be my speciality! Point the way my friend, your troops are behind you.” And he steered the way to the waiting Land Rover.

Gemma sat behind the steering wheel. She leaned over, grabbed Joe around the neck and pulled him in for a huge kiss.

“Hello handsome! And who might I ask donated that gorgeous looking nose?” She took hold of it in her metal fingers and gave it a gentle wiggle.

Joe grinned down at her.

“It’s a piece of bone from my own rib covered with skin from my arse if you must know. Hurt like hell to get it done and I’m not sure it’s quite the right shape now but I can’t be asked to go through it all again so it’ll have to do.” He glanced up into the rear view mirror and turned both right and left to see his profile. He was getting used to it at last and now that it had a more natural colour it didn’t look too bad at all.

There were giant guffaws of laughter from the back of the vehicle as he preened in front of the mirror and he acknowledged Paul and Adam with a small bow.

Paul was wearing some odd wrap around sunglasses and his head movements were slightly awkward as David and Patrick climbed into the back of the car. Paul explained his robotic eyes and glasses.

“Hey, you’re looking good Dave. And nice to see you again too Patrick.” He acknowledged Patrick’s curious stare. “My new eyes are reasonably good during day-light and the technology’s fantastic as I would be completely blind without them, but they don’t work as well in the dark so I need the glasses at night. They pick up movement and heat, bit like night vision goggles, the signal is sent through to my brain and I can sort of see. It’s not perfect but it’s better than nothing…So how’s it all going with everyone? What’s the emergency?”

Gemma pulled away from the kerb and David sat back in his seat as he answered for the three of them.

“Well everything would be perfect if our love sick grounds man hadn’t fallen for a beautiful young woman who actually appears to love him back. That would have been fine but when she told him that she’s being blackmailed by a complete slime he told her that he thinks she is a liar and a fraud. And to top it all we have only just discovered, because of Joe’s lack of appropriate action, that she is just about to land in the arms of the said blackmailer, possibly as we speak. I think that just about covers it.”

Joe took in a deep breath and could be heard grinding his teeth together.

Adam began laughing.

“Whoo! Dangerous and very stupid thing to do man. Slighted, scared women are like wounded tigers. If the situation has got that bad then she’s as likely to claw your face off as rush into your arms gratefully, though of course the clawing your face off bit doesn’t really count for you, but I have to say it Joe, you’re braver than I thought calling her a liar.”

Gemma waggled her metal finger at an embarrassed Joe.

“So let me get this straight. You fall in love with someone who apparently loves you back and then when she asks for your help because she is in a dire situation you go and insult her badly enough that she walks out on you straight into the arms of the person attacking her. Are you a crazy man or do you just have a death wish or something? Are you even surprised that she’s left you?”

Joe pursed his lips and spoke into his shirt.

“The something quite obviously and no I’m not surprised. But whatever this lot say,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, “it’s not quite as simple as that. There’s a lot more to the story and we need some help. We need to change this blackmailer guy’s whole attitude to the way he works. If he’s doing what he’s done to Lucy so easily, then he must be doing it to others as well. We thought we had made a start clearing his fogged up brain at the chateau when he came for a course but some people are obviously harder to make see reason than others.” And he began to tell the whole story.

By the time they had reached the Cat and Fiddle the whole thing was out in the open.

Adam rolled his chair through the pub doors first. Donna the landlady was waiting for them with pots of fresh coffee and plates of food.

Adam took a big slug of the coffee.

“Look guys, I don’t think I’m going to be much help on the ground. No one ever takes a guy in a chair as a serious threat and I would only hold you up if you need to move out quickly. It might be better if I liaise with Alex on the computer stuff. He’s still in active service and can’t do anything from the office that might be traceable. You’re going to have to be careful too Gemma but the rest of us probably don’t give a shit what happens.”

David looked at Gemma.

“I agree with Adam and having him working with Alex can only help anyway.”

Patrick nodded.

“He’s on his way. Should be here in about half an hour. He’s bringing his own personal set up so nothing will be traceable on any military machines. We’ll let you and Alex sort out the best way to get into the company accounts and the like. Gemma, how do you feel about being seen by this guy?”

Gemma shrugged.

“Not bothered. We have the perfect alibi anyway.” She nodded towards the bar where Donna was now polishing glasses. “Apparently we have been here all the time after an impromptu party to celebrate the birth of your daughter Patrick. None of us will have left the pub for two days solid so we only have to make sure that no one else sees us. But that’s not the only reason that I don’t care much what happens. I am only due on post until the day after tomorrow. I’m getting out. I officially won’t have anything to go back to after that.”

There were general murmurs of surprise and David was the first to congratulate her.

“That’s great! I would have thought you were in for life. What changed your mind?”

Gemma gave a shrug.

“Time’s passing me by. I’ve done ten years and I want to do different things with my life now. I wouldn’t mind getting out with a clean record though so if we can sort this shit out without getting arrested I would be happier.”

Joe looked around at them all.

“I don’t think this guy will take any notice of the normal kind of threat. We need to scare the crap out of him or be really devious. We need to hit him where it hurts most and that’s going to be in his pocket. The only trouble is that he holds the accounts of thousands of desperate people. We can’t wipe out their debt with a stroke of the computer as Freeman would be able to take that to the courts and just reinstate it all. We need to be clever and adjust some contracts and stuff so people are paying a rate they can afford that is fair and reasonable. Alex will probably know more about that side of things. However if we can convince him that we mean business by accessing his personal accounts then I don’t see anything wrong with that. He’s made millions out of shady deals. He’s nothing more than a legal loan shark and I for one would love to see him squirming.”

The pub door opened and Patrick and Joe’s friend Alex walked in. He had several bags under his arms.

“Computer cavalry has arrived!” He announced and struggled over to the rest of the team. There were the usual few minutes of back slapping and ribald remarks and then they all got back down to business.

They all helped take the computer equipment to a ground floor room that Donna had put by for their use. Alex immediately began firing up his laptop. He took out another keyboard and wired them all together. He gave a tablet to Joe and showed him how to use the screen. Joe was relieved to discover that he wouldn’t actually have to do anything manually. That would all be being managed by Adam and Alex from the pub. Alex looked up at Joe.

“Right, now I need everything you have on your girlfriend. Anything will help right down the where she shops or the name of her hairdresser. And then I need everything you have on this Freeman guy too. The business stuff is easy, that’s all there for everyone to find. It’s the personal stuff I want. That’s where he’ll take notice of anything that happens when it all suddenly starts crumbling in front of his eyes.”

Joe immediately jumped in.

“Lucy doesn’t do anything except pay this creeps bills. She doesn’t have any money left at the end of the month to do anything else with. She has a Tesco card and that’s about it as far as I can see. She not the materialistic type. But Freeman, well he wears a new model Rolex so he must have an account with them and he uses an IPhone. We can get the number from the details in the chateau office system.”

Patrick nodded.

“You should be able to access our computers from here if I give you the codes.” He rattled off some numbers.

David thought for a moment and then added something he had heard from Geraldine.

“Freeman’s clothes were handmade or designer stuff so I bet he had accounts with the top brands. His suits came from Savile Row. She saw them when she re hung his laundered clothes in the wardrobe. And he collects Air Miles. She noticed his American Express card in his wallet when it was drying out on the dressing table after that dunking.”

Adam nodded and started typing as James rummaged through Alex’s bag for some phone earpieces.

Joe watched Adam as Lucy’s personal finances came up on screen. He had a moment of feeling like an intruder and had to mention it to the rest of the gang.

“Look fellas, and Gemma. All this stuff is very personal to Lucy. I don’t want her finding out that we’ve all rummaged through her private stuff.”

Adam nodded.

“I’m only accessing it to find a way to Freeman. Don’t worry, she won’t know a thing and we are all sworn to secrecy on pain of Chinese burn.” He crossed his fingers swiftly over his heart.

Patrick nodded as the others made the same sign.

“Agreed. I’m hoping that we don’t even have to mention anything in front of her. I have a bit of an idea that just might work with Freeman that could avoid any confrontation with Lucy at all.”

They all looked up at him and David put his hands on his hips and spoke for the group.

“So come on then. What’s this brilliant idea?”

Patrick grinned back at them all.

“I wonder if our wonderful landlady fancies going on a shopping trip first thing in the morning. I’ll write her a list and then I just need to run something past Paul before I say anymore. Adam and Alex, you keep on it with Freeman. Get all of his personal accounts right down to the guy who makes his underwear. We’re going to need them all to make this work. Paul, come with me a moment. I need to talk to you.” And Patrick and Paul disappeared out of the door.

Chapter Fifteen

Lucy woke suddenly. She had been dreaming of Joe and the way his eyes had held her gaze as they had made love, but somewhere halfway through the dream they had turned into the evil eyes of Carter Freeman.

She sat up in bed and realized that there was light seeping in around the closed curtains and she was still fully clothed. She leaned over and picked up her phone. It was eight thirty in the morning. She slumped back down in the bed and wondered whether she could be bothered to get up yet.

She lay still and was almost drifting off again when she heard a tiny, but sharp click come from her downstairs hallway. She had lived in the house too long not to know that this wasn’t one of its normal creaks or groans and she was immediately alert.

There was another slight rustling sound and then the third tread on the stairs squealed as someone’s weight rested on it. She was immediately up off the bed grappling with her mobile phone, desperate to dial the police.

The door suddenly burst open behind her and she shrieked as a big shadow of a man came barreling towards her. She grabbed the bedside lamp and was about to swing it into his face when he shouted out.

“Lucy! Don’t. It’s me, Joe.”

She dropped the lamp in shock and scrambled back on the bed unsure whether to believe her ears. She could hear deep breathing in the dimly lit room and then suddenly his familiar scent wafted over her.

“Joe?” She breathed out quietly.

Joe came towards the bed and picked up the lamp. He placed it back on the bedside cabinet and switched it on. For just a second she sat there staring at him. He stared back, his heart in his mouth as he took in the shadows under her eyes and the way her skin looked nearly grey.

“Lucy, I’m so sorry. I should have never said those things or walked out on you like that. None of it was your fault.” He didn’t get any more words out. She threw herself at him, took his face in her hands and began kissing him. She ran her fingers through his hair and dipped her lips to his neck.

“Joe!” It was as though she couldn’t say another word, but now Joe was over his initial shock of seeing her.

He pulled her towards him, held her about the waist with one hand and pushed the fingers of his other hand into her silky hair as they fell back on the bed together. He moved over her, pinning her body to the bed, staring into her eyes for a few seconds more before he buried his face into her neck and began kissing under her ear. He was about to move his lips onto hers when there was a small cough at his back.

Lucy jerked her head to the side to see who else was in the room with them and smiled shyly as David stood there with his eyebrows raised.

“So you’re not going to kick his butt then? I thought you had reasonably good justification actually but it’s entirely up to you.” He smiled as they untangled their limbs and sat round to face him.

Lucy looked up at Joe who was still dragging her close to him. She pursed her lips and looked hard at him.

“I might kick it yet. I still haven’t decided. Depends on what he’s doing here.”

Joe didn’t look like he cared what she did to him. He didn’t take his eyes from her face for a second as he spoke quickly.

“I’ve come to take you home. I know what that Freeman has been up to. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you back at the chateau. I should have listened to you but I wasn’t thinking straight. I was just jealous.”

Lucy pushed back out of his arms.

“What are you talking about? This is my home…Well, it is until mid morning.” She added quietly.

Joe took a deep breath. It was confession time and he knew he had to come clean fast. There could be no more misunderstandings between them.

“You are going to have to forgive me in advance Lucy, but I have seen your bank account.” He held his hand up at her shocked intake of breath. “I had to look. I couldn’t find you any other way. Luckily for me you had left yourself logged on to your account when you used the computer at the chateau and it was all in the computer’s history. I just made a guess at your password after Ellen said you left a copy of your passport as ID. You really should make your accounts harder to get into. I couldn’t help but notice what was going on.” They had decided to keep Ellen and Geraldine out of everything that Lucy would deem too personal. If she was going to be furious it would be at Joe only.

Lucy backed away from him. She hung her head and pressed her hands into his chest as he tried to pull her back to him.

“Don’t Joe. If you’ve seen that then you know that you have to leave here and go home. I can’t come with you. I have too much responsibility here. The debts won’t just go away even if I leave with you. They’ll be cleared in four years, maybe I can call my life my own after that, but I’m not going to duck out of any responsibilities before then.”

David walked forwards and sat on the bed with them. He looked into her sad face.

“It’s not even as easy as that Lucy. Freeman is a complete shark. You won’t be able to pay off the debt in four years. He’s set up the repayments as an endowment policy with his own finance company. You’re not paying any of the capital and at the rate you are paying the high interest charges mean that there will be a huge shortfall at the end of the loan. You’ll still have to pay that back afterwards as the endowment isn’t reaching its target figures for the repayments. It’s a scam for you to keep on paying him but it’s legal as it’s buried in the small print that nobody who is desperate for money ever reads properly. If you keep paying at the rate you are he’ll own you for the next twenty years.”

Lucy had turned a deathly shade of white. Her lips trembled and then her whole body began to shake. She would never be free of him, never be able to escape from his vile clutches. It was all too much. Her eyes suddenly rolled up in her head and she fell forwards into Joes waiting arms.

David breathed out a big sigh as Joe hugged Lucy’s limp from against his chest.

“Probably just as well with what we’ve got planned for Freeman later on today. Don’t really want her to see that. I’ll take her out to the Land Rover and get her back to the pub. I’ll leave her with Adam and Alex. They won’t let her back here until you say that it’s safe for us both to come.”

Joe shook his head.

“I’ll take her downstairs to the car.” He lifted Lucy easily in his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder as her carried her down the stairs. He held her gently as he walked out of the front door and over to the waiting car. With Lucy safely deposited in the back seat David quickly jumped in the behind the steering wheel and sped off the couple of miles to the Cat and Fiddle.

Joe and James sat at the kitchen table eating the cold Chinese takeaway that Lucy had left on the counter the night before. Joe was tempted to open the very nice looking bottle of wine that stood beside the food and drink it with the special fried noodles and kung po chicken but he managed to restrain himself. He needed to have his wits about him and couldn’t afford to drink any alcohol.

James stabbed a chunk of the chicken and chewed it slowly.

“Damn, nothing quite like cold Chinese after a night out. Tastes good even if we didn’t have any beer. Pity we can’t have a glass of wine.”

Joe twirled another scoop of noodles around the chopsticks.

“No, best not chance it.” He looked at the noodles before putting them in his mouth. “This is the one thing I miss out in France. We don’t have a Chinese restaurant for miles. Nearest one is in Morlaix or you have to buy it from the cold counter at the market and that’s never quite the same. It’s almost worth the trip over here just to have it.” He put the noodles in his mouth and savoured them.

James laughed at his enraptured expression.

“Maybe you should set up a Chinese restaurant there then. Sounds as though it won’t have much competition.”

Joe snorted as he swallowed the noodles and dug in for another load.

“It wouldn’t have many customers either. The French are nothing if not traditional. I might suggest something to Patrick for a themed night though. It would certainly appeal to the guys. We could serve any leftovers for breakfast.” He scraped the foil dish clean as James popped the last chunk of chicken in his mouth.

James looked up as he heard a knock at the door. He looked at his watch. It was only ten thirty.

“Thought he wasn’t arriving until later?” He moved over to the window and without showing his face looked out to the front path. “Tall guy with poncey hair and plastic skin?” He looked back at Joe who nodded.

“I guessed he’d turn up early. He’d either want to gloat as he chucked Lucy out or try and get her into bed.” He dropped the chopsticks back into the noodle dish and began speaking rapidly into his earpiece.

Lucy came to in the car. She sat up and looked at David as he drove towards the Cat and Fiddle public house.

She blinked a couple of times and caught David’s smile in the rear view mirror.

“Feeling okay?”

She nodded slowly.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t I at home? Where’s Joe?” He questions came rapidly.

David turned into the car park of the Cat and Fiddle. He pulled up at the door and then turned to her.

“We’re just cleaning up few things up at your house Lucy. Things that you don’t need to be there to see. Joe is sorting everything out and he wants to have a few words with your old boss about the blackmail thing. He’s not very happy about Freeman threatening his girlfriend. I want you to stay here with Donna. I have to go and collect another er…interested party, and then I have to get back and help Joe and the others.” He spoke rather mysteriously

Lucy was immediately suspicious. She folded her arms and sat stubbornly in the seat.

“What interested party? Who do you mean? I’m not going anywhere. If you are going back to help Joe with something then so am I. You can’t just drag me out of my own home and expect me to sit here twiddling my thumbs.”

David shook his head. He climbed out of the car and walked around to Lucy’s door. He opened it and stood there waiting patiently for her to climb out.

“I’m not expecting you to twiddle your thumbs. I’m actually expecting you to dish the dirt on your old boss. We’ve found out a few things but there’s always more that might come in useful. Alex and Adam are in the back room. Go in there and see what you can do to help. I have to go and pick up another lump of slime and get back to Joe. We’re all meeting here just after twelve. We’ll fill you in as soon as we get back.”

Lucy’s shoulders slumped in defeat. From the stubborn set of David’s jaw, she could see there was no way he was going to change his mind. She slid across the seat and climbed out then turned and walked into the pub.

Lucy waved a greeting to Donna.

“I’m meant to join the boys in the back.”

Donna gave her a quick smile.

“They’re a great bunch. I haven’t a clue what they are up to but they asked me to go shopping first thing this morning. Right weird list of things they wanted. I had to go to Mr. Cheng’s restaurant for one thing as they didn’t sell it at the local spar. Still, if Major Reeves says he wants lychees, then lychees is what he’s going to get. Adam and Alex are through there. I’ll bring you all some coffee in a mo.”

Lucy wandered through to the back room wondering what on earth Patrick wanted lychees so urgently for. Maybe it was some weird breakfast fad he had going on, though she distinctly remembered his plate piled high with bacon, eggs and mushrooms every morning back at the chateau.

The two men in the room turned as she stepped over the threshold. One of them stood up and came forwards.

“Lucy? I’m Alex and this is Adam. We’re friends of Joe. The others will be joining us in about an hour or so hopefully. But in the meantime we wondered if you would be able to help us with a little problem we’ve been experiencing with a rather ghastly chap called Freeman. Dave seemed to think you might have some inside information that would help one of our friends out of a spot of bother.” He drew out a chair in front of the computer. “Anything you can think of will be helpful.”

James waited until Freeman knocked again and then opened the front door swiftly. The man barely had time to register that it wasn’t Lucy answering the door before James shot out a muscular arm and dragged him inside by the collar of his shirt.

Freeman kicked out in an effort to escape his captor, but he gave up when pain reverberated up through his toes and into his knee joint as his foot struck hard metal.

“What the fuck is going on. Let me go.”

James glared at him. Although he had never met the man before he had seen and heard enough about him. If the night’s researches of the man hadn’t already done it, David’s explanation of the man’s departing insult to Joe was enough to convince him without anything else.

James growled in his ear.

“You were the one to turn up here uninvited Mr. Freeman, now we’d like to have a little chat with you about a few things before the sale of this house goes through. We’re going to offer you some options and convince you to change your mind about a few things.”

Freeman looked decidedly uncomfortable. There was a slick sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“What do you mean? This house is mine anyway. My mortgage company already owns it. If any payments are missed then I’m afraid the house is forfeited. It’s quite clear in all of the paperwork.”

James shook his head and smiled chillingly at the man.

“Oh dear. You misunderstood my meaning. I wasn’t going to try and persuade you into doing anything. I am going to tell you what to do and you will listen and then do it. If you don’t, well there will be some consequences that I’m sure you will find as unwelcome as Miss Collins found your threats of blackmail, however that’s up to you. Whatever you decide you have seen the last you ever will of Miss Collins.”

Freeman suddenly paled.

“Lucy? Where is she? She’s meant to be here. What have you gone and done with her?”

James threw his head back and laughed.

“She has been taken where you will never get your filthy hands on her ever again. Predators like you don’t deserve women of her caliber. Fortunately she has a much worthier protector who doesn’t need to blackmail her into his bed.”

They had arrived in the kitchen and Freeman suddenly spotted Joe.

“You! I might have guessed you lot were something to do with this when I realized he has a false leg.” He jerked his head back over his shoulder and glanced at James. “Well, don’t think you will ever get away with this. Everything about my company is legal. We’re backed by the FSA and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Joe wiped his mouth on a piece of kitchen roll and moved the empty boxes of Chinese food out of the way. He shrugged at Freeman.

“As you say, but that doesn’t mean that your practices are clear or even honourable. You’re getting rich on peoples misery. You could be like some of the other companies that do a similar sort of thing to yours but you go one step further and choose to keep these unfortunate people paying you for years. It’s wrong in principal if not in law. They pay the debt they owe you twenty times over. That’s not business, it’s extortion.” James pulled out the seat opposite Joe and shoved Freeman into it. He tapped the computer tablet that sat on the kitchen table and the screen instantly came to life. He turned it towards Freeman who raised his eyebrows as he saw his personal bank account details lit up on the screen.

His face turned purple with rage.

“How did you get into this?” He spat out eventually.

Joe shrugged.

“Same way as you hacked into Lucy’s account to discover all her personal details. We have a computer expert too.” He leaned forwards and stared right into Freeman’s face. “But ours is a lot better than yours. In fact your Martha Pherson is cosied up in Bedford constabulary as we speak. She’s been desperate to tell the police everything that she’s had to do for you, including sending malicious emails and changing the wording on contracts so that Miss Collins was unable to find employment or to pay off her bills. Fortunately for us it’s all traceable and the police can see exactly what you have been up to.”

Joe watched Freeman’s Adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat as he gulped nervously.

“You’re bluffing. Martha isn’t a fool. There’s no way any of the stuff that she did was traceable.”

Joe shook his head.

“I don’t bluff. I don’t have the time or patience for it. Everything she did is now in the hands of the police. Now, let’s take a look and see how we convince you to improve your work practices as the course in France clearly didn’t work. Pity, as I hate to have a failure on my hands, but maybe there are other ways to improve your disposition to your clients. Now let’s see…” He scrolled down the list on Freeman’s bank statement and pointed to a name and account. “Ah! Your tailor I presume. Now let’s see if I can conjure up an email to him. Shall I complain about the quality of the last suit you purchased or shall I just cancel your account?” He touched the screen and Freeman’s email account popped up. Writing appeared without Joe doing a thing as Alex took over the computer remotely from the pub. Freeman looked on horrified as he saw the words being typed as he watched.

“You can’t send that! I never said his work was sub-standard and I never said that the material was of inferior quality. Have you any idea how long it takes to be accepted as a client for one of these guys? They have waiting lists years long.”

Joe waited until Freeman’s name appeared at the bottom of the email and then his finger hovered over the button for a long moment before he hit send.

Freeman slumped forwards. He glared up at Joe.

“If you think that losing my tailor will make me change my mind about anything to do with my business then you are sadly mistaken.”

Joe raised his eyebrows and laughed delightedly.

“Oh no, I didn’t think it would just take that, no actually I was hoping it wouldn’t. So who shall we talk to next? Ah! The Ivy restaurant. What about your weekly booking there. I should think a complaint about the head chef and the standard of his filet mignon should sort that one out.”

Another email appeared on the screen and Freeman shrugged.

“There are other restaurants in London.” He growled out bitterly as Joe hit send again.

Joe smiled pleasantly.

“And what about one to Graff? I’m sure that they will be delighted to hear that you have accused them of selling fake diamonds. I shouldn’t think that will hit the bourse very quickly.”

Freeman was silent this time. A muscle twitched at the side of his jaw.

Joe carried on

“And Rolex? I wonder if they will be pleased to hear that you are going to the newspapers about their own workshops buying cheap copies from the Chinese markets.” He opened up the email for one of the national daily papers. Hope you have an excellent team of lawyers standing by. All these slanderous accusations…”

Freeman almost whimpered as another email appeared on the screen.

“Don’t.” It came out as a strangled whisper.

Joe tutted and shook his head as he hit send once again.

“Hurts when your personal life is attacked, doesn’t it Freeman. Oh, and maybe I should send one to your cosmetic surgeon too. Apparently you’ve decided that you think the pectoral implants are not up to standard and that his work isn’t up to scratch…” Joe looked up at him. “I should think that will make you feel very secure when you go for your next shots of botox.”

Freeman paled and then turned to James who couldn’t hold back a snigger as he looked down at Freeman’s chest.

“Pectoral implants! For cosmetic purposes? You have to be joking? Jesus! The man’s had a boob job! Whatever happened to a gym and working out?”

Freeman glowered at James and then banged his fist on the table.

“I don’t care. None of this will make me change my mind.”

Joe sighed deeply.

“Oh dear. Well if we can’t convince you then I suppose there is nothing we can do.” He turned the tablet back around and spoke into his earpiece. “Nothing’s doing here Patrick. I’ve tried my best but he won’t change his mind. Bring the car round, we might as well go home.”

James stepped back from the table and Freeman gave a superior smile.

“Huh! And you guys think you are tough. All you have done is inconvenienced me for a short while. I’ll soon get this lot sorted out.” He was about to stand up when there was a sudden commotion in the hall. Joe jumped up out of his seat and was about to walk out of the room when Patrick and David barged in through the kitchen door dragging two thoroughly rumpled looking individuals with them. They were followed by a woman who looked meaner than Scrooge on Christmas Eve.

Patrick backed off with one of the men while David threw the other over the table as Gemma shouted.

“Bastard tried to nick the car. We’d just nipped over the road to buy some bacon sandwiches and when we came back he was picking the lock.”

Joe took a deep breath and looked around at the others.

“Well that’s an inconvenience to say the least. I was hoping we could get away without anyone seeing us. Who’s the other guy?” He looked at the man being held by Patrick. Patrick clapped a hand over his captive’s mouth as he looked as though he was going to speak.

He shrugged.

“He’s just a nobody. We found him snooping around in the garden. Looked like he was about to steal something too.

The man over the table was stammering.

“I said I was sorry. I won’t do it again and I won’t tell anyone I saw you. In fact I never saw anything. Nothing happened and I was just out walking as usual.”

Patrick shouted menacingly.

“Shut up you little prick while we decide what to do with you.”

The man didn’t shut up. He began stammering

“B…but I didn’t see a damn thing okay. I’ll never try to steal anything again, I swear.” He attempted to rise off the table.

Gemma scowled at him and shoved him down again.

“He’s a low life turd. I hate thieves and liars. This other guy is probably a thief too. Let me show them both something to convince him that we mean business.”

Joe looked between Patrick and David and then at James before he nodded.

“Okay. I know what you want to do, but for goodness sake leave him with one. We don’t want him being a burden to the state like that last guy ended up.”

Gemma leaned forwards over the table and raised her meal hand. The man over the table squirmed and bucked. She looked over at James and David who both nodded for her to go ahead.

Freeman looked on horrified.

“What are you going to do to him? It was just a car for God’s sake!” His voice had shot up a couple of octaves.

Gemma turned to him slowly.

“You had better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you.” She turned back to the guy who was now being held in the vice like grasp of David and James.

“Hold him still fellas. I don’t want a mess on my fingers.” She lowered her hand to the man’s petrified face and slowly dug her fingers around his eye socket.

Freeman backed away from the table as fast as he could.

“What the fuck are you doing? He only tried to steal your car. He’s told you that he won’t say a word about you being here.”

Gemma glanced up at him. Her voice was like steel as she spoke between gritted teeth.

“Stay out of this. There’s nothing worse than a thief.”

Joe looked up into Freeman’s eyes. He spoke very softly.

“Well, not if you don’t count blackmailers and extortionists or deserting someone and leaving them with all your own shit on their shoulders.” The man who had been struggling in Patrick’s arms suddenly became very still.

Gemma snorted as she appeared to feel around the whimpering man’s eye.

“Yes, blackmail, extortion and desertion are worse but fortunately I only have a thief in front of me. If he did any of those other things too I’d have to cut off both his balls with a blunt spoon and feed them to him for breakfast.” She dug her fingers in deeper and then suddenly, with a great oozing sucking sound, she plucked the man’s eye from its socket.

The man on the table screamed but Freeman and the man Patrick was holding screamed louder. Freeman slammed back into the cupboards behind him as Gemma laughed and the man on the table passed out with pain. She held up the glistening eyeball and turned to stare at Freeman.

“Who is this creep and what’s he doing here? Someone shut him up. He’s getting on my nerves.”

Freeman shut his mouth quickly. His eyes were glued to the dripping eyeball that danced in front of his face. Gemma frowned and inspected the orb closely. The blue of the iris gleamed brightly still. She squeezed it gently and the thing bulged and looked as though it was about to pop. She looked back up at Freeman and smiled but it was too late. His eyes had rolled up into the top of his head and he was slithering down the cupboard.

She turned to the man Patrick was still holding. He had suddenly gone very quiet too. Gemma walked up to him still holding the eyeball. She stood about two inches from his face and glared at him.

“Now then Stewart, would you like to tell me just what you are going to do about your gambling debts that you left Miss Collins to pay off or am I going to have to remind you what I feed to deserters of women?” She looked down significantly at the flies of his trousers.

Stewart turned grey and tried to cross his legs. He pressed back as far as he could into Patrick’s arms as he shouted.

“I’ll pay her back! Every penny. I’ve had some luck recently. Give me that tablet, I’ll do it right now. I’ll even pay the interest.”

Joe passed him the tablet. Stewart spent the next few minutes typing furiously. He gave the tablet back to Joe and pointed a trembling finger at the figures on the screen.

Joe nodded in satisfaction as he checked the accounts.

“Right, well I think we’ve done all that we can here. Just pop that note into Mr. Freeman’s pocket and we’ll be off.” He looked down at the eyeless man lying prone across the table. He considered him for a moment and then added. “We’d better get this man to the hospital. Won’t be able to give him his eye back as we need that as a souvenir for Mr. Freeman here, but we should get him tidied up a bit. Wouldn’t want to get into trouble for leaving a man to suffer unnecessarily. We can drop him at A & E as we go.”

Gemma nodded as Patrick hauled the injured man from the table. She placed the eyeball right in the middle of the table and turned it so that it would be the first thing Freeman would see when he eventually came round from his faint.

She turned towards Stewart.

“I suggest that you leave right now Stewart. And I suggest that you forget everything that you have seen. We know where to find you, and don’t think you can run and hide because we will always be able to find you, so take this opportunity to turn over a new leaf. If you don’t you could just find yourself with an interesting new selection on your breakfast menu.”

And with that final remark Joe scooped up the tablet and Gemma and the men filed out of the house with the injured man being dragged between them.

Chapter Sixteen

Lucy was beginning to become worried. She had given up sitting with the men as she had told them everything that she knew about Freeman and his business. She chatted to Donna for a while and then made more coffee for the men. She wandered through to the back room and looked quizzically at the Adam and Alex, who both appeared to have been crying. Adam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand while Alex blew his nose hard.

There was a sudden howl of laughter from back in the pub.

“I can’t believe how terrifying you looked Gemma. Even I was scared of you!” David’s voice could be heard in the bar and Lucy looked up expectantly.

The whole gang came barreling through the door the next second and squeezed in around the table.

Joe walked straight up to Lucy he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up into his arms. He didn’t even hesitate as he leaned down and kissed her thoroughly. Lucy couldn’t resist him. If this was her last chance to kiss him then she was going to take as much as she could get.

They only came up for air when the groans and sounds of pretend vomiting became too loud to ignore. Joe spoke to Lucy quickly.

“It’s done. It’s over Lucy. You’re free. Freeman won’t ever bother you again. Now tell me that you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you.”

Lucy’s eye’s shone up at him, but then her smile dropped and she pushed herself out of his arms and backed away from him.

“It won’t be over Joe. Whatever you have done won’t be enough. It wasn’t just about him blackmailing me. I owe so much money. I’ll never be able to repay it and I can’t come to you with that kind of debt hanging over my head. You have to forget about this, about us. We had one fabulous night, we just have to accept that is all we will ever have.” She turned to leave the room.

Patrick coughed and held his arm across the door, barring her way.

“Actually Lucy, you will find that your debt has been paid. A lovely chap called Stewart, a Stewart MacDonald to be precise, has decided to own up to the fact that the debts were actually all his. He’s paid you back everything you have already paid out and he is arranging to take over all the payments on the loan as we speak. You won’t have any problems on that score from now on.”

Lucy stopped dead.

“Stewart? My Stewart? How the hell did you get in touch with him? He disappeared into the ether as soon as I discovered what he’d been up to.” She looked around at the now grinning group.

David tapped Alex and Adam’s shoulders.

“People aren’t that hard to find if you know how to look for them. He was only living ten miles away. I picked him up this morning after I dropped you here and we all had a little chat.”

James began to laugh.

“You should have seen his and Freeman’s faces when Gemma pulled out Paul’s robotic eye. It was priceless. Needed some sleight of hand with the lychee marble ensemble but the effect was wicked. It’s a pity we didn’t have a hidden camera.”

Adam gave a satisfied grunt.

“Actually we did. The tablet Joe was using has an inbuilt web cam. Joe had it angled perfectly. We caught the whole thing and saved it. Nearly killed ourselves laughing while you were filming it. Alex here was actually crying with laughter. Thought we might put it on YouTube if we have any further problems. I particularly liked the bit about feeding his balls to him for breakfast off a blunt spoon. Poor bastard almost wet his pants!”

Lucy looked from one of them to the other.

“I obviously missed something while I was talking to Donna. I think someone had best show me what’s been going on.”

Alex turned and touched the computer screen and a crystal clear picture came into view. Lucy’s mouth fell open as she saw someone who couldn’t possibly be the doe eyed woman beside her, snarling ferociously as she reached forwards and plucked the left eyeball from the man who was now howling with laughter right behind her.

“Oh my God! That looks so real!”

Paul leaned forwards and tapped his eyeball gently. Lucy jumped as she heard a very solid tapping sound. Paul explained.

“The pulling it out bit was real. It’s just my eyes that aren’t. But it’s the next bit that’s really clever.”

Lucy gulped and turned back to the screen just in time to see Gemma slide something down her sleeve into the palm of her hand.

Lucy leaned forwards and stared as a bright blue eye, surrounded by glutinous white jelly stared right back at her from the palm of Gemma’s hand.

“What is that? Clearly not your eye, it’s too bright and it’s all dripping and oozing.”

Patrick leaned forwards too.

“Yes, we were a bit worried that they would notice the colour, but fortunately they were too busy praying that we weren’t going to do it to them too that they didn’t notice. After Gemma disconnected James’s eyeball she had to be quick to swap the things over.” He rummaged around in his bag and brought out a jar of pitted lychees and a bag of children’s marbles. “The lychee was perfect, just the right rubbery jelly consistency but we had to make do with the only blue marble in the bag to pop in the hole made by the stone. I forgot to specify colours when I asked Donna to go shopping for me. The pupil was just a stuck on bit of black paper that I tore off a headline in the newspaper.”

Lucy opened her eyes wide and then she began to laugh. She laughed until she cried as the others joined in with her.

“I can’t believe you actually got away with that. Surely Freeman will notice that it’s not real when he wakes up.” She held her aching sides as she spoke.

Joe pursed his lips and rolled his eyes at her.

“Would you hang around if you had witnessed that happen when we had just proved that we even know where he buys his underpants from? He’ll be out of there and long gone by now.”

Lucy shook her head and looked miserable again.

“I don’t think so. I sold my house and apparently he’s the buyer. There’s nothing that I can do about that now. Maybe we should go back and clear up the evidence.”

Patrick shook his head.

“We sorted that too Lucy. We’ve left him a lovely letter thanking him for his generous offer to back out of the deal and return your mortgage to the previous company. We’ve also thanked him for his turn around with his business practices and that we are pleased to hear that he has changed his contracts for all of his clients so that the debts will all be paid in three years and at a reasonable amount of interest. His company has put an announcement in all of today’s national newspapers.”

Joe smiled at Lucy and walked up to her again.

“There’s only one downside really. Because his company will now be offering some of the cheapest rates and best deals over the three years, he will probably pick up even more clients. I bet he ends up making more money this way then he ever did before.”

Lucy looked up at Joe.

“But now I’m stuck with a house I don’t want. I’d said goodbye to it and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with going back. I want to make a fresh start.”

Joe took hold of her hands and gazed down at her.

“Either sell it to someone else or rent it out. You won’t need it anymore if you come and live with me in France. The house by the river is nearly finished. Please say that you will come back with me.” He suddenly slid down onto one knee. “Lucy Collins, I can’t live through another day without you by my side. Please come back to France and marry me.”

Lucy pulled in a shocked breath. There was a stunned silence in the room. No one moved for what felt like an age and then suddenly Lucy smiled and breathed out.

“Yes Joe, I would love to go to France and marry you.”

The room erupted into shouts of congratulations as Joe swept her up into his arms and kissed her deeply again. There were more loud groans and sounds of fake vomiting but Joe waved them down as he continued kissing the woman he loved.

Eventually they had to come up for air, much to the relief of their friends and a few moments later Gemma spoke up.

“Well that’s me done for today. I have to get back on post. I wouldn’t want to be late for my own leaving party.” She walked up to Lucy and gave her a quick squeeze before slapping all the men on the back. “Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding. I rather like that chateau of yours Dave and could do with a bit of a break in the lap of luxury.” She waved as she walked out of the door

Adam, Paul and James agreed as Alex started clearing away his gear.

“Yes, I should come over more often too. I haven’t been since Patrick’s wedding.”

Joe smiled down at Lucy.

“Maybe we should book the chateau for a week when we are married. We could have all this lot over and show them what they are missing.”

Alex grunted.

“I know exactly what I’m missing. I hear about it all the time from all the lads who have been over. And what you lot do on the corporate weekends sounds more like fun than work. Or far more exciting than the job I have at the moment at the very least. Going to be even worse going back to it after this little bit of excitement.”

David grunted and slapped his friend on the back.

“Huh! Those corporate things are no fun at all they’re blooming hard work and anyway I thought you were being poached by the Yanks.”

Alex shuddered.

“Not bloody likely. Wouldn’t be able to get away with stuff like this out there. They have hackers hacking their own hackers. If anything does come of this little stunt I’m going to blame Adam. They’re not so likely to go after him.”

Adam shook his head.

“Thanks a bunch. I can’t wait to hear what my wife says about it when I’m hauled off in front of the judge just before her holiday. And the girls won’t be pleased either. I promised them that we would be coming out to the chateau for Halloween. They loved it there when we were over for your wedding Dave. We’ve been looking forward to coming back.”

David frowned slightly.

“Ellen didn’t say that you had booked. I wonder why that was?”

Patrick breathed in deeply.

“Even before Rose was born Ellen had trouble keeping up. She hates the office work. She can barely stand to look at the computer screen, especially as she now has Rose to look after. Geraldine helps when she can but she’s actually a nurse not really office staff. I keep saying to Ellen to find someone to help her but she’s too scared to let a stranger see how the business is running. She needs someone she can trust, someone who knows how to manage money and who can be discreet. Some of our clients don’t want everyone knowing what’s wrong with them. We have to have some pretty personal details in case we need specialist help but that doesn’t mean the whole world has to know about it.”

David nodded.

“The chateau costs a fortune to run at the level of luxury that Ellen has decided is a minimum standard. It’s not been all plain sailing and we’ve had to up the corporate weekends. We’ve only just started turning a decent profit this year. Mind you, Freeman has added eighty thousand just by himself in the last two months so that will have made a massive difference.”

Joe suddenly interrupted, grinning wildly.

“What about Lucy? She was Freeman’s secretary, she’s used to office work and she’s been managing her money brilliantly. It was only that bastard Freeman who forced her to fail. Would Ellen trust Lucy enough to let her help?”

Patrick looked up at Lucy’s hopeful face.

“I think that would be the best idea we have had in ages. I’ll call Ellen now and ask her, but I know what the answer will be. You may as well pack your bags right now Lucy.”

Lucy smiled up at Patrick and then turned to her new fiancé.

“Well that’s easy then. I only have to go and throw out last night’s Chinese takeaway and we can go. I’m all packed up already.”

James spluttered into his hand and looked rather embarrassed.

“Joe and I actually ate it for breakfast. Sorry but we just couldn’t resist.”

Lucy let out another laugh.

“Men! Well then, if you cleared that lot up, all I need to do is find my passport and I’m done. I can give the keys to my agent and let them sort out the rest. The house is already packed up and the removal guys should be there any moment.” She slapped her hand over her eyes and gasped. “What on earth are they going to think of the eyeball?”

Patrick shrugged.

“If they have any sense they’ll jump and then laugh their pants off when they realize it’s a lychee stuffed with a marble. They’ll think it’s a practical joke. It wasn’t that realistic Lucy. It only worked because most people only see what they want.” He glanced around the room at all the men. “They don’t look any further than what they first see.”

Lucy stared at him understanding his double meaning instantly. She looked around at the group who had come to her defence without a second thought and had stood beside Joe when he needed them. They were all a bit battered but none of them were broken and Lucy suddenly realized that they were just exceptional men with the marks of war upon them.

Chapter Seventeen

One Year later

Joe stood knee deep in the running water. He was bent at the waist with his hands dangling into the cool depths. He saw the huge trout at the same time as he caught a familiar scent wafting towards him. He tried not to smile as he concentrated on the fish that was swimming in the current just beneath his fingertips.

He blew his long fringe up out of his eyes and listened to the rustle of the leaves in the trees above him as he waited patiently until the fish was positioned perfectly. He suddenly closed his fingers around the huge creature and hauled it from the water and threw it up onto the bank.

He leapt out of the river after the flapping fish and then hurtled through the nearest bushes yelling at the top of his voice.

Two screams of fright split the air and then gales of laughter quickly followed as he dragged the two spies out of the greenery.

“That’s so not fair!” Robbie stood with his hands on his hips and pouted furiously up at Joe. “We thought we had you good this time. What gave us away?”

Joe gave him a squeeze and tickled him under his ribs before he spoke.

“You can blame Lucy that time Robbie. If she hadn’t been with you and I hadn’t smelled her perfume I would have never guessed you were there.”

Robbie frowned up at Lucy who was holding her hand over her chest, trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart.

“You’re not coming with me next time.” He folded his arms across his chest and looked up at her grumpily. “Girls are stupid wearing smelly stuff.” He gave her a last withering glance and stomped off to look at the glistening trout.

Joe pulled Lucy into his chest. He looked down into her big brown eyes as he tucked a loose strand of blonde hair back behind her ear.

“I don’t mind you wearing stupid girly stuff. I actually quite like it.” He nuzzled against her throat and kissed her below her ear where the scent was the strongest.

She snuggled against him, reveling in the feeling of his big arms around her. She wound her arms up around his neck.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack that time. I’m going to have to give this game up pretty soon.”

Joe laughed.

“Well, if you’re going to play games with the big boys then you have to be up for everything that goes along with them.”

Lucy rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as breathed in the scent of him.

“And if you play with big girls then you have to be up for everything that goes along with that too.” She looked up at him as his breathing stilled suddenly.

He looked down curiously.

“What does that mean? What games with girls?”

Robbie gave a giggle as he pulled a knife out of a pouch tied to his leg and promptly gut the fish lying at his feet. He threw the entrails into the fast moving river and wiped his blade on the grass. He made sure the knife was clean and then put it back into its leather sheath before glancing up at Joe and Lucy.

“She probably means those kissing games you grown-ups get up to all the time. You look as though you are going to start playing them now! Yuk!” He pulled a disgusted face at the two of them and picked up the fish. He dropped it into his bag. “I’m going to take this up to Patrick. We can have it for our dinner. Are you two coming when you have finished your game?”

Joe grinned at Robbie.

“Yes, we’ll be up in a moment. But you shouldn’t say things like that about girl’s games. They’re actually pretty good fun when you are old enough to play them.” He ignored Robbie’s manic eye rolling and looked down at Lucy. They had been married for nearly a year and he was even more in love with her than ever. “So what consequences of these big girls games have I got to be up for?” He tried to kiss her lips but she smiled and moved her head away from him.

“Serious consequences Joe. The sort that last a lifetime.” She took his big hand from her waist and placed it with hers over her stomach.

Joe’s breath caught in his throat and he stared down at her.

“You’re going to have a baby?”

She nodded and smiled at his amazed expression.

“It’s what happens when you play grown up games.”

Joe suddenly yelled out in triumph as he swooped down and picked her up in his arms. He swung her around and then covered her lips with his own.

There was a deep groan and the sound of pretend vomiting from behind them and they both looked down at Robbie who had now covered his eyes with his hands.

“More kissing and more babies! I can’t stand it anymore. I’m going to tell papa that I want to go and live somewhere else.”

Joe laughed at his disgruntled little face.

“Don’t worry about it Robbie. I’m going to make it a condition that the cabin becomes a man only zone. No girls and no babies ever. We can come down here and do guy stuff without being interrupted. How does that sound?”

Robbie looked up at Joe and Lucy. He smiled brightly again.

“Okay. I expect Papa and Uncle Patrick will be really happy. They have to play the kissing game too and they look really fed up with it. Papa even told me he only does it to keep mama happy. I think he’s going to be very happy to have a man cabin. Now are you two going to stop kissing for long enough to go and tell the others about our cabin?”

Joe laughed as Lucy put her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles. The thought of Patrick or David being fed up of kissing their wives was hysterical, the men could barely keep their hands off the women, but he nodded down to the boy.

“Yes Robbie. I’m really fed up of kissing too.” He gave Lucy a squeeze. “It’s a really silly game and we promise not to play it so much in the future, but just let me tell you now, in about twelve years’ time if I catch you mucking about with the kissing game, I’m going to ban you from playing it anywhere near me. Okay?”

Robbie looked up at him with a revolted expression on his face.

“That will be easy because I’m never going to play it. It looks horrible, especially when you poke tongues out at each other. Now come on you two, I want to show Uncle Patrick my fish.”

He turned and began to walk along the forest path.

Joe turned back to Lucy as soon as the boy was out of sight and bent to capture her lips once again.

They were both breathing deeply when they eventually broke apart. Lucy caught hold of Joe’s hand.

“Come on. We had best go and tell the others before Robbie splits on us.”

Joe slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. He spoke gentle tones.

“I don’t care if he does split. This time last year I never thought I would find someone to love let alone that I would be a husband and father. You are my whole world Lucy, please never let me go.”

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his a waist.

“Never. I did once but I’m never going to let you go again.” She looked along the forest path. Robbie could be heard whistling as he walked ahead of them. “Do you have your phone on you?” She waited as Joe nodded and pulled it out of his pocket. She dialed the number for the chateau.

“Hello, Ellen? Robbie is on his way up with a fish. Can you send David to meet him? Oh, he’s coming down anyway. Good, no there’s no problem. Joe and I just have something to celebrate. We’ll be up later, but I won’t be drinking champagne.” She smiled as she heard an excited yell from down the receiver and Joe looked down at her curiously.

“You don’t want dinner?”

She shook her head and caught hold of his hand again. She began walking back towards the river.

“Dinner can wait. I can’t. I need to play some of those kissing games before you declare the cabin a woman free zone.”

Joe’s eyes opened wide and he suddenly picked her up in his arms.

“No man only zones for the next three hours at least.” He grinned down at her as he strode up to the cabin door and shouldered his way through it. He walked straight through to the tiny bedroom and lay Lucy on the big bed. He sat down beside her and tugged off his boots before slipping his legs in the bed. He reached down and pulled off her trainers then lay down on the bed beside her.

“At least I’m not asleep this time.” He began unbuttoning her shirt as she stared up at him.

“You weren’t asleep for long the last time.” She lifted his t-shirt up over his muscled chest. He looked down to where his skin rippled in delight as her hand roamed over his gloriously hard pectorals and he suddenly began to laugh.

She frowned up at him and stopped moving her hand.

“What’s so funny? Am I tickling you?”

Joe shook his head and tried to hold back the laughter, but it was no good. He bellowed with it and in the end Lucy was laughing too though she had no idea what at. When he eventually calmed down she took a deep breath.

“So you’re laughing at the way I’m going to look in a few months’ time, with a fat belly and a big bottom?” She guessed as she remembered what Geraldine had looked like in the last weeks of her pregnancy.

Joe shook his head and wiped his tears of laughter at last.

“No love, sorry. I wasn’t thinking about you at all actually. It was just because you touched my chest. It made me think about Freeman’s boob job!” And he started laughing all over again.

She shook her head and pushed at him playfully, then she leaned up and gave his laughing mouth a kiss as she ran her hand across his chest once again.

“It’s just as well you don’t need one then. Fortunately you are just perfect exactly as you are.”

The End

I hope that you have enjoyed

Forever Scarred

Please take a look at my other romances.

A Perfect Summer

Can a young woman’s hideous past be wiped out by one perfect summer of love?

Running Scarred

Will Patrick let his guard down or will he lose the love of his life while he continues Running Scarred?

Silent Treatment

Will a dancer’s dream come true or will three years of Silent Treatment silence the love she has saved?

Delicious Desires

Big plans take the icing off the cake but even bigger personalities threaten to destroy their love.

Treasured Dreams

A forgotten diary reveals the secret of a golden room and the mystery of the destruction of two families.

Tinted Lenses

An arranged marriage, a drug dealing pilot and an oversized photographer all fight for survival in the amazon rain forest.

A Fallen Fortune

Can Leo change his life forever and give up everything he owns for a chance at love?