The bell rang and she sighed.
She walked through the flat and opened the door to find Henry standing there. He wore a striped button-down shirt with an open collar and a pair of dark trousers. He hadn’t shaved but the light beard on his jaw made him look even sexier than he normally did.
“Come in,” she said, stepping back so he could enter. “I have to grab my bag and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Take your time,” he said.
She went down the short hall to her bedroom and gathered her stuff as quickly as she could. When she came back Henry stood in front of the wall where she’d hung her family pictures.
“Is this Bethann?”
“Yes. When she passed her A levels. That’s my parents’ place, as well.”
“Everyone looks happy,” he said.
“We generally are,” she said. She’d taken that happiness for granted. Thought that because she had a sunny outlook, her life would follow that path. But experience had taught her otherwise.
“Ready then?”
“Yes,” he said, walking toward her. But instead of continuing on to the door, he stopped and pulled her into his arms.
He kissed her, and she shut her eyes, savoring that moment of closeness. A moment that passed all too quickly as Henry ended the kiss and then put his hand on the small of her back to lead her to the front door. He waited while she double-checked her lock and then they went downstairs.
A neighbor whose name she didn’t know snapped a photo of them and then asked to have his picture taken with Henry. This was his life, she thought as she snapped a photo and then returned the camera.
Henry’s mobile rang when they were in the car and on the A. He glanced at the caller ID.
“It’s my mum. I have to take it.”
“No problem,” she said.
He put the phone on speaker. “Hello.”
“Hi, Henry, it’s Mum. Have you had a chance to talk to your friends about the television idea?”
“Yes. They are taking the idea up the chain of command. I think we will hear something soon.”
“That’s good. What are you doing today?”
“A birthday party for a friend,” Henry said.
Astrid liked the respect and affection in his voice as he spoke to his mother. It was clear that their relationship was a close one. She continued to listen in on their conversation until he hung up.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“It’s fine. She dotes on you, doesn’t she?”
“Too much I think. But for a long time it was just the two of us, and she’s never stopped taking care of me.”
“That’s really sweet. When did she remarry? I think you said you had some half brothers.”
Henry talked and drove, weaving effortlessly through the traffic. His car had a powerful engine, and he drove fast but not recklessly. There was that sense of controlled power that she was continuously aware of with him.
“She married Gordon when I was nine. I’d started playing rugby and he was at a tourney we went to. They met there. My mum…she’s vivacious. Everyone is entranced by her when they meet her.”
“Much like her son,” Astrid said.
“I don’t know about that. I don’t think I’d look nearly as good in her hats,” he said very seriously.
“Are you having me on?”
He laughed. “I am. I got a lot of things from my mum.”
His Sat Nav with the Mr. T voice directed him off the motorway and toward her childhood home. She started worrying about how her parents would be with Henry.
They thought nothing of delving into someone’s past. And Henry…he certainly had had an interesting one. He parked on the street in front of the house, and she reached over to stop him from getting out.
“Yes?”
“Listen, everyone is going to be curious about you. Don’t take it personally. They are just that way.”
“It’s fine. I’m hoping maybe they’ll answer a few questions for me.”
“What about?”
“You. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me your secrets, and I think meeting your family will show me another side of you.”
Astrid shook her head. She wasn’t ready to tell him all the details of her relationship with Daniel. That she’d gotten pregnant and lost the baby—and her life and her dreams had changed. “I’m nothing special, Henry. I’m just like any other girl from Surrey.”
She reached for the handle of the door, but Henry stopped her this time. “You’re not like anyone else in the world, Astrid.”
There was something in his blue eyes that made her want to believe him. But she was afraid to trust. Afraid to believe in anything that this man had to say. Yet at the same time she was afraid that those barriers wouldn’t be enough to protect her. Because no matter what she tried to tell herself, she knew that she was starting to trust him.
That was why she’d invited him here today and why she let him take her hand in his as they walked up to the front door. Bethann answered the door and Astrid realized her older sister wasn’t too pleased with her, or her choice of date.
He recognized Henry from his playing days, but had immediately confessed that he preferred football to rugby. The conversation was pleasant enough until Astrid’s sister Bethann came to join them.
“Can I have a word?” Bethann asked.
“Sure,” Henry said.
“Walk with me down to the summerhouse,” she said.
It was easy to see that this woman was a solicitor. Astrid was by no means a passive woman, but Bethann was every inch the protective older sister.
When they got to the summerhouse, Bethann took a seat on the red cushion and gestured for him to do the same.
“You look like you’re about to bring me up on charges,” he said.
“Don’t make fun. I’m sorry if you think I’m out of line, but I can’t just let you go without saying something.”
“Saying what?” he asked.
“My sister isn’t someone you should toy with. She has a family who cares about her, and I think you should know that my practice specializes in women’s rights.”
Henry felt a swell of compassion for Bethann. Clearly she was at least a little aware of the situation with Astrid’s previous employer, and Henry could tell that she was struggling to protect her little sister.
“I am so informed. I have no intention of harming your sister, Bethann. I am attracted to her, and if she decided she wants more from me, then there is nothing you can say that will stop me.”
“All men say that.”
“Even your husband? Did he make a promise to you and break it?” he asked.
He’d met Percy Montrose, Bethann’s husband, briefly before the other man had left to run to Tesco for more ice.
“Especially him,” she said. “But when he messes up he fixes it. And I want to know if Henry Devonshire is the kind of man who will do the same.”
“Is there really anything I can say that would convince you that I’m an upstanding man? You seem to have your mind made up about me.”
“I don’t. I’m sorry if it seemed that way. It’s just—listen, I love my sister and I don’t want to see her stuck—”
Henry put his hand on Bethann’s shoulder. “Me, either.”
She looked at him, her level stare probing and then she sighed. “Okay.”
“Henry?” Astrid called.
“In here,” he said.
“Percy’s back and we are ready to eat,” Astrid said.
“Great,” Bethann said, stepping around them and heading up toward the house.
“What did she want?”
“Just to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt you,” Henry said. “Whatever happened with Daniel…there was more than the ending of an affair, wasn’t there?”
“I can’t…I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay?”
Henry saw the distress he’d caused her with his question. It was the second time he’d seen the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Let’s go up to the house,” he said, letting his pursuit lie for the moment.
She put her arm through his as they walked up to the patio, where her mother had set the table. It was a beautiful day, the kind that they’d learned to relish in England since it was so often cloudy or rainy.
But today the weather was nice. Percy was a likable fellow who had a dry wit. He had no problems teasing everyone at the table including Henry. Astrid clearly liked her brother-in-law and flirted in an innocent way with the man.
“Are you a football man like Spencer?” he asked Percy.
“Not at all. In fact, Spencer used to be a big London Irish fan.”
“Used to be?”
“Don’t get around as good as I used to, so I miss a lot of games. Watching it on the telly isn’t the same,” Spencer said, shifting his wheelchair to intercept the conversation.
“No, it’s not. Are you managing well with the wheelchair today?”
“Listen to your doctor,” Spencer said by way of answer. “I didn’t and look where it got me. I’m afraid I’m a bit stubborn. May have passed that trait on to Astrid.”
“I have to say I think you have. She definitely knows her own mind,” Henry said.
“That she does,” Spencer agreed. “But we did love those games. You know my girls tried to get me to a few once I was in this damned chair but it was too much work and it broke my heart seeing them so exhausted from everything that I told them we weren’t going anymore.”
“Yes, he used to take both of the girls to the games when they were little. I believe that Astrid even had a poster hanging on her side of the bedroom…. Which player was that?” Percy asked.
Astrid flushed and Bethann swatted at her husband. “Enough out of you.”
“You had a poster on your wall?” Henry asked.
“It was of you,” she said. Everyone at the table was laughing.
“She had a huge crush on you when you first joined the team,” Mary said.
“Mum!” Astrid was flushed with color. And for once she was at a loss for words. Here, with the people who knew her best, there were no barriers like the ones she usually kept up.
“Well, Bethann had a crush on Ronan Keating, and she was an adult then.”
“He’s cute,” Bethann said.
“He looks nothing like me,” Percy said.
“I am allowed to like men who don’t look like you,” Bethann said.
“No, you’re not,” Percy said with a grin.
The conversation continued on in the same vein and Astrid leaned over to him. “Who’s your secret crush?”
“Umm…I don’t believe I ever had one.”
“No Victoria Beckham posters on your wall?”
He shook his head. He had never been much into lusting after unattainable women. He preferred to focus his attention on real women.
“Come on, whom do you like?” Percy said.
Henry reached under the table and took Astrid’s hand in his. “Astrid.”
“Oh, ho,” Percy said. “Trying to show me up?”
“Is it working?” Henry asked.
“Yes!” Bethann said. She smiled at Henry, and he knew that her fears had been placated for the time being.
“Thank you,” she said, caught in a peaceful glow. She kept her head resting on the back of the seat and just turned it to look at him.
“For what?” he asked.
He’d left the car running and the music playing softly in the background. An American group—the Dave Matthews Band—“Pay for What You Get.” It was a pay-it-forward type song that made her realize that no matter where a person was in life, everyone paid the cost for their actions. It was a song about karma, and today she felt hers was good.
Today she’d seen that Henry
was
the type of man she’d thought he was. He blended easily with her family, even though she knew he probably could have bought and sold them many times over. He had fit in, something that Daniel never had. In fact he’d never even met her family, although they’d dated for over a year.
“For putting up with my family,” she said.
“I like your family. It took me a bit to realize your dad was having me on with liking football.”
Astrid smiled. “He’s like that. It’s a harmless thing.”
“I know. I like him. He reminds me of my stepdad.”
“In what way?”
“The way he is with you and your sister. The love he has for your mum. I can tell that family is important to Spencer and it is to Gordon, as well.”
“Really? I’m going to tell him. My dad will get a kick out of that.”
“Is the wheelchair why you stopped going to the rugby matches?” Henry asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s hard for him to get around and the seats we typically had weren’t easy to get to.”
They’d tried to go a couple of games but it really had been a struggle. She had noticed that her father got angry at himself for not having the abilities he used to.
“I have a box at Madejski stadium. Do you think your folks would like to join us at a game?”
“I know they would,” she said. “Would you really invite them? It’s meant for corporate socializing, isn’t it?”
“I can use it for whatever I want,” Henry said. “I’m the boss.”
“You like saying that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. I’m a leader.”
“Always?”
“Yes, except for when I first started playing, I’ve always been the one in control. The one making sure everyone else got to where they needed to go.”
He was good at it. She suspected it was simply his affability that made most people unaware of the core of steel in him. Subtly events and people were moved where he wanted them to be.
Even her?
She told herself she was the one woman who saw him and who knew the truth about the man behind his BBC Channel Four exposé profile. But she wasn’t entirely sure.
It hadn’t taken her too long to realize that Henry was really good at keeping the spotlight off himself. He had secrets, same as she did, but he kept them hidden.
“Invite me up,” he said.
“I was thinking about it.”
“Good. I’ll get your door.”
He was out of the car and around to her side in minutes. She liked that he took the time to open her door for her. It was an old-fashioned but a sign of respect.
“I didn’t invite you up,” she said, feeling more like herself when he reached for her hand to help her out of the car.
“I know. But you’re going to.”
She just laughed. He was all things to everyone. Today she’d seen how easily he could charm her taxi-driver father, her solicitor sister and her brother-in-law. “Promise me this is real.”
He looked down at her. “What do you mean?”
She took a deep breath. Was she being too needy? Or reading things into this—into him? Was she making him into the man she wanted him to be? “Are you pretending to be what I need you to be?”
“Why would I? I’m not playing games with you,” he said.
She wanted to believe. She truly did. She would make herself crazy if she tried to examine every move he made.
She led the way up to her, surprised at how not-weird it felt to have Henry in her place. She took off her shoes because her feet ached after wearing heels all day.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Coffee would be great,” he said.
She went into the kitchen to make it. When she came back out, Henry was thumbing through the stack of CDs that she had in her living room. “I have too many, I keep saying I’m going to get organized….”
“I’m the same way. I like your taste.”
“Do you now?”
“Indeed. Do you mind if I put on some music?”
“No, go ahead. I have some biscuits if you’d like something with your coffee,” she said.
“I’d love some. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Have you?”
“That little jar of sweets on the end of my desk. I must have refilled it at least three times a week since we started working together.”
“You’ve found me out,” he said.
“I have. And I intend to know all about you before much longer,” she said. Better to know his secrets than let him find out hers. She left him at her CD player and went to pour the coffee for them. She brought it into her sitting room on a tray that had been her grandmother’s.
Henry was leaning back on the settee with his eyes closed. She had switched on her iPod with its Bose docking station, and some old-time jazz played in the background. Louis Armstrong with Ella Fitzgerald singing. The playlist was mellow and eclectic.
She sat down next to Henry and he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close to his side. After a few minutes he tipped her head up. His mouth moved over hers with surety, and this time there was nothing light or short about his kiss.