Second Chances: Novella One (7 page)

Nodding, Evan picked up some pieces of paper from the counter and made his excuses to go talk to his estate manager, David.

Over an hour later, Layla still had her phone attached to her ear as she scribbled things down on a notepad. Looking up suddenly, she saw Evan leaning up against the doorframe, watching her. She could have sworn she caught a glimpse of longing flash within his sapphire eyes before he concealed it once again.

Layla felt flustered under his intense stare at first, especially since he looked so delicious in his riding outfit of a pair of black riding boots, beige jodhpurs and a pale grey, ribbed jumper, which rippled perfectly against his chest. Mouthing a silent “sorry” to him, she began to wind up her conversation with her designer.

“
Sorry, I didn't realise the time. I’ll be right with you,” she apologised, before rushing upstairs to change her outfit. In her room she pulled on a pair of jet-black leggings with an etched, jacquard pattern printed upon them. Next she chose a cerulean-blue, strappy tunic that hugged her body tightly, skimming over her hips before ending below her shapely behind, and a pair of matching black, knee-high boots. Not quite riding attire, she thought, but it would do.

Evan

As Layla descended the stairs into the hallway, Evan held his breath as he drank in the way in which she could look beautiful even in an ordinary riding outfit. His eyes enjoyed the generous view of her bosom as it bounced with every step.
What I would do to be able to touch them again.
 He had come up with the perfect plan to take her riding out to their special place, hoping to prompt her willingness to talk about their past, although he was not looking forward to her reaction to Caggie’s latest trick.

“
Ready at last,” Layla said, offering an apologetic smile.

“
The stable hand is preparing Molly for you. She’s a beautiful chestnut thoroughbred who is three years old. She’s seventeen hands, but that should be suitable for you,” Evan started to explain as they walked the five hundred metres from the house to the stable and paddock area.

Pointing to a horse that was being rubbed down in the distance, he continued casually, “She’s sired from my horse, Fitz, and Pepper,” while sneaking a sidelong glance at Layla to evaluate her reaction. He had bought the filly for her within a week of them living together.

“
Is Pepper still here?” she asked, surprised.

“
Of course she’s here. I wouldn't sell her for the world,” he said, with more emotion in his voice than he had wanted to show.

“
Would you mind if I rode her instead?”

“
Yes, of course you can. She still belongs to you,” Evan said quietly. “I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable by mentioning her,” he added, not glancing at her.

Layla turned to look at him head-on, placing a hand on his forearm to prevent him from walking for a second. “Evan, I know we need to sit down and talk about everything, but I want to say here and now that I do regret how things turned out.” Guilt was written all over her face.

Somewhat startled, Evan’s pose stiffened and he remained silent, keeping his face turned away.  He had not expected her to offer an apology at that point. When he finally lifted his eyes to Layla’s face, and saw tears brimming up in her eyes, his stance softened at once. Wrapping his arms around her body, he kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay, babes. It was a long time ago.” The casual endearment slipped off his tongue before he could stop it, and Layla snuggled up against his warm frame hesitantly.

“
Let's go and see Pepper, shall we?” Evan offered gently. Moving away from Layla briefly, he slipped a hand into hers and she laced her fingers with his.

They took the rest of the walk to the stables slowly. First, Layla met the horse she was originally due to ride, sharing several treats with her as Evan asked the stable hand to bring out Pepper instead. Sometime later, the couple were astride their rides and galloping through the sprawling meadows of Evan’s estate. The large stretch of land could take a fast horse a generous twenty minutes to cover.

Leading the way, he guided Layla through a small woodland area before revealing a secluded clearing. A look of recognition flickered over her features as Evan dismounted and went over to help her, his hands gliding over the sides of her body as she slid gently down from her horse and into his waiting arms.

“
It still looks the same,” Layla said breathlessly, her eyes glancing over his shoulder to drift over the spring flowers and weeping willows, which could probably tell a story or two from the last two hundred years.

“
Do you mind being here?” Evan asked curiously.

“
No, I’m sure every path we could take with the horses would lead to some place or other that we’ve been to before,” she replied softly. “We have probably covered every inch of your estate at one time or another.”

Evan smiled at the thought and nodded. “You’re probably right.” They had spent nearly two years living together here, with frequent idyllic afternoons spent riding for hours on end, often finishing up by making love in a sheltered, outdoor space. They were always touching each other in some way, to satisfy their insatiable need for one another.

Still holding the woman in his arms, her perfume consuming his senses, Evan took a deep breath before beginning to speak. “Layla, about before, I want you to know I forgave you a long time ago for how things finished. Now that you’re going to be living in Yorkshire, and with Ava and Cameron married, and living nearby, I don't want you and me to be awkward strangers anymore.” As the words spilled from his mouth, the tips of his fingers traced the outline of her jaw, his eyes searching hers. “I want us to be able to enjoy each other's company without any embarrassment.”

“
Evan, I admit it was awkward at first, but you’ve been so kind to me, probably much more than I deserve. I have thoroughly enjoyed being here with you and, dare I say it, I’ve realised how much I missed you.” Her mouth held a rueful smile.

With that, Evan leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. Emotion and passion taking over, the kiss deepened rapidly, his tongue entwining with hers as their hands wandered to caress the other's torso. “Layla,” he groaned. “You’re so beautiful. You are driving me to distraction.”

Ending the kiss, she leaned back to look at him and teased, “You think you don't distract me?”

“
Do I?” His expression echoed one of surprise, his eyes flickering with a tinge of hope.

“
Yes, of course! You’re still damned sexy, even if you are in your thirties now!”

Evan’s lips claimed Layla’s once more, before trailing down her slender neck and shoulder. Ignoring any coherent thoughts that they were moving too fast, he lifted her up in his arms and leaned her against a nearby tree trunk, where he could continue to ravish her body. His hands found their way beneath her top, caressing her flat stomach before wandering inside her bra; his fingertips finding her hardened nipples as she arched her body against him.

“
Oh, Evan,” Layla gasped, breathlessly.

Evan guessed that she must be aware of the spreading warmth in his groin as he instinctively pressed himself hard against her. As he continued to assault her breasts with teasing caresses, he felt her hands wander to the waistband of his trousers, stroking him through the material. Evan took a harsh intake of breath as he enjoyed the moment of Layla rubbing his cock. “God, we should stop before we get too carried away,” he breathed.

“
Don't you want to ravish me then?” She laughed, half-jokingly, as they pulled apart.

“
Mmm, you don't know how much I do want to do exactly that, but I don't want to spoil things when we’re just getting to know each other again,” he said sensibly.

She smiled. “You’re probably right.”

“
Plus I want our first time to be more comfortable than on a wet patch of grass! I want you in my bed again, Layla,” Evan stated, more boldly than he felt inside. “But I know we still have so much to straighten out first.”

So much for keeping it as just friends to begin with!

Layla looked so taken aback that Evan wondered whether he was going to have to do some serious backtracking.

To his surprise, she replied, “I would like that too.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “But we should talk first. I want all the issues out in the open before we go down that path.”

“
Agreed,” he said with a smile as he slid a finger over her cheek where a drop of water had just landed. Looking skyward, he remarked, “We’d better head back as it looks like it is going to rain hard.”

***

Layla

Following the horse ride, Layla went in search of her phone, which she had left in the sun room, to see if she had received any messages. She was expecting one from either Cameron or Ava, and another from Lucy to ask what she’d decided to do about Bennett coming up to Yorkshire. Layla’s new house was still a few days away from being ready, and she wanted to spend that time alone with Evan to talk. While she missed her child dreadfully, she was not sure if she could risk him being around Evan until the latter had been told
everything
, but she was scared where to start.
 
 

Grabbing her phone, Layla found an expected missed call from Ava. Leaving the sun room, she stepped outside on to a decked area that gave way to a perfect view of the English patchwork countryside, sprawling far towards the horizon. Selecting her sister's number from her list of contacts, she dialled it.

“
Hi, Layla!” Ava's voice was still a little scratchy from where she had a breathing tube in her throat.

“
Are you feeling okay?” Layla asked anxiously.

“
Yes, I’m fine, don't start worrying,” Ava answered. “They are taking excellent care of me and the food here is to die for. Don't think I want to leave until I can stand on my own two feet again and cook for myself, otherwise I might die from having to experience Cameron's soup!”

There was obvious teasing in Ava’s voice and hearing Cameron’s feigned hurt reply in the background, Layla couldn’t help but laugh. It was an in-family joke that you had to avoid Cameron's cooking against all costs as he’d caused food poisoning to his sisters and parents when he was a teenager.

“
And how are you doing?”  Ava asked.

Layla was aware of how anxious she would be over her being alone with Evan.

 “
Things are okay. We just came back from a horse ride. I rode Pepper.” Layla tried to keep her voice within its usual volume and neutral in emotion while knowing that Ava would guess the significance of the name.

“
Wow, I bet that felt strange?”

As well as Pepper being the first gift that Evan ever bought her, during one of her solo rides to seek solitude while recovering from the loss of her parents, Layla had taken a tumble when she tried to take a jump at an awkward angle. Luckily, Layla had taken her mobile with her and was able to alert Evan as to her whereabouts.

Due to concerns over internal bleeding, some routine tests had been carried out.  They showed a significantly high pregnancy hormone in Layla’s bloodstream, but the ultrasound did not find a foetus. When the hormone started to decline in another test a couple of days later, the doctor had simply concluded that the force of the fall had caused its loss.

“
As funny as it might seem, it was therapeutic to get on her again,” Layla replied. “It led to us coming to a tentative understanding about things.”

The sisters continued to discuss what the doctor had said and then agreed to talk the next day.

***

Evan had given Layla the security access code needed to hook up her laptop to Wi-Fi. After setting herself up at a large table alongside his desk in the study, she sighed as a hundred unread emails stared back at her. She had programmed her smart phone to push through only the truly urgent messages; namely those from her sister, her assistant, the managers of her stores and the interior designer. All of these unread emails were of lesser importance, but she never totally trusted the technology and always went through everything with a fine tooth comb. ‘Control freak’ was a nickname that those close to Layla often teased her with.

“
Do you mind if I put on some music?” Evan queried.

“
No, that’s fine,” she said. “I’m used to working with a lot of background noise. My studio gets rather chaotic when we’re under pressure to put a collection out or have photographers booked to visit for a showing.”

Layla employed a team of twenty, varying from style consultants and colour predictors to textile designers, pattern cutters, a merchandising consultant and a PR consultant. Her main day-to-day conversations were held with her assistant, Maisie, who was her frontline defence, fielding away the majority of responsibilities to enable Layla to spend most of her time sketching ideas. As she was a perfectionist about every single pattern or fabric used with her creations, the only person to bypass Maisie was her assistant designer, Luke, who had that final say so.

Evan disappeared off into the media room to turn on the music system. With hi-tech speakers wired into every room, the music instantly drifted to her ears. He then brought in two mugs of tea and settled down in front of his laptop.

After working her way through half of the unread emails, Layla launched Skype to talk to her son; a regular occurrence at this time of the afternoon when he came home from nursery. With Evan safely absorbed in his own work and making the occasional phone call, Layla assumed he wouldn’t pay much attention to her conversation or bother to approach her side of the room to see the little boy on the video. 

Obviously, she was wrong.  Almost immediately, Evan seemed to become distracted from his own work by overhearing her light-hearted interaction with this unknown child.  With a curious expression etched on his face, he walked over and peered at her screen, waiting for an introduction.  Layla panicked.