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‘Our disguise?’
‘You have a cap too.’
The blue of his eyes was glossy and sharp and she was touched by how much thought he’d given to their visit. ‘Did Lazlo get these?’
That smile.
Trip was a member of the Diamond Club, and Lazlo, the club’s concierge, had quietly and efficiently arranged everything, including conjuring up a private jet, a car complete with driver and security detail, and a discreet, fully staffed home for the entirety of their stay. But then it was probably a work of moments for the man who had got Trip out of Ecuador and back to New York without so much as one news story breaking.
‘There’s nothing he can’t get hold of. That’s why he was the first person I called in Ecuador when I got to the village. He had a car there within an hour. But that’s kind of the point of the club. Their concierge service doesn’t just do your laundry, it can facilitate things. Legally, of course. Well, mostly,’ he added, and she felt her skin tighten as his smile reached his eyes. ‘Ah, we’re here.’
‘Is this it?’ Lily gazed up at the honey stone, three-storey town house. ‘I cycled past here every day on my way to college. I used to wonder who lived here.’
‘We do.’ Trip nudged her out of the car. ‘For the next few days anyway.’
The house was cool and elegant inside, but it was the views across the sun-soaked city that excited her most. If she stood on tiptoe she could just see Magdalen Tower.
‘Is it okay?’
‘It’s perfect.’
Trip was standing behind her now. ‘So, what do you want to do first?’
Her pulse gave a twitch.
‘This,’ she said softly and, turning, she leaned in and kissed his mouth, her body turning to flame as he pulled her closer.
It was early afternoon before they finally left the house. A sudden short downpour had emptied the streets and left the city gleaming in the returning sunlight. They wandered slowly, enjoying the languid heat and their lack of purpose, moving closer to one another as other tourists gradually emerged from shops and cafes to join them.
‘Impressive,’ Trip said, turning on the spot. ‘So this is your old college. We should get a photo.’
‘No, honestly, we don’t need to—’ she protested, but it was too late. Trip was already pulling her against him and holding up his phone.
With an effort, she tried to paste a smile onto her face. Over the years, and thanks to the numerous staged family photos required by a US senator, she had learned how to pose for the cameras, but she still found it hard not to stiffen. And even harder not to snatch the phone out of his hand, because photos were so unforgiving, and selfies were the most brutal of all. There was no softening at the edges. Every flaw was there in close-up.
And he would see it, and then she would see his pity...
She grabbed the phone.
‘Hey—’ Trip turned towards her, laughing, thinking she was messing around, and then his smile fell away, his eyes narrowing, and she knew that her face must be as tense and panicky as she felt. He hesitated, then took her hand, the one not holding his phone, and it was only when he began to gently open her fingers that she realised her fists were clenched.
‘What is it?’ And then when she didn’t reply. ‘It’s just me taking a photo. What’s the worst that could happen?’
She stared at him, her pulse jerking in her throat.
‘It doesn’t matter. I want to go back to the house—’
She felt light-headed, the misery in her chest suffocating her, but then she felt his arm slide around her waist, warm and solid, and he was steering her away from the crowds, leading her quietly and calmly across cobblestones into a park, where everything was quiet and green like the woods in Tuscany where he had come to find her, to hold her against him.
As he sat down beside her on a bench, some of the tension inside her started to soften. A light breeze lifted her hair and that helped calm her too. Or maybe it was the way Trip was holding her hand as if he were the one who needed steadying.
‘I’m sorry I upset you. Again—’
‘You didn’t.’
‘But something did,’ he persisted. ‘When I was taking that selfie.’
Trip watched her hands ball into fists. Up until that moment, it had been a near flawless day, effortless in a way he had never imagined any relationship could be, and Lily had been happy and relaxed in a way that he had never seen before.
