Page 28 of No Going Back

Guy watched the pieces fall into place. His niece was smart, and the picture she was putting together would be an accurate one.

“Wait a minute. You mean Dad…?”

“Had a lot in common with Simon. He loved Meg to distraction—the same way Simon loves you.”

“Why did you never say anything?” She closed her eyes and made an impatient noise. “Strike that. I can’t believe I asked such a stupid question.”

“It’s not a stupid question, Ros. I never said anything because I didn’t want to influence you. This lifestyle is something you need to find for yourself. You don’t get into it just because your family has. And there’s the whole matter of privacy.”

“Is that another reason why none of us have ever seen you here?”

“Partly. I wanted to respect your privacy, and there’s also the fact that I haven’t been involved actively for a long time—on a regular basis, anyway.”

“Then why buy the club?”

“I’d heard the owners were looking to sell or close it down. I then heard rumours about potential buyers, and what they’d like to do to the place. I couldn’t let that happen. Aegis has something most other clubs don’t have, and I wanted to keep that going.”

“And you never said anything because of your work.”

“As I said—a civil servant owning what some would class as a sex club would attract more than a few raised eyebrows.”

“You were never a civil servant, Guy.”

At least Ros was smiling now. “The job was going that way—that’s partly why I decided to get out. Alex’s offer to join Spectrum was too good to refuse. Do you mind that we’ll be working together again? I could always go for a dignified retirement, if you have a problem with it.”

“Oh, Guy.” Ros closed her eyes for a moment. “After all these years, you have to ask that?”

“I let you down, the one thing I swore to Meg and Oliver I’d never do.”

“You’ve never let me down—never. And if my parents were here, I know they’d say the same.” Her shoulders lifted on a sigh. “You were in an impossible situation. I wouldn’t have handled it any better, and I don’t think anyone else would, either. And a dignified retirement? You? It’ll never happen. I’d hate it if it did.”

“That makes me feel better. So—are we good?”

At last she gave him a normal, relaxed smile. “We’re good.”

>>><<<

By the time Guy was letting himself into his pied-à-terre after a successful evening at Aegis, there was about an hour to go until dawn. The evening had been successful beyond his wildest dreams. Time had flown by, and he’d ended up staying until the club closed.

He was glad he had. His ownership of the club had been accepted without question, which reassured those members who’d been worried about the future of Aegis. He’d also got a better handle on how his idea of branching out of the capital might be received. So far, the reaction had been more than favourable.

Thoughts of relocating reminded him that he needed to think about putting this apartment up for sale soon, now that he had no real need of it. Too keyed up to sleep, he stood at the window, looking down at the road, where signs of pre-dawn activity were robbing the world of its peace once more.

In the past, Guy had never been one for introspection, but of late he’d been doing it more often, and it now involved Maddie. Halfway through a measure of Dalmore, he found himself wondering about how she’d spent her evening. At this time of the morning she should be sound asleep. She should also have been with him.

Now that was an idea. Before he let the apartment go, he could bring her to London for a weekend. Dinner and the theatre—she’d like that, from what he’d learned about her already, and maybe they’d do something frivolous, like taking a trip on one of the sightseeing bus tours.

He chuckled. Was he getting soft in his old age, acting like a tourist with his woman? Before he could decide, the vibrating in his pocket told him someone was calling him. The chuckle became a worried frown. Who could be calling him at this time of the morning, and why? He pulled out his phone just as the vibration stopped, but the display told him all he needed to know. He called the number back.

“Maddie? Are you all right?”

“Guy, I’m sorry. Did I wake you? I wasn’t expecting your phone to ring—I thought you’d be asleep, and it’d be switched off.”

Curiouser and curiouser. “It’s all right, I was awake. I spent the evening with friends, and things went on a little longer than I anticipated, but what on earth are you doing awake? Are you all right?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I…” She sighed. “It was such a silly idea. I thought your phone would be off, and I was going to leave a message for you to find in the morning.”

“That’s not a silly idea.” Not when it gave him the kind of warm feeling that had been absent from his life for too long. He made himself comfortable in one of the leather armchairs. “What were you going to say?”

A short, nervous laugh came through the phone. “Nothing much, just a good morning… and to let you know I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

The truth in those words brought an unusual ache to his chest. He had missed her. She’d been putting in long hours at work this week, so he’d taken a step back, limiting their contact to the odd text. While Guy had been absorbed in getting to grips with his new job, that hadn’t claimed all his attention. In the quiet moments, his thoughts had gravitated to Maddie, and what might happen next with their relationship. She’d burrowed her way into his heart, and he wasn’t ready to let her go.

“You said you couldn’t sleep. Any particular reason?”

“No. Yes.”

That didn’t sound encouraging. He experienced a sudden, urgent need for clarification. “Talk to me, Maddie. What’s bothering you?”

Silence at the other end of the line threatened to send his heart rate into overdrive. Maybe she’d respond to his Dom voice. “Madeleine. Tell me.”

“When you asked me to go home with you, to meet your family that way… I wasn’t expecting it, and I panicked.”

Was that all? “It’s okay, don’t worry. I did spring it on you.”

“It’s not that, Guy—I’ve been thinking. Ros’ wedding is too important to risk messing it up. At this late stage I can’t—won’t—hand it off to someone else, so that only leaves one option. I don’t think we should continue seeing each other.”