Chapter 17
CALLUM
He had hoped to find time away from his family to dance with Tasha and was enjoying every second.
She was a remarkable woman, independent and clever as well as beautiful and kind.
She never spoke about any family though, he realised, and wondered whether there was a reason for that or if she just didn’t feel she knew him well enough to speak about them. Maybe she didn’t have family.
‘Having fun?’ he asked as one song ended and another began.
‘I’m having a wonderful time.’ She beamed up at him, causing his stomach to flip over. All he needed was to fall in love with someone who would soon be leaving.
‘I’m glad.’ He raised her hand and she twirled underneath it, laughing.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Seeing it was his father, Callum slowed to a stop. His father was scowling. Concerned, Callum gave his dad a questioning look. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Sorry for interrupting your fun.’ His father directed his comment to Tasha.
‘Please don’t worry about it.’ She glanced up at Callum. ‘Is something the matter?’
James waved them over to the side of the room where the music wasn’t as loud.
After checking no one was close enough to overhear them, he lowered his head.
‘There’s someone lurking in the garden. I didn’t want to alert any of the guests, least of all your grandfather, so thought I should mention it to you.
Maybe you can go and have a discreet look outside. ’
Callum thought of the movement he believed he’d seen in the rhododendron border. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll go right away.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Tasha took his hand when he went to argue.
‘You go and have fun, Dad.’
‘Thanks, son.’
Callum hurried with Tasha, glad she had offered to join him. He hoped there wasn’t anything too untoward going on outside but was confident Tasha had experience dealing with overzealous fans turning up on Riley’s doorstep at some point since she began working for him.
‘Let’s hope we can find whoever this is quickly.’
Tasha didn’t answer but he noticed she had a look on her face that made him wonder if she might suspect something already.
They stepped out onto the terrace and walked towards the lawn. ‘Pretend to be speaking about something and see if we notice any movement. Whoever it is won’t want to be spotted, so we’ll need to be subtle.’
‘I agree.’ She went to say something else when he saw her eyes narrow and she put her hand on his upper arm.
‘Don’t look now but I’m sure there’s a person to my right in the border next to the one you thought you spotted someone hiding in earlier.
I’ll turn slightly and laugh; you have a look past me when I do that. ’
She did as planned, and Callum, his head down as if he was speaking to Tasha, looked across the lawn in the direction she had mentioned. Several of the deep pink flowers moved at the same time and as there was no wind he knew it could only have been someone behind them who had caused it.
As he looked back at her, Callum spotted a couple kissing passionately at the corner of the building. Recognising the long fair hair as his sister’s, he peered at them to be certain. A bright light caught his eyes, blinding him. Callum squeezed his eyes against the glare.
‘What’s the matter?’ Tasha asked.
‘I thought I saw my sister kissing your boss, but then a harsh glare hit me.’ He shook his head. Then it dawned on him why the light had been so brief, yet piercing. It must have been a camera flash that he had seen.
‘Erin kissing Riley?’
He noted Tasha sounded as shocked as he felt but was suddenly more concerned about who might be watching them.
‘I think there’s someone with a camera taking photos of them.’ Annoyed to have their privacy invaded, he felt his temper rising. ‘I’m going over there now.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ She took his hand once again. ‘If they’re busy watching Riley and Erin, they might not notice that we’ve spotted them.’
‘Let’s hope not.’
They broke into a run, reaching the border in a few seconds. As they neared, Callum let go of Tasha’s hand and barged into the border, knocking over a middle-aged man, sending his camera and large lens flying over his head and landing behind him on the immaculately manicured lawn.
‘Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he shouted, pushing Callum away and getting slowly to his feet.
Callum almost fell but after stumbling regained his balance. He picked up the camera. ‘Never mind me,’ he said angrily. ‘What are you doing here? Isn’t it obvious this is private land?’
The photographer snatched his camera from Callum’s hand and checked it. ‘I was invited, if you must know.’
Shocked, Callum tried to work out who might have done such a thing. None of his family would do anything to risk ruining his grandfather’s birthday.
‘That’s a bare-faced lie.’ Tasha brushed away the leaves that had ended up on her dress.
‘No, it isn’t,’ the photographer insisted angrily.
Callum had had enough. ‘I invited the guests. And I know for certain you weren’t one of them. This is a private gathering. Now if you’ll step out of the damn flower bed you can tell me what you’re doing here and more importantly who told you to come.’
The man glowered at him without responding.
Enraged, Callum added, ‘Now, before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing on private property.’
Grumbling to himself, the man frowned. ‘There’s no need to do that.’
‘So,’ Tasha said. ‘Who told you where you’d find Riley Sharp?’ She rested her hands on her hips and Callum could see she wasn’t a woman to be fobbed off if she wanted to know something.
‘Fine.’ He brushed dirt from his trousers and slung his camera strap over his right shoulder. ‘It was Dale Mackie who gave me the call.’
‘You flew from London?’
He shrugged. ‘Dale’s covering my expenses. At least that’s what he promised.’
Callum wanted to know more. ‘First of all, who’s Dale Mackie?’
‘Riley’s manager,’ Tasha explained.
Callum saw by Tasha’s face that she wasn’t surprised this manager had arranged something underhand. ‘But why would he do this when Riley was hoping for privacy?’ It didn’t make sense as far as he was concerned. ‘Surely his manager is there to protect him from people like him.’
‘Hey, there’s no need for that.’
Aware he had been rude, Callum frowned. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be offensive but you must admit what you’ve done is annoying at the very least.’
‘I’ve done nothing I wasn’t asked to do.’
Tasha turned on him. ‘Don’t give me that nonsense. You were hiding in a bush for at least the last hour or two. Nobody hides unless they’re doing something they know others won’t approve of.’
The man shrugged. ‘Fair enough.’
She stepped forward and Callum realised she hadn’t finished. ‘I want those photos wiped. Now.’ She folded her arms when the man didn’t react. ‘And I want to check that they’ve gone.’
Before the photographer could answer, Riley called out, ‘Anything the matter, Tasha?’
She sighed and turned to respond. Callum gazed at his sister to try and gauge how she was doing. She seemed OK, he noticed with relief.
Just then he heard a car slowing down, quickly followed by a voice yelling from the other side of the wide border. ‘Quick, let’s get out of here.’
The four of them turned to the drive in time to see the photographer slink away through the flower bed and into a blue hire car that seconds later sped up the driveway towards the entrance gates. The driver was laughing and waving at them.
Callum clenched his teeth together, furious to have let the photographer go without having deleted the photographs of Riley and his sister in each other’s arms. ‘Damn, that’s done it.’
‘Will one of you kindly explain what’s just happened?’ Erin asked, looking from Tasha to Callum.
‘It seems,’ Tasha began, ‘that Riley’s manager decided to pay for a photographer to come here in secret and take photos of you.’
‘Why the hell would he do that?’ Riley snapped. He slipped his arm around Erin’s shoulders. ‘Sorry, Erin, but I have a feeling those photos will be in several newspapers tomorrow.’
‘Yes, and no doubt splashed all over the internet,’ Tasha grumbled. ‘We’ll probably be finding them in various magazines over the next few weeks, too, I expect.’
‘What?’ Erin glanced at Callum.
Callum wasn’t certain but he thought he noticed a hint of delight mixed in with the shock on his sister’s face.
‘You mean photos of us kissing?’ Erin asked.
Turning to face her, Riley placed a hand on each of her shoulders.
‘I’m so sorry, Erin. Unfortunately, this sort of thing tends to be a part of my life more often than not.
’ He glanced at Tasha briefly. ‘Although I never expected it to happen when we’re somewhere like this and far away from public view. ’
Riley scowled at Tasha, clearly furious. ‘Why didn’t you get him to delete the photos when you had the chance?’
‘I was about to do so,’ she said. ‘But you called out to me and he took that opportunity to run off. Now he’s gone.’ She stepped closer to Riley. ‘Anyway, never mind me, it was Dale who arranged all this. If you want to blame anyone then ask him what he thought he was doing setting this up.’
‘Dale? But why would he?’
Tasha gave Callum an apologetic smile and he knew their evening together was at an end. ‘I’m sorry, Callum, but we’re going to have to go back to the cottage.’
‘I think you’re right,’ Riley agreed. ‘Sorry, Erin,’ he said, giving her a peck on the lips.
‘I need to get in touch with my manager and find out what he thinks he’s playing at.
’ He looked at Callum. ‘I really am sorry about all this. I never would have given permission for your grandfather’s party to be used in this way. ’
Callum saw the sincerity on his face and believed him. ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t.’ He hugged Tasha and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘You go off and do whatever you need to and maybe we can catch up sometime tomorrow.’
‘I’d like that,’ she said, making him feel a bit better.
‘I’ll be able to give you an update then,’ she said to Erin.
‘But I’m afraid I can’t see that we’ll be able to stop those photos being published now.
They’re probably already being uploaded at various newspaper offices as we speak.
’ She smiled at Callum. ‘I’ll pop round when we’ve finished work for the day. ’
He nodded. ‘Great.’
Callum put his arm around his sister’s shoulders as Tasha and Riley walked across the lawn in the direction of the cottage.
‘You OK, sis?’ he asked, concerned for her.
She didn’t respond immediately, but just when he was getting worried, Erin looked up and beamed at him. ‘Can you imagine, I’m going to be in all the papers kissing gorgeous Riley Sharp. Isn’t that amazing?’
He wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but not wishing to ruin her excitement Callum sighed. ‘I’ve no idea why you find that thought appealing.’
She glowered at him. ‘Why shouldn’t I?’
Was she serious? Callum decided not to get into an argument with his sister when their grandfather’s party was still going strong.