CHAPTER ELEVEN #5
“Nora knows,” I said, with a chuckle. “So, I can assure you the secret’s out.”
“Dammit,” he said without a hint of a smile on his face. He hurried around to his side, looking around as he did so. He started the car and pulled around the circular drive so fast I was pushed back against the seat of the car.
“What’s wrong?” I was starting to feel like I was in a spy movie.
Edward’s mouth was set in a firm, straight line.
The car sped down the long, tree-lined drive that weaved around the Hart property for a good two miles.
A dense fog had set in and hung low in the branches of the trees.
The road out of the estate was usually well lit, but tonight’s fogginess covered everything except the trees closest to us.
The normally elegant streetlights looked like disconnected glowing orbs near the trees.
It leant an eerie, spooky feel to the drive.
Finally, Edward stopped in front of the massive, wrought-iron gate that marked the exit from the estate. It was supposed to open automatically, but for some reason it stayed closed.
“What the hell?” Edward muttered, as he gripped the steering wheel and looked behind us.
I did too, but I didn’t see anything. When I turned back around, he was looking at me. “Is there a button or something around here that will let us open the gate?”
I had no idea. The gates were automatic, as far as I knew. I’d never known them to stay closed when a car approached. “I… I don’t know.” He was kind of scaring me. “They’ve always opened for me in the past.”
Edward got out of the car and started looking frantically for anything on the brick surrounding the gates.
I noticed he’d changed out of his tux and was wearing a regular suit.
He looked even better in clothes that actually fit him well.
I giggled thinking of Garrison making him wear Monty’s tux to the ballet.
God. I really was drunk.
Suddenly, he was back in the car. He backed up fast, like he was a race car driver, and then shot down a side road I’d never noticed. It had been mainly hidden by tall hedges, and I assumed that was purposeful. It seemed the Harts didn’t want people to know it was there.
“Where are you going?”
He didn’t answer. A nice brick structure that seemed to be a guard house came into view.
“Get down,” he hissed. He got out of the car and motioned with his hands for me to lower myself further in the car. I slid down in my seat until I was almost on the floorboard so that I couldn’t be seen through the window. A minute later I heard him talking through a speaker.
“Hello?” he said.
“Can I help you?” an alert voice came through.
“Yes, I’m trying to leave, but the gate is closed.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Edward Ashton.”
“And do you have anyone with you, Mr. Ashton?”
“No.”
There was a pause, and I wondered if the guard was looking at Edward’s car to see if I was inside. This was too strange. The Harts wouldn’t try to keep me here against my will. That made zero sense.
But a thought occurred to me. I didn’t think they were trying to keep me at their house.
But what if they were just trying to keep me away from Edward because they saw him as a threat?
Could Garrison be so intent on me getting together with Monty that he’d do something like that? He obviously saw him as competition.
But that seemed ridiculous. Any history between Monty and I had been years ago. They couldn’t be holding onto hope that we’d end up together. Not really. Maybe I’d been right in thinking that Garrison wanted Edward and Nora together and saw me as the threat.
Or maybe we were both right.
Either way, he wouldn’t want the two of us together.
“Certainly, sir,” the guard said, cutting into my thoughts. He must have satisfied himself that Edward was alone. “I’ll open the gate momentarily.”
Edward came running over to the car and jumped in. “Stay down. This is so fucking weird. I swear they’re trying to kidnap you or something.” I could see a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “How well do you know these people?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He took off so fast back towards the gates that I had to grab the seat behind me to keep from falling all the way into the floor.
The gates opened, and he sped out before they could close. When I felt safe, I crawled back up on my seat and fastened my seat belt.
Edward kept up a very fast pace for a good ten miles before he slowed down, satisfied we weren’t being chased. He was breathing hard as he stared at me. “What the hell? The only way Garrison let me leave was because he thought he was getting me away from you.”
“What do you mean?” The high-speed escape had taken some of my alcohol buzz away but not all of it. I wanted to lean over and kiss him. Who cared about what had happened six years ago? I didn’t. At least not right this minute.
I giggled thinking about it.
“You don’t seem that concerned.” He looked at me carefully and frowned. I smiled at him. “Are you drunk?”
“Kind of,” I admitted, leaning over and running my hand over his defined, muscular chest. His eyebrows raised, and he shot me a heated look from those blue eyes of his.
“You’re really hot, Edward. Even more so now…
” I waved my hand around to encompass his face and body, “…than when we were younger.”
Some of the tension on his face melted, and he gave me a slow smile.
“You are too, believe me. But right now,” he said looking in the rearview mirror, “we’ve got to get out of here.
Where do you live? Do you want me to take you home?
Or do you want to come to my hotel with me?
They might come looking for you at your place. ”
“Edward,” I laughed, “I see them all the time. They’re not trying to force me to stay at their mansion against my will. This isn’t some Gothic novel.”
He turned and looked at me. “They want you to marry Monty, and they’re dead serious about it.
It’s not just some joke or some wild hope they’re entertaining.
They one hundred percent believe you’re going to marry their son.
” He swiped a hand over his mouth and jaw, clearly stressed.
“Can you not find a ballet job somewhere else?”
I gave him a shocked look. “Are you serious, right now?” It pissed me off that he thought it was so easy in ballet to just hop from company to company. It didn’t work that way. I couldn’t believe he was suggesting I throw away years of work just because he’d gotten the strange idea I was in danger.
These weren’t dangerous, unreasonable people. I’d known them for years; he’d known them for about five minutes. Didn’t he know I was a better judge of their characters than he was?
I didn’t want to tell him I’d already planned to talk to Kelisha Kelley, the artistic director of the Moonlight Ballet Company, to let her know I’d be leaving at the end of the season if I got a place at a new company.
I’d sent out showreels, photos, and CVs to several dance companies closer to home.
I was ready to move on, and part of the reason was to get some distance between me and the Hart family.
They were a bit overbearing, and I sometimes thought my friendship with Nora had become too… close or something during college.
Sometimes I wondered if she’d only worked so hard to get a position at the Moonlight because I was there. I was pretty sure with a little distance between us our friendship would actually improve.
Yep. I needed a change. But I hadn’t admitted it to anyone yet. It had taken me a long time to admit it even to myself.
He realized his mistake. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how dance works or how hard it is to move around. I’m not trying to offend you, I swear. I thought you were the best, most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen up there on that stage. Shouldn’t you be dancing in Atlanta or New York or something?”
My lips parted as I looked at him. “You think I’m the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
“Yes, of course, I’ve always thought that, and you just keep getting more beautiful. But I said way more than that. Did you hear me?”
“Maybe,” I giggled. “But what I really heard was that you think I’m beautiful.” I leaned in closer to him.
He looked at me, frustrated. “I’m sure every man who has ever seen you thinks you’re beautiful. But can you please focus on the whole ‘you’re in danger’ thing?”
I felt my eyes getting heavy. “Hmm. I think you’re beautiful, too. Is this a dream? Are we really together?” I laid my head back, and the last thing I remembered was him smiling at me.