Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
‘ H ow did you find me?’ she asked, not quite able to meet his eye. ‘This place is at the end of a long, unmade road and only the people who live here can get through the gates. No one knows I’m here.’
‘We saw this place from the river on our date and I remembered how you spoke about it.’ He looked hurt that she’d forgotten, but she shrugged and waited to hear more. ‘I assumed you’d come here after wracking my brain for a while and bothering Leah and Matt.’ She looked at him finally and his hair was mussed up and he had bags under his eyes. He still made her heart flip at the sight of him because he was so handsome, but she shut those feelings down quickly.
‘Anyone could have seen you come here,’ said Maya.
‘They didn’t. I’m used to this,’ he sighed. ‘Have you seen the news today? I promise you I didn’t tell the press,’ he breathed, taking her hand. She didn’t pull away at first, but darted a glance towards the river as if a photographer might jump out on them. The protective boughs of the tree hid the glasshouse, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
‘How do I know I can trust you after what has just happened? My face is splashed all over the media.’ She felt tears fill her eyes and scratch the back of her eyelids but she refused to let them flow and scrunched up her eyes, turning away for a moment to brush her hand across her closed eyes. ‘You stayed the night at my house and then I heard nothing from you for two days.’
‘I left you a note by the coffee machine.’ Noah frowned. ‘I got called in for an emergency production meeting, admittedly about personal appearances and us stepping up our duties, but by going on chat shows and podcasts, not by who we are dating.’ Noah started pacing, and he rubbed his chin that had stubble growing, so unlike his usually clean shaven image.
‘I didn’t see the note,’ Maya pictured swiping her hand across the kitchen surfaces and straight into the bin to clean them. There had been some of her smaller sketches there that she wasn’t happy with because of how upset she’d been, so she’d thrown them away, which was unlike her. Maybe Noah had used one sheet of paper for his note? It was possible.
‘It said I’d been called in and asked you to text me about meeting up to talk more, but you never replied. I know how busy you’ve been but I was starting to get worried.’
‘Did you need press coverage for your film?’ she demanded to know.
‘The film is already hugely publicised!’ Noah protested. ‘I’m just one person amongst thousands of cast members. Dame Rosalie being one of them! She was called to the meeting too.’ Maya paused at that and her lip wobbled. ‘They want the main cast to schedule in some guest appearances. It’s tricky to work out, but we did it. It had nothing to do with you. Why would you think that? ’
‘I don’t know what to believe,’ she ranted, her fists bunching as she faced him. He looked crestfallen and stopped trying to take her hand.
‘Selling a story about you to the press would be my biggest nightmare!’ His eyes implored hers for understanding. ‘I’ve spent years avoiding that for my family.’
‘Tabitha told me you gave her that dodgy press contact, and it was you who fed the stories to the press about your relationship with her.’
Noah’s eyes went wide with shock and his mouth dropped open, his face growing red. ‘Tabitha? When did she tell you this?’ he demanded to know.
‘She asked me to meet her and visited Bertha . She said you knew Blake well and always do background checks on who you date, so probably knew who my family were before the party.’
‘That’s ridiculous!’
‘You deny it?’
‘You believed her!’ he was incredulous and for the first time, Maya’s resolve wavered. ‘What would a background check have told me?’ he fumed. ‘That your amazing grandparents were famous but are retired now? That you used to date Blake, who has a visible brand, but nothing that much interests people in my circle? Sorry…’ he hung his head. She couldn’t correct him because her BM Bespoke brand was popular with influencers, but she couldn’t imagine A-list superstars buying it, although the recent news might make Blake even richer as people sought that brand out. She shook her head to clear it.
‘I reacted like a jealous jerk when you told me your secrets and I’m sorry,’ he parried and her body sagged in exhaustion. ‘I’d just told you I loved you then found out most of what you’d told me was a mistruth.’ She watched him from under her lashes and tried to work out all the emotions that she’d had to deal with that day. ‘I should have accepted that you needed to tell me in your own time and now this has happened I realise why you wanted to keep your two worlds separate.’
‘It’s so unfair,’ seethed Maya. ‘I worked hard for my own success.’
‘Your face is everywhere,’ Noah added, his own shoulders drooping.
‘Yours too,’ said Maya in disgust and he flinched.
‘I’m sorry. I would never sell a story about the person I care about most to the press. Please believe me,’ he pleaded, and she finally looked into his eyes, doubt in her own. Was he telling the truth? He could clearly see her wavering, and he took her hand and kissed it. ‘I would never hurt you intentionally, because I love you.’ His vulnerability was apparent and she felt her eyes fill with tears again. She didn’t pull away as he took that opportunity to pull her into his arms and kiss her ever so gently on the mouth, briefly, in case she kicked him. He let out a tremendous sigh of relief when she didn’t and they both gave each other a small wobbly smile, as he brushed her tears away with the pad of his thumb.
Noah finally took a proper look around. ‘So this is No.1 Ethereal Lane?’ he asked in wonder as he turned to the glasshouse and noted sun catchers and crystals glistening in the morning light in the windows, sending spirals of colour dancing across virtually every surface. There was a time-worn and much used work desk to the left and a huge drawing board with descriptions and drawings of plants in childish lettering to the right. There were flower garlands strung across the ceiling and fairy lights by the door.
‘Yes,’ she admitted finally, deciding that she had to at least try to trust his word. ‘My granddad said the place had an ethereal feel to it as it’s such a delicate glass structure and I always hung sparkly things in every window, which makes myriads of light hit every surface, so the name stuck. Although the workshop next door where my brother gets up to all kinds of mischief is called The chip shop!’ she tried to lift the heavy atmosphere, but she sniffed and couldn’t meet Noah’s eye. ‘Arthur’s obsessed with anything to do with tech and microchips,’ she joked lamely and he joined in, but then they both grew serious again. Noah turned and saw movement further down the garden by the house.
‘What is Blake doing here?’ Noah felt Maya’s shoulders tense, and he put a hand on her arm to reassure her.
‘Helping… finally. All this subterfuge is exhausting,’ he answered. ‘I thought my life was confusing until I stepped into yours.’
‘I know! What’s that got to do with Blake? If it wasn’t you…’ she paused because she still wasn’t 100 percent convinced of his innocence in all of this. ‘Did he leak my identity to the press?’ she asked, her fists bunching. ‘I saw the photo of your date with Tabitha last night,’ she ground out and stepped further away from him again, and he sighed in exasperation and reached out to pull their bodies back into contact.
‘It wasn’t a date. She told me she’d discovered who the designer that everyone was looking for was,’ Maya gasped and turned to face him.
‘What?’
‘She wanted to talk to me about it and plan how to use the information, but I told her to leave it alone. She wasn’t happy and that exact moment a photographer took a picture. It was another work event. I told you about it last week and I text you yesterday as well, but you didn’t reply. ’
May thought back and then recalled him telling her he had a work engagement. Her mind was flitting back and forward, trying to piece everything together. ‘So Tabitha knew who I was when she met me on the boat.’
Noah closed his eyes to refocus, but pressed his hands together and then looked at her. He looked so exhausted that she wanted to go to him, but she held herself back. ‘It seems that way.’
‘She was trembling and crying about how you were using us both and she warned me away. It seems she’s a talented actress after all…’
‘I called Blake so that he could explain face to face what really happened. I thought you might not believe it from me.’ They watched Blake have cross words with her grandmother at the door and Evan preventing him from walking through, but then they stood aside and let him in, which made Maya’s gawp in shock.
‘I’d rather you tell me,’ she said wearily. ‘I don’t have the energy for Blake today.’
‘Blake called me when the story broke. I tried to text and call, but you didn’t answer the phone. I couldn’t turn up at your place because they’d mobbed it. Tabitha made sure they pictured me out with her last night, even though we were with the entire production team. I thought it weird that she said she had to tell me something important outside, but as soon as the flashbulbs went off, I knew she’d suckered me again.’ Noah took a fortifying breath and Maya didn’t interrupt him. She stood frozen with her arms at her side and didn’t know what to think. Tabitha was certainly more than capable of doing what he’d said. She’d done it countless times before.
‘Blake said he felt he owed you the truth, but I think he also wanted to get himself firmly out of the blame game,’ he scoffed in anger. ‘Tabitha met Portia at the café by the dock and saw the photo of you and Gio. The cogs all slid into place and she used Portia to stir up trouble.’ Noah took her hands and led her to sit at her childhood jewellery-making desk. He bobbed down on his haunches in front of her and spoke again. ‘Tabitha told Portia that Blake had been texting you and persuaded her you were sleeping together again. She tried to convince me of the same thing last night.’ Maya rocked back in her chair and Noah put his hands on her legs to support her.
‘That way, her own hands were clean when Portia exposed who you really are to Tabitha’s source. Portia accused Blake of having an affair with you and went ballistic, Blake said. Now she’s licking her wounds at their flat after realising you were innocent of any wrongdoing once again and that Tabitha also set her up. Tabitha thought it poetic justice that Portia ruined your life twice because both have been burning up with jealousy about who you really are,’ Noah tried to soothe, but her blood was boiling!
‘Blake is fuming, as it seems he’s still protective over you,’ he shook his head at the lunacy of Blake’s logic. ‘I’m not sure their relationship will last.’ Maya stood up and wobbled on unsteady legs and Noah caught her. ‘I know this is a lot to take in, but I promise I’d never hurt you. I have no aspirations of being one of your models and I don’t need my girlfriend to find me more work.’ He was emanating anger and she finally let go of some of the hurt.
‘Do you believe me?’ he asked, his eyes dark and watchful.
‘Knowing Tabitha and Portia and even the way Blake’s brain works, I do,’ she said shakily, more tears threatening to flow. ‘I’m guessing this is as much of a headache for you now as it is for me?’ She rubbed her neck, and he pulled her in for a hug, which she sank into. She raised her face up to his and kissed her as if he’d been dying without her. Her knees trembled, and she wound her arms around him and gave herself to the sensation of being in his arms again, heat flaring through her veins.
‘We should get back,’ she said finally, when they pulled apart, eyes glazed. ‘I should have known Blake would be mixed up in this whole mess somehow. And Portia!’ she leaned back into his body and he wrapped his arms around her as they looked out of the windows and towards the boats ambling up and down the river as the sun peeped through the clouds.
‘Why has your grandad put plants all over the lawn like an assault course?’ he asked with interest, dropping a few kisses to her neck and making her squirm against him. ‘I almost tripped over one and broke my neck on the way in,’ he smiled.
‘That was probably his plan,’ grinned Maya finally, taking his hand and leading him back to the house, which was full of people who loved her and would do anything to protect her, she realised. She ignored the fact that Blake was amongst them. She didn’t have to face any of this alone, which made the problem seem easier, suddenly.
‘I love your family’s inventive ideas and I love you,’ Noah reiterated firmly, to make himself doubly clear. He was on her side too.
‘You still love me?’
‘I do. I’ve told you that before though,’ he mock scolded and she admitted she loved him too. ‘Finally!’ he joked, his eyes blazing with devotion. ‘I think I fell in love with you the minute our eyes met after we’d both been pulled out of the river,’ he admitted, his eyes never leaving hers .
‘Me too,’ she blushed and took his hand, while his other one cupped her face.
‘We can deny recent stories about us in the press, but I’d rather not. I want us to be a regular couple.’
‘A regular couple?’
‘Okay. An irregular one,’ he laughed, turning her around and pulling her to him. ‘No more love pacts unless they involve us agreeing to move in together.’
‘Move in together?’ she squeaked in surprise.
‘I’ve got a beautiful room with a view of the river that would make a perfect design studio,’ he coaxed. ‘We both have busy lives, but this way we can spend more time together,’ he added, hopefully.
‘Sounds perfect to me,’ she responded happily, her heart filling with joy.
‘Do you think we can jump in the boat and get out of here before the rest of them notice?’ he asked cheekily.
Maya kind of liked the idea, but knew she needed her family and friends around her right now. ‘I think they might kill us both and hide our bodies in the river if we did that,’ she joked, urging him forward. ‘I’m guessing Blake will have told them what has happened by now, because he loves an audience,’ she rolled her eyes and then went up on her tiptoes to kiss his nose. ‘so we’d better trounce that by announcing our own news and see how that flies,’ her eyes sparkled with mirth and Noah looked scared suddenly, but then grinned and swooped down for a proper kiss, picking her up in his arms and striding towards the house and the heart of Maya’s family with the woman of his dreams in his arms and a triumphant smile on his face.
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