Lessons in Love (13 page)

‘I’m serious, Emily.’

‘I know, Nicholas. I’m just curious. Whatever did you see in her? I know that probably sounds catty, but…’

‘Emily, I was nineteen years old! What do you think I saw in her?’

‘Oh. I see.’ Emily found herself giggling uncontrollably for some foolish and bizarre reason, and Nicholas, who initially looked at her as if she’d turned quite insane, soon joined in.

‘My God Emily! You are a breath of fresh air in my life. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.’

‘You’d find something, I’m sure,’ she said, looking at him suggestively, she moved across the room to touch him lightly on the front of his shirt. ‘Miss me?’ He groaned out loud.

‘You know I did.’ And with that, his muscular arms were around her, pulling her body hard against his. A surge of fire swept through her, and her body ached to be touched by him, touched in the most intimate and passionate way possible.

‘Nicholas,’ she moaned, pulling back from him just enough to fumble with the buttons of his shirt.

‘Let me.’ But his hands were as fumble fingered as her own, and finally, in desperate frustration he ripped it open, sending buttons flying across the room. Laughing, Emily pulled him towards her again, feeling his erection pressed hard against her stomach. ‘Emily, you know I want to prolong the pleasure for you as long as possible, but I don’t think I can wait.’

Moments later he swept her off her feet and carried her to the bed, letting her down and moving on top of her in one single fluid motion. Somewhere along the way, Emily’s shirt had become unbuttoned, and it took little time to rid their bodies of the remaining impediments between them.

‘God you’re gorgeous!’ Nicholas muttered, taking one pert breast in his hand, and bringing his mouth to the other, teasing the erect nipple with his tongue. Emily arched her body closer, wrapping her hand around his pulsing erection, longing to feel him deep within her.

‘Take me now, Nicholas,’ she pleaded, ‘I want you so much!’

Then their union was complete, and they moved together in sweet, loving surrender, Emily reaching her fulfilment moments before Nicholas groaned in final, blissful release.

‘You’re amazing, Emily,’ he said hours later. ‘I don’t know if I’ve ever said that to a woman before.

‘Not even Monique?’ she asked teasingly, but he turned to her, serious.

‘No. Not even Monique. There were a lot of things I never said to her. Ultimately, I suppose that’s why she left me.’ Emily turned to him in surprise, lifting herself up onto her elbow.

‘She left you? I’d imagined it to be the other way around.’

‘Now, my love, no jealous feelings allowed. As I told you, I was young, far too young. She’s two years my senior. Not, I suppose, that you’d know it. She still looks damn good.’ Emily glared at him and he laughed, bringing up a finger to shush her. ‘She’s like a porcelain doll, beautiful to look at, but that’s about all. I need a real woman to satisfy me. Someone who can satisfy my mind, my body and my soul, and that’s you. With you, it’s real. My relationship with Monique was based on lust, although at the time I mistook it for more. And remember, that relationship ended over fourteen years ago. Since then I’ve known, I suppose, that I could never have another serious relationship until I met the right woman. And that time is now, with you, Emily.’

She smiled down at him, every scrap of jealousy and useless emotion gone. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘You don’t need to thank me, Emily Peterson, I need to thank you, for showing me just what living is all about.’

Nicholas stroked a gentle hand along Emily’s jawline, and then trailed his fingers down her neck and over her left breast before cupping it gently in his hand.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ he murmured, his voice thick with passion and emotion. Emily felt heat rise within her, and then need for him returned, as fierce as ever. Somehow, no matter how many times they made love, she was always left wanting more.

They kissed and began exploring each other’s bodies again, this time their lovemaking was slow, languorous, and so filled with heat and intense emotion Emily almost felt as if she could explode into fireworks.

That night they slept in each other’s arms, aware that it would be the last night he would hold her for some time. The morning arrived all too quickly, and by tacit agreement they unravelled themselves from each other’s arms with nothing more than a swift good morning kiss. If they couldn’t make it through a single morning without making love, how would they make it for the rest of the semester? But it was hard, so hard.

During the day’s seminars, Emily could hardly keep her mind on whoever was speaking, as her thoughts were firmly entrenched on the man beside her, the man whose presence radiated a warmth that encircled her whenever he was close by.

The only way she could focus was to write copious notes, which she did with exceptional diligence. Nicholas and Mark both glanced at her occasionally with amusement in their eyes, but for Emily it was serious! If she couldn’t write, her mind would never be able to focus on anything for long enough to benefit from it.

The day passed all too quickly, and before she knew it, Emily was being hustled back to the hotel, where she had a scant twenty minutes to pack her bags and get ready for the plane trip ahead.

Now that the weekend was all but over, reality began to set in and a slight wave of depression washed over her, but before she could succumb to it, she remembered the time she’d shared with Nicholas and knew that their relationship was stronger than ever.

‘So what did you think?’ Mark asked Emily late Sunday afternoon as they sat in their seats for the flight home.

‘Hmmm?’ Her mind had been otherwise occupied, and not with thoughts of the business conference they’d just attended.

‘The conference?’ Reality slowly returned.

‘Oh!’ she said, feeling a flush rise into her cheeks. ‘It was good. Very worthwhile.’

‘I see,’ Mark said with a laugh.

‘I’m serious Mark. I’m glad I agreed to come. I really enjoyed a couple of the seminars. I think now I feel even more motivated to achieve, and I’ve got a better understanding of the way things work.’ Mark nodded in understanding and then paused, as if deliberating on what to say next.

‘OK, spit it out!’ she ordered. ‘This is about Nicholas, isn’t it?’

‘What else? Look Em, I think he’s a great guy. I realised fairly early on in the piece what was happening between the pair of you, even when you thought you hated him!’ Emily turned to him and looked at him sharply. He held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Trust me, it was there. Anyway, I’m glad for you. It’s nice that you’ve found someone, but,’ he paused again and scratched his head, ‘I think you need to be careful. He’s a lot older and more experienced than you. Not to mention that he’s your lecturer.’

‘Gosh Mark, earlier you seemed to want to push us together. I mean, I know he’s my lecturer, and any relationship between us is inappropriate, and believe me, all through this, that’s been uppermost in my mind, but it hasn’t really helped. If you must know…’ She wrinkled her nose. As far as Mark knew her and Nicholas’s relationship had begun on the Gold Coast, but she knew differently. She ended up telling him everything – well, almost everything. Some details were far to intimate for a girl to tell her boss, even one she considered a father figure and good friend, to boot.

‘Phew! You were right to agree to put things on hold. But what about now? How are things going to be when you get back to Ballarat and you return to your student/lecturer relationship?’

‘Things will go on just as Nicholas and I want them to,’ she said firmly. ‘We’ve agreed to keep our relationship on hold, and we can do it. We would still have been doing it, had it not been for the conference.’

‘Well, if you’re sure it’s under control…I’d hate for you to get into any trouble, Emily.’

‘Don’t worry, Mark. I won’t.’ But even as she said the words a small worm of doubt wiggled its way into her mind, and no matter how hard she tried to push it away, some presentiment of ill-fortune implanted itself in her mind, and nothing would quite push it away.

Three weeks passed like an eternity, and it was all Emily could do to keep her mind on her work and her studies. It was hard to keep Nicholas out of her mind for long, especially when she had to see him several times a week. While every day brought them closer to the time when they could be together, that knowledge didn’t make it pass any more easily, but did give her something to hold onto through the long days and nights.

However, on a wintry cold Monday morning everything changed. Mark, who had seemed so content lately, came into the office looking as if his entire universe had collapsed. It was clear he was deeply worried about something.

‘Mark?’ she asked, gently knocking on the door to his office.

‘Yes Emily?’ he said. ‘Come in.’ She stepped through the door, immediately on guard. Mark’s entire demeanour told her that something bad had happened. Something very bad indeed.

‘You don’t look good, Mark. Please tell me what’s wrong. It’s not Lisa and the baby is it?’ she asked, her heart clenching at the thought. But at the mention of his wife’s name, Mark brightened a fraction, and Emily was relieved to hear that both she and the baby were well.

‘I’m so glad to hear that. I know how much this baby means to you.’

‘Yes, we’ve waited a long time to have this child,’ he replied, but the light left his eyes, and he turned to stare out the window.

‘Mark, I don’t want to pry, but if you need someone to talk to about something, you know I’m always here for you. And if there’s something wrong with the business, or anything like that, I do think you should tell me. Perhaps another point of view or just a sympathetic ear will help.’ He turned towards her, a look of resolution on his face.

‘OK, I will tell you. I didn’t want to worry you Emily, but it’s got to come out sometime. Overington Industries is in trouble.’ Emily stared at him, sure she hadn’t understood him correctly.

‘But…but everything seemed to be going fine! I know that you’re waiting on a couple of payments, and that you owe money to a few suppliers, but…’

‘There’s more to it than that; although you’ve got the gist of it. What you didn’t know is that R and J Trefold have declared bankruptcy, and they owe us just over two hundred thousand dollars. Without that payment, we can’t pay our creditors! You know we’re only a small business, Emily. Up until now we’ve never suffered a problem of this magnitude. I’ve always got the work done on time and done well, but I’ve never not received payment! Now that they’re bankrupt there’s no way I can get the money off them. We’re overdrawn to the max, and there’s no way I can pay the debts!’

‘Oh God, Mark. Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?’

‘I didn’t tell you because I thought we’d come through as we always do. I had no idea that Trefold were in such trouble! I only found out early this morning that they were officially bankrupt. Oh, for the last few weeks I’ve been waiting for payment, and they’ve been putting us off. You know all about that as you’ve been making most of the phone calls!’ Emily nodded. She had known that Trefold owed Overington Industries a great deal of money, and she was also aware of their own debts, but this…

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I was hoping that our new investor would help us out,’ he said wryly. ‘But it turns out that our new investor isn’t so much what he claimed to be, but is now planning on buying me out!’

‘What?’ Emily asked, not understanding.

‘As you know, Nicholas wished to invest in one of our new projects. It seems he was only willing to be involved on the proviso that we could make the venture successful…profitable. Earlier this year things were looking very good for Overington Industries. Nicholas went through our books, we had several long discussions, as you are well aware, and everything was promising. Until Trefold, that is. Now Nicholas is willing to get me out of this financial mess all right, but at the expense of my entire business! He’s no longer willing to invest in our project, but wants to buy me out!’

‘No,’ Emily said, shaking her head. ‘There must be some mistake! Surely he could help you out. Once your debts are paid off, you’ll be right. It’s just one problem and not your fault at that. Why would this make him back out?’

‘Perhaps, Emily, he never really wanted to invest. Perhaps this is what he wanted all along. I should have known better than to try dealing with the man! Good grief, just days before he contacted me he’d already taken over two struggling companies!’

‘I just can’t see Nicholas doing something like this to us,’ she said with a shake of her head.

‘Look Emily, I hate to say this to you, but it could be that we were both wrong about him. He’s an awfully charming man. Intelligent, good-looking, and he has this incredible ability to get along with everyone. But…there’s also a ruthlessness in him. One I wasn’t prepared to see before. We seemed to hit it off so well that I put out of my mind the knowledge that he’s taken over two businesses in Ballarat already, and had numerous people retrenched! He’s not a forgiving man, I don’t think, and he’s not going to forgive me for this.’

‘Forgive you? Good grief, Mark, why should he have to? It’s none of his business what happened with Trefoil. But still, there is so much more to him than the cold, determined businessman. He can be so kind, so considerate. When I saw how he was with Monique I realised what a unique man he really is. Perhaps I can speak to him for you?’ she suggested, but the look on Mark’s face made her heart sink.

‘No, Em. I doubt it would make a difference. I spoke to him on the phone this morning, and his mind seems made up.’

‘But can’t we try again to get him to reconsider? Or is there someone else who would be willing to help you out? This company has such a good track record!’

‘I know, but in these tough economic times that counts for very little. A company can be experiencing a boom one day and go bust the next.’

‘What are your alternatives?’

‘I don’t know. If I don’t accept the takeover, I’ll end up having to claim bankruptcy myself, and the effects of that would be devastating for my entire family, and for the people who work for me. If I let Nicholas Cavanaugh take us over, then I can at least fight for my people to keep their jobs, and may even be able to keep a job myself.’

‘But you’ll lose your company, and everything you’ve worked so hard to build over the years!’

‘Yes, I will.’

‘But that’s not fair, Mark! Just because Trefold messed up doesn’t mean you should lose everything!’ Mark shook his head.

‘No, in an ideal world it wouldn’t. In an ideal world we’d all be given a fair go. I made a mistake, Emily. I did work for a company who were probably already on the rocks. I was too soft, too trusting. I’ve done work for them before, and believed I was on good terms with Phillip Rice, the Managing Director. Heck, I’ve often played golf with him on the weekends. I didn’t bother doing my usual thorough checks because I trusted him. So the mistakes I’ve made were mine alone, and now I’ve got myself into this mess.’

‘Oh Mark. It’s not right that you should suffer because of your integrity and faith in other people. And it’s definitely not right that Nicholas should take advantage of that! Obviously he’s not the man I thought he was, and I’m going to give him a good piece of my mind!’

‘Do me one favour, Emily.’

‘What’s that?’

‘At least wait until your exams are over. Now, get back to work. I’ve got a month before he takes this any further. Or until my creditors start breaking down the door. If I can get some good business before then…well…my chance of getting out of this will rise from no chance to a minutely small chance, and that’s better than nothing.’

But nothing would make Emily forget what Mark had told her. Nicholas Cavanaugh was more than a conundrum. He was the most perplexing, infuriating man she’d ever met, and she doubted that if she knew him for a thousand years she’d ever truly understand him. How could he show so much compassion towards a woman who’d ultimately broken his heart, and yet be so cold towards a good, hard-working man like Mark? There was no answer for it, and it broke her heart. She could never be with a man who’d put business before everything else.

Emily began putting in even more time in the office despite her hectic university schedule, and as a result was getting to bed later and later each night, and in turn, becoming more and more stressed herself. She went out of her way to avoid Nicholas. The last person on earth she wanted to see was him! To think that she’d trusted him…that she’d even – it was so hard to admit it to herself now – fallen in love with him. What she felt for him wasn’t mere lust or attraction. She’d seen so much more in him than she’d ever have imagined, and her heart had been well and truly taken. But what could she think now? Had she made a mistake in her judgement? She felt like a naïve schoolgirl again, who had imagined herself in love with boys she’d never really even known, merely because of a superficial attraction to them. Perhaps she’d seen what she wanted to see in Nicholas, and interpreted him according to her own notions of the world. Maybe he really was the cold, arrogant businessman she’d first imagined him to be.

Mark became increasingly stressed at work, making it difficult for everyone else who worked for him. Emily especially was susceptible to Mark’s changes in temper, and felt as though she were walking along a tight rope, afraid to say or do anything out of line. She’d already been around to hear Mark lose his temper at a number of his employees, which was totally out of character for him. It may not have been his fault, but that didn’t make it easier to deal with. For Mark, it was his entire life which was at stake, and any mistakes or oversights on the part of his employees could jeopardise his chances of getting out of his financial difficulties.

Mark had meeting after meeting with potential backers and clients, mostly to no avail. He had managed to pick up a number of small jobs, which would help pay off a small portion of his debts, but it wasn’t enough, because for each job he did, he had to pay for materials bought from other companies, so his margins weren’t high enough to repay all his old costs. She knew he’d even sacrificed his paycheque for the last few weeks in order to be able to continue to pay his employees, and keep as much money as possible in the business, but Emily knew how hard this must be making it for his family at home, and the last thing Lisa needed was financial stress.

She was so fixated on Mark’s problem while buying lunch in the university cafeteria one day, that she didn’t even realise Nicholas had stopped behind her.

‘Emily! Hi!’ His voice was warm and friendly in tone, but it froze her heart. She spun around to face him.

‘You’ve got a lot of nerve!’ she sputtered angrily.

‘Emily?’

‘I don’t wish to speak to you, Nicholas Cavanaugh. And don’t play innocent with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about.’ With that, she paid for her food and walked to a table on the far side of the room.

‘Wait!’ he called. She seethed inside. How dare he act as if he’d done nothing wrong! How dare he! She’d become good friends with Mark and Lisa over the past six years, and some foolhardy attraction to a completely unsuitable man was not going to make her forget that. She sat down, determined to ignore him, but knowing at the same time how impossible that would be. He walked across the room towards her, determination on his face, and she frowned at her lunch. The observation of other students in the cafeteria had not escaped her attention, and she wondered why on earth Nicholas was jeopardising his reputation in this way. Surely there would be whispers among a number of first year university students about the behaviour of a certain Mr Nicholas Cavanaugh and one of his students. Not that she’d helped, of course, by reacting to him as strongly as she had.

Upon reaching the table he sat down, shooting daggers at her with his eyes. ‘I don’t appreciate being made a fool of!’ he snapped. She snorted in derision, knowing he was half-right, but feeling vindicated in her anger nonetheless.

‘If you look a fool, Nicholas, then it’s your own doing, not mine!’ She would not be cowed by his domineering personality. Nostrils flaring, Nicholas glared at her. She smiled slightly, just enough to keep him off kilter.

‘Would you please care to tell me what is going on?’ he asked, his voice carefully controlled and modulated.

‘I have two words for you: Overington Industries. Or had you forgotten?’ Nicholas’s face fell, and he shook his head once to either side.

‘That’s nothing to do with you, Emily, and you damn well know it!’

‘Oh isn’t it? Have you forgotten that I’ve been an employee of Overington Industries for six years? Were you not aware that in those years I’ve become close to Mark and Lisa? I’ve never told you this, Nicholas, but I look up to Mark as a father. I never had one of my own, not one that could be counted on at any rate, and he’s always been there for me. Always! Who do you think encouraged me to enrol in university? Who convinced me that despite all the difficulties it would entail, it would be worthwhile? It was Mark, Nicholas.’ Nicholas sighed sadly.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you would take my decision so personally.’

‘I trusted you, Nicholas! I believed in you!’ She shook her head in anger. ‘I’d made up my mind that you were different than my initial impression of you would have had it. But that impression was right, and every thought I’ve had since has been false.’

‘Emily, I won’t reverse my decision on this. No impassioned plea on your part will change my mind. I am right. However much you might want to see me as a villain, I’m not. Just think about that and you’ll realise the truth. Goodbye, Emily.’ His parting words were so final they cut her to the quick. She hadn’t imagined it ending like this. She shook her head in self derision as she watched him walk away. Had she honestly believed that Nicholas’s feelings for her would change his mind? Had she really believed that her harsh approach would win him over? What a fool she’d been!