Stranger at the beach house (28 page)

 
Except for the sobbing between my gasps for
air, the car was silent for a few moments before Sam spoke again and this time
there wasn’t a trace of anger in his voice, only regret.

 
“I told you I’ll explain when we get back,
Rose, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I wasn’t
cosying
up to anybody and that fucker got exactly what was coming to him. Please, Rose,
you have to listen to me,” he said, but I couldn’t. I was too hurt, too upset
and too angry at Sam and at myself for falling into this horrible trap again.
What was wrong with me?

 
“Go to hell, Sam,” I screamed as heavy tears
began to flow.

Harry
looked over sympathetically, waiting a couple of seconds before he spoke
quietly into the speaker.

“Listen
mate, I’ll take care of her and call you in the morning. Everyone just needs a
chance to calm down, OK. Oh and Sam....” he said smiling gently “I hope you
really kicked that fucker’s arse,” he laughed, clicking off the phone.

I
had only just stopped crying as Harry guided me into his apartment, putting his
tuxedo jacket over my shoulders to ease my shivering. I hadn’t even noticed his
attire before. “I’m sorry, Harry, were you going somewhere special tonight?” I
asked quietly as he smiled back at me.

 
“The
Langham
.
I was almost there when you called, but it looks like I’d already missed all
the fireworks anyway,” he laughed gently. “Here, come and sit down I’ll get you
a drink,” he said, pouring and passing me a brandy as I rejected an incoming
call from my phone, flicking it onto silent. “Sam?” he queried as I nodded my
response.

 
“Don’t be too hard on him, Rose; he’s one of
the good guys. Here, put what you want on,” he said, throwing me the remote
control as the huge TV roared to life and he picked up his buzzing phone,
breaking into a huge grin and disappearing into an adjacent room and closing
the door behind him.

 
I absentmindedly flicked through the channels,
back and forth, leaving it on a reality show where couples were screaming at
each other about infidelity. I found it hard to fathom the complexity of the relationships
unfolding before me, and couldn’t figure out how they had the time to be
shagging so many people. Life was complicated enough when you were only
shagging one.

I
flicked channels again. Bond. At any other time I would have sat and watched,
joining in, knowing the script word for word, instead I sat mutely thinking of
Sam and how he looked every inch the gorgeous spy hero in his tux tonight. He
was sex personified and utterly infuriating. It seemed unlikely now that his
‘situation’ was a matter of national security; the whole damn nation seemed to
know except me.

Finally
I found the history channel and settled into a documentary about the Norman
Conquest. Who the
hell
was Harry
talking to? He had been gone ages. I checked my phone. I had twelve missed
calls, all from Sam and a text from Lizzie.

Are you OK? You really need to speak to
Sam xxx

Not
Lizzie as well. I couldn’t understand why she would know Sam’s secret, it
didn’t make sense. She had only just met him. There must be a reason why she’d know,
but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Lizzie had never held anything back
from me before, we shared everything. She had even told me about Dave’s secret
fetish for leather gloves which is one secret I would rather she had kept to
herself.

She hadn’t
run a mile or warned me to, which I knew instinctively she would have if it
were bad. If there was one person in this whole world I did trust it was her,
and I knew deep down that there must be a good reason that she hadn’t told me.
Maybe I should trust Sam too, God knows I wanted to. I would find everything
out tomorrow when we got back. Perhaps when I knew all the facts I would
understand his reasons for keeping me in the dark.

It
didn’t explain the girl though, and bile rose in my throat. Maybe the
‘situation’ was something I could handle. The constant stream of woman would be
much, much harder.

I
knocked quietly and walked in to hear Harry laughing sexily down the phone.
“Just a minute, Baby,” he said to the mystery caller as I indicated that I wanted
to sleep, and holding the phone to his chest he showed me through to the guest
bedroom. “Give me a shout if you need anything,
Rose
,”
he said, kissing my cheek gently “and Joy says ‘hi’,” he grinned, closing the
door behind him and resuming his conversation. Well that answered that
question.

I
flopped fully clothed on top of the covers in the beautiful dress that had cost
more than a car and cried myself to sleep against the soft duck down pillows.

I
woke to the distant sound of someone hammering on the door and it took me a
moment to realise where I was.
 
It was
the middle of the night. “Alright, alright,” I heard Harry shout before his
footsteps passed outside my door. I listened as he unlocked the deadbolt and
then came the muffled but familiar voice.

“Why
the fuck aren’t you answering your phone?” He had not calmed down much then.

 
“I’ve been on it all night, Sam. What’s going
on?” Harry replied, seemingly bemused.

“Where
is she Harry? Bowman’s gone to the media and I’m going to be all over the
fucking news tomorrow. We have to get her back to the beach house,” Sam said as
I heard two pairs of footsteps stop outside my door.

 
“She’s asleep in there,” replied Harry. I
stayed motionless in bed as I heard the door open. He was mad and I didn’t have
the energy for another fight. “I’ve got this,” I heard Sam say quietly as I
squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I needed a minute to think. What the hell did he
mean ‘all over the news?’

Chapter 22

I
could hear his quiet gasp as he entered the room and walked towards the top of
the bed, perching gently on the side as he stroked my hair softly. Part of me
just wanted to lay there ignoring the reality of what he’d just said and enjoy
his gentle touch. The minute I turned, the shit storm that Daniel had warned me
about would rain down and things would never be the same again.

“Sweetheart,”
he whispered as I opened wet eyes and turned to face him. “I’m sorry for waking
you but there’s something you need to know,” he said, his sad eyes searching my
face. “This is the last thing I wanted to happen but my story has been leaked
to the press. Tomorrow I’ll be all over the papers for exposing a major finance
and investment scandal. It’s pretty big news, Rose. There are a lot of well known
and influential people implicated and it could have a major impact on the
markets. It wasn’t meant to happen this way but I can’t change that now, there
isn’t time,” he said, waiting for my reaction as I just continued to stare.

“Anyone
who is associated with me professionally and otherwise will be dragged into
this and I really don’t want that for you, Baby, you’ve been through enough. I
know there are things we need to talk about. I know you’re mad with me right
now, but we have to get you back to my place where it’s secure. I need to keep
you safe, Sweetheart,” he said apologetically.

My
head was spinning and he looked flustered and uncharacteristically anxious, a
deep furrow set on his brow. I was just one more thing for him to worry about.
“What about you, Sam, where will you be?” I whispered in the darkness.

 
“I’ll be here in London. I need to sort this
mess out and I’ll come home as soon as I can. If I’m here there’s no need for
the press to be bothering you. Please, Sweetheart, we need to get you out of
here,” he said and I could sense the urgency beneath his gentle tone.

I
had so many questions that I didn’t know where to start, my predominant
concerns for my boyfriend and my best friend. “I don’t understand, Sam, why is
Lizzie involved?” I asked; eager to know that she would be OK in the fall out
of this whole thing.

 
“Harry will explain what he can to you on the
way back. Whatever he doesn’t know, ask me. I’ll call you as soon as I can.
Please just trust me, Rose. My place is crawling with press already and we’re
running out of time”.

What
could I say? I was stunned. For all the thoughts I’d had about his ‘situation’
I had not expected this. I’d never as much as considered it.
A
whistleblower.
I was unable to take in the enormity of what he was
telling me, and simply nodded as he lifted me into his arms and carried me from
the bedroom, out of the apartment and into the underground garage to
Harry’s
waiting car. I had so many questions, but my
biggest concern was for Sam and what he was about to face.

As
he lowered me gently into the car he removed his jacket, laying it across me
and gently kissed the top of my head. “I’m sorry, Sweetheart,” he whispered as
I looked up at his pained face, shutting the car door as Harry revved the
engine and accelerated through the darkness and out onto the city streets as I
sat in stunned silence, still trying to process everything that was happening.

“Don’t
worry, Rose. It’ll be OK. Sam knows what he’s doing. Bowman’s fucked him over
so it’s happened quicker than he’d have liked. He was planning to break it when
you were both safe and out of London, but he’ll handle it,” Harry offered
reassuringly as he turned to smile at me.

“I
don’t understand how Daniel knew in the first place, Harry. Sam sure as hell
wasn’t telling everybody,” I muttered, trying and failing to keep the sarcasm
out of my voice.

 
“He’s written a book exposing a massive
investment scandal involving some major players that’s ripped ordinary people
off to the tune of millions. The manuscript is in parts. It’s top secret,
pending all the legal fallout. Any leaks could seriously jeopardise the court
case so he’s been really careful. Sam had given the publishing deal to Bowman
and Salisbury originally, but he cancelled the contract a couple of weeks ago,”
he said as I tried to get my head around it all, desperate for as much
information as I could get.

“Why?”
I said quickly and Harry laughed.

 
“Why do you think, Rose?” What the hell did
that mean? This was all news to me and I still couldn’t fit the pieces
together.

 
“I don’t know, Harry,” I said simply, hoping
he’d elaborate.

 
“Sam only gave the manuscript to Bowman and
Salisbury in the first place because Alice suggested it. She said you were with
Daniel Bowman and he thought indirectly he’d be doing you a favour. Whoever
gets this manuscript will make some serious money,” he said. This was a shock.
It must have been months ago, long before I even knew him I thought, as Harry
continued.

“Sam
hated Bowman from the off, thought he was an arrogant prick and I think that
was because of his reputation and how Sam suspected he’d be treating you,
Rose,” he smiled as I stared at him aghast.

 
“But Sam didn’t even know me then, Harry,” I
said and I was so confused.

 
“Listen, Rose, Sam spent an awful lot of time
with Alice. He was really close to her and you’re mostly all she ever talked
about. I think he realised how special you were long before he ever met you. I
saw how he was that night when you first came back and I have
never
seen Sam behave like that over a woman,”
he laughed, smiling knowingly at me.

“What
do you mean, Harry?” I was puzzled, recalling the night he had talked to me
about Alice and tucked me up with the flowery duvet beside the fire as I slept.

 
“You told him you’d split up with Daniel and
when he came back to the house he was livid. He went straight into his office
making calls. Whoever he was talking to emailed him some pictures of Bowman
cheating on you at an industry party, and by morning he had pulled the
contract. He was prepared to be sued over it, Rose, but apparently Bowman had
already been bragging to a couple of people and he’d signed a Non Disclosure
Agreement as part of the arrangement. His lawyers worked through the night and
voided the deal,” he said and I was absolutely stunned.

“He’s
a very well connected guy, Rose,” Harry laughed when he saw my incredulous
expression.
Christ
, he wasn’t
kidding.

 
“So why would Daniel leak it to the press now,
Harry, is it because of the fight tonight?” I asked, recalling the sickening
moment when Sam had landed the first punch on Daniels jaw and flinching at the
memory.

Harry
was laughing, clearly amused at the fact that Sam had thumped my ex. “ I’m sure
that won’t have helped, Rose, but he must have done this at least a few days
ago to give the press time to corroborate the story and deal with the legal
stuff. There is going to be some major fallout from these allegations. Sam’s
been collecting the evidence for years. My best guess is that Daniel did it
when he heard that Lizzie got the book deal,” he said, watching the stunned
expression break across my face.

 
“What?” I gasped “When?” and I couldn’t
contain my shock.

“Last
weekend when she came down and explained that she’d set up on her own. I guess
he thought you’d like the fact that he was giving your best friend a major
break. I know Sam asked her not to tell you yet. He wanted to explain all this
himself, Rose. His original plan was a lot more low profile, but he always knew
there was a chance something could leak, especially with Bowman,” he finished
as I sighed deeply.

It
would explain the clandestine talks with Dave, and the stroll on the beach he
took with Lizzie and I found it hard to believe he would do something so huge
to help my friend. She was great at her job, but she was new to freelance and
it sounded like this was a pretty major deal. I swallowed hard as my heart went
out to him. Why couldn’t he have just told me all this? I’d been
mad
for half of the day and most of the night with no idea
that he had been looking out for me all this time, even before we’d met.

 
There was another question playing at the back
of my mind and I wasn’t sure whether to ask but I really wanted to know. “There
was a girl at the party tonight, Harry. She had long brown hair, small and
pretty. They seemed really close. Do you know who she is?” I asked, wishing now
that Harry had made it to The
Langham
so at least
he’d know who I was talking about. I could have been describing half of London.

 
He laughed gently, probably thinking the same
as I was. “I honestly don’t know, Rose,” he said turning to look at me as he
sped down the empty motorway, “but I’m pretty certain there isn’t anyone else
in his life,” he smiled reassuringly.

“I
don’t know, Harry, there was something about the way he was with her,” my voice
trailed off.

 
“Listen, Rose, the Sam I hung out with in
London was very different to the Sam I see now. I rarely saw him with the same
woman more than once,” he stopped abruptly, realising he had gone too far as I
shook my head.

“Telling
me he was a player hardly fills me with confidence, Harry,” I said sulkily and
he laughed momentarily until he saw my scowl.

“I
didn’t say he was a player, Rose. He was just more like...” he stopped again as
I stared at his profile, hard. He must have felt my eyes burning into his face
but decided that staring ahead at the motorway was a safer option.

 
“More like what?” I snarled at him as he hit
me with a broad grin.

 
“Me,” he laughed. Oh God, that was all I
needed to hear.

“I
know this man well, Rose. I know what he’s told me and I know that there is
only one woman in his life. I don’t know about the girl at the party. Maybe she
was a friend, maybe a colleague, maybe someone from his past. But as far as
romance goes, it’s all about you. He wouldn’t want me telling you this, but he
called me that night, just after you first came home. He told me something had
happened between the two of you and you’d almost kissed.” I flushed, recalling
the humiliation of that encounter.

“He
was really cut up about it and that is
not
the Sam I know. He wanted to protect you because of all this, didn’t want to
drag you into it so he pulled away and do you know what he told me?”

“No,”
I held my breath.

 
“He told me he didn’t have the strength to
stay away and he had never wanted anything as much in his life as he wanted
you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he loved you even then, Rose,” Harry said and I
was floored.
Loved me
?

 
Guilty tears threatened as I thought of the
anguish in his face as he had carried me from the guestroom. “What will happen
to him, Harry?” I asked quietly.

 
“I don’t know, Babe, but I know he’ll be OK.
You just need to sit tight and wait for him. He’ll figure it out”.

It
was pitch black and the middle of the night, miles of empty motorway stretching
ahead of us as the car phone system sounded and Sam’s name flashed up on the
screen. “How are you doing, Harry?” he asked, his velvet voice filling the car.

 
“We’re making good time, Sam, another hour or
so and we should be there,” Harry said as he turned to smile at me, no doubt to
see if I’d calmed down since I last spoke to my boyfriend.

 
“Good. Is Rose OK?” he asked and it was so
reassuring to hear his voice. With the revelations of the night I was suddenly
desperate to be near him.

 
“I’m fine, Sam. I’m sorry about tonight,” I
said, swallowing hard and wishing I could take back the last few hours and do
things differently.

“It’s
OK, Sweetheart. Everything will be fine. The PR’s have advised me to do an open
press conference tomorrow and answer what I can without jeopardising the legal
side of things. They think if I go with one publication and take the
serialisation route that the whole media circus will be a lot worse and the
others will hound everyone I know to try and get a story. At least this way it
should be as painless as possible. Just stay at the house and I’ll be back as
soon as I can. The press conference is scheduled for ten,” he said and I could
hear the low voices of others in the background. He was under pressure and I
ached for him.

 
“What are you going to do about Bowman?”
 
Harry asked and I could feel the anger in
Sam’s voice.

 
“Drag him through the courts until he’s
bankrupt for starters, ruin his reputation and make sure he can’t even get a
job in a second hand book store, and when I’ve finished with that I’ll see what
other fun I can have with him. He’ll be sorry he ever fucked with me,” he said
firmly and the line went dead.

“Jesus,”
I gasped as Harry laughed quietly.

 
“He’s not kidding,” he said as we drove in
silence for the rest of the journey. I stared out of the window into the
darkness, trying to take in the events of the night and process just how big
the impact of all this would be on the rest of our lives.