The Way to a Woman's Heart (50 page)

She leaned her head back and rocked slowly in the
oppressive darkness. Somewhere close by the dogs were sleeping soundly on the cool flagstoned floors, and the cats were probably curled up dreaming, and the hens were locked up snug and safe against any prowling predators. And Roy, being nocturnal, was probably sunning himself under his lamps.

But she was the only human being here at Hideaway. And it didn’t bother her one little bit. Not any more. She absolutely loved the silence and the solitude.

All the way from London, in the back of the luxury limo while the driver sang along to a compilation of crooners, she’d had time to think.

Not about winning. The reality of that was slowly sinking in, and the full ramifications were delightfully obvious. Nor about missing out on a celebration of A-list proportions. Poll and Billy would lap it up, having a chance to be together in all that luxury, and Ash would no doubt be the star of the show.

All the way back to Hideaway she’d thought about Ash.

And Onyx. Because now, knowing that Ash and Onyx hadn’t been romantically linked at any time, made her feel even worse.

There hadn’t been any reason why she and Ash shouldn’t have got together, had there? He and Onyx had never been a couple, but he’d never told her that, had he? He’d always let her assume that they were together, when all the time he was, and always had been, young, free and single. Which meant… she groaned… that he simply didn’t want to be with her…

Oooh, how humiliating was that?

He liked her, was happy to be her friend, but that was it. And tonight, with the silly hand-squeezy-stroking thing, she’d left him in no doubt about how she felt.

And he’d pulled his hand away…

Feeling more miserable than she ever had in her life, Ella closed her eyes. It would have been far, far better to be rejected because Ash was in love with Onyx – anything on earth would have been better than just not being wanted. Oh God, how was she ever going to be able to face him again? How on earth was she ever –?

What was that?

Ella opened her eyes again. Had there been a noise? Not a night-creature noise… not one of the dogs… not even one of the cats…

A noise like a car driving slowly along Hideaway Lane and stopping, and a door closing, and then the car purring off again. Ella strained her ears.

And now there were footsteps…

Ella swallowed and it wasn’t just the sultry, airless night that was making her heart race and her palms sweat. Sensibly she knew she should just sit there, silent and unseen, and hope whoever it was would simply go away. Sensibly, she knew she should quietly reach into her bag for her mobile phone and be ready to ring the police. Sensibly, she knew she should hold her breath and hide back in the black shadows.

But she’d never been particularly sensible.

Especially when the footsteps were coming closer and the security lights were once again popping on one by one…

‘Who’s there?’

‘Jesus!’ Ash’s voice echoed from the darkness. ‘You just scared me to death! Where are you?’

‘On the swing. And why are you sneaking round the back of the house?’

‘Because –’ he loomed into view from the shadows ‘– it’s so damn hot that the garden held certain attractions, and because the house was in darkness so I thought you weren’t here yet.’ He stared down at her.

‘I’ve been here for ages. But why aren’t you at the party?’

‘Probably –’ he lowered himself on to the swing seat beside her ‘– for the same reasons that you aren’t. Too overwhelmed by it all. Too exhausted. Enough was enough. And when Onyx told me you’d left, it finally lost all its appeal.’

Ella frowned. That obviously didn’t mean what she hoped it did. Why should it? How could it? And she’d got everything else wrong, hadn’t she?

‘Er, right, um, and it was really great to see Onyx, wasn’t it? But her and Tom… weren’t you gob-smacked when she told you?’

‘A bit. OK, a lot. I certainly didn’t see it coming. But it was about time she met her soulmate.’ Ash leaned back, making the swing seat rock gently. ‘And he’s a great bloke – they’ll be really happy together – but I was still a bit surprised to see her there tonight.’

‘Why? You rang her. When we were in the green room.’

‘I didn’t. I rang Joe.’

‘Oh.’ Joe the Art Garfunkel lookalike mate. ‘Er, why?’

‘Joe’s just dropped me off. I rang him and asked him to come and pick us up.’

‘Us?’

‘You and me. I was being a bit presumptuous, but that’s me all over. I hoped I’d be able to persuade you to leave the bright lights with me. I didn’t want to spend another minute being pawed by bloody predatory Gabby, or shrieked at by people I didn’t know who kept calling me Ashley and making really bad ice-cream jokes.’

Despite everything, Ella giggled.

‘No, once it was all over I wanted to come back home, here to Hideaway, to talk to you.’ He looked at her. ‘Living here is wonderful, but we’re so rarely alone, especially recently, and tonight seemed like a perfect opportunity to have some time to get things straight between us. Then Onyx said you’d beaten me to it and already left. So, I thought you might have gone out on the town with some of your friends.’

‘I did think about it,’ Ella admitted. ‘Being back in London and everything, but then I knew I couldn’t cope with it. Not tonight. I’ll invite them all down here for a catch-up soon.’

‘Then I thought – and it nearly drove me mad – that, of course, it wouldn’t be your friends you’d want to be with. It would be Mark. Anyway, Tom and Onyx said you’d gone home – so I hoped you were on your own, made my apologies, and asked Poll and Billy to bring our stuff back from the hotel tomorrow, and Joe brought me home. Alone.’

‘And now you want to talk?’ Ella stared into the darkness.
She had a nasty feeling that the talk was going to involve the hand-holding-stroky thing and have a just-good-friends-like-me-and-Onyx ending.

‘Not just talk. I wanted to show you something. Before all hell breaks loose tomorrow with the press arriving and more filming and everyone here is talking about winning and nothing else.’ He stood up. ‘Do you fancy a walk?’

Managing not to admit that even if it was over hot coals or broken glass she’d say yes, Ella nodded non-committally. ‘With you? Now?’

‘Yes – and not far, I promise. Just round the back of the farm – we can cut across the fields because it’s quicker than using the road, and it’s still way too hot to contemplate a five-mile hike… but how high are your sandals?’

‘High but not Onyx-level.’ Ella slid them on and Ash hauled her to her feet. She was very careful to shake her hand free again this time. ‘I’ll cope. OK, lead on.’

The familiar tracks and fields round Hideaway were very different at night. And as there was only a faint misty moon and neither of them had a torch, there was a lot of stumbling over desiccated grassy tussocks and laughing as they stepped unwarily into huge concrete-dry ruts in the darkness.

‘Where exactly are we going?’ Ella puffed as they eventually negotiated the fields and reached a solid shingle path. ‘Am I allowed to know? Oh…’ She peered at a large looming building. ‘This is Billy and Poll’s hidey-hole barn. The one Poll has earmarked for your restaurant
if we won
?’

‘Yes, she told me tonight. So welcome to Hideaway Home.’ Ash grinned. ‘The best restaurant in Berkshire. Sadly
it has no doors yet, no windows, no kitchen, no working gas or electricity and no chairs or tables – but it’s rock solid and it’s got a roof and refurbished walls and a solid floor.’

‘Always a good start.’ Ella stepped through the looming doorway and peered into the gloom. ‘Blimey, it’s absolutely huge in here. Billy’s done a fantastically good job. It’s amazing. Oh, Ash, it’s going to be phenomenal when it’s all up and running, isn’t it?’

He nodded. ‘A dream come true. And something I haven’t quite managed to get my head round yet. Would you like to take a seat?’

Ella looked around. ‘You said there weren’t any chairs or tables.’

‘Not as such, and Poll apparently favours hay bales, but Billy’s work bench is over there and he’s left a couple of folding chairs underneath it that he and George drag out for their lunch breaks, and if you use your imagination…’

‘Oh, I’ve got plenty of that.’

‘So I’ve heard.’

They sat on the tiny uncomfortable chairs and Ella blushed. Onyx had
told
him. Damn her…

‘Yes, well it was an easy mistake to make. Poll and Trixie said you were together. And neither of you actually said you weren’t a couple, did you?’

‘It never occurred to us that we had to.’ Ash leaned towards her, his face shadowy in the darkness. ‘And anyway I always knew about you and Mark.’

Ella said nothing.

Ash looked at her. ‘Right from the start I knew you were
with someone else, and I probably didn’t stand a chance – so I asked Poll what the score was.’

‘Did you?’ Ella’s heart sank. ‘And?’

‘And she said that you and Mark had been together for ages but were having problems and that you were really vulnerable, so there was no way I was going to go charging in and messing things up for you.’

‘Oh,’ Ella sighed.

Ash shrugged. ‘So, it seemed easier to just let you think that Onyx and I were a couple – because everyone seemed to think we were anyway – and that way, you and Mark could work out your differences without any complications from me.’

‘But –’ Ella frowned ‘– you asked me out?’

‘Because I had to,’ Ash said fiercely. ‘I’m only human. I wanted to be with you – but then when you went all distant and defensive every time I suggested we went out together, I was convinced that you and Mark were sorted and you’d be going back to London and him when you left here and –’

‘I was never distant and defensive – OK, well, maybe I was a little bit.’

‘Believe me, you were – a lot. And then, when we did actually manage a date, you went all sniffy at the Masonic Hall.’

‘Sniffy isn’t even in my repertoire.’ Ella sighed. ‘Well, OK, maybe there was just a
hint
of sniffiness, but I thought you were simply showing me that I didn’t stand a chance with you because of Onyx.’

Ash laughed. ‘Cross purposes all round then.’

‘Absolutely,’ Ella continued, knowing now that all the stumbling blocks had to be removed if they were going to share Hideaway in any sort of harmony, ‘and I apologise for being silly at the studios tonight and doing the hand-stroking thing. I just got a bit carried away with everything. It didn’t mean anything.’

‘Didn’t it?’ Ash sounded disappointed.

‘You snatched your hand away pretty damn quickly, so, no it didn’t.’

‘Because,’ Ash said in the darkness, ‘it was just about the most erotic thing ever. And as we were just about to walk onstage in front of hundreds of people in the studio and had a television audience of millions, I felt that the timing was pretty lousy.
Dewberrys’ Dinners
is a family show after all, and my feelings towards you at that point were definitely X-rated.’

‘Oh.’ Ella swallowed, suddenly giddy with lust.

‘So, now you know Onyx and I are not a couple, can we go right back to the beginning and start again?’

‘Probably best not to, actually.’ Ella smiled. ‘Remember, in the beginning I thought you were gay and that Roy was your live-in lover?’

‘Seriously? I always thought that was a joke.’

‘No joke.’

‘Christ.’ Ash shook his head. ‘OK, let’s skip the beginning. But, oh, God, what about Mark?’

‘History.’

‘Really?’

She nodded. ‘I told him it was over a little while ago.’

‘I’m really sorry.’

‘Don’t be. He wasn’t.’

‘Then he’s got to be insane,’ Ash said quickly. ‘And I so wish you’d told me.’

‘I couldn’t. It would have sounded a bit desperate, wouldn’t it? And I thought you and Onyx –’

Ash held up his hands. ‘Enough about me and Onyx. Let’s talk about you and me. OK, so now how do you feel about a first date?’

Ella didn’t look at him. ‘Yes, please. Tomorrow, when all the hoo-ha is over?’

‘Right now…’ Ash leaned under the table and pulled out a cool box. ‘I’ve been planning and planning the best recipes ever to win you over – food being the way to a woman’s heart and all that – but as we never seemed to be alone, and you didn’t seem to be very interested in me, I thought that maybe tonight we’d be here alone, so very early this morning I came down here and…’

Ella watched in delight as he opened the cool box and produced two glasses, two plates and a small container.

‘Not quite the complex and genius quail’s eggs and truffles spectacular I’d had in mind. And not champagne either. Rosé wine – pink and sparkling, though – and these…’

‘Chocolate-covered strawberries!’ Ella squealed with delight. ‘Ohmigod! I absolutely love chocolate-covered strawberries!’

‘Thank the Lord for that… and -’ Ash looked happily at her ‘– there’s something else in here.’

‘Oh? Oh, yes, er, what the heck are they?’

‘Candles. Two candles.’ Ash lit them carefully. ‘One made from geraniums, juniper, roses and crushed raspberries for everlasting love. The other made from sweet peas, lemon, meadowsweet and saffron for happiness and fulfilment of dreams.’