Now I was the one being exposed over a truth I’d managed to suppress.
I shook my head. “Let’s talk about you.”
“There’s not a lot to say.”
“Do you enjoy your job?”
“Kind of. My dream was to design high-end shop windows. The ones in the finest stores in London.”
“And especially the ones for Christmas?”
She nodded. “I wanted to create something unique. Something that stands out and can be seen by many…something artsy, but also for retail. I didn’t just want to work inside the store.”
“How do you get that kind of job?”
“You get a degree in art and design.”
Yet she’d dropped out of university sometime soon after her brother’s death, I gathered. Continuing her education had been too difficult. Daisy had been too grief-stricken to continue.
“You can go back to Uni,” I said.
“Maybe one day.” She shook her head as though clearing her thoughts. “After last Tuesday night I feel like I have some closure.”
“How so?”
“I did what I set out to do. I warned Nick about Morgan. Now it’s over. I’ve done my bit.”
“Right.” I hoped she was really ready to move on.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes. What’s holding you back, Max?”
“It’s a long story.”
She shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I wanted to follow in the footsteps of lawyers like Martin Luther King…”
A pained expression came over her face as she listened to me explain, as if she felt my regret and sensed the yearning of a soul unable to fulfill its purpose.
“Why not become a civil rights attorney now?”
“I run my father’s firm.”
“But he passed away,” she said softly. “Maybe it’s time to fulfill your dream.”
“Life doesn’t work like that.”
“Why not?”
“I made a choice.” My chest felt crushed with the pressure of knowing such a thing wasn’t possible, not really. My staff and clients back in São Paulo depended on me.
Daisy rested her hand on mine again, her touch warm and gentle.
I turned my hand over to grasp hers. “I don’t usually talk about it.”
Being with her was easy, opening up to her cathartic. This was fine, we could hang out awhile before it got too late and I had to leave.
“You genuinely care for people,” she said, her expression sincere.
“You deserve all the praise, Daisy.”
“Why?”
I’d been waiting to break the news to her…
“He made it. Nick’s been offered a place with Manchester United.”
Her shoulders relaxed and her eyes closed in a way that proved she’d always wanted the best for him. She gave a nod and we shared a moment of gladness for him. Even though Nick was the ultimate asshole at times, my brother was essentially a good man and he’d worked hard for this. He’d dedicated his life to football, and it had all been worth it.
“You got him there,” I whispered. “When his dad died you were there for him.”
She smiled and her gaze met mine. We let the special moment linger, feeling mutual respect and understanding for how we’d both influenced him in our own ways, sacrificing our time and energy to support him.
Reaching out, I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering against her cheek, feeling her soft skin beneath my touch, the warmth of her blush.
A rustling sound reached our ears—we’d both heard it.
“Do you think it’s a ghost?” she asked softly.
“Maybe it’s someone checking on you.”
“Ted told me he wouldn’t return until the morning.” She paused. “Maybe it’s a ghost who needs me to guide them into the light.”
I pushed to my feet. “Or into hell.”
“Aunt Barbara told me what to say to the ghosts, if I saw any.”
I shot her a skeptical look. “Ghosts don’t exist, Daisy.”
She rose and stood beside me. “Then what was that noise?”
Before turning the corner, Max gave me a wink to reassure me he’d be fine. I didn’t actually believe someone was in here with us, but I’d definitely heard something.
He had no idea how sexy his cute grin looked, but with that one gesture of reassurance, he’d made my toes curl and my heart flip-flop. He was still here, after he could have made an excuse to leave.
I felt a twinge of regret at the thought that he would soon disappear out of my life and I would not have the chance to get to know him better. He’d been kind to me at Nick’s party. I shouldn’t have run out on him like that at the Hampstead estate. I’d just been so mortified that all I’d wanted was to place as much distance as possible between me and that manor.
Max took my hand and pulled me closer, leading me down the hallway. At his warm touch, my limbs went weak and I almost forgot what we were up to. Ghost hunting—that’s right. Checking out the spirits, guiding them into the light.
I couldn’t think of another person I’d rather go ghost chasing with.
All Max had to do was walk into the room or arch a brow or breathe for heaven’s sake.
We stopped just outside one of the rooms.
“Let me go first,” he said, shaking me out of my daydreams.
“Don’t you want me to instead? I’m more qualified to deal with ghosts.”
“No,” he said incredulously. “That’s not how this works.”
It made me smile.
“Stay here.” He disappeared inside the dark room.
This was the stuff horror films were made of…the couple splitting up, one left alone while the other goes off bravely exploring the mystery. Each one had a fifty-fifty chance of dying first.
“Max,” I called out.
Silence.
“Max, are you okay?”
A shuffling sound reached my ears.
I hurried after him through the door and slammed right into a firm chest, knocking the air out of my lungs. Max’s strong arms reached around my waist and lifted me off the floor. He pressed me against the wall and leaned his body against mine. I inhaled sharply and wrapped my legs around his middle, hooking my fingers behind his neck.
His lips lingered dangerously close to mine. “I want you off the floor,” he said huskily.
“Why?”
“It was a ghost,” he said. “But it’s gone.”
“You saw it?” I was panting.
“It floated off.”
I studied him. “It was a rat, wasn’t it?”
He relented with a look that said yes.
“How big?”
“The size of a double-decker bus.”
I squealed and buried my face in his neck, cringing. Immediately, my senses were stimulated by the familiar scent of the sexy Alpha male who’d protected me. Being this close to Max Marquis made my head spin.
“Are you okay?” he said.
I nodded.
“You shouldn’t be here. Not alone, anyway.”
“I’m not alone.”