Beyond 10 Nights (11 page)

His return to Chicago had definitely
proved to be exciting, he thought as he made his way into the master bedroom.
Peeling off his suit he draped it over a chair in the corner of the room and
then entered the bathroom.

When the water was the right temperature
he stepped into the shower, allowing the steaming hot water to cascade over
him. He washed quickly, scrubbing himself clean, and then relaxed, letting his
mind drift as the water beat down.

Foremost in his thoughts was the
young woman in the other room. He needed to work out how best to deal with her,
he realized. It was a tricky situation he had found himself in, one he would
have preferred to have avoided, but which his sense of decency hadn’t allowed
him to.

That she had been forced to accept
his hospitality and stay with him in his hotel suite indicated just how much of
a mess she was in. If he had been in her situation he knew he would have hated
relying on anyone, especially a virtual stranger, for support. He believed,
strongly, that a woman, anyone in fact, needed to be independent, or at least
capable of independence, before they could submit fully to the control of
another person.

When he left the shower, almost a
quarter of an hour later, he still had no idea what to do about his guest. The
only solutions he could think of, and he was perfectly prepared to admit that
he couldn’t think of many, were unlikely to go down well with Leah since none
of them solved the essential problem of her relying on other people.

Finally he decided to postpone
trying to come up with a solution until he could discuss the situation with
Leah, that was the most sensible thing he could do he realized.

Drying off quickly he dressed and
left the suite. He would have stayed there, got some work done, and ordered a
meal from room service but he didn’t want to disturb Leah. Instead he made his
way downstairs to the restaurant, where he enjoyed a good steak and a sinfully
delicious slice of chocolate gateau with cream.

After that he moved to the bar,
where he settled himself in a quiet corner with his laptop and did some work
while sipping the best single malt whiskey the bar had to offer. Despite doing
his best to focus he found his mind wandering away from the work he was trying
to do; again and again his thoughts drifted to the girl asleep in his suite
high above him.

Rhett tossed and turned in bed as
the thought of losing Leah permanently ran through his dreams. His mother found
her way into the scenes filling his head as well, bringing back to him the horrible
year he wished he could forever remove from his subconscious. The young boy of
five that desperately craved the love of a mother forever gone from his life
became him, desperate for the love of the only woman since his mother to have
touched his heart.

Prior to his mother being diagnosed
with terminal breast cancer, he had been the luckiest boy on earth. His mother
had given up her job to raise him, never leaving his side for more than a few
hours. As an only child he was pampered and spoiled but all he remembered was
being loved.

He vividly recalled being cradled in
his mother’s arms, and the memory of her jasmine perfume brought a smile to
lips as he slept. She’d refused to allow him to attend pre-school, not wanting
to be parted from him for even that long; instead she had taught him herself.
He’d learned two languages, becoming proficient in both by the age of four, and
had developed a deep love for the violin, his mother’s favorite instrument.

His father had loved his mother so
deeply that he could never deny her anything; they were the perfect family, at
least in the mind of the young Rhett.

Leaving his mother to go to
kindergarten seemed like the worst thing that had ever happened to him in his
young life, he had never spent so much time away from his mother before. Things
became worse just two days after starting at the private kindergarten class he
had been enrolled in; his world had been ripped apart by news he was too young
to really understand.

The look on his parents’ faces when
they checked him out of class early would haunt him forever, as would their
efforts to explain that mommy was sick, even though she didn’t look it then,
and would be going to heaven soon.

Though he didn’t really understand
what his parents had tried to tell him, the one thing that did stick out in his
young mind was that God was taking his mommy away. He didn’t like that, and
didn’t understand why God would do so. He’d hated God ever since. His father
seemed to have formed the same opinion as him because they never returned to
church after the funeral, and when the priest came to the house he was turned
away.

For six months he and his father had
stayed by his mother’s side, throughout the endless hospital visits, and then
during the last weeks at home with the nurse hired to take care of her. Before
those days and weeks Rhett had never seen his father cry; his father had been
invincible and all powerful, he could do anything; he’d told Rhett that on
numerous occasions during his young life. The one thing his father hadn’t been
able to do though, the one thing Rhett wanted him to do more than any other,
was fix his mother.

When the funeral was over Rhett was
dragged, screaming, from the graveyard, and once they got home his father sent
him to his room while he drank until he passed out. For weeks he had been left
under the care of the servants while his father ignored his business and spent
all his time drinking. After almost a month his father finally summoned him.

Eagerly Rhett had gone to see his
father, only to be told that he was being sent away to school. At the time he’d
seen it as a rejection, his mother was gone and his father didn’t want him
around. Now though, with the benefit of hindsight and experience, he knew that
if he hadn’t been sent away he would almost certainly have been taken away; a
young child couldn’t understand that though.

To begin with Rhett had gone home
every holiday to see his father, but with each visit his father had been more
distant, until finally he had stopped going. Instead he had spent his holidays
with Alex, the friend he had made.

As an adult he knew and understood
that his father, once he had recovered from the urge to drink himself into
oblivion, had thrown himself into his work in an effort to deal with the
horrible loss they had both suffered. As a child, he hadn’t understood, all he
had seen was that his father no longer loved him, didn’t even want to be around
him; even after so long he hadn’t fully overcome that sense of rejection, and
the bridge between them remained unhealed.

Over the years his meetings with his
father become impersonal encounters; neither of them felt comfortable around
the other. That lesson had taught him that personal emotions were best avoided,
and shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with either business or pleasure,
whatever form that pleasure may take.

Until Leah came along, he had had no
problem avoiding emotions; they hadn’t troubled him at all, in any aspect of
his life. How she had managed to crack the wall he had built around his heart,
he had no idea, but he loved her more than any person he had ever known,
outside of his mother.

In a cold sweat he woke, disturbed
by what his dreams had revealed to him. “You're a dumbass, Rhett Hammond,” he
told himself, speaking aloud as he sat up in bed. Would she ever be able to
forgive him, he wondered? He didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he would be able
to blame her if she couldn’t.

Sitting there, his mind racing with
his dreams’ revelations, he realized that counseling might just be the best
thing for him, despite his long held belief that only the weak needed such
help. Until he could come to grips with his inability to control his emotions
and his temper around her, it was best for him to stay away; if he didn’t he
was likely to find himself doing something she would never be able to forgive,
and that thought terrified him.

It took every ounce of self-control
he possessed to resist the urge to pick up the phone and call her. As much as
he wanted to, he knew there was nothing he could say that would do any good. He
was unworthy of her in his current state; it was a revelation that didn't sit
well with the confident man that had earned everything in his life by
commanding situations.

5

desolation

When she woke the next morning Leah
felt completely alone. Sitting up in bed she looked around the strange room in
confusion.  It took her a short while to remember where she was, and why
she was there; when she did she had to fight back the ache that filled her
heart and made her feel as though it was going to break.

Seeing her purse on the bedside
table she rummaged in it for her phone. She was surprised to see that there
were no messages from Rhett, she’d expected to find at least a few. She told
herself it was a good thing that he hadn’t tried to contact her, but her heart
wasn’t on board with that line of thinking and her stomach clenched nervously.

When she got out of bed, and saw she
was still wearing the outfit she had worn the previous day, she was reminded
that she didn’t have anything else to wear. Nervously, she texted Janie to ask
what time she could pick up her things. She realized that until she found a
place of her own, she couldn’t get all her belongings, but she could at least
get enough clothes to avoid wearing the same thing all the time, not to mention
her toiletries.

Heading for the door she noticed the
case in front of the closet. She didn’t remember the case being there the night
before and was curious to know where it had come from, as well as what was in
it.

Carrying it over to the bed she undid
the catches and lifted the lid. She was surprised to see that it contained the
clothes Delilah had sent over to Rhett’s mansion the day before. It was a
relief to know that she had some clothes, in case she didn’t hear from Janie.

Finding the en-suite bathroom, which
wasn’t difficult, she had a hurried shower and brushed her teeth, thankful that
the hotel provided complimentary toiletries. Mundane tasks were all that were
keeping her sane right then, so she dressed in the most casual outfit of those she
had been sent, and made her way awkwardly into the living area of the suite.

Alex smiled and put down the
newspaper he was reading when Leah walked in. “Good morning, did you sleep
well?” he asked.

Leah stared at her feet, feeling
more than a little uncomfortable in his company, and spoke quietly. “Yes, thank
you; I appreciate you letting me stay, and you getting my things from Rhett’s.”
She couldn’t believe how awkward she felt around him, she guessed it was
because he was almost a total stranger and yet had already done so much for
her, but she just didn’t have a clue what to say or how to act.

“You’re welcome; Rhett thought you
would need the clothes. If there is anything missing, or if you need anything,
he asked me to relay that you only had to let him know and he would take care
of it."  He wasn't sure how she was feeling about her circumstances
this morning, but felt he was obligated to give Rhett's message. With that in
mind her position needed to be ironed out. "I think we need to discuss
your situation.”

Was he going to kick her out? She
thought in panic. Where would she go? She still had the money Rhett had
deposited in her bank account, she suddenly remembered; it was enough, she
hoped, to keep her going until she got her first paycheck from her new job.
Accepting the cup of coffee he held out to her she settled into the armchair,
doing her best not to let her emotions and her concerns show.

“I have a proposition for you, and I
think with a little management, we can both work together smoothly to make this
easier.” Take a sip of his coffee he set it down on the coffee table in front
of him before continuing. “Given your state of affairs, both with Rhett, and
with your friend Janie, I believe the best thing you can do is to stay with me,
for the time being. At least until you are able to sort things out."

“If you haven’t managed to arrange
things by the time I get myself a house or apartment then you can move in there
with me. Once you have finished your probationary period at work, and we have
determined whether it is a good fit for you, I will assist you in getting an
apartment of your own. Assuming, that is, you haven’t managed to find something
for yourself before then.” He could see that she was about to argue against his
generosity and quickly held up a hand to forestall her.

“Rest assured, you will pay your way
while you are staying with me.” The look that crossed her face almost made him
laugh but he resisted the urge and hurried on. “You will pay your share of the
bills, and until I am able to hire someone to take care of whatever place I
get, I will expect you to do your fair share of the cooking and cleaning; more
than your fair share most likely, since I’ve never been much of a cook and I’m
usually too busy for cleaning. In addition to that, once you are financially
comfortable, you will repay me for any expenses that are incurred during this
period. Is that agreeable to you?”

She had been ready to refuse his
offer for help, both with somewhere to stay while she sorted herself out, and
in getting an apartment. The last thing she wanted was to be indebted to this
man more than she already was. It would have been bad enough if he had been a
friend, but to have someone who barely knew her so willing to help out just
made it clear to her how much of a bad situation she was in.