Forever Scarred (17 page)

There was a
nother sudden slap of a hand on skin and Lucy hissed out some words.

“Each one of them is worth a thousand of you
Carter. You disgust me and your inhumanity would disgust every person I know. Now get out of my room and don’t come back.”

Joe heard the slight hiss of silk robes and he sprang away from the door. He hid in the shadows by the window as Lucy threw the door open. Carter Freeman strutted out.

“You are going to regret this Lucy. I told you that you would be begging for me to have you. Well now I’m not so sure.
Used goods and all that. Not sure I want to go where someone like him has been. Not sure any other man would.”

Lucy
shoved Freeman towards the door.

“Shut up! You
are the most vile person I have ever had the misfortune to cross. I’m handing in my notice as of now. Do you think I can’t find a man willing to take care of me if I wanted to! Ruin me Carter! I don’t care if you take everything I have, I’ll do what I have to do and find a way to survive.”

Freeman moved towards the door.

“Remember what I said Lucy. Think about it overnight. You don’t have to make any immediate decisions but just remember, I won’t care if you end up in the gutter. You crawled into it by yourself, I’m sure if you play your cards right you will be able to use your charms on one of these vulnerable men to climb back out.” He stalked out of the room and Lucy slammed the door behind him. She turned the key in the lock and stormed back across the room towards her bedroom. It was only as she was about to cross the threshold that she noticed a shadow by the window. She was about to scream in fright when Joe stepped forwards.

His face was a mask of pain. His breath was tight in his chest. He didn’t wait for any explanation from her.

“Is that what last night was about? You just need a man to save you from ruin?” The agony in his tone tore at her heart.

She shook her head
and took a step towards him.

“No, last night was just about us
Joe, but you knew that.”

Joe fisted his hands at his sides
as the memory of Freeman’s words tore through his heart.

“I don’t believe you.
” The bitterness in his voice was all too evident. “I should have seen it for what it was. No one as beautiful as you could ever want someone like me. What did you do it for? Because if it was because you pity me then I didn’t need it. I don’t need it.” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I was coming to you tonight to try and persuade you to stay, but it looks as though you have an agenda of your own that I can’t accept. You should have told me about it Lucy, even without last night I would have helped you, but you didn’t trust me, you’ve lied to me. I can’t accept that.” He pushed away from the wall and strode towards the door.

Lucy grabbed his arm as he passed. She stared up at his scarred face.
It was the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her life, normally strong and sure, full of vigour and determination, but just at his moment it was etched with pain. Pain she couldn’t do anything to erase. If he had decided that she was a liar and a cheat then she wasn’t going to bother defending herself to someone who clearly didn’t want to listen. Though it broke her heart to do it, she had to let him discover that she had told him the truth.

“I never had any agenda Joe and my business is private. I didn’t want to share it with anyone
because I was embarrassed about finding myself in such a situation. I’ll admit that my life is a mess, but it was all forced on me. Until Carter found out about it I was doing fine, sorting everything myself. No man is going to dictate that I sleep with him to resolve my problems, and I include you in that statement. If you couldn’t tell that I gave you everything last night then you don’t deserve me either. Get out of my room!” She pushed his arm away from her and shoved him towards the door

Joe took an involuntary step and then stood transfixed for a moment. He couldn’t believe what she was saying but then his brain caught up with his mouth. He had just told her that he considered her a liar. His heart plunged to his stomach
as he suddenly realized what he was losing.

“Lucy…Don’t do this. I didn’t mean…I don’t know what I was saying.” The words tumbled from his mouth.

Lucy took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. She could see the desperation in his face but she had had enough. This man had been trained to protect people and he thought he could protect her too but no one could save her from Freeman but herself. Whatever she felt for Joe would have to be buried deep in her heart. She would sink or swim on her own.

“That man is
trying to get me into his bed by blackmailing me Joe and while that could be flattering in some macabre sort of masochistic way, it is still disgusting. And you just accused me of sleeping with you out of pity for your situation or so that I could relieve myself of that problem.” Her eyes glinted fire at him as her tone brooked no argument. “I have never treated you any differently from any other man. Your scars mean nothing to me, to be honest after actually meeting you and falling in love with you they kind of pale into insignificance. If you want to know the truth, even if I could be bothered to notice them I would still actually think you are the most handsome man I ever met in my life. But you clearly don’t want to accept that. Well, that’s your problem Joe, not mine. I have enough to do keeping my head above the water. If you want to wallow in your own shit, then I’m afraid you can do it by yourself. Now get out!”

Joe
’s mouth had fallen open at her obvious honesty. She loved him. His heart swelled as he saw the truth shining in her eyes but he knew it was too late. He took one more look at her furious expression, then he turned his head so that she wouldn’t see the tears glistening in his eyes, and left the room.

Chapter Eleven

Lucy packed her ba
gs quickly. She was relieved that she had brought her own car and wouldn’t need to beg a lift from anyone. She was going to try and escape before everyone else from her company was up for breakfast.

But she was thwarted almost as soon as she walked into the corridor. Geraldine
was passing with an armful of bed linen and caught hold of her arm.

“Ah! You are awake at last. Come and see. Ellen and Patrick are ‘ere with their daughter.
They arrived with her early and are excited to show her off.”

Lucy
walked down into the dining room and was delighted to see a beaming Patrick with his arms full of a bright red, screaming baby. Ellen looked tired but thrilled as she loaded scrambled eggs onto her plate. She smiled up at Lucy.

“Hey! Come and meet Rose. Only two days old and s
he’s being a little demon.”

Lucy dropped her bag by the door and walked up to Patrick
and Ellen. She peered at the tiny baby and smiled as she held out a finger and brushed the child’s cheek.

“Congratulations. I thought you were stopping in the hospital another day or two.
” Patrick rolled his eyes at Ellen as he lowered the screaming bundle towards Lucy and suddenly Rose was in her arms. He smiled indulgently as Lucy juggled with the bawling child.

“Ellen couldn’t stand it
there. She was desperate to come home and as everything was fine with mother and child the doctors said she was okay to leave. I’m going to take them both to our cottage to rest as soon as we have had some breakfast. The hospital food was a bit grim.”

Luc
y looked down at the tiny child in her arms. She had never held a baby before and was suddenly almost overcome with nerves as she bounced the baby gently in her arms.

“She’s so beautiful.” She whispered almost to herself
as she held the precious bundle tightly to her chest. Rose suddenly stopped crying and looked up at her with curious blue eyes. She raised a tiny fist and waved it in the air. Lucy laughed and bent her head to kiss the little girl on the forehead. Her skin was so soft that Lucy wasn’t sure if she had actually touched her for a moment. She looked up at Ellen again. “So everything was fine in the end. You are both so lucky. I am so happy for the two of you. You will be fabulous parents.” Patrick took Rose back into his arms and raised his child to his own lips. He murmured quietly to Rose and curled his long finger under her chin. Ellen rolled her eyes and shook her head as she realized that she had a competitor for Patrick’s affections at last.

She
left him to cope with Rose and waved her fork in the air as she motioned to Lucy.

“Come and have breakfast with us. We can chat while it’s still relatively quiet. Well, that’s if Rose stays quiet too.” She looked at her daughter who appeared to have dropped to sleep in her father’s arms.

Lucy grabbed a plate and filled it with mushrooms and scrambled eggs. She took a slice of toast and went to sit with her hosts. She looked around the dining room. There were only three other early risers there.

“
Is Joe coming in for breakfast?” She asked, wondering if she would prefer to see him or avoid him. Her heart was still torn and she wasn’t sure what to do for the best. She blinked hard as she remembered the look on his face as he had left her room the night before. She swallowed an errant tear and concentrated hard on her mushrooms.

She had spent a near sleepless night going over in her head what she had said to Joe. She knew that she had been harsh, but he had called her a liar and a fraud and sh
e was still struggling to get past his accusations. She wanted to explain the whole ghastly affair to him, to let him know what she had to do to get her finances back on a steady footing, but then she worried that he might try to help her out of mere pity and she didn’t want that. She was still figuring out what to do but she didn’t want to leave things as they had last night. If he hadn’t surprised her so soon after getting rid of Freeman she might have tried to explain to him more fully, but the way he had just assumed that she was using him had been too much for her to bear. She had given herself to him, heart and soul and she thought that he would be able to see her true feelings. If he couldn’t trust her then she didn’t know how to put things right.

Geraldine spoke
up as Ellen looked towards the door.

“He will be ‘ere
in a while. He was just having a coffee in the kitchen. He looks terrible. I don’t think he had much sleep…” She gave a huge grin. “Maybe he was chilly last night. I don’t suppose his cabin was nearly as warm as it had been the night before.”

Ellen glanced
up at Geraldine’s mischievous expression and then looked curiously at Lucy’s brightly flushed cheeks. She let out a great laugh as she suddenly realized what must have happened but she kept her eyes down and her mouth shut as Joe walked in.

H
is eyes caught Lucy’s for a fraction of a second but he quickly moved towards the buffet breakfast and was soon surrounded by the crowd of Lucy’s hungry co-workers who suddenly appeared at the same time.

She rolled her eyes.
So much for a quiet few words and escaping the chateau un-noticed.

Carter Freeman arrived
with Jessica Dennison hanging onto his arm and Lucy was revolted to see that both of them had swollen lips. Carter even sported a smear of lipstick beside his ear and Jessica’s cheeks and neck were covered in stubble burn.

Everyone was keen to eat but as soon as the group was seated Carter Freeman stood up. He banged hi
s knife on the side of his tea cup to catch everyone’s attention.

“I want
to say a few words while everyone is present. These have been a fabulous few days for us as a company. All the things we have learned will be put to excellent use back in the workplace. We have all gained enormously from what we have learned and I’m sure that we will be seeing more of our hosts in the future. At this point I would like to offer Ellen and Patrick Reeves our heartiest congratulations on their newfound parenthood. Rose is a delight to behold.” There were mere murmurs of agreement that suddenly erupted into a round of applause with people calling out to Ellen and Patrick. Carter waved his hands for silence again. “I know I came to this chateau with my own agenda for the staff here but I have to say that they have passed my tests with flying colours. I have learned a few things about myself…No, not that I am an arrogant bastard, I already knew that.” He waited until the howls of laughter died down. “I have learned to listen to others and that’s a big step for me. Who could possibly forget my dunk in the river or my getting us lost in the forest?” There was more laughter from some of his audience. “In view of this fabulous experience that we will be sharing with all our other business associates, I would like to make a special presentation to someone who has made this trip a memorable experience. Lucy, would you like to come and take this envelope?”

Lucy’s head shot up
from her plate of mushrooms.

“I don’t deserve any special presentation.” She
stammered out but suddenly saw the sickly smile on Carter’s face. “Oh, sorry…you want me to hand out the presentation.” Her cheeks flushed a deep pink.

Carter rolled his eyes and some of the staff tittered at Lucy’s humiliation.

“Yes Lucy. You are my personal assistant. That’s what I employ you for.”

Lucy decided that now was not the right time to remind him that she had resigned the previous evening and
slid out of her chair. She walked across the room to Carter Freeman in slight trepidation. She had seen through his speech immediately and didn’t believe a word that he said. She knew he was up to something bad but couldn’t guess what.

He held out an envelope to her.

“Would you please present that to our wonderful course leader, Joe. We couldn’t possibly have had such a splendid few days without all his hard work and unending patience.”

Lucy took the envelope
with trembling fingers and walked slowly across the dining room floor. She knew that this wouldn’t be good. She wanted to tear up the envelope and run but her feet kept moving. She couldn’t look Joe in the eye as she stopped in front of him and handed the envelope over. There was a round of applause as Joe frowned over towards Freeman and then back down at the envelope. He paused for a moment as he drew in a breath and then he slid his finger under the flap and he opened it.