See You at the Show (35 page)

Angus looked at her.
 
Stunning to look at, with the mouth of a hooker.
 
“You said it, Ms. Stone – for as long as he wants you.”
 

She watched him leave, picking up her beer and knocking back a good mouthful, throwing her head back and closing her eyes.
 
She didn’t want to admit that he’d shaken her, but he had.
 
And that was only because she cared so much about Daniel, only because she loved him like she did otherwise she could have seen off Angus Gordon in a heartbeat.
 
He was nothing to her.
 
But Daniel was everything.

She walked out of the kitchen, ignoring everyone else around her as she made her way back to the bedroom.
 

Daniel was in the en-suite bathroom, naked from the waist up, shaving off the stubble that had made him look that little bit more rugged.
 
She’d liked it.
 
But then, she’d never really been with anyone clean shaven for as long as she could remember.

Walking up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.
 

“Everything ok?” he asked, dipping his razor in the water before flicking it over the remainder of his un-shaved stubble.

“Everything’s fine.”
 
As it was ever going to be.
 
Under these circumstances.
 
“I’m going to miss you, Daniel.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you walk out of here tonight, who knows when I’m going to see you again?”

“You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“You’ll have time?
 
The new Prime Minister is going to have time to come home and see his secret girlfriend?
 
You really think that’s gonna happen?”

It probably wouldn’t.
 
He just didn’t want to think about it, because he was going to miss her too.
 
More than he cared to admit.

He looked at her in the mirror, her expression one of sadness.
 
He’d never seen her look sad before.
 
She’d always been upbeat, optimistic.
 
Was he being fair to her, making her feel this way?

“It
will
work itself out, sweetheart.
 
I know it’s going to be hard in the beginning, there’s going to be a lot to get used to but, I promise you, it
will
get better.”

She snuggled up against him, just wanting to feel the warmth of his body against her before she had to let him go.

“Will you stay here, Stevie?
 
In the flat?”

“I can’t, Daniel.”

He picked up a towel and patted his face dry and she watched him in the mirror, his handsome face with those beautiful green eyes looking back at her.
 
She’d never fallen this hard or got in so deep before and every time she realised that it terrified her.
 
Daniel Madison wasn’t just any guy.
 
He was so far from that.

He turned around and tilted up her chin, kissing her gently.
 
“Why?”

“Because I can’t be on my own, Daniel.
 
I need to be with people, I can’t just sit around watching all of this going on not knowing when you’re gonna be home.
 
I can’t do that.”

“People?
 
Does that mean...does that mean the band?
 
Mark?”

She ran her hands up and down his arms.
 
Surprisingly toned arms, for a politician.
 

“The band aren’t the only people I hang around with, Daniel.
 
But Johnny’s my best friend.
 
I need him around, if only to moan at.”

Daniel smiled, resting his forehead against hers.
 
“Jesus, this is harder than I thought it was going to be.”

She felt tears start to burn the back of her eyes and she let him go, walking away from him, turning her back to him because she didn’t want him to see her crying.
 
She’d never cried over a man before, not in a long time.
 
Not in many, many years.
 
But then, she’d never let one get this close to her.

“Stevie?”

“It’s ok,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
 
“I’m fine.”

He came up behind her, kissing the back of her neck.
 
“Maybe we need to face up to things, sweetheart.”

She turned round, looking up into his eyes.
 
“What things?”

“I need you in my life, I need you beside me.
 
I can’t do this alone anymore.”

“Daniel...”

“No, it ends, Stevie.
 
This...this secrecy, this hiding you away like some shameful secret it ends.
 
Jesus, I’m in love with you!
 
I can’t get you out of my head; you’re my every waking thought, my every sleeping dream and if people can’t accept you beside me then that’s their problem, not ours.”

“Don’t do anything rash, Daniel.
 
Don’t do anything tonight, please, not tonight.
 
It’s such a big night for you; I don’t want anything to spoil it.”

He held tightly onto her hands.
 
For the first time in months he’d never felt more sure about anything.
 
Tonight would go however it was going to go, and if the results put him there in Number Ten then he couldn’t be happier, but she was coming with him.
 
Stevie Stone would be there by his side.
 
The game was over, the waiting was finished, the hiding was done.
 

“Be by my side and make me the happiest man alive,” he whispered.

She moved her mouth closer to his.
 
“Just try and stop me, Mr. Madison.”

As they kissed she felt her heart skip a thousand beats and her stomach turn a hundred somersaults.
 
It sounded so simple but it was far from that because she had to talk to him, she knew that now.
 
Before someone else did.
 
Angus Gordon could know nothing but then again he could know it all, and she didn’t want Daniel to hear it from him.

She watched as he got ready, slipping on a clean white shirt, blue tie and dark jacket.
 
Her handsome politician.
 
All ready to take over the country.

She straightened his tie, kissing him quickly.
 
“Ok, baby.
 
You go out there and knock ‘em dead, you hear me?”

“Will you be watching?”

She smiled.
 
“Yeah.
 
I reckon I’ll have to.
 
TV’s the only way I’m gonna be seeing you over the next few days, if these results go your way.”

“I love you, Stevie.
 
You have to believe that, you have to know that I mean that.”

“I know, Daniel.
 
I know you do.
 
And I love you too, baby.
 
I really do.”
 
More than she cared to admit.
 

He pulled her against him for one last kiss, one last feel of her incredible body against him as her open mouth touched his, and he wished the world would just go away and leave them alone.
 
He wished that more than anything.
 
But he had a job to do.
 
Even if leaving her was going to kill him.

“Go on, get out of here,” she smiled, brushing imaginary dust from his jacket collar, anything to distract from the fact she was having to let him go.

“I’ll see you soon.
 
Very soon.”

She just nodded, letting him kiss her one more time before he walked out the door, and she looked at the space where he’d been standing just seconds ago, unable to stop every built-up emotion from finally tumbling out as she leaned back against the sink, closed her eyes, and cried.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Daniel Madison.
 
Prime Minister.
 
But Stevie saw him only as the man who woke her up with soft kisses on her collarbone and gave her amazing back massages that always led to sex.
 
She didn’t see him as the man in charge of the country, a world leader, a major decision maker.
 
He was just Daniel.
 
The man she was in love with.
 
The man she hardly saw.
 
But that was about to change.
 
The secrecy and the hiding was about to come to an end.
 
Soon.
 
Very soon.

Daniel had announced his divorce from Samantha not long after his landslide election victory in a move Stevie knew hadn’t gone down too well with those around him, and just two days ago he’d confirmed – via a press statement – that he was in a new relationship.
 
Stevie’s name hadn’t yet been mentioned but Daniel was about to introduce her to the public at a charity drinks function at one of London’s top hotels that evening, and just the thought of it was making her feel sick.
 
The nerves had made her throw up twice already and every time she thought about it she practically hyperventilated.
 
There were people out there who were vehemently against Daniel’s relationship with her but so far he’d ignored them all, proving to her that he really did love her.
 
Because what he was doing tonight was a big risk for him.
 
He hadn’t been Prime Minister long, just a matter of months, so for him to put it all on the line for her was an incredible thing for him to be doing.
 
She just wasn’t sure she was ready.
 
She was getting used to the secrecy.
 
She quite liked the privacy.
 
Going public meant more problems, more things for her to face up to and she didn’t know is she wanted to have to deal with those things just yet.
 
Daniel, however, wanted everything out in the open.
 
No more secrets.
 
But there were some things that Stevie hoped would stay just that.
 
Secret.

Everything had moved on so fast since Daniel had entered Number Ten Downing Street, not least their relationship.
 
She was now full on, head-over-heels in love with the British Prime Minister, which was crazy and ridiculous but it was happening.
 
It was real.
 
And it meant her life was changing at a speed she could barely keep up with.

She still saw Johnny now and again, and they spoke on the ‘phone all the time.
 
He was her best friend and nothing would change that.
 
But she hadn’t seen or spoken to Mark or the other guys in months.
 
Her old life was behind her.
 
It had to be.
 
Daniel was all she could concentrate on.
 
But she couldn’t help missing the past.
 
She was alone a lot these days and it gave her too much time to think.

The sound of the living room door closing brought a smile to her face and she walked out of the kitchen, leaning back against the wall, folding her arms as she looked at him.
 
He was home, and it felt like Christmas morning.
 
“How you doing, Mr. Prime Minister?”

He walked over to her, smiling too, his eyes locking onto hers.
 
“I’m all the better for being back home.”

“The
U.S.A.
not all it’s cracked up to be then?”

“Not without you around, no.”

“You missed me then?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
 
He reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
 
“Did you see me on TV?”

She slid a hand underneath his jacket, just wanting to touch him again.
 
“Constantly.
 
I had the news on a loop because watching you in full-on P.M. mode really turns me on.”

“It does?”

“Yeah.
 
It does.”

“So, what did you do about that then?
 
You know, with me not being around?”

Their mouths were almost touching now.
 
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Mr. Madison.”

He’d been away in
Washington
, for meetings with the U.S. President, for the past four days and he’d missed her.
 
So much.
 
He’d missed this, this incredible, intense way she welcomed him home; the things she said, the way she looked.

He closed his eyes as he kissed her slowly, pulling her body against his.
 
She felt warm and beautifully familiar, and tonight the world would see what a lucky man he really was.

“You never did kiss like a politician, did you?”

He laughed, stroking the white blonde hair from her eyes.
 
“And how did you think a politician would kiss?”

“Uptight…reserved…”