Twelve Days - The Beginning (17 page)

He nodded and was quiet for a moment. “New York is beautiful, you’d love it. It’s a completely different world over there. Maybe ...” his voice trailed off.

“Have you travelled much then?” she asked when it became obvious that he wasn’t going to finish his sentence.

“Not greatly, although I did have the luxury of a few holidays to Spain and the Canaries when I was a child. Outside of the UK in recent years, I’ve only really visited America and spent a bit of time in Vegas - the usual tourist spots.” He shrugged “I’ve never had a need to travel either; I guess I’m just a country boy at heart too.”

“What about your parents? Are they local?” she asked and then immediately regretted her words. What if he was one of those people that had had a rubbish childhood and didn’t want to talk about his parents?

He must have caught her stricken look and he laughed again. “Don’t panic – I had a very normal childhood with very normal parents who I love dearly and still speak to most days.”

“Phew!” she said relieved. “I always speak without thinking and it generally gets me into trouble. Do you see them often?”

“As often as I can. They moved to a retirement village a few years ago, right down on the coast near to Lands End so it’s a bit of a trek. We always meet up for Christmas though. This year, we’re going to my sister’s. She lives about halfway between us with her husband and my two nephews so it kind of makes sense. It’s usually pretty noisy but that’s what Christmas is all about. See...” he spread one hand out in a nonchalant gesture, “completely normal.”

Elise found herself suddenly saddened at the comparison between what this man was going to be experiencing over Christmas and what she knew was in store for her. There was no way she would be seeing her parent’s over Christmas. She had already used up her allotted monthly visit for her Dad’s birthday so it would just be her and Dale – as usual.

“What about you, Elise?” He asked softly, “Do you get to do the whole family thing at Christmas?”

She considered for a moment before answering, unsure whether to lie or to be truthful. She opted for the truth; she was totally fed up with all of the lies.

“No, it’s usually just Dale and me. I’m an only child so no nieces or nephews and my parents – well, I don’t get to see them as often as I would like. It’s fairly quiet.” Nearly the truth then.

She left it at that, hoping that he wouldn’t decide to pry any further. Sometimes Christmas was noisy; those were the occasions when Dale would go just a bit too far with the drink and start shouting at her for some minor misdemeanour. Usually though he just sat in the chair morose, and then demanded his ‘present’ once he’d finished with all the re-runs on the TV. She was probably one of the only people who were grateful for modern twenty-four hour television; especially on Christmas Day.

The year after the debacle with her parents, she had tried again and had bought a tree and decorated it, made a full roast for lunch and even made a Christmas cake. She had bought Dale a present and had lovingly wrapped it and put it under the tree. That had been the year when his drinking had really escalated – he’d taken one look at the tree, called her a ‘sentimental bitch’ and promptly removed it to the garden, dumping his present in the bin on the way. He hadn’t even opened it. That was the night when she had finally realised what it was to have your heart broken.

“Hey, Elise – where’d you go?”

“Oh – sorry” she started at Vaughn’s soft sexy voice, “Just – reminiscing. What were you saying?”

“I just wondered what junction we needed on the motorway and if there was a service station nearby. I could really do with a coffee.”

“Oh right – erm yeah. If we get on the M5 here,” she pointed with her finger to the right place on the map, “then we can pick up a service station after about 10 miles. Would that be okay?”

“Sounds perfect!” he said with a wink, “Woman – take me to my coffee!”

Chapter Twenty

The service station was pretty busy but they managed to find a table where they could drink their coffee in relative peace. Vaughn had ordered a bacon sandwich and Elise had gone for a Danish pastry so they were sat waiting for their food order to be brought out.

Their table was next to the window overlooking the motorway so to pass the time they played the number plate alphabet game, which Vaughn had played as a kid. You took the last three letters of the number plate of the last vehicle that you saw, and had to make up a silly sentence of three words using the letters on the number plate as the first letter of each of the words.

Vaughn started and picked a car with the letters AVS. ‘Antelope’s Veer Sideways.’ He pronounced and looked at Elise, seemingly immensely proud of himself.

Elise had BGW and decided on ‘Big Green Whales’ which caused much amusement.

Next Vaughn chose TRU and declared ‘Trumpeter’s Ride Umbrellas’ at which Elise burst out laughing. “How on earth can a trumpeter ride an umbrella?” she asked.

Vaughn shrugged “It’s the game – it doesn’t have to make sense.”

“Ok then, if that’s how we’re playing,” Elise said “I’m going for INL – ‘Igloo’s Need Lights!’”

“Igloo’s Need Lights?” Vaughn repeated, “There’s no electric where igloos are built. How do you suppose they’re going to get lights?”

“You’re the one that said it didn’t have to make sense!” She pointed out, “C’mon, buster – you not up the challenge any more, is that what it is?”

“Are you threatening me, Miss Grayson? You ought to know by now that I don’t back down from threats. Bring it on!” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully at her and turned back to the road waiting for the next car.

After some really ridiculous sentences from both of them over the following few rounds, Vaughn decided to up the stakes and insisted that any number plate with an E or a V in it, had to figure their names.

Elise got VIK and went slightly risqué with ‘Vaughn Is Kinky’ to which Vaughn countered MEP with ‘Me Elise’s Prince’. Motioning for a sick bucket after that one, Elise got TEE and stated ‘Totally Exquisite Elise’ followed by Vaughn with GRV which he made into ‘Greatly Ripped Vaughn’. By now they were both in hysterics with tears running down their faces and when the waitress arrived with their food, she looked at them warily, clearly wondering if they needed to be carted off to the nearest asylum.

Reluctant to finish the game, they decided to carry on in-between mouthfuls, Vaughn going for ‘Elise Is Sexy’ when he got EIS, and, waiting for a number plate with a V in it, Elise was finally rewarded with VIB which gave her ‘Vaughn Is Big-headed’. Vaughn then watched for
a suitable plate for his next one, and when he saw VWE he immediately settled on ‘Vaughn Wants Elise’. Seeing the direction that this was headed and wanting to move it onto safer ground, Elise spotted VEB and pronounced ‘Vaughn Elise’s Boss’. To which, when VAM went past, Vaughn stated ‘Vaughn All Man’ and promptly winked across the table at Elise, his meaning unmistakable.

Realising that they could be potentially moving into very dangerous territory, Elise suggested that they pause the game whilst they finished their food and coffee. Vaughn however was not ready to let it go and Elise had the distinct feeling that he was starting to relish the fact that the game had taken on a different turn.

“How about you just eat your food and let me carry on alone?” he said.

“Ok......” she said intrigued – she couldn’t imagine he would have much fun playing the game by himself.

She watched as Vaughn waited for the number plates to come past, seeming to know exactly what he was looking for. First of all he got ICB to which he declared ‘I Can’t Believe’ swiftly followed by OWA which was ‘One Week Ago’. The next one was IHM ‘I Hadn’t Met’ and then, unbelievably EGG ‘Elise Geraldine Grayson’. She raised her eyebrows at that one, clearly believing he had made it up having never seen EGG on a number plate in her life. Nevertheless she found herself totally enthralled by the new way in which he was playing the game and waited patiently, fascinated to see what he would come up with next.

Vaughn carried on watching the cars and picked out NIC which gave him ‘Now I Can’t’ and then INH which was ‘Imagine Not Having’; he then slightly dubiously went for EGG again ‘Elise Geraldine Grayson’ and then finished with IML, ‘In My Life’.

During his last few sentences, he had dropped his voice to a ridiculously sexy drawl and as he spoke the last three words he locked his eyes onto hers, their dark depths burning and Elise was fairly certain that she had stopped breathing. Never had she experienced something so intense before and nervously she poked the tip of her tongue out and ran it over her dry lips, watching as his eyes automatically followed the movement and then darkened even further. Her mouth had gone numb, she couldn’t form any words and the rest of the world melted away; it was just her and this man and those dark, dark eyes doing unspoken things to her body. She felt her arousal quickening as their eyes remained connected and she crossed her legs under the table in an effort to stave off the feelings. His eyes glinted wickedly and she knew that he had realised the effect he was having on her – she was in a hopeless state of excitement and he hadn’t even touched her.

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the other side of the restaurant as someone dropped a plate and their moment was instantly broken, both pairs of eyes darting across to the source of the commotion. Elise sent a silent prayer of thanks for the other diner’s clumsiness, those precious few seconds allowing her to draw breath and attempt to retain some much needed equilibrium.

Turning back to her after checking out the cause of the noise himself, Vaughn blew out a deep breath and ran his hand somewhat shakily through his hair. It was a tiny movement but Elise noticed it and was thankful to realise that she wasn’t the only one affected by their recent game.

“Well...” Vaughn said at length “That was way more fun than I remember it being when I was ten.”

Grateful that the intense sexual tension had been broken, Elise smiled and got up to leave the table.

“As I’ve never played it before, I have nothing to compare it to,” she said, “although I don’t remember any travelling games I ever played being quite so – hot.” And giving him a taste of his own medicine, she winked and sauntered away; heading back out to the car park and leaving him to clear the table and follow in her wake.

During the rest of the journey they chatted easily, deciding by unspoken agreement that perhaps it was safer for both of them that they didn’t play any more travelling games. There was no residual atmosphere now from when she had stormed out of his office and for that Elise was glad. Vaughn hadn’t broached the subject of Cole again and their relationship however if he ever did, she knew that she would tell him the truth. He had no right to dictate her life to her but she had no right to lie to him either. If nothing else, whatever was happening between them needed to be based on honesty and as they were only ever going to be friends in her eyes, then being honest about her relationship with Cole was hardly a big deal.

When they got closer to the hotel, Elise started to question Vaughn on the details of the conference that they were attending; wondering who it was for and what type of client they would encounter.

“It’s a conference for stock brokers and investment bankers.” He said. “A friend of mine is in the business and tipped me off. Fortunately the hotel owner was more than happy to accommodate us, which means we get to set up right outside the entrance to the conference, allowing us to catch them as they come in and go out. The thing with these types is that they have a lot of money at their disposal, which they invest for their clients. They thrive on the thrill of the investment and can sometimes forget about the tedium of bookkeeping and accounting. I’m hoping that we can persuade a couple of them at least to consider the services that we are able to offer, and if we can sign them up, who knows where it will lead? It should be a win-win for everyone – we get new clients who in turn may bring us more business and, for a small fee, they get peace of mind that all of their accounting, bookkeeping and tax records are completely up to date. Some will of course already have arrangements in place and some will carry out their own work; we are aiming for those who are somewhere in the middle and are looking for a one-stop shop. There’s also no harm in talking to those with existing arrangements, as we may be able to offer them a more competitive deal. I am really hoping that this will be a gold mine for Andrews & Andrews. And the beauty of the modern world now is that it doesn’t matter if we are not in the same town or even the same country as
our client – everything can be done online and via e-mail so there are no geographical boundaries at all.”

Vaughn was alive with enthusiasm as he talked and Elise found herself getting swept away with it too. She really hoped that she could get at least one positive lead out of the conference; she desperately wanted to prove to Cole that his faith in her was not misplaced and a growing part of her really needed to please this beautiful man sitting beside her as well.

Arriving at the hotel, Elise was surprised to find that it had formerly been a large country house which had been converted into the hotel that it now was. She had expected a more generic box-type modern hotel and was immediately taken with the charm of the place.

The house was old, probably Georgian from the look of the construction, and had modern extensions to both sides. From what she could see there were also several adjacent blocks, likely bedrooms, but they had been built sympathetically and co-ordinated with the original construction perfectly. The grounds appeared to stretch for miles as did the entrance driveway which was screened by large conifers and trees on both sides. The overall effect was real country elegance and, up until today, Elise had had no idea that places like this even existed.

The plaque adorning the wall as they entered the main reception hall dictated that it was a five star hotel and as they stepped inside, she could see why. Everywhere she looked, there were members of staff, immaculately dressed and uniformed. Porters appeared out of nowhere to take their bags and they were personally escorted to an office which had been set aside for their use.

In the middle of the office was a large boardroom table with a dozen comfy chairs around it. On the centre of the table stood a tall cafetiere, silver teapot, milk and creamer jugs, sugar bowl and a plate of what looked to be freshly baked biscuits. There were also several bowls with various mints and sweets in them. Like a kid in a candy shop, Elise pounced on all of the items with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

“Do you think we have to pay for these, Vaughn? The biscuits look delicious and I’m starving!”

Vaughn laughed, “No Elise, you don’t have to pay for them - it’s part of the service. Have you really never been to anywhere like this before?”

“No – I’ve been in a couple of roadside travel hotels but that’s the extent of my experience. I never knew you could get places that were this luxurious.”

“Where have you been for the previous conferences then?” he asked.

“Well, usually they only last a day so we don’t get to see much of the hotel apart from the main training room and most of those look the same. I’ve never been anywhere with homemade biscuits before. Usually you just get those packets of cheap and cheerful ones that everyone tries to cram into their pockets to take home.”

“And you don’t?” he asked sardonically.

“Well.....I might have taken the odd one for the journey home...”she admitted reluctantly and then burst out laughing. “God, that makes me a thief, doesn’t it?”

“You and every other million or so people that attend these things. I think you’re fairly safe from arrest on this occasion.”

“Phew – that’s a relief. Although maybe a short jail sentence wouldn’t be so bad.” She added almost to herself.

Vaughn didn’t miss her comment though and frowned but wisely chose not to say anything. Instead he changed the subject.

“So,” he said, “the plan for today is to get all the promotional material ready for the stand. I have fliers, posters, price lists, payment plans, terms of agreement and everything else in my car. We need to make up information packs and organise the display. Hopefully that won’t take too long and then when the others get here, I’ll brief them on the plan for tomorrow.” He stopped and glanced across at her.