Page 99 of Tabloid Princess

“Okay. But that’s not what’s important here.” I needed to get to the important bit. I’d left it a little late. Maybe I should have started this conversation about half an hour ago. I’d thought short, sweet, and last minute would work in my favour—now I wasn’t so sure.

“And is this friend coming for coffee? Just stopping in for a chat?” Nana pushed.

“Mm.” I shrugged.

Daisy took control, bless her. “Mummy, is this a play date? Because you know the rules. It’s important to put away toys you don’t want to share.”

A wild burst of laughter thrust from my lips.

“So the thing is.” I pulled a face, more of a wince really. “I’d rather no one knew about the friend. It’s important to me that I don’t keep secrets from you both, but it’s also important no one else knows.”

Nana’s gaze sharpened. Daisy looked at me blankly.

The doorbell rang. I’d left it too late.

“Guys, please can you try to be cool?”

Nana looked affronted.

Leaving them in the kitchen, I walked to the front door. What I wanted to do was bang my head against the wall.

What had I been thinking?

Crazy. Stupid.

I opened the door to Bill who took one look at my face and then chuckled. “Miss Lawrence.”

“Honestly, do you never have a day off?”

“Not today. He didn’t want me to do this, but I do need to come in and sweep the place.”

I nodded and opened the door. My stomach dropped at the word he. “Sensible. The basement on this place is huge, I’d be able to keep him locked up for days.”

“That’s what he said.”

I harrumphed a nervous laugh.

Synchronised thoughts—dangerous. Crazy. Stupid.

I took him to the kitchen. Nana’s expression dropped, which told me all I needed to know. The old woman was a sharp as a brand-new carving knife.

Bill looked at the back door and the tiny garden it led to.

The air moved behind where I stood and I turned, my lungs exhaling an, “Oh.”

Because there he was. Bright and beautiful, filling the doorway to my small kitchen. Dressed in jeans and a faded blue T-shirt, with a casual jacket in his hand, he looked nothing like the man who’d served me smoked salmon in a private enclosure at the National Gallery, or had stood in my lounge days before, utterly gorgeous in his dark suit. How had he walked up the garden path without creating a mob effect? He’d told me that sometimes people didn’t believe he was places purely because they didn’t expect to see him. A trick of the light, a confused thought.

All I could hope was Mrs A was watching the telly and not staring out through the net curtains.

“You were supposed to wait until I gave the all clear,” Bill reprimanded; his tone dry.

“I prefer to keep you on your toes,” Oliver said as he stepped further into the room, turning his attention to Nana and Daisy. He gave them one of his widest smiles. “Hi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Nana’s mouth hung open. “Uh.”

“Nana.” I hissed, glaring at her.

She fumbled for a moment and then got from her chair and bobbed a curtsey.