Chapter 8

Dave gave her hand another quick squeeze in time with the on-off movement of his lips, in a blink-and-you’d-miss-it smile. A smile that didn’t reach high enough to take the shadows out of his eyes. But then he let go of her hand and sat back in his chair and picked up his water glass and drained it, placing it back down with a definitive thud.

What on earth was that?

“Finish your dinner. We have a busy day tomorrow meeting with the lawyer to organise the legal paperwork. Rather than drive, I’ve taken the liberty of organising a flight from Inverness to Edinburgh.” His business-like tone and abrupt change of subject were disquieting and left her with far too many questions unanswered.

She sighed. He was so near yet so far away, so very far away.

"Okay, no problem.” Lea wanted to know more about his relationship with his ex. She had idolised them as a couple, seeing them as a match made in heaven. Feeling jealous of the love they’d shared, hoping one day someone would love her in the same way. But finding out their relationship might not have been as open and wonderful as she had imagined made her understand why Dave was so reluctant to commit to anyone else.

But Lea had personal experience with the tricky question of how well you could know anyone, even someone like Dave Borthaman. Didn’t her childhood circumstances prove that? Her father had always been a difficult man, prone to angry outbursts and regular violence—especially when on drugs or drunk—but who would have thought he was capable of the crime he’d eventually committed—driving into a tree at full speed to kill the family he’d purported to love?

“The legal stuff..." She chewed her lip for a moment, desperate to get her mind off the accident that had killed her mother and changed her own life forever. “You mean a prenup, right?”

“Prenups are commonplace these days. Please don’t be offended by my desire for one. You have your own assets to consider—your cleaning business, for example.”

Lea gave a self-deprecating snort and picked up her champagne glass. “Yeah, right. My assets hardly compare to yours. You have paintings all over the UK and Europe. My office is basically on my phone. I decided to give up my Edinburgh office after your grandfather died to come back and help Aunt Elsie. It seemed easier to work from here until everything was settled with the estate.”

“I’m sorry you’ve been so inconvenienced,” he said, looking at her with a concerned frown.

“I had no idea you’d given up your office.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “I was glad to come home. Flossie was missing your grandfather, and Aunt Elsie was finding it hard to do everything on her own.”

“Your business is doing well, though, isn’t it? You’re running at a decent profit?”

Lea was not going to admit to him or to anyone how close to the wind she sailed at times with her business. Failure was not an option. A nightmare that haunted her, yes, but not an option. Failure would prove she was nothing but a product of her chaotic childhood—a child of addicts. Her parents had had no ambition beyond the goal of sourcing enough alcohol and drugs for their next binge.

Owning her own cleaning business gave Lea power and control, and God alone knew how little of that she’d had in her childhood. “I do okay.” She put her glass back down again.

“How okay?” His gaze was as direct as a laser pointer.

Lea shifted in her seat and lowered her eyes to the remains of her meal on her plate. “Dave, it’s not always easy to get reliable workers. It takes time to build up trust and to know they’re always going to do the right thing by me and the people I get them to clean for.” She met his gaze and continued. “They’re cleaning people’s homes where valuables and personal effects are not always under lock and key, and often the clients are not at home when my staff are there.”

A frown brought his ink-black eyebrows together. “Don’t you do background checks on them first?”

“Some of the young people I employ wouldn’t pass a background check,” Lea said. “They need someone to give them a break for once. To not always be expecting them to slip up or fail. I believe in showing trust first and teaching them some skills, hoping it triggers the desire in them to make better choices.”

The sort of choices she wished her parents had made.

“Admirable of you, but you’re setting yourself up for guaranteed disappointment. I know what? I've been there before.” His tone matched his cynical expression.

Lea hoisted her chin a fraction. “My vision for my business is not just about making a big profit. It’s about making a difference in people’s lives. Lives that others have judged and found wanting. But I know how powerful it can be when someone believes in you. Someone who sees something in you that no one else does. It’s…it’s transformative.”

His eyes moved over her face like a searchlight for a long moment, and she had to fight not to shift her gaze.

“Is that because of what happened in your childhood?” His tone had lost its cynical edge. “My grandparents giving permission for you to come and live here with your great-aunt?”

“It’s getting late.” Lea pushed back her chair, rose from the table, and began to gather the plates. Next he’d be asking her to spill all about her miserable childhood and what she was determined not to do. Thankfully, privacy laws had prevented the Borthmans from hearing too many of the gory details about her early years—details Lea dearly wished she could forget. “I think I can hear Flossie asking to be let out.”

Dave placed a hand over her forearm as she reached for his plate. “I don’t want you to wait on me, Lea. I want you to talk to me. There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and we need to know it if we’re going to make our relationship appear genuine.”

She glanced at his hand on her arm and gave him a pointed look. “Do you mind?”

He released her hand, his tone and expression softening. “I don’t know all the details, but I know your background was difficult. It must have been; otherwise, you wouldn’t have ended up living here. I think it’s great how you’ve taken charge and started your own business. But don’t be too proud to ask for help if you need it.” He rose to his feet and pushed in his chair, adding, “Lea, there’s one other thing I think I should tell you. We’ll have to get married abroad soon. According to Scottish law, there’s a twenty-eight-day waiting period before we can get a marriage licence, and I don’t want to lose any more valuable time.”

“Married abroad?” Lea opened and closed her mouth. “Please tell me you’re not thinking of Vegas and an Elvis impersonator. Like Mary and Tyler, seriously? This is not a joke.”

He gave a crooked smile that made something in her chest ping like a latch springing open. “No. But if you’re not keen on an impersonal register office, how about a small and simple ceremony on a beach in Hawaii?”

Hawaii. The land of bikinis, beaches, and beautiful bodies.

Oh, fuck no!