Page 75 of The Bodyguard

“Lena…”

Her head spins around, her eyes narrowing as she stares at me. “I don’t want you here.”

I don’t believe her. “Can we just talk? Please?”

“What happened between us, it was wrong…”

“Don’t say that.”

“It was wrong.”

She holds my gaze as she says the words but I still don’t believe she means them. I can see it in her eyes. She’s lying, to herself as much as me.

“I think it’s best, for everyone, that you go. And I promise, I won’t tell my father I saw you. I won’t tell him you were here.”

It doesn’t matter. He already knows, or it won’t be long until he finds out, but I don’t tell her that.

“I just want to put it all behind me now, surely you can understand that?”

I can. Of course I can. But at the same time, this isn’t over. It’s not over. It can’t be over, and she needs to understand that.

“Let’s just talk, Lena. What harm can it do?”

She takes a deep breath and drops her head, her arms finally falling away from her chest. “You shouldn’t be here.” She raises her gaze, and this time when her eyes meet mine they’re softer. Warmer. There’s definitely something there. Definitely. But she’s fighting it, whatever it is.

“I’m not leaving. Not yet.”

I can’t. I’m not leaving without her. I won’t, leave without her.

“Just give me a few minutes. Please.”

She picks up her mug of tea and walks over to the back door, opens it and steps outside, out into the late afternoon sunshine. I follow her, leaning back against the wall and watching as she crouches down to check on a pot of vibrant blue cornflowers.

“I’ll give you a couple of hours.” She stands up and comes over to me, cocking her head as she sips her tea. “That’s it. Two hours.”

It’s more than I was expecting, to be honest. Now I can only hope it’s enough. “Thank you.” I throw her a smile but I don’t get one back. Understandable. She’s wary of me now, which is also understandable. But she shouldn’t be. She should trust me. I might be the only one shecantrust now.

“Where are you staying?” she asks, sitting down at a small round trestle table. I stay where I am, keeping a distance I think she wants.

“A hotel, near the sea front.”

“Okay.” She stares down into her tea, her fingers tapping lightly on the table top, something I don’t think she’s actually aware that she’s doing. It’s a nervous reaction, I know these things. I can spot them a mile off, it’s what I was trained to do. And then she looks at me, and I feel my heart start to pound because it looks like she wants to say something, but then suddenly decides against it. And I feel almost deflated. “You should go now. I’ll meet you here, in an hour.”

She scribbles something down on the back of a napkin that had been left on the table, and hands it to me.

“It’s a great little restaurant.” She stands up and heads towards the back door. “And the food’s really good.”

I throw her another smile. Still nothing in return.

“You can leave through the back gate,” she shouts over her shoulder as she goes back inside, closing the door behind her.

Yeah. This is going to take time. And that’s something that might be against us.

Eighteen

Lena

I can’t believe he’s here; can’t believe he came looking for me. That in itself should tell me something, shouldn’t it? I’m just – I don’t know how to process this. I don’t know how tofeelabout this. About him. About his being here. Part of me is angry, and another part is stupidly happy. Relieved, even. Grateful to have him back in my life? I wouldn’t go that far. I just know that a whole mess of emotions are now filling my head and I’m finding it hard to concentrate.

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