Page 16 of Love, Academically
“Which is really hard,” she clarified.
“Oh right.” He looked down at the leaves lying sodden on the ground. “My family are the Dallimores, of Dallimore International. My full name is Rhys Aubrey-Dallimore. Aubrey is my mother’s name, Dallimore is my father’s.”
Silence.
Yeah, it didn’t matter what Lila thought of him, whether she was just after his money or not, because they weren’t dating. They weren’t even friends, not really. This was just a business arrangement.
“Who?” Lila turned to look at him, confusion creasing her pretty forehead. “What’s Dall-more International?”
Rhys blinked. He was so used to people knowing who he was, or at least having heard of the biggest construction company in Europe, it was actually quite refreshing that she didn’t. Or it meant that she didn’t watch the news.
“Dall-i-more,” he corrected. “It’s a consortium of businesses centred around the construction industry. Except Aubrey Legal, that my sister runs, which is, like it says, legal work.”
“Oh.” Lila’s eyes widened. “She sounds important.”
“She is and my cousins are too,” Rhys said, shoving his hands in his pockets and picking up the pace a little. Couldn’t she walk any faster?
“Wait, are you the only one who—” Her sentence finished in a high-pitched scream. She suddenly disappeared from Rhys’s peripheral vision, leg skidding out in front of her and arms flailing like windmills. Lila landed heavily on the ground on the ground with a damp squelch and another screech. “Ow! Oh my God, ithurts!”
Rhys looked down.
How had Lila Cartwright managed tofall over? Was she a child? She was lying on the ground, pale blue woollen coat splayed around her, hair tie doing absolutely nothing to hold back the mess of blonde hair getting damp on the ground.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she whined, sitting up and bending her leg gingerly.
God, this was embarrassing. If she couldn’t walk in a straight line on a normal day, how would she manage at the Dallimore dinner? Perhaps taking Lila as his date didn’t scream ‘success’ like he wanted it to, but was more of a liability.
“What did you do?” He grabbed her arms and hoisted her to her feet.
“I slipped on the leaves. No, no, no! Stop, stop!” she cried and he held completely still.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, searching her face.
Christ, what had he done?
“It’s my ankle, I’ve hurt my ankle,” Lila said, digging her fingers into his forearms for support.
“Should we take off your boot?” Rhys suggested, bending down and reaching for the zip. They weren’t too tall, so he couldn’t remonstrate that they were inappropriate for slippery autumnal leaves.
“Don’t you dare, Rhys Aubrey-Dallmore,” Lila screeched. “It’s really, really sore. Let’s just leave it on, yeah?”
“Dall-i-more,” he corrected under his breath. “Okay, okay. What do you want me to do?”
“Just,” she put her arm around his shoulder, “put your arm around me andhelp, Rhys.”
“Yes. Right, yes.” Rhys slid his arm around her waist, bending to make sure he got his shoulder under her arm properly.
Lila took a couple of stuttering hops before stopping to wipe her brow. He looked at her incredulously. Really? They wouldn’t get back to the office before nightfall at this rate, and by that point he’d probably be nearly dead from hypothermia.
With a huff, Rhys swept her up in his arms.
Lila
“Rhys! What are you doing? Put me down!” she shrieked.
She wasn’t usually the shrieking kind of girl, but she was hoisted so swiftly and confidently by Rhys that the high-pitched squawk just kind of, well, escaped.
“I’m carrying you, because it will take forever otherwise.”
