Page 47 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

Gathering her courage, Ella chose a flight for early the next week and punched in her credit card details. A confirmation number flashed up on her screen and she closed her eyes, tears coursing down her cheeks.

It was done. She was going to the UK where, yet again, she’d have to start over. Alone.

She should be used to it by now.

Ella closed her laptop, looked at the scads of crumpled tissue on her couch and floor and told herself to clean up, to pick herself up. But she didn’t have the energy to do anything right now. She just wanted to sit here and mourn what could’ve been.

Grieve for the life she could envision but couldn’t have.

Micah sat on the bench under his favourite oak tree, his head tipped back to look at the moonlight filtering through the leaves of the trees. It was a perfectly still night, hot and warm, and he couldn’t hear a frog or a cricket. It was as if the world was holding its breath...

He certainly was.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly midnight. His shoulders slumped, and he checked his phone again, but it remained stubbornly silent. After running around all day, making offers and signing documents, he’d texted Ella around ten, asking if she could do him one last thing and meet him at Hadleigh House.

She’d oh-so-formally replied that she’d be there in an hour. He had Jabu waiting to meet her and bring her to him, but so far he’d heard nothing from either his butler or the love of his life. She wasn’t coming; he’d lost her. His gamble hadn’t paid off.

Micah cursed and bent over, holding his head in his hand. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

‘It’s late, Micah. I can’t think why you’ve asked me to come here at this time of night.’

His head shot up. He looked down the path and there she was, moonlight touching her dark hair. He took in the details, drinking her in. She wore another of her simple sundresses and beaded flip-flops. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail but her face was still shadowed.

He needed to see her eyes, to look into her beautiful face. He needed to do that now and...when he was eighty, ninety...hers was the first and last face he’d want to see.

Micah picked up the tablet that lay on the bench next to him, hit a tab and the garden lit up, transforming into a wonderland of light and shadow that was fantastically romantic. Ella looked around and nodded. ‘Your house is even prettier at night than it is in the day. But I still don’t know why I’m here.’

How to tell her? Micah picked an opening line, considered it and discarded it. Frankly, words were currently impossible, so he patted the bench beside him. She reached him, sat down and crossed one luscious leg over the other, tipping her head back to look up into the branches of the tree. ‘Switch off the lights, Micah.’

He killed the lights and immediately heard the sound of a bullfrog croaking, the buzz of a mosquito, the call of a nightjar. Ella’s perfume, the aroma light and fresh, hit his nose and his soul settled. She was here, where she was meant to be.

He had to say something so he settled on the easy stuff. ‘I transferred the money to your account today.’

‘Thank you.’ Judging by her still cool tone, he knew that she’d assumed he’d paid her just two hundred and fifty thousand. She’d get a shock when she saw that her account had been credited with an additional five hundred thousand. The amount didn’t matter, though; he’d give hereverythingif he could.

‘And Thadie and Anna love your ideas for the wedding.’

‘So Thadie is going to have her wedding at Cathcart House?’ Ella asked him, but her voice still didn’t hold much excitement.

‘She is. She’s been trying to call you.’

Ella shrugged. ‘I turned my mobile off. I didn’t want to talk to anybody.’

‘I think you should talk to her because Thadie wants to know whether she can give your number to Anna; apparently she’s looking for a consultant, someone with flair and innovation. Someone who could, possibly, take over her business some day.’

He was gratified by the shock on her face, the hint of delight he saw in her eyes. But it quickly faded and he cursed himself for hurting her so badly that she couldn’t take pleasure in a well-deserved opportunity.

‘I’m going to the UK, Micah, I booked my ticket.’

He couldn’t bear it. ‘Don’t go.’ He choked out the words.

‘Why should I stay?’

He hauled in a deep breath. ‘Don’t go because I messed up, El.’

‘I’m going because you can’t give me what I need.’ Ella leaned forward, her forearms resting on her thighs.

‘I don’t think you are broken, Ella, and I don’t consider you someone who needs to be fixed. I’m in awe of who you are, what you’ve achieved, how you’ve handled being battered by life. Life might’ve put you through the wringer lately, but you are far stronger than you give yourself credit for. Far braver, too.’

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