Page 157 of He's the One

“I closed my eyes.”

“Oh God. The zip-line is coming up soon. If you don’t want to keep going, you can stop after that.”

“Are you going to stop?”

“No. It’s fun.”

“I wouldn’t gothatfar but I’ll keep going too.”

Col snuck a kiss and Theo flailed. “Don’t put me off!”

Dastardly had confessed to the fraud and was in prison. His wife and daughter had been given suspended sentences. Some, though not all, of the money they’d stolen had been repaid. Theo was relieved that Col had heard nothing more from Robert. Robert should have learnt a lesson, but he probably hadn’t. Narcissists like him were unlikely to change. They didn’t even realise how badly they’d behaved.

Theo had been surprised to get a letter from his mother a few weeks ago. It was as close to an apology as he was ever likely to get. He guessed she wanted him to understand that his father hadn’t been her choice and that it wasn’t just him who’d been unhappy in their marriage. Theo did feel a little sorry for her, but she’d allowed her bitterness to permeate her life and in doing so had made Theo’s and his father’s harder. She made no offer of reconciliation and Theo didn’t care.

“Slow down,” Col called.

“You can’t be talking to me,” Theo called back.

“You’ve suddenly sped up.”

“It’s an adrenaline rush.” It was impossible not to look down. Theo needed to place his feet carefully, but in concentrating so hard on that, he’d managed to not think about how high up they actually were.

“Zip-line,” Col said. “Let me check your clips. Remember what they said? Theo!”

He’d already launched himself. The longer he waited, the more nervous…Oh, this is fun.Theo looked around. He could see Asquith and the surrounding farms and the East Meadow.Feet up!He landed perfectly, running to a halt and unclipped so Col could follow him down. Theo spotted his father holding up his camera and went over to him.

“Did you get me not-screaming?”

“Amazingly, yes.” His father videoed Col who landed on his backside and Theo rushed over.

“Need your arse kissing better?” Theo whispered.

“Later.” Col brushed off the bark chippings. “Did you enjoy that?”

“I did.”

James landed on his backside as well. Theo was smugly pleased. The four of them followed the path to the next section.

“I could see East Meadow from up there,” Theo said. “They hardly look as though they’ve done anything.”

After the four of them had found more Roman artefacts, his father had decided to bring in the professionals.

“Ready for the next section?” Col asked.

“Ready for anything,” Theo replied.

“I’ve booked a base-jumping experience for us next week.” Col smiled.

“Anything except that.”

Epilogue

Fourteen months later

Col was in awe of what Theo had done over the last year. Well, in awe of him since the moment they’d met, though that was for different reasons, but what was happening tonight had to be Theo’s greatest achievement. Holding a winter ball at Asquith might have been considered a good idea by the marquess, but the fairy theme had been a harder sell. Theo had slaved over a detailed business plan, backed it up with evidence of interest from enough people, and now the night had come.

For one night only

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