Can't Buy Me Love

Chapter Eighteen

With a sigh of pleasure, relief and a little sadness, Marina made her way to the kitchen and cracked open a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. She felt like a child at Christmas, all pent up excitement, but with no avenue for releasing it. She was tempted to run around the block or jump up and down. The adrenaline was making her nauseous, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She’d have to wait until tomorrow, then she could go to the public library and use their computer to email Sara, find out where in the world she was and try to rekindle the friendship she’d had to walk away from without as much as a goodbye.

It was a dark evening, but that wasn’t uncommon for February, and particularly February in Yorkshire. It did rain here...a lot! But the compensation was great scenery, friendly people and a gentle slumbering way of life.

It was at that moment that she really regretted not getting a computer, though she’d missed one over the months, now she was pent up and ready to explode, but Ben and the other FBI agents had warned her that her activity could flag up her whereabouts, and an IP address was traceable. If the scumbags threatening her far from innocent father had found her, they’d have done whatever it took to make her father stop testifying. She shuddered at the thought.

With the radio on she stayed at the kitchen table, and drank her wine, one glass then onto two as she started to rifle through the documents that Ben had left for her. A slow but steady route through her life, from disaster to disaster.

At first she didn’t hear the knock at the door. It was a gentle tap, but standing she saw there was a silhouette through the glass. Looking back to the table she saw Ben’s scarf sat on the seat he’d used, so she grinned, reaching for it. He’d miss his flight if he wasn’t careful.

Pulling open the door she laughed, holding out the item, “lucky you hadn’t got as far as the airport Ben!”

The words froze on her lips as instead of the redheaded ruddy face of Ben Avis, she was confronted by the beautiful and perfect face of Nathan Hughes, or rather Adam Parkin.

                “Guess again.”

Time stood still for a moment, a huge part of Marina immediately responded to him, yearned for him, desired him. And the rest of her wanted to reach out and slap him across the face. The latter won, but he intercepted her hand with his fingers, gripping her wrist firmly and the contact caused her to dissolve, so many emotions wafting over her.

She snatched her hand back and stared at him, looked at him in shock. Unable to believe that he was here, in her home. She’d hoped that physical pain would explain a little of what she was feeling, not that it would compare to all that he’d landed at her door, but it was all she had, and he’d intercepted it. And now her defences were down. She fought the quake threatening to overtake her weakening legs.

                “How did you find me?” She mustered enough voice to ask him.

He paused from drinking in the vision of her to answer, “our darling Ben did a great job in hiding you, and had great pleasure in it. I’ve been on his tail since you disappeared. All reference to you was erased, I couldn’t find any aliases, but I didn’t stop looking.  And as predicted, cos the man’s an idiot, as soon as I heard about your father I knew he’d contact you. Then he booked a flight to London, I flew ahead of him, followed him here. It wasn’t hard.”

She couldn’t stop staring at him for a moment; she still couldn’t believe he was here, in front of her. She honestly thought she’d never see him again...hoped that, but feared it too, in equal measures. Now he was here her mind was a jumble, fear, anxiety coursed through her veins.