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“Then invite me along,” he said. A shy man never got what he wanted.
“It’s with my family.…Still want to come?”
“Yes. What’s the occasion?”
“My sister’s birthday. My mum’s having a dinner party for her.”
Henry realized that Astrid thought she had taken a risk by inviting him. And he wasn’t about to pass it up. “I’d love to.”
“Good. I’ll see you at work tomorrow, Henry. Thanks for the lift.”
“You’re welcome. Drive safely, Astrid.”
She got in her car, and he backed up to let her leave in front of him. She was completely unlike any other woman he’d ever met and he was beginning to understand that was part of what attracted him to her.
Chapter 6
Astrid had had second, third and fourth thoughts about inviting Henry to her parents’ house for Bethann’s birthday, but she’d asked and he’d accepted, so there was no turning back now.
Henry hadn’t been in the office the past two days so she hadn’t seen him since she’d invited him. He’d sent her a text message the night before, asking what time to pick her up. Now she was standing in front of the mirror in her bedroom wishing that she’d turn into someone else. Someone who knew what she was doing with her life instead of a woman who just bumped along.
The bell rang and she sighed.
She walked through the flat and opened the door to find Henry standing there. He wore a striped button-down shirt with an open collar and a pair of dark trousers. He hadn’t shaved but the light beard on his jaw made him look even sexier than he normally did.
“Come in,” she said, stepping back so he could enter. “I have to grab my bag and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Take your time,” he said.
She went down the short hall to her bedroom and gathered her stuff as quickly as she could. When she came back Henry stood in front of the wall where she’d hung her family pictures.
“Is this Bethann?”
“Yes. When she passed her A levels. That’s my parents’ place, as well.”
“Everyone looks happy,” he said.
“We generally are,” she said. She’d taken that happiness for granted. Thought that because she had a sunny outlook, her life would follow that path. But experience had taught her otherwise.
“Ready then?”
“Yes,” he said, walking toward her. But instead of continuing on to the door, he stopped and pulled her into his arms.
He kissed her, and she shut her eyes, savoring that moment of closeness. A moment that passed all too quickly as Henry ended the kiss and then put his hand on the small of her back to lead her to the front door. He waited while she double-checked her lock and then they went downstairs.
A neighbor whose name she didn’t know snapped a photo of them and then asked to have his picture taken with Henry. This was his life, she thought as she snapped a photo and then returned the camera.
Henry’s mobile rang when they were in the car and on the A. He glanced at the caller ID.
“It’s my mum. I have to take it.”
“No problem,” she said.
He put the phone on speaker. “Hello.”
“Hi, Henry, it’s Mum. Have you had a chance to talk to your friends about the television idea?”
“Yes. They are taking the idea up the chain of command. I think we will hear something soon.”
“That’s good. What are you doing today?”
“A birthday party for a friend,” Henry said.
Astrid liked the respect and affection in his voice as he spoke to his mother. It was clear that their relationship was a close one. She continued to listen in on their conversation until he hung up.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“It’s fine. She dotes on you, doesn’t she?”
“Too much I think. But for a long time it was just the two of us, and she’s never stopped taking care of me.”
“That’s really sweet. When did she remarry? I think you said you had some half brothers.”
Henry talked and drove, weaving effortlessly through the traffic. His car had a powerful engine, and he drove fast but not recklessly. There was that sense of controlled power that she was continuously aware of with him.
“She married Gordon when I was nine. I’d started playing rugby and he was at a tourney we went to. They met there. My mum…she’s vivacious. Everyone is entranced by her when they meet her.”
“Much like her son,” Astrid said.
“I don’t know about that. I don’t think I’d look nearly as good in her hats,” he said very seriously.
“Are you having me on?”
He laughed. “I am. I got a lot of things from my mum.”
His Sat Nav with the Mr. T voice directed him off the motorway and toward her childhood home. She started worrying about how her parents would be with Henry.
They thought nothing of delving into someone’s past. And Henry…he certainly had had an interesting one. He parked on the street in front of the house, and she reached over to stop him from getting out.
“Yes?”
“Listen, everyone is going to be curious about you. Don’t take it personally. They are just that way.”
“It’s fine. I’m hoping maybe they’ll answer a few questions for me.”
“What about?”
“You. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me your secrets, and I think meeting your family will show me another side of you.”
Astrid shook her head. She wasn’t ready to tell him all the details of her relationship with Daniel. That she’d gotten pregnant and lost the baby—and her life and her dreams had changed. “I’m nothing special, Henry. I’m just like any other girl from Surrey.”
She reached for the handle of the door, but Henry stopped her this time. “You’re not like anyone else in the world, Astrid.”
There was something in his blue eyes that made her want to believe him. But she was afraid to trust. Afraid to believe in anything that this man had to say. Yet at the same time she was afraid that those barriers wouldn’t be enough to protect her. Because no matter what she tried to tell herself, she knew that she was starting to trust him.
That was why she’d invited him here today and why she let him take her hand in his as they walked up to the front door. Bethann answered the door and Astrid realized her older sister wasn’t too pleased with her, or her choice of date.
* * *
Henry took his a pint of Guinness outside to the deck, where he stood next to Astrid’s dad, Spencer. Spence had a thick Cockney accent and a tattoo of a dancing girl on his forearm that he’d picked up while he’d been in the Royal Marines in Japan. He was affable, but a quiet man who was confined to a wheelchair due to complications from diabetes.
He recognized Henry from his playing days, but had immediately confessed that he preferred football to rugby. The conversation was pleasant enough until Astrid’s sister Bethann came to join them.
“Can I have a word?” Bethann asked.
“Sure,” Henry said.
“Walk with me down to the summerhouse,” she said.
It was easy to see that this woman was a solicitor. Astrid was by no means a passive woman, but Bethann was every inch the protective older sister.
When they got to the summerhouse, Bethann took a seat on the red cushion and gestured for him to do the same.
“You look like you’re about to bring me up on charges,” he said.
“Don’t make fun. I’m sorry if you think I’m out of line, but I can’t just let you go without saying something.”
“Saying what?” he asked.
“My sister isn’t someone you should toy with. She has a family who cares about her, and I think you should know that my practice specializes in women’s rights.”
Henry felt a swell of compassion for Bethann. Clearly she was at least a little aware of the situation with Astrid’s previous employer, and Henry could tell that she was struggling to protect her little sister.
“I am so informed. I have no intention of harming your sister, Bethann. I am attracted to her, and if she decided she wants more from me, then there is nothing you can say that will stop me.”
“All men say that.”
“Even your husband? Did he make a promise to you and break it?” he asked.
He’d met Percy Montrose, Bethann’s husband, briefly before the other man had left to run to Tesco for more ice.
“Especially him,” she said. “But when he messes up he fixes it. And I want to know if Henry Devonshire is the kind of man who will do the same.”
“Is there really anything I can say that would convince you that I’m an upstanding man? You seem to have your mind made up about me.”
“I don’t. I’m sorry if it seemed that way. It’s just—listen, I love my sister and I don’t want to see her stuck—”
Henry put his hand on Bethann’s shoulder. “Me, either.”
She looked at him, her level stare probing and then she sighed. “Okay.”
“Henry?” Astrid called.
“In here,” he said.
“Percy’s back and we are ready to eat,” Astrid said.
“Great,” Bethann said, stepping around them and heading up toward the house.
“What did she want?”
“Just to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt you,” Henry said. “Whatever happened with Daniel…there was more than the ending of an affair, wasn’t there?”
“I can’t…I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay?”
Henry saw the distress he’d caused her with his question. It was the second time he’d seen the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Let’s go up to the house,” he said, letting his pursuit lie for the moment.
She put her arm through his as they walked up to the patio, where her mother had set the table. It was a beautiful day, the kind that they’d learned to relish in England since it was so often cloudy or rainy.
But today the weather was nice. Percy was a likable fellow who had a dry wit. He had no problems teasing everyone at the table including Henry. Astrid clearly liked her brother-in-law and flirted in an innocent way with the man.
“Are you a football man like Spencer?” he asked Percy.
“Not at all. In fact, Spencer used to be a big London Irish fan.”
“Used to be?”
“Don’t get around as good as I used to, so I miss a lot of games. Watching it on the telly isn’t the same,” Spencer said, shifting his wheelchair to intercept the conversation.
“No, it’s not. Are you managing well with the wheelchair today?”
“Listen to your doctor,” Spencer said by way of answer. “I didn’t and look where it got me. I’m afraid I’m a bit stubborn. May have passed that trait on to Astrid.”
“I have to say I think you have. She definitely knows her own mind,” Henry said.
“That she does,” Spencer agreed. “But we did love those games. You know my girls tried to get me to a few once I was in this damned chair but it was too much work and it broke my heart seeing them so exhausted from everything that I told them we weren’t going anymore.”
“Yes, he used to take both of the girls to the games when they were little. I believe that Astrid even had a poster hanging on her side of the bedroom.…Which player was that?” Percy asked.
Astrid flushed and Bethann swatted at her husband. “Enough out of you.”
“You had a poster on your wall?” Henry asked.
“It was of you,” she said. Everyone at the table was laughing.
“She had a huge crush on you when you first joined the team,” Mary said.
