The Bridesmaid's Royal Bodyguard by Liz Fielding

Author:Liz Fielding
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2017-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Fredrik looked down at their hands, then up at her as if unsure what to say or do. Ally wasn’t sure, either, only that he’d known when she needed to talk. Now she felt the same need in him and no matter how bad it was, she would be there. She would listen. She would do her best not to judge.

“Walk me to my room, Fredrik.”

For a moment she thought he was going to make excuses, go through the whole protocol thing again, but then his grasp tightened and he walked her out of the white drawing room, past a blank-faced footman and down the seemingly endless corridors without a word.

She didn’t wait for him to do his “gentleman” bit but pushed the door open, drawing him in after her, closing it.

“I went to see him,” she said, before he could speak. “The boy in the car park.”

If the sudden switch in subject threw him he didn’t show it. He was showing nothing ... Then he said, “On your own?”

“He’s an accountant. Very respectable.” Her hand still in his, she turned and walked across to a sofa set before the fireplace, only letting go to kick off her shoes and curl up into the corner of the sofa. He bent, lit the gas fire but when he joined her on the sofa he kept a safe distance. “He has an office in Ayesborough,” she said. “The day after you left I phoned and made an appointment.”

“Did he know it was you?”

“I gave his receptionist my name and address. He was expecting me.”

Fredrik, concentrating on her story now, lifted his knee to the cushion and turned to face her. “What did he say?”

“Nothing.” She swallowed, remembering the shock of it. “He just stood there looking at me, tears running down his cheeks.”

“He was afraid you were going to make trouble?”

“No.” It hadn’t been like that. “They were tears of relief, I think. The chance to finally apologize, explain.”

“He could have done that any time in the last few years.”

“It’s hard, though, isn’t it? It would have taken a lot more courage than he had to walk up to my front door and knock. To get past my mother. And the longer you wait, the harder it becomes.”

Fredrik managed a half-smile. “She disapproved of his sister, I recall. Your mother.”

“She disapproved of the whole family.”

“With good reason.”

She shrugged, acknowledging the truth of that. “She has high standards.”

“She’s a good mother. You’re very lucky.”

“Yes.” She knew it and her heart broke for whatever had happened between him and his own mother.

“So what did this respectable accountant have to say for himself?”

“It seems that he’d overheard his sister talking on the phone. She and her little clique planned to get me drunk and, once I was sufficiently out of it, the boys were going to be invited to draw lots to do me the favour of relieving me of my virginity.” She pulled a face so that he wouldn’t see her shiver. “My stupid fault for thinking I could –”

“You were not to blame, Ally,” he said, sharply.

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