‘Nick, I didn’t want it to end like this.’
Her lip trembled but then he almost made her jump out of her skin when he barked. ‘Enough. No tears. Damn it, it’d be the last straw. Drink your coffee.’
He walked out of the room without looking at her again and she heard him go up the stairs, presumably to his room. A minute later he came back with a jacket slung over his arm and, his face set, he said, ‘Are you ready to leave?’
She nodded, walking past him and then out of the house to the car. He opened the door for her and shut it once she was in her seat, striding round the bonnet with a face like thunder.
She felt herself shrinking when he joined her, the only thought in her head being, how was she going to get through the next three hours until she was home?
CHAPTER NINE
THE journey back to London was the sort of unmitigated nightmare Cory wouldn’t have wished on her worst enemy—not even Margaret. At least the mood Nick was in meant that it didn’t take as long as on the way down. In fact he cut a good half an hour off the time, and he hadn’t driven slowly before. Cory was sure she saw at least two or three cameras flash, but she didn’t mention it.
When they reached her flat he got out of the car and fetched her case from the boot, walking with her to the front door. ‘I’ll stand in the hall until you’ve gone upstairs and opened your door.’
‘You don’t have to.’ She had been fighting the tears all the way home and her voice was a husky whisper.
‘Just open the damn door.’
Cory was all fingers and thumbs with the key hindered as she was by the mist in her eyes, but eventually the door was open and she walked into the hall, Nick behind her.
‘Here.’ He handed her the case, his face cold.
She walked over to the stairs and then turned on the bottom step to face him. She couldn’t let him go like this, she just couldn’t. Her face tragic, she said, ‘I’m sorry. I mean it, I’m sorry.’
‘Go on up, Cory,’ he said flatly.
‘Nick, please—’
‘What the hell do you want from me, woman?’ he growled before an answering growl came from the direction of the downstairs flat.
Oh, no, please, not now. Cory cast agonised eyes towards the Wards’ flat just as Arnie went into full action, the sound of the big do’s savage barking horribly loud in the dead of the night, She could hear Nick swearing even above the din the German Shepherd was making, but before she could say anything the door to the flat opened and there stood Mr Ward holding on to Arnie’s collar, Mrs Ward standing behind him clutching what looked like a rolling pin.
Cory saw Nick shut his eyes briefly.
‘Cory, is that you?’ Mr Ward peered into the hall, his eyes enormous behind the strong glasses he wore. ‘Is everything all right?’ he shouted.
‘Everything’s fine, Mr Ward.’ She found she was yelling at the top of her voice to make herself heard.
‘Are you sure, dear?’ Mrs Ward screeched back.
‘Quite sure.’
Mr Ward was now in the process of trying to drag the dog back into the flat but Arnie was having none of it. He hadn’t had excitement like this for a long time.
It took both of the Wards to manouevre the dog in enough to shut their door, Mr Ward pulling with all his might and his wife getting in front of Arnie and using her ample body as a sort of battering ram. Nick stood watching them as though he couldn’t believe his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest and his face dark.
They had no sooner shut their door when, above the sounds of, ‘No more, Arnie!’ and ‘Quiet, boy, quiet! Lie down!’, a timid voice above Cory said, ‘Is everything all right down there?’
Cory turned round and stared into the faces of the young couple from the top flat who were hovering on her landing. ‘Everything’s fine,’ she said again, wishing the inoffensive pair to the ends of the earth. ‘Go back to bed.’
Something in her voice must have convinced them not to prolong the discussion because they vanished immediately.
She turned back to Nick, who hadn’t moved a muscle. ‘I didn’t want us to part like this.’ She stared at him but the hard, handsome face didn’t change. ‘I thought we could be—’
Don’t say friends.’