CHAPTER FOUR

Mark arrived back at home an hour later, a little tipsy and more than a little happy about his meeting. He sprawled out on his bed and picked up his mobile phone. Was it too soon to text her?

"Jeez, put your phone down, man," he muttered to himself, but couldn't prevent the wide grin from spreading across his face. Maybe this was what he needed at the moment. Take his mind of his damned brother and Eloise. He sighed deeply. There was no denying that he felt strongly for his brother's girlfriend, but he knew it wasn't lust. That urgent kiss had done nothing for him, just made him feel truly ashamed of himself. He liked Eloise, a lot; cared for her and probably did love her, but he knew that it was more of a brotherly love than anything else. He needed to put things right with her, as soon as he was able, but then his phone beeped. Mark opened it quickly and a smile spread across his face, all thoughts of Eloise gone.

"Hope you don't mind me texting so soon, but just wanted to say I had a really nice time."

Mark read and re-read the message several times. He sighed deeply and then text back.

"Me too. What you doing next week?"

It was a long time before she replied and he found himself panicking that she had changed her mind.

"Thursday is good for me. What do you fancy doing?"

Mark thought for a moment. Thursday he had a job on, but then again it shouldn't take too long. He could see her afterwards. Maybe suggest a meal at a restaurant. He could claim that he needed to book a table later than he wanted to. He should be all done by ten o'clock. He text her back, making the suggestion and was amazed when she agreed. He grinned and then immediately rang the restaurant to book the table.

The job was done quicker than he had anticipated and by half past nine he was sat in the restaurant bar, a bottle of wine in a cooler next to him. He watched the door nervously almost and when it crept up to ten o'clock and there was still no sign of her, he found himself pacing the bar area, his eyes flickering to the door every few minutes. By quarter past he was ready to give up; she still hadn't arrived and he headed for the door, annoyance quickly becoming blind fury. How dare she stand him up?

"Mark?"

He looked across and saw her crossing the road. She was wearing a short red dress and matching stiletto heels, with a cream wrap around her shoulders. Her hair was swept up in a chignon, with stray wisps around her face. She looked stunning and he caught his breath for a moment, but recovered himself quickly.

"You're late," he said, shortly.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I got held up with work and lost track of the time and then I couldn't get a cab. Is it too late to have our meal?"

"I suppose not," he said, his temper beginning to ease a little. He led her back into the restaurant and collected another bottle of wine from the bar. They sat down at their table and Dolly looked through her menu nervously. He noticed that her hands were shaking a little. His eyes narrowed and he looked across at her, concerned. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just been a bit of a hectic day," she replied, but didn't look at him. The waiter came over and took their order and she accepted a glass of wine from Mark, noticeably avoiding touching his hand. "Thanks."

They ate their meal in awkward silence and Mark tapped his fingers on the table, thinking perhaps he had made a mistake. Suddenly Dolly looked directly at him and reached across to touch his hand. He caught her hand without thinking and as soon as he did he felt her trembling again.

"I'm sorry I haven't been much company tonight," she said. "I've had an awful day at work and probably I should have cancelled, rather than put you through all of this."

"So tell me, what has happened to get you in such a state?" he asked. She smiled, a little sadly.

"Where to start?" she murmured. "Well, I started the day off having a blazing row with a colleague whose opinion I usually value a lot and finished it by having another blazing row with my boss, which ended with me walking out the door, telling him I didn't know that I would be coming back."

"Oh," said Mark, unsure what else he could say. She smiled then and met his eyes across the table.

"I need to talk to you before we go any further, Mark and you might not like what I have to say. But I want to do it properly. Are you busy tomorrow? During the day?"

"I guess not," said Mark. He found himself suddenly very on edge. "But I don't see why you can't just tell me now."

"I'd rather wait," she said, a little stiffly.

"Fine. I'll meet you in the bar tomorrow at twelve."

Dolly smiled at him a little sadly. She leaned across and kissed his cheek.

"Sorry for this evening," she said. "And thank you for agreeing to meet with me tomorrow."

Mark sat in the bar, waiting for her to arrive. Unlike the night before though, he didn't have long to wait. She went to the bar and bought her own drink and then headed across to the booth, sliding in across from him. He noticed that her hands were shaking even more than the night before and she was very pale.

"Mark, I need to be totally honest with you," she said. He leaned back in his chair and fixed her with acid green eyes.

"Go ahead," he said, a little coldly. He knew he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"You know I knew you before you turned up unannounced at my house," she said. He nodded, his eyes never leaving her face. "Well I knew more of you than just the biker stuff. I've been reading up on you, Mark. I know everything about what you get up to. It isn't a career choice I can ever approve of, but I'm not naive enough to say that I would expect you to give anything up for me. I just want you to know that I don't ever need to know about what you do."

"Is that it?" he asked, his tone surprisingly calm.

"No," she murmured. He looked across at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Mark, you should know that I take my work very, very seriously. Hence the late hours and the blazing rows with colleagues and even my boss. You may read things I have written and not be happy with them..." She broke off and met his eyes for the first time. Mark's eyes narrowed to slits.

"I don't want to see any stories about me or the people I care about, Deborah," he said. She shivered slightly at his tone and raised her eyebrows at the name he gave her.

She sighed deeply and then smiled at him, a dazzling smile.

"Good, well I'm glad we got that out of the way."

Mark looked thoroughly confused for a moment, but he gradually started to relax. They chatted some more, changing the subject tactfully from work onto other things and when he came away, he felt confused but happy. They had decided to take things slow; hang out together and have fun without becoming an official couple and it suited him.

Dolly watched him go and ran a hand through her hair. Her phone started to vibrate as soon as she got in the car and she rolled her eyes when she saw it was Adrian.

"You're playing with fire, Dolly. Literally," he said. She listened to him rant for another five minutes, before she interrupted.

"It'll be ok, Adrian. Look I'm sorry about yesterday. You know how I get sometimes."

There was silence for a moment and then she heard him take a deep breath.

"Honeybee, you know I love you, even with your little temper tantrums, but promise me you will be careful, ok? This is the most dangerous assignment you have ever taken on and he really isn't someone to mess with. I don't want you to get hurt."

"'K" she said. She hung up and then sat for a moment, thinking. She had been so close to telling him everything, before her nerve failed her and she changed the subject to his work. The night before she very nearly didn't turn up for their date, already thinking about pulling out. That had been what her row with Antony had been about. He had queried her safety after reading some of Adrian's notes and that had led to a row with Adrian as well. She had been furious with both of them for interfering in her story; but luckily, Antony ignored her tantrum in his office and had acted like nothing happened when she returned to the office that morning.

Her phone beeped and she flipped it open to see Mark's name.

"How about a day out tomorrow, if you're not busy?"

Surprised, she text back immediately that a day out would be lovely.

"I'll pick you up at ten tomorrow morning; I know where you live."

The message sent a shiver down her spine. She liked Mark, but he made her nervous at the same time. She didn't respond to the message and headed for the office, switching her phone off on the way.