A/N Just thought I should let you all know that my posts may be a little erratic over the next couple of weeks. I'm on holidays and I'm going away for a few days here and there but please keep reading and reviewing and I'll post when I can.

Her Confession

Marissa closed up the phone and sat silently on the end of the bed going over everything that had been said. She knew she was over-reacting and yet she couldn't help it. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before in her life. And the simple fact was … she couldn't fight back. She had created the monster herself.

Ryan waited for her to say something … anything. When she didn't … he moved to the end of the bed to sit beside her and gently wrapped his arm around her pulling her close. He didn't know exactly what had happened but he knew that was ever it was it had upset her. He swallowed the lump in his throat waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. He pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around them both cocooning them.

Marissa laid her head on his shoulder taking comfort from his nearness. She didn't want to have to tell him what the call had been about. She was embarrassed. How would he look at her once he knew? He was so successful. Would he think that she was a failure?

Ryan could take the silence no more. If it was about Julie then he needed to know. Hell even if it wasn't about Julie, he needed to know. Anything that could cause such a sudden change in Marissa was important. "Ris? I gather it wasn't Seth?" Ryan said softly trying to lessen the tension that had suddenly invaded the room.

Marissa shook her head.

"Who was it then?" Ryan asked. Marissa obviously wasn't keen to talk about it so he was going to have to draw it out of her bit by bit. But if that's what it took then he'd happily spend the rest of the day and night doing it.

Marissa took a deep breath and answered. "Claudine."

"Who?" Ryan asked. He had no idea who Claudine was.

"She's the director of the fashion show at Chanel. That's where I was today … at the rehearsal for the show next week." Marissa explained, her voice flat. She hoped that he would leave it at that. She didn't want to have to reveal anymore to him.

Ryan didn't know whether to be relieved or not. The call obviously wasn't about Julie. But then whatever it was about still had upset Marissa "I'm sorry. I don't understand. What did she say that has upset you so much?"

"It doesn't matter." Marissa said and tried to shrug off his arm and change the subject. "Let's get back to what we were doing." she said running her hands over his naked body.

Ryan took her hands in his and stopped their movement. He couldn't think of anything but making love to her when she did that and he knew that there was more to the call than she was letting on. "Uh uh. What's the rest of it?"

Marissa looked up and stared guiltily into his eyes.

"Come on … remember … open and honest." Ryan said and instantly felt guilty himself. He was going to have to call Dan as soon as possible and tell him that he was going to reveal everything to Marissa about Julie. He hated the feeling of keeping something from her ... especially when he was trying to encourage her to do the opposite. He felt like such a hypocrite.

Marissa dropped her hands back into her lap and looked at him resignedly. She knew that she needed to tell him. It wasn't as if she was going to be able to keep it from him. He'd know soon enough anyhow. "You know that you said a while ago that you wouldn't mind if I didn't have a job?"

"Uh huh. But you insisted that you wanted to be financially independent." Ryan said smiling as he remembered the conversation. She had been adamant that she didn't want to end up like her mother, desperate for money and prepared to do anything to get it. And try as he might, Ryan couldn't get through to her that she would never be like Julie.

She waited a moment trying to compose herself. "Well I may not have the choice anymore."

"What?" Ryan didn't understand what she was trying to say.

Marissa turned to him and said straight out. "I was just sacked. They don't want me anymore."

Truthfully Ryan couldn't care less but he could see what the news had done to Marissa. "That's all right. I want you. And it means that we get to spend more time together." He said trying to make her feel better.

"How could you want me? You're smart and intelligent and rich and successful. I'm …" Marissa didn't know how to finish. She's always felt a little embarrassed that she'd never gone to college like her friends. But while she'd been able to command huge modelling fees it hadn't seemed to matter quite so much … but now … this made it even worse. "I've never been sacked before in my life."

"Well how stupid are they? But their loss is my gain." Ryan said and tried to laugh. "You said earlier that they sent you home because you were having trouble concentrating. Now you'll be able to concentrate on me full time."

Marisa looked at him and had to smile. She knew that he was trying to make her feel better and it just made her love him more if that was even possible. "Well you were the reason that I couldn't get anything right this morning." She teased. "So I guess that it is all your fault."

"All my fault? I don't think that I was the one running into people and tripping them up?" he smiled hoping to help to change her mood. "But did they really sack you because of that? Surely you've worked with them enough that they must know that you aren't usually like that? I think that they are being a little unfair. Where's their loyalty?" Ryan asked not liking the fact that they had caused Marissa to feel so bad about herself. He'd never thought that she had low self – esteem but something like this surely couldn't help.

Marissa hung her head. She may as well get it all out there now. "It wasn't just me messing up this morning. Although I'm sure that didn't help. But apparently they just had a press conference about the new line and …." She hesitated wondering how was the best way to tell him.

"And ..?" Ryan asked. "And what? No one turned up so they are cutting costs and had to let you go?"

Marissa shook her head. "The exact opposite. Apparently it was bedlam. Besides all the fashion press it appears that all the gossip columnists turned up as well. And every question was about you and me. No matter how hard they tried to turn the conversation back on to the clothes it just went straight back to us again. That's the main reason why they don't want me. If I turn up for the parade next week then they believe that the same thing will happen. That no one will take any interest in the clothes. And that's the whole reason for the parades. Claudine said that they may contemplate using me again in the future but it will be a long way off ... after all of this has died down."

Ryan was stunned. He hadn't imagined that their getting married would cause these sorts of problems for Marissa. "So help me … I think that I'd better call Annabel right now and tell her just what she has done. I know that it means that we'll have to cut the trip short but it seems that we have no more reason to be here anyhow if all you work commitments are over. I'll tell her to clear out her things and we'll go back to LA tomorrow." He thought for a moment. "Or do you think that I should just wait to tell her in person? If we fly home tomorrow then I could do it on Monday morning. I guess that nothing much is going to happen over the weekend anyhow?"

Marissa shook her head from side to side. She was going to have to tell him. She couldn't put it off any longer. It wasn't fair that Annabel should be blamed for something that she didn't do.

Ryan looked at her. "What's wrong? You think that I should just tell her over the phone? I'd probably rather tell her in person. It won't be pleasant but I think that it's the right thing to do." Ryan explained.

Marissa shook her head again. She didn't know where to start.

"What? You don't want to go home yet? I understand that but I can't very well leave her there running everything after what she's done."

"She didn't do it." Marissa said softly.

Ryan looked at her puzzled. Did Marissa know more about this than she was letting on?

"I think … I think … " Marissa looked at him and their eyes held for a moment and then she dropped her head and looked at her fingers that were clutched together. "I think that it's all my fault." She explained.

Ryan sniggered. "Don't be silly. How can it be your fault?" he asked.

Marissa looked back at him and said. "Last night … at the club … after you left … I told Sasha and Karl."

"What? Why?" Ryan was incredulous.

Marissa shrugged. "I don't know it just sort of came out. Sasha kept going on and on about the fact that I should hang around and find another guy because you wouldn't want anything more to do with me and I guess I just wanted her to shut up. I tried to make her understand that I didn't want anyone but you and I just … I had to make her understand why you were so special to me and I …. It just came out."

Ryan sat there stunned.

"Karl brought me home but I have no idea what happened to Sasha. I guess that maybe she told someone." Marissa explained.