‘You don’t understand. Harry Paxton saved my life.’
‘I know that. So you feel you have a debt of honour to him. That’s admirable. But are you prepared to throw away a chance of real happiness over it? If anyone deserves a break, it’s you.’
He didn’t reply.
‘In addition to which, I’m guessing that this Cairo trip was all about paying the debt back. So how much more do you think you owe this Paxton guy?’
Ben smiled faintly. ‘I didn’t exactly pay it back. Not quite.’
‘Get back to the house, Ben. Pick up the damn phone and talk to her. You need to go with your heart.’
There, she thought. She’d said it. Just about the hardest thing she’d ever had to say to anyone. She wanted to reach out and hold him, tell him how she really felt about him.
‘What’s wrong with your eye?’ he said suddenly.
She reached up quickly and wiped away the tear that was clinging to her lashes. ‘Nothing. Just a speck of dust.’
‘Let me have a look,’ he said, bending towards her.
She turned away. ‘No, it’s all right.’ She took a tissue from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.
‘Come back with me to the house,’ he said. ‘I need to talk to Jeff. Apologise to him for the way I’ve been acting up. And you can rinse out that eye.’
‘Think I’ll stay a while. I like being alone here.’
‘You’re sure? Know your way back?’
‘Found you here, didn’t I?’
As he was leaving, he reached down and touched her shoulder gently. ‘I’m glad you’re my friend.’
He walked away, the dog trotting along at his heel.
Brooke watched him slip away into the trees. Once she was alone, she buried her face in her hands and cried.
Ben walked into the office to find Jeff sitting at the desk filling out some paperwork.
He came right out with it. ‘Jeff, I’m sorry I’ve been acting like a prick the last couple of days.’
Jeff grinned. ‘Yeah, you have. But I forgive you, mate.’
‘I need something to do.’
‘You can finish this paperwork. I’ve been breaking my balls over it all morning. How’s that for a punishment?’
‘That’ll do to begin with,’ Ben said. As he was about to start leafing through the paperwork, his mobile started ringing from the corner of the desk where he’d abandoned it earlier.
‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’ Jeff asked.
‘It’s her.’
‘Better get yourself a new SIM card. Because otherwise you might as well toss that phone in the river, if you’re never going to answer it again.’
‘I don’t know what to say to her.’
‘For Christ’s sake.’ Jeff snatched the phone up. ‘Le Val.’ He listened for a moment, glanced at Ben. ‘Sorry, he’s not available right now.’
There was a pause as Jeff listened to the caller talking. Ben could just about make out the sound of their voice. It was a woman. Zara. He knew it.
‘OK, hold on.’ Jeff pulled the phone away from his ear and covered it with his palm. ‘She says it’s extremely important.’
‘Jeff…don’t do this to me.’
Jeff shook his head. ‘You don’t get it. It’s not Zara. It’s someone called Kim Valentine.’
‘Who?’
‘Says you know her.’
‘I don’t know any Kim Valentine.’
Jeff thrust the phone at him. ‘You’d better talk to her.’
Ben reluctantly clapped it to his ear. ‘Ben Hope.’
‘We need to talk,’ said the woman’s voice on the other end.
‘I don’t know you.’ But, even as he said it, he was thinking he’d heard that voice before.
‘Yes, you do,’ she said. ‘You just don’t know it yet.’
Then Ben was holding a dead phone. ‘She hung up,’ he said to Jeff.
Suddenly it rang again in his hand. He answered it. This time it was a video call, and Ben stared at the woman’s face on the tiny screen.
The image was clear. There was no mistaking it. She looked a little different-now the dark hair was scraped back tight in a ponytail, and she wasn’t wearing makeup. But she was definitely the same woman.
‘Now you know,’ said Kim Valentine.
It was Kerry Wallace. The woman he’d rescued on the beach in San Remo.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ben couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He shook his head in bafflement.
‘We need to talk,’ Kim Valentine said again. ‘There are things you need to know.’
He just stared, said nothing.
‘I know this comes as a surprise for you,’ she said. ‘But it’s vitally important that you hear what I have to tell you.’
‘What’s this about, Kerry? Or Kim, or whatever your name is today.’
‘Forget Kerry. Kerry never existed.’
‘Which means you set me up,’ he said. ‘The whole thing on the beach was a fake.’ Now he understood the reason he hadn’t been able to find her at the hotel. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘That’s what I need to talk to you about.’
‘Then I think you’d better start talking right now.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s complicated. Better that we meet in person. Face to face.’
‘You want to talk to me face to face, you come here and explain yourself. I’m not going all the way back to San Re mo.’
She shook her head. ‘We’re not in Italy any more. We’re in Paris.’
‘Why Paris?’
‘There are reasons.’
‘Who’s we?’
‘My associates. You’ve already met them. One of them is still wearing the neck brace you put him into.’
‘I should have broken his spine,’ Ben said. ‘Maybe I will.’
‘You’ll feel differently when you hear what I have to say,’ she replied. ‘So, will you meet us? I guarantee you won’t regret it.’
Ben hesitated. ‘You’ve already tricked me once. What makes this any different?’
‘I’m sorry it had to be that way, but I had no choice.’
‘I have one,’ he said. ‘I can just end this conversation right now.’ He switched off the phone, and the screen went dark.
‘What was that all about?’ Jeff asked as Ben started pacing up and down the office. Ben didn’t reply. He stopped pacing and gazed at the phone in his hand. He had to know more.
He called back.
She answered on the first ring. ‘Knew you’d call back.’ There was a note of relief in her voice as well as triumph.
‘All right. I’m listening.’
‘How fast can you get to Paris?’
He looked at his watch. It was approaching midday. ‘I can be there this afternoon. Three hours, give or
