“Or maybe the wrong place at the wrong time,” she muttered as she dug out her suitcase. Edward’s things were still everywhere in the room, and she wasn’t about to start packing them. Instead, she carefully packed everything she thought she might need for a fortnight working as a translator. As she and Edward had been planning for a four-week honeymoon, she’d left quite a few things in the wardrobe after she was done.
Now I simply have to get myself and the suitcase to Bobby’s hotel without anyone noticing and ringing Mr. Jones, she thought as she wheeled her suitcase to the door. Whatever Edward thought, Mr. Jones was going to be furious. As there seemed to be no way to sneak out of the hotel, Janet simply took the lift to the ground floor and walked through the lobby with her suitcase, holding her head up high. No one spoke to her.
Once she was outside, she felt as if her heart were going to beat right out of her chest. The walk to Bobby’s hotel seemed to take a good deal longer than it had earlier in the day. The streets were busier and she was dragging her suitcase, but she knew she was also dragging her heels. They’d only been married for two days and Janet reckoned she and Edward were about to have their first fight as a married couple. The only thing that gave her hope was the knowledge that Edward would probably not want anyone to know that he knew Janet. Surely he wouldn’t shout at her in front of Bobby and his entourage.
The thought gave her the courage to keep walking, even as the hotel came into view. After a few deep breaths, she walked up to the door and pulled on the handle. The door didn’t open. She looked around and spotted the intercom. When she pressed the button, nothing seemed to happen.
After a full minute, while Janet wondered what she should do, a voice suddenly said “Yes?” making Janet jump.
She shook her head. She’d pushed the button. She shouldn’t have been surprised to get a reply.
“Yes, hello,” she said. “I’m here to see Bobby Armstrong.”
“Your name?”
“Janet Markham,” she replied, wishing she’d given Bobby a made-up name instead of her real one.
“Please wait,” the voice replied.
A moment later, the door opened. A man in a black suit stepped back to let her inside. “I’ll take your bag,” he said, his accent American. “Mr. Armstrong’s security team is waiting for you.”
“Great,” Janet muttered. She followed the man down a long corridor, wondering if she could faint convincingly. There was no doubt in her mind that Mr. Jones was going to be furious with her.
The door that the man opened was labeled “Conference Room Six.” Janet plastered a big, fake smile on her face as the man gestured for her to enter the room.
Mr. Jones, his younger associate, and Edward were all sitting at the long rectangular table. As the door shut behind Janet, Edward smiled at her.
“Surprise,” he said.
Janet flushed. She’d forgotten that they didn’t know that she’d spotted Edward with Bobby the previous evening. They might actually believe that the entire thing was just an amazing coincidence.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to sound surprised.
Edward’s eyes narrowed before he chuckled and stood up. “It’s wonderful to see you, too,” he told her as he walked around the table and pulled her into an embrace.
Painfully aware that they were being watched, Janet gave him a quick kiss and then pulled away. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Edward sighed. “It’s complicated,” he said.
“And it’s not your concern,” Mr. Jones snapped. “I don’t care what excuse you give, but you must tell Mr. Armstrong that you can’t accept the job with him.”
“I thought we agreed that I was going to handle this,” Edward said mildly as he held out a chair for Janet. “Have a seat,” he told her.
“There is nothing to handle,” Mr. Jones replied. “She doesn’t even need to sit down. She can’t take the job. It’s that simple. It might be easiest if we simply tell Mr. Armstrong that she wasn’t suitable.” He looked at Janet. “You can go,” he said dismissively.
Janet slid back in her chair and stared steadily at the man. “I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t take orders from you,” she told him.
The younger man gasped and then quickly looked down at the notebook on the table in front of him.
“I can have you on a plane back to the UK in half an hour,” Mr. Jones said. “Whether you want to go or not.”
“If you do that, I’m going with her,” Edward said in a conversational tone.
Mr. Jones shook his head. “Don’t try to threaten me.”
“It’s not a threat. It’s a fact,” Edward replied. “You already know that I’m deeply unhappy about the situation. You are simply making it worse. I don’t actually take orders from you either.”
Janet watched as Mr. Jones slowly turned bright red. He took a deep breath, and Janet imagined that he was counting to ten. She silently counted along with him, all the way to three hundred and six, before he spoke again.
“I can’t imagine you’re prepared to put your wife in danger,” he said.
Edward shrugged. “She seems quite capable of putting herself in danger when I’m not around.”
Janet thought about objecting, but Edward was probably correct.
“What are you suggesting?” Mr. Jones asked.
“I think it’s probably in everyone’s best interest if Janet is permitted to take the job that Mr. Armstrong has offered her,” Edward replied.
