Admit You Love Me (Irresistible Billionaires 2)

“What is it?”

“Open it.” She did and peered inside. Thirty thousand pounds. All hers, no strings attached. Her face immediately twisted.

“Niall.”

“It's yours. You won it. It's what the watch was worth, and you won the watch. The appraiser swindled you out of your money and I made you give the watch back because you thought it was an heirloom. The money is yours. Take it.”

She still looked reluctant. “Eddy, for once. This is a gift, please take it.”

She looked down, closing the envelope. “Thank you,” she finally said.

“Pay back whoever you owe and use the rest on yourself.”

She walked up to the house without a word. One of these days I was going to get her to take my gifts without complaining. I would be walking into the house with her and she would never push me away when I told her that I wanted her again. One of these days. Soon.

26

Edwina

Riley was nowhere in sight when I opened the door, thank God. If he was and managed to see Niall's car, he would've come running out, demanding to be taken for a ride. Niall, bless him, wouldn’t tell the boy no. How long before Niall figured out the truth if that happened? I checked the window to make sure that Niall had left. I still couldn't believe it even though we had just had the conversation. What was the man thinking? He didn't mean it. He wouldn't last a day let alone as long as it took for something meaningful to grow between us. Look at you, I thought, actually thinking about it.

It wasn't going to happen.

That was one thing that I absolutely could not allow, under any circumstances. It didn't matter how much I wanted it. Riley hung in the balance and he was too precious.

I walked through the house calling for Prue and Riley.

“We are upstairs,” Prue called. I went up the stairs and opened the door to Riley's room where the two of them were seated on the floor, Prue with an open book on her knees and Riley curled up next to her looking into

the pages. He jumped up when he saw me, rushing up for a hug. I cuddled him to my chest. I needed to stop leaving him so often. I missed him so much.

“What were the two of you up to without me?” I asked him. “Thank you so much for watching him,” I said to Prue. One of the things I had never compromised on was Prue’s salary. I had found her here on the estate when I married Russell. She was like family and didn’t seem to have any of her own. I felt like she was partly my responsibility since truly, I didn’t know what I would do without her.

“Not a problem at all,” she said getting up off the floor. It was. It really was. It wasn't fair leaving Prue with my son all the time to go gallivanting in London. That chapter was closed now. Well, firstly, Niall was in Belshire now. Not that I ever prevented him from leaving. If he did want to see me, it was according to my schedule. I thought about him trying to get a room in the village. I thought of him trying to sit and have a conversation with one of the people who lived here; simple living country folk with whom he had nothing in common. He had a bachelor pad in New York? Well, they had watched Friends on telly. He was a jet setting young Earl? The furthest place they had been on holiday was Cornwall.

What on Earth was he thinking? He was going to be miserable. He was going to hate it and hate me for ‘making’ him come here. To hell with it. It was his life and if this was what he wanted to do with it, then more power to him. If anything, it would probably give me a few laughs here and there watching him try to live below his usual stature.

I took the book and took over reading the story to Riley. After a couple of stories, we went out for a walk around the grounds. I would miss the land if I had to sell it off. The grounds were always so tranquil and having an energetic young child, the wide-open space was great for him to run around and tire himself out. It was everything Riley had known his whole life. I couldn’t see us in a tiny city flat but who knew? After the money that Niall had given me had run out, maybe a place like that would be our new address. Maybe by that time I would have a job.

“What were you doing in London, mummy?” Riley asked, trotting by my side. Well, I got caught up in a scheme to exchange a watch for some money which ended up with me telling the man I had been sleeping with the truth about my situation.

“After spending some time with your Aunt Missy, I had to get some shopping done,” I said instead.

“Can I come next time?”

“I'll take you next time, when you're a little bit older.” When I had the money to justify going. When Niall was no longer there and there was no chance of us running into each other. It had happened too much already, I wanted to make sure there was an ocean between us before I ventured back to anywhere he frequented. There were so many chances for Riley to have fun in London and I never took him. I felt a little stab of guilt. Riley deserved so much more. I thought of the money from Niall, resolving to put some aside to get Riley something nice.

“Are we going to take the train or are you going to take a car?”

“Train most likely.”

“I like cars. Are there fancy cars in London?”

“There are loads of different kinds of cars in London,” I said laughing. “There are green ones, blue ones, big ones, little ones.”

“Are there ones like that fancy man's car?”

No, not that many people in London drove Aston Martins but I told Riley that if you kept your eye out, you could probably spot one. I put him to bed that night and we spent the next morning together as well. Taking care of him went a long way as far as keeping my mind off of Niall. Being that much closer, I thought about him about much more. Hopefully he wouldn't decide he wanted to surprise me by showing up at the estate. We never actually went over any boundaries. What would they even be?