Girl Behind the Scandalous Reputation

Right. And how many other women haven’t wanted that to be true?

Oh, Lord, she was starting to go back and forth like an entry in her mother’s diary. He loves me. He loves me not.

The man had just spent four days avoiding her—he was hardly likely to go down on bended knee after one night in bed with her.

Something she couldn’t deny that she now wanted. Lily blew out a breath.

In admitting that she had fallen in love with Tristan it was as if a wall against all her secret hopes and dreams had come down. She wanted what Jo and Oliver had. She wanted somewhere to belong, someone to love her. She wanted something lasting.

She groaned audibly and rolled onto her stomach and grabbed her pillow. What did she do now?

Seriously she didn’t expect him to declare his undying love for her, but she couldn’t stop herself from wanting that. Yearning for it. But he hadn’t looked pleased to see her this morning, had he? No. He’d seemed distracted. Troubled. She’d dismissed it after his ferocious kiss, but…

Enough! She raised a big red stop sign in her head. She wouldn’t do this. Play mental ping-pong over a man. The best thing to do would be to wait. Because really she had no idea how Tristan was feeling, and until she asked him she was just making up stories in her head. Lovely, sugar-coated romantic stories. But stories nonetheless.

Deciding to stop mooching around, she checked the bedside clock and was shocked to see that it was already nine-thirty. And, even worse, it was Friday. Jordana was due at the Abbey this morning to start all her pre-wedding pampering treatments, followed by lunch with a couple of girlfriends, and then a rehearsal dinner for close family and friends!

Maybe she should have a quick shower before Tristan got back? Or maybe she should go and find him and remind him that Jordana was due.

But then her phone rang and took the dilemma of what to do next out of her hands.

Pushing the tangled sheet aside, she jumped out of bed and reached for her tote bag beside the dressing table. Fumbling around inside, she finally located her mobile and quickly checked the caller ID. It was the detective working on her case.

Her case! Somehow she’d forgotten all about it with thoughts of Tristan swamping her mind.

‘Good morning, Detective.’

‘Miss Wild.’ His polite, modulated tones echoed down the line. ‘I apologise for not delivering this news in person, but due to workload issues I’m unable to travel to Hillesden Abbey today, and Lord Garrett was adamant that we inform you of any breakthrough in your case as soon as it came to light.’

Lily swallowed, her palms sweaty around the silver phone. ‘And…have you had a breakthrough?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘Not just a breakthrough, Miss Wild. We’ve solved the case. Or should I say Lord Garrett has solved the case.’

‘Tristan?’ Lily shook her head.

‘Lord Garrett contacted us two days ago, after finding a discrepancy between the personnel records we initially received from the airline and the records that had been e-mailed to him.’

Lily plopped down on the velvet ottoman in front of the dressing table and stared at a baroque wall plaque. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘One of the attendants who worked on your flight was not on the personnel list we were given, and was therefore not interviewed and fingerprinted. We were unaware of the last-minute replacement because the person who dealt with the staff-change had forgotten to send the information through to payroll. As we were given the original payroll records the replacement flight attendant did not appear on our list and was therefore not part of our initial investigation.’

He went on to explain that when Tristan had started looking into the case he’d picked up on the discrepancy and immediately informed the police.

‘But why did she do it?’ Lily asked.

‘The flight attendant was bringing a small amount of narcotics into the country to earn a few extra quid on the side. When she learned that sniffer dogs would be going through not only the passengers’ belongings but also the flight crew’s she panicked, and you were an easy target. She was aware of your parents’ notoriety and hoped that would be enough to prevent her own capture.’

Lily remained silent, struggling to process the information. ‘So what happens now?’

‘You’re free to go, Miss Wild.’

‘And the custody order?’

‘Will be repealed by the courts some time today.’

Lily thanked the detective and sat for a few moments, completely stunned.

She was free.