in front of everyone.’
‘Not very secret, that.’ He slid his hands up her bare thighs.
‘No, not very secret.’
For a moment he held his breath, waiting for her to say something more. To say it didn’t have to be a secret. To say that she wanted the whole world to know about them. That she didn’t care what Melissa or anyone else said about them. That she trusted him not to let them mock her in the press.
But she didn’t. And she shouldn’t. Because that wasn’t the deal they had. It wasn’t even what he wanted really, logically.
This was a fling. That was what she’d asked for, what he’d promised.
So that was what he had to give her.
Even if he was starting to feel as if he wanted more.
As if he wanted everything.
‘I’ve never had sex in a cupboard before,’ she murmured against his ear, and Noah dragged himself back to focus on what he could have. Eloise, here and now, wanting him. ‘You’re providing me with all sorts of new experiences this week.’
‘I’m a full service secret fling,’ Noah said, untying the back of her halter-neck and lowering the zip to reveal her bare breasts. ‘No bra?’
‘Seemed like a waste of time.’ Eloise gasped as he dipped his head to kiss her.
‘Agreed,’ he said when he came up for air. ‘Now, let’s see what else you’re not wearing under this—’
A flash of light cut him off as the cupboard door he was leaning against opened, sending him tumbling into the hallway, pulling Eloise with him. He blinked at another flash and saw Melissa, Sara the journalist and her photographer standing over them.
And suddenly nothing was secret any more.
ELOISE YANKED HER dress back up, trying to make herself respectable again, even though the sinking feeling inside told her it was already far too late.
Scrambling to his feet, Noah pushed her behind him, giving her the cover she needed to fix her dress. But his shirt was still open, exposing exactly what they’d been doing.
Not that anyone could be in any doubt after that display.
What had she been thinking? She’d known this was a terrible idea from the start. But then Noah would say something to convince her and there she’d be, half naked in a cupboard.
Or outside a cupboard. With her teenage nemesis arching her eyebrows and the world’s media taking photos.
‘Well, really,’ Melissa said too loudly, her words echoing off the walls. ‘Some people just don’t know how to behave at a respectable wedding, do they?’
Eloise wanted to ask her to keep it down before anyone else heard and came out to investigate, but that was probably why Melissa was doing it in the first place, she realised. She hadn’t managed to keep Eloise and Noah apart, so she’d decided to go the other way. If they were intent on stealing the limelight at her wedding, she was going to ruin them.
Abject humiliation. Melissa wouldn’t settle for anything less than making sure Eloise’s whole world knew who she was and what she’d done—the same way she had when they were teenagers and the guy Melissa had a crush on asked Eloise out instead. Soon, the whole school knew every story about Eloise’s mother and believed that she was just the same and the guy never spoke to her again.
The only difference was that this time Melissa had made sure the actual whole world would know, through the power of the media and the Internet.
Never mind the humiliation Eloise’s mother’s antics had brought her over the years, this was a million times worse. And the most awful part was that she’d done it all herself. There was no one to blame except her own suddenly overactive libido...and the secret part of her heart that hoped to be something more than a fling to someone like Noah Cross.
She’d had ideas of her own importance, her own entitlement to the spotlight—and now she’d been burned.
‘Melissa, come on,’ Noah said, laughing lightly as he tried to reach for the photographer’s camera. She stepped back out of his reach and Eloise knew that no one in their right mind would give those photos up. Noah Cross, caught in the act? That had to be worth a fortune.
And nobody would care if her reputation was shredded in the process.
She had to get out of there. She had to get a million miles away from this spotlight, right now.
‘I have to go.’
Holding her dress in place, she pushed past Noah and the others and ran towards the lifts. She could hear him behind her, calling her name, making excuses, but she couldn’t turn back, couldn’t listen.
This wasn’t her world, even if Noah and Melissa’s celebrity lives had infiltrated Morwen Hall. Soon they’d be gone and she could get back to quietly living down her mother’s reputation. To her responsible, boring, staid and lonely existence.
It had to be better than the shame and humiliation burning through her right now.
* * *
Noah watched Eloise run away and had to force himself not to chase after her. She didn’t want this—she’d made that clear from the start.
This was his fault. She’d wanted secret and in his desperation he’d ruined that.
And now he had to fix it.
‘So, Noah. Any quote to go with our pictures?’ Sara asked, holding out her phone and showing it was recording. Another part of his life on the record.
He’d wanted to tell the world about him and Eloise. But not like this.
Stefan. The part. He’d promised he wouldn’t do this, promised he’d keep things low-key. And this was pretty much the opposite. The role he’d thought he had nailed—this could ruin everything. Send him back to playing brainless action figures for another seven years. Unless he could convince people that things with him and Eloise were serious, something more than a fling. Maybe then he’d get a second chance from Stefan...
The idea was intoxicating. He could play at love with Eloise, enjoy what they had for a little longer, until it came to its natural conclusion when no one cared and the world wasn’t watching. He could still have everything he wanted if Eloise went along with it, if he lied... He could turn this round, still be the good guy maybe.
But first he had to get a handle on himself, on all the emotions rushing through him at the speed of light. As if, after spending so many years not feeling them, now he’d let them in they were making up for lost time. Embarrassment, fear, anger, lust—they all surged through him, swirling around into a toxic mix that left him close to losing it.
No. He wasn’t that man. He’d never been the celebrity yelling at reporters or causing a scene. He wouldn’t start now—not least because it would only make things worse for Eloise, and he couldn’t do that to her.
Cold realisation flooded through him. The only thing he could really do now was protect Eloise. Even if it meant giving up on the part he wanted so much. Because he couldn’t promise her for ever, couldn’t ask her to act out a sham relationship. Couldn’t break her heart a few months down the line when she realised that what she saw really was all he had to give—there was nothing deeper.
He couldn’t hurt her any more than he had to. And the only way through this with minimum casualties was to lessen the impact of what had happened.
Which meant pretending it was nothing at all.
He couldn’t do it—couldn’t pretend what he and Eloise had was nothing. It might not be everything but it was something. He couldn’t deny Eloise that way,