All That Glitters (15 page)

Ella felt tears running down her face. Being in bed with Fin – and all her boyfriends before him – had always been good, but she’d never experienced anything like this before. It wasn’t just sex. It was animalistic, and something she couldn’t restrain. Every inch of her body – inside and out – wanted Johnny’s, and no matter what her brain was telling her, it was like her nerve endings couldn’t ignore him. She hadn’t realised it until Johnny had been inside her, but she wasn’t complete without him. It was like he was her missing piece.

‘I’m falling in love with you.’ Johnny’s declaration crashed through Ella’s thoughts at exactly the same moment she realised what she’d been experiencing wasn’t just passion.

It was love.

And for the first time since Fin had broken her heart, she wasn’t scared of it. Suddenly being in love seemed like the easiest, and the best thing in the world.

Or it would have been, if only she wasn’t married to someone else.

Ella bit her lip, and pulled her violet eyes away from Johnny’s mesmerising blue ones. ‘But I’m married,’ she said, ‘and I can’t hurt Danny.’

Johnny reached out and placed his hand on Ella’s wrist. ‘Forget about Danny. If you leave, you’ll hurt
me
.’

Ella was torn, and all she could think to do was to run back home, to her beautiful bedroom in the turret of Castle House, and to have time and space to think.

‘I have to leave you right now,’ she whispered. ‘But it doesn’t mean I want to, or I’m not going to see you again like this. I have to think things over.’ She caught sight of Johnny’s pained expression, and she knew that if she didn’t leave now, she never would.

She quickly found her crumpled Marc Jacobs dress in Johnny’s bedroom, washed her face of her tears, and then hailed a cab that would take her to the safety of Surrey and her home.

Chapter Ten

‘Babes, is that you?’ Danny called out, as Ella shut the front door to Castle House, dropped her Mulberry Bayswater bag on the floor of the hall, and pulled off her heels. She padded through the house and expected to feel relief that she was at home, but for once the expensive décor and the luxury of the mansion didn’t do it for her. Castle House was like a hotel – it was beautiful, but also impersonal. Eventually Ella found her husband slumped in front of the TV watching a recording of the Kingston United vs Manchester City match. As Ella walked in Danny paused the game and looked her up and down with a raised eyebrow.

‘Late night?’ he asked with a wry smile, and Ella grinned and sat down next to him. She knew her dress was grubby, and that she didn’t look as polished as she usually did, but Danny had seen her a lot worse. He’d met her in her scruffy post-Fin clothes, after all.

‘Yeah, really late night. Sorry I didn’t phone, I had a few too many at the aftershow, and I lost track of time.’

‘It’s cool. Nash let me know you were safe. But who cares about that . . . I saw the show! Oh my God, you were
amazing
. No wonder you’re glowing!’

‘Really? You thought I did okay?’

‘You were fantastic,’ Danny said, and he reached over to Ella to give her a tight hug. ‘I was so proud of you. Yves thinks you’re a natural.’

Ella’s face froze in a smile, and she felt her heart sink in guilt. She’d allowed herself to get caught up in Danny’s enthusiasm, and for a moment she’d forgotten reality and believed that she and Danny really were husband and wife, in every sense. But of course they weren’t, and they never would be. They were just friends.

‘I’m glad you liked it,’ Ella replied. ‘It was such a shame you couldn’t come to the recording. Maybe you can come to the next one?’ Ella asked hopefully. If Danny was there, there was a chance Johnny wouldn’t try to continue what they’d just started. If that was what she wanted. She just didn’t know any more.

Danny sighed. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to come, but . . .’ He trailed off, and Ella looked at him closely. His smile seemed fixed, and she could see tension and tiredness in his face.

‘My inbox is bulging with emails, and none of them good.’

‘Emails?’ Ella was confused for a moment, and then she remembered. Sancho Tabora. The blackmail. ‘What does the latest one say?’

‘The bastard wants five hundred thousand pounds – by next week.’

Ella gasped. ‘How much?’

‘I know. I don’t have that kind of money in my current account, so I’m going to have to pull some strings with the bank so I can get to my savings. But it’s not going to be easy.’

Ella sank back into the sofa and stared at Danny. She’d promised him she’d think of a way to stop the relentless and expensive blackmailing, but she’d been so caught up in her own life, and with her growing feelings for Johnny, that she’d pretty much forgotten what was going on. If Danny didn’t pay up there was every chance that Sancho
would
tell the world he was gay. And then it would be game over – for his football career, for their marriage, for everything.

‘I thought he’d leave me alone for a bit after I paid the hundred thousand he asked for last time. But he’s being relentless, and he’s ramping it up. He wants half a million pounds by the end of next week, and who knows what he’ll ask for next. One million? Ten? He knows that if I have it I
have
to give it to him. And that if I don’t have it, I’ll somehow be able to get it.’ He buried his head in his hands.

‘Maybe it’s time to go to the police,’ Ella whispered. ‘You’ve kept all the emails he’s ever sent you, and they’re concrete evidence that he’s been blackmailing you for years. He could go to prison, and you’d be left in peace.’

Danny ran his hands through his hair and looked up at Ella. He looked utterly defeated. ‘But we’ve been through this. One whiff of
why
Sancho’s blackmailing me, and my secret’s out. There are no openly gay footballers in the Premier League, and as far as the players and fans are concerned, it needs to stay that way. It’s not accepted. My career would be over and I don’t want that. I want to go to the next World Cup. I want to be an England legend.’

‘There
must
be a way, there has to be.’

‘There isn’t. The lawyers are stumped, and even though Aaron’s made Sancho countless offers to make him famous in his own right, he isn’t playing ball. Why should he when I appear to be a bottomless pit of money?’

Ella put her head on Danny’s shoulder. She really didn’t know what to say, or what the solution could be.

‘What if you challenged Sancho?’ she suggested, as she thought out loud. ‘What if you told him you
aren’t
gay? He can’t blackmail you over something that’s not true.’

‘But I am gay, and he knows I am. My ex-boyfriend told him.’

Ella thought for a moment. ‘What if Mike told him he’d lied? Maybe he could say he made it up to impress Sancho, or something like that.’

‘We tried that too,’ Danny said. ‘We tracked him down, asked him to help, and after a fair bit of persuasion Mike agreed to give it a go. Sancho didn’t believe it for a second . . .’

Danny trailed off as he looked at Ella properly. Her messy light-brown bob gleamed, her cheeks were flushed, and her violet eyes were shining, despite the slightest hint of dark circles under them. She was picture perfect. She was beautiful.

‘You’re amazing, you know,’ he said eventually, as Ella noticed his eyes trailing over her face. ‘I know that a lot of people think you’re lovely . . . but not many people realise how smart and loyal you are.’

‘I’m not smart,’ Ella laughed, as she brushed the compliment away. ‘If I was smart I never would have been with Fin, Sweet Dreams would be taking over the cupcake world, and we’d be able to find a way to stop Sancho from blackmailing you.’

‘You
are
clever,’ Danny smiled. ‘Okay, so you might not have managed to get your company off the ground in the middle of a recession, but you have the best instincts of anyone I know. You mustn’t beat yourself up about this Sancho thing; if the lawyers and Aaron can’t find a solution there probably isn’t one.’

Ella smiled weakly. She’d become used to people telling her she was beautiful, but somehow it meant more when someone said she was clever. She supposed it was because she didn’t really believe it herself.

‘And I know that our relationship isn’t a conventional one, and I know we’ll never be lovers or anything like that, but Ella, I love you,’ Danny continued, oblivious to how the smile on Ella’s face was turning into a frown as the guilt of being with Johnny set in. ‘I love you as much as I’ve ever loved anyone.’

For a brief, awkward moment, Ella didn’t know what to do or say. But she came to her senses, and reached for Danny’s hand.

‘I love you too,’ Ella said honestly, and she held his gaze. Danny was one of the best people she knew, and he was her friend. And no matter what, Ella was loyal to her friends and never lied to them.

‘But there’s something I need to tell you,’ she said, as her heart began to race. She took a deep breath, and decided to come clean about what she’d really been doing during the last twenty-four hours.

‘It’s about Johnny Cooper and me. We’re . . . we’re having an affair.’

‘So . . .’ Danny asked with a glint in his eye. ‘What does the fabulous Johnny Cooper look like naked?’ He reached into a bowl of popcorn on his lap and chucked a couple of kernels over to Ella. She opened her mouth and tried to catch them . . . and missed.

‘I’m not telling you that!’ Ella exclaimed, as she found the popcorn on the sofa and threw it into her mouth. She’d changed into a fairly loose top and jogging bottoms, and for once she and Danny were having a night in: no managers, nobody to entertain, just them.

It was the perfect antidote to the crazy twenty-four hours she’d just experienced.

‘But he’s so hot!’ Danny enthused, and Ella rolled her eyes.

‘Just watch the film!’ Ella suggested. ‘You’re the one that wanted to watch it, and you’ve barely looked at the TV since we put it on.’ But Danny ignored Ella being bossy – he wanted the gossip.

‘Look, you can’t tell me you’re having an affair with Johnny Cooper, and then run off to your bedroom without telling me anything.’

‘I didn’t run off.’

‘You
did
run off, Ella Lucinda Riding.’

‘Well, it was only to get changed. And to give you some space so you could get used to the idea.’

Danny chuckled. ‘What’s there to get used to? My wife’s having an affair with a hot TV presenter. It’s so cool. Besides, I had a feeling something was going on.’

Ella’s eyes widened. ‘What?’

‘Oh come on, just because I’m gay it doesn’t mean I don’t notice when there’s sexual chemistry. It was so obvious you liked each other at that Putto launch,’ Danny continued. ‘I knew it was only a matter of time before you got together.’

Ella pulled a face and ate some more popcorn so she had time to think.

‘So why didn’t you say anything to me?’ she asked.

‘What would I say?’ Danny said patiently. ‘That I predicted you and Johnny Cooper were going to have an affair? If I said it out loud there was no way you’d go on
Cooper’s Kingdom
, and then you never would have got the presenting gig on
Wonderland
. Aren’t you glad I didn’t say anything?’

‘I suppose so,’ Ella said. And then she voiced the question she’d been dreading having to ask. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’

Danny put down the bowl of popcorn and paused the film. He sighed.

‘Honestly? I do, a bit. But it’s only because I don’t want to see you get hurt.’

‘How would I get hurt?’

‘Babes, you’re married to me. You’re my wife. If you start a secret relationship with someone you know it can’t go anywhere,’ he said gently.

‘I know that,’ Ella said, and she unconsciously stuck her chin out defiantly.

‘Do you really?’ Danny asked searchingly. ‘I don’t think you’ve really thought this through. What happens if you fall in love with Johnny? You couldn’t marry him, or live with him. And you couldn’t have children with him. Your whole relationship would have to be played out behind closed doors, and you couldn’t tell anyone – not even your closest friends or family – about it. Could you live with that?’

Ella heard the words, but she brushed them aside. She couldn’t think so far in the future. She’d only slept with Johnny once, and she wasn’t willing to think about just how much she liked him.

‘The only reason I asked you to marry me was because you said you never wanted another relationship again,’ Danny said as softly as he could. ‘I know how much Fin hurt you, and I really believed that you didn’t want to get involved with another man romantically again.’

‘And I don’t!’ Ella exclaimed, but the moment Danny’s green eyes caught hers she realised it wasn’t true. It had been true at the time, but she’d been so full of hurt and despair that she couldn’t imagine ever being in another relationship again. This whole Johnny Cooper thing had crept up on her, and now she was in an impossible situation. She wanted to be with Johnny so much that her whole body ached, but it wasn’t possible. Not unless she left Danny . . . and there was no way she could do that to him. Danny needed her.

‘Look,’ Danny said, ‘I haven’t got a problem with you having an affair with Johnny. He’s delicious, and it’s obvious how much he likes you. But you have to think about what you’re getting yourself into, and consider what Johnny could do to you. To us.’

‘I
have
—’

‘I don’t think you have. What if he falls in love with you, and decides he wants to be with you all the time? Could you live with yourself knowing you’ve hurt him like that? And what would you do if your affair got found out? Your reputation would be ruined, and all the hard work we’ve done so far to have the “perfect marriage” would be for nothing.’

‘You sound like you don’t want me to do this,’ Ella said sadly.

‘Babes, I would never stop you being happy, and if Johnny makes you happy I’m all for it. I know you’d never do anything to intentionally harm our lives, and what we have, but you need to be so careful. You need to consider everything about this relationship with Johnny, and he needs to know the score – that you’ll never leave me.’

Danny’s words echoed in Ella’s mind. She’d made a promise to always be Danny’s wife, and that they’d be together through the good times and the bad. Up until now she’d never even considered walking away from the marriage – why would she? She was living her perfect happy ever after – but the moment Danny said those words, Ella wondered if she ever could. If she could ever have a life where she and Johnny could live out a blissfully happy ending.