Just Tell Me (The Justice Series) (13 page)

Her heart was finally happy she told herself as she got ready for work, the stretchy maternity fabric showing her bump off to the world at last.  She admired her reflection in the mirror, she walked into the kitchen and her parents smiled at her warmly, they looked at her in amazement.

“God you hid it well Nicole” her mum came up and put her hand on Nicole’s stomach, hugging her daughter tightly.

Chapter 12

October

Daniel waited patiently for the car to pick him up for his first day filming Single and Loaded, he had spent ages getting ready.  His eyebrows had been plucked, he had shaved earlier in the morning and moisturised well to make sure his skin was soft.
I look the part.
  He glanced in his hallway mirror, the light blue Ralph Lauren shirt brought out the colour of his eyes.  He slipped on his tailor-made suit jacket; it clung to his muscular arms like a glove but gave him room to move. 

He felt upbeat about his decision to be part of this reality TV show, and having some much needed time off work. He had been concerned at first how his business contacts may view it, but as his reputation as a party loving womaniser hadn’t jeopardised his business de
als, he didn’t think being on a Friday night TV program would do him any harm either.   Daniel had stayed off the party scene recently anyway, he wanted to stay clean and fresh for his television debut.  The black car from the production company crawled up his driveway and he stepped outside into the daylight, striding confidently to the car. 

A
n hour later he was being briefed on the format of the day, the program was filmed on location at a country house hotel, and he would be interviewed in the penthouse suite in the afternoon.  The following evening there would be a cocktail party where he would get to meet the girls for the first time and he would be asked for his feedback at the end of the evening. 

Daniel was feeling nervous despite his earlier confidence, he didn’t like talking about himself at the best of times,
and now here he was ready to bare all in a reality TV show.
God what am I doing
? He sat in the penthouse lounge, as the TV crew tested their equipment. The suite was decorated in a country regency style and the wallpaper was pale green and stripy, with ornate plaster work. Fake, he noticed and not as high quality as his own hotel chains he was pleased to see, he pushed all thoughts of the Station Hotel penthouse out of his mind. He had to focus if he was going to get this right, he had to find some personal closure on Nicole and the emotions she had invoked in him. He would show her what she was missing out on, he thought bitterly as he heard a voice bringing him back to reality.

“Right Mr
MacIntyre” the director was a little younger than himself, she was attractive and he paid attention to what she said. Grateful for the distraction of his earlier thoughts, he caught her eye and flashed his famous MacIntyre smile. She had straight black hair and green eyes and she looked him in the eye, a slight smile played on her lips as she explained.

“
We are going to ask a series of questions, these have come from the ladies you will meet tomorrow, so please try and relax and look at the camera as you answer.  We want it to look like you mean it, we will rerun the take two or three times, but I want to get your initial response on camera for added reality” she grabbed her clipboard from the cabinet behind her “I will personally ask you the questions, but in the final edit, the words will be on the screen for the viewers to see”. 

Daniel sat back in the hotel chair and took a sip of water.

“Describe your perfect woman” 

“M
y perfect woman, well I prefer dark hair” he smiled at this and sat up in his chair but glanced at the director who raised an eyebrow at him “With a slight curl in it” he added not wanting to think he was hitting on her specifically “I like women who are natural, too much fake tan and make up just doesn’t do anything for me, I like to see the real person not a mask”  he was starting to enjoy himself “My perfect woman would share the same interests as me, like cooking and riding, I love to be with a woman who enjoys her food, not picking through a salad” he stared into the camera, Daniel was into the flow of his interview now and looked into the lens, his reflection sneered back at him as he spoke clearly.

“M
y perfect woman is interested in me as a person, personality is attractive, there has to be a connection mentally as well as physically, someone I could lay in the dark with and talk to all night, someone who shares my choice of strange music” He had a glint in his eye as he said that, she would know his reference was about her.

“Have you ever been in love?” 

The director stared at him and Daniel took a moment.

“Yes I have, but it didn’t work out” he spoke slowly and tried to look at the camera,
it’s lens reflected back at him again, and he froze, uncomfortable with the question, it was like talking to himself. 

“
Ok we are going to need a little bit more on that, we can come back to it, next question” he looked at her green eyes and she smiled back at him now, encouraging him with her third question.

“
What turns you on?”

Daniel wasn’t prepared for such intimate questions, but he carried on
, he knew what to say to this “Great underwear, like a silk dressing gown, a red one perhaps” he smiled now, his eyes creased into laughter lines as he fought back the giggle, what was he doing?

He
wanted to burst out laughing “But I don’t have an underwear fetish” he continued “The right woman, could seduce me while I was taking my socks off, it’s all about a connection, a mental and physical connection“ 

He took a slip of water, he hoped Nicole would watch this wh
en it aired in January. He wanted to let her know how he felt, what she was missing out on, he prepared himself for the last three questions.

“Describe your perfect date”

This was easier
. “My perfect date would be a day in the countryside, we would go riding or walking together through the woods and down to the lake, we would sit on the grass and eat a picnic, full of pie and pates and crusty bread, drink Normandy cider and just enjoy each others company. Then we would go back to my house in the country and cook a meal together, maybe wild venison and mushrooms we would sit outside on the patio and then after dinner” he stopped for a moment “Well that would depend on what bed wear she had packed” he smiled at the camera again, this time he looked more relaxed as he felt comfortable answering the less intimate questions. 

“
Have you ever had your heart broken?” 

Daniel paused for a moment, he looked at his reflection and he glared back, he took a long sip of water, he thought back to the dark days after he foun
d Clare with her new boyfriend. Nothing compared to how Nicole had hurt him.

“Y
es I have”  his face darkened, his earlier humour gone “And I’m going to make sure it never happens again, I watched the woman I was falling for with accept another mans proposal.” he wanted to make sure Clare didn’t think it was about her, and he continued staring at himself in the reflection of the lense as though he was talking to Nicole, his eyes dark with misery “And the worst thing was, she walked away from me when I thought we needed each other the most. I want to make sure it never happens again I’m going to choose the right woman this time” he continued “That’s why I’m here, to find my dream woman, isn’t it? So I can forget about the past” 

He picked himself up and looked over at the director, her earlier smile had gone a
nd she looked sadly at Daniel.
This will make great television
, she thought but this wasn’t the Daniel MacIntyre she thought she was going to meet. 

“
Ok last question Daniel, and hopefully one you can answer easily.

“Do you want a family and if so what would you call your children?”

Daniel laughed at this question, he picked him
self up and answered honestly “Yes I would love to have children one day, in our family we have a tradition, the firstborn son has to carry the name George, so my middle name is George and my grandfather was called George.  If I had a girl” he thought about this and the smile returned to his eyes “I would call her Nicole”. 

He almost lost it when he
spoke her name he wanted to laugh out loud and he stifled a giggle as he took another sip of water. That was better than any therapy and he felt like his revenge was set. He hoped she would see the program and realise what she had missed out on. Maybe she would even contact him.  

The director asked him to answer the questions again and he did, adding a little bit more in places and skimming through the earlier detail, he gave her enough t
o put together a decent edit. The twelve hopefuls would be shown the film which should be ready by the end of the next day, it would give them a taste of the man they were about to meet. Daniel stood up to leave for the day, the director shook his hand.

“I’
m Alex by the way, you found that hard didn’t you?” she asked him sincerely and he warmed to this quirky girl who had asked him those awful questions “I directed it last year, the poor guy was a nervous wreck towards the end, I know it’s going to get tough, there are some fearless women in the selection this year”

Alex laughed as his face f
ell, he looked at her in shock “If you want to grab a coffee or just want some time out, let me know” she added “And I’m not trying to hit on you, I have a girlfriend, OK” He looked at the beautiful girl stood next to him and it registered in his mind. She was gay.

“Y
ou look like you need a friend that’s all I’m saying, now I’ve got to get you edited and looking good in 24 hours so go home and get some rest, by tomorrow you will have twelve lovely girls to choose from ” she added, and turned away to speak to her cameraman.  Daniel wondered how these twelve girls had been chosen and was dreading meeting them at the cocktail party. 

The next day he woke late, he stretched out in his bed, the Egyptian cotton sheets felt like silk between his bare legs.  He wanted to stay in bed all day, but it was his holiday and he had things he wanted to do between filming Single and Loaded.  He padded downstairs
wearing only his dressing gown, made an espresso and glanced out at the October sky.  Patches of blue were still visible but it looked like it might rain.

He
found his riding clothes and ran up to the stable yard, tacked up his old horse and they gently made their way through the estate.  His iPod shuffle was in a lazy mood; Laura Marling sang to him, “Night Terrors” it was something he hadn’t had in a while but he was feeling the effects of yesterday’s interview. His mood was still high but he knew it wouldn’t take much to fall down into the depression again as he craved a glass of wine. 

He flicked through his iPod,
the sounds of early Manic Street Preachers took him back to early days, of university and the shared house he had rented with some friends.
Happy days
he mused and he knew had to stay clean and not drink too much, but he needed a drink and he needed a cigarette too. 

Daniel
returned to his house and made himself a sandwich; the housekeeper had left him some cold ham, so he sliced some white bread and smothered it in butter. He sat at the kitchen worktop and watched the crumbs fall onto the granite worktop as he took big bites of his lunch, he walked over to look at his garden through the window.  The autumnal leaves were scattered across the lawn, it hadn’t been trimmed for a couple of weeks, Daniel noticed and he stepped outside. 

He walked around the borders of the lawn and looked back at his gatehouse, the Victorian roof pitched steeply and ended in a point. A weather vane was the final point of the roof, it lazily moved from left to right as the wind picked up. 

The leaves moved across the lawn and Daniel thought it would soon be winter and the trees would be bare and spindly in the harsh Scottish cold.
It would soon be Christmas
. Daniel felt the little voice in his head telling him another Christmas alone with his parents, too much brandy and the air full of cigarette smoke as they ate their dinner late into the evening. The presents opened and discarded, no one really sure what to buy each other, what do you buy people who have everything? His mother had bought Daniel a pink riding crop last year, why she had chosen that was lost on even Daniel.  

He returned
inside to get ready, he would be picked up at 4pm and he found his tuxedo still in the wrapping from the dry cleaner. He checked his reflection in the mirror as he tied the bowtie.
Yep looking good
. His face looked back at him and he smiled in the mirror as he heard the car pulling up in the driveway. The camera crew were waiting for him outside as he arrived at the hotel, he knew the drill as he slowly got out of the car.

He stood for a moment, almost blinded by the strength of the location lights and let the cameraman do their work.  He counted to three and then walked confidently into the hotel recept
ion, ready to meet his ladies. Ushered quickly into the function room of the hotel he met the twelve hopefuls stood in a line.  Kissing each hand in turn, he took a good look into the eyes of each one, they were all beautiful women but he didn’t feel an immediate connection with any of them. He wanted the moment with Nicole when he saw her on the train, that heart stopping pull of love at first sight. 

Daniel grabbed a glass of wine from a passing waiter and took a long drink of it, all the girls were watching him and he decided to circulate around the room, Alex was watching him with interest.
Go on
she urged him silently,
it’s not going to make good watching if he just drinks wine all night
.