With the address of a clothes shop in his hand, Liam drove to the sea front and managed to find a parking space.
Standing across the road from "Calico" he presumed Mrs Tyson had definitely got things wrong. This was more a cheap tourist shop than even a reasonable level clothing shop, baskets outside were filled with baseball caps and buckets, a huge inflatable guitar sat over the doorway, and a range of souvenirs filled the window.
He was about to turn away, thinking this was definitely wrong, when he saw her, or rather her smile radiating as she talked to an elderly lady. Melissa. He was breathless, unable to believe how much he'd missed that smile, stunned and in awe of her beauty, the compassion in her eyes. He drank in the image of her, frozen to the spot.
As she waved goodbye to the customer Liam shook his head trying to shake off the fuzziness. The wafts of desire washing over him, but there was more, he felt as though he was finally home, that he belonged somewhere. At last.
The door tinkled and Melissa turned with a smile to the sound. Then she stopped, aware that her mouth was unattractively hanging open.
"Liam?" It was a whisper as she studied every feature of his face. He looked tired, grey bags under his eyes, no sparkle in his usually warm eyes.
He smiled, but it was a weak effort, "Melissa, you look well."
She nodded, all things considered she felt well. "Unlike you!" And she relished in that fact that he'd obviously suffered since their last encounter in New York. "I think it's the fresh sea air!"
He looked bewildered, cock-sure Liam Hart was in a mess! "What are you doing here?" Even his voice lacked the authority and power it normally had.
Melissa shrugged, "I needed work, wanted to get away. I was lucky enough to get a job here."
"Lucky!" he exclaimed, then realizing he'd shouted, he quietened to a whisper, "you are a graduate of the best business school in Britain, and you're selling t-shirts, souvenirs and sticks of rock!"
She smiled, looking into those blue eyes, knowing that he was struggling to maintain what little control he had. "It may sound menial Liam. But I am enjoying this." She gestured around the shop. "In fact I'd go as far as to say it's the most rewarding job I've ever had."
He shook his head in bewilderment, "I can't believe this. What time do you finish?"
She shrugged, glancing at her watch, "this is an extra shift, so I'm only here until Sam gets back. Maybe two hours."
"Can I meet you later?"
Melissa looked unconvinced, "come back in two hours then."
Liam had no idea what to do for the next two hours, as he climbed in the car, his phone rang, it was Marie his PA. Connecting to her he sighed, "Is everything ok?"
"You sound chipper Mr Hart!" She said humourously, "Everything is fine, I've just had about ten calls from a Lettie Tyson? She's desperate to talk to you!"
He jotted down the number and dialled it as soon as he'd ended the call.
The ring tone indicated that she was still on the continent, but she answered after three rings.
"Is that you Liam Hart you bastard?" A voice snapped as soon as the call was answered.
He was stunned into silence for a moment. "Okay, I deserved that."
"Damn right you did! Have you any idea what that girl has been through the last six months? Have you?"
He wasn't anticipating this level of aggression, and he was surprised, though he also knew that there was far more to Melissa Wharton than he had given her credit for.
So he said nothing.
"Well I'll tell you! She lost her father, her rock, her idol. In the midst of grieving that bastard Porter who like you had talked his way into her bed conned her out of......"
"You what?" his ears pricked up at the mention of Porter. Yet again where there was heartache that bastard was there grinding out his pound of flesh!
"He talked her into some investment, fool proof he said, wooed her until she agreed with him. She borrowed money against her family home, all that she had. Then he ran off with the money, before her father was even buried. She couldn't grieve for him because she felt obligated to right a wrong. All those who'd invested in the business over the years, every creditor...So she sold her soul and her integrity to try and sort it...TO YOU! And what does she get for it?"
Liam was trying to digest this information. The fact that Melissa was working as she was indicated that she needed rather than wanted a job, and Porter was the cause of her demise. That man again! "Porter did that? The bastard, I'll kill him!"
Lettie almost screamed down the phone in anger, "Typical man! Is the revenge all you care about? What about poor Liss who's lost everything that she ever had. What about her? What about the way you dismissed her like a piece of dirt you found on your shoe. When she'd lost everything else, when she'd hit rock bottom, did you help her? Did you hell! You kicked her whilst she was down! And NOW you want revenge on someone else who hurt her...where's the mirror Mr Hart? Because where I stand you hurt her far more than Ryan Porter ever could!"
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and ease his approaching migraine. How had he got this so wrong? Of course she wasn't the person he'd initially believed she was. She was gentle, good, funny, and usually happy, everyone in her life loved her hell so did he! "I love her Lettie, I promise you that!" he announced hoping that convinced this angry woman.
"I know you do, and she loved you, I'm just not sure whether it's too late."
"Too late?" The words caused ringing in his ears.
Lettie was silent for a moment, "she'd got someone else to love now Hart. She may not want you!"
With that she hung up.
Liam sat for an age just staring at the phone. Well it was a day for revelations. Not only had he found Ryan bastard Porter worming his way back in to his life, he'd just admitted that he loved Melissa...and it didn't scare him! What scared him was the thought that someone else may have captured her heart...and it belonged to him. He finally knew that!
He called Jamie and Marco, his business confidantes, maybe they'd have more luck locating Porter than they'd had with finding Melissa. After a barrage of calls, and several cups of coffee sat outside a fast food cafe, between them they had both located him and managed to tie up a few loose ends. Liam had a dossier three inches think on the dodgy dealings Porter had been involved in over the years. This latest information helped him no end. He drove forty minutes to the police station local to Porter's current address and handed over the information. He was assured that there was enough to lock him up for a long time.
Melissa had walked out of the shop into the late afternoon sunshine, then rooted around in her bag for a pair of sunglasses. There was no sign of Liam, so she strolled along the front, settling eventually on a bench overlooking the sea. There was so much to think about. The fact that Liam looked so awful was still making her smile. After all he was usually so pristine, so unmovable, so aloof.
Her phone disturbed the peace and her wandering mind. Glancing at the screen she recognised it as an international number.
"Hey Lettie! How's Paris?"
"Great!" she mumbled in a very meek way. "Look Liam's looking for you. He went to Mum's, when she told me I called him. Told him to buck up his ideas." She hesitated, "and I told him about Ryan Porter, and the deal."
Melissa felt her head start to swim, that changed a lot of things, "Shit! He's been here, was supposed to meet me now, but he hasn't turned up! Obviously not interested enough!"
"Give him a chance Liss. He sounded keen. I gave him a real hard time and he took it all."
Melissa shook her head slowly, "no I can't let him in again Lettie, he doesn't care. I think he's just a great talker."
With that she hung up, glancing at her watch she sighed, forty minutes late did not show he cared. So she began the slow walk back to the small room she rented in a house overlooking the coast.
Melissa had had time to think about her future and was resigned to spending time alone. She didn't know whether she could love anyone as she had loved Liam, but she was willing to try. Without the trappings of wealth, the gilded cage she'd been brought up in, she was vulnerable, but strangely happy. Suddenly things were so much simpler. She worked, slept, ate and survived. Who could ask for more?
She'd almost reached the small terraced house when a car slowed, and hearing the door open then close, she knew that he'd come for her, that Liam had found her.