Free Kept by Elle Field Page A

I stupidly asked.
      ‘Tall, dark and
handsome.’ She laughed again, this time with an accompanying roll of her eyes
and a flash of the chunky platinum and ruby band she was wearing on her wedding
ring finger as she pushed the curls from her eyes. ‘Works in the City as a
trader. You know, the man who is mad about you.’
    ‘He shouldn’t have done this,’ I said, choosing to ignore
her comment. I knew he liked me, but he couldn’t have been mad about me. ‘It’s too much.’
    This time I really needed to put my (good) foot down. It was
one thing him taking care of my bills as a friendly loan but quite another
giving me a card on his account.
    ‘Arielle, just accept it,’ she scolded. ‘Prince Charming
wants to look after you. Do you know how many girls would kill to be you?’
    Where did that come from? Did that mean Lydia lived off
Nigel’s money? I always assumed she lived off some parental trust fund.
    ‘I don’t want his charity,’ I protested.
    I felt angry at her condescending words. Piers had already
done more for me than he had to. It had been more than enough just staying with
me until the ambulance arrived – I’m certain most people would have rushed on
not even realising they had knocked someone down, but not Piers. Piers stayed
with me, he kept my mind off my pain (and embarrassment), and he followed
perfection’s handbook to the letter on what you do when you accidentally injure
a girl. He had gone above and beyond the call of duty.
    ‘It’s not charity, Arielle.’ She sighed. ‘Look, Piers wants
you and we want him to keep wanting you. Just smile and thank him, don’t kick
up a fuss.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ I think Lydia wanted to slap me at this
point.
    ‘Arielle! You are the first girl who has ever stood up to
him. I can’t tell you how many airheads he’s gone through before you, but he’s
finally found you . Someone with
beauty, intelligence and taste.’ She
sounded irritated.  
    ‘I have those?’ I asked, trying not to dwell on the “how
many airheads he’s gone through before you” comment. ‘I mean, I’m those
things?’
    ‘Yes!’ She nodded briskly. ‘So we don’t want him to lose
you, do we? I mean, he’s less stressed with you – more mellow – he was work,
work, work before, but now he’s you, work, you. You wouldn’t want to cause him
any unnecessary stress, would you?’
    I shook my head. ‘I guess not.’
    ‘And besides, you two make the perfect couple. Even with
your less-than-flattering cast. Let him look after you! He’s a good man. He’ll
never hurt you.’
    I was the first girl to stand up to him, but I wasn’t
allowed to refuse his card? The perfect couple, when we weren’t even a couple?
He’d never hurt me, but how could he not?
    All these thoughts swirled around my head the rest of the
afternoon, but when Piers came home with a huge grin on his face – dressed down
today in a pair of faded, slim-fit Edwin jeans, a plain white tee and his much
worn linen-silk blend Canali blazer – I couldn’t stand my ground. Instead, I
graciously thanked him, causing him to delight in response because I didn’t
argue with him (for once).
    ‘But you didn’t have to.’ I had to protest this at least
once.
    ‘I know, but I wanted to. And,’ he quickly added as he
shrugged off his blazer and flopped on the sofa next to me, ‘I know you’ll
offer to pay me back but please don’t.’
    ‘I’m going to.’ I tutted at him as
I reached for his blazer and placed it nicely on the sofa. He had zero concept
of how to care for his clothes, idly but not maliciously discarding them so
that I would randomly find his socks or dirty shirts in the strangest of
places.
    He just smiled in response, like I’d confirmed once again
how marvellous I was. I didn’t understand Piers and his ways, but I did
understand how happy it made him giving me things. I understood more when I
talked to his friends. They said I’d brought about some change in him that