down beside her, he took the sponge from her fingers. ‘Leave it, Ellie.’
‘I have to clean this mess.’
‘No. You don’t. I’ll have a cleaning service come in tomorrow.’
‘I need to keep busy.’ She waved a hand. ‘Nervous energy and all that.’
He tipped her chin up, hating the naked distress he saw written all over her face. ‘Busy, hmm?’ He smiled into her eyes, taking his time about it. ‘I can help you with that.’ He kept his voice light, teasing even, but inside…inside he wanted to punch the living daylights out of the low-life who’d done this to her.
He rose, pulling her up with him, his hands beneath her elbows to steady her. ‘Did they take anything?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Have you rung the cops?’
‘No.’
‘I’ll do it now, then.’ He smoothed his hands down her back, drawing her closer. ‘It’s going to be all right, Ellie. I’m here.’
The last words didn’t surprise him, but the emotions they invoked did. Feeling the fragility of her bones beneath his hands and that tiny slender frame against his…it drew up a well of tenderness he’d not known existed. He wanted to go on holding her and—Protect what was his?
His whole body tightened. Where the hell had that come from? He’d seen the broken lock and Ellie on the floor and had simply reacted. He was no knight in shining armour.
Loosening his hold, he stepped back, uneasy with the emotions she’d conjured in him. Assured himself it was a momentary thing. She’d proclaimed herself an independent woman; she had no need for such masculine displays of chivalry.
‘I can manage,’ she said, backing up at the same time. As if she’d read his thoughts. But beneath that I-don’t-need-you-to-take-care-of-me facade he could see the little-girl-lost lurking in her eyes and he had to clench his fists at his sides so as not to reach for her again. If he touched her, he might give her more than she was willing to accept. More than he was willing to give.
Swinging away, he paced to the other side of the room. ‘I’ll double-check everything’s okay—you might have missed something. I’ll look into finding you alternative accommodation tomorrow.’
‘But I don’t have the finances to—’
‘Don’t worry about that now.’ He waved a hand. ‘I’ll arrange something. I know people. There are studio apartments near the university. Safe and clean. It’ll be fine, trust me. I’ll make those calls, then we’ll get something to eat. Takeaway’s probably best under the circumstances.’
‘Something hot with a bite to it,’ she said, swiping at her damp-kneed sweatpants with a muttered curse. ‘Beef vindaloo with teeth.’
Over the next twenty minutes he rang the police, organised a cleaning service and someone to fix the door and add extra security—no way was he waiting around for some absent landlord—while Ellie showered and changed.
A couple of hours and a police report later, they were in the car on the way back to Belle’s place with Ellie’s requested Indian takeaway.
How had she gone from living in relative comfort as a child to…this? ‘You don’t have to answer this, Ellie,’ he said as the car idled at an intersection. ‘But wasn’t there some sort of inheritance when your mum passed away?’
She was silent a moment and he thought she wasn’t going to answer. Finally she said, ‘My family invested in a company that went bust. They lost a substantial amount of their wealth only months before the accident.’
‘That’s tough.’ Damn, he should have kept his mouth shut. As the lights changed, he set the car in motion again. ‘Forget I asked.’
‘I don’t mind.’ From the corner of his eye he saw her chin lift. ‘I’m not ashamed.’
‘Nor should you be.’
‘Mum left what she had to my father. When Dad walked out on us, she obviously gave no thought to changing her will, which she’d made before I was even born. I only learned about it when I was old enough to understand.’
So that’s why Ellie’s father had turned up after her mother’s death—not out of any sense of parental duty but because he thought he’d come into wealth. Matt’s lip curled in disgust. ‘What about his family?’ he asked. ‘Your paternal grandparents? Couldn’t they help?’
‘Both dead, back in England. He emigrated here on his own. Of course he used what money there was to keep us together,’ Ellie hurried on. Seemed she was determined to defend him. ‘Even though we moved around a lot, we lived in nice places, ate at the best restaurants. But he was a gambler,’ she finished quietly.
Ah. It didn’t take a PhD to figure the man had left his daughter again when the money had run out. ‘Didn’t the courts make provisions for you as her daughter?’
‘They did. It was kept in trust for me until I turned eighteen…’
Something in her voice alerted him, pushed him to say, ‘Let me guess, your father turned up.’
She didn’t reply.
He shook his head. ‘Ellie, Ellie. Don’t you know feeding a gambling problem only makes it worse?’
‘He said he’d changed. He’s my father. The only family I have left.’
Her tone tugged at something deep down inside him. ‘He used that against you—you know that, don’t you?’
He could feel the pain his words caused across the space between them and felt like a jerk, but she said, ‘I insisted he use it to get help. And at least I used some of it to finance most of my horticultural course.’
‘I didn’t mean to insult you.’
‘I know. It’s just that people like you don’t have a clue about people like me.’
He let it pass. You don’t want to talk about yourself, Matt—don’t bring it up.
They turned into the driveway; the gates swung open, revealing the magnificent home in all its eccentric splendour. Proclaiming wealth from the tip of its spired turret to the landscaped front garden with its statues, ponds and carefully tended topiary.
He knew how it must look, but Ellie had no idea how much they had in common.
Matt switched on the TV and left Ellie in the lounge room while he found plates and set their meal out on the table.
Then since they weren’t eating out, he headed upstairs to change into something casual. A shadow of movement alerted him as he passed Belle’s room. He saw Ellie place Belle’s angel on the night stand.
‘Ellie?’
She jerked at his voice and spun to face him. ‘Don’t sneak up on me like that. I’m jittery enough as it is.’
He
