Page 28 of The Rest is History

‘Yeah. There are five at Hampton Park, now that Bertie’s joined the nursery, as well as little Aurelia.

It’s chaos. But he makes it work. He and Stace share custody, and he’s a family man.

Never happier than when surrounded by kids and animals.

And he’s loaded, which helps. They have a massive compound—it’s incredible. ’

I really want to ask Charlie if he’s a family man, too, but I recognise that’s a seriously creepy thing to ask a guy you’ve just had sex with for the first time. So, instead, I ask the other politically incorrect question.

‘Speaking of loaded…’ I wave my arm around. ‘Either I need to have a serious chat with Philly Willy around the gender pay gap at school, or you have another gig. And please don’t say puppy fur. Because I’d really, really like to have sex with you again.’

He grins, his gaze dragging south from my mouth to my breasts under his shirt (did I mention that the two buttons he deigned to fasten were quite low?).

‘In that case, I’m prepared to lie.’

I cross my arms over my chest. ‘Spill it, Vaughan.’

He sighs. ‘I was in finance for a few years before I went over to teaching.’

This is a shock. I would have pegged this guy for a lifer. Although… ‘I did think you looked like an off-duty hedge fund manager when you interviewed me.’

He laughs. ‘I was a venture capitalist.’

‘Why did you quit?’

‘Burnout. And my marriage was on the rocks—though there were other reasons for that. But I thought if I took my foot off the gas, it might help.’

I file his marriage under Things I Definitely Need to Know More About. But I have another question.

‘So, how long have you been a teacher for?’

He hesitates.

‘Come on.’

He sighs. ‘Six years.’

I gasp dramatically. ‘You mean of the two of us, I’m the more qualified?’

‘I knew this was coming. Technically, yes, but I obviously have more professional experience overall?—’

I shake my head. ‘Nope. Don’t try to weasel your way out of this one. You knew I had more teaching years than you, and yet you’ve patronised me and overruled me and ignored my suggestions and slagged off my teaching methods this whole year.’

He grips my wrist, smiling sexily. ‘Somebody needed to know who was boss.’

I smirk. ‘I think we established that up against the wall at the palace. Somebody was so insecure that they armoured up and decided to belittle me instead of embracing what could have been a collaborative working relationship.’

He releases my wrist. Entwines his fingers with mine. ‘You’re right, of course,’ he says softly. ‘I’m a dick. And much as it pains me to say it, I greatly admire you as an educator. And I’ve been meaning to tell you, the essays that came out of your lesson were incredible.’

I laugh magnanimously. ‘Of course they were. But I appreciate you admitting it. I’d like to see some of them.’

‘Sure.’ His hand reaches up to cup my neck, his fingers sending goosebumps over my skin as they glide. ‘Next question.’

‘So, uh,’—I attempt to focus on my burning questions instead of his dangerous fingers—‘the finance money paid for this house?’

‘You’re persistent. When my brother was building his business, I helped him a lot with funding it. I was an early investor, too. Still am. So the finance money paid for the investment, and let’s say the investment has paid massive dividends. For both of us.’

I smile slyly. ‘So you don’t exactly need Henry VIII to pay the bills.’

‘Not exactly, no.’

‘Do you need to work at all?’

He hesitates. ‘It’s useful for the coffers.’

‘The coffers. You sound like Cromwell.’

His hand slips under the collar of my shirt—his shirt. ‘You are mesmerising, you know that?’

I squirm happily.

‘My turn,’ he says. ‘Speaking of the Hampton Court gig. Are you ready to tell me more about your family issue?’

‘You know most of it. Jake, that’s Grace’s ex-husband, walked out.

He gave her lots of reasons, none of which made any sense and none of which put any of the blame on himself.

He works in finance, and let’s just say he did a very good job of hiding the money, so in the end, the amount the court ruled on was a total joke. ’

‘Jesus.’ He blinks. ‘That’s horrific. Does she work?’

‘She does. She’s a physio, but it’s not really enough. And Olive’s been having problems at school for ages, in terms of being bullied and not being able to keep up in lessons. Grace and Jake had her on the waitlist for Woodland House, but he scarpered before the place became available.’

‘And then there weren’t enough funds to cover the fees,’ he supplies.

‘Exactly. But honestly, it wasn’t an option to turn the place down. Grace and I talked it over and over, and we knew we had no choice but to cobble the money together any which way.’

‘So you’ve been funding your niece’s schooling.’ He shakes his head and stares at me as if he can’t believe what’s in front of him. ‘You’re funnelling your salary into school fees for someone who’s not even your kid.’

I want to make him understand, because he clearly doesn’t.

‘It’s not like that. Grace is my twin . She’s like one half of me.

We’ve always been so close. So, of course, when she gave birth to Olive, you can imagine how much that affected me.

It might sound weird, but it’s like she’s my own daughter.

That’s how much I love her, anyway. Just like I imagine I’d do anything for my own child, I’d do anything for Olive.

Especially if it has the power to completely change her life, which, by the way, it’s already starting to do. Woodland House is that good.

‘So we came up with a plan. They had to downsize anyway, once the house got sold and the assets divvied up. And my salary at St Michael’s was pretty crap.

We thought if we could live together, it would save a lot of money, and also, my sister was really struggling.

I mean, she was grieving for her marriage and she felt so sick with guilt that she’d ruined everything for Olive. Which is silly.

‘But I wanted to be with her—with both of them, really. I felt so helpless stuck up in London when their lives were going up in flames. So I applied for the job at Hampton Park, which I knew would help with the school fees, and I had a very sexy and very hostile interviewer who deigned to give me a chance, and…’ I trail off.

He shoots me what is quickly becoming my most favourite Charlie smile: sexy with a lethal shot of emotion.

‘And the rest is history.’