Love And Liability. Katie Oliver

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СКАЧАТЬ reached the village a short time later. Holly directed Alex to the newsagent’s, where he lowered her to a chair just inside the door and went off in search of paracetamol and a bottle of water. She rubbed her ankle. It was throbbing, and swelling up horribly…

      Her eyes came to rest on the newsstand. The latest issue of BritTEEN, emblazoned with the bright yellow tagline “One Outrageous Question with Hottie Henry”, sat in the middle of the shelf. Alex was just steps away; if he turned around, he’d surely see it.

      Please, Holly silently begged the magazine gods, please don’t let him see it…

      The magazine gods must’ve listened, because Alex walked past the newsstand and went straight to the till.

      He returned to Holly. “Here you go,” he said, and opened the paracetamol and tipped a couple of pills into her outstretched hand. “Now—” he frowned “—how do we get you back to the house?”

      Holly took the bottle of water from him and swallowed the pills. “Well, we can’t take a taxi, not with the dogs. And Dad went to fetch Hannah early this morning.”

      “I noticed an estate car parked round the back of your house when we left.”

      “It’s Mrs Henley’s. She’ll be far too busy fixing lunch to come and get us.”

      “Well, I’ll call the house just the same, and see if someone else can fetch us—”

      But calling proved unnecessary when Mrs Henley’s teenage daughter, Lucy, came into the newsagent’s and offered to take them back. “I’m headed that way anyhow,” she told Holly. “I work half-days on Saturday, helping with the lunch service and the clearing up. Mum likes her chocolate,” she added as she grabbed up a Bounty and a Dairy Milk from the confectionery display.

      “Thanks,” Holly said gratefully. “Do you have room for three dogs, as well?”

      “No problem.” She indicated an ancient VW Kombi parked just outside. “Go ahead and hop in. I just have to pick up a couple of things. Be out in two ticks.”

      The Kombi — painted a virulent shade of lime green and plastered with stickers of flowers — earned a distrustful look from Holly but besotted enthusiasm from Alex.

      “This is fantastic!” Alex exclaimed as he opened the double doors. “It’s got a Canterbury Pitt conversion.”

      Holly looked at him blankly. “A what?”

      “A custom conversion,” Lucy explained as she joined them. “A table goes in the middle, but it’s stowed; and I’ve a cooker, and a poptop with two bunks above, for sleeping.” She waited as Holly, Alex, and the dogs clambered inside, then slid behind the wheel. “’Course, it’s old, so it breaks down a lot.”

      “Great,” Holly muttered.

      “Not to worry,” Lucy assured her as she started the engine. “Daisy won’t get you back home very fast, but she will get you there.”

      The stench of diesel filled the air as Lucy put the van in gear, and, true to her word, with a judder and a toot of the horn, they were off.

       Chapter 15

      “Let’s take you up to your room,” Lucy told Holly when they arrived, “so you can have a nice lie-in and keep the weight off that foot.”

      “I don’t need a nice lie-in! I’m fine.” Before Holly could protest any further, Alex scooped her up in his arms and headed up the stairs, Lucy trailing behind.

      “Lucy’s right,” Alex informed her. “You need to stay off that foot.”

      She glared at him. “And you need to stop acting like Rhett Butler.”

      “I’m sure Scarlett O’Hara never ate half a carton of eggs, three pieces of toast, and a rasher of bacon for breakfast,” he retorted.

      “Holly!” her mother exclaimed as she emerged from the baize door that led to the kitchen. “What’s happened?”

      Alex came to a stop halfway up the stairs. “She had a fall. She’s twisted her ankle. It’s nothing serious.”

      “Tell that to my ankle,” Holly said through gritted teeth. “Argghh! It hurts.”

      “Well, I’m sorry to hear that, darling.” Cherie tutted. “Your dad’s just texted to say he and Hannah should be here in time for lunch. One of her friends brought her to Hertfordshire, so it’s trimmed an hour and a half from his journey… Mrs Henley’s roasted a chicken and a lovely leg of lamb. Will you join us, or shall I have her send up a tray?”

      “A tray, please. Thanks, Mum.”

      Alex followed Holly’s directions to her bedroom and lowered her on the bed. He reached behind her to plump up the pillows. “There. Comfy?”

      Holly nodded. “Perfect.” Her foot throbbed; the paracetamol obviously hadn’t taken effect yet.

      “I’ll go downstairs and fetch some Epsom salts,” Lucy told her from the doorway. “That foot needs a proper soak. Here,” she added as she handed some magazines to Alex. “Give these to Holly. They’ll help pass the time. I got ’em at the newsagent’s just now.”

      “Thanks.” Alex took a seat in the faded chintz armchair by Holly’s bed and began idly flipping through the pile. “Your competition,” he said, lifting up copies of Shout and Bliss to show her. “‘How to Avoid a Dodgy Date’,” he read, and frowned. “I could’ve used this one at university. I once went out to dinner with a girl who smelt suspiciously of marijuana and ordered one of everything on the menu.”

      “Give me those.” She held out her hand.

      He ignored her. “Ah, here’s a must-read — ‘My Bezzie Mate Stole My Lad!’” He shook his head. “It’s a jungle out there.”

      “Alex,” Holly warned him, “if you don’t hand those magazines over right now…”

      He grinned. “I had no idea teen magazines were so entertaining.” He flipped to the last one in the pile. “Wait a minute — this one’s yours, isn’t it?” He held up the latest issue of BritTEEN.

      Her heart throbbing as badly as her foot, Holly tried to grab it away. “Yes. Come on, Alex, enough already! Give me those stupid magazines!”

      “Wait a minute…let me just see if my interview’s in here.” He turned to the table of contents. “Ah, yes, here it is — ‘One Outrageous Question with Hottie Henry’.” He looked up in mild surprise. “Hottie Henry?”

      “Alex, please, give me that—”

      But he found page thirty-seven and glanced at his picture. “I’m glad you used that photo,” he approved. “One of my mates took that one. I remember it well. A bunch of us hired a sailboat in Belize a couple of years ago…”

      Holly waited in an agony of dread as he began to read СКАЧАТЬ