Merger By Matrimony

‘You don’t believe that. You know you don’t.’

‘Why are you asking me these questions?’ she flung at him, spinning to face him. ‘Why does it matter what I think?’

‘I’m interested, that’s all. I’m not a fool. I’ve noticed the way you look at us when we’re in the same room, seen the expression on your face—as though you’re mystified at what I see in her.’

Oh, good Lord. Had she been that transparent?

‘Maybe you’re right,’ he said softly, so softly that she wanted to groan. Her body was responding to his nearness, to the low, velvety tone of his voice, to the depths of his eyes resting on her, the way it would have responded if she was standing next to an open fire. An open fire that was slowly but steadily melting her.

The wetness she felt between her legs was such an unknown experience that at first she wasn’t even aware of it and, when she was, she was horrified.

This was lust. It bore no resemblance whatsoever to the affection and the tenderness and the light-hearted, detached curiosity she had felt when Henri had occasionally kissed her on the mouth, after a bit of alcohol and under the embrace of a hot starry night. This was like being hit by a sledgehammer.

‘Who knows? Do you think I might need a more challenging type of woman?’

‘I don’t know what you need,’ she squeaked.

‘True. Really, how do any of us know what we need unless we try it out first? Test the water, so to speak?’ Then he did something so unexpected and so shocking that for a few seconds her body froze. He touched her. Just with one finger, on her mouth, tracing it, but the touch was so erotic that the ache between her legs shot through the rest of her body like a fast-moving virus. Her breasts actually seemed to hurt and she could feel the pupils in her eyes dilate.

‘No!’ She pulled back, shaking, and spun round on her heels, staring down at her feet and breathing heavily, while he lounged against the window sill. ‘Please,’ she whispered, still staring at her feet, ‘let’s just see the rest of the house. Please.’

Callum didn’t answer immediately. He couldn’t. He was too busy trying to get his vocal cords into gear. Eventually, more in an attempt to repress the powerful and bloody primal urge he had felt for her than anything else, he said, ‘Sure. And if I manage to make it boring enough, who knows? You might just find it useful in boring unwanted animals to death.’

You could never be boring, she wanted to say, but she didn’t. He had touched her mouth with his finger and he now felt sorry for her because he must be able to see how inordinately she’d responded. Like the gauche, unsophisticated primitive that she was. He felt sorry for her and was now trying to put her out of her misery by restoring some light-hearted humour between them. For that she felt both grateful and mortified at the same time.

But things got easier, and after another hour exploring each room, discussing who’d removed what in accordance to the legacy Abe had left, the brief moment of madness, if not forgotten, had been put to sleep. Like a tiger injected with a temporary sedative. She had no doubt that, when she was alone again, the moment would come rushing out at her, like a bat out of hell.

They only managed to cover part of the house, which, if anything, was bigger than it had appeared from the outside, before Callum suggested lunch, and they joined a lazy and slightly browner Stephanie by the pool.

More salad. Destiny looked at her plate, which had been brought out by Deirdre, Harold’s other half, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. At least this time round there was plenty of it, but several helpings went virtually nowhere to filling the gap in her stomach.

‘Don’t worry,’ Callum confided, as they left Stephanie once more by the pool and resumed their tour of the house, ‘dinner will be more substantial. It’s an old English custom to serve salads on hot summer days.’

‘Don’t know why,’ Destiny said. ‘You need a lot of energy in hot weather, especially at lunchtime, and the last thing you get from a bundle of lettuce leaves is an injection of energy.’

An injection of apathy, more like it, she thought when they had finally completed the rounds of the house. In the end they had had to quicken their pace, if the gardens were to be done the following day, but there was lots she wanted to revisit.

At six o’clock, when they found themselves once again at the pool, Stephanie was finally through with her day’s exertions.

‘You look great,’ Destiny said warmly. ‘Very brown.’

‘Do I?’ She contorted her slender body in an attempt to scrutinise as much of it as she could. ‘What do you think, Callum?’