Ben’s sobs grew noisier. ‘It’s all her fault. She made me do it and she—’
‘Hush.’ Christy pulled him into her arms and cuddled him close. ‘I’m not mad with you, sweetie, honestly. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. It isn’t important. It’s only a sofa.’
‘My house is turning into a war zone,’ Alessandro muttered, dragging a hand through his dark hair and letting out a long breath. ‘Seeing that you haven’t cooked any dinner yet, let’s go out.’
Katy’s face brightened. ‘Great idea. You’ll need to get us a babysitter. I nominate Uncle Jake.’
Christy blinked. ‘I think Daddy meant all of us.’
‘Oh, no, we’re much too tired to go out.’ Katy gave an exaggerated yawn to prove her point. ‘I’ve got holiday homework to finish and Ben needs his beauty sleep. Not that all the sleep in the world is going to make him half-decent to look at,’ she added as an afterthought, and Ben sat up and poked his tongue out.
Alessandro gave a shrug and looked at Christy. ‘So—you and I can go out.’
‘But…’ How could she say that she didn’t really want to go out on a date that had been engineered by the children? If he’d asked her, that would have been different. ‘Jake won’t be free.’
‘He’s free—I saw him at lunchtime.’ Alessandro was already on the phone, and Christy sighed.
‘A
ll right. I’ll go and change.’
‘Wear the black dress, Mummy,’ Katy hissed, and Christy frowned.
‘What black dress?’
‘The little one that makes Daddy grab you from behind.’
Christy blushed and wondered at exactly what point her daughter had started noticing so much. ‘That’s a party dress, sweetheart.’
‘So? You look pretty in it.’
Christy bit her lip. But did she want to look pretty? Yes, of course she did. But wearing a party dress to go out to dinner in the middle of the week would look desperate, and she had too much pride to show Alessandro just how desperate she was.
Crazy, she thought as she rummaged through her wardrobe. She was having an informal supper with her husband and she had absolutely no idea what to wear.
She wanted to look attractive, but not obvious.
She wanted him to want her.
Wanted him to kiss her. Would that fix things? she wondered. If he kissed her and took her to bed, would they be able to heal their wounds?
In the end she settled for a slinky velvet skirt in a shade of heather and teamed it with a slinky black top that dipped temptingly at the front.
Jake walked through the door as she reached for her coat. He immediately strode over and kissed her. ‘You look stunning and beautiful,’ he breathed, his eyes lingering on the neckline of her top.
Glancing at Alessandro, Christy wondered why he was glaring. Presumably he was still annoyed at having their evening manipulated by the children.
Clearly he had no real wish to spend time with her. Unlike Jake, he hadn’t even commented on what she was wearing.
Jake swept Ben into his arms and stooped to hug an excited Katy.
‘Uncle Jake!’
‘Did you bring me a present?’ Ben wrapped his legs and arms around Jake like a monkey, and Christy gasped in horror and embarrassment at his question.
‘You don’t ask people that, Ben,’ she admonished, but Jake just grinned.
‘Why not? Honesty gets you a long way in life, I always think. If only women were as uncomplicated as children, life would run much more smoothly.’ He whipped a bag out from behind his back. ‘Sweets and a DVD and maybe a small toy because I haven’t seen you for so long.’