The Final Seduction

‘Do you mean that?’

Shelley laughed. ‘Of course I do! Listen, if Drew’s here I’d better go.’

‘No, don’t go, Shelley—he’ll be pleased to see you.’

Shelley smiled, but didn’t argue, and as soon as Jennie had left the room the smile vanished from her face and she sat upright, hearing the deep voice in the small hallway, and straining her ears to hear what they were saying.

Jennie must have told him she was there, because his face was dark and watchful when he walked in. The chubby baby was clinging onto him like a baby chimpanzee, with her soft, dark head snuggled close to his neck, and Shelley felt a sudden pang, and if she had analysed it and described it to another woman they would immediately have come up with the correct diagnosis.

Broodiness.

She stared at him. Oh, but he looked good holding a baby!

Drew slanted her a look as he saw her sitting bolt upright on the edge of the sofa, the dark lashes veiling the brilliant sapphire glitter of his eyes. He took in the hectic flush of her cheeks and her over-bright expression. ‘Been drinking?’

Her cutesy image of him dissolved like sugar. ‘Well, what do you know—Detective Glover has arrived! Have I been drinking? he asks. What does it look like? Oh! It’s all gone! So no, Drew—I’m not drinking at the moment, but that’s easily remedied!’ Shelley held up her empty glass and rather defiantly refilled it. ‘And before you say anything—I’m not drunk!’

‘Just a little merry?’ he queried as he began to unzip Ellie’s play-suit. ‘With the intention of getting completely legless before the afternoon is out?’

‘I’m not even merry!’ she defended, sagging back against the sofa. ‘Quite the opposite, in fact!’

‘Well, you soon will be if you carry on knocking it back like that.’

‘Da-da!’ squealed Ellie, and tugged at a stray lock of dark hair.

‘Ouch!’ he protested, unlocking the plump little fingers from their vice-like grip. ‘And I’m not your daddy, kitten!’

‘It’s just a thing they say,’ said Jennie, coming into the room and holding her arms wide open to her daughter. ‘Just a sound they make—it doesn’t mean anything!’ She held her nose closer to Ellie’s posterior. ‘Think I might have to go and freshen this child up! Help yourself to wine and sandwiches, Drew!’ She spotted the empty bottle and grinned over her shoulder as she carried Ellie out. ‘Open some more, if you like!’

‘No, thanks,’ he drawled. ‘I’ve got things to do.’

‘Like spinning another elaborate pretence, I suppose?’ questioned Shelley maliciously. ‘Like making out you’re still a simple jobbing carpenter when you’ve obviously joined the ranks of the super-rich?’

‘I’m not quite in that league yet,’ he offered drily. ‘I meant like getting your electricity and water connected, actually. Jennie said that you’re going to have to wait until the end of the week.’

‘That’s what they said.’ She glared at him suspiciously. ‘And I don’t see how you’re going to change their minds when they told me most definitely that it was non-negotiable.’

‘Well, why don’t I give it a go?’ he queried calmly. ‘Come on—let’s walk next door and we can tell them what it says on the meters.’

‘But I haven’t got a phone connected next door,’ she said in an irritated voice. In fact she felt very irritated indeed—surely far more than was reasonable? ‘Remember?’

‘Well, it’s your lucky day, Shelley—because I’ve got one right here.’

With a lazy smile he inched his hand slowly down from the waistband of his jeans and Shelley’s eyes widened with horrified anticipation as she wondered just what he was going to do next.

Until she suddenly realised that he was sliding his fingers deep down into the front pocket of his jeans to extract a slim mobile phone.

He held it up like a trophy. ‘See?’ He plucked the wine glass from her hand and deposited it on the table. ‘Leave that. You don’t need any more.’

Infuriatingly, he was right. Not only didn’t she need any more—she didn’t want any more, either. In fact, she was beginning to feel quite sick.

Determined not to betray even the slightest wooziness, Shelley rose to her feet, as upright as a toy soldier.

‘Shelley and I are just going next door!’ he called upstairs to Jennie.

Outside, the sky was a clear bright blue, the air all crisp and fresh—while the sun gilded the small suburban houses into doll’s-house palaces. Once they used to have the run of each other’s houses—and Shelley found it achingly evocative as she remembered how their twin lives used to merge into one.