The Seller

Lucas shook his head. "Toby hit another boy. He was provoked. However, I believe you might know why it happened, because the other boy is Adrian Deacon's son."

His ex-wife shook her head, annoyance and denial filling her expression, but Naomi noticed her face had flushed. Whatever it was about, Lucas had struck a nerve with his ex. Naomi looked from one to the other of them. The urge to leave still nagged at her. The part that wanted her to stand her ground won out.

Lucas gave a wry smile. "I understand you were hoping these two kids would hit it off in an entirely different way, since you've been dating this Adrian Deacon."

Naomi looked on in stunned silence. She couldn't help being intrigued.

Clara's lips pursed. "It was a reasonable expectation."

"It certainly explains why you forced him on a trip with older kids when he wasn't ready."

"I misjudged, but I had good motives."

"Good motives?" Lucas looked incredulous. "You used your son as a pawn. Well I'm afraid he hasn't played along with your game Clara – but how could he, he didn't know, whereas the other boy did and threw it at Toby to bait him."

She rose to her feet, ready to leave. "I'll explain. I'll go get him, take him home with me."

"No, you won't. Right now the teacher is re-integrating him with the other kids. That's important, and neither of us is going to mess that up for him. He'll travel back with them tomorrow, as planned. Hopefully things will return to normal for him." He paused, took off his jacket, slowly. "You weren't invited here, Clara," he added, eventually. "You should leave."

"I have a right to be here. I'm Toby's mother." She snatched her bag up from the sofa. "How the fuck should I know you had a bimbo in tow?"

Naomi smarted. She was mortified.

"Even if I was alone here," Lucas responded, "I'd be asking you to leave."

His comment irked the ex. She turned back to face Naomi, daggers in her eyes. "You'll regret this. He'll come back to me and Toby soon."

Come back to me? Naomi's throat constricted. Had Lucas left his wife? That's not how he'd explained it to her. Or was the ex saying that because she was compromised, having marched in here hoping for reconciliation, even though there was a new man involved? It was hard to fathom, because the tension was so high and the ex-wife was clearly lashing out.

Whichever it was, Naomi knew she had to be cautious. It was a big wake up call. Her emotions had become involved and she barely knew the man, barely knew how likely he was to switch sides. When she looked his way, though, she saw Lucas's response — he looked as if he wanted to physically eject his ex.

Naomi's heart raced, squirming as she was with embarrassment.

Acting on instinct, she said her piece. "You're just trying to rock the boat," she said with much more clarity and calm than she actually felt. "I haven't known Lucas long, but I know him well enough to be sure he'd have done that already, if it was what he wanted."

Lucas nodded Naomi's way. It was a slight dip of his head, but it was a powerful acknowledgement.

Clara blurted something unintelligible in Naomi's direction then glared at Lucas. He strode over to Clara, put one hand between her shoulder blades and pointed at

the door. Clara flounced out, jerking her shoulder away from him as she went.

After the door closed behind her, silence weighed heavy in the air.

Naomi became aware how loudly her heart was pounding, how upset she was by it. The situation had been entirely unpleasant. Her emotions were awry and she wanted to be alone.

Lucas turned her way.

"I'm leaving," she blurted, and headed to the corridor that led to the bedroom.

He was at her back in a flash, one strong hand locked around her wrist halting her.

Naomi squeezed her eyes shut. His very touch made her melt. The fact it was containment made her pulse race even more erratically, because it aroused her.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that. Let me make it up to you."

"No, I need to be alone. Have to get my head together." She tugged her hand free. Mercifully he let her slip free.

She glanced back at him.