CHAPTER FIVE
‘IT’S gone ten o’clock,’ Verity told Honor worriedly. ‘I thought your father would have been here by now—you said he wouldn’t want you to be out late.’
‘Mmm…I know.’
Honor seemed far less perturbed about her father’s absence than she was, Verity noticed, which surprised her. She would have thought that, given Honor’s obvious dislike of Myra, she would have become at least a little anxious about the fact that Silas was quite obviously lingering with the woman rather longer than Honor had originally intimated.
Perhaps Myra had prevailed on him to take her home after all, and, once there, no doubt she had insisted that he remain for a nightcap and of course, whilst he was drinking it, she had no doubt put on the video. ‘Just so that he could see a few minutes of it.’ And then, of course, it would be a small step—a very small step for her kind of woman—from that to turning down the lights and refilling Silas’ glass, insisting that there was no need for him to rush and that surely Honor could miss a morning of school for once…
Verity could virtually hear the enticing personal arguments she would purr into his ear as she slipped onto the sofa beside him and placed her hand on his jacket, supposedly to remove a bit of non-existent fluff, before sliding it up onto his shoulde
r and then caressing the back of his neck where his hair curled thick and dark. Verity closed her eyes. She could remember so clearly just how that felt—how she had felt, how just the intimacy simply of touching him like that had made her go weak at the knees, all melting, yielding, wanting womanhood.
‘Verity, are you all right?’
‘What…? Er…’ guiltily Verity opened her eyes ‘…er, yes…’ she fibbed, hot-cheeked, hurriedly getting up so that she could avoid meeting the innocence of Honor’s eyes.
‘Perhaps we should ring the restaurant,’ she began hurriedly. ‘I—’
‘No…No…I don’t think that would be a good idea,’ Honor instantly denied. ‘I mean, Dad was so angry, wasn’t he? And…’ But despite what she had said Verity couldn’t help noticing that Honor herself did keep looking at the silent telephone.
‘Perhaps he’s been delayed…a flat tyre or something like that,’ she offered comfortingly.
‘How long is your hair?’ Honor asked, moving their conversation away from her father’s late arrival.
‘Er…’
‘Take it down now,’ Honor urged her, reaching out to tweak some of the constraining pins from Verity’s hair before she could stop her.
Suspecting that the little girl was more disturbed by her father’s non-appearance than she wanted to admit, Verity gave in.
‘Oh, it’s lovely,’ Honor told her in open and honest admiration when all the pins were finally removed and Verity had quickly pulled the small brush she kept in her handbag through her soft curls.
‘It’s getting too long. I should really have it cut,’ Verity said ruefully.
‘Oh, no, you mustn’t,’ Honor told her, gently stroking her fingers through it.
Verity felt her heart jerk and then almost stop. Once, a long time ago, a lifetime ago it seemed now, Silas had touched her hair just like that and spoken similar words to her.
‘No, don’t ever have it cut,’ he had whispered to her. ‘I love it so much—I love you so much.’
Instinctively she closed her eyes.
‘What’s the matter? You look awfully sad,’ Honor told her.
There was a huge lump in Verity’s throat.
‘I—’ she began, and then stopped as the phone suddenly rang. Honor reached it first but, a little to Verity’s surprise, she waited for her to pick up the receiver.
‘Verity?’
There was no mistaking the crisp tones of Silas’ voice.
‘Yes. Yes, Silas…’
‘Look, I can’t talk now. There’s been an emergency. I’m at the garden centre. The police called me out. Someone reported seeing intruders trying to break in. So far we haven’t found any signs of anyone but it looks as though I could be tied up here for some time. Honor…’
‘Honor’s fine with me, unless you want me to take her to her friend’s,’ Verity assured him as calmly as she could. Why was her heart beating so frantically fast, her pulse racing, her mouth dry, her whole body reacting to the sound of his voice as if…as though…?