The Seduction Challenge

She laughed. ‘You tell me. You’re the one I’ll be breathing on.’

‘I don’t mind.’ He peeled a few cloves and chopped them. ‘We need to ward off the germs at this time of year. So, Sam went to sleep with no problems?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, surprisingly. I was expecting problems but he seems to be all right.’

Joel tossed garlic, olives and baby tomatoes into a pan of sizzling olive oil and cast her a searching look.

‘Are you going to tell me what that was all about?’ His voice was soft. ‘Why can’t you ever be late picking Sam up, Lucy? Why was he so upset?’

Suddenly he remembered his father saying that she didn’t talk about her past and he cursed his curiosity.

‘Look, forget I asked,’ he said gruffly. ‘It’s none of my business.’

She looked at him and gave a wan smile. ‘It’s all right. You have every right to ask. If it hadn’t been for your help today I would have been even later picking him up.’ She took a deep breath and her eyes were clouded with painful memories. ‘Sam’s father decided that he didn’t want to be with us any more and so he left.’ Her tone was matter-of-fact. ‘Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to tell us. He just left a note and vanished.’

Joel turned the heat off under the sauce and put down the spoon he’d been using to stir the pan. ‘He didn’t tell you he was leaving?’

He looked at her in disbelief and she shook her head slowly.

‘No, he didn’t tell anyone.’ She bit her lip. ‘And the day he chose to leave he was due to pick Sam up from school. I’d gone to stay with my mother for the night, because she wasn’t well, but I hadn’t bothered telling the school because I assumed Tim was picking Sam up.’

‘Oh, my God.’ Joel closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them again she was perched on the edge of the kitchen table, staring at the floor. ‘So no one turned up to collect him?’

She shook her head. ‘The school rang round everyone in the class and one of the mothers remembered me mentioning that I was going away, but she didn’t know where my mother lived. They tried to get hold of Tim, but of course he’d gone.’ She gave a little shudder. ‘In the end Sam spent the night with a schoolfriend and the next day, when I arrived home, I found Tim’s note and guessed what must have happened.’

‘No wonder Sam was in a state when you were late today.’

‘Well when it happened a year ago Sam was confused and upset,’ Lucy said, her voice husky as she spoke, ‘and when I told him that Daddy wasn’t coming back he was distraught. He couldn’t understand how his Dad could have just left him there. He thought he must have done something naughty.’

Joel felt a red-hot anger burn through him. ‘Does he see his father now?’

Lucy shook her head. ‘I tried desperately hard to persuade Tim to stay in touch, for Sam’s sake, but he wouldn’t. He—’ She broke off and coloured. ‘He met someone else, you see. And I suppose they wanted a fresh start—I don’t know…’

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose sharply.

‘Sorry.’ She sniffed. ‘Generally we’re doing all right. It was just this afternoon I panicked.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

Her love for her child touched something deep inside him.

‘But it was all right.’ She gave him a smile that he knew must have taken a lot of effort. ‘I think he must be adjusting. He was upset at the time, as you saw, but he seemed all right this evening.’

‘And what about you?’ Joel couldn’t help asking the question. ‘Are you getting over it?’

‘Well, leaving London and coming to Cornwall has been good,’ she told him. ‘My parents wanted me to move home and live with them, but I knew I couldn’t do that. Sam and I are a family now and we have to learn to survive together.’ She gave herself a little shake and changed the subject deftly. ‘So, Dr Whittaker, are you going to stand there looking at me all night, or are you going to cook me something to eat?’

Her courage brought a lump to his throat but he forced himself to keep the atmosphere light since that was obviously what she wanted.

‘Something?’ He pretended to look offended. ‘You call this gourmet creation of mine something? I can assure you, madame, it is a masterpiece of culinary invention.’

She smiled at him. ‘Well, forgive me. I’ve never met a domesticated man before.’

He winked at her and threw some pasta into a pan of boiling water.

‘Nick and Michael can cook, too. My mother taught all three of us to look after ourselves.’

Her expression was wistful. ‘She’s a lovely lady, your mother.’