‘When you’ve been hurt that badly, it can take a long time to heal,’ said my mother, in never-before-heard sympathetic tones.‘From what you’ve said, he’s wonderfully good at everything, and so handsome, which never hurts. He’ll be fine.’
Douglas reached over and squeezed her hand.
‘Thank you, my darling, I knew you’d understand,’ he said, gazing at her. ‘You have such insight into people – I suppose it must come from being an actress and inhabiting different characters.’ He turned to me. ‘Your mother has opened my eyes to so many things in life.’
I refrained from comment. One thing shewasright about, though, and that was true-to-form for her to mention, was that Alexander was ridiculously good-looking, even – or maybe especially – when he was throwing out women bringing him casseroles. I started to imagine what he looked like when he smiled, but shut that thought down instantly when my mother finally finished simpering at Douglas and turned to me.
‘Didn’t you think so, Fallon? That Alexander is frightfully handsome?’
I could hardly say ‘no’ when his father was standing there, and it would have been an outright lie anyway, but to admit that I thought he was gorgeous could open a door with my mother that I wanted to stay decisively shut: her involvement in my love life. Besides, good-looking he may be, but it hardly made up for his grumpy personality. Thankfully, I was saved from answering her by the return of Alexander himself, holding hands with a small boy who continued the family resemblance as if he had been the next one plucked out of a stack of Russian dolls: thick, dark hair, cobalt eyes and strong bone structure. He was also smiling, shyly, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I didn’t know any small boys – or small girls, come to think of it – but this one struck me as particularly nice. Maybe he took after his mother.
‘Everyone,’ said Alexander. ‘This is my son, Theo.’
The boy gave a little wave, and I lifted Runcible’s paw and had her wave in return.
‘Is that your dog?’ Theo asked, his smile growing.
‘Oh, I didn’t notice it before,’ said Alexander, peering at her. ‘It’s, er, very unusual-looking.’
I suppose that’s an aristocratic way of saying ‘ugly’. I forced a smile. ‘Yes, this is Runcible. She’s a bit of a mix of breeds and very sweet. Do you like dogs, Theo?’
‘Ilovethem. Can I stroke her?’
‘Of course you can, she loves being stroked and cuddled.’ He came and sat next to me, and I put Runcible on his lap. She gave his hand a tiny lick and settled down to be petted. ‘I think the two of you are going to be best friends.’
He beamed at me, and I grinned back, then glanced up to see a matching smile on Alexander’s face. Dear God, now he had knocked ‘handsome’ right out of the park; he looked positively beautiful. I looked away again quickly.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Theo loves all animals – he was so happy when he heard that a dog was coming to stay. Now, who would like tea?’
Feeling dehydrated from the journey and champagne, I was a fan of this idea, but Mum was quicker.
‘Yes! Why don’t you help Alexander fetch it, Fallon, darling? It doesn’t look like Runcible needs you for a bit.’
I could feel my lips tighten, and I quickly smoothed them out. I didn’t care about the wrinkles, but I didn’t want to get off to a bad start with the Knights, especially having seen how rude Alexander could be.
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Which way?’
Runcible had now closed her eyes and was snoring gently, with Theo looking on adoringly.
‘Oh, er…thank you, Fallon,’ said Alexander, looking doubtful. ‘The kitchen’s through here.’
I followed him out, ignoring my mother’s smirking face.
‘Wow,’ I said, as I followed him through two doorways, along a gloomy passage and past a narrow flight of servants’ stairs before we emerged into the kitchen. ‘The tea will be cold by the time we get it back!’
‘That’s one of the problems with living in a huge house like this: everything’s always likely to be cold unless you’re right in front of a fire. Luckily, we have an assortment of hideous tea cosies, so that solves the tea problem.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ I replied gravely, as he opened a drawer to show me about five tea cosies, each one uglier and more lumpy than the last. ‘Ha – and you had the nerve to look askance at my dog! Who knitted them for you – your army of female admirers?’
He had the decency to look ashamed.
‘Look, I’m sorry about that. I must have looked like an arrogant so-and-so. I just try to fit a lot into the day and Annabel does take up a great deal of time if you let her. She’d interrupted me right in the middle of a piece of work that was already taking me away from Theo and his reading homework. She’s an old family friend, though, so I should have been more patient, I suppose. And I’m sorry for not being more enthusiastic about your dog. She’s sweet, and Theo is besotted.’
I hoped he wasn’t going to keep up this new charming yet self-effacing behaviour. Combined with his looks, he was already making it extremely difficult not to fancy him, and there was no way I was going down that path. I had a hard and fast rule in my dating life, which was that men with children, or who wanted children, were a no-no. I was terrified by the thought of inflicting myself on some poor child, given the chance I might follow in my own mother’s footsteps – and anyway, I wasn’t giving my mother a front row seat to my love life this Christmas. No, this holiday was to be strictly R and R so that I could get back to mybusiness and life in London. I returned my attention to the tea cosies, passion killers if ever I’d seen one.
‘Thanks. Theo seems a lovely boy. Right, I’m going to choose the worst of these, just to see the look on my mother’s face.’
Alexander busied himself with kettle, mugs and a tray.
