I turned so that Kate’s head obscured the two of them. Alternative therapy. Medicine. That’s what I needed. It’d taste bloody awful but it might do the trick.
‘OK, I’ll give Barney’s speed date a try.’ I’m not sure who was more surprised by my calm acquiescence — me, Mum or Kate? Auntie Bren just smiled serenely.
That was it. Traffic light green for go. Kate’s face lit up with a gleeful smile. I smiled back, ignoring the spasm of panic that clutched at me. I’d only said I’d go... I could always get out of it later. I was brilliant at coming up with ideas, a creative thinker allegedly, according to those silly management profiles they do at work. I could dream up a million excuses. Voluntary root canal work, knitting lessons, appendicitis — any one would do.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken account of the cunning Machiavellian strand lodged within Kate’s DNA.
* * *
Daniel felt Emily nestle in next to him. Soft, warm. Her cleavage on display, inviting. He put an arm round her and looked down at the white-blonde hair. No denying, she was gorgeous especially when she smiled sleepily up at him, her eyes hinting at sex. Sweet, uncomplicated and very feminine.
Looking around the room he saw the DJ methodically packing up his kit with the kind of fierce concentration that said, ‘I’m off duty and headed home’. It was that time of night. Even the waitresses had been roused from their earlier resigned inertia and were whipping glasses off tables with super-heroic speed.
Across the table, Olivia and her sister had their heads together, tawny blonde and glossy brunette. His eyes narrowed as he watched Olivia lift her half-full wine glass. Her heart wasn’t in it. She’d been putting on a brave face all day. He felt for her but it went with the territory. This was what she’d signed up for.As she took another sip she looked up and caught him watching. A tight-lipped smile flashed across her face.
Served her right and then he immediately regretted the thought. Unkind and unfair. No one deserved to be unhappy but Christ he wanted to shake her. Getting herself into such a mess.
He always thought he understood Olivia. Straight arrow. Sensible, down to earth. He winced. Made her sound boring and she wasn’t. How long was it that they’d known each other now? Since the second term of the first year at university. She was a fixture in so many of his memories. The voice of reason on nights out when student antics threatened to go too far. Calming things down in curry houses when the laddish behaviour overstepped the mark. And yet she always achieved it with humour and authority without coming across like a Head Girl.
He could see where she got those traits. Her family all had that same natural ability to lead without appearing overbearing.
Shit, what would her parents say if they knew? With a marriage as solid as theirs, he felt sure they would be horrified if they heard their daughter was going out with a married man. He could barely believe it himself. He sighed and felt Emily wriggle as he tightened his arm around her.
He gave himself a mental shake. Nothing to do with him. She was a grown woman and had made her bed. Good job Emily had tipped him off that night at the party otherwise he’d have gone ahead and made a right dick of himself. You thought you knew people. Just went to show you didn’t always know them as well as you thought. Emily had sworn him to secrecy, making him promise not to tell Olivia he knew. Something he regretted. Part of him wanted to remind her how awful it had been when his mother had an affair and the other part, the one that wanted to shake the living daylights out of her, couldn’t believe she could forget. It felt like a betrayal.
He shook his head trying to shake away the hollow feeling. Olivia had to really love this guy.
Daniel gritted his teeth at the memory of the near miss. Emily’s hand fluttered along the length of his tense jaw and then down over his thigh. He had a good idea where it was headed. Simple and uncomplicated, that’s what he wanted. He certainly didn’t want to be sitting here dwelling on the past and wondering what the hell Olivia was playing at.
Emily’s hand moved up, her fingers sliding into the waistband of his trousers. He looked down to see the suggestive tilt of her eyebrow and her rosebud mouth pursed in invitation. He bent his head to kiss her. Olivia had made her bed, it was nothing to do with him.
Chapter Two
As he and Emily collected their breakfast from the extensive buffet, Daniel caught sight of the two sisters and headed over to the table they’d commandeered in the corner of the dining room. Olivia looked a bit wan this morning. Not that it seemed to have affected her appetite; she seemed absorbed in mopping up the last dregs of fried egg with a piece of bread.
‘Do I detect that you’ve just scoffed a full English?’ he teased, feeling guilty that he’d not made more effort to talk to her the previous evening.
She looked up, her eyes darting away briefly before they slid back to make contact. She did that a lot these days. Guilty conscience.
‘Golly, Sherlock.’ Her smile was feeble but that wasn’t unexpected. She’d never worn hangovers particularly well. ‘No flies on you.’
‘Did you really eat a full cooked breakfast?’ asked Emily, her eyes widening as she slipped into a chair and tucked into a solitary croissant. In her dainty hands it looked huge as she nibbled it delicately. ‘Gosh, I don’t know how you could.’
Startled he glanced at Emily wondering if there was more to her words but there was a dimple in her cheek and her blue eyes were guileless.
‘Lucky Olivia has such a fast metabolism,’ Kate’s voice floated out from the business section of theSunday Times.
He smiled. Kate could be such a bruiser. So different from Olivia. Tact had bypassed Kate. She said what she thought, whereas Olivia always managed to find something positive in people. Obviously where she was going wrong with her married man. He was bound to be a wanker.
‘Our Olivia’s always been a tall, skinny wench,’ Kate continued in a mock Yorkshire accent. Then she gave a sigh and rustled the paper.
Olivia smiled reluctantly as she caught his eye. It was all show. They both knew Kate only ever read the fashion pages.
‘Just as well,’ he said, helping himself to a coffee, his hand edging towards the sports section of Kate’s paper. ‘Seeing how she’s always been partial to a post-hangover fry-up.’
‘And you weren’t?’ Olivia snapped.
God she was moody these days.
