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Mrs Conroy peered his way, and her eyes lit. “Seth, is that you?”
This was bad news, really bad. Lily had paused and turned around. Mrs Conroy frowned, and looked from one of them to the other.
Damage limitation was the only option. Seth rolled into action. “Mrs Conroy, how lovely to see you.” He forced a smile—hopefully a winning one.
The woman’s expression melted into a smile. Good sign.
“Seth, it is you. I wondered.” She examined Lily again. “Is this your young lady?”
My what? Could this get any more difficult?
Lily gave the older woman a tentative smile, before looking at him expectantly. This sort of complication was just what he had been trying to avoid. He couldn’t find a single thing to say. Lily put out her hand to the other woman. “I’m Lily Howard, its lovely to meet someone who knows Seth. He’s just been showing me his old haunts.”
Fuck it. She’d used her real name. This woman was nothing but a damn liability. He wanted to lock her up and throw away the key. Should have briefed her, should have been ready. Seth forced a smile, it took a huge effort. “We were just passing through the area and I decided I’d show her the place I grew up.”
Mrs Conroy beamed when Lily put out her hand and rattled a long introduction. “It’s a pleasure my dear. I’ve known Seth since he was born and he attended my Sunday school classes as a wee lad in shorts. It’s good to see him with a companion. You must be very special; it’s the first time he’s brought a young lady home. What a shame his parents aren’t at home to meet you.”
“It is indeed,” Lily responded.
This amused her, for Christ’s sake. Seth gritted his teeth. He knew he had to let this run a moment longer or Mrs Conroy’s suspicion might bring her up to the house. He was eager to move on and get
this outing done with before anyone else who knew him popped up to complicate matters. Her voice droned on, and he disengaged as he scanned the street, reassuring himself but there was no way Lavonne would find them here. They were as undercover as they could get, but it was second nature for him to expect the worse and be ready for it.
“You know, Seth’s mother has a scarf just like that. I know because I gave it to her for her birthday, three years ago. “
Bad luck choice, Seth reflected, glaring at the scarf. Nothing got past this woman. She should work for the police. His sense of unease quickly magnified, making his patience evaporate and his temper turn sour. Images of Adrian alone at the house, while they played social butterflies, assailed him. The pavements were getting busier too, as it closed on lunchtime. All of it seemed to mock him and the idiot choices he’d made. He should have come up here alone and just bought her something himself, fuck the embarrassment factor.
Mrs Conroy scrutinized them both again. “You are bound to get on with Seth’s mum, having such similar taste in accessories.”
Great, just great. How the hell do I get out of this?
A moment later the two women were chuckling together and he peered at them. Whatever Lily had said to the other woman, had done the trick. Mrs Conroy blinked at him like a contented cat. “Your mother is very proud of you and what you do, Seth. I doubt she tells you enough, but…I just thought I’d mention it. Her only regret is that you don’t have time for a proper family life. I’m sure she’ll be delighted when she meets Lily.” She winked conspiratorially, as if she’d approved Lily and would put in a good word for her.
Surreal. Seth wasn’t sure how to handle this; it was way beyond his experience. And his temper was getting worse by the moment.
Lily seemed to notice and pulled into action before he did, shaking Mrs Conroy’s hand. “We’d better make a move. It’s been lovely meeting you. I could listen to your lovely Welsh accent all day. Seth’s isn’t so strong, what with living in London, although I still hear it in there. It’s a beautiful accent.” She looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Did she really think that? Seth didn’t have long to consider it because he found himself ensconced in a brief perfumed hug from Mrs Conroy. He tried to clear his fogged brain. Think, dammit.
“I look forward to next time, Seth.”
“Unit next time, you never saw us this time, right?”
His old teacher stared up at him; her eyes shrewd and assessing. Then she nodded, and was gone, disappearing into the nearby library.
Chaos management. His job shouldn’t be about chaos management. It should be about rigorous procedures that were strictly adhered to. As they walked away he faced up to the fact that bringing Lily out was a mistake, another one. His judgement was shot to hell. He’d left a high profile witness unguarded and unsupervised, for what? A matter of life or death? No. Women’s underwear. Jesus Christ.
He knew he was walking down the road too fast for Lily and that she was struggling to keep up, but he couldn’t help himself. He kept one hand on her arm, determined to get this over with. Get back to the witness. No more risks.
“Seth, you’re not annoyed are you? I had to let her think I was your girlfriend. If I hadn’t, she’d have kept quizzing you.”
Unbelievable. He ground to a halt turned to face her and grasped her by the upper arms. Looking into her eyes, he could see that she really thought that’s what was annoying him. Everything about this was dangerous, and the bottom line was she was far too attractive to him and that was why he was functioning so badly. “You told her your name, for fuck’s sake!”
Lily looked as if she had slapped him. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t think—”
“No, you didn’t,” he interrupted.
“Well I’m sorry, this is all new to me and…” She frowned. “Back up a minute, what the hell difference does it make if she knows my name anyway? It’s Adrian who is the important one.”
