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For several long seconds Nell continued to scowl at her. Then, to Effie’s surprise and pride, she smoothed her face into an expression of acceptance and nodded. ‘Yes, I know. And I am truly sorry for stealing. For what it’s worth, I’ll never make that mistake again.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Tak replied graciously. ‘Nell, would you excuse your mother and I for a moment?’
Effie watched in shock as Nell nodded again, then obediently left the room. If it had been just herself and her daughter she knew Nell would have been like a dog with the proverbial bone.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOU’RE REALLY AGAINST her going?’ Tak’s low voice broke across Effie’s thoughts as soon as the door clicked shut.
‘I can guarantee I’m not the only mum who would be worried if she didn’t know her daughter’s new friends. In fact, I happen to know that a couple of the other mums are actually going. But I’m working. And I can’t just change shifts at the air ambulance.’
Still, her conscience pricked her, as it seemed to be doing more and more these days. If this was what the next few years were going to be like with her daughter then she didn’t think she could stand it.
‘I’m just lucky that Havers is here and has generously promised to look after Nell the way Mrs Appleby does when she gets home from school.’
‘So you aren’t averse to Nell attending the party in general?’ Tak asked suddenly.
‘Of course not. Contrary to what you might have overheard before you walked in, I do actually want my daughter to make friends.’
‘I know that,’ he replied evenly.
Effie swallowed. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was about the way he was looking at her, but in an instant the room seemed to fade away.
‘This...this isn’t about me,’ she managed.
‘I’ll take that as confirmation.’
‘Take it however you want,’ she shot back, but even she could hear there was no heat in her tone. ‘This is about Nell and whether I’m deliberately stopping her from going to a party.’
‘And you’re adamantly trying to show that you aren’t?’
‘Of course I’m not,’ Effie bristled. ‘If I knew she was going to be safe that would be different. But I don’t know any of these girls and I can’t be there because of work.’
‘In that case, what if I took Nell to the party?’
It was surreal. Effie stared at Tak, unsure what to say. Was he really offering to parent her child, reasoning with her as though it was the most natural thing in the world?
‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ she said slowly. ‘I mean, people might get the wrong impression.’
‘You mean, people might actually think there’s something going on between you and I?’ Tak rolled her eyes. ‘As if the fact you’re staying here doesn’t already do that?’
There was no reason her heart should be slamming into the wall of her chest like this.
Effie sucked in a deep breath, not that it helped. ‘We’re only staying here until our central heating is fixed and the asbestos is removed.’ But she floundered. Temptation was vying with common sense. ‘It’s... Well... Are you sure?’
‘I offered,’ he pointed out. ‘I only have one condition.’
‘Condition?’
He smiled, and that delicious curl of his mouth, which made her chest leap and burst like popcorn in a microwave, made Effie narrow her eyes.
She told herself it was nerves that she felt and not anticipation that coursed through her.
His mouth curled up even more sinfully. ‘I need you to come on another date with me.’
Pins and needles scattered through her body. Heat and cold. Dark and light. Exhilaration and fear.
It didn’t matter how long she might stay there, scanning his face and trying to analyse what was going on in his mind, he was too closed-off, too controlled.
