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‘Just good friends?’ she suggested sweetly. To her gratification a flare of red appeared along the grim cheekbones.
‘Of course you are, dear,’ his mother soothed fondly, looking from one to the other with an expression of loving disbelief. Adam looked as if he was about to explode and Honor decided that the joke had gone far enough.
‘Er—Mrs Blake—’
‘Oh, call me Joy! I just know we’re going to be wonderful friends. I’ve always got on very well with my sons’ wives.’
‘Mother!’ Adam’s protest was a muted roar. So much for his protective instincts!
‘We’re not getting married, Mrs—Joy—’ interceded Honor hastily. ‘I mean, we hardly know each other—’
Joy Blake seemed undismayed by the contradiction of her fantasies. She raised her hands protestingly and chuckled. ‘I know, I know—it’s too soon to trust your feelings. I know just what you’re going through. I’m afraid the Blake men are prone to lightning attractions and whirlwind courtships. Adam’s father and I met and married in two weeks when he was on furlough from the army. Well, once you settle in here and see how welcome you are I’m sure you’ll be able to make up your mind about my son. He’s a fine man, if a bit set in his ways. Goodness, dear, what is it you have in the box? Whatever it is, it sounds as if it’s in great distress...’
Dazed by the speed and dexterity with which the elderly woman leapfrogged to ever more bizarre conclusions, Honor reacted too late. Joy Blake had the box out of her hand and on the floor and was opening it before she could get a protest out. Monty’s flat, malevolent face appeared instantly, sniffing suspiciously at the strange environment before retreating as the rest of his body flattened, bunching for a spring.
‘Why, it’s a darling pussycat—aren’t you a sweetie...?’
As Joy bent and reached eagerly into the box both Honor and Adam cried out simultaneous warnings:
‘No, wait!’
‘Don’t touch that ani—!’
The protests died abruptly as Joy straightened up with Monty clasped to the dark red blouse that clashed so badly with her purple skirt.
‘Oh, aren’t you just adorable?’ she cooed, pushing her face against his bristling fur.
Honor watched open-mouthed as her irascible pet went limp and allowed himself to be nuzzled and chucked under the chin by a total stranger. Even more staggering, he actually began his motoring purr and aimed a few swipes of his raspy tongue at Joy’s stroking fingers. Out of the corner of her eye Honor could see Adam wearing a stunned look very similar to her own.
Joy laughed. ‘What’s your name, cutie?’
Cutie? Honor had heard Monty called plenty of names—including a few imaginative ones coined by Adam tonight—but never had anyone suggested that cuteness was one of his feline attributes.
‘He’s called Monty,’ she said faintly, wondering if the trauma of travel had temporarily altered his personality for the better.
‘I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you, fella? Why don’t I take him into the kitchen while you two go upstairs and change for dinner? It’ll be ready in about half an hour.’
‘I’ve already eaten,’ Honor said hastily.
‘Oh, that’s a shame.’ Joy Blake shook her head. ‘I’ve invented this lovely Mediterranean chicken casserole dish and I would have appreciated another opinion. I’ve used dried fruits and almonds and cinnamon and ginger...’ She smiled coaxingly at Honor. ‘Are you sure you couldn’t manage even a nibble?’
Honor’s stomach was remembering the chocolate-cake bribe that hadn’t quite compensated for the wizened omelette. Her taste-buds moistened. ‘Well, maybe a little—’
‘I thought we’d agreed that you were supposed to be taking things easy,’ Adam interrupted, frowning at his mother. ‘You don’t have to bother with the cooking. That’s what Rhonda’s employed for—’
‘It so happens, Adam, that I like to bother with the cooking,’ his mother told him, her smile fading as she faced him, still hugging the purring cat to her chest. ‘And you needn’t worry. I didn’t do anything more taxing than stir a few pots. Rhonda did all the carrying and chopping and running around. I just sat back and gave her instructions.’
As Adam continued to regard her with a worried expression Joy Blake’s confidence visibly wavered and she stroked Monty’s fur with a finely trembling hand, her faded brown eyes clouding over. She pinned a determined, if slightly shaky smile back on her face as she turned towards Honor, immediately launching forth into the breathless chatter with which she had first greeted them.
‘Now, don’t you fret about Monty; we’re friends already and once I feed him he’ll settle in nicely. We have a cat ourselves so there’s plenty of cat food in the kitchen and I’ll make a place for him to sleep unless you want to have him in your room.
‘And talking of rooms, Adam...’ she turned back to her son, lifting her chin haughtily ‘...I’ll leave you to decide where to put Honor. I don’t want to be accused of being a nosy, interfering old woman so I’ll just say whatever sleeping arrangements you choose to make will be fine by me. Although you might want to bear in mind that certain others who live here might not be as accommodating!’
And with that obscurely pointed jab she retreated down the hall, Monty’s tail waving like a victory flag behind her back, vanishing through a wooden swing door at the far end, giving Honor a brief glimpse of the large, brightly lit, tiled kitchen beyond.
Honor was still wearing an involuntary smile when she turned back to Adam. ‘Is she always like that?’
‘Like what?’
