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'It was all so sudden, he rushed into it; Mother says they've only known each other for a couple of months. She's worried about the whole thing.'
'Baba should be back any day, then she'll come down and see your mother, I'm sure.'
They went into the house a moment later and Angela vanished upstairs to get dressed. Judith heard some music in one of the rooms and walked towards it, expecting to find Dudley. She pushed the door wider and then stood frozen with shock on the threshold as Luke turned to look at her.
'You're not seeing things,' he assured her, laughing at her stunned surprise.
'When did you get back? I thought you were still in Sydney…'
'I flew back overnight.' He grinned. 'Can't you see that my eyes are propped open with matchsticks? I'm suffering from jet-lag, that's why I drove down here rather than go home. I need some peace and quiet. It never occurred to me that Angela and her brats would be here or I'd have shoved off to my flat.'
Judith pulled herself together, walking into the room with an assumed calm. 'Did everything go okay?' she asked.
'I think so. He started to tell her about the meetings he had had in Sydney and while she listened she struggled to slow her heartbeat, quieten her pulse, get her high colour back under control. He was looking tired, there was no doubt about that; he was pale and there were shadows under his grey eyes. He was wearing a lightweight pale grey suit and a white silk shirt which was open at the throat and with which he wore no tie. She could see that he had recently shaved and his dark brown hair had a slight dampness at the temples, as though he had also just had a shower.
'I was tempted to come down for a swim when Fanny told me that was where you all were, but I needed a shave and a drink. I'll maybe have a swim later,' he said as Angela and Dudley arrived, turning towards them. 'Can I get you a drink, you two?'
'Pineapple juice for me, I'm not drinking because of the baby,' said Angela, lowering herself with care into a chair.
'I'll have a dry sherry,' Dudley decided.
Luke glanced at Judith, his brows lifting. 'Sorry—I forgot to ask you, what will you have?'
'The same, a dry sherry, thanks.'
They had just finished their drinks when Fanny came in with the children and said: 'Lunch is ready. Now!' she added as Luke moved towards the decanters arranged on a charming Georgian cabinet
against the wall.
'I'm just putting my glass down,' Luke protested. He switched off the stereo which had been playing softly as they all talked and they filed out of the room, the two children attaching themselves to their father and chattering to him while their mother listened, smiling.
Lunch was a leisurely meal, and after it the adults went back into the pleasantly furnished sitting-room to drink coffee while the children vanished to talk to Fanny. Luke and his sister teased each other while Dudley smoked a cigar and sleepily watched them and Judith looked at the polished, antique furniture, the bowls of wallflowers and the pot of pink-petalled azaleas, the comfortable deep-upholstered brocade-covered chairs and sofas. It was a room to relax in, reassuringly traditional and filled with sunlight from the wide windows.
'We must be on our way soon,' said Dudley, looking at the gold-cased clock on the mantelpiece. It chimed three and they all turned to stare. 'It takes us an hour to get home from here,' he told Judith. 'When we've had tea and the kids have had their bath it's time to put them to bed. Sunday seems a much shorter day than any other—funny that, isn't it?'
A few minutes later he and Angela drove off with the children and Judith said reluctantly: 'I'd better go too.'
'Why?' Luke challenged. 'I was hoping you'd come for a swim—I'm going to have one now.'
Acutely aware of him, Judith shook her head quickly. 'I can't, I'm afraid, I didn't bring a costume with me.'
'So my mother told me. That's no problem. I've already seen to that—Angela keeps a few swimsuits here, I got Fanny to lay them out on her bed, you can take your pick. When she isn't pregnant, Angela is more or less your size, one of them is bound to fit you.'
Her face flushed with apprehension, Judith shook her head again. 'It's very kind of you to take the trouble, but I think I really ought to get back, I've got some work to finish before tomorrow.' She thought that that would let her off the hook, Luke would approve of her going back to work, but she was quite wrong, for he frowned at her.
'My mother has been scolding me for making you work so hard. She's right, too. I should have realised you were cramming yourself with all those folders, it's time you slowed down and took things more easily. We all need a little relaxation. Off you go; get changed and be down at the pool in ten minutes. You look as tired as I feel, some fresh air and exercise will be good for both of us. ' He took her arm and pushed her towards the stairs, and Judith gave up trying to argue. She wanted to swim with him, why pretend she didn't? It was dangerous to her to be alone with him, especially in such intimacy, but she couldn't resist the chance and Luke had no idea how she felt, anyway; nothing would happen except that she would steal an hour or so of happiness. That wouldn't hurt Baba, the only one who might get hurt was herself.
She was taken aback when she looked at the swimsuits on the bed to find that they were all bikinis. That made her hesitate for a minute or so, but in the end she stripped off and put on a black bikini, then stood in front of the bedroom mirror staring at herself with nervous uneasiness.
The tiny cups left far too much of her pale breasts visible and the bikini briefs were tied at the hip with minute bows between which the dark material stretched tautly. It hardly seemed to her that she was wearing anything at all, she simply could not walk down through the garden to join Luke wearing something like this!
He tapped on the door before that thought had done more than flash through her head. 'Come on, I'll race you down there!'
Judith heard him running and opened her door to call: 'I've changed my mind...' but he was already out of earshot. She hesitated, then followed. She would dive into the pool as soon as she arrived, that way she wouldn't have to stand there while Luke looked at her.
When she emerged on the paved surround of the pool she saw his dark head in the water, his hair slickly plastered to his skull. He had his back to her as he swam, so she took advantage of that to run forward and dive off the side of the pool. Just as she leapt forward Luke turned to face in her direction. Judith was already hitting the blue water, she surfaced a second later and began to swim. She saw Luke's head a few feet away, rising and falling, sunlight glinting on the tanned stretch of his arms as he struck out.
The sun was now quite hot, it turned the pool to a dazzling sheet of light and Judith felt her shoulders absorbing the sun's rays as she stopped swimming and floated on her back, her eyes closed. Her wet hair drifted out from her head like sea weed, the buoyancy of the water made her body rise and fall without effort.
