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He had said that they were flirting that night at the Westward, but he had been wrong. They had made the same kind of noises as flirting, but there had been anger and bitterness distorting everything they said. Yet now each word they spoke seemed to be charged with about a hundred different allusions. This was flirting! Really flirting—and suddenly she didn’t care. She held his gaze. ‘I’ll leave you to make your own mind up about that!’
Only a pulse beating furiously at his temple betrayed the fact that he obviously wasn’t feeling as calm as he looked. ‘Right.’
A voice broke into the tension and shattered it.
‘Come on, Drew—stop monopolising this beautiful woman and get round and fill everyone’s glasses up—you are the host, man!’
It was Jack Simpson, who gave Shelley his crinkly smile. He was accompanied by a heavily pregnant woman with shiny hair, who was clinging onto his arm as if for support. Which, come to think of it, thought Shelley, she probably was.
‘Go away,’ growled Drew. ‘Can’t you see you’re interrupting?’
‘I’m paying you back for interrupting me the other night!’ teased Jack.
‘But that was work!’ protested Drew, giving Shelley the helpless shrug of someone who knew they were beaten.
‘So is this! When you throw a party you can’t just chat up the women!’ said Jack sternly. ‘Or woman,’ he amended, winking at Shelley. ‘Someone was asking how the sound system works and I told them I didn’t have a clue. Drag yourself away!’
Drew forced a smile. ‘Right.’ But still he didn’t move. ‘I’ll get someone to bring you a drink over, Shelley.’
‘Thanks.’ Shelley watched him go, her heart aching more than her body because she knew now that she wanted him very badly. And not just his body—though she couldn’t deny she wanted that. But she wanted his soul and his mind, too. His wit and his imagination. She wanted every little bit of him…
Was it too late? she wondered. Not to start again necessarily, but maybe to start anew…
Jack had placed a protective hand in the small of his wife’s back. ‘Shelley, this is Rebecca—my ripe and beautiful spouse. Rebecca, meet Shelley Turner. Remember I told you about her?’
Rebecca smiled. ‘Oh, you’re Jennie’s friend.’
‘Yes, I am.’ Shelley smiled back. ‘Your husband was absolutely brilliant the other night when I was babysitting for Ellie. She’s fine now,’ she added.
‘Yes, I know,’ said Jack. ‘I popped in the next morning on my way back from surgery to find her howling with hunger!’ He sniffed the air. ‘Mmm! Are those sausages I smell?’
‘That’s all you ever think about!’ teased his wife, but he looked meaningfully at her swollen belly and murmured, ‘Oh, really?’
Shelley was wondering where her drink was when a tall woman who was dressed, like her, entirely in black came across the garden towards them. She was carrying a steaming glass of what smelt like gluhwein in one hand, and a bowl of cashew nuts in the other.
‘Hi, Rebecca! Hi, Jack!’ Air kisses all round. She turned to Shelley. ‘Hello, there—I know you’re Shelley but you don’t know me! Yet!’ she giggled. ‘I’m Amanda! Drew told me to fetch you a drink, and so—like his ever-faithful slave—here I am! And here you are!’
Willing her fingers not to shake, Shelley stretched her hand out and took the steaming punch-glass from her. ‘Thank you.’
Shelley took a sip of her drink which meant she could get a good look at Amanda without appearing to stare too much. Close up, she could see that her dark hair was in a shiny French plait all the way down her back. She looked ultrafeminine and vibrant, and Shelley suddenly felt shorn and vulnerable with her neck all bare and her ears showing.
Rebecca turned her face up to her husband. ‘Darling, can we go and find me a seat somewhere?’ she asked him plaintively.
Jack smiled, and bent to kiss the tip of her nose. ‘Oh, you’re going to milk this pregnancy for all you’re worth, aren’t you, my love? Have me running round in circles after you!’
Rebecca’s smile was serene and dreamy. ‘Of course I am! What do you expect the fifth time round?’ She shot him a look from beneath her lashes. ‘You’ll just have to stop getting me pregnant, Jack Simpson!’
‘Only if you stop making yourself so irresistible!’
‘Jack!’
Jack winked at Shelley and Amanda. ‘Excuse us, please, ladies!’ And he decorously led his wife across the lawn towards the house.
