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Theo, taken aback and somewhat puzzled by this could only say mildly, ‘Is there? Thanks. That’s helpful to know. I’m going to hang up now. Just make sure you get here fast. In fact, get dressed, and while you’re getting dressed I’ll send my driver over. He’ll be with you in twenty minutes. There’s not much traffic on the roads at this time of the night.’
‘Right.’ Before she could ask any more questions she heard the flat dial tone and went into overdrive, flinging on jeans, tee shirt, jumper. No time for make-up or hair. Just sufficient time to wash her face and quickly brush her teeth.
She should really fly over to Beth’s, just to let her know that she wouldn’t be in her flat overnight, but the prospect of having to cope with the inevitable barrage of stern cross-examining put her off the prospect. She decided that she would phone her friend first thing in the morning.
Theo’s driver arrived in under twenty minutes, as predicted. Knowing how much Theo respected his privacy, and taking the lead from the taciturn middle-aged man who politely ushered her into the back seat, Heather felt it best to maintain a discreet silence—although she was itching to ask questions, just in case…
She half expected to arrive and find an ambulance waiting outside, lights flashing, and men racing about with stretchers or whatever they raced about with when carting off someone with injuries. But the apartment block looked remarkably peaceful.
Having left her key behind, it felt odd for her to buzz on the intercom when she had been accustomed to coming and going as she pleased. Theo answered immediately, releasing the door from the phone inside the apartment.
The ride up in the lift took a mere few seconds which felt like years.
It was something of a shock when, after one knock, the door was opened by a Theo who looked remarkably fit and healthy.
Heather released a long sigh of relief and sagged against the doorframe. ‘You haven’t fallen and broken your bones,’ she breathed.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Theo gave her a perplexed look from under his lashes. She had thrown some clothes on and clearly had no idea how sexy and ruffled she looked.
Having reached his momentous decision to win her back, he knew that he would have to approach her in a different manner. He recognised that he had taken her for granted—hence her unjustified remarks about being second best. It was something he intended to rectify, so he smiled warmly at her and stood aside.
‘You’re smiling,’ Heather said suspiciously, not budging. She longed to fly inside his apartment, which she missed horribly, even though she had told herself a million times that it was far better having her own place, where she could do her own thing without restriction. ‘Why are you smiling? I thought…’
‘What…?’
She rapidly revised the truth that had been about to emerge. ‘That you weren’t in a very good mood when you left earlier. I didn’t think you ever wanted to set eyes on me again.’
Theo flushed darkly. The way he had stormed out of her flat was not something he especially wanted to remember. It was distinctly un-cool. Fortunately, something else seemed to be playing on her mind and she rounded on him fiercely, stabbing one finger into his chest.
‘And there’s nothing wrong with you!’ she couldn’t help but hiss.
‘Were you hoping that there would be?’ Theo asked, frowning.
Released from her state of dread, Heather could feel herself ready to vent eloquently on the object of her misplaced worry.
She caught herself in the nick of time. She had already suffered one episode of misreading a situation and reacting like a fool. She wasn’t about to let on to him now the extent to which she had been worried about him. He might suspect that the glorious life of unbridled freedom she was living was anything but. She inhaled deeply.
‘I’m not coming inside until you tell me why you had to get me out of bed at an ungodly hour and come round here.’
‘It’s not the first time I’ve got you out of bed at an ungodly hour…’ To work, yes, when she had been living with him in her role as general factotum, and later, when his mother had been in the apartment recuperating, to make love. His eyes darkened at the sudden memory and a smile of pure sexiness curved his mouth.
Heather steeled herself against the rampant heavy-lidded provocation of his gaze. ‘And that was fine when it just involved a dressing gown and a few paces to the nearest computer.’ She looked at him narrowly. ‘Please don’t tell me that you dragged me all the way here because you need some work doing.’
Much as Theo was enjoying the sight of her, pleasantly at peace with himself for the first time in weeks now that he had resolved to get her back, they could hardly stand at his door talking indefinitely.
‘All will be explained once you’re inside. In fact…’ he paused to step aside and allow her to pass ‘…I won’t actually have to say a word. It will be self-explanatory.’
Intrigued to death, but still suspicious after her foolish mistake in jumping to all the wrong conclusions earlier on, when he had sprung his visit on her, she scuttled past him, taking care not to come into contact with his body even in passing.
‘Okay. So what exactly am I supposed to be doing now? It’s late, and I’m not in the mood for games.’ Heather folded her arms imperiously and stared around her, aware that he was heading towards the kitchen, cool as a cucumber.
‘Wait a few minutes. Care for a drink?’
He didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, he poured her a glass of wine and brought it over to where she was still standing, bristling as much as it was possible to bristle without saying anything.
‘Come and sit.’ He urged her towards the black leather sofa. ‘I really am sorry to have disturbed your sleep…’ Theo attempted to look contrite, a sentiment that did not sit easily on his face. ‘I myself was working when…’
‘When…? When what…?’
He didn’t answer, because he didn’t have to. Heather followed the direction of his gaze, twisting around with her glass in one hand, and her mouth dropped open.
Standing there in all her natural glory was the sister Heather had not clapped eyes on for longer than she cared to remember. Claire had changed surprisingly little, although her hair seemed much blonder than it had years ago.
A smile of pure pleasure illuminated Heather’s face, and after the initial shock she stood up, rested her glass gently on the nearest table, and went towards her sister with outstretched arms.
‘Claire.’ She hugged her, then stood back, then hugged her again. ‘You never said you were coming!’
Claire allowed herself to be hugged and smiled sheepishly. ‘Well, I didn’t actually make my mind up until recently,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘And then I thought I’d just pay you a surprise visit. You’ve changed.’ This time it was she who stood back and surveyed her sister assessingly. ‘You’ve lost weight or something. Remember what a little podge you used to be?’
All at once Heather was catapulted back through time, back to the days when their roles had been clearly defined, with beautiful Claire winning all the physical plaudits. She blushed and nodded.
‘If you had given me some advance warning, I would have…made a bed up for you. I don’t live here any more, you see. In fact, I now rent a flat of my own, not too far away.’
Claire had already installed herself on the sofa alongside Theo, and was checking out her surroundings with the same assessing eyes that she had used on her sister. ‘Shame. This is an amazing place. As I told Theo when I got here.’
Heather blinked and the disturbing image settled into focus. Her stunning blonde sister, taller, thinner and prettier than she could ever be in a thousand years of changed wardrobes and weight shedding, sitting next to a man whose dark, devilishly sexy good looks were a striking and yet harmonious contrast, if such a thing were possible.
She felt her cheeks grow pink. Jealousy was trying to burrow its way into her, and it was a huge effort not to succumb. As if to add fuel to the fire, Claire turned to Theo, her face wreathed in smiles, and began an extravagant one woman monologue on the charms of his apartment.
When Claire bothered to make an effort with men, it was always a sight worth seeing. As an adolescent, Heather had looked on in awe whenever her sister had decided that some boy or other was worth making a play for. Out would come the sweetest of smiles, the liveliest of sidelong glances, the most sincere of expressions, and of course Claire was not stupid. She did not simper banalities like a bimbo. She might not have seen the point of exercising her brain over-much, not when her chosen field of work was acting or modelling, but she could still yank it out of cold storage when it suited her. And from the looks of it, it certainly suited her now.
Heather shuffled to a chair and found it hard to get a word in edgewise. Matters weren’t helped by the rapt attention Theo seemed to be giving Claire. All ears, and probably eyes too, Heather thought dazedly.
When she finally managed to make her presence felt, Heather asked her why she had suddenly decided to return to England. Was it a holiday? Was she back for good?
But Claire was now exhausted, it seemed. She yawned delicately, covering her mouth with her hand, and then stood up and stretched. It was very graceful. It made Heather think of some kind of choreographed dance movement. The nasty and uncharitable thought flashed through Heather’s head that it was contrived and designed to draw Theo’s attention to the pert breasts, the slim waist, the flat brown stomach peeping out when she raised her arms.
