‘You can’t!’ she spluttered. ‘I mean…don’t you have that really big, really important deal thing going on? The one you told me about? Meetings…conferences…lawyers…’
‘What deal thing?’ Pierre asked, frowning. ‘Be a bit more specific.’
‘I can’t remember the exact deal,’ Georgie gritted, ‘but you mentioned…you mentioned that you absolutely had to be in the office Monday at the latest!’
‘Plans change.’
‘That’s wonderful news, Pierre!’ Didi was pink with pleasure at this unexpected development.
‘Honestly, Pierre!’ Georgie tried to sound delighted. ‘Don’t forget that I shall be working! Seems silly to take time off when I’ll be busy virtually every minute of the day!’
‘And never you mind,’ he soothed. ‘I’ll be working a fair bit of the time myself. I have my laptop with me! And there are one or two things around the house I want to see to.’
‘Such as?’ Georgie asked in a high voice.
‘Small leak in the guest bathroom…a couple of cracks on walls need painting.’
‘You don’t do DIY, Pierre!’
‘Maybe I’ve decided to start.’ He smiled at her, challenging her to carry on until she had well and truly boxed herself in. ‘Darling.’
‘Better late than never,’ Didi said stoutly. ‘Doing your own odd jobs can be very satisfying and I won’t deny that it’ll be wonderful having a man around the house. It’s been such a long time.’
Georgie wished that she could be a little more magnanimous on Didi’s behalf, but her nerves had been everywhere since Pierre had descended on them and she had been looking forward to his departure with something bordering on desperation.
‘And we can always meet up in the evenings, or rather the pair of you can! I’m just as happy to catch up on my reading. Have I mentioned, darling, that I’ve started back with my book club? My, this food was delicious!’
‘How long do you plan on sticking around?’ Georgie was hardly aware of Didi in the background.#p#分页标题#e##p#分页标题#e#
‘Not sure.’ He raised his eyebrows and grinned. ‘Maybe some of your impulsiveness is beginning to rub off on me.’
Georgie, defeated, could barely enjoy the exquisite food that was put in front of her. Why was he doing this?
She found that she was willing the evening to end, and not because she wanted to get back home, though she did, but more importantly she wanted to find out just what the hell he thought he was doing.
And there seemed little likelihood of her questions being answered as she was dropped off first, her house being on the way, and Pierre saw her to the door, only telling her en route that, for someone who prided herself on being carefree and fun-loving, she certainly looked as though she was about to explode.
‘I am!’
‘Bad for the blood pressure,’ he whispered, and while she was still glaring and thinking of a suitable comeback he bent and kissed her swiftly on the lips, not giving her time to pull away.
And that was why she had wanted him gone. Because that fleeting touch of his mouth against hers touched the very core of her, touched her almost as powerfully as if he had made love to her. She seemed to have no protective layer against that, no defences that were sturdy enough to hold him at bay.
And she had another week of him! Hanging around! Playing the good lover whenever Didi was around! How on earth was she going to cope? How many excuses could she rummage up for avoiding him without Didi smelling a rat? Her innocent and naïve belief that this charade would bring the desired results, no harm done, was in mortal danger of becoming the most hideous piece of misjudgement she had ever made in her entire life.
And she still had to talk to Pierre!
Her head was spinning by the time she was in her pyjamas. The doorbell rang five times before Georgie, cocooned in her bedroom in front of a book and with the small, portable radio as background noise, was even aware of a visitor. Furthermore she knew exactly who it would be and decided that she wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation with him. Not when she was in her pyjamas and still seething. Tomorrow, she would be calm and controlled and would be able to handle him like an adult. She switched off the bedroom light, buried her head under the pillow so that she couldn’t hear the doorbell, and grinned at the thought of him stamping his feet outside her front door in the freezing cold, not, for once, getting his own way.
She was unaware of the soft pad of footsteps up her staircase as Pierre tentatively pushed open doors on the landing until he found her bedroom.