She was a very lucky girl, and, curling her feet beneath her, she brushed her long hair, now almost dry, behind her ears. She couldn’t believe she had actually thought of divorce a few weeks ago. She shivered. She had so nearly made a huge mistake, but then, didn’t the cliché say that the first six months were the worst in a marriage? Lisa’s eyes filled with latent laughter. In her case, it had been the first six weeks!
‘Something amusing you, Lisa?’ Alex’s deep, melodious voice echoed in the silence.
She turned her head, her eyes unerringly finding his. He filled the conservatory with his presence and her heart did its familiar leap in her breast. ‘No, I was just thinking. What took you so long?’
He lifted the fax in his hand. ‘This. I read it.’ He waved the paper in the air. Whether he thought it was good or bad, Lisa couldn’t be sure. His dark face was curiously expressionless. Restlessly he prowled around the room, while Lisa watched him with lazy, loving eyes.
‘And?’ she prompted.
‘I think your man appears to have been pottering at pottery, excuse the pun, using his garage as a studio. He needs that unit more than you need him,’ Alex drawled cynically. He glanced down at her, his brown eyes assessing her sun-kissed features. ‘Don’t make a decision tomorrow. Have the man investigated first.’
‘You have no faith in human nature,’ Lisa teased.
Something bleak moved in the depths of his eyes, and then it was gone. ‘I’ve lived a lot longer than you, Lisa. People are rarely what they seem.’
Her eyes held by his, Lisa shivered, suddenly chilled. ‘Sorry, I forgot you’re heading for your dotage,’ she quipped, dismissing the shiver in her mind.
‘Dotage, indeed! I’ll have you know I am in my prime,’ Alex informed her. He reached down and tilted her head back with one hand. His brown eyes darkened and she trembled in anticipation; she knew that look so well. ‘Come to bed now, and I will show you,’ he purred as he bent over her and his lips took hers in a long, lingering kiss.
The following afternoon, Lisa let herself into the house and dropped her briefcase on the hall table. The weather was scorching hot, and the drive back from Stratford-upon-Avon had been horrendous. She walked wearily upstairs to the bedroom, and kicking off her shoes, slipped out of her clothes. A shower or a swim in the pool? She couldn’t decide. Grimacing, she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Maybe her determination to keep on running Lawson’s was not such a great idea. At the height of an exceptionally hot summer there was a lot to be said for being a lady of leisure. Especially with a husband like Alex.
Five minutes later, when Alex joined her in the shower, she almost told him as much. Except he diverted her very effectively from all normal thought by a gentle but thorough assault on her senses until she could only stare into his deep dark eyes, her own hazed with mindless desire. She hadn’t even realised he was home…
Jake arrived midday Saturday, and whisked Alex off to play golf. Lisa spent a lazy couple of hours at the poolside before retiring to her study, and her E-mail, and that was where Alex found her on his return from golf.
‘Talking to friends again?’ he growled. ‘I might have guessed.’
‘You don’t look very cheerful,’ Lisa commented, swinging around to face him. ‘Bad golf day? She arched one delicate brow enquiringly. He had a face like thunder.
‘You could say that,’ he muttered. ‘I need a drink.’ And walked out.
Lisa chuckled to herself. Tina had told her that Alex and Jake were fiercely competitive on the golf course, although they were the best of friends. Personally she couldn’t see the fascination in knocking a little white ball around all afternoon. But it gave her some satisfaction to know her arrogant husband didn’t win at everything.
The following Saturday Lisa glanced at the bedside clock and, pushing Alex’s arm from around her waist rolled off the bed. ‘Jake will be here in an hour for you, and I’m going up to Town.’ She glanced back at his reclining form and caught a look of such terrifying anger in his eyes that she stopped. ‘Alex?’ she queried uncertainly. Surely he wasn’t upset because she had got out of bed? They had made love already this morning, and last night. In fact for the past week Alex had made love to her every night and morning with a hungry intensity, a driven passion, that if she had not loved him so much she might have found disturbing.
‘Lisa?’ he mocked, one dark brow arching sardonically. ‘I understand; less than three months and our honeymoon is definitely over.’ And rolling off the other side of the bed, he stood up. ‘I am collecting Jake today. So I’d better get a move on.’