Reassured, Lisa blew him a kiss from her open palm, and, turning with a deliberate wiggle of her hips, she sauntered into her bathroom.
A quick shower was followed by a laborious twenty minutes drying and styling her long hair. She walked back into the bedroom, but there was no sign of Alex. Hardly surprising, she thought, with a tiny smile playing around her mouth. The only occupation her husband lingered over was lovemaking, much to her delight. Everything else in his life he achieved with a speed and efficiency that left lesser mortals standing.
Lisa took her time. She slipped on a pair of cream lace briefs, and then, seated at the dressing table, she applied the minimum of make-up. She selected a cream soft cotton dress from the wardrobe, and slid her arms into its tiny cap sleeves. Pulling the edges together, she deftly fastened the tiny buttons down the front, from the low scooped neckline to the hem that flared out jauntily a few inches above her knees. Slipping her feet into a comfortable pair of cream canvas sandals and picking up a matching canvas shoulder bag, she surveyed her reflection in the mirror, flicking a long curl back over her shoulder.
‘Very nice.’ Alex appeared behind her.
Spinning around, a broad smile lighting her face, she bobbed a curtsey. ‘Thank you, kind sir.’ Her eyes roamed over him; dressed in black trousers and a black knit polo shirt he looked so vibrantly masculine she wanted to reach out and touch him, and he knew it.
His brown eyes darkened. ‘I could give golf a miss and we could, perhaps, find something more interesting to do. Does the notion appeal?’
Any other day Lisa would have said yes, but not today. She was meeting Jed in London and they only had three hours together—not much for five years of friendship.
‘Jake would never forgive you standing him up, and I have to meet my friend in London,’ she said with a rueful smile.
‘Forget I asked,’ Alex drawled lightly. But his eyes glittered hard as they flicked over her. ‘How are you getting there? I don’t want you driving into London on your own. Get Bert to take you.’
‘There’s no need. I’m driving to the station and taking the train.’
‘So be it,’ he said curtly, and left.
What had rattled his cage? she wondered with a frown as she followed him downstairs a few moments later. Alex had been angry last week when he’d returned from golf. This week he was mad before he started! For a sport that was supposed to be relaxing it didn’t seem to do much for Alex. Still, it was not her problem, though she winced as she heard the screech of tyres on the gravel drive…
The taxi stopped outside a large building, left over from the era of the grand London townhouses. This one had been converted into a modest hotel. Paying the driver, Lisa leapt out of the cab and ran up the steps. She walked between the two massive columns that supported the portico and into the hotel’s foyer, and glanced around with interest. To one side was the reception desk, and in front a grand staircase, a couple of sofas and a table with a few magazines on display, across the wide hall an arch opened into a lounge bar. She still couldn’t quite believe she was going to meet Jed in the flesh. She had his photo, and all his confidences, but meeting him after so long was a thrill.
Excited anticipation put a spring in her step as she walked into the lounge bar and glanced around. Apart from the barman, it was empty.
‘Lisa, is that you?’ a deep voice enquired, with a noticeable American drawl.
She turned, and a broad grin split her face. ‘Jed!’ She recognised him immediately—looking older than in his photo, and totally out of place next to the shabby but comfortable very English décor. He was tall, long-legged and narrow-hipped, his faded blue jeans fitting him like a second skin and his half-unbuttoned shirt seemed to be straining the remaining buttons over his massive muscular chest. His attractive face was tanned a deep golden brown, and was in sharp contrast to his sun-streaked blond hair. But it was his eyes that really captured Lisa’s attention. Deep sapphire-blue, with a light of such piercing brilliance in their depths, they reflected a tenderness that could not be disguised.
For long moments they simply stared at each other.
‘Damn, but you’re beautiful enough to make a man change his mind, Lisa.’ A deep tide of red surged up Jed’s face. ‘Sorry for the language.’
Lisa chuckled. Though a year older than her, it was good to know Jed could still blush. ‘No apology needed,’ she said, with a broad smile that illuminated her whole face. ‘And you look like a cowboy,’ she added, having noticed his boots.
Two great arms curved around her and swung her off her feet, and a deep chuckle rumbled from the bottom of his chest.