The Final Seduction(19)

'Mmm. He works miracles with stodgy officials-has them eating out of his hand!'

Enough was enough! 'Oh, stop making him out to be such a saint!' said  Shelley crossly. 'I thought he was stopping you from being together with  Jamie! What about his dark, controlling side-why don't we talk about  that?'

Jennie looked down at her untouched sandwich. 'He says he only wants the best for me.'

'Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?'

'He … '

Shelley stared at Jennie's anxious face. 'Tell me,' she urged gently.  'Go on-you're bursting to get it off your chest, aren't you?'

'I guess so,' Jennie sighed. 'Well, when Jamie and I … ' She bit her lip as the words trailed off.

'When you and Jamie what?' Shelley prompted softly. 'Is it that you've  split up but can't bring yourself to say the words out loud? Because  saying them only rubs in that they're true?'

Jennie looked at her in surprise. 'Why, yes-that's exactly it. How did you guess?'

Shelley pulled a face. 'How do you think, Jennie? And it wasn't a  guess-I know-I've been there! People may have me down for Little Miss  No-Heart, but I can assure you that I was … ' She remembered just who she  was talking to and amended the sentence ' … sad.' Yes, sad was a good  word-it implied calm, measured emotion, which had certainly not been the  case at the time. A feeling that the most vital part of her had been  torn out of her body without anaesthetic was closer to the mark. 'I was  very sad-when my relationship finished.'

'You must have loved him very much?'

'I … yes, of course I loved him. I loved him-' her voice began to falter  and she realised that in a minute she would blurt out her fear that she  still did '-very much.'

'Your face went all soft and dreamy then.' Jennie's voice was wistful.  'I suppose there's no chance that the two of you could get back  together?'

Shelley shook her head. 'No. None whatsoever. If he wants me at all now, it's just for sex-'

'And that doesn't interest you?'

'Well, I'm only human. Of course it interests me! It just won't lead  anywhere-so it would be sensible to avoid it, wouldn't it?' She wriggled  her shoulders a little bit and gave a polite smile, the way people did  when they wanted to close a subject. It didn't really seem appropriate  talking about Drew this way. Not to his sister. 'Now tell me all about  Jamie.'

Jennie refilled their glasses. 'The pregnancy wasn't planned-' She  looked up and met Shelley's searching gaze. 'Well, that's not strictly  true.' She blushed.

'You were careless?'

'I loved him,' Jennie explained simply. 'And I just couldn't get worked  up about using contraception. Next thing you know, there's a baby on the  way.' She sighed. 'Jamie didn't find me very attractive when I was  pregnant, and then couldn't cope with the baby crying all the time when  she was born. He's not much older than me, you see,' she added, as if  that explained everything. 'We were living in Jamie's tiny bedsit, and I  seemed to be crying all the time, too-'                       
       
           



       

'I'm not surprised!' Shelley pulled a wry face. 'Stress and wildly fluctuating hormones do not make a harmonious combination.'

Jennie stared down at her wine glass. 'That's when we split up. I didn't  really want to leave, but I could tell that me staying was just making  things worse for everyone.'

'And how old was Ellie at the time?'

'Five weeks.'

'Five weeks? He let you go when you had a baby of five weeks to look after? What kind of man would do that?'

'Funny.' Jennie locked and then unlocked her fingers distractedly. 'That's exactly what Drew said.'

'I'm not surprised! I'm not your brother's greatest buddy, but I have to  say that I think his character assessment was spot-on there.'

Jennie shook her head. 'It isn't like that! And Jamie isn't like that! Things have been much better between us since I left!'

'Well, of course they've been better!' Shelley scoffed. 'For him! He  gets all the best bits of having a girlfriend and a baby, with none of  the noisy, tiring, smelly bits! It's known,' she added gently, 'as  having your cake and eating it.' She saw Jennie's stubborn expression,  and sighed. She had it bad. 'So what happened?'

'Drew persuaded me to move in here. The house was empty and he owns it  now. He bought it off my folks so that they could buy somewhere on the  Isle of Wight-though I was surprised he kept it on. I mean, it's hardly a  palace!' She looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first  time. 'Maybe it was just sentimental of him, but it's lucky for me he  did. Anyway, he had it all decorated and made it cosy for me, but-'

Shelley swirled the wine around in her glass. Italian wine. 'But?'

'He won't let Jamie move in here with me. He says that it's time Jamie stopped being spoon-fed.'

'And does Jamie want to move in here?'

'Oh, Drew's been so difficult about it that he says he doesn't know what he wants any more, apart from his boat.'

'So let me get this straight … ' Shelley frowned. 'Jamie has a child he doesn't support and a boat he does?'

'No!' Jennie shook her head. 'It isn't like that! He does support Ellie-and he has to work very hard in order to do that.'

'Well, that's what most of the people on this planet do,' Shelley pointed out gently.

'But Jamie's brilliant with boats! He's a natural-everyone says so. And  there's a beauty for sale down at Milmouth waters-only she's been  terribly neglected. Jamie's dying to work on her and the owner's given  him first refusal. And it's such a wonderful opportunity!' For a moment  her face screwed up with enthusiasm, like a child's. 'If he could just  buy this boat and do it up, the profit we'd make selling it would set  the three of us up. It would!' she added fiercely. 'We could buy this  house from Drew. Or buy another instead.'

'But Jamie doesn't have the money to go it alone, and Drew won't help  him?' Even though it now transpired that Drew had become Mr Money-Bags.  Control freak, thought Shelley brutally.

'That's it in a nutshell, yes.'

'So you've reached a kind of stalemate?'

'Yep.'

'Let me give it some thought,' said Shelley. 'Though I'm not really qualified to advise other people how to run their lives.'

'Yes, you are!' said Jennie fiercely. 'At least you've seen something of  the world! And lived in Italy! I've never set foot outside  Milmouth-unless you count a fortnight's holiday in Spain when I was  fifteen!'

Shelley laughed and drained her glass, realising that it was her second.  Which might explain the sudden flushing heat to her cheeks. The whoozy  feeling in her stomach. 'Wow!' she puffed. 'I'm not used to drinking at  lunchtime-it's gone straight to my head!'

'Have one of these sandwiches.' Jennie passed the plate. 'I know they look like doorstops, but they make great blotting paper!'

Shelley was just demolishing her second when the doorbell rang, and  Jennie got to her feet. 'That'll be Drew and Ellie-so bye-bye peace and  quiet!' she sighed. 'Because much as I love my daughter to pieces it's  wonderful to be able to sit and have this slightly decadent lunch  without having to leap to my feet every five seconds!'

'I can always babysit-if you want to get out with Jamie one night. Or afternoon. Name your day!'                       
       
           



       

'Do you mean that?'

Shelley laughed. 'Of course I do! Listen, if Drew's here I'd better go.'

'No, don't go, Shelley-he'll be pleased to see you.'

Shelley smiled, but didn't argue, and as soon as Jennie had left the  room the smile vanished from her face and she sat upright, hearing the  deep voice in the small hallway, and straining her ears to hear what  they were saying.

Jennie must have told him she was there, because his face was dark and  watchful when he walked in. The chubby baby was clinging onto him like a  baby chimpanzee, with her soft, dark head snuggled close to his neck,  and Shelley felt a sudden pang, and if she had analysed it and described  it to another woman they would immediately have come up with the  correct diagnosis.

Broodiness.

She stared at him. Oh, but he looked good holding a baby!

Drew slanted her a look as he saw her sitting bolt upright on the edge  of the sofa, the dark lashes veiling the brilliant sapphire glitter of  his eyes. He took in the hectic flush of her cheeks and her over-bright  expression. 'Been drinking?'

Her cutesy image of him dissolved like sugar. 'Well, what do you  know-Detective Glover has arrived! Have I been drinking? he asks. What  does it look like? Oh! It's all gone! So no, Drew-I'm not drinking at  the moment, but that's easily remedied!' Shelley held up her empty glass  and rather defiantly refilled it. 'And before you say anything-I'm not  drunk!'

'Just a little merry?' he queried as he began to unzip Ellie's  play-suit. 'With the intention of getting completely legless before the  afternoon is out?'

'I'm not even merry!' she defended, sagging back against the sofa. 'Quite the opposite, in fact!'