And was subtly letting her know that she knew.
Which in turn made Coral wonder – with a shudder of embarrassment – if Declan knew too.
Outside in the garden, they could hear Lily and Dan bellowing discordantly along together with Alicia Keys: ‘No ONE, no one, no one … '
Coincidentally, it had been one of Nick's favourite songs too. He used to sing it at the top of his voice in the shower. Except it wasn't a coincidence, Coral corrected herself; the CD was being played because she'd bought it for Nick years ago and it had since become a treasured part of their collection. Oh Nick …
‘I loved my husband very much,' she told Gail. ‘I still do. I suppose that's the reason I don't find other men attractive.'
Are you listening, Nick? Can you hear me telling a bare-faced lie and using you as my excuse for doing it? Sweetheart, I'm so sorry, I hope you don't mind too much.
The good thing was, if he were somehow watching and listening, she thought he would understand and be fine with it.
The bad thing was, Gail was giving her the kind of look that signalled she wasn't convinced.
What was it they used to do with a woman in the olden days if she was suspected of being a witch? Throw her into water and if she drowned she was innocent. And if she floated she was found guilty, which meant they'd then burn her at the stake.
Suppressing a shiver and hoping Gail wouldn't try this method to test her out, Coral held up the bowl of salad. ‘Is there anything else you'd like?'
Yes, for you to stop fancying Declan.
Gail didn't actually say this, thank goodness, but the mere idea that she could be thinking it was enough to send prickles of alarm down Coral's neck and spine.
‘No, that's perfect. Thank you.' She took the bowl. ‘Sorry to be a nuisance.'
‘You aren't a nuisance at all.'
‘Aren't I?' With a small, enigmatic smile that prompted yet more tremors of unease, Gail said, ‘Well, I do hope not.'
Chapter 31
They headed back out to rejoin the others in the garden. Everyone was loading up their plates now. Dan was piling medium-rare fillet steaks into a dish, Patsy was picking the bigger slices of chilli out of her rice and giving them to Lily, and Gail was chatting to Eddie about her elderly male next-door neighbour, who had once acted on the stage with Joanna Lumley and had been helplessly besotted with her ever since.
‘Ooh, crème fraiche.' Reaching past Gail, Patsy helped herself to a generous spoonful and dolloped it on her spicy rice. ‘Declan?' She offered to do the same for him.
Gail said, ‘People always think crème fraiche is healthier than normal double cream, but it isn't, you know. Just as many calories.'
‘And every bit as delicious,' Patsy said happily as she tucked in.
Coral glanced over at Declan, and for a split second their eyes locked. He winked at her, but in a way that indicated good-natured acceptance of other people's passions and foibles rather than as a signal of anything more salacious.
Oh, but the wink and that smile … just seeing him here … how could it all have such an effect on her? Declan made her happy, Coral realised. Really happy. Her stomach lurched with longing and she wished more desperately than ever that this situation could have been different.
Because it was all very well telling yourself it was just a practice crush and you'd keep it under control, but it was turning out not to be that easy after all.
Her mouth bone dry, Coral realised how idiotic she'd been, like someone deciding they'd try taking crack cocaine just the once and everything would be fine because all they had to do was make sure they didn't become addicted.
Her gaze veered helplessly back towards Declan, who was now chatting to Patsy. It was too late, it had happened.
She was hopelessly hooked on Declan Madison, with no way of getting herself unhooked. And it was scary, as scary as-
‘Chicken!'
Coral jumped, her left knee jerking against the edge of the table so that one of the almost-empty wine bottles toppled sideways, splashing drops of red wine across the white tablecloth.
As if she weren't already agonisingly aware of the mess she'd gone and got herself into.
‘Whoops.' Lily stood the bottle upright and offered Coral the plate in her other hand. ‘Having some chicken? Lemon on the left, bourbon on the right.'
Could she even eat anything? Coral said, ‘Just a small piece, thanks. I'm waiting for Dan to grill the tiger prawns.'
‘Your wish is my command,' Dan called across. ‘They're ready. Bring your plate over here.'
And now he was plying her with enormous marinated prawns while gusts of smoke stung her eyes and she was forced to rub them, forgetting she was wearing mascara.
‘Your make-up's run.' Dan passed her one of the soft paper napkins from the pile at his side.
So of course, as Coral was blinking and dabbing beneath her eyes, Gail spotted her and came hurrying over. ‘Oh no, are you all right? I hope asking you about your husband didn't upset you!' She sounded genuinely concerned. ‘I'm so sorry. Here, you've missed a bit, let me help.'
Finally all the food was served and everyone was seated around the table. Citronella candles flickering in silver holders were keeping the mosquitoes at bay, the music had been changed to Bastille, and Declan was popping the cork on a bottle of Perrier Jouët.
‘A toast,' he said when the foaming contents had been divided between them. Everyone raised their glasses. ‘To new friends and old.' Declan clinked his glass against Dan's and everyone else followed suit.
‘Four weeks ago you'd never even heard of Stanton Langley,' Lily reminded him. ‘Can you believe it?'
‘Four weeks ago I'd never heard of you.' He grinned at her.
‘I walked past the cottage yesterday,' said Eddie. ‘Saw all the work going on. Pretty amazing how much they've managed to get done in a week.'
‘They're moving fast. I'm going to be spending more time here myself, project-managing.' Declan dunked a tiger prawn in saffron mayonnaise. ‘I'm planning to come down again next weekend and stay for the week, make sure everything keeps on course.'
‘Where will you stay?' said Patsy.
‘At the cottage. It's fine.' Declan shrugged. ‘We'll have the new floor down by then. Not a problem.'
‘But it wouldn't be comfortable,' Lily protested. ‘Why suffer if you don't need to? That's just crazy. You can stay here!'
Oh no, no, please don't. Coral pressed her knees together beneath the table to stop them juddering uncontrollably. Convinced she was being watched by Gail, and unable to meet anyone's gaze, she pretended to be absorbed in the task of batting away an insect above her head.
‘Can't he?' Lily was addressing her, clearly on a mission. ‘Wouldn't that make perfect sense? Declan doesn't need to stay in a half-finished cottage and sleep on the floor. He can stay in our spare room!'
‘Oh look, I don't want to put you out … ' Out of the corner of her eye, Coral could see Declan shaking his head, not wanting to be a nuisance. Next to him, Gail had put down her forkful of chicken. Oh help, if she didn't say something in the next quarter of a second, things were going to get awkward.
But she couldn't say yes …
And she definitely couldn't say no …
‘You wouldn't be putting us out,' Lily declared. ‘Of course you must stay with us!'
‘Oh, this mosquito – these citronella candles aren't working at all!' Flapping her napkin at the troublesome non-existent insect, Coral said, ‘Of course he can stay. Absolutely! I won't be here, which is a shame, but that doesn't matter, does it?' She flashed a bright smile across the table at Declan. ‘You'll have Lily to look after you.'
Lily was looking baffled. ‘Why won't you be here? Where are you going?'
Deep breath. ‘To the South of France. Grimaud.'
‘What?' Lily's eyes widened. ‘You mean … that magazine piece I showed you? Really?'
‘Really.' Coral nodded, light-headed with relief at having successfully removed herself from the situation that had prompted her snap decision. ‘Well, I need to double-check first that Marty and his brother can cover for me here, which is why I hadn't mentioned anything yet. But I'm sure they'll be able to do it. When you showed me the article, I remembered how much I used to enjoy it … and I suddenly realised I would like to go. So I phoned them up this afternoon to check they still had spaces. And they have.' She gave a little shrug. ‘I decided I'd book a place on the course.'