Paradise Fields (26 page)

When she had reapplied Fleur's concealer and refreshed her lipstick, she went back, to find that Simon and Penny had gone.

‘What a relief,' she said, without thinking.

‘I know. I am sorry I had to invite them to sit down.'

‘There was nothing else you could do, in the circumstances. But I am glad you got rid of them. And thank you for getting me out of house-hunting with Penny. Simon's quite right, I love going round houses, but I am so busy at the moment.'

‘I know,' said Jake. ‘Besides, he had no right to commandeer your time like that without consulting you.'

‘Well, I suppose we are old friends . . .'

‘I agree with Fleur about Simon.'

‘What?'

‘You definitely shouldn't marry him.'

‘You haven't discussed Simon with Fleur!' Nel was outraged.

‘No, but I bet she says you shouldn't marry him.'

Nel bit her lip to hide the fact that she was smiling. ‘It hasn't come up.'

‘It will.'

‘Not necessarily! Really, I don't like you making
assumptions about my private life when you hardly know me!'

‘This isn't about you. It's about Simon. He has his eye on your house.'

Nel laughed. ‘No, he hasn't! What rubbish! What on earth makes you say that?'

‘He's an estate agent. It's a very desirable property.'

‘But he knows I'd never sell it. I love that house. The children love that house. It's mine.'

‘Good. But Simon loves it too.'

Nel thought about this. ‘He's never said anything about loving it. He mostly just thinks it's a mess.'

‘But I bet he helps you with the DIY.'

‘Yes! That's because he's a kind person, and he's fond of me – us. There's nothing sinister in it.'

Jake made a ‘have it your own way' gesture with his hands. ‘Ah, here's pudding.'

‘This is so wicked,' said Nel a few moments later.

‘Nonsense. It's been scientifically proved that chocolate is good for you.'

‘You don't need to tell me, or any woman that. They know it instinctively.'

‘So in a little while you're going to feel all relaxed and happy?'

‘Quite likely.'

‘And so then you'll be willing to talk about that Saturday?'

Nel dropped her spoon. ‘No. I'll never be that relaxed and happy.'

‘You can't deny what happened between us. It was explosive and spontaneous and wonderful.'

‘I'm not denying it happened! I know it happened, but I don't want to talk about it!'

‘But don't you want to repeat the experience?'

‘No! Yes! But we can't! I'm committed to Simon. I don't have affaires.'

‘Why not?'

Nel regarded him, stunned. ‘Well – because! I'm a respectable woman, a mother. Besides, I think you might be younger than me.'

‘Who cares? I've always liked older women. They're more experienced.'

This really made Nel laugh. ‘Not this older woman. I think Fleur is probably more experienced than I am, although I hate to say it.'

‘Well, I think it's time you changed your mind about affaires. I think you might like one.'

Nel picked up her spoon again and took another mouthful of the perfect marriage of cream and chocolate. It was the nearest thing to heaven this side of the pearly gates. Far, far nearer than making love to Jake would ever get her. Another spoonful failed to convince her and she sighed.

‘I think you need a brandy. Several brandies,' said Jake.

‘No, I don't. I think we should talk about work.'

HE SIGHED.
‘
OK,
what do you want to nag me about?'

Nel chuckled. ‘I don't want to nag you. I just want to talk about safe things.'

‘I see. You don't want to talk about how attractive you are, and how foolish Simon is not to have got you down the aisle long since?'

‘No!' she squeaked. ‘Honestly! Anyway, what makes you think Simon wants to get me down the aisle?'

‘The fact that he knows the internal measurements of your house, for one thing.'

‘That's nothing! Estate agents like that sort of detail. Anyway, he knows I'm not interested in anything full time and permanent until the children have well and truly left home.' She frowned a little, hoping Simon did know this, and was not confusing Fleur's gap year travelling with her actually leaving home.

‘Oh, why is that?'

He seemed genuinely interested, so Nel answered. ‘I can't bear the thought of another man telling them off. I didn't even like it when Mark did it, and they were his children.'

‘That's easy, you'll just have to find a man who won't tell them off. Anyway, they're practically grown up now.'

‘Not easy, actually. In my experience all men are
bossy, which means it's just as well I don't need one, and manage very well without.'

‘You may be able to manage without but you're not doing it. You've got two men interested in you and one of them does DIY.'

She laughed, until the thought crossed her mind that Jake might very well make money out of making old people homeless and it cast a shadow on her enjoyment. But it was still only gossip. Could she challenge him about it? She ought to, but somehow, as he looked at her with his eyes alight with mischief, she found the words stuck in her throat. She did the best she could. ‘And the other works for dubious projects, which involves desecrating places where children play. Sick children, some of them.'

‘And who makes love to you without any prior warning, although, to be fair, I think that was pretty mutual.'

Nel was already fairly pink, but this made her blush more deeply. ‘Jake!'

‘I know, you don't want to talk about it. But you can't forbid me to think about it. Or to want to repeat the experience.'

He regarded her with a combination of desire and amusement, and, in spite of her best intentions, Nel's body responded. ‘We can't! It's out of the question. I've explained!'

‘Not to my satisfaction, actually. And I won't be gagged for ever. I'll give you a bit of time to think it over, but then I'll insist on talking about it.'

The waitress brought a glass of brandy and another of water. She put the brandy down in front of Nel, who had no recollection of drinks being ordered.

‘You're not trying to get me drunk so you can have your evil way with me, are you?'

‘No.' He held her eyes with his. He was smiling, mocking, almost, but he still made Nel swallow and look away. ‘I promise you, when we next make love, which is how I prefer to describe it, you will be in full command' – he paused, with lethal emphasis – ‘of all your senses.'

Nel looked hastily into her brandy, doubting if she would ever be in full command of her senses ever again.

‘So, what have you been doing with yourself this last week?' he asked.

‘I've been checking out potential stallholders for the farmers' market. And I saw Abraham.'

‘Abraham? Oh, the builder.'

‘Yes.'

‘Has he got the Gideon Freebody plans still? For the proposed building?'

‘Yes.'

‘And did you get a good look at them?'

‘Pretty much. Why do you ask?'

He looked straight at her; the smile had utterly vanished. ‘I just think you should look at them. Thoroughly.'

She frowned. ‘Why? Is there something about them I should know?' Did Jake know about the little strip of land outlined in a different colour? What was he trying to tell her?

Jake made a gesture with his hands. ‘I can't actually say. It's confidential. But I do think you and Abraham should make sure you read those plans thoroughly. All research is interesting. And remember, where there's a will there's a way.'

‘What?'

‘Where there's a will, there's a way.' Jake was folding the gold foil from his mint into a ring and wouldn't meet her eyes.

Nel wondered if he'd been slipping extra alcohol into her wine. He might as well have been talking in code, the sense he seemed to be making.

‘And remember, there
will
be an answer to your problems.'

‘Jake! Are you talking nonsense, or are you trying to tell me something? If you are, could you make yourself a little clearer?'

‘I've already said far too much. Would you like anything else? More brandy?'

‘No, thank you. It's been lovely, really it has. Thank you so much. But I should go home now.'

‘I really enjoyed it too, but I'm going to give you a little time to do your homework.'

‘Homework? What are you talking about?'

‘I want you to think very carefully about your policy on affaires and why you're so against having them. After all, if you can't have an affaire when you're single, when can you have one?'

‘You do definitely have a point there. So you do have affaires?' She kept her tone light, but some part of her wanted to ask him about Kerry Anne, and this was the nearest she dared get.

‘Only in the down time between wives.'

She smiled, although it wasn't the answer she wanted. ‘How many wives have you had, Bluebeard?'

‘Only one. But there were a couple of LTRs. I don't think I shall marry again.'

‘Oh.' Her spirits descended by a further mile or two,
unaccountably, as she certainly didn't want to marry him herself. She managed a smile. ‘It's just as well I didn't have my eye on you, isn't it?'

‘Absolutely,' he smiled. ‘It's lucky I'm the wicked solicitor, with dubious morals, working for the bad guys.'

Nel nodded. ‘That does pretty much sum it up.'

They didn't talk much on the way home. Anti-climax was already hitting Nel. She'd had a lovely time, but it wasn't real life. It was just a single, shining jewel among the pebbles. Life was mainly pebbles.

After an exhausting day – and a rather disconcerting evening – Nel expected to collapse straight into a deep sleep when she got home. But as soon as she fell into bed, she found herself annoyingly awake. Everything she and Jake had discussed went round and round in her head. Could she trust him? Could he ever have anything to do with her real life? He was so terribly tempting, but there was so much she didn't know about him. And what was going on with that whole talking-in-code thing? Had she just been imagining it?

The answer came to her at about four o'clock in the morning. Jake had indeed been talking in code. He had been talking about wills. All that ‘where there's a will' stuff had been to give her the hint. She needed to look at Sir Gerald's will. She'd ring Abraham in the morning and tell him. Finally she slept.

Because of her late night, she was still asleep when the phone rang irritatingly early the next morning. For once the dogs hadn't thundered on the kitchen door to be let upstairs and into Nel's bed, and she was in her deepest
slumber. She picked up the phone. It was Simon. ‘I just rang to see if you got home all right last night.'

She bit back an infuriated ‘what on earth are you phoning me at this time in the morning for?' because she knew the reason. He was checking up on her. ‘That's very kind of you. And I did. Did you?'

‘Of course. I just wanted to make sure that man had got you home safely.'

‘He's not still here, if that's what you're asking, Simon.'

‘No, no! I wasn't suggesting—'

‘Good, because it really is none of your business.'

‘Isn't it? I thought we were going out together, Nel.'

Nel sighed, feeling his reproach. ‘Yes, we are. I'm sorry, I'm really tired, and was just drifting back to sleep.'

‘And I've disturbed you. I'm so sorry. But while I'm on, you must let me know if there's anything I can do to help with the farmers' market. I mean, have you thought about going through the
Yellow Pages
, and ringing up all the farmers in it?'

Nel's fuzzy brain couldn't think further than a cup of tea at that moment. ‘No, I hadn't, and it sounds incredibly tedious, although it is a good idea.' She yawned.

‘I'll do that for you,' said Simon. ‘I'll go through them all, and ring them.'

That made her wake up. ‘Simon! That would be amazing! Would you really do that?'

‘Absolutely. I'm not sure I've been supportive enough over this whole thing. Last night, when I took Penny out to help her decide about her house' – these words seemed to be underlined – ‘I thought perhaps I'm more
supportive to clients than I am to you. Because that's all she was. Penny, I mean. She was a client.'

‘It's all right. You told me at the time.'

‘And you were just going out with Demerand because you wanted to ask him stuff about Paradise Fields?'

Nel hated Simon's habit of referring to people by their surname. It had a fake public school ring to it. ‘Yes.'

‘And did he tell you anything?'

‘Not really.' Somehow she didn't want to tell Simon about his hints with regard to the plans now. ‘But it was a useful meeting. I don't think I'm going to be writing minutes on it, though.'

Simon laughed. ‘You funny old thing! I'll let you get your beauty sleep now, and ring you later.'

‘Much later, please, Simon. After ten o'clock, anyway.'

She glanced at her watch and got out of bed. It wouldn't be too early to ring Abraham and tell him what Jake had told her. With luck, he would know how to find out what was in someone's will.

He did. ‘It's quite simple, you just ring up the Probate Office and they copy it for you. I had to do it for a friend a little while ago. They're very efficient.'

‘And you think we'll be able to find out who owns that bit of land?'

‘A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse,' he said mysteriously. ‘It'll tell us what Sir Gerald left to who. You leave it to me. I'll get onto it.'