The Mill House (2 page)

Joshua rolled his eyes. 'If I thought it was going to create this much fuss ...'

'What do you mean, thought?' her monster snarled. 'You didn't think, Josh, at least not in a rational, ordered, let's-discuss-this-with-Julia-first sort of way. You just acted. You went out and spent a hundred thousand pounds of our money ...'

'It was not a hundred thousand pounds. Not even close.'

'Then a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of our money ...'

'What's with the "our", all of a sudden? Last night you were hell-bent on telling me that all our money was actually mine ...'

'While you continually insisted on calling it ours. Now it suits you, it seems to be yours. Well, that's OK. Yours it is. So you do just as you like with it. Be happy with your Porsche. You make a suitably flashy twosome, and just think how much you're going to enjoy screaming around town showing everyone what a great big dick you don't have.'

At that he laughed, as only a man confident in that department could, and she might have laughed too, had the dread that he really did have a strumpet all lined up for the passenger seat not been so great. 'So what's her name?' she demanded.

He frowned.

'The blonde? The one you're presumably trying to impress. Is she someone I know? Do we have another cliche on our hands here, in the secretary?'

'Marina?' he said incredulously.

'It doesn't have to be your secretary. It could be anyone's.'

He was looking past her now, to the entrance

of their exclusive Holland Park mews. 'Actually,' he replied smoothly, 'she's right behind you. Why don't you say hello?'

With a thud of horror Julia swung round, and almost collapsed with relief to see their fifteen- year-old blonde bombshell of a daughter, Shannon, sauntering towards them with a disturbingly sassy look in her eyes and a cripplingly heavy school bag on her shoulder.

'Oh, Dad, this is like soooo coooool,' she purred, dumping the bag and sidling up to the Porsche like a cat checking out a new sofa. 'You didn't tell me it was going to be red. I mean, black's wicked, but this is like, really out there.' She looked along the short garden path to where her parents were standing at the front door. 'So what does she think?' she asked, as though Julia weren't there.

Julia's head immediately swivelled to Josh. 'You discussed it with Shannon and not me?' she demanded.

'It was supposed to be a surprise,' he told her. 'One you'd enjoy and appreciate. The kids are getting older now. We don't always have to take them with us when we go out. I thought it would make us both feel young again.'

'You still are,' Julia retorted, trying not to be mollified.

'Daniel is going to be like, so blown away by this,' Shannon was informing them as she opened the driver's door and inhaled the heady scent of leather upholstery. 'Can I go for a spin first, Dad? Before he gets home.'

'I'm still hoping Mum might go first,'Josh answered.

Shannon's hyacinth eyes moved to her mother. Apart from the mane of sleek blonde hair that swooped coquettishly over one eye and swung around her shoulders as though she were a perpetual shampoo ad, she could hardly resemble her father more. She always had, from the day she'd come screeching into his arms straight from the womb. It was instant love all bound up by shared DNA and mutual delight, and over the years, as she'd grown into his looks, his charm, his mischief, even his mannerisms, they could almost have existed in a world of their own, they were so besotted with each other. It was very much how Julia remembered being with her father, which was probably why Josh and Shannon's closeness pleased her so much. Their rows, though, were much fiercer and more frequent, particularly since Shannon's innocent young body had started its journey into womanhood, and her interest in boys had really taken off. She was far more alluring than she was mature enough to realise, which was why Josh was so afraid for her, since he knew only too well how men's minds worked when they laid eyes on a female body as ripe and ravishing as his daughter's. Nevertheless, even Julia was astonished by his intransigence over the issue of boyfriends - as far as he was concerned, Shannon would be allowed one at the age of sixteen, and not a day before. He wasn't even open for discussion on the matter, which often frustrated Shannon to the point of violence, though thankfully it was usually her pillow that caught it, while Julia sympathised and promised to try and talk him around.

Today, however, Josh was obviously firmly on his pedestal, as Shannon enquired of her mother, in a tone that said she already knew the answer, 'You're not in one of your strops, are you? Honestly, Dad, forget about her. Take me. I think it's really cool. I mean, like, no-one else's dad has got a Porsche.'

'I think that's Mum's point,' Josh told her. 'She doesn't want me to be different.'

'If that were true,' Julia responded, stealing a moment while the inner monster seemed to be focusing on Shannon, 'I'd never have fallen for you in the first place.'

'Ah, so you admit you did care once,' he quipped.

She returned his look and could see her reflection in the teasing, knowing depths that she'd always sunk into so willingly. She wished she could give herself as readily now, but it just wasn't possible. In spite of his insistence that he still found her as beautiful and desirable as the day they'd met, the growing insecurity that was wreaking havoc behind the scenes of their perfect marriage was right there, holding her back.

'The car's for you, not me,' he told her softly. 'Happy birthday.' Her surprise showed.

'But her birthday was a month ago,' Shannon protested loudly. 'That is so not fair. It's my birthday next, so why don't I get a Porsche? And you didn't tell me it was for her. You said it was for you.'

'What on earth would I want with a Porsche?' Julia asked Josh, still basking in the magic of his

'It's not mine,' Josh reminded her. 'You have to plead your case with your mother.'

'But she's bound to let him go first,' Shannon wailed.

Julia's eyes were inches from Shannon's as they stared at each other in mute understanding - for Julia, Daniel always came first. Leaning forward, Julia planted a kiss on her daughter's soft, peachy cheek. 'Don't wait up,' she murmured, and sliding the car into gear she touched the accelerator and roared off down the mews.

Josh was at the wheel now. They'd swapped places after Julia had flashed around Holland Park and Notting Hill for a hair-raising twenty minutes before zooming up the West Cross Route onto the A40. For once the traffic had actually been moving, but by the time they'd reached the motorway Josh had slammed on an imaginary brake so many times she decided she might just as well let him stamp on the real thing, or the tension was going to start snapping his joints.

So now there he was, all Armani shades and movie-star looks, in total, hey-dude-I'm-the-man, bliss. The engine's roar was like an orgasmic lion, he'd insisted, while the seats moulded their bodies like kinky lovers. For someone who'd made his fortune in the literary world it was just as well, she'd informed him, that he'd applied his talent to agenting, and not to the page, or they'd be zipping about in a Trotteresque three-wheeler right now, instead of a turbo-charged testosterone- packed playboy toy. His laughter had stolen warmly through her, and for a while she'd felt

nothing but pleasure to be alone with him like this. There was no pressure involved in being in a car, unlike in the bedroom, or the increasing number of occasions when both children were out.

Of course there was no way the Porsche had been meant for her. However, she had to hand it to her smooth-talking, quick-thinking, sometimes- too-perfect-to-be-true husband, if she decided she wanted it, he'd hand the key back and light the candles on a second birthday cake. Yes, he'd give her a hundred-thousand-pound car, if that was how much it had cost, and if it was what she wanted, because Joshua Thayne always had been generous to a fault, even when he'd had no money. Since many riches had started coming his way, his bounteous nature knew no limits: a grand, whitewashed villa on one of Holland Park's smartest private streets, a move to swanky new offices just off Gloucester Road, the best schools for Shannon and Daniel, and now this gleaming cherry-red bullet that was clearly transporting him to heaven.

What next, she was wondering as they sped along the M40 at over a hundred miles an hour, apart from a speeding fine. She was trying to think of something expensive that she'd always craved, but wasn't coming up with much, besides liposuction and a facelift - though she had to admit that neither was exactly an emergency. In the car world Patsy really did it for her; in the house world, well they already had that; and in the bling world she lacked for nothing, because he got as much pleasure out of surprising her with jewels as she did from receiving them. How idyllic their relationship must seem from the outside,

she'd often thought, and it should, because it was, or always had been until around this time a year ago. Their friends had frequently remarked on it, and because they were such a good-looking family people often turned to stare, whether they were merely having coffee at the cafe in Holland Park, going in or out of the cinema, or boarding a plane to jet off somewhere exotic. As a couple they had never seemed to tire of each other, though their relationship was definitely tempestuous, and they'd had their share of difficult spells, but there had never been anything they couldn't resolve, nor had they ever wanted to be with anyone more than with each other. She often wondered if that was part of what was frightening her so much - it was all too perfect, so how could it last?

'Josh!' she suddenly yelped, clutching the sides of her seat as he swerved across three lanes to hare up an exit road. 'Where are we going?'

'Anywhere,' he declared recklessly. 'Where do you want to go?'

Realising home would be a bit of a dampener, she looked around, and recognising where they were felt an immediate surge of annoyance. 'Well, as we seem to be in the general vicinity, why don't we pop in on your mother?' she said with acid sweetness.

'Hey, what a great idea!' he cried, as though he'd never thought of it himself.

Wishing he wasn't so adept at sidestepping her sarcasm, she reached for his mobile as it signalled an incoming text. 'That'll be Daniel,' she said.

'Could be a client,' he said, and whisked it back again. 'Daniel,' he declared and handed it over.

OK if I go 2 Tim's 4 n our?

Julia pressed in an affirmative and added, love you.

Lv u2, he messaged back.

She had to smile. He probably thought it was Josh who'd sent the text, but either way, Mum or Dad, he'd never been shy of expressing his feelings. If anything he was a little too free with his kindness and far too trusting of his friends. He had inherited Josh's open-handedness, but there was a guilelessness to Daniel's generosity that was totally lacking in his father. She often wished Dan really was more like Josh - he'd be far less likely to be used and walked over if he were.

'He's just a child, give him a chance,' Josh would protest whenever she voiced her concern. 'He'll toughen up. He'll show them what's what when he's ready.'

She hoped Josh was right, but he seldom saw Daniel's wide-eyed confusion when his friends took what they wanted of his, then dumped him. Nor was Josh aware of how readily Dan forgave them, so keen to be accepted. Did Josh really I understand the embarrassment his son felt at the I way some older girls teased him? Josh treated it as though it were some rite of passage to manhood. Maybe for some it was, but not for Daniel who didn't want to be kissed and touched and made a fool of in front of all his so-called friends, any more than he wanted anyone to know about his occasional seizures.

'They made my thingy go hard,' he'd told his mother with tears in his eyes, the first time the girls got to him. He'd barely turned ten at the time,

and even she had to suppress a smile on that occasion, but when it kept on happening she soon came to realise that his distress wasn't only genuine, it was increasing. She might have gone to speak to the headmaster, had Josh not stopped her.

'You'll just make it worse if you do that,' he'd insisted.

'So you want them to keep on abusing him?'

'It's not abuse. It's normal kid-teasing. They'll get bored and leave him alone soon enough.'

As it turned out Josh might have been right, because Daniel hadn't mentioned it for several months now, and he even had a best friend these days, Timothy Lamont, who was as mad about computers, cricket and The Simpsons as Dan. They'd become virtually inseparable, so now instead of worrying about his premature experiences with girls, she was worrying that he might be gay. She'd yet to confide this latest concern to Josh for fear of the explosion. Not that he had a problem with gays, he was simply on a very short fuse when it came to Julia's constant fussing over their son. The trouble was, he'd never really seemed to connect with how vulnerable Dan was, or impressionable, or, well, just different to other boys his age. Shannon realised it, though, for in spite of all the bullying, rivalry and usual sisterly contempt, she was as protective of Dan as Julia was.

'Enjoying it?' Josh grinned, as they sped across Chalfont Common in a blaze of early evening sunshine.

She dutifully nodded and smiled. If she hadn't had so much on her mind she might have been