More Than Just One Night (The Selwood Sisters Novellas) by Claire Baxter Page A

approaching presentable.
It wasn’t good, but would have to do. If she kept her head down, hopefully no
one would recognise her from the conference. She’d barely have time to shower
once she reached her room, before packing and catching a taxi to the airport,
and that suited her just fine. She didn’t want time to think about what she was
doing.
     
    Later, as she sat on the plane heading home, Cora
finally let herself think about the man she’d left behind. Leaving had been the
only option. Even disregarding the fact that Alex couldn’t seriously be
interested in her, anything beyond a one-night stand with him was impossible
for her.
    For a start, she had grown-up children. How
would Fern and Justin feel about their mother sleeping with another man, let
alone with someone like him? Would they call him a toy boy? Even the words turned
her stomach. Cora couldn’t bear the mortification of people knowing her
personal business. She wasn’t the sort of woman to flaunt her ability to
attract a younger lover. She was private about her private life. Not
that there had been any private life to be public about for a long time.
Besides, she had an image to maintain as a no-nonsense business woman.
    Having taken over the family engineering
company on Paul’s death, she’d been determined that no one would take advantage
of her; she wouldn’t allow anyone in the industry to find a chink in her
armour, and Alex…well, he would be more than a chink. More like a gaping hole.
People would talk. Her employees would gossip about her.
    No, no, no. She could never put herself in
that position. So, yes, leaving him without a word was the right thing to do,
but still a nagging disappointment lingered. She knew nothing about him. They’d
deliberately avoided talking about their jobs, agreeing within the first few
minutes of meeting that work was off the agenda for one night. They hadn’t
exchanged surnames. It had all added to the excitement of the evening, and she
had to admit, she’d been very excited. The sex…oh god, the sex had been
like nothing she’d ever experienced, but she’d been a staid married woman for
half of her life so that was hardly surprising. She grabbed the safety
instruction card from the seat pocket in front of her and fanned her face.
    Her elderly neighbour looked up from her
magazine. “Horrible, isn’t it? I suffered terribly with them myself. Mine were
so bad I thought global warming was my fault.”
    Cora gave the woman a weak smile. Wonderful
to be reminded that she looked her age. She took a file from her briefcase and
opened it. Not that she was trying to be unfriendly, but she had too much on
her mind for small-talk. She shook her head at the flight attendant who offered
her breakfast. Her churning stomach wouldn’t let her think about food. Between
the alcohol she’d consumed the previous night and the tension this morning, it
was like a washing machine.
    The figures on the page in front of her made
no sense. She let her head fall back against the headrest and closed her eyes,
glad that she had the weekend to recover from the conference, and her
after-hours activities, before she had to throw herself into another working
week. Fern was coming to stay, and her new boyfriend was joining them for the
weekend. Cora was looking forward to meeting him.
     
    Thirty-six hours later, Cora took her seat at
a table in her favourite Newcastle restaurant, silently fuming. Fern sat beside
her and across the table, Russell, Fern’s boyfriend. Ha! Boy friend
indeed. He was older than her . She’d been struggling to hide her
feelings ever since the two of them had arrived in his Jaguar. As soon as she’d
seen the car roll up she’d known that this was no twenty-something lover that
Fern had brought to meet her. And the irony of her own liaison with a man
younger than this one had not been lost on her.
    “Sorry, I just need to….” Fern got to her
feet again with a vague wave towards the rear of the room.