One Little White Lie by Loretta Hill Page B

he’d invited her into his life.
    They went out to dinner at least once a month now and seemed to be building some sort of relationship, though in two years had yet to deepen it.
    He blamed that on the fact they had little in common.
    Angelina Sparemont loved shopping, travelling and eating out. And while Henry wasn’t averse to any of these things, he didn’t feel you could base your whole life on them. He could talk books and writing with most people. But, unfortunately, Angelina didn’t read anything except the latest celebrity tabloids, and that was mainly in order to compare their lifestyle to hers. They made the best of it with conversations about the weather and what they were eating.
    Nevertheless he was prepared to put in the hard yards, for years if necessary, to build a connection with Angelina. After all, as he told Tom, she was their mother.
    Still, that particular Saturday morning he wished she’d called first.
    â€˜Hello, darling.’ She whipped into the room in an over-scented whirl of colour, dressed to the nines in a dashing red pants suit, accessorized by thick gold hoop earrings and a rainbow-striped scarf. ‘So glad I caught you, I have news!’
    â€˜You do?’
    She pressed her hands together. ‘Russell and I are getting married!’
    He blinked. ‘Who’s Russell?’
    You would think that if she’d been seeing someone she would have mentioned it. He swallowed his hurt in order to listen.
    â€˜Russell Bearesford, the dearest man. He understands me like no one else ever has.’
    Henry’s jaw dropped. ‘As in the Fortune 500 Hotel Bearesford Chain?’
    Angelina winked. ‘He owns that too.’
    â€˜I see.’ In fact, he was afraid that he was seeing much more than he wanted to.
    â€˜Anyway, the wedding is tomorrow –’
    â€˜Tomorrow!’
    She blushed as something seemed to occur to her. ‘I didn’t invite you because I know how busy you are on your Carnology novels.’
    â€˜That’s Carnegia.’
    â€˜Oh yes, that’s right.’ Her hands fluttered self-consciously about her face. ‘Besides, Russell just wanted a small ceremony, close friends and family only.’
    Right .
    His mother continued, ‘I popped by because after that we’re going to Hawaii for our honeymoon and then I’m moving to New York to live with him in his home there.’
    â€˜So you came to say goodbye.’
    â€˜Huh?’ Her wrinkled brow suddenly cleared. ‘Oh yes! I mean, of course. Of course that’s why I came! To say goodbye and give you a kiss. It’s been so lovely living close to you.’ She hugged his stiff body impetuously. ‘There is just one other thing I wanted to discuss,’ she added as her hand dipped into her bag. ‘I bought Russell a wedding gift and it was kind of expensive and, you know me, always living on the fringe …’ She gave a little titter. ‘It would be very poor form to ask Russell to pay for his own present. So,’ she withdrew a piece of paper, ‘I was wondering, darling boy, if you’d be a dear and just take care of it for me?’
    He took the piece of paper and unfolded it. It was an invoice for a diamond-studded watch worth two thousand dollars.
    â€˜Just something to show my love,’ his mother explained warmly. ‘Now I really must go. So much to do before the wedding and all. You know how it is.’
    He looked up from the paper to find her standing by the front door again and barely found his voice in time. ‘How will I contact you? What’s your number in New York?’
    She put a hand to her chin. ‘I have no idea. Tell you what, after the dust settles I’ll email you.’
    Email?
    With a wave of her hand, she was over the threshold and out the door, leaving him with the sinking feeling that he probably wouldn’t hear from her for a very long time. He scrunched up her