Part Time Marriage by Jessica Steele Page B

into work, to be able to fix her thoughts elsewhere. `Terrific party, Idris,' she complimented him warmly when she stopped by his desk.

    `Paul said you were serious about someone. You should have brought him.'

    `He works away a lot,' she answered, and went to her own office wondering, had Noah been home by then, would he have accepted to go to the party with her?

    Suddenly she realised the way she was thinking. For Heaven's sake, she and Noah didn't have that sort of relationship. They were married, yes, but in a platonic, not even friends, kind of way.Platonic? Oh, crikey!

    By Wednesday, having thrown herself into her work in the hope of forgetting that payback time was at hand, Elexa had achieved all that she could achieve. At seven o'clock that evening, with all other offices she might have wanted to contact now long since closed, there was little more she could do. She looked at herwatch, at what she was sure was an hour later, only to see that it was not yet seven-fifteen. Feeling extremely fidgety, she cleared her desk and went to the car park.

    She wasn't using delaying tactics, she convinced herself as she started up her vehicle, but she did not want to get there too early and find Noah in the middle of eating his dinner. She drove to her flat and, the hours seeming to have stood still, leaving her with ample time to spare, she took a shower. With her nerves starting to fray, she suddenly wanted it over and done with.

    She was about to leave her apartment when it dawned on her that she didn't know how these things went. What she suddenly did know though, was that there was no way she could get into his bed without a stitch on.

    Elexa went hot and then cold at the thought and speedily emptied out her briefcase, collected a fresh nightdress from a drawer, added her toothbrush and paste, and hurriedly departed her flat before her feet became cemented to the floor.

    She drove on autopilot, trying to keep her mind a blank-an impossibility, she discovered. And all at once-unfairly, she owned, even as her thoughts raced-she started to blame Noah Peverelle because she felt as jumpy as a kitten. Had he consented to scientific means rather than natural she wouldn't be in this almighty stew. Perhaps she would feel better once she was there, once she saw him.

    She did not feel better. It was almost nine when he answered the door to her ring. Noah, looking as stern as mostly always, invited her in. `Do you normally work this late?' he enquired levelly, indicating her briefcase. Then, to her relief, he ignored the stairs and took her into his drawing-room.

    `I w-went home,' she stammered. `I-um needed to freshen up.' Oh grief, that was wrong; she didn't want him thinking she had showered for his benefit. `I-er-one gets grubby at work,' she added. `You know how it is,' she rattled on, her all-on- edge feelings making her tongue gallop away.

    Noah stared at her. `Have a seat,' he suggested quietly, his eyes never leaving her face-she would have given anything to know what he was thinking. `What can I get you to drink?' he offered.

    She didn't want a drink. Neither did she want to sit down. What she wanted was this over with all speed so she could race home to her own bed. `N-nothing,' she answered. `Thank you,' she added belatedly, jerkily. Standing about a yard away, he studied her still standing form. `You sound on edge,' he observed, in that same quiet tone.

    Well, top marks for spotting that! He annoyed her. `It's not every day I-I-er-with someone I barely know,' she retorted-and soon found that he cared not for her tone.

    `I'm your husband!' he rapped.

    `I've never had one of those before either!' she flared unthinkingly, wanting to be pleasant, but nerves, his tone, causing her to fire back.

    She saw his brow shoot up. `You're a-' He broke off, but was already discounting the notion, and did not utter the word. But he was in demanding frame of mind, she soon realised, when he abruptly challenged, `Just how many