Persuade Me by Juliet Archer Page B

sensed her, rather than saw her … For a moment, he was distracted by Lou putting an ice-cold beer in his hand – and a red-hot, as yet unspoken, invitation in his mind; but she was called away, and he was alone, and preparing himself …
    Then something cannoned into his legs and he almost spilt his drink.
    ‘Careful, Harry.’
    Her voice – and the years crumbled away … He was jumping over the rocks to be with her and she was saying, ‘Careful, Rick.’ She never shouted, never had to; he always heard her, as if his brain was tuned to a special frequency … Other memories intruded. On the boat, just the two of them. His voice, strangely hesitant: ‘My grandmother used to say – if you can’t be good, be careful.’ And her laugh, soft and seductive, like her skin against his: ‘Well then, we’d better be careful, hadn’t we?’
    He screwed his eyes shut. To hell with the past, and to hell with her–
    ‘Are you all right?’
    Her voice again, all husky with concern as if he was a bloody basket case. His eyes flicked open. Her face, too near, and white as a ghost.
    She had a child in her arms, the same little boy as before. He stared at Rick, eyes round and bright with concern, lower lip trembling. ‘Man hurt?’
    Spot on, Harry, but it wasn’t anything you did. I can tell you about it, if you’re interested. Trouble is, it’s not the sort of hurt you can see or touch. And you probably haven’t covered metaphysics yet on the nursery school curriculum, although I’m sure it’s just a matter of time …
    Aloud he said tersely, ‘No, I’m fine,’ and made for the nearest door.
    Sophie Croft was puzzled.
    She and Rick were very close, even though they’d lived on different continents for most of their adult lives. And her marriage to Ed hadn’t made the slightest difference. If anything, both relationships seemed the better for it, with the men either competing for her approval or ganging up on her. All very good-natured, of course.
    But she’d seen a change in Rick since his unexpected visit the previous weekend. More withdrawn, more edgy. And what puzzled her was that she didn’t believe it had much to do with Shelley, although she knew that they’d quarrelled before he’d left.
    She’d been furious with him earlier in the day. Partly because she’d only found out about Shelley from an obliging journalist; partly because she didn’t know where he’d gone and he wasn’t answering his phone. When he finally condescended to pick up and she heard the peals of girlish laughter in the background, she saw red.
    ‘You really piss me off sometimes! How do you imagine I felt when I opened the front door this morning and found a load of journalists outside? It put the fear of God into me, and Ed too. For one awful moment, we thought–’
    He cut her short with, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not suicidal.’ She could barely make out the words above another burst of laughter at the other end of the phone.
    ‘No, doesn’t sound like it,’ she said, more sharply than she’d intended. ‘Where the hell are you?’
    ‘I’m fishing.’
    ‘What for? Loud women?’
    ‘Definitely.’ She could hear the grin in his voice.
    ‘I must say,’ she went on, ‘it was so kind of you to arrange for the media to enlighten us about your private life. And we’re so pleased that you’re enjoying your fishing, let’s hope you don’t catch something too soon. You might be better analysing what went wrong with your last relationship before rushing on to the next one.’
    A pause; then he said, in a more serious tone, ‘I’m not discussing that now.’
    ‘When are you going to discuss it, then?’
    He muttered something about ringing her back and hung up. But it was Charles who phoned a few minutes later, with some gibberish about Operation Dunkirk and a stream of ridiculous instructions. She’d wanted to tell him where to go, but Ed said they should just do it.
    Bad sign, Rick not talking to her.
    And now she