The Elephant Girl (Choc Lit) by Henriette Gyland

want her. Both Aggie and Letitia had said so. Sure, they’d packaged it nicely, but that was the bottom line.
    For a moment the old bitterness welled up in her, then she let it go. Practical to the core, Letitia was right, it was all in the past. The issues surrounding Fay were different, but the aunts were probably a bit screwed up in each their own way. Perhaps it was time to move on from that.
    She paused in the doorway and looked back at Letitia. ‘I never thought I would hear myself say this, but I’m actually glad to be back,’ she said.
    Letitia smiled. ‘That’s good to hear. By the way, on Monday make sure you go round the back.’
    ‘Well, that’s me put in my place,’ Helen muttered and caught the look of surprise on the secretary’s face that she’d actually been hired.

Chapter Seven
    Helen Stephens, Jason mused as he bagged a vinyl record for another customer, a rare gatefold Pink Floyd album.
    It was a perfectly ordinary name, shared by lots of people in Britain alone. He should know, he’d spent hours googling for information on her. A waste of time.
    She’d lived in the house for over a week now, and with every minute he spent in her company he became more and more intrigued by her, and convinced that she was lying through her teeth.
    Which only made him even more interested. And concerned.
    It didn’t help that she was so attractive either. Yesterday morning he’d watched, fascinated, as she flicked back her honey-gold hair while looking through the job adverts in the local rag with Charlie. Charlie was always job-hunting, so newspapers were usually strewn about the place.
    Suddenly she’d looked up, and Jason had been treated to a smouldering look from those hazel eyes. Back off, it said, and it was like a full frontal assault on his senses. It had hit him right in the gut, or more specifically, the groin.
    It disturbed him, this heat coming from her. He suspected she must know, at some level, about the affect it had on him. Her vulnerability just added to her attraction, made him want to shelter her, although he doubted she’d welcome it.
    Scarily independent, that one, he’d thought, and broken eye contact.
    He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about her, though, and swore under his breath. How could he help her, if he didn’t know who or what she was hiding from? And if there was one thing he hated, it was not having the answers. He needed to know.
    As her landlord he had the right to press her for certain details, like her prison information, and ask for references, but what if she got spooked and simply took off …?
    Turning to Neil, who was threading display curtains on a pole in his own stall, he asked, ‘Do you think you could look after the vinyls for me for a couple of hours?’ The stall-holders had a thriving community and would help each other out when needed.
    ‘Should be able to. Not very busy today, by the looks of it.’ Neil glanced up at the sky. ‘Probably because it’s going to rain.’
    Jason thanked him and set off in search of answers.
    As Neil had predicted, the heavens opened as soon as he arrived at his aunt Lucy’s home in Fulham. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky in the distance, and for a moment he felt his father’s shadow on him. He had to pull himself together not to turn around and check if he was being followed.
    He wasn’t, of course. Derek Moody had better things to do with his time, and anyway what could be more innocent than visiting his aunt?
    Lucy was the youngest of his father’s three sisters and only about fifteen years older than him, so it was more like a friendship than an auntie/nephew relationship.
    That didn’t stop her fussing over him like he was the golden child, but he put up with it because he knew she enjoyed doing it.
    ‘Jason!’ she squeaked. ‘Where have you been ? I haven’t seen you in months .’ She planted a couple of loud mwahs on his cheeks, and Jason grinned.
    Lucy was a slim brunette with a