The Other Half by Sarah Rayner Page A

himself. “To be honest, I haven’t been so attracted to anyone this much before. Not for years.”
    Bullshit! Chloë could hear Rob’s voice. I bet he says that to all the girls. But instinctively she believed him. She said encouragingly, “You don’t need to justify yourself to me.”
    “I don’t?”
    “No.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because—um…” Chloë paused. Should she risk being so open? She’d nothing to lose. “I’ve never done anything like this before either.”
    “So you’re not like the woman who wrote that book in the papers?” James appeared relieved.
    “The serial mistress? Never goes out with anyone other than married men?”
    “Yes, her.”
    “Hardly!” Chloë laughed. “I read about her too—I thought she seemed vile. Totally without scruples. And you’d never have known she was such a goer, would you? She looked so prim.”
    “Not my type, certainly. Though I guess you know that.”
    “In what way?” How she loved fishing for compliments from him. He always seemed to come up trumps.
    “Well, you’re much more my cup of tea.”
    “Cup of tea? How tame!”
    “You’d prefer to be my margarita?” He laughed. “God! I had a dreadful hangover last Friday.”
    “Me too.” Chloë shuddered at the memory.
    “Took the whole weekend to get over it. I’m not as young as I was.”
    “We didn’t drink that much.”
    “No, but we didn’t have much sleep either.”
    Chloë noted the reference to sex. It made her feel intimate with him, and excited at the thought of doing it again. “I slept in on Saturday,” she said.
    “Not an option in my case. Nathan wakes up at eight. Bounce! Bounce! ‘Daddy’s day to get breakfast!’”
    “Ah.” Chloë didn’t know what to say. For a moment she felt truly terrible. What was she doing fooling around with a married man who had a child?
    Belatedly, James seemed to realize the tactlessness of talking about his family, and to make up for it said, “I love your outfit.” Chloë beamed. “You wear such great clothes. They really accentuate your figure.” He was blatantly gazing at her breasts.
    “Thanks,” said Chloë, not minding.
    He adjusted his focus to her face. “So, how was the meeting with Vanessa?”
    “Weird.” Chloë was glad to have the conversation on more secure ground. “I think she liked the magazine concept, but she’s a strange woman.” Oops! She was talking about a close colleague of his. “I mean—she’s, um, a bit difficult to make out.”
    “You didn’t like her?”
    “No, no, it’s not that,” said Chloë hurriedly. That was a bit strong—Vanessa had given her the go-ahead, after all.
    “Well, she told me she liked it,” James reassured her. “She even said she liked you.”
    “Really?” Chloë was surprised and pleased. Recklessly she added, “Blimey, if that’s how she behaves when she likes someone, I’d hate to see when she doesn’t!”
    “A total bitch, believe me.” James grinned.
    Now a bus stopped at the lights, engine spluttering loudly.
    “It’s horrid here,” said Chloë. “I tell you what—I presume you’ve got to be home later?”
    James stared at the pavement. “The last train’s at eleven fifteen.”
    “Well”—she raised her eyes—“we could always go back to mine now…”
    “What about your roommate?”
    “He’s out this evening.”
    “Okay, then, let’s.”
    As they strolled up the hill, she said, “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you say you were going tonight?”
    “I said I was playing squash. I play every Thursday.” He appeared uncomfortable.
    “Till midnight?”
    “Lame, I know. Though I told you, this is kind of new to me.”
    “So you’ve never been unfaithful before? Not once?”
    James took her hand. “Do you want me to be honest?” Blimey, thought Chloë. What’s he going to say? That I’ve swept him off his feet? But he said, “I have been, yes.” Her heart sank. He was a philanderer, after all. “Once, at a