AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was easy to fancy, but living with him would be a nightmare.Not that you’re ever going to know, Rose, mocked the voice in her head.
No, what she envied was simply the idea of being part of a family, arealfamily. In her experience people who had them didn’t realise how lucky they were.
Obviously it was a plus if a child could be brought up with space and freedom to thrive, but it wasn’t about where a child lived. Her eyes flickered momentarily to the drooling baby and her expression softened. What any child really needed was a family...and love.
He glanced at his phone. ‘The driver is here. Tell him where to stop off and I’ll see you at the airport.’
‘You’re not coming w—’ She stopped. Obviously he wasn’t coming with them and she was in danger of sounding disappointed.
‘I have a few things to sign off on. I’ll see you there.’ His eyes went to the baby. ‘I’ll see you both there.’ After the shortest of hesitations he reached out and touched the baby’s cheek.
‘So soft,’ he observed, sounding startled, before seeming to realise she was watching him and dropping his hand. On anyone else she would have called the expression on his face self-conscious.
Rose had no first-hand experience to compare with, but she was assuming that the sort of luxury, every-need-attended-to service she was enjoying was not available on a typical flight.
She had not been offered a menu but she had been asked what she would like. The attendant seemed confident whatever she requested the chef would be able to provide.
Thrown, Rose had resorted to asking what the young woman would recommend.
‘The lobster is—’
‘Fine, I’ll have it.’
‘The wine list?’
‘No, I’ll not have...’ Actually, why not? This might be her only experience of flying in a private jet, she might as well enjoy it... Also, a glass of wine might unknot the tension in her shoulders, just the one. ‘You choose.’
The lobster was melt-in-the-mouth and buttery and the wine did help her relax.
The only negative of the experience was not that Zac had not joined her—a little bit of delicate probing had revealed he was sitting upfront with the pilot—but the possibility that he might suddenly appear, which stopped her relaxingenoughto enjoy the experience fully.
She was clipping on her seat belt for landing when Zac did appear, shrugging his jacket on as he walked towards her before flopping elegantly into the seat opposite her.
‘Comfortable flight?’
‘I’ve got nothing to compare it to, but I was well looked after.’
A look of shock crossed his face. ‘You’veneverflown before?’
He couldn’t have sounded more shocked if she had announced that she had come from Mars. She shrugged and wondered what his reaction would be if she admitted that she’d never been outside the UK before.
‘But not your first time abroad? Your father never took you with him on his travels?’
‘Not for business. I was at school, we moved around the country. When he went abroad... I was old enough to look after myself.’
How old did her father consider old enough? he wondered grimly—Zac had suspicions. He found he was envying Marco his opportunity to tell the man exactly what he thought about him when he warned him off. Zac would have enjoyed some warning of his own.
‘That’s pretty,’ he observed. The upward curve of his lips distracted from the ice in his eyes as he stretched his hand towards the amber stone she wore suspended on a gold-coloured chain around her neck.
Rose’s lashes fluttered before her eyes lifted to his face. ‘Oh, yes...’ She caught the stone in her fist, pressing the coldness into her palm. ‘It was a birthday present from my dad...’ She began and stopped, her smile fading.
It was a story she had trotted out so many times that she almost believed the lie herself. She began to shake her head, then laughed, an invisible tipping point reached. She just couldn’t tell the pathetic lie again.
The truth was pathetic too but at least it was the truth. What was the point of perpetuating the pretence? She wasn’t a child trying to fit in with the other kids who took for granted their birthday parties and gifts, who complained about curfews and being grounded...beingcaredfor, not that they realised it. But Rose did because it was something she didn’t have.
‘No, no, that’s not true. He didn’t buy it for me. I bought it myself! I saw it on a market stall and saved up. I gave the stallholder a little each week until I could buy it for myself and I told... I pretended.’
There was a silence as he stared at her. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking...but then she didn’t want to. She lowered her gaze to her hands clasped on her lap. She didn’t want to see his embarrassment or, worse, his pity.
