A Scandalous Man by Gavin Esler

Author:Gavin Esler [Gavin Esler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007283392
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2008-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

Harry awoke at dawn the next morning with the sun splitting the curtains and lighting the room. It glinted on Zumrut’s hair. There was the scent of almonds and of sex. He turned towards her and noticed she lay in the middle of the bed. Her tiny frame held the centre ground of the mattress like an occupying army. He lay over her, his body cramped towards the edge, watching her breathe. Her musky scent was in his nostrils. He wanted her again.

‘The middle of the bed,’ he whispered, kissing her shoulder blade gently until she murmured something in her sleep. ‘Emerald, you prefer to sleep alone.’

She moved. Sighed.

‘Nnnnnnnurgh?’

‘Or, like me, you have become used to being alone.’

He kissed her shoulders, then her breasts. She moved again, this time stretching as if her whole body smiled. His lips moved downwards, caressing the mound of her belly. His tongue touched her hot skin. She rolled away from him, still asleep. How different from Petra, he thought. How different this woman was. And how different he himself had become.

A precious emerald. He was determined not to lose her.

He padded naked into the study and connected his laptop to the router, where his father’s laptop had once been. He logged on to check his emails. There was one from Redknapp, the constituency party secretary in Fulham, calling on all party workers to gather at the constituency Labour party offices to start work on the election campaign. Harry responded that he would be there. Then there was a big surprise, from an unfamiliar email address. Petra. It was his first contact with her since they broke up. It was headlined: ‘Romantic Mathematics’. She, too, had perfect timing. Everyone in his life had impeccable timing. He had heard nothing from her for months, tortured himself with guilt about their break up, and now that he felt he had begun to get over her, on the very day he was in bed with someone he knew would be important to him, Petra had written him an email.

‘I’m abroad,’ the email said. ‘A long way from London. Travelling. I saw this and thought of you, for the first time in months.’

He looked further down the email. In bold letters she had written:

Smart Man + Smart Woman = Romance.

Smart Man + Dumb Woman = Affair.

Dumb Man + Smart Woman = Marriage.

Dumb Man + Dumb Woman = Pregnancy.

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