Desert Honeymoon by Anne Weale

Author:Anne Weale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

She was having her lunch break when he came storming into the studio.

‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’ he demanded.

She had anticipated that he wouldn’t be pleased, but she hadn’t foreseen this eventuality.

‘Hello, Alex. Do come in,’ she said pleasantly. ‘Tell you what?’

‘You know what I’m talking about. I don’t like being taken for a ride. This is something you should have made clear from the outset.’

She met his angry glare calmly, determined not to be upset. ‘I really don’t see why. It has nothing to do with my professional qualifications. Kesri isn’t fussed about it. Why should you be?’

It was plain that he was enraged, his control of his temper close to snapping point. ‘You lied by default,’ he accused her. ‘You knew I wouldn’t have backed your application if you had told me the truth.’

Nicole’s chin lifted. Her lips firmed. ‘Why wouldn’t you have backed it?’ she challenged him.

It was obvious from his hesitation that he hadn’t thought the thing through. Kesri had mentioned the matter to him and Alex had shot round to see her without working out why he was angry and giving himself time to calm down.

‘A mother’s place is with her child,’ he said curtly. ‘Has it occurred to you that, if your son had an accident, there’s no way you could reach him quickly?’

It had not only occurred to her, it was a waking nightmare that she had difficulty pushing to the back of her mind.

‘Of course I’ve thought about that,’ she said impatiently. ‘But people can’t let their lives be governed by worst-case scenarios. I weighed all the pros and cons and concluded that taking this job would be best for me...and for my son. He’s at an excellent boarding-school, his grandfather lives nearby and Dan and I write every day. If we hadn’t been able to do that, I probably wouldn’t have applied for a job overseas. But with email, distance doesn’t matter. We’re in touch with each other on a daily basis.’

Alex continued to glower. ‘All that doesn’t alter the fact that you were behaving dishonestly by keeping silent about him. I thought better of you.’

The sting of contempt in his tone hurt her more deeply than she was prepared to admit. It also lit the fuse of her temper. ‘No, you didn’t,’ she told him hotly. ‘You never thought well of me. If you had, you wouldn’t have tried to get me into bed with you at the Imperial. If you’d known that I had a child, you’d have made yourself even more objectionable. You’d have told yourself I was begging for it. I’ve met men like you before.’

This was completely unjust and she knew it as she was saying it. He was nothing like the men who had made unwelcome passes at her. Nor had he done a thing that, at her most primitive level, she hadn’t welcomed.

‘And hate our guts...is that what you’re trying to tell me?’ he asked, coming closer. ‘One of us let you down and you hate the entire male sex.

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