The House of Charles Swinter by James Ward

Author:James Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thai woman Western man romance, love story set in Phuket Thailand and England UK, multicultural and interracial romance novels, Southeast Asia literary fiction, traditional English mystery with Christian and Buddhist themes, Asian woman romance, Asian tsunami 2004 novels
Publisher: Cool Millennium
Published: 2016-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty: Several New Discoveries

NO SECRETS.

Maybe he should tell her his, then. After she’d gone, he made a cup of tea and mulled it over. No, it was for her own good. And what if she was to insist he call a halt to it? Georgina and Lek would have to pull out too. He’d have betrayed their confidence. No, it was benign, and if Georgina was right it would soon be over.

But what if she found out by accident? They’d agreed on no secrets.

He didn’t have any choice though.

She wouldn’t find out. How could she?

He finished his tea and e-mailed Georgina and Lek, explaining the situation.

Lek e-mailed back on behalf of both of them. Keep schtum.

Two days later, Noonie came to see him again, this time in the afternoon. He was out. She let herself in and made herself a cup of coffee. He came in twenty minutes later. They wrestled on the sofa then wrestled upstairs. Afterwards they lay in the afternoon sunshine glistening with rills of sweat.

“Tell me what you thought when you first saw me,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for example: were you attracted to me?”

“No, not really.”

She smiled. “That’s good.”

“Good? Why?”

“Because if I thought you were the kind of man who just feels attracted to a woman on sight, I’d worry about losing you to Susan.”

“You needn’t worry about that. Anyway, Susan’s not good looking.”

“Of course she is. How can you say that?”

He shrugged. “Forget Susan. I wouldn’t have thought either of us had it in us.”

“You mean, this? Us lying here? I know.”

“You always seemed so prim and proper. And everyone says I’m Mr Grumpy. Homme serieux, homme boring.”

“I’m glad, aren’t you?”

“‘Glad’ is an understatement.”

“I don’t just mean emotionally. I mean, I think we did the right thing too. I wasn’t brought up to jump on men but I’m glad I jumped on you. I was just being sensible, really.”

“So you’ve never jumped on a man before?”

“I’ve never been in love before. Not like this. There was one middle-aged guy at university I had a crush on. Then there was Charles. But this is different. What about you? I mean, what’s on your romantic CV?”

“Well ... I was a virgin until the day before yesterday.”

She looked into his eyes. “So was I,” she whispered.

“Talk about killing two birds with one stone.”

She stroked his chest and gave a contented sigh. “You must have had girlfriends?”

“A few. At university. Decades ago, or seems like. No one since.”

“Why didn’t you have sex with them?”

“Didn’t want to. Men are supposed to think about sex all the time. I don’t. And I don’t think I’ve ever really been in love before.”

“You must have imagined you were.”

“I spent a lot of time moping over the unrequited variety. But it’s surprising how therapeutic a few cans of Abbot Ale can be.”

“And me?”

“That’s when I discovered Abbot Ale has its limitations.”

She began to giggle. “No wonder we were so -”

“What?”

“Well, our first time. I don’t suppose it was Swan Lake exactly.”

“Maybe we’ll become expert with practice.

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