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.‘Plans changed.’‘How so?’Alex twisted so that she was looking at his profile.When he turned and their eyes met, she forced herself not to look away.She was also, she decided, going to make a heroic effort to drop the bitterness, which wasn’t going to get either of them anywhere.She had had her say and now was the time to take a deep breath and move on.‘You’ll see.’For the first time, Gabriel felt a twinge of unease.He looked at her but she was staring out of the window.Her neck was long and slender, all the more apparent because her hair was so short, and at this angle the lashes framing her large almond-shaped eyes were long and thick.She had confessed early on in their relationship that she had always been a tomboy, the consequence of having so many brothers.She looked anything but a tomboy, even in her sloppy clothes and the woolly hat which she had stuck back on.Shockingly, his body kicked in and that shook him so much that he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and applied his mind to the business at hand.The areas through which they drove alternated between cramped and rundown to just cramped until she pointed to a tiny terraced house at the end of the street and instructed him to get parked wherever he could because it was always hell finding an empty slot.‘So you have a car?’‘No.I only go on what I see.’Her heart was beating fast and hard and nerves had kicked in with a vengeance.She literally felt sick and she had to take a few deep breaths before she opened her car door.‘I’m…I’m really sorry…’ she said in a low voice, glancing at him over her shoulder.‘Sorry for what?’ Gabriel threw her a sharp look but she was already turning away and slamming the door behind her.‘Sorry for what?’She didn’t reply, leaving ample time for him to brood over her enigmatic statement as she yanked off the woolly hat and inserted her key in the lock, pushing open the front door to a flood of light in the small hallway.Gabriel had a few seconds, during which he took in that it was a bright, welcoming space but small.Much smaller than his place in Chelsea, which was only a two-bedroomed apartment but probably three times the size of her house.There also seemed to be a great deal of clutter.Coats, jackets and various other items of clothing were hung on a coat rack that was groaning under the weight and there was a little collection of shoes which seemed to have started out life in a neat line against the wall but had ended up in a chaotic heap.Did the guy share the house with her? For some reason, he didn’t like that idea.‘Wait here.’‘With the door open? Or am I allowed to shut it?’‘Just wait here and I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.’Gabriel discovered that he was too bemused to argue the toss.He closed the door and leaned against it, his hands in his pockets while he idly scanned the space around him.Yellow walls, a small staircase leading up to what could only be one room, surely, and a bathroom.To his right, the door was ajar and he could glimpse pale walls and the edge of a flowered sofa.Ahead was probably the kitchen and some sort of study, he expected.Not much more.She returned so silently from a door to the side that he didn’t initially register her presence and, when he did, it took him a second or two more before he registered another presence.A kid.‘You never answered my question.Are you going to reconsider my job offer? It’s pretty generous, if I say so myself.In fact, I can’t think of any other person who would put themselves out to re-hire someone who had walked out of their job for the reasons you gave.’‘Gabriel…this is Luke…’Gabriel, forced to acknowledge the child, nodded and resettled his gaze on Alex.‘Mum…can I have some ice cream now? Can I? Susie said I could…’‘Susie said no such thing, you cheeky little monkey!’From behind him a tiny round girl emerged, grinning as she slung her bag over her shoulder and she ruffled Luke’s hair, which produced a little frown before he straightened it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]