‘I’ve already asked Janey and she doesn’t mind a bit, but is that OK with you?’
If he was ever going to blow his top, it would happen now. As the silence lengthened, Maxine realized she was holding her breath.
‘Why,’ drawled Guy finally, ‘do I feel like a schoolboy who’s just found out the summer holidays are carrying on for an extra week?’
Was he furious?’ asked Cindy, who was wallowing in the jacuzzi. It was nice having Maxine as a temporary house-guest whilst her husband was abroad; it was almost like being single again, sharing a flat and gossiping until three in the morning over bottles of wine, about men.
‘He wasn’t furious at all.’ Maxine, perching on the edge of the bath, looked distinctly put out. ‘He was delighted.’
‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’
‘There’s a difference between agreeing to let me stay and being delighted,’ said Maxine moodily. ‘It would be nice to feel a little bit missed. From the sound of it, they’re having a whale of a time down there without me.’
‘Who knows?’ said Cindy, holding out her glass for a top-up. ‘Maybe something’s going on between them. They could be having a rip-roaring affair.’
‘Janey and Guy?’ Maxine laughed. ‘Now I know you’ve had too much to drink.’
‘I don’t see why it’s so funny. You told me he’d taken her to a party the other week,’ Cindy reminded her. ‘And he’s pretty irresistible, after all. Are you seriously telling me your sister would turn down the opportunity of a fling with Guy Cassidy?’
‘I’m telling you that I spent a good couple of months trying to persuade him to have a fling with me,’ said Maxine, tossing back her long blond hair and admiring her reflection in the full-length mirror. ‘And it didn’t bloody work. Boasting aside, darling, if he can ignore an offer like that, he’s hardly likely to be interested in Janey.’
Chapter 34
The phone rang again whilst Guy was taking a shower. Janey, picking it up, recognized titian-haired Charlotte’s voice at once. She could almost smell the perfume, too, oozing down the line at her from St Ives.
‘He’s upstairs in the shower,’ she told Charlotte, who had asked to speak to Guy in deeply husky tones. ‘Can I take a message?’
‘That isn’t Maxine.’ Huskiness gave way to suspicion. ‘Who am I speaking to?’
For a moment, Janey was tempted. Then, deciding that that would be cruel, she said,
‘Maxine’s taken a few days off. I’m just here looking after the children whilst she’s away.’
Charlotte, however, sounded unconvinced. ‘And you are ...?’
‘Janey. Maxine’s sister.’ She wondered whether an apology might be expected, for having been the cause of Charlotte’s abandonment at Bruno’s party. But she hadn’t dragged Guy away; if anything, he had dragged her.
‘Oh. Right.’ Thankfully, Charlotte didn’t mention it either. She sounded unflatteringly relieved, though, tohear that she wasn’t facing Serena-standard competition. ‘Well in that case, maybe you could ask Guy to call me back.’
Will do.’ Josh had crept barefoot into the kitchen behind her. Janey watched his reflected image in the window as he surreptitiously reached for the biscuit tin. ‘No more Jaffa cakes.’
Startled, Charlotte said, ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Sorry, I was speaking to somebody else.’
‘How did you know I was there?’ Josh protested. ‘I didn’t make any noise.’
‘I heard the Jaffa cakes screaming for help.’
‘Good Lord.’ Charlotte sounded amused. ‘Look, whilst you’re there, would you happen to know whether or not Guy has anything on tonight?’
‘Nothing at all at the moment,’ said Janey. ‘He’s in the shower.’
‘I mean any plans.’
‘I don’t think so. He told me I could go out for the evening if I wanted, so he must be staying in.’
‘Oh. And where are you going, somewhere nice?’
The CIA had nothing on Charlotte. Smiling to herself, Janey replied, ‘I don’t have any plans either. I’ll probably just stay here.’
‘That sounds nice.’ Charlotte sounded immeasurably cheered by the news. ‘OK then, if you could just ask Guy to ring me back as soon as he’s out of the shower. You won’t forget now, will you?’
‘Oh hell.’ Guy looked bored. ‘That means she’s going to invite me round for dinner.’
‘Stop eating, then,’ scolded Janey, because he’d already helped himself to three sausages and she hadn’t even dished up yet.
‘But I don’t want to go. No, I can’t face it.’ He shook his head. ‘She’ll float around in some kind of negligee and try to get me drunk so I won’t be able to drive home. When she phones back, say I’ve gone out.’
‘Then I’ll get the blame for not passing on the message,’ she protested. God, men were callous beasts. ‘No, you’ve got to ring her.’
Guy shrugged. ‘OK, I’ll tell her I’ve already made other arrangements.’
Janey looked shamefaced. ‘I said you hadn’t.’
‘Then I’ll tell her ‘I have to stay in and look after the kids because you’re going out.’
‘Oops,’ said Janey. ‘She’s already asked me that. I told her I wasn’t.’
He mimed mock despair. ‘So how long have you been taking this truth drug?’
