Instant Family (18 page)

And-Chloe lowered the dryer and glared at herself-do not,
on any account, forget the Red Terror! What a shocker. What sort
of relationship would that be, constantly going ten rounds with
Stephanie? Especially since Alex wouldn't even consider that his
darling might lie.

When she entered the kitchen, the kids and Alex were engrossed
in lunch preparation. She paused in the doorway to observe the
peaceful, domestic scene. Katy was pulling a lettuce apart, Julian
had mugs ready on the counter for coffee, and Seb was assembling
his special, monster-sized salad rolls.

Alex glanced up from slicing a tomato and smiled. A spark of something leaped from his eyes to hers. An awareness, a new intimacy. He
thought he belonged here. He assumed too much. Cool. Be cool. This
mustn't take off.

"Like your shirt." Chloe joined the workers. "Didn't know you
were into AC/DC."

"I don't mind them, as a matter of fact." He looked down at the
shorts, which were baggy on Seb but just about right on Alex. "Good
thing Seb wears his clothes several sizes too big."

"I don't!"

"Yes, you do," said Katy. "They're always nearly falling off."

"How was orchestra, Julian?" Chloe asked.

"Fine. We're doing Beethoven's Sixth and a trumpet concerto
with some dude from the School of Music."

"I like the trumpet," said Alex. "When's the concert? I'll come
along and bring Steffie."

Now, that was something to look forward to. Stephanie whining
and wriggling her way through an orchestral concert.

"June"

"Great"

"I'm invited to Jenny's birthday," said Katy.

"When?" Katy always had heaps of party invitations. If they were
obliged to reciprocate for Katy's birthday, they'd need to rent a stadium.

"Saturday after next. We're going to the movies and then dinner
at her house."

"Sounds fun."

"How many of you?" asked Alex.

"Five"

"I don't know much about girls' parties. Steffie's mum organizes
hers."

"Do you get to go?" Katy gazed up at him with a sympathetic expression.

"Yes, but as a visitor."

"When's her birthday?"

"In November. When's yours?"

"September the seventh. Chloe's is in April." Katy's eyes sparkled,
and the expression on her face was exactly the same as Simone's in
matchmaking mode. That pair would have to be kept away from each
other.

"Is it?" Alex paused in slicing the tomato to raise his eyebrows.

"Yes, and she'll be twenty-seven"

"We'll have to do something to celebrate." Alex grinned at Katy,
and she nodded vigorously. His gaze caught Chloe's and held it for
an instant. The back of her neck tingled where his fingers had caressed. She ran her tongue over her lips, tasted his kiss.

"Depends." Chloe glanced at Seb. "On what happens to him. His
court appearance is soon. I might not feel like celebrating anything."

"Will you be a character witness for me?" Seb asked Alex. "My
lawyer said I should have character witnesses. Frank from next door
will. He's known me all my life."

"Sure, mate." He landed a light, affectionate punch on Seb's upper arm. Seb beamed.

"Really?" asked Chloe.

His gaze swung from Seb to her. The shadow of a frown passed
across his face. "Of course I will. Why would you be surprised?"

Chloe shrugged. She couldn't answer. Her reaction had been
spontaneous. Any doubts she had were deeply embedded, stemming
from her original, less than perfect impression of Alex and the fact
that Seb's transgression had been against him in the first place.

"Seb has repaid his debt to me, and he's done it with style. I
reckon that should carry a bit of weight with the judge. Seb won't do
anything like that again."

Four pairs of eyes bored into her. Seb and Alex's were particularly critical. Julian and Katy's were plain surprised.

Chloe nodded. "He'd better not, or Children's Services might
interfere and split us up," she said, and immediately regretted stating something that had never been mentioned by anyone but had
always lurked nastily in the back of her mind.

"Would they?" Katy's face had gone pale with fright.

"No," said Alex with great firmness. "They'd have absolutely no
reason to. You're all doing extremely well, and I'll make that quite
clear in my statement."

"Thanks." Chloe turned away to hide the burning red of her face
and began taking plates from the shelf.

"I already set the table, Chloe," said Julian.

The rain didn't stop, so after lunch Chloe drove Alex home. He
sat beside her wearing Seb's clothes and holding his own in a plastic
bag. They didn't speak during the short trip. Chloe drove up the
driveway as close to the front door as possible. She didn't turn off
the engine, just sat and waited for him to get out-or for whatever
happened next.

"Come in," he said.

If she faced him, she'd be lost. Instead, she stared through the rainspattered windshield at the heavily drooping branches of the bushes
by the fence. "I shouldn't."

"Why?" His voice caressed her. Inviting, tempting, seducing.

"I should get back. Seb ..."

"He won't go running off anywhere. Come in. Just for a minute or
two. I want to talk to you."

"Talk?" Chloe turned her head to meet his gaze. He was watching her, his eyes full, darker blue, the way they'd looked before he
kissed her. Her lips remembered. Her skin remembered. Her breath
raced in shallow bursts from her lungs. A curious heaviness suffused her limbs.

He said, "I never get a moment alone with you"

"That's what comes with raising three kids." But she switched off
the engine.

Alex grinned, his hand on the door latch. "I'll go first."

She watched him bound up the couple of steps to the front door,
his figure blurred by the wet glass. The porch afforded minimal
shelter, because the wind blew the rain in under the portico. He was
getting wet again, fumbling with the key. Should she leave? Her
brain said yes; her body screamed no. Her hands lay inert in her lap.

The door swung open. Alex turned toward the car and beckoned,
his face pale in the gloom of the afternoon. Ridiculous, in Seb's
teenager clothes. But he'd accepted them with no hesitation and no
fuss. Amazing for a man with such style and sense of himself. He'd
surprised her again and shown once more how wrong she'd been.

Did he want to talk? Or did he want something else? Chloe pulled
the key from the ignition, leaped from the car, and sprinted to the
house. Alex closed the door behind her. It was done. The decision
made.

"I'll change. Just be a minute. Sit down."

He disappeared down the hall to the right. Chloe wandered into
the living room where she and Seb had stood so uncomfortably that
day. Then, she'd been so nervous, she could barely talk. Still angry
both with Seb and with the man who had attacked her-unfairly, viciously, when she was at her most vulnerable. Hard to reconcile that
man with the one who'd kissed her, whose kiss she-Stop!

The room was the same-quiet, tasteful, spacious. The atmosphere
was completely different. Strange, how time altered perceptions. Time
and knowledge deepened understanding-for both herself and Alex.

CDs lined a large cabinet. Chloe tilted her head to squint at the
narrow spines. He had wide-ranging tastes-from Miles Davis to Sinatra. From Vivaldi to Van Morrison. Photos stood on a low bookcase by the wall. Chloe crossed the polished floor for a better look.

Family photos. Stephanie, developing from a sweet, chubby, laughing baby into the difficult little girl she was now. The most recent was
the ubiquitous school photo. Taken last year, probably. She picked it
up. A kindergarten child. Head and shoulders of a round, unsmiling
face wearing a slightly bewildered expression. She stared straight at
the camera with wide eyes under a severely cut fringe-sad, almost
frightened eyes. Way too much so for a little girl. The thought stabbed
Chloe's mind, sharp-edged and penetrating. She put the photo down
quickly.

An elderly couple smiled in the next frame. Alex's parents? The
man had a similarly shaped face and brow line. The woman was slim
and attractive. Alex's confidence, Alex's direct gaze. The next was a
family group in a garden. The same couple with a younger Alex, a
brother, and a sister.

Chloe held the photo, unseeing. They had a similar photo at home.
Mum and Bevan with herself and Terry. Before the younger ones
were born. The girls and Mum were laughing like loons because Bevan had set the timer on the camera, tripped on his way back, and
scrambled madly into position. In the photo he was the only one posing with a serious expression, pretending the others were mad.

"My parents." Alex's breath came warm on her cheek, and his
body touched hers gently as he stood close to look over her shoulder. "And Charlie and Lauren."

"How old are you there?"

"Fifteen. Charlie's seventeen, Lauren's thirteen."

"Your mum is lovely."

"She was. She died three years ago." He moved away.

"I'm so sorry." Chloe put the photo carefully back in its place.

"Thank you. She had cancer."

"How is your father coping?"

"He travels the world. We think it's a kind of avoidance
technique-so he doesn't have to stay home all alone." His expression was blank.

Chloe nodded. Constant reminders. She knew all about those. In
her case the sight of blood or bodily injuries up images of how the
bombing victims must have looked-her imagination far too graphic, based as it was on news footage and media photos. She'd identified
the bodies from photographs, although their identities were clear
from their possessions. The faces were unmarked and familiar, their
ruined bodies unshown. Yes. She knew all about avoidance techniques.

She looked at the photo again. Something about the dynamic, a
tension-the father's face. "Did you have a happy childhood?"

Alex hesitated. "My father has very high standards," he said
eventually. "I disappoint him constantly. Marrying Lucy was a low
point."

"Didn't he like her?"

"Yes, but he thought we were too young and accused me of marrying to spite him. Maybe I did. He kind of washed his hands of me
after that." His lips twisted in a bitter attempt at a smile, as if it were
a joke for a son to be cast off by a father. "He doesn't think running
my own company is much either, no matter how well I'm doing. I
gave up a job with a big firm to go it alone. He said I was stupid."

"That's awful. Does he know about the award?"

"I haven't told him." He shrugged. "He actually said `Told you so'
when we divorced." He smiled suddenly. "Neither of us scored very
well with our birth fathers."

Chloe grinned. "No. Where is he at the moment?"

"Heading for Rio."

"I've always wanted to go to Brazil." The burst of enthusiasm lit
her whole face.

Alex laughed. "Why?"

"I don't know. It's just one of those dreams. Plus I love the music."

His turn to nod. "I've always wanted to see the pyramids."

"Me too."

"We could go together."

He was joking, but the way Chloe's smile faded, Alex knew
he'd overstepped some mark. The way he'd done when he kissed
her in the car. But that was completely spontaneous. She was irresistible, and he'd wanted to for so long. And she'd responded. For
a fleeting second or two she'd returned his kiss. Bliss. Gave hope
to his heart in "this astounding, lucid confusion" that was falling in
love.

She sat down on the nearest chair, avoiding his eyes. "What did
you want to talk about?"

"This.,,

"What?" Her head jerked up in surprise.

He waved an arm vaguely. "About anything, everything. I want to
talk to you. The Chloe away from the children, away from her responsibilities. I want to get to know you."

"There isn't a me away from my responsibilities."

"There is. You just keep her locked up."

"I don't. This is all there is." She clapped a hand to her chest.

Alex stepped forward and squatted down before her. He clasped
her hands in both of his, and his own earnestness amazed him as
much as it did her. Throat clogged, he felt he spoke through cotton
wool. "Yes, you do, Chloe. You sacrifice yourself to the kids' lives,
which is natural and commendable, but you don't need to. They're
growing up. You need to find yourself again. Give yourself a life.
You're young, you're beautiful."

"And what are you recommending I do, Alex?" Now her eyes
met his, and the gaze was icy, reserved, distant. But she didn't pull
her hands from his, and they were warm against his palms. "Should
I let the kids fend for themselves and go out whenever I feel like it?
Should I get myself a boyfriend and bring him home for sleepovers?"

She stood up so abruptly, Alex nearly toppled backward to sprawl
at her feet on the floor. He saved himself by flinging his arms back.
He jumped upright. "No! Not that!"

"Not what?" Chloe glared at him.

"Don't get yourself a boyfriend."

"You just told me I should."

"I didn't say that."

"What, then?"

What was he saying? He didn't have any solutions to give her. He
only knew he couldn't bear the thought of her with another man.
He also knew he wanted to kiss her so badly, he'd do himself an injury if he restrained himself much longer.

"It's not as simple as you seem to think." The fierceness had left
her voice.

He started again. Gently. "You could have any man you wanted."

She cut him off. "Any man I wanted?" The ice had melted. This
was a challenge. His chance.

His voice dropped. He stepped closer. "Yes."

"You?" Her gaze never wavered. She was daring him to put his
feelings on the line, to expose his innermost secret. His desire for
her. His burgeoning love.

"If you'll have me." He touched gentle fingers to the curve of her
cheek, couldn't believe the softness of her skin. Luscious lips parted,
moist. Eyes wide and wonderful. The delirious realization flooded
his brain at the same moment his control collapsed and he reached
for her-she felt the same; she really felt the same.