‘Oh, I didn’t hear you come in. Dinner won’t be ready for another hour yet ... but there’s tons of hot water if you’d like a bath.’

Maxine, on the other end of the phone, groaned. ‘Uh oh, enter the dragon. Don’t tell him it’s me.’

‘Who are you talking to?’ said Guy, his tone deceptively mild.

‘Nobody.’ Janey’s innocent expression was foiled by the tell-tale deepening flush. ‘A friend.’

‘Did anyone ever tell you you’re a hopeless liar?’With a brief smile he crossed the kitchen, took the phone from her and said, ‘Hello, Maxine.’

‘Oh God.’ In London, Maxine sighed. ‘Are you still mad at me?’

‘What do you think?’

‘You’re still mad,’ she said penitently. ‘And I know that what I did was wrong, but you just didn’t understand how important this job is to me. I’m sorry Guy, but I really was desperate ..

‘Hmmm.’ Glancing across at Janey, who was frenziedly tackling the parsnips and trying to look as if she wasn’t listening, he drawled, ‘Lucky for you you’ve got an understanding sister. I hope you appreciate the favour she’s done you.’

‘I do, I do.’ Maxine’s tone was fervent. Much to her relief, the expected bawling-out hadn’t happened. Not yet, anyway. Deciding to chance it, she added, ‘And aren’t you glad she’s there, too? She’s so much better at cooking than I am.’

‘She could hardly be any worse.’

‘And Josh and Ella think she’s terrific!’

‘Carry on like this and you’ll end up talking yourself out of a job. Or was that what you had in mind?’ he enquired evenly. ‘If you’ve landed the lead in some dazzling West End production, Maxine, I’d rather you told me now.’

‘Oh, but I haven’t! And I really don’t want to leave, Guy. I like working for you.’

‘But?’ he prompted, when it became apparent that Maxine hadn’t the courage to say the word herself.

She crossed her fingers, hard. ‘But we aren’t going to finish shooting until Saturday, so I won’t be able to get back before Sunday morning’ The words came out in an apologetic rush.

‘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 negligée 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?’

‘I can’t help it,’ Janey protested with a grin. ‘I’m just a naturally honest person.’

‘One of you must have been adopted then. You can’t be Maxine’s sister.’

‘And you can’t keep changing the subject like this.’ In order to spur him into action, she whisked his plate out of reach. ‘She’s sitting at home, waiting for you to call her back. Do it.’

‘Now who’s being bossy?’ he grumbled, pinching yet another sausage from Ella’s plate as he headed for the kitchen phone. ‘You’re far nicer to my children than you are to me.’

Janey gave him a guileless smile. ‘You pay me to be nice to your children.’

‘She’d be nicer,’ Josh told his father, ‘if she didn’t make us help with the washing up.’

Just listening to Guy’s side of the phone call was uncomfortable enough. Janey, squirming on the other woman’s behalf, decided that if she were Charlotte she would have died of embarrassment. But still it went on, Guy tactfully saying no and Charlotte – clearly not embarrassed at all – shooting one excuse after another down in flames.

‘Look, maybe another time,’ he said eventually, several toe-curling minutes later. ‘But not tonight, Charlotte. Really. I have to be in London first thing tomorrow morning and it’s been a tough few days.Yes, I know that’s what I said last week, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still true.’

More muffled protests ensued. Guy glanced across at Janey for help. She, unable to look at him, picked up the pepper mill and over-seasoned her baked tomatoes.

‘OK.’ He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘If you must know, I have to stay here tonight. It’s Janey; she’s absolutely petrified of being left alone in this house. Yes, ‘I know it sounds ridiculous but she has this thing about burglars breaking in with shotguns. We’re so isolated here, you see; ‘I only have to mention going out for the evening and she starts gibbering with fear. Charlotte, I’m sorry but you have to understand, I can’t possibly abandon her ...’

‘Thanks a lot,’ said Janey, when he returned to the table. ‘Why are all men such shameless liars?’

The first four excuses were true.’ He gave her a whatcan-you-do shrug. ‘And she didn’t believe any of them. Sometimes you have to resort to a little elaboration.’

It was certainly instructive, seeing the situation from a male point of view. Curious, she said, ‘But if you aren’t, you know ... well, interested in her, why don’t you just say so?’

Josh and Ella, evidently accustomed to such goings-on, were unfazed by the conversation.