RELUCTANT WIFE 24

‘Afaiwa, I’m sorry I’m late. Things got rather

hectic.’ He looked around the huge hallway full of people, waving at some of them. ‘Where’s Carrie?’

‘Last I saw she was on the balcony,’ said Helena.

‘I’ll go and find her. I have something for her,’ he said, and his mother did not miss the twinkle in his eyes.

Carrie was just coming out of the first-floor guest bathroom when he saw her. He caught his breath; she was more beautiful than he remembered, and well worth the long flight back.

Carrie felt a strange sense, as if someone was watching her. When the prickly sensation tripped down her spine she knew he was here. She looked about the flrst floor, nothing there, then as she looked between the marble spindles of the banister she caught him staring up at her.

All day she had been practising her scowl, rehearsing her cutting words. Mesmerized, she watched him climb the stairs.

Biting back a retort she couldn’t remember, she looked him slowly up and down as he neared her, accepting that