Why had she told James—of all people—about her horrible background? How was she supposed to keep her emotions out of their relationship if he kept getting her to divulge stuff she had never spoken of to anyone before? Was it his steadiness? His centred calm that she envied so much? His self-control? His concern? His compassion?
Aiesha was used to being judged and vilified. Mocked and berated and excluded. She wasn’t used to being listened to. She wasn’t used to being understood. She wasn’t used to showing a side of herself that had been hidden away since childhood. How would she reassemble her armour if pieces of it were missing? The breastplate over her heart was no longer a thick layer of metal. It felt like a flimsy sheet of baking paper.
James would only have to hold her too close to the warm, firm safe shelter of his body and it would be totally destroyed....
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘SO YOU’VE FINALLY decided to answer your phone,’ James said to his mother later that night. ‘What the hell do you think you’re up to?’
‘I could ask you the very same question, darling,’ Louise countered. ‘You’re not really engaged to Aiesha, are you?’
‘Of course not, but for God’s sake don’t tell Dad that. I let him think it was genuine...along with the rest of the world.’
‘Your little secret is safe with me.’
James frowned at his mother’s amused tone. ‘You must’ve realised something like this would happen.’
‘I had no idea you were planning to visit me,’ his mother said. ‘Last time we spoke, you said you were behind on the terribly important project you were working on and couldn’t possibly spare the time to drive all that way just to—’
‘So I’m a little task oriented at times,’ he said, cutting off his mother’s you-work-too-hard lecture. ‘You’d be worried if I was lazing on some Caribbean beach with a bikini model half my age like someone else we know. Why didn’t you tell me Aiesha was here?’
‘You know why.’
He let the recriminating silence pass. Yes, he could be stubborn. Yes, he could be unforgiving when someone crossed him. But that didn’t mean his mother should have kept her relationship with Aiesha a secret for all this time. She should have told him so he could have handled things a little better. He’d blundered in like a clumsy clown in a china shop. He didn’t like the feeling. He was used to being in control. He was used to taking strategic measures to sort out difficult problems, not make them a hundred times worse.
‘You don’t know her, James,’ his mother said. ‘You don’t know her the way I do. You’ve done what everyone else does when they meet her. They take her on face value and don’t see the sweetheart of a girl hiding behind that don’t-mess-with-me facade.’
James had seen the sweetheart girl; trouble was, he didn’t know what to do with her. Well, he knew what he wanted to do with her. It was a constant ache to get on and do it. An overwhelming temptation he was finding very hard to resist. Wasn’t sure he could resist. ‘You still should’ve given me the heads-up on her being here. You know how much I hate surprises.’
‘I hope you haven’t been unkind to her.’
He gave an ironic bark of laughter. ‘Unkind? I’m the one currently sporting a black eye.’
‘Oh, my goodness! What happened?’
‘You know that saying, “let sleeping dogs lie”? I should’ve taken note.’
Louise sighed. ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean it.’
James swung his chair so he could look at the moon rising over the tops of the forest trees. Australia suddenly seemed a very long way away. Another world away. A world without five feet eight of temptation torturing his every waking moment. ‘When are you coming back?’
‘Erm...darling, there’s something I want to tell you but I don’t want you to be upset.’
He swung his chair back round, his right hand gripping the armrest. ‘You’re not thinking of emigrating, are you?’
‘No, darling, nothing like that.’ He heard her take a quick breath before she added, ‘I’m seeing someone.’
‘Seeing someone as in seeing someone?’ James said.
His mother gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘You sound just like your grandfather when I was a teenager going out on my first date. Please don’t be cross. I’m happy for the first time in years.’
‘Who is it?’
‘Julie’s brother, Richard,’ she said. ‘I’ve known him for decades. Actually, I knew him before I met your father. He was involved with someone else back then, and then your father came along and...well, you know how that turned out. Anyway, Richard flew out from Manchester to be with Julie after her accident and...well...we’ve fallen in love.’