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Authors: Debbie Viggiano

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BOOK: Lipstick and Lies
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D
on’t be silly Cass.

Morag
waggled a finger
.
‘A
ll I’m saying is
,
just because you’ve bagged
yourself
a
handsome
hubby, you don’t want to tak
e
your eye off the ball
.
Th
at’s all.


I
haven’t
!

I
protested indignantly
.

Jamie is more than happy with my curves, adores my
udders
and
our sex life is
incredibly
adventurous!

The fact that
our most recent of rare couplings had taken place in the bathtub surely qualified that statement
.


Excellent news
,’ said a familiar voice.
Aghast, I turned to see Matt
.
He
was
snorting with laughter
.

Is my wife winding you up Cass?


Just a bit,

I snapped.


Take no notice.
She’s always jack-booting around telling everybody what to do.
My back’s covered in heel marks
where she stomps all over me
.


A
nd don’t you just love
it
,

Morag quipped.


Yeah
,
I do actually,

Matt grinned disarmingly.

Co
me on Cass
.
L
et’s have a dance.

 

Chapter Two

 

Matt led m
e off to the centre of the room which was heaving with gyrating bodies
.
H
e gave my
hand
a squeeze.

Morag doesn’t mean to ruffle feathers
.
S
he’s just a
natural
bossy boots.


I know,

I sighed.

Matt smiled and changed the subject.

So
,
what do you think of Jamie’s business p
lans
?


To expand?
Oh that was always on the cards.
Thank goodness it’s all going so well.

Jamie had left the
police
force at the start of the year to go into partnership with
Ethan
Fareham
, an old colleague
.
Ethan had
spotted a hole in the market
at the right time
.
The result was a consultancy service in the City.
Together the men kept
pace with technology
in order to stay
one step ahead of criminals and hackers
.
T
he business
had
flourished
– no
mean achievement in recession
.
Ethan and Jamie
had worked long hours, sometimes not leaving clients until midnight.
It had only been a matter of time before they cast their net looking for an
assistant
.


And
what do you think of the new recruit?

Matt asked as he twirled me
under his arm
.

‘I haven’t met him yet.’


Her,

Matt corrected.


Really?

I had a mist
y
recollection of Jamie attempting to discuss
the matter.
H
e’d come home
late
,
hollow
-
eyed with tiredness.
Our paths had
cross
ed
briefly
on the landing
,
just as I was about to give
Eddie his last feed
for
the night.

‘We must talk Cassie,’ Jamie had said
. ‘
Ethan
is
adamant we need an assistant
.
You’re never going to believe
this
but
–’

‘Not now darling
.
Eddie will
wake the others if I don’t see to him
in the next ten
seconds.’

By the time I’d settled
our son
and
returned to
Jamie, he was in bed fast asleep.
I
looked at
Matt.


L
et’s hope she’s not a whiskery old boot.
Anybody prepared
to invest such long hours clearly
doesn’t have
a family.


You’re absolutely right
,
Cass
.
I once met the lady in question
,
and can confirm she is indeed unmarried and childless.


Oh dear
.
S
o she
is
a whiskery old boot
,

I giggled.


Au contraire.
In fact I’d go so far as to say she’s positively stunning.

I had a sudden sense of foreboding.
I paused mid-whirl.

Y
ou’ve met her?
How come?

But somehow I already knew the answer.


She used to
date
Jamie
.’ Matt
was suddenly alive to my
appalled expression.

But it was a
long time
ago
,

he assured
hastily
.


What’s her name?

I whispered.


Um, Selina I think.

The floor lurched beneath me
.
I felt dizzy with horror
.
Hell’s bells.
Selina.
S
he wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a
tweedy spinster
.
Nor did she have a
surplus
of
facial hair
.
W
ith
her
dark mane,
sexy pout and
chiselled cheekbones
, she bore more than a passing resemblance to Angelina Jolie
.
Selina had
been madly in love with Jamie
.
Her fury had been second to none when I’d
come along
and
mesmerised him with my
so-so
looks and absence of
chiselled anything.
I would just like to
mention
at this point,
I was not the
other woman
.
Selina’s
relationship with Jamie
ended long before he asked me out
.
However, unbeknown to Jamie
,
Selina had harboured
plans to woo him back.
When
Jamie
hadn’t
respond
ed
, she
’d
taken to
harass
ing
him at work
.
And
w
hen
that had failed,
she
’d
switched her attention to me.
I’d been subjected to anonymous telephone calls at home.
When the
dropped
calls had started at work
,
I’d really freaked out.
Selina
had gone on to
instigate a situation whereupon I’d turned up at a restaurant to discover
her and
Jamie apparently having a
romantic candlelit
dinner.
Naturally I’d jumped straight to
adulterous conclusions
.
All hell had broken out.
I
clenched
my
teeth
at th
e
unhappy memory
.
Selina!
What was Jamie playing at?


Darling, there you are!

my husband
appeared by
my side
.
He
wrapped an arm around my waist
and
pull
ed
me
to him
.

Thank you for looking after my wife Matthew, but I
would like her back now
.


That’s all righ
t matey
.
I
have
one of my own
.
S
peaking
of which
,
I’d better go and rescue her
.

Matt nodded in Morag’s direction.
We
followed
his gaze
.
Stevie
was
back in situ
and
in earnest conversation.
Although he seemed to be addressing Morag’s
chest
,
rather than her face.


Why on earth did you invite the man?

I asked
Matt in
amazement.


I didn’t,

Matt
said
, genuinely
surpris
ed.

I thought you did.


Me?
Why on earth would I do that?
God, talk about bloody gate-crashing.


And
Charlotte
’s looking mutinous
,’ said Matt.

I’d better get over there
,
before she starts
chucking
the
champ
ers
about.

Jamie hugged me tight.

Thank
goodness
you’re not like
Charlotte
,
throwi
ng your weight and bad temper about.


Well I haven’t had cause to,

I regarded my husband
coolly,

u
p until now.


What do you mean – up until now?

Jamie looked puzzled.


Is it true you’ve recruited
a certain
ex-girlfriend as a
business
colleague?

I
demanded
.

Jamie frowned.

You mean Selina?


No
,
’ I
said sarcastically
, ‘
I mean Mandy Micklewaite from Year Six at primary school.
Of
course
I
mean
Selina!

My lip seemed to
have
curled back
, teeth bared like a s
avage
dog.


Yes,
’ Jamie said patiently
.

I told you about it the other night.

BOOK: Lipstick and Lies
11.69Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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