A Man Without Mercy by Miranda Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

you. Till tomorrow morning, then,’ he said, giving Vivienne no warning before his head bent to deliver a goodbye peck.
    It was just a platonic kiss but, when his lips made contact with hers, Vivienne’s heart stopped beating altogether. Thank God he spun away immediately and strode off without a backward glance. Because if he’d looked down into her face after lifting his head he would have seen something not so platonic in her eyes.
    ‘Crazy,’ she said with another sigh. ‘I’m definitely going crazy.’

CHAPTER SIX
    ‘I’ M A BLOODY idiot,’ Jack muttered to himself as he jumped into his car, slammed it into gear and accelerated away.
    He knew he should go back to the office. There was always work to be done. Instead, he drove back down to Balmoral Beach where he turned off his mobile phone then sat in his car for a ridiculously long time, thinking. Then, when he couldn’t stand trying to work things out in his head a moment longer, he did something even more futile: he drove to his mother’s house.
    She was home, of course. His mother was always home nowadays, recently having added agoraphobia to her long list of anxiety disorders. The only time she’d been out of the house during the past year was on Mother’s Day, and for her birthday back in February. Jack had tried to get her to go to Vanuatu with him in March but to no avail.
    ‘Jack!’ she exclaimed when she opened the front door, looking surprisingly well, he noted. And very nicely dressed. Sometimes, when he came to visit, he found her still in her dressing gown in the middle of the day. ‘It’s not like you to visit on a weekday,’ she added. ‘There’s nothing wrong, is there?’
    ‘Nope,’ he lied. No point in telling his mother about his personal problems. It would only upset her. ‘I was in the area for work and decided to pop in and see you.’
    ‘How nice. Come in, then. Would you like some coffee?’ she asked him as he followed her down to the kitchen.
    ‘I won’t say no,’ he replied.
    The kitchen was super-tidy today, he noted. His mother had always been a fastidious housekeeper when they’d been growing up, but after his father had died you could always tell how depressed she was by the state of her kitchen. Clearly, if the shining sink and benchtops were anything to go by, his mother was far from depressed at the moment.
    ‘You going out somewhere?’ he asked as he sat down at the large wooden kitchen table.
    His mother sent him a sheepish look from where she was standing by the kettle. ‘Actually, yes, I am. But not till five. Jim next door—you know Jim, don’t you?—has asked me out to dinner. We’re going to a restaurant way up at Palm Beach. There aren’t too many restaurants open on a Monday night, it seems.’
    Jack could not hide his surprise that his mother would go out at all, let alone accept a date from a man.
    ‘Yes, yes, I know,’ she said. ‘It’s been a long time coming. But I finally got so sick of myself last week that I started talking to Jim over the fence when we were both outside gardening. We have spoken before, but only to say hello. Anyway, he was just so easy to talk to, and when he asked me over for a cup of tea I went. It was then that he asked me out to dinner and I said yes. I know he’s a good few years older than me, but he’s just so nice, and I thought, what have I got to lose by going out with him?’
    ‘Absolutely nothing, Mum. I think it’s great.’
    ‘Do you?’ she said as she brought his mug of black coffee over to the table. ‘Do you really?’ she repeated as she sat down opposite him.
    ‘Of course. Jim’s a decent man.’ Jack had got to know Jim over the years his mother had lived in this house. He was always out in the garden and happy to have a word or two.
    ‘I’m glad you approve. Because this isn’t the first date I’ve had with him. We’ve been going out to dinner every night for almost a week.’
    ‘Wow. No flies on Jim.’
    When his mother