Dark Blue: Study in Seduction, Book 1 by Natasha Bond Read Free Book Online Page B

He’s only trying to help, and he did like some of it,” replied Carla, feigning bravado.
    Yet she half wished Emma hadn’t asked. Her evening had been an almost Alex-free zone until then. While the volume in the bar was still below earsplitting, she’d chatted about regular stuff like house prices and car insurance to Michael. It comforted her to speak of everyday things, and, briefly, she started to feel that it was almost cool to be over thirty, solvent and a homeowner. After a couple of Blue Moons, she actually felt rather mellow and started to put the afternoon’s death-by-essay into perspective.
    “Well, don’t worry too much. He didn’t like mine either. He said I’d resorted to a string of old chestnuts.”
    “Really? I didn’t hear him say that.” Carla had been too devastated by her own mauling to pay attention to Emma’s critique and now felt ashamed. “I’m sorry he had a go at you too.”
    “Oh, I don’t care. He was right. I hadn’t written anything original. I’d been so busy rehearsing for the new play I’m doing with the college drama society that I’d rushed the essay and found a lot of the comments from the Internet. I’m lucky Alex didn’t ask me to rewrite it like Gideon had to.”
    “He didn’t ask me to rewrite either, so I ought to be grateful.”
    “Oh, I’m not grateful. He’s a bastard.” Emma sighed dreamily as the ladies’ loo door opened. “A hot-as-sin, brilliant bastard. Fuck, I think I need therapy, and hopefully I’m going to get some later if I play my cards right. There’s a gorgeous guy from the drama society coming to the club with us. If I’m lucky, I won’t be sleeping in St Cuthbert’s tonight.”
    It was all so simple when you were nineteen, Carla reminded herself as they walked to the club. Or perhaps it was simple when you were nineteen and loaded with the confidence that a public school education and gap year had given you. Carla had left school halfway through her A levels, having decided she couldn’t stand another moment cooped up in the classrooms. What an irony now that she’d signed up for three years of St Bert’s. After quitting high school, she’d worked as an editorial assistant on the local newspaper and had taken the chance to do her journalism qualifications. Then, at twenty-one, she’d met Stephen and fallen head over heels. They’d married two years later, and her path in life was set: wife, junior editor, and, she’d hoped, a mother one day. Sadly, that part of the plan hadn’t happened
    “We’re here.” Michael’s hand on her arm stopped her from sailing past the entrance to the club. She’d been lost in thought, seized by memories and regrets that were more painful than she’d recognised.
    “Sorry, I was on another planet.”
    Emma skipped up, eyes shining. “Come on, Carla. We might not get ID’d at all if you and Michael are with us.”
    Carla laughed. “Thanks a lot!”
    She joined the end of the queue that snaked back from the club door. While the others fumbled for IDs and Michael lent one of the younger students some cash, Carla glanced up the street. Alex stood under the soft glow of a street lamp thirty yards away, his collar turned up against the cool night air, in conversation with a woman Carla didn’t recognise. The mystery woman was about her own age, wearing high-heeled boots and a scarlet mac. As Carla watched, Alex’s date kissed him on the lips and walked away up the Woodstock Road.

Chapter Five
    The woman didn’t look like a Willow, more a Scarlet, or was the image just conjured up by her coat? Even as Carla cursed her wild imagination, Alex turned away from the woman and made straight for the club—and Carla.
    “Oh my God, it’s Le Prof!” Emma giggled. “Perhaps he’s coming into Shark End with us.”
    “Hello there. Enjoying yourselves?” Alex spoke generally, yet Carla had the strongest sense that his words and his attention were focused on her.
    “We’re hoping to,” Emma