Just a Family Affair by Veronica Henry Read Free Book Online Page B

shivered in self-disgust as she remembered their frenzied coupling on the Aubusson rug in his oh-so-tasteful living room, that desperate revenge fuck, the payback for Mickey’s infidelity and feckless behaviour. She’d shut the memory out, as she and Mickey had gone on to mend their marriage, which to her mind had only been slightly damaged, not totally destroyed. She had forgiven him, and he had never known the full truth about her and James.
    But now James was taunting her, reminding her that she had been weak. And perhaps he was right. Perhaps she wasn’t fit to preach. But Caroline definitely didn’t deserve the treatment she was getting. When had James become such an out and out sadistic bastard? He’d always been measured and self-contained, but he’d had a more gentle and sensitive side than Mickey, which was why Lucy had once been drawn to him. But that softer side seemed to have vanished into thin air. James was unrecognizably harsh. She tried desperately to see life from his perspective, for Lucy was always fair. OK, so they’d had three children in quick succession, and as James had spent the best part of his life as a rather sybaritic bachelor, pleasing himself in his immaculate house, no doubt the ensuing chaos was rather a shock to his system. But that didn’t mean he had to be cruel . . .
    ‘Just grow up,’ she hissed. ‘Don’t be like your brother, shirking his responsibilities at every opportunity. Why don’t you break with the Liddiard family tradition and be a man?’
    James surveyed her coolly.
    ‘Perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard,’ he drawled, ‘if the women we attracted didn’t see us as a meal ticket.’
    Lucy had never slapped anyone in her life. But she was so incensed by James’s arrogance, his cruelty and, of course, the guilt he’d stirred up inside her, that before she knew it she’d dealt him a stinging blow. He grabbed her wrist and pulled it away.
    ‘Get off me!’ she snarled. His fingers circled her slender wrist and he held her arm tightly as she struggled to get away. ‘I’m warning you, James—’
    ‘What’s going on?’
    The two of them turned to see Caroline staring at them accusingly, swaying at the end of the corridor, her eyes wild and her hair even wilder. James let Lucy’s arm drop.
    ‘Lucy was just giving me some advice.’
    Caroline’s eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, too much drink and the occasional bout of sobbing. They darted beadily from James to Lucy and back again.
    ‘About what?’
    ‘I was asking her if she knew anyone in the village who could give us some help in the house. I can’t afford Ginny’s rates, unfortunately. But I think it’s about time you had some help.’
    ‘Oh.’ Caroline seemed instantly mollified.
    ‘I know it’s been hard for you since poor Mrs Titcombe’s knees finally gave out,’ James went on robustly, referring to his old housekeeper. Mrs Titcombe had actually given notice because she couldn’t cope with the chaos Caroline left in her wake, but had been tactful enough to blame her dodgy knees.
    ‘I’ll ask around,’ Lucy added, playing along with this blatant lie, but thankful that a scene had been averted. ‘I’m sure there’ll be someone glad of some extra cash.’
    She smiled at Caroline, and was rewarded with a look of pure malevolence. She turned and hurried back to the kitchen, feeling rather sick. Too much food, one too many glasses of champagne, and the guilt of her secret swirled round in the pit of her stomach. She swallowed down the bile, blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill, and steeled herself to go back into the chaos of the kitchen as if nothing had happened. But she couldn’t help wondering how much of their exchange Caroline had witnessed. She didn’t want her as an enemy. Lucy didn’t scare easily but Caroline was a frightening adversary.
    Back in the kitchen, Patrick was doing magic for Henry. Utterly appalling magic that anyone over five would have seen