Must Be Love by Cathy Woodman Read Free Book Online Page A

I know is meant for me alone, then turns to the woman beside him and excuses himself.
    ‘You look stunning, Maz,’ Alex says, slipping his arm around my back and pressing his mouth to my ear as he joins me, and Sophia moves away to ‘circulate’, as she puts it. ‘Come with me.’
    We stroll out of the crowded drawing room into the hallway, crossing the tiled floor to the foot of a staircase the National Trust would be proud of. I can picture generation after generation of Fox-Giffords sliding down the gleaming oak banister, whooping as they go.
    Alex swings me round beneath the mistletoe and holly suspended from the ceiling, and plants a kiss on my lips and another, and another, until …
    ‘Daddy?’ a small voice cuts in. ‘Daddy! There you are. Seb, I’ve found him.’
    Groaning, Alex draws back and slowly drops my hands, his expression a mixture of frustration and apology, before he looks up to where the staircase takes a turn up to the first landing.
    With a sigh, I follow his gaze.
    Two pairs of eyes stare back. A girl of five or six with straight, pale-blonde shoulder-length hair looks over the handrail, and a boy of about three, who’s a replica of Alex with dark curls and a fierce expression, peers between the balusters.
    ‘Daddy, is that your girlfriend?’ the girl says.
    ‘You know very well who she is, Lucie.’
    I have met Lucie and Seb before, but only in passing, for example when their mother’s been late picking them up on a Sunday night to take them back to their home in London.
    ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t get round to telling you,’ Alex says, turning back to me, and the little bubbles of desire that have been fizzing up inside me start to pop one by one as he goes on, ‘Astra was supposed to pick them up this afternoon, but she’s been delayed on her way back from Verbier. She’ll be here tomorrow.’
    The ache of longing becomes a pang of annoyance and regret. Bother Astra and her skiing. I’d planned to have Alex all to myself tonight. After the party, or as soon as we could respectably get away, we’d escape to the Barn across the courtyard from the Manor, where Alex lives. (I used to imagine Alex living there with his horse, drinking tea out of a bucket and sleeping on a haystack, but it’s a proper conversion, double-glazed with plumbing and electricity.) Anyway, I thought we’d fall through the door in a passionate embrace, Alex’s hands hitching up my dress to find the hem of my lace-top hold-ups, and mine on the leather of his belt. I thought we’d strew our clothes across the floor on the way to the hearth of the open fire, and there we’d –
    Alex gives me a nudge before I get too carried away.
    ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. These things happen,’ I say, trying to sound as if I don’t care in the slightest. Maybe it’s for the best, because I’ve just realised that in all my hurry to get away from the practice this evening, I’ve left my overnight bag behind with my toothbrush and other bits and pieces. I’ll have to get a taxi back later.’
    ‘Thanks, Maz.’
    I look up as Alex’s children troop down the stairs.
    ‘Hello again,’ I say, but they gaze at me mutinously, Lucie with her sequinned gold dress lifted up and hugged tight across her chest, and Seb in a white shirt, velvet bow tie and waistcoat, with a finger up his nose.
    ‘Say hello, guys,’ says Alex, but they remain silent.
    ‘Don’t force them,’ I say gently. ‘I don’t mind.’
    ‘Where are your manners?’ he grumbles at them. ‘I let you stay up tonight because you promised to be on your best behaviour.’
    ‘Only because your girlfriend’s here,’ Lucie says scathingly. ‘Did you know, she doesn’t even know how to ride yet. Mummy says –’
    ‘Shh,’ Alex interrupts. ‘We don’t want to know what your mother thinks.’
    I know what I’m thinking, that Lucie’s a spoiled brat.
    ‘I want my mummy.’ Seb’s voice turns to a scream as his sister takes a swipe at