The Chocolate Lovers' Club by Carole Matthews Read Free Book Online Page A

Addison the sort of scrutiny that she’d expected from her parents and made no move to shake his hand. Typical Richard, Autumn bristled. ‘We work at the Centre together.’
    ‘Ah,’ Rich said. ‘Another do-gooder. We’re
so
short of those in the world.’
    ‘Perhaps lunch is ready,’ her mother repeated anxiously.
    The only consolation was that her parents always bought wonderful chocolates for Christmas. Autumn wondered who’d be more desperate for their hit of their chosen drug by the end of lunch – would it be her, or her brother?
    As she slipped her arm through Addison’s to steer him towards the dining room, Autumn surreptitiously glanced at her watch. All they had to do was get through the next couple of hours without incident, and then they could be out of here. For Autumn it couldn’t come soon enough.

Chapter Ten
    T ed had tried hard, Chantal thought. He’d booked them into a quiet country hotel on the outskirts of Bath. He’d held her hand on the journey down there. There was an excellent restaurant – Michelin-starred. Their lavish room had a four-poster bed. A superb arrangement of white lilies, from her husband, scented the air. There was an extravagant box of chocolates waiting on the coffee-table, that she simply had to check out at once.
    She’d tried hard too. There was a new, filmy nightdress in her overnight bag and she’d gone through the abject pain of having a full Brazilian wax – the ultimate sacrifice in her book. And now she was doing her best to sit quietly in the drawing room and sip her cocktail while all she really wanted to do was go upstairs and make love to her hunky husband.
    ‘Are you happy to be here?’ Chantal asked him.
    Ted nodded, but there was a ponderous quality to the response which made her think that it wasn’t entirely a joyous, spontaneous emotion.
    ‘This is a lovely hotel,’ she said. ‘Great choice.’
    He nodded again and then, just as she thought the wholeof the conversation was shaping up to be monosyllabic, her husband said, ‘But is a hotel the best place to be spending Christmas?’
    ‘We could have stayed at home.’ Though she was fully aware that she wasn’t even living at her home at the moment.
    ‘What do you class as home?’
    ‘You don’t have to ask that, Ted. I’ve rented the apartment to give you some space to think about things. That’s what you wanted.’ Her hand found his thigh. ‘What
I
want is to come home. You know that.’
    ‘I couldn’t have faced being at home this year.’
    He didn’t need to tell her why. It was clear that her husband wanted to see their home filled with children and toys and milk spilled down her designer clothes. After the time she’d spent with Nadia’s son, Lewis, she could now actually see the attraction of having a family Christmas. Nadia had told her not to, but she’d left a dozen beautifully wrapped and extravagant gifts for the little boy under the Christmas tree – all things that she hadn’t been able to resist – and they’d both called her this morning to say thank you. Lewis was completely hyper with excitement. She was missing him desperately, and all these things had left her wondering whether Ted might be right. Would their lives together be better if they had a child?
    She looked around at their opulent surroundings. This hotel was beautiful, but it was the sort of place frequented by stuffy, middle-aged couples. Even the great chocolates couldn’t compensate for the fact that it was like a museum. No one would dream of bringing children here. Was that what made it seem so sterile in its beauty?
    What on earth were they going to do to pass the time until dinner? She’d brought a book, too literary to be an easy read and she couldn’t settle into it. Ted seemed reasonably contented to sit and stare into space, but she was getting restless. ‘Why don’t we go to the spa and take a swim?’
    Her husband shrugged. ‘Fine.’
    A little more enthusiasm would have been