Untouchable Things by Tara Guha Read Free Book Online

shimmered intimacy.
    “I love your hat.”
    He bowed slightly as he removed it. “Rather practical for days like today.” He smiled. “Rain suits you, you know.”
    She fingered her hair and smiled back. “I’m not so sure about that.”
    “Trust me.”
    She looked down to break some bread.
    “So, Rebecca. What have you been doing since last night?”
    “Oh, you know, this and that. Receiving explicit postcards at work.” She had to know. He laughed. “Yes, that’s partly why I’m here. I realise I owe you an explanation.”
    “You certainly do.”
    “I only realised later how it must have looked. But I assure you there’s an innocent explanation. Do you remember I mentioned that creative arts group?”
    “Ye-es.”
    “Well, I added you to the mailing list and asked Anna to drop your card as she was going that way this morning. She grabbed all the cards and I forgot I needed to put a covering note in with yours.”
    She struggled to make sense of it. “So – that was an invitation to this group?”
    “Yes.” He took out the silver box that she’d seen last night and removed a cigarette. “Can you make it?”
    She laughed, bewildered. “Exactly what sort of group are we talking about here?”
    He smiled and took a long first drag of the cigarette. As he exhaled from the corner of his mouth she looked at the cigarette box, tarnished and slightly dented. Probably an antique. He slipped it back into his pocket and smiled. “Ah – the drawing? Don’t take any notice of that – I just use whatever stimulus is in my mind at the time to theme the invitations. On Monday I was thinking about Hamlet , and you, and thought I’d do something a little provocative.”
    “Oh, I see.” She had no idea what to say.
    “ Lady, shall I lie in your lap? Such a great line – classic bawdy Shakespeare. I think it could spark some great things.” He was grinning at her mischievously. “Seriously. It’s a cool group of people, you’ll love them. And, more to the point, they will love you.”
    A petite, dark-haired waitress comes over to take their drinks order. Seth scans the menu. “White okay?”
    She opens her mouth to say no she shouldn’t, but words of assent spill out instead. Go on. Just a drop .
    “I was thinking it might be a rather nice come-down after Hamlet . You’ll have just finished, won’t you?”
    She is flattered that he knows her schedule, has even arranged this group around her. “That’s true.”
    “But?”
    “It all sounds a bit – strange.”
    “Is that such a bad thing? Don’t you ever want to try something different?” His eyes challenge hers, tug her into their strange green. She opens her mouth to answer, realises the trap and breaks into a smile.
    “Great, that’s settled then. As a first-timer you can just sit and observe.” He holds her gaze. “What is it?”
    She takes a risk. “Your eyes. I’ve never seen a colour like them. What would you call them – sage?”
    “Whatever you would like to call them.” They stare at each other.
    He taps his cigarette and to her relief looks away. “When I was in India I found people with the same colour eyes. Dark skin, much darker than mine, but with these eyes.” He laughs. “My parents always denied the existence of any exotic genes in our family. So that leaves the possibility that I’m a gypsy, a changeling. A Heathcliff.”
    She laughs too. “Heathcliff in an Armani blazer. I can’t see it.”
    “Jean Paul Gaultier, for the record. What you forget, my dear Ophelia, sorry, Rebecca , is that Heathcliff reinvented himself as the archetypal English gentleman. Externally, that is. Except for when he was hanging puppies.”
    “I see. So underneath this suave exterior lurks…”
    “A wolf.” He grabs her hand and makes her jump. “Come on, let’s order. Or I might indeed turn into a wolf and swallow you whole.”
    Long lunch, was it?
    You could say. Three courses and two bottles of wine. And I was working the next