Miranda Lee - A Daughter's Dilemma

Her heart gave a little jump. Did that mean Vaughan wasn’t sleeping with this woman?

Dismay was hot on the heels of her avid curiosity. What did it matter who he was sleeping with these days? It should mean nothing to her. Nothing!

Self-disgust must have sent a hard look into her face, for those black eyes—which a second before had winked at her—abruptly changed from an expression of amusement to a surprised thoughtfulness. Their owner drew back from Vaughan’s embrace to cast a sharp look his way.

‘You haven’t been bullying this sweet girl, have you?’ she asked.

‘No. Only Nora.’

‘Oh, Vaughan. Truly? The poor woman...’

‘Poor, my foot. I pay her damn well to sit there and answer the telephone. Anyway it’s all smoothed over now. Carolyn glared at me reproachfully and made me feel guilty, didn’t you?’ He threw an ironic look her way. ‘And it’s not Carolyn Thornton, by the way. Her surname is McKensie. She hasn’t taken Julian’s name.’

‘Really? But I thought...’

‘So did I. Seems Nora just jumped to that conclusion. Anyway, it’s Carolyn McKensie. Carolyn... come over here and meet Maddie.’

Carolyn walked forward and extended her hand. ‘How do you do?’

Maddie smiled and took her hand, all the while those penetrating black eyes surveying her closely, seemingly stripping her of her disguising clothes and making Carolyn feel most peculiarly naked. She had never had a woman look at her like that before and a most uncomfortable suspicion sprang into her mind.

‘My, you’re a very sensual-looking girl, aren’t you?’ the other woman said. ‘I’d love to paint you. In the nude, preferably.’

Carolyn tried not to choke on the spot.

‘For God’s sake, Maddie!’ Vaughan exploded with ill-concealed exasperation. ‘What will she start thinking if you say things like that without explaining yourself? Maddie’s a well-known portrait artist, Carolyn,’ he elaborated wearily, ‘specialising in nudes and semi-nudes. She’s been commissioned to do some quite famous women. And men. Believe me when I say she prefers painting the men to the women,’ he finished in a dry tone.

‘Now you make me sound promiscuous!’ Maddie wailed, but without seeming at all put out.

‘If the cap fits...’

‘Well, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,’ she countered with a pretend pout.

Carolyn stared from one to the other. This was not the camaraderie of lovers but of old friends. Friends who knew and liked each other, warts and all.

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