Katie Fforde - Going Dutch

‘Oh.' Her mind flew back. Would she have given up Philip for Marcus had he made a move? She couldn't say for sure, but she feared she wouldn't have had the confidence.

‘Yes. I was too scrupulous to do anything about it. I might have done, eventually, but you got engaged, and so that was it. I went away.'

‘Yes,' she said eventually.

‘The thing is…' He hesitated and then suddenly said, 'Are you still with Philip? Emotionally, I mean. Do you still care about him?’

He was being very direct and she had to respect him for it, but she still found it unnerving. 'No… Well, I wish him no harm, I want him to be happy – which is nice of me, considering – but I no longer love him in that way.’

A deep sigh went through him. 'Oh! I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that.'

‘What about you and Carole?' she asked gently.

He smiled. 'I think she'll move happily on to the next man who'll give her a good home. I think I lost interest in Carole the moment I saw you again.'

‘Really?'

‘Oh yes. Seeing you again reminded me what an attractive woman you are. I realise I had kept you in the back of my mind for years, but sometimes when you meet people again, everything has changed and you can't imagine what you once saw in them. With you, all my feelings came back in a rush.'

‘Oh?' It came out as a squeak. Did he really mean it? After all, he was a bit of a womaniser and he might just be looking for a change before returning to a younger woman. She could just be a challenge for him. And then she told herself not to be so cynical.

‘Yes,' he went on, smiling warmly at her. 'You're as sexy and as lovely as you ever were, only now you're wise and kind and loving too.'

‘Am I?' She sipped her wine, hoping it would help her stop squeaking. He was very seductive.

He nodded. 'Oh yes.’

She started to smile, and although she tried to stop it, she just found she wanted to keep smiling at him, very much. 'Golly, I'm hot!'

‘Take off your cardigan.' He eased her cardigan down over one shoulder, and the other side fell off in sympathy.

‘I hate my arms,' she murmured as she hung it on the back of her chair.

‘I love your arms!' said Marcus, surprised, as if hating them was a strange thing. He ran his fingers down the top of one as if he couldn't help himself and then put his hands firmly in his lap. 'So didn't you guess how I felt – feel about you?’

She shook her head. 'How could I?'

‘You didn't wonder why I took such trouble to talk you out of your fears, why I was so insistent that you came on the trip, all that?'

‘I just thought you were being kind – at least when you stopped me being so frightened.' She frowned. 'Why did you bring Carole, then?'

‘Because when she asked me if she could come, I thought you'd bottled out. I was furious – with you – with myself for being such a fool, everything. And I guess I didn't really trust my feelings, if I'm honest,' he added rather ruefully.

‘I hope Carole didn't regret coming.' So inviting Carole was slightly out of pique. Well, she couldn't really blame him.

‘I shouldn't think so. She'll realise the trip was the catalyst that made her get rid of me, and she'll be glad about that.'

‘Would you have got rid of her, if she hadn't dumped you first?’

He hesitated before he answered. 'I can see why you're asking the question and yes, I would have got rid of her, if I had to. I would have done it in a way that she thought it was her idea.' He suddenly grinned sheepishly. 'It's a technique I've developed over the years.’

She chuckled slightly. 'I'm sure you've developed lots of techniques over the years.’

He nodded, still rueful. 'Tell me about your daughter.’

‘Is that one of them? Changing the subject to something safer?'

‘Definitely.'

‘OK, I'll indulge you.' She let herself get well into one of her favourite subjects for a while and then said, 'Your turn.' He chuckled softly. 'I haven't got a daughter, or any children, come to that – or not that I know of. I never said I was a saint,' he added, noticing Jo's raised eyebrow. 'You obviously love Karen very much.'

‘Oh yes. More than anything or anyone in the world. Even when I still loved Philip, I would have said the same.’

‘And you definitely don't love Philip any more?’

Jo nodded, aware she knew it now with more certainty than she had at any time since he'd left her. 'Loving someone is quite hard to stop doing but when he went off a part of me died. My love for him sort of withered away, without its blood supply.' She looked up at him ruefully. 'I'm talking gibberish. Too much wine probably.'

‘You haven't had enough wine for that.’

He topped up her glass and she suddenly thought that perhaps he was trying to make her drunk so he could have his evil way with her. Then she realised it would be her evil way too. She took a cautious sip.

‘I will never let anything bad happen to you, Joanna. I give you my word,' he said.

Touching as this statement really was, Jo did not receive it with unalloyed joy. She had just begun to look forward to being seduced by this very, very attractive man and he'd gone all noble on her. How typical. He's probably seduced hundreds of women, why should he decide to give it up now? Still, with luck, he wouldn't consider getting her into bed as bad, exactly.

The food arrived just in time to prevent her having to say anything meaningful in return. 'My goodness, there's enough here to feed an army!' said Jo.

‘Nearly enough to feed a barge full of hungry boaters,' agreed Marcus.

Jo laughed. She did like being with him. He might say totally unnerving things from time to time, but he didn't dwell on them, or insist on a response. For the first time in a very long while she was enjoying the company of a man who she felt really did want to be with her – at least for this evening.

When at last their plates had been taken away, Marcus inspected the pudding menu. 'Do you want a pudding?’

Jo sighed. 'Sort of. I'm so full I can't move, though.'

‘We'll share one, then. Shall we have slag?'

‘ Definitely.' Jo laughed.

‘And then we'll have brandy. How often is it that one doesn't have to do anything much in the morning?'

‘So they won't want to put her into dry dock at the crack of dawn?'

‘I don't think they're planning to put her in dock until about ten, so that's not too bad. This dock is very good about letting families live aboard while there's work going on, but it's better to be out while they're actually working.'

‘Does that mean we have to wander the streets until dark?'

‘Not at all. We'll hire a car and tour Holland, go to Amsterdam, Delft, all the touristy things, and then some non-tourist ones.'

‘Perhaps we might find a flea market?'

‘Of course. You can load up with suitable bits of china, restore them and sell them with a huge mark-up.’

‘And make my fortune! What more can a girl want?’

‘I can think of a couple of things one might want a girl tc want.’

She twinkled at him. 'I think ice cream and chocolate sauce might be enough for now.' She was enjoying flirting openly with him.

The sauce came in a separate jug, as did the cream. Even without all the connotations it now had for Jo it would have seemed like a little piece of heaven. Marcus picked up a spoon and loaded it with a combination of ice cream, sauce and cream before carrying it to Jo's mouth. 'Open wide.’

Giggling, she did as she was told. 'That was to die for,' she said.

‘But not better than sex?'

‘It depends on the sex.' She spoke flippantly, but she did remember that there were times – quite often – when she had occupied her mind with shopping lists and what to do in the garden while Philip had made love to her.