Free The Mistress's Child by Sharon Kendrick Page A

her senses.
    He followed her into the sitting room, where the debris from the party still littered the room. He wondered how many children there had been at the party. Judging by the clutter left behind it could easily have run into tens.
    There were balloons everywhere, and scrunched up wrapping paper piled up in the bin. Half-eaten pieces of cake and untouched sandwiches lay scattered across the paper cloth which covered the table.
    Philip frowned. 'Weren't they hungry?'
    'They only ever eat the crisps.'
    'I see.' He looked around the room in slight bemusement. 'They certainly know how to make a mess, don't they?'
    Lisi gave a rueful smile, thinking mat maybe they could be civil to one another. I should have cleared it away, but I wanted to read Tim a story from one of his new books.'
    The mention of Tim's name reminded him of why he was there. 'Very commendable,' he observed sardonically.

'Can I... ?' She forced herself to say it, even though his manner was now nothing short of hostile. But she had told herself over and over again that nothing good would come out of making an enemy of him, even though the look on his face told her that she was probably most of the way there. 'Can I get you a drink?'
    'In a minute. Firstly, I want to see Tim.'
    She steeled herself not to react to that autocratic demand. 'He's only just gone to sleep,' she said. 'What if he wakes?'
    'I'll be very quiet. And anyway, what if he does wake?'
    'Don't you know anything about children?' she asked, but one look at his expression made her wonder how she could have come out with something as naive and as hurtful as that.
    'Actually, no.' He bit the words out precisely. 'Because up until this morning, I didn't realise that I might have to.'
    'Just wait until he's in a really deep sleep,' she said, desperately changing the subject. 'He might be alarmed if he wakes up to find a strange man...' Her words tailed off embarrassed] y.
    He gave a bitter laugh. 'A strange man in his room?' he completed acidly. 'You mean it doesn't happen nightly, Lisi?'
    It was one insult too many and on top of all the tensions of the day it was just too much. Her hand flew up to his face and she slapped him, hard. There was a dull ringing sound as her palm connected, but he didn't react at all, just stood there looking at her, his expression unreadable.
    'Feel better now?'
    She bit her lip in horror. She had never raised her hand to anyone in her life! 'What do you think?'
    He turned away. He didn't want her looking at him all vulnerable and lost like that. He wanted to steel his heart against her pale beauty and the black hair which streamed down her back, tied back with a scarlet ribbon which

           
    matched the dress. 'You don't want to hear what I think,' he said heavily. 'I'll take that drink now.'
    She went into the kitchen and took wine from the fridge and handed him the bottle, along with two glasses. 'Maybe you could just open that, and I'll clear up a little,' she said.
    He sat down in one of the squashy old armchairs and began to open the wine, but his eyes followed her as she moved around the room, deftly clearing the table and bundling up all the leftover party food into the paper cloth.
    He wished that she would go and put on the baggy trousers she had been wearing this morning. The sight of the shiny red material stretching over the pert swell of her bottom was making him have thoughts he would rather not have. He was here to talk about his son, not fantasise about taking her damned dress off.
    She had lit the fire, and the room nickered with the shadowed reflections of the flames. On the now-cleared table he saw her place a big copper vase containing holly, whose bright berries matched the scarlet of her dress. It was, he thought, with bitter irony, a delightfully cosy little scene.
    She took the glass of wine he handed her and sat in the chair facing his, her knees locked tightly together, wishing that she had had the opportunity to change