Free Love Is Blind by Kathy Lette Page A

her sister. She’d always presumed she and Rupert would be the first to have a child. Her sister’s news had left her reeling. And now Repert wanted to put off having a family yet again.
    Rupert misread her upset mood. ‘I’m only joking, Annie. Did you leave your sense of humour at Customs? I think you must just be a little tired after your trip out to that hellhole.’ He massaged her shoulders. ‘How bad was it?’
    ‘Actually, it has its own beauty – the bush.’
    Rupert slid the silk top she was wearing off her shoulders and nibbled her neck. ‘Not as beautiful as you.’
    ‘I’ve been trying to call you for days but there was no answer. So many things happened …’
    ‘Oh, yes. So sorry, darling. There was no signal at the clinic in the country. And I was quite doped up on painkillers.’
    ‘I needed to talk to you … I …’
    ‘Why not let our bodies do the talking? Let’s make love, right here, looking out over the river.’
    The touch of his fingers on her skin felt so soothing. She sighed with relief and pleasure as he caressed her. Her irritability melted away. She kissed him back with passion. Perhaps she was just a little jet lagged after her trip. Rupert knelt to peel down her jeans, but his head jerked back like a snake surprised by a mirror. ‘Is that … is that … cellulite? Good God, I never noticed that before.’
    Anthea’s fiancé began to examine her thighs with such intensity that she felt like a new strain of bacteria beneath a microscope. ‘How long have you had cellulite?’ he asked playfully, but his gaze was reproachful. ‘Come to think of it, I’ve never really seen you naked before. My eyesight was so bad and I always took my glasses off when we made love. Well, well, well … Who’s been letting herself go?’ He addressed her as though she were a stray cat which had wandered into the garden.
    Anthea felt a shift in her feelings for her fiancé. It was as though she’d woken up to find that all the furniture in the flat had been rearranged without her knowledge.
    Before she had time to adjust, Rupert pulled her down on to the carpet by the mirror in his study. ‘My word, Annie, what were they feeding you out there?’ He gave her three pats on her rump, the sort you would give an old dog. ‘Somebody needs to tone up! Now that I’ve had laser surgery, there’s no pulling the wool over my eyes any more.’
    The man she’d thought she adored began to go a little blurry for her, like a smudged water-colour or a photo taken slightly out of focus.
    After they’d made love, when she glanced across at him to gauge his reaction to the slight bruises and scratches on her upper arms, Rupert was looking at her as though she were a carbladen, full-fat burger his doctor had told him to avoid, instead of the organic beet salad he’d actually ordered.
    ‘Perhaps you need a better jogging bra, babe. Haven’t you ever noticed those stretch marks on your breasts? I’ve never seen them before. Did you ever notice them?’ His tone was one of baffled disappointment.
    Thoughts crowded her mind like traffic. ‘One day I will have nipples down to my knees, you know. What will you think then?’
    ‘There’s always cosmetic surgery. Beauty is, after all, one of the most natural and lovely things money can buy,’ he joked. But there was no warmth in his voice.
    ‘I see. So, are our wedding vows going to say “For better or for worse – but not if your secretary is prettier and predatory”?’
    ‘Of course not, darling,’ he said, but his smile did not quite reach his eyes. He pulled her to him again and tried to distract her with kisses.
    She attempted a caress in return, but her lover seemed to be disappearing before her eyes, melting slowly like a snowman until all that was left of him was a pool of ice. He’d noticed her flaws but not the many fading scratches and bruises on her body from her near-death experience. As he entered her again, this time from behind, she