Free The Lie of Love by Belinda Martin Page A

in her eyeline to ask the price of an entire box of lemon cupcakes.
    When she looked up again, Julia
was back at her post and Harry was striding towards them with two cups.
    ‘Mum thought you needed a cup of
tea,’ he said, his bright gaze resting on Darcy for just a little too long. Or
was that her imagination?
    ‘That’s sweet of her,’ Amanda
said, taking a cup from him. ‘I was getting desperate here.’
    ‘Thanks,’ Darcy said, not
trusting herself to say anything more as he handed her the other drink.
    ‘You look like you’re doing really
well today.’ Harry sunk his hands into his pockets and glanced around with a
nonchalance that Darcy wished she could feel too. His attention came back to
Darcy, and then onto the cakes spread before them. ‘You baked these?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Wow, they look amazing. I bet
you can really cook. I bet you’re good at loads of stuff.’
    Fighting the heat she could feel
spreading from her neck, Darcy looked down at the cakes with a self-conscious
laugh. ‘I can bake ok but I wouldn’t say I’m much good at anything else.’
    ‘That’s not what I’ve heard.’
    ‘What?’ Darcy looked up to see
him hold her in a fearless gaze. He wasn’t laughing, only watching her
intently.
    ‘Mum tells me you can turn your
hand to pretty much anything. She’s super impressed by the way you’ve pulled
all this charity stuff together and she says you’re the most determined person
she’s ever met.’
    For a moment, Darcy was lost for
words, but this time it wasn’t anything to do Harry’s proximity. She had never
considered herself a determined person before and certainly didn’t see herself
as someone who could turn her hand to anything. Was that really how Julia saw
her? Was that how others saw her too?  If she wasn’t so doubtful about the
truth of his statement she would have allowed the warm glow of pleasure that
wanted to spread through her at the thought of it.
    ‘To be honest, Amanda has done
most of it,’ Darcy said, glancing across at her friend, who turned her
attention to them with the mention of her name.
    ‘What was that, sweetie?’ Amanda
asked with a dazzling smile for Harry.
    ‘I said most of this charity
stuff was done by you,’ Darcy said.
    ‘Nonsense,
darling. I’ve just been moral support because you thought that you
couldn’t do it all. When you really look at it, almost everything has been done
by you… ably supported by myself and Julia, I’ll admit.’ Amanda’s smiled turned
into a half-frown. ‘You don’t ever give yourself enough credit for anything,’
she added. 
    ‘Well, I think it’s pretty
amazing,’ Harry said, looking at Darcy again as if she was the only person in
the room.
    ‘Then I’m sure you’ll want to buy
some cakes,’ Amanda cut in, clearly oblivious to the tension that suddenly
crackled in the air as he studied Darcy. Or was that in Darcy’s imagination
too? Did she see chemistry where there was none?  Did that mean she wanted
there to be chemistry, despite what she told herself?
    ‘You don’t have to buy them,’
Darcy said, ‘of course you don’t. You get them for free; it’s the least I can
do for all your help.’
    ‘I’ll take some of those…’ he pointed
at a tray of rocky road cut into generous squares, ‘but I insist on paying for
them.’
    ‘Please…’ Darcy hurried to put as
many as she could fit into a paper bag together. ‘I couldn’t possibly… please
take them as my gift…’
    ‘Ok. Thank you then.’ As he took
them from her it seemed to Darcy that he made a point of his hand touching hers
and resting there, flesh on flesh, for much longer than it needed to exchange ownership
of the bag. She couldn’t fight the thrill that raced down her spine, straight
to her guts to set off that wild tingling again.  Struggling to push the
feeling from her mind and reclaim her thoughts, she smiled weakly. ‘You’re more
than welcome.’
    ‘I’ll think of you when I enjoy
these