Free Penny Jordan by [The Crightons 09] Coming Home Page B

honesdy, 'but I have a friend who believes very strongly that the answer to all our modern diseases can be just as effectively found within nature as it can within a laboratory.'
    'I completely agree,' Honor responded warmly, then asked, 'Does your friend live locally? I'm Honor Jessop, by the way. I'm new to the area and as yet I haven't had much time to meet any kindred spirits.'
    David hesitated and shook his head. 'No, he lives in Jamaica.' He paused and then said quickly, 'I'm David—Lawrence.'
    Yes, she liked his name even though he had obviously been reluctant to give it to her.
    'Jamaica... I wondered where you'd got your enviable tan. Do you go out to visit him often?'

    'No,' David told her shortly, then realising how rude and almost aggressive he must have sounded, he softened his denial a little by explaining, 'I lived out there for...for some time. That was how he and I met. But now...' He frowned as he turned his head in the direction of Honor's dripping kitchen tap.
    'Aggravating, isn't it?' Honor agreed. 'I've tried to unfasten it to replace the washer, but the wretched thing just won't budge.'
    "It probably needs greasing first,' David suggested, glad of the opportunity to change the subject. 'I'll have a look at it for you if you like.'
    Half an hour later as David unrolled his shirt-sleeves, having not only fixed the dripping tap but also emptied the waste trap, he pointed out a little severely to Honor that the lead piping leading into her kitchen ought to be replaced and the outside pipes lagged if she wanted to avoid the risk of their freezing during the winter.
    As she watched David moving about her kitchen, Honor had recognised how complete he made the place look and how right it seemed to have him there. She felt comfortable around him, and his presence made her sweetly aware of herself as a woman. A small smile touched her mouth at this last thought. Her daughters would be shocked if they knew what she was thinking right now.
    She had always been a faithful wife, but she knew that there was a strong sexual side to her nature that her current circumstances and lifestyle had caused her to contain and repress. Good sex was one of life's pleasures, a life-enhancing experience that everyone had the right to enjoy. Bad sex, on the other hand, was like bad food—poi-sonous to the human system, destructive, sometimes even fatally so.
    Honor was both a realist and a fatalist. Life offered many opportunities, but one had to know how to recognise them and take advantage of them.
    Without saying a word, whilst David washed his hands, she went to the fridge and opened it, removing the chilli she had made the previous day.
    'This won't take long to reheat,' she told him conversationally. 'I ought to warn you, though, that you may find it a little on the hot side. My daughters complain that—'
    'You have children?'
    'Mmm...two girls. Well, they're adult women now. And you, do you have any family?'
    'I have two children as well.'

    'But no wife?' Honor asked quietly.
    'No wife,' David agreed. 'And you?'
    'I'm partnerless, too,' Honor acknowledged.
    'I take it you live here alone?' David questioned a little later when they were seated opposite one another at the kitchen table eating Honor's chilli.
    From the hunger with which he had tucked into the meal, eating it with absorbed concentration, Honor guessed that it had been a while since he had last eaten. He was an educated man, well-spoken and well-mannered, and he certainly wasn't someone she felt uneasy about being with on her own—quite the opposite—but she was beginning to recognise that he was no mere walker out for an afternoon's hike. Although he had answered all her questions, she sensed how carefully he was editing his responses and patrolling his privacy.
    'You sound disapproving.' Honor smiled.
    'Well, the house is very isolated—'
    'And very dilapidated. Yes, I know,' Honor agreed. 'I've been trying to find a builder to take on the work that needs