The Mistresses Collection. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ can’t wait to get you alone,’ he muttered as she helped him carry dishes inside after the meal. ‘You owe me, you know.’

      Yeah but she had to be polite first. And so did he.

      Back on the deck, as the setting sun splashed the sky in red and gold, she studied him and his brothers. Jack was wholly different from the twins—not quite as tall, but more solidly built and with blue eyes that pierced in a slightly unnerving way. She wasn’t sorry he was apparently welded to his mobile phone. Now she knew James so well she saw the scar was nothing on the real differences between him and George. James’ lips curved as he saw her looking from him to George and back again. His eyebrow flickered.

      ‘Did you use to trick people when you were younger?’ she asked.

      ‘The people closest to us always knew. But we liked to try it on with new teachers.’

      ‘Girls?’

      ‘Never. We’ve always had different tastes when it comes to women. Well,’ he corrected as George wandered closer, ‘George just has gluttonous tastes, while I’m more discerning.’

      George lifted his shoulders negligently. ‘I see no reason to put limitations on myself. I love to love women. Lots of women.’

      Caitlin chuckled.

      ‘Don’t encourage him,’ James said drily. ‘He’ll only start to flirt.’

      ‘What do you mean start?’ George asked. ‘I’ve been working on it all evening.’

      ‘Flirt away,’ Caitlin laughed. ‘You’ll get nowhere.’

      ‘You’ve not decided to become a nun?’ George asked, appalled.

      ‘Hard as this may be to believe, I’m simply not interested.’

      George blinked. ‘Impossible.’

      ‘Give it up, brother,’ James roasted him. ‘You have to face the fact that your usual technique has failed.’

      ‘What’s his usual technique?’ Caitlin asked.

      ‘Superficial.’ James smiled, basically baring his teeth.

      ‘Cruel, James,’ George jibed.

      ‘But accurate.’

      ‘Come out with me, Caitlin,’ Jack interrupted. ‘There’s no contest as to who’s the most fun...’

      ‘You guys have always been this competitive?’ Caitlin asked.

      ‘Ignore them, Caitlin,’ Irene said calmly. ‘They’re fools. And no, Jack, you’re not going out. This is the first night you’ve both been home in ages. You’re to stay right where I can see you.’

      ‘All right.’ George winked at his mother, then turned back to eye Caitlin. ‘I’ll have to prove my superiority with the Scrabble board.’

      ‘Scrabble?’ Caitlin choked. Wow, they really were into the happy family scene here.

      ‘Hell no,’ James groaned. ‘Not Scrabble.’

      ‘You don’t think you can handle it?’ George teased.

      ‘I’m actually quite good at Scrabble,’ Caitlin said smugly. ‘I’m pretty tough to beat.’

      ‘You’re up for Scrabble?’ James stared at her.

      ‘Absolutely.’ She could see what he wanted but she was not diving away for an early night. It would be obvious to everyone what was going on.

      She caught the glint in his eye as he replied, ‘All right then, Scrabble it is. Jack, you in?’

      ‘No.’ Jack shook his head. ‘I’m in the pool.’

      Caitlin glanced at Jack for a moment as he cast off his shirt, dived into the pool in his boardshorts and proceeded to swim length after length. Yeah, they were a bunch of competitive sports types. Well, she couldn’t compete with either the tennis or the swimming, but with Scrabble? She had half a chance. She pulled her chair closer to the table as James and George set out the board and pieces.

      She’d endured hours of Scrabble as a young teen, it had been the on-set tutor’s way of trying to beat the boredom of waiting for scenes. Caitlin hadn’t exactly loved it, but now she took the game on fiercely. She planned on beating these boys. And twenty minutes later she was doing exactly that—just. She and James had leapt ahead of George who, it was fair to say, didn’t seem to have his heart in it.

      ‘There was me thinking you were all about sequins.’ James frowned as she put down an eighty-seven point word by using a triple points square.

      ‘I’m all about designing patterns,’ she said primly. ‘Oh, look at that,’ Caitlin murmured, putting down another set of winning point letters.

      George threw his hands in the air. ‘I retire. You’re too good for me. Couple of geeks,’ he muttered under his breath.

      James laughed. ‘Jealous brother. You never could cope with me winning.’

      ‘You haven’t won yet,’ Caitlin pointed out calmly, putting her last piece, an ‘a’, above another ‘a’ already on the board.

      He stared at it. ‘There’s no such word as “aa”. Acronyms aren’t allowed in our version of the game.’ He grinned gleefully.

      ‘Actually “aa” is a form of solidified lava,’ she said. ‘Feel free to look it up if you need to, but I think you’ll find I’m right. And that I’ve just won by a point.’

      ‘Solidified lava, huh?’ he asked.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘That’s right.’ She tilted her chin. ‘If you’re up for it, you can always challenge me to a rematch.’

      James’ eyes narrowed. ‘All right. But it has to be speed Scrabble.’

      Thirty minutes later she chuckled. ‘Did you want to try for best of three?’

      ‘No, thanks. I concede the Scrabble crown to you.’

      ‘And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I might retire.’ Caitlin smiled, somewhat embarrassed.

      She looked over at James’ parents happily relaxing with all their sons home. Even if one of their sons hadn’t been remotely relaxed.

      She really shouldn’t be intruding on this. Yet they’d made her welcome. She’d just been Caitlin again—with no cloud of doom hanging about her. Fitting in had been fun.

      ‘Thanks so much for having me to stay,’ she said. And meant it.

      Ten minutes later there was a knock on her door and he slipped straight inside.

      ‘What was with the delay?’ he growled, pulling her close and spinning her to push her against the door. ‘We could be on our third round by now.’

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