By Request Collection 1. Jackie Braun

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СКАЧАТЬ the key and the old engine, badly in need of a service, coughed into life. ‘Where will I find a gold dress?’ More to the point, where would she find one that didn’t cost an arm and a leg?

      ‘You’re a woman, you’ll find one. Use the new account. We’ll claim it as a business expense.’

      ‘We can do that?’

      He shook his head. ‘Let me handle the finances for now, Lissa. And see if you can find me a gold tie while you’re at it,’ he said. And swung the door shut.

      Lissa pulled into the drive at two minutes to two. Leaving her supplies in the car, she rushed inside. Blake was nowhere to be seen so she grabbed her portfolio, then hurried next door to Gilda’s impressive home.

      ‘Hello again, Lissa, it’s good of you to come.’ Gilda held the door wide. ‘I’m so looking forward to hearing your ideas.’

      Lissa smiled all the way down to her toes. ‘I’m happy to help out.’

      Gilda ushered Lissa through to the spacious living area overlooking the pool. Every surface from the polished furniture to the marble floors and gold fittings gleamed. Urns of flowers filled the air with fresh fragrance. A cleaning service was in full swing on the patio.

      ‘Preparations for tomorrow night,’ Gilda explained, indicating a seat on a silk upholstered couch.

      ‘I’m surprised you have the time, being pregnant and all.’ Then again, having a cleaning service no doubt helped.

      She set her portfolio carefully on the marble topped coffee table and said, ‘Before we get started, I’d like to do my bit and donate a portion of my services for the nursery makeover towards your cause tomorrow night.’

      A pot of steaming aromatic coffee and a jug of orange juice sat on a tray on the sideboard along with a plate of Kourabiedes, Greek shortbread biscuits that Lissa loved. Gilda picked it up and set it down in front of them. ‘That’s a thoughtful gesture, Lissa, are you sure?’

      ‘Of course.’ She knew without asking that Blake would be the kind of man who’d wholeheartedly approve.

      ‘Thank you so much, you’re very generous.’ Gilda lifted the pot. ‘Coffee?’

      ‘Yes, please.’

      ‘It’s lovely to see Blake back home again after all this time.’ Her voice softened at the mention of his name.

      ‘You two seem close.’ Lissa took the proffered cup, hoping to hide the colour she could feel in her cheeks. She shouldn’t have asked. It was none of her business. She was here in a professional capacity.

      ‘Yes. We are.’ Gilda watched Lissa with a woman’s understanding in her eyes while she poured herself a glass of juice. ‘You probably don’t know, because he’s not the kind of man to tell, but he saved my life.’

      ‘Really?’ Lissa’s cup stopped halfway to her lips. ‘What happened?’

      ‘Blake was living on the houseboat at the time. I slipped on the pool surround, broke my leg and fell in. It was the housekeeper’s day off. If he hadn’t heard my calls and come to my rescue I’d have drowned.’

      ‘Oh, my goodness. You were lucky.’

      ‘Indeed I was. It could have stopped there, but no. He helped me through the two months when I was housebound on crutches. The housekeeper came in daily, of course, and I had a nurse for a while, but Blake provided the company.

      ‘We were both keen chess players and loved adventure movies so that passed time, but, more than that, we were both lonely. Stefan was away on business for weeks at a time and Blake’s father.’ She waved him off. ‘And his mother was too busy to notice.’

      Gilda’s mouth pursed as if she’d bitten into a sour pomegranate. ‘As much as I respected Rochelle’s charitable work, I couldn’t come to grips with how she neglected her only child.’ She shook her head, setting her earrings jangling. ‘There was Rochelle with a son she’d never taken the time to get to know, and I’d have given anything for a baby yet I couldn’t get pregnant.’

      Blake had been a neglected child? No wonder he’d closed up when she’d praised his mother’s tireless charity work. Yet he’d never said a bad word about her.

      And here was Lissa with a brother who’d given up his teenage years for her to make a loving home, to keep her safe. Blake hadn’t had that security, nor obviously had he known the feeling of being loved as he grew up.

      ‘So there we were,’ Gilda continued. ‘A bit of an odd pair to the rest of the world. But there was honesty and I like to think there was a trust between us despite the difference in our ages. Stefan thinks the world of him.’

      Lissa felt an odd twinge around her heart. It seemed he wasn’t an island. He confided in someone after all. Just not Lissa. And why would he? she asked herself. The last time she’d seen him she’d been thirteen.

      And when it came right down to it, what would be the point? He was leaving.

      ‘Then he joined the navy.’

      Gilda’s words had Lissa’s thoughts spinning in another direction. ‘Was that a sudden decision?’

      ‘He spoke of it often enough, but in the end, yes, it was.’

       Janine.

      Gilda eyed Lissa over her glass and both knew what wasn’t being said. ‘You can be sure if he’d made a mistake he’d have stayed to fix it.’

      Lissa looked down at her cup. Maybe he had stayed. A couple of days, a quick private trip to a clinic, problem solved. But even as the thought came to her, she knew it couldn’t be true. She’d learned more about Blake in the past couple of days than she’d ever known. It wasn’t in his nature to run away from his problems.

      She could feel the other woman’s gaze and set her eggshell-fragile gold-rimmed cup on its saucer with the faintest tremor. ‘Of course he would have.’

      She wasn’t here for a history lesson and she wasn’t going to talk to Gilda about her own relationship with Blake. That would be unprofessional.

      She reached for her portfolio. ‘Why don’t you have a look through this? Then you can show me the nursery and we can start things happening.’

      When Blake arrived home early evening, he found Lissa cross-legged on the floor in the living room surrounded by a maze of sketches, designs and scribbled notes.

      She looked up as he approached, taking in his sand-covered legs. ‘Hi. You’ve been to the beach, I see.’

      ‘Thought I’d test the surf—wind’s up today and there was a good swell.’ He sat down opposite her, against the wall, plonked his damp towel and two boxes on the floor. Now he’d made up his mind Lissa was off-limits, he concentrated on thinking of her as a friend. A business partner. Easier said than done when her perfume filled his nostrils and his eyes couldn’t seem to focus on anything but her tanned knees. ‘How did it go with Gilda?’

      ‘Very well.’ Her eyes glowed with enthusiasm. ‘She’s going with a fairy-tale theme. Pastel СКАЧАТЬ