Read Online Country Lovers by Rebecca Shaw - Free Book Online Page B

No matter what you wear. You never give yourself enough credit.” Duncan had his back to her, so she couldn’t see if he was sincere or simply teasing.
    â€œDuncan?”
    Duncan turned to face her. “I’ve put a bottle of your favorite wine in the fridge, so all we need to do now is sit down with a drink and wait. I’ve done the dessert too.”
    â€œDuncan?”
    But he’d gone into the sitting room and was at the drinks cupboard getting her a vodka and tonic.
    â€œDuncan? Look at me.”
    When Joy saw his face, she almost choked. He was looking at her as though he couldn’t get enough of her, as though his immense love for her was almost too much for him to bear. His eyes were shining with love for her, for
her.
    â€œDarling! Oh, darling! I’m never fair to you, am I? I don’t know why you keep on loving me as you do.” She held her arms wide, but he shook his head. “Please.”
    â€œNo. Mungo’s still there between us. You will not let him go, will you?”
    â€œI do try, but then it all comes back again as bad as ever.”
    â€œI could kill him, if I didn’t like him as much as I do.”
    â€œDuncan. Don’t.”
    â€œBoth of us, with unrequited love. Ironic, isn’t it? You know at bottom that he’ll never leave Miriam. Doesn’t that hurt?”
    â€œHe doesn’t know how I feel. I never give him a clue. Never.” There was something in Duncan’s face she couldn’t interpret. “Why are you looking at me like that? What are you thinking?”
    â€œHe knows, my love, and has for a while.”
    Joy shot to her feet, horrified by the thought. “I’ve never told him how I feel. It must be Miriam who told him. I can’t believe it of her.”
    It was Duncan’s turn to be shocked. “
Miriam
knows?”
    Joy sat down again, her legs having gone weak with shock. “She’s known right from the first day she met me. She told me the other week.”
    Duncan stared at her, trying to take in what she’d said, then he threw his whisky down his throat and poured himself another before he answered her. “Well, it wasn’t Miriam who told her husband you loved him.”
    â€œNo one else knows.”
    â€œAre you sure about that?”
    Did they all know then? Joy felt…Well, she didn’t know what she felt…Did they all whisper behind her back? She’d never noticed if they did. Never. If Miriam didn’t tell Mungo, who did? An awful suspicion dawned on her.
    Ice cold with anger, Joy looked Duncan full in the face. “Was it you?”
    Despite her anger, she noticed Duncan didn’t even have the grace to look ashamed. “Yes.”
    â€œYes? How could you? How could you?” This time she leaped to her feet and faced him, her fists hammering on his chest to emphasize her anger. “How could you? My deepest secret and you’ve told him. Why? Why?”
    Duncan gripped her wrists tightly and forced them away from him. “Can you believe I’m capable of jealousy? Me? Laid-back Duncan? Self-absorbed Duncan? That Duncan who lets his life slide by year after year, patiently waiting? Doing his computer programs, salting money away for that wonderful day when his
wife
finally gets around to loving him, and they can travel the world on a gargantuan honeymoon? Imagine that! Funny, isn’t it?” He released his grip, drank his whisky and walked away from her into the kitchen.
    But Joy couldn’t let what he’d said go without knowing exactly how long Mungo had known. She followed Duncan into the kitchen and asked him point-blank. “When did you tell him?”
    He was lifting Joy’s Revenge from the oven. When he’d placed the dish on the worktop, he said, “That night they came for a drink, and we’d just got Tiger and she paddled in her water bowl. Don’t ask me why I did, but the demon jealousy was