Read Online Never Mind The Botox: Rachel by Penny Avis - Free Book Online Page A

forget about it.
    She rang Rowan on his mobile. ‘Hi, how are you? Fancy lunch sometime this week? I could do with a break from the office,’ she said.
    Rowan was a property consultant based to the west of London but he often came into the city visiting clients.
    ‘I can do tomorrow, if that’s any good for you,’ said Rowan. ‘My afternoon meetings don’t start until three, so we wouldn’t need to rush.’
    ‘Perfect, where?’
    ‘I have a meeting at The Brook Hotel in the morning. That’s quite near you and they have a good restaurant; why don’t we meet there?’
    ‘Sounds ideal. Meet you there at twelve thirty.’ The next day Rachel jumped out of a taxi outside The Brook Hotel at just before twelve fifteen, as the traffic had been quieter than she’d expected. The doorman, dressed in a red and grey uniform, opened the door for her, and as she entered the hotel the cool hush was a welcome change from the hot and noisy road outside. Rachel decided to wait for Rowan on one of the rather inviting looking sofas in reception, instead of sitting on her own in the restaurant. She sat down in the corner on a deeply upholstered tan sofa and ignored all the broadsheet newspapers on the glass coffee table, opting instead to read the fashion pages of a tabloid.
    As she sat there a woman walking across reception caught her eye. She seemed familiar. Rachel looked up. It was Audrey Fox, Lloyd Cassidy’s assistant nurse at Beau Street. Rachel didn’t exactly feel like being sociable, so she hid behind her newspaper, leaving just enough space to watch Audrey sashay into the hotel bar. She was wearing leather trousers and another pair of impractically high sandals. Rachel had to admit she did look pretty good for her age and wondered how much she’d been availing herself of her boss’s talents.
    Rachel had just resettled herself when, to her horror, she saw Carl Stephens walk into the hotel. What a nightmare! She was meant to be getting away from work and this was turning out to be a roll call for the cast of her current project. Rachel hid again behind her newspaper and peered round the side, only to see Carl Stephens heading into the bar where Audrey Fox was sitting. As she watched in disbelief, she saw Carl walk over to Audrey. They embraced in too friendly a manner for Rachel’s liking and then sat down.
    Rachel’s mind was racing. Surely Carl couldn’t be having an affair with her, could he? As far as Rachel knew, he was happily married. Maybe he’d met her through Tom Duffy. The only thing she knew for certain was that neither of them would want to see her. She’d better move into the restaurant.
    She got up and started to walk towards the restaurant, trying to look more closely at the couple out of the corner of her eye as she went but without turning her head in case they noticed her. As a result, she wasn’t really looking where she was going and walked straight into a large stone pillar. Her forehead hit the pillar with a thump and she fell over backwards onto the floor.
    A passing waiter tried to grab her as she fell, dropping his drinks tray with a loud crash as he did so. ‘Gosh, are you alright, madam?’ asked the waiter as more people rushed over to help and deal with the mess on the floor.
    ‘Yes, perfectly fine, thank you,’ said Rachel, getting up and brushing herself down. She then quickly ran round to the other side of the pillar, out of sight of the bar.
    The slightly bemused waiter followed her. ‘You’ve got a bit of a red mark on your forehead, madam. I’ll get some ice to put on it,’ he said.
    ‘No, please don’t worry. I’ll just head into the restaurant. I’m meeting someone for lunch. So sorry about the mess.’
    ‘Rachel, are you okay?’ said a familiar voice.
    It was Rowan.
    ‘What on the earth happened here? I heard the crash as I came in. Typical of my sister to be in the middle of the action,’ he said, laughing.
    ‘Oh nothing, just had a slight accident. Look, shall