the big main gates that have just swung shut in their wake.
“Yeh, he’s doing his abandoned orphan bit.” Colin brakes at the end of the driveway and cranes to see that Anthony has now climbed up onto a wrought-iron crosspiece and is extending a beseeching arm. “No, my mistake, it’s the ‘last refugee out of Saigon’ routine. The lad’s obviously got a stage career ahead of him and I’m thinkin’ it won’t have anathing to do with music.” Colin lowers a window and returns the wave before entering the unmarked road fronting the estate.
“Drama aside, he does know we’ll be back tonight?” Laurel says.
“He does, and it’s not like he’s gonna suffer in our absence. Three of his soccer mates are joining him for the day and when they’re not terrorizing livestock and scoring goals in the rose garden, they’ll be trashing the kitchen with their Easter egg coloring.”
“I almost forgot about Easter—that it’s Holy Week—that today’s Good Friday.”
“Any bleedin’ wonder what with all that’s come crashing down on you. If anyone should be carrying on like a detainee, it’s you. Cooped up, you’ve been, ever since you arrived.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be, and I’d hardly call free access to endless acreage and countless rooms being cooped up.” Laurel casts a wan smile his way.
“No matter, you need the change of scene as much as I do, so the request from Amanda couldn’t have come at a better time, could it then.”
“Did she say why this—whatever it is—couldn’t be handled by phone or fax?” You’ve already approved the press releases, haven’t you?”
“I get the feeling she’s leavin’ nothing to chance, but you’d know more about her persnickety side than me.”
“True. Amanda can be thorough to a fault. With a new assignment, doubly so. Nothing she does should really surprise me, but I can’t get over how confident and self-possessed she seemed when I spoke to her, and she’s only been in London two days.”
“London must agree with her, then.” Colin threads the black Jaguar XJ6 through a roundabout and onto a motorway bound for London.
“Would certainly seem so, and there’s no question the assignment’s a perfect fit.”
“Did you think to ask whose idea it was?”
“Are you still questioning David’s motives?”
“Yeh. Given this particular set of circumstances, wouldn’t you? And if it wasn’t strictly David’s idea, then I’d wanna know who is pushing the buttons and supplying this extra boost to her confidence.”
“I refuse to ask what it is you’re suggesting. I will, however, assure you that Amanda’s no dupe and she would never set herself up as anyone’s puppet. Okay?”
“Yeh. Okay, then . . . Are you pissed now?”
“No, it’ll take a lot more than that to get me going.”
“Then why are you twitching about and hugging yourself like that?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Tell me.”
“Very well. I’ve never ridden in the front passenger seat of a car in England. I keep thinking the steering wheel’s fallen off and I’m out of control.”
“Sorry. Should’ve seen that coming. I used to experience similar when I first visited the States and the answer for it was to do the driving. You wanna drive?”
“In this traffic? Good lord no.”
Till she mentioned it, he hadn’t actually noticed the increased volume of traffic, unusual for midmorning with the start of the Easter holiday likely to blame. Their progress slows even more as agricultural land gives way to suburban sprawl and he’s soon reminded of their return to Manhattan from the visit to the New Jersey shore, when he was only too glad to do the driving as the best means of keeping his hands off her.
He watches her now, out of the corner of his eye, gauging when traffic might come to a full stop, and when it does, where all he will kiss her, starting with that spot right in front of her ear and maybe grazing on her
“Yeh, he’s doing his abandoned orphan bit.” Colin brakes at the end of the driveway and cranes to see that Anthony has now climbed up onto a wrought-iron crosspiece and is extending a beseeching arm. “No, my mistake, it’s the ‘last refugee out of Saigon’ routine. The lad’s obviously got a stage career ahead of him and I’m thinkin’ it won’t have anathing to do with music.” Colin lowers a window and returns the wave before entering the unmarked road fronting the estate.
“Drama aside, he does know we’ll be back tonight?” Laurel says.
“He does, and it’s not like he’s gonna suffer in our absence. Three of his soccer mates are joining him for the day and when they’re not terrorizing livestock and scoring goals in the rose garden, they’ll be trashing the kitchen with their Easter egg coloring.”
“I almost forgot about Easter—that it’s Holy Week—that today’s Good Friday.”
“Any bleedin’ wonder what with all that’s come crashing down on you. If anyone should be carrying on like a detainee, it’s you. Cooped up, you’ve been, ever since you arrived.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be, and I’d hardly call free access to endless acreage and countless rooms being cooped up.” Laurel casts a wan smile his way.
“No matter, you need the change of scene as much as I do, so the request from Amanda couldn’t have come at a better time, could it then.”
“Did she say why this—whatever it is—couldn’t be handled by phone or fax?” You’ve already approved the press releases, haven’t you?”
“I get the feeling she’s leavin’ nothing to chance, but you’d know more about her persnickety side than me.”
“True. Amanda can be thorough to a fault. With a new assignment, doubly so. Nothing she does should really surprise me, but I can’t get over how confident and self-possessed she seemed when I spoke to her, and she’s only been in London two days.”
“London must agree with her, then.” Colin threads the black Jaguar XJ6 through a roundabout and onto a motorway bound for London.
“Would certainly seem so, and there’s no question the assignment’s a perfect fit.”
“Did you think to ask whose idea it was?”
“Are you still questioning David’s motives?”
“Yeh. Given this particular set of circumstances, wouldn’t you? And if it wasn’t strictly David’s idea, then I’d wanna know who is pushing the buttons and supplying this extra boost to her confidence.”
“I refuse to ask what it is you’re suggesting. I will, however, assure you that Amanda’s no dupe and she would never set herself up as anyone’s puppet. Okay?”
“Yeh. Okay, then . . . Are you pissed now?”
“No, it’ll take a lot more than that to get me going.”
“Then why are you twitching about and hugging yourself like that?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Tell me.”
“Very well. I’ve never ridden in the front passenger seat of a car in England. I keep thinking the steering wheel’s fallen off and I’m out of control.”
“Sorry. Should’ve seen that coming. I used to experience similar when I first visited the States and the answer for it was to do the driving. You wanna drive?”
“In this traffic? Good lord no.”
Till she mentioned it, he hadn’t actually noticed the increased volume of traffic, unusual for midmorning with the start of the Easter holiday likely to blame. Their progress slows even more as agricultural land gives way to suburban sprawl and he’s soon reminded of their return to Manhattan from the visit to the New Jersey shore, when he was only too glad to do the driving as the best means of keeping his hands off her.
He watches her now, out of the corner of his eye, gauging when traffic might come to a full stop, and when it does, where all he will kiss her, starting with that spot right in front of her ear and maybe grazing on her
Similar Books
