Page 24 of Tangled With the Wrong Guy
Instead, needing to rein herself in, she said, ‘You’ll have to bring Mrs Joel here, when you’re ready to fill that new house with babies.’
Chapter Seven
Her cool-downstrategy worked far too well. Like a bucket of cold water, in fact. The laughter – and the heat – in Joel’s eyes died.
‘I just bought that house,’ he said, dropping her hand. ‘Gonna be a while before I have the readies for kids.’
A suspicion had taken root in Chloe’s mind, ever since he’d mentioneddoing the right thing. Buthavingto get married? Surely that wasn’t athinganymore. They were well past the nineteen-fifties (even in Sheffield).
‘What does Zara do for a job?’ Maybe an oblique approach would get her some answers.
‘She works for the family business. Shipping. They’re clients of my company.’
‘Your eyes met over a spread sheet?’
‘Something like that.’ He held up the key. ‘Where do we start looking?’
Okay. So their ‘understanding’ was now muddied, and right now he didn’t want to talk about it. Chloe’s updated take: Joel and Zara got it on while they were working late, maybe she got pregnant (would Joel really be so careless?). Or they were in a relationship and had a contraceptive fail. When Zara found out she was pregnant, she put the pressure on. Perhaps she wanted to tie the knot anyway.
And who could blame her?thought Chloe, wistfully, as she looked into his beautiful eyes.
If you didn’t know about his gay side.The love that dare not speak its name.Even in the twenty-first century.
Or perhaps Zaradidknow; perhaps he made a deal. He’d marry her if she turned a blind eye. Then he wouldn’t have to live a lie. Or only half a lie, anyway.
Or maybe she was the liberal type. Open marriages weren’t that unusual?
Why would they need to get married, though? Couldn’t he just support her financially and leave it at that?
Then she remembered Rohan, the brother-in-law-to-be. His snake eyes; his comment about Chloe needing to learn some respect. Respect formen, had been his unspoken implication. Perhaps Zara’s family were deeply conservative. An unmarried mother might bring shame on them. And an openly bi-sexual husband – how would that go down?
But surely Joel wouldn’t make that sacrifice – it didn’t get much bigger – unless there was something in it for him? Or had he fallen in love with Zara? Maybe he really wanted kids? Or both?
Her head was spinning with all the different permutations. And in spite of all her mulling, her guesses still felt off. Joel remained a conundrum.
Just ask him!
Not yet. She was taking her cues from Joel, and he wasn’t stepping up. Plus, if she pushed too hard, there was the risk that she’d destroy their growing closeness. For now, she’d rather Joel remained a puzzle.
A hand waved in front of her face. ‘Earth to Chloe?’ It was holding a key. ‘Have key, find door?’
‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
‘Look,’ he said, shining the torch onto the key. In the beam she saw the wordReposengraved on the shaft. ‘Another clue? What doesreposmean? Rest?’
‘Yes, rest.’ She attempted to focus on the matter at hand. ‘But it’s also the name of a road that skirts the cemetery. Rue deRepos. I pass it on my way home; there’s a nice restaurant on the corner.’
‘Cool, we can pop in for a bite to eat.’
‘Um …’ said Chloe, eyeing their shackles.
‘Oh, I’m sure the locals won’t bat an eyelid at our kinky games,’ he said. ‘In fact, we might inspire them to go home and give it a try. We’d be improving their sex lives, like Monsieur Noir.’
Chloe laughed, then pictured the pair of them sitting in a candlelit window, sharing a one-handed meal and a bottle ofvin rouge, and more about their lives. It seemed like the loveliest thing in the world.
‘I’m pretty sure there are gates to the cemetery at the end of that road,’ she said. ‘Private ones, not public ones. I reckon this must be the key to those gates.’
‘Let’s go, then.’
