The Innocent's Surrender Read Online Free Page B

to get her rest.
    Except that she couldn?t sleep, she thought, turning over and giving her inoffensive pillow a thump, as if that might improve the situation.
    But her failure to relax had nothing to do with her physical surroundings. It was the nagging conviction that she?d just made a hideous mistake that was keeping her awake.
    She wished with all her heart that she could go down to the study, retrieve the letter to Alex Mandrakis and destroy it. But it was locked away in the safe, along with the other documents, and she didn?t have the combination.
    And telling the Papadimos brothers over breakfast that she?d changed her mind would make not an atom of difference, she thought bitterly. It was too late, and there was no way back.
    What a pity, she thought wryly, that I can?t share Maria and Christina?s unswerving faith in their husbands? perspicacity. In their belief that this ludicrous swindle has some outside chance of success.
    She?d been almost tempted to confide in Thia Theodosia when she?d visited her on her way to bed. But she?d found the older woman lying on a couch, a book neglected in her lap, and gazing into space with eyes that seemed to see nothing but sadness, and she?d known at once that she could not add to her troubles.
    So she?d sat with her for a while, bringing a smile to her lips with stories of some of Helping Out?s more eccentric clients, and then, as she?d always done, asking for her foster mother?s parting blessing.
    But this time, she?d had an odd feeling that her request was prompted by more than mere convention. That, after the evening?s events, she needed all the protection she could get.
    She felt almost as if she?d stepped through some barrier into an alternative universe, she told herself wryly, consoling herself that things would seem altogether better once she was back in England, and out of harm?s way, her debt to the Papadimos family finally paid.
    London was her real world, she thought gratefully. The flat she shared with Molly while the latter?s fianc? was overseas, the company they were steadily building together, and now, of course, Neil.
    Closing her eyes, she let herself reflect pleasurably and deliberately on Neil.
    They?d met six weeks ago at a book-launch party for an author whose domestic life had been thrown into chaos when his pregnant wife had been taken into hospital with persistent high blood pressure, leaving him with two demanding older children, a total lack of catering skills and a fast-approaching deadline.
    Natasha had moved in, restored order with a firm hand, and given the author the space he needed to finish his book, along with three meals a day. She?d also stayed on to help when the mother-to-be was eventually allowed home with strict orders to rest, and joined in the general rejoicings when seven-and-a-half-pound Nathan??The nearest we could get to Natasha for a boy??had been safely born.
    Neil was an executive with the PR company used by the publishers.
    He was tall, distinctly attractive, effortlessly charming, and he?d made an unashamed beeline for her when she?d made a hesitant appearance in the doorway of the crowded room, looking round for James and Fiona.
    He hadn?t haunted her side all evening, because he had work to do, but he?d sought her out again as she was leaving, asked for her card, and suggested they should have dinner some time.
    Some time had proved to be the following night, she recalled, smiling into the darkness, and they?d been seeing each other regularly ever since.
    ?So, is he the one?? Molly had enquired teasingly only a few nights ago when Neil had brought Natasha home from the theatre, drunk the offered coffee as always, then taken his leave with the usual ruefulness. ?Are you finally going to take that leap into the great unknown of sex??
    Natasha had flushed. ?You think I?m mad to have kept him waiting this long, don?t you??
    ?Not altogether. ?Treat ?em mean, keep ?em keen? would seem to be working in this case. And when it happens,