The Pearl Necklace Read Online Free Page A

out,” I said. “Take her for a walk,
even.”
    “A
walk at this time of night? I wouldn’t advise it, Miss Hillary.”
    I opened
my mouth to remind him to call me Sasha, but what would be the point? He was a
stickler for propriety, and I didn’t think any amount of cajoling on my part
would change that.
    “I just
feel the urge to walk,” I insisted, needing the cool air of the night to reduce
the heat in my cheeks. “Do you mind?” I felt awful pushing this, that he’d have
to come with me, that I couldn’t even do anything as simple as taking my sodding
dog for a walk by myself.
    “Of course
I don’t mind. I’d do anything for you.”
    My stomach
flipped over, and I looked from the bottom of the sink to him. He was staring
at me, all masculine jaw and damn dreamy eyes, and I let myself think for a
second or two that he’d meant what he’d said in an altogether different way.
    “Would
you?” I asked, smiling a bit.
    “Yes, I
would.” He turned the tap off without breaking eye contact. “I thought you
would have realised that by now.”
    I
swallowed. What was he saying? “Pardon?”
    “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m not supposed to say anything like that.”
    He let go
of my hand and strode to the table, lifting his coffee then heading out to the
hallway. He stood beside the front door in his usual position, and I hated the
fact that we’d been so close to one another and now we were apart. We’d been
getting somewhere, in the friendship department at least, and it was a cruel
twist of that bitchy tart called fate who’d decided we had to remain as we’d
always been, glamour girl and her bodyguard.
    I busied
myself patting my hand dry with a tea towel then went over to the table to put
my jacket back on. Taking a deep breath before going into the hall, I strode
out there then climbed the stairs, heading for my room to get a pair of boots
from the wardrobe. I wished he’d followed me. Wished he stood behind me in the
doorway, filling it with his wide frame, me staring at him in wonder that he’d
finally, finally come to push me onto the bed and fuck me silly.
    The
doorway remained a gaping, empty square.
    “Bollocks!”
I said, putting my old boots on and going back downstairs.
    I didn’t
look to see if he was watching as I went past.
    In the
kitchen, I pulled out a couple of dog poop bags and stuffed them in my pocket,
then took Pippa’s lead from the hook on the wall next
to the back door. She lumbered out of bed, curly piggy tail wavering, and did a
little dance in front of me, making it difficult for me to get a grip on her
collar and clip her lead on.
    “Here, let
me do that?”
    I looked
up at Bob, who stood leaning against the kitchen doorjamb, head cocked in
question.
    “ It’s fine, thank you,” I said, hoping I’d sounded kind and
not snippy. It wasn’t his fault I couldn’t have what I wanted and had
misinterpreted what he’d said at the sink.
    I unlocked
the back door, and Bob was next to me in an instant, going out first to do his
normal routine of checking the immediate area before letting me outside. Once
he gave me the nod, I joined him on the narrow path that skirted the house and
waited for him to set the alarm and grab the torch he brought with him whenever
he accompanied me on walks with Pippa .
    Tonight
was going to go exactly as all the other nights went, after all. By the bloody book.
    I could
have screamed with the frustration of that.

 
    Chapter Three

 
    If you just move over a tiny little bit, your
arm will touch mine and I can pretend to stumble and will have to grab hold of
you to steady myself.
    I didn’t
do anything of the sort, but God, I wished I had the bottle to. My body was
screaming out for human contact, my heart for the security closeness brings,
and my mind for a conversation that was something different from the norm. So
far we’d walked next to one another, Bob arcing the
light in front of us, side to side, us saying