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she fully expected to find a tearful Teddy waiting for her when she got home; she had imagined all sorts of nuances in his voice that hadn’t been there. His ‘Until tomorrow’ meant that, and no more. Since he had decided he would be the one to tell her what she would be doing each day until he had decided what to do with her, he had meant purely and simply that he would see her and give her her instructions for the day.
    She pushed Crawford Arrowsmith out of her mind as she tried to get more speed out of the A35 than it wanted to do, and headed the car in the direction of the cottage she shared with her sister and the twins in the village of Little Layton on the outskirts of town.
    Teddy was watching in the window when she pulled her ancient car round on to the patch that did service for a drive—one day they would get round to having it concreted, but for the moment there were other calls on their money.
    ‘I thought you were never coming,’ Teddy greeted her when she went in.
    ‘Sorry, love—one or two changes at the office today and I was caught just as I was leaving.’
    They were very close, though not identical twins, Teddy being blonde in contrast to Gerry’s dark brown hair, and as children they had shared each other’s emotional pains. Gerry hadn’t meant to tell Teddy anything of what had happened today; Teddy was insecure enough without having to experience the sinking feeling she had felt when she’d thought she was going to have to leave Arrowsmiths.
    Fortunately Teddy didn’t enquire into what changes had taken place, but went on to tell Gerry some of the trauma involved in keeping a pair of one-year-old twins out of mischief throughout the day. ‘What with Emma pulling over the clothes horse, and Sarah trying to eat her shoes, I’m absolutely whacked,’ Teddy ended.
    ‘Never mind, Ted, Fm here now. You put your feet up —I’ll see to them for a while.’
    Gerry went over to the playpen where the incorrigible pair were happily engaged in slinging building blocks at each other, and knelt down to say hello to them. Instantly two pairs of arms were raised aloft, one dark-haired twin like herself, and one a blonde like Teddy. In no time she had one apiece straddled over each hip, mindless of the fact she would have to get the iron out when they were tucked up in bed and press her suit.
    This was the time she enjoyed best—the time when she was at home with these two scamps. Not for the first time she came to wonder if she was really cut out for the commercial world. She had worked hard to get her D.P.A., and to hold down the job of P.A. to a Company Secretary should have been sufficient for her. Her mind dwelt briefly on Robin Preston—if things had been different she might now be married to Robin, and since Teddy and she were twins, and Teddy had given birth to twins, she herself might well by now have babies of her own to love and care for.
    Hurriedly she snatched her thoughts away from private yearnings. She was being disloyal to Teddy. Teddy hadn’t asked her to give up Robin—Teddy had no idea Robin had even asked her to marry him.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    By the skin of her teeth, Gerry made it to the office with one minute to spare the next day. She had been up half the night with Sarah, and since she hadn’t wanted Emma to wake up and start crying in sympathy, it had meant taking Sarah downstairs and walking up and down with her for what seemed like hours on end, for every time she stood still to rock her, Sarah sent up a whimper of protest.
    Before she opened her door to begin work she knew she would be glad when five o’clock came round. Inside her own office she glanced at the clock, saw it was dead on nine, and thought, ‘How’s that, Mr High and Mighty Arrowsmith?’ and leaned against the door, putting a slender hand in front of her mouth as she gave way to a delicious yawn.
    'I see you didn’t take my advice.'
    The voice coming from the other room, startling when she had thought