It's Raining Men Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dad saw Tianne behind Rachel’s back and Chloe’s back? He’ll see her behind yours. She’s
like a drug to him.’
    Bull’s-eye.
    Lara stopped stirring and saw the twelve-inch-long sideways smirk on Keely’s face that recognized she had wounded her. But before Lara could say or do anything the back door opened and in
came James, bringing a blast of showery air with him.
    ‘Hello, princesses,’ he said with his big smile. ‘My goodness, where is the summer? I thought this was supposed to be August.’
    Lara’s heart lifted to see him. Keely didn’t usually stand around pouting and grimacing when he was present. She would disappear up to her room to talk to her friends on Skype or
listen to music or sit in the middle of a Pentagram.
    ‘Smells good. What’s for tea? I am absolutely starving.’
    ‘Pasta,’ said Lara. ‘And there’s plenty of it.’
    ‘Great. We all love pasta in this house. I’m just going up to get out of these things and I’ll be back quick as a flash.’ He put down his briefcase and stripped off his
big overcoat. His short fair hair was shiny with raindrops. ‘God, I need a warm shower.’
    And he was gone, taking with him the warmth his presence had brought. Keely reached for a packet of gum on the worktop and popped a piece into her mouth.
    ‘What we were talking about?’ she said, with as much innocence as a serial killer caught by the police whilst holding a severed head dripping with blood.
    ‘I am Mrs de Winter now,’ said Lara, far louder than she intended.
    ‘What?’ said Keely.
    ‘Er . . . nothing,’ said Lara, transferring her wonderful-smelling dish to the oven. Not that she was that proud of it any more. She’d lost her appetite. James would wolf it
down not even noticing what it tasted of, and Keely and Garth would look at it as if a stray dog had just climbed on the table and deposited it from its bum.
    Lara pulled a bottle of white wine from the fridge and screwed off the top. She poured out two big glasses and took a sip from one, trying not to throw her head back and drink the whole lot.
    ‘Tianne would never drink wine from a screw-top. She said it was common,’ said Keely, tossing her long brown and caramel extensions back over her shoulder. ‘Just
saying.’
    Lara was about to take another sip of wine but she lifted the glass too high and the liquid cascaded all down her face. Keely burst into exaggerated laughter. Then – thank God – she
moved forwards and out of the kitchen. Lara was left dabbing herself with some kitchen roll and trying not to explode with embarrassment. Keely had tortured the new family pet long enough for
today.

Chapter 6
    Clare looked at Ludwig across the dining table and thought, as always, how handsome he was by candlelight. He really didn’t know it either because inside he was still the
class gawky kid with the funny German name and no confidence in himself. She understood this because inside she was still the class female odd-bod with one eye that was ice-blue and one that was
bright green. No wonder they had been drawn together from the moment he was introduced as the new boy, aged ten, to the rest of an amused class at primary school. His parents had moved from the
Black Forest to York for work reasons and she and Lud gravitated towards each other from the very first minute of meeting. They had been good friends for years, even though, at eleven, Lud went to
the local boys’ school and Clare went to the local private girls’ school. After getting a degree from Cambridge he moved to London to take up a fabulous job on Threadneedle Street and
they saw each other about once a month for a catch-up. Everything remained on a close but platonic level until her thirtieth birthday, when he had got a bit tiddly at her party and snogged her. And
she had found herself snogging him back and rather enjoying it.
    She couldn’t wait to tell him her exciting news. The partners at her company moved as slowly as God’s