Lost Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page A

place, so I’ll still be finishing at five. Are you coming to pick me up?’
    ‘No, Verity’s mother is doing the afternoon runs this week. Which reminds me, you’d better call Verity and tell her we’re running late.’
    As Darcie went to unplug her mobile, Alicia stayed with her, still braiding her hair. At last Craig and Nathan were on their way down, their footsteps thundering on the stairs, their voices overlapping one another’s as they kept up some kind of banter. By the time they reached the kitchen Craig was saying, ‘… so it was a no go because she didn’t have enough currants in her cake.’
    Nat was grinning. ‘What does that mean?’ he asked.
    ‘That she wasn’t fruity enough,’ Craig answered, and Nat burst out laughing.
    ‘Oliver said that?’ he cried, referring to Craig’s partner in chambers, who was better known for his stuffiness than any kind of risqué humour.
    ‘I promise you, it’s what he said,’ Craig answered, laughing too, as he scooped the tea bag out of his cup. With his thick, jet-black hair, intense dark eyes and finely chiselled features, he was a strikingly handsome man whose height, at six feet two, could, at times, make him appear even more intimidating than the air of the highly successful QC that he was. This morning, in his dark Armani suit, with a crisp white shirt and a slate grey tie hanging loosely round the collar, he looked as rakish as a playboy who’d been on the tiles all night, since he’d clearly not yet had time to shave.
    ‘That is such a brilliant line,’ Nat, a virtual carbon copy ofhis father, apart from the eyes, was saying, as he began spooning down the Weetabix his mother had already prepared. ‘I’ve got to remember that. Not enough currants in her cake.’
    ‘You’re so sexist, you two,’ Darcie informed them, as Alicia finished securing the plait. ‘Is it still raining? If it is, we won’t have games.’
    ‘You’ll need to take the bag anyway,’ Alicia told her.
    ‘Where is it?’
    ‘In the hall, ready to go.’
    ‘Great. Dad, you haven’t forgotten that you’re giving a talk to Upper Sixth tomorrow, have you?’ she wanted to know.
    ‘Of course not,’ he assured her, taking his mobile from the charger. ‘It’s in my diary.’
    ‘Only I don’t want you embarrassing me by forgetting, or suddenly cancelling because some big case has come up.’
    ‘I won’t let you down,’ he told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. ‘Will you be there?’
    ‘ Duh , I’m twelve, still in year eight,’ she reminded him, ‘but everyone will know you’re my dad, so don’t make life difficult for me by turning into a no-show. And don’t tell too many jokes either, OK, because, I’m sorry, Dad, but you’re soooo not funny.’
    Alicia gave a splutter of laughter at Craig’s comically hurt expression and after removing the cup from his hand, she replaced it with his briefcase, saying, ‘You have to go, or Nat will be late. Shave in the car. What time are you due in court?’
    Craig glanced at his watch. ‘Just over an hour,’ he grimaced. ‘Come on son, let’s move it.’
    ‘Take your coats,’ Alicia called after them, ‘it’s freezing out there this morning. And watch out for ice on the roads.’
    ‘Hang on, Dad,’ Nat said, starting up the stairs, ‘I have to get my laptop.’
    Coming back to press a kiss to Alicia’s lips, Craig said, ‘I’ll probably be late again tonight, so don’t wait up.’
    ‘Again?’ she groaned. ‘It was gone one when you came to bed.’
    ‘It should be earlier than that tonight,’ he assured her. ‘I’ll call and let you know.’
    As he made to turn away she pulled him back and looked directly up into his eyes. She didn’t have to tell him what wasbothering her, he’d know without her having to voice her suspicions.
    ‘I swear it’s not what you think,’ he said softly, ‘and you have to stop doing this. It’s over, and I don’t want to have to keep telling you.’
    ‘Do I