More Than Meets the Eye Read Online Free PDF Page A

for a moment on the top of her hair. It was a surprisingly slim waist. He pressed his thighs against the back of her thin fawn trousers, feeling the curve of her bottom, comfortable with the intimacy of his sated lust. He said softly into her ear, ‘Watching the world go by?’
    She turned her head a little, brushing her lips against his cheek. ‘I was savouring the view of the river, the boats, the theatre, the people. Trying to fix it in my mind for ever.’
    â€˜Glad you approve my choice of hotel.’
    She wondered how much the room had cost him. She’d have known the exact cost, if this had been Dennis. He’d have made sure of that. But then it never would have been Dennis. A room like this wouldn’t have been ‘value for money’. But you shouldn’t even be thinking about your husband, when you were with another man.
    Money didn’t matter to Peter. He had clubs in Birmingham and other businesses he didn’t care to detail to her. Fair enough: she was more interested in spending his money and having a good time than knowing where it came from. That made her shallow, she supposed, but she wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. There was a kind of honesty in recognizing yourself for what you were and living out your life as that person.
    Alison said softly, ‘This is so perfect I’m loath to leave it.’
    â€˜We don’t have to, you know. I can make a couple of phone calls and—’
    â€˜We do, my darling. I must get back home and take up my other life.’
    â€˜Whatever you say, pet. You’re the boss here.’
    She wished for a moment that he’d argued a little harder to keep her here. And perhaps she should take exception to his Geordie habit of calling her ‘pet’. It had shocked her at first, but now she found she rather liked it, just as she rather liked the fact that his father had been a riveter in a Tyneside shipyard, when such trades had still existed. It seemed to give a respectable base to Peter’s dubiously achieved affluence.
    She glanced once again at the river and the theatre and sighed. Then she turned to face him and slid her arms round his broad shoulders. ‘There’ll be other times, won’t there?’
    â€˜Of course, there will, Ally.’ He kissed her on the lips, his mouth firm and experienced. She found herself wondering how many other mouths those lips had touched in his fifty-five years – she had no wish to think of that, but the human brain is a complex and unpredictable organ.
    She glanced unwillingly at her watch. ‘I must go. I’ll be late as it is.’
    They went down together. She waited at a discreet distance whilst he checked out and settled the account: she had no wish to know how much the night here had cost. In the car park, her white Fiat Uno looked very small beside his maroon Jaguar. She reversed out quickly and confidently; men liked a woman who was competent behind the wheel, whatever jokes they made about women drivers. She waved to him, threw him the best and most mischievous of her smiles, and drove quickly away.
    Peter Nayland watched her until the small white car disappeared, then opened the Jaguar door and sat down heavily on the driving seat. He hadn’t criticized that wimpish husband of hers. He knew from experience that it was better not to cast slurs upon the husband you hadn’t seen and never meant to see. And Alison had done a good demolition job herself on Dennis.
    All the same, if things developed as it seemed they could do, he might have to do something about Dennis Cooper.
    At Westbourne Park, Dennis Cooper looked at his watch. Five minutes until they opened to the public; he smiled as he caught the buzz of conversation and laughter from the other side of the high wooden gates. Opening them was a little like ringing up the curtain at a theatre, on a scene which altered slightly and subtly with each passing day.
    He found Jim