Part Time Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page B

getting cold feet. He, Peverelle, when all was said and done, had not been the one to approach her with the idea. Rather it had been she who had made the first approach.

    Nevertheless, there were several occasions before Saturday arrived when Elexa came within an ace of contacting Noah Peverelle and telling him to forget the whole idea. Two things were against that, however. One was that he was away from home for the rest of the week-she didn't think he'd appreciate her phoning his office and leaving any kind of `Would-you-tell-Mr-Peverelle-I've-decided-not-to-have-his- baby?' type of message. The very big other was that her mother was so excited about actually meeting her steady boyfriend she was never off the phone.

    Worse, having been more or less forced to give her his name, her father too had been on the phone. Was her steady boyfriend the Noah Peverelle? Apparently her businessman father, who daily kept up to date with business news, knew all about what went on in big business, seemed as eager as her mother to meet him.

    As, too, did Aunt Celia and Uncle Kenneth want to meet him. Aunt Celia had rung saying how delighted she was to hear her news. `We're not engaged, or anythinglike that!' Elexa had told her hurriedly.

    `No, but I know you, you wouldn't be taking him home to meet your parents unless you were serious about him.'

    As far as Elexa could remember, she hadn't had any choice. Her mother had decreed `dinner' and, while Elexa might have wriggled out of it, the lofty Peverelle- no doubt wanting to see what sort of stock she came from-had agreed, without being asked, to go to her parents' home with her.

    At that point she came close to contacting his office and leaving a message to the effect that Saturday's arrangements had been cancelled. She objected strongly to him giving her parents the once-over. Though since, on reflection that was what her parents were doing, giving him the once-over to see if he was suitable for their only child, Elexa realised she hadn't gott very much to complain about.

    The only relief Elexa found from the tangle her private life seemed to be in was at her office. But even there she wasn't left in peace to do the job she so loved.

    `I didn't see you at all yesterday,' Jamie Hodges interrupted her day to complain.

    `I had several meetings-was it something specific?' she enquired, feeling pretty certain that she knew what was coming. `I've got two tickets for the theatre on Saturday. I wondered if you were free?' he began eagerly.

    'I'm not,' she replied, and knew she was as soft as Peverelle no doubt thought her because she couldn't tell Jamie more bluntly that he was wasting his time. She did not have the same problem in telling Des Reynolds to leave her alone, however.

    `How's the most gorgeous woman ever to grace the portals of Colman and Fisher?' he leered, perching himself on a corner of her desk.

    `Save it for your wife, Des. I'm up to my ears in-'

    `Very beautiful ears, if I may...'

    `I swear somebody turns a key and winds you up every morning.' She had to laugh. `Clear off, Des, there's a good lad.' He went, and she supposed he would probably not change very much even if she did tell him she had a steady boyfriend. Jamie Hodges, now he was a different matter. Elexa was halfway through rehearsing how she would tell Jamie that she was going out with someone she was going to marry when she stopped dead, her stomach churning. Apart from the fact he was a long way from agreeing yet, how could she contemplate marrying Peverelle? She didn't even like him! The thought of actually going to bed with the cold unfeeling brute was impossible.

    Again Elexa was ready to pick up the phone and leave a message with his office. Her hand actually went to the phone-she pulled it back. Hang on just a minute! Wasn't that exactly what she wanted-a no-commitment kind of commitment?

    By the time she returned to her flat that evening Elexa had been through again and again everything she