Persuade Me Read Online Free PDF

massage.’
    Tom stopped mashing the potatoes and grinned. ‘There are massages – and there are massages , if you know what I mean.’
    ‘No, we don’t – are you going to enlighten us?’ Jenny gave Anna a sly wink.
    ‘Certainly not, use your imagination.’ He turned his wheelchair expertly towards Anna. ‘But give me this woman’s contact details when she ’s not looking.’
    ‘Quick, take them now, you know she’s blind as a bat without her specs,’ Anna said in a stage whisper. She rummaged in her bag and handed Tom a brightly coloured leaflet, which Jenny – as expected – snatched away with a crow of triumph.
    ‘Ha, looks like Barbie on the front cover, let me just put my specs on …’ Jenny perched her spectacles on her nose and did a double take. ‘Good grief, it is Barbie! Wearing her Mad Scientist outfit, except the white coat’s so tight that most of her buttons have popped off, and it’s so short that she’s obviously forgotten the matching trousers. “Cléopatra Clé, the Science of Healing, the Hands of Love, the Key to a Better Life.” Bloody Nora!’
    ‘I need a Better Life,’ Tom said. ‘And Barbie’s a vast improvement on my usual masseuse, Frumpie, with her Hands of Torture.’
    Jenny’s throaty laugh filled the kitchen. ‘How dare you! Just don’t expect Frumpie to help you into bed later on, you can spend the night in your chair.’ She threw the leaflet down on the table in mock disgust. ‘So, your father’s taking noblesse oblige to a new level, is he? Actually, a rather old level, that sort of thing’s gone on for centuries. You know, lord of the manor tumbling the servant girls.’
    ‘No, it can’t be that, he’s never been very interested in sex.’ Anna frowned as she recalled a low-voiced conversation between her mother and Minty years ago, all about Walter’s Little Problem in That Department. She and Mona had giggled about it afterwards and Lisa had told them they were pathetically immature.
    Jenny sniffed. ‘Don’t you believe it, sunshine – if you’re looking for the ladle, Tom, it’s on the draining board.’ She gave Anna a shrewd look. ‘And did you meet this surgically enhanced miracle worker?’
    ‘I did. She arrived just as I was leaving Kellynch for Uppercross. Walter rushed out to see her, with Minty hot on his trail – you know she can’t bear the thought of him throwing his money away on what she calls frivolities. So there we all were, watching Cleopatra squeeze herself out of this tiny sports car. A delightful little welcome party – Walter almost slobbering, Minty scowling, Lisa pushing to the front of the queue as usual–’
    ‘And you in the background, not missing a thing,’ Tom put in, smiling. ‘What did you make of her?’
    ‘She’s a fake.’
    Jenny almost choked on her wine. ‘That’s very direct, for you. What makes you think–’
    ‘It’s not just her fake tan and her fake boobs. She’s got a fake French accent as well. I spoke French to her and she didn’t seem to understand a word. I could even accept that , she probably just wants to sound glamorous as well as look it. But there’s something else I can’t quite put my finger on … And how can he even look at a creature like that after Mummy, it makes me want to–’ She broke off in frustration.
    ‘So, after you’d recovered from Walter’s shock announcement about coming to Bath next weekend, you went to Uppercross to mop Mona’s brow,’ Jenny said, swiftly changing the subject. ‘What had the poor thing done? Broken a nail?’
    Anna gave a wan smile. ‘The usual.’
    ‘Oh. How bad this time?’
    She shrugged, stared at her untouched wine and pushed the glass away.
    For a while, the only sounds were the ticking of the clock and the scrape of metal against china as Tom served lamb stew, mashed potato and broccoli on to the plates.
    Jenny said, ‘And the boys?’
    ‘Great.’ Anna smiled, in spite of herself. ‘Ollie loves his new teacher and