The Secrets Women Keep Read Online Free PDF Page B

concerned, there wasn’t a dud among them, not really. She had left the large London literary agency where she’d
trained when she was pregnant with Charlie and they’d moved to a village outside Cambridge. Not long after his birth, she had started her own business, not taking on more clients than she
could responsibly handle, running it from the kitchen table. As the children got older, she had rented an office and slowly expanded her client list, until three years ago she had taken on Amy
Fraser as her assistant. Only three months ago she had rewarded Amy’s dedication by agreeing she should become an agent in her own right.
    Amy Fraser: well educated, well tailored, well spoken, well versed in the business of the agency. What the hell was she playing at? She had failed to return any of Eve’s emails since she
had left the office the previous Friday. Eve couldn’t fault Amy’s dedication to her work, yet sometimes she suspected the young woman had another agenda that she wasn’t
sharing.
    The sound of a splash made her start. Her eyes flew open just as a wave of water washed over her, unbalancing her. As she surfaced, coughing as she righted herself, she heard laughter. Wiping
her eyes, she saw Terry on the edge of the pool.
    ‘Couldn’t resist. You looked so peaceful.’
    ‘Most people would see that as a reason to leave me alone.’ Just a few strokes to the end, where she walked up the steps and shook out her hair. ‘Only you would think that was
funny.’
    ‘I’m sorry, but all that splashing woke me up.’ As he walked towards her, she couldn’t help thinking, not for the first time, that the way his hair grew forward and the
prominent set of his ears made it look as if the breeze was blowing him in her direction, as if they were destined for each other. The sun bounced off either side of his temples where his hairline
had receded beyond the point of disguise. He ran his fingers down her spine. ‘Relax. We’re on holiday.’
    Instead of responding, she concentrated on re-angling the parasol against the sun, before arranging herself on the lounger.
    ‘Mmm. God, I’m exhausted.’ She took a long, deep breath as she felt the sun warming her limbs, and an overwhelming desire to sleep took her over.
    He sat on the next lounger before helping himself to the pricey sun cream that she’d bought for herself in the departure lounge. She watched him with one eye, cross that he wasn’t
using the Nivea they’d bought for him.
    ‘I’m not surprised,’ he said, slathering the stuff on to his ashen calves.
    Immediately she was on the alert. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
    ‘As if you didn’t know.’ He lay back with an audible oomph of satisfaction, hands behind his head, legs splayed.
    Budgie smugglers not a good look on an older man, she couldn’t help remarking. On Tom Daley they were one thing, but add a few years . . . She’d meant to buy Terry some more discreet
trunks for holidaying in company, but what with one thing and another, they’d been forgotten.
    ‘Do you have to drink so much? It was only lunchtime, for God’s sake.’ His voice was low, as if someone might overhear.
    ‘Is that why you’ve come over? Just to tell me that?’ Eve propped herself up as she recalled their lunch. The wine had been the ideal accompaniment to the meal. Light and dry
and white, chosen with typical care by Daniel. Perhaps I did have one glass too many, she thought, remembering with slight embarrassment the way she had continued to help herself long after the
others had slowed down and how inappropriately loud her laugh had been at one of Daniel’s jokes. She knew Terry had been watching her, had been aware of the occasional pressure of his foot
under the table, but if anything, that had only encouraged her. A sort of reckless defiance had taken her over, even if it was ‘only lunchtime’.
    ‘It’s not good for you and I don’t want you making a fool of yourself.’
    ‘Why