Unexpected Pleasures Read Online Free PDF Page B

her lip as she bent to unlock her car door, hot tears stinging her eyes.
    There had been no one to grieve with her over the loss of that baby, no one to share her complex and conflicting emotions, no one to tell that, while logically she knew that perhaps it was all for the best, a part of her ached with loss and pain for that unborn child.
    No, that was something that no one else knew, and sometimes she wished they did... sometimes she ached inside to be able to talk about what she had experienced: her pain, her sense of loss...her sense of guilt.
    Despite the fact that it was over fifteen years ago since it had happened, sometimes she felt as close to it as though it were less than fifteen weeks, as though the wound, the agony, was still so raw that she needed to be able to talk it through with someone...that she needed to be able to publicly and openly mourn the death of her child.
    But someone like Jake Lucas would never be able to understand those kind of emotions. She could just imagine his reaction. No doubt he would have told her that she was lucky things had worked out as they had, that such luck was far in excess of what she actually deserved. He would have no pity, no compassion...no understanding... He would reject her pain and her need to express it in just the same contemptuous way as he had rejected her, turning away from her to talk to his cousin, ignoring her as though she simply did not exist.
    But he had come to see her afterwards.
    Yes, she told herself savagely, to make sure she wasn’t going to make any trouble for his precious cousin.
    Angrily she put the car in gear and reversed out of her parking spot.

CHAPTER THREE
    ‘A NY LUCK WITH Ian Davies?’
    Rosie looked wryly at her brother-in-law.
    ‘Well, I haven’t heard anything from him yet, but he didn’t give me the impression that he was interested. He’s one of those men who isn’t really comfortable with women holding positions of authority in business. If Dad had still been running things, it might have been different.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘Still, it’s his loss as much as ours. I suspect his existing brokers are using his business to get better terms for their other clients instead of reducing his premiums.’
    ‘Did you tell him that?’ Chrissie demanded.
    Rosie shook her head.
    ‘I only suspect that that’s what they’re doing,’ she told her.
    ‘Well, I think it’s all wrong that men should still try to keep women down,’ Allison announced passionately with indignation. At fourteen she was just beginning to lay claim to her independence, and was staunchly pro women’s rights.
    ‘I wonder how Gran and Grandad are getting on. They’ll be in Japan now, won’t they?’ Paul chimed in.
    ‘Yes, they should have arrived there by now,’ Rosie agreed.
    ‘I never thought they’d actually do it,’ Chrissie marvelled. ‘Spending a whole year travelling round the world.’
    ‘It’s something they’ve been planning for and dreaming about for years,’ Rosie reminded her.
    Chrissie had rung her earlier in the day to check that she was going round as usual to have supper with them, a regular Friday night ritual which Rosie always enjoyed.
    ‘Did you collect your hat from the Hopkinses?’ Chrissie asked her now.
    ‘No, not yet,’ Rosie told her.
    ‘There’s a car boot sale on tomorrow morning. Fancy coming?’
    Rosie shook her head.
    ‘I can’t. I’ve promised to go over and see Mary Fuller to help her fill out some claim forms. Her garage was broken into on Wednesday and some things stolen.’
    She stood up to leave and was surprised when Chrissie reached out to detain her.
    ‘Not yet,’ she muttered. ‘There’s something I want to tell you. Allison, Paul, upstairs both of you, to make a start on your homework,’ she instructed her children.
    Rosie frowned as her brother-in-law, too, disappeared from the kitchen, saying something about having a phone-call to make.
    Chrissie had been on edge all evening,