Baby Blues and Wedding Shoes Read Free

unusually tender
and was thankful that her period hadn’t yet come.
    Daniel would have been a
grumpy bear if I’d refused him this evening .
    He always celebrated his
business successes in the same fashion, as if the act of winning
was the most powerful aphrodisiac. Helen thought of her orgasms and
her cheeks lifted into a grin.
    Not that I mind.
    She stood silently observing
Daniel’s naked body to ensure she hadn’t disturbed him. The sight
caused dormant embers to smoulder within her and she turned to find
a blanket to throw over him.
    Honestly, girl, you’re
insatiable. You need sleep. Daniel’s work may have been this
evening, but yours is in the morning.
    She hadn’t told Daniel about
the shoot, she didn’t want to confess until she was sure something
would come of it.
    No point getting into
discussion yet. Helen stared at her reflection as she brushed
her teeth. No harm that he thinks you spend a ridiculous amount
of time in the gym; it’s what he expected you to do when you left
work to be his hostess. Why shatter his illusion if it makes him
happy?
    Making Daniel happy made her
happy, particularly if it manifested itself in the way it had this
evening.
    She surveyed her dishevelled
image and gave a little wink before heading into the bedroom. She
should probably rouse Daniel and get him to bed, but she would wake
before he did in the morning and there was time enough then to
pretend she had also spent the night on the sofa. She loved living
with him but she did miss her own space at times, particularly as
their lives were so entwined.
    Enjoying the luxury of lying
spread-eagled and alone in the king-size bed Helen gazed blindly at
the dark ceiling, thinking about the shoot.
    I hope it goes well. It has
to go well; my whole future depends on it. Not just my career but
my marriage. I am going to go loopy if I spend the next forty years
being Mrs Hostess. The thought gave rise to a fluttery panic.
Worried the adrenalin would prevent her from sleeping, she pushed
the thoughts aside. If I turn up half asleep Derek is going to
skin me alive. She pushed away the image of Derek frowning that
seemed to keep morphing into Daniel and closed her eyes, praying
for sleep to come.
     
     
     

Chapter
Two
     
    It felt like she had slept for
five minutes when the alarm tore through her scattered dreams,
dragging her to consciousness with a thudding heart. Moving
swiftly, Helen silenced it before it could irritate Daniel, who
hated to be woken before noon after a business dinner. Lying still
in the echoing silence listening for evidence that she had
disturbed him Helen became aware of the empty space beside her and
remembered guiltily that she had left Daniel sleeping naked on the
sofa.
    Padding silently through to the
kitchen, she fired up the coffee machine and munched through a
croissant while she waited for it to perform its magic. Daniel was
likely to be hung-over and Helen didn’t want to be around after she
woke him, particularly not when he realised he wasn’t in bed.
    Best to be dressed and ready
to scarper , she thought, creeping quietly back to their room to
pull some clothes on before waking him with the aromatic black
liquid. She toyed briefly with the idea of leaving him asleep but
she knew he’d be cross if he woke alone laid out naked in the
lounge. Better to take the few moments of grump and hope he had
calmed down by the time she returned in the afternoon.
    Her stuff was all packed and
tucked into the hall cupboard in a rucksack she had purchased
specifically. Without deliberately keeping secrets from Daniel she
let him believe the bag held her gym kit. He liked to think of her
spending hours on the treadmill keeping her body lithe enough to
squeeze into the tiny dresses he insisted on her wearing for his
dinner parties. And of course keeping fit for the celebrations
afterwards.
    Helen wrenched her mind away
from the image of her toned body straddling Daniel’s. There was no
time for shenanigans this