Lipstick and Lies (6 page)

‘
D
on’t be silly Cass.
’
Morag
waggled a finger
.
‘A
ll I’m saying is
,
just because you’ve bagged
yourself
a
handsome
hubby, you don’t want to tak
e
your eye off the ball
.
Th
at’s all.
’

‘
I
haven’t
!
’
I
protested indignantly
.
‘
Jamie is more than happy with my curves, adores my
udders
and
our sex life is
incredibly
adventurous!
’
The fact that
our most recent of rare couplings had taken place in the bathtub surely qualified that statement
.

‘
Excellent news
,’ said a familiar voice.
Aghast, I turned to see Matt
.
He
was
snorting with laughter
.
‘
Is my wife winding you up Cass?
’

‘
Just a bit,
’
I snapped.

‘
Take no notice.
She’s always jack-booting around telling everybody what to do.
My back’s covered in heel marks
where she stomps all over me
.
’

‘
A
nd don’t you just love
it
,
’
Morag quipped.

‘
Yeah
,
I do actually,
’
Matt grinned disarmingly.
‘
Co
me on Cass
.
L
et’s have a dance.
’

Matt led m
e off to the centre of the room which was heaving with gyrating bodies
.
H
e gave my
hand
a squeeze.
‘
Morag doesn’t mean to ruffle feathers
.
S
he’s just a
natural
bossy boots.
’

‘
I know,
’
I sighed.

Matt smiled and changed the subject.
‘
So
,
what do you think of Jamie’s business p
lans
?
’

‘
To expand?
Oh that was always on the cards.
Thank goodness it’s all going so well.
’

Jamie had left the
police
force at the start of the year to go into partnership with
Ethan
Fareham
, an old colleague
.
Ethan had
spotted a hole in the market
at the right time
.
The result was a consultancy service in the City.
Together the men kept
pace with technology
in order to stay
one step ahead of criminals and hackers
.
T
he business
had
flourished
– no
mean achievement in recession
.
Ethan and Jamie
had worked long hours, sometimes not leaving clients until midnight.
It had only been a matter of time before they cast their net looking for an
assistant
.

‘
And
what do you think of the new recruit?
’
Matt asked as he twirled me
under his arm
.

‘I haven’t met him yet.’

‘
Her,
’
Matt corrected.

‘
Really?
’
I had a mist
y
recollection of Jamie attempting to discuss
the matter.
H
e’d come home
late
,
hollow
-
eyed with tiredness.
Our paths had
cross
ed
briefly
on the landing
,
just as I was about to give
Eddie his last feed
for
the night.

‘We must talk Cassie,’ Jamie had said
. ‘
Ethan
is
adamant we need an assistant
.
You’re never going to believe
this
but
–’

‘Not now darling
.
Eddie will
wake the others if I don’t see to him
in the next ten
seconds.’

By the time I’d settled
our son
and
returned to
Jamie, he was in bed fast asleep.
I
looked at
Matt.

‘
L
et’s hope she’s not a whiskery old boot.
Anybody prepared
to invest such long hours clearly
doesn’t have
a family.
’

‘
You’re absolutely right
,
Cass
.
I once met the lady in question
,
and can confirm she is indeed unmarried and childless.
’

‘
Oh dear
.
S
o she
is
a whiskery old boot
,
’
I giggled.

‘
Au contraire.
In fact I’d go so far as to say she’s positively stunning.
’

I had a sudden sense of foreboding.
I paused mid-whirl.
‘
Y
ou’ve met her?
How come?
’
But somehow I already knew the answer.

‘
She used to
date
Jamie
.’ Matt
was suddenly alive to my
appalled expression.
‘
But it was a
long time
ago
,
’
he assured
hastily
.

‘
What’s her name?
’
I whispered.

‘
Um, Selina I think.
’

The floor lurched beneath me
.
I felt dizzy with horror
.
Hell’s bells.
Selina.
S
he wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a
tweedy spinster
.
Nor did she have a
surplus
of
facial hair
.
W
ith
her
dark mane,
sexy pout and
chiselled cheekbones
, she bore more than a passing resemblance to Angelina Jolie
.
Selina had
been madly in love with Jamie
.
Her fury had been second to none when I’d
come along
and
mesmerised him with my
so-so
looks and absence of
chiselled anything.
I would just like to
mention
at this point,
I was not the
other woman
.
Selina’s
relationship with Jamie
ended long before he asked me out
.
However, unbeknown to Jamie
,
Selina had harboured
plans to woo him back.
When
Jamie
hadn’t
respond
ed
, she
’d
taken to
harass
ing
him at work
.
And
w
hen
that had failed,
she
’d
switched her attention to me.
I’d been subjected to anonymous telephone calls at home.
When the
dropped
calls had started at work
,
I’d really freaked out.
Selina
had gone on to
instigate a situation whereupon I’d turned up at a restaurant to discover
her and
Jamie apparently having a
romantic candlelit
dinner.
Naturally I’d jumped straight to
adulterous conclusions
.
All hell had broken out.
I
clenched
my
teeth
at th
e
unhappy memory
.
Selina!
What was Jamie playing at?

‘
Darling, there you are!
’
my husband
appeared by
my side
.
He
wrapped an arm around my waist
and
pull
ed
me
to him
.
‘
Thank you for looking after my wife Matthew, but I
would like her back now
.
’

‘
That’s all righ
t matey
.
I
have
one of my own
.
S
peaking
of which
,
I’d better go and rescue her
.
’
Matt nodded in Morag’s direction.
We
followed
his gaze
.
Stevie
was
back in situ
and
in earnest conversation.
Although he seemed to be addressing Morag’s
chest
,
rather than her face.

‘
Why on earth did you invite the man?
’
I asked
Matt in
amazement.

‘
I didn’t,
’
Matt
said
, genuinely
surpris
ed.
‘
I thought you did.
’

‘
Me?
Why on earth would I do that?
God, talk about bloody gate-crashing.
’

‘
And
Charlotte
’s looking mutinous
,’ said Matt.
‘
I’d better get over there
,
before she starts
chucking
the
champ
ers
about.
’

Jamie hugged me tight.
‘
Thank
goodness
you’re not like
Charlotte
,
throwi
ng your weight and bad temper about.
’

‘
Well I haven’t had cause to,
’
I regarded my husband
coolly,
‘
u
p until now.
’

‘
What do you mean – up until now?
’
Jamie looked puzzled.

‘
Is it true you’ve recruited
a certain
ex-girlfriend as a
business
colleague?
’
I
demanded
.

Jamie frowned.
‘
You mean Selina?
’

‘
No
,
’ I
said sarcastically
, ‘
I mean Mandy Micklewaite from Year Six at primary school.
Of
course
I
mean
Selina!
’
My lip seemed to
have
curled back
, teeth bared like a s
avage
dog.

‘
Yes,
’ Jamie said patiently
.
‘
I told you about it the other night.
’