he had seen those photographs in the newspapers too!
Her own relief at Liam’s first statement had definitely been ruined by his second!
‘I don’t want Bobby to think I’ve just disappeared out of his life,’ Liam continued.
Why not? He had just disappeared out of her own life eight years ago!
‘You have changed,’ she replied.
Liam’s gaze was glacial as it met her challenging one across the width of the table.
‘Shall we order?’ Perry prompted lightly as a waiter appeared beside their table.
Laura felt as if food would choke her! But she had to stay here and eat her lunch without making a scene. Besides, her reason for being here in the first place still existed…
‘You didn’t answer my question?’ Liam persisted once their order had been taken.
She took another sip of her champagne. She didn’t want Liam anywhere near Bobby. Didn’t want him anywhere near either of them, come to think of it!
‘On condition you don’t stay too long,’ she finally answered. ‘It’s a school day, and Bobby has homework to do before bedtime,’ she added in explanation—resentful at having to make one at all! She owed this man no explanations. About anything!
Liam gave an abrupt inclination of his head. ‘I’ll try not to interfere with that.’
He might try. But, as Laura knew only too well, he was unlikely to succeed; Bobby had taken an extreme liking to the man he called ‘Uncle Liam’, had talked of little else after Liam had left yesterday. Much to Laura’s dismay. Bobby would be very reluctant to let Liam leave again once at the house.
Lunch was a stilted affair, despite Perry’s many attempts to lighten the atmosphere, and Laura, for one, was more than glad when it was finally over. She had eaten little anyway, drunk several glasses of champagne instead, and her head felt more than a little light.
‘Steady.’ Liam grasped her elbow as they went outside, the fresh air seeming to have a dizzying effect on her. ‘You really should eat more, Laura,’ he admonished, keeping a firm hold of her as he guided her over the road to where Paul had parked the car, holding the door open as he waited for her.
‘When I want your opinion I’ll ask for it,’ Laura snapped back, her irritability audible only to Liam as she settled into the back of the car. Perry had gone round to the other door and was now seated beside her. ‘Can we drop you anywhere?’ Preferably on his head, she thought childishly!
She had drunk too much! Which was most unlike her; she had never been a big drinker, and since Bobby was born, when she had needed to be mentally alert twenty-four hours a day, she had only ever drunk the occasional glass of white wine with a meal. Three glasses of champagne at lunchtime was definitely out of character. It would be a relief—to her, at least!—when Liam returned to Ireland!
Liam’s expression changed, almost as if he were able to read her thoughts and was amused by them. ‘No, thanks, the walk will do me good. Is five-thirty okay for calling in to see Bobby?’
Perfect; as they always dined at six in the week, she would have a good excuse for asking him to leave. Unless Bobby, in his youthful enthusiasm, decided to invite his new friend to stay to dinner with them…?
‘That’s absolutely fine,’ she agreed firmly. ‘That way I’ll be able to sit down and do Bobby’s homework with him before we have dinner at six.’ She couldn’t say any clearer than that that Liam wasn’t invited to join them for the meal without being extremely rude—and only Perry’s presence stopped her being exactly that!
Blue eyes glittered with hard amusement before Liam turned to smile at Perry. ‘I’ll call you when I intend coming back to London.’
Laura kept her face averted as the car door was finally closed. Paul manoeuvred the car out into the early-afternoon traffic, her sigh of relief as he did so audible only to herself. She hoped.
‘Well, that went off better than expected, don’t you think?’ she said lightly to Perry.
‘I’m not sure what I expected,’ Perry answered slowly. ‘You and Liam are obviously old friends, but—’
‘I was referring to the business aspect of the meeting,’ Laura put in quickly.
‘Oh, that.’ Perry nodded his satisfaction. ‘Yes, that went very well.’
Laura turned to him, her brows raised. ‘But…?’
Her senior editor hesitated. ‘Maybe there isn’t a but.’ He grimaced. ‘I just have the feeling that—well, that—’
‘Yes?’
‘I think it’s a good idea that you persuaded Liam to accept me as his editor—’
‘I persuaded him?’
‘Well, didn’t you?’ Perry said.
She had completely lost track of who had persuaded who to do what! She did know that she still felt she had been manoeuvred into this situation by Liam. And she probably had!
‘Not that I recall, Perry,’ she said dully. ‘Although I do approve of the arrangement.’
He nodded. ‘It isn’t a good idea to mix business with pleasure.’
Pleasure? With Liam? The man had been nothing but a thorn in her side from the moment she’d met him again!
‘I think you’ve misunderstood the situation between Liam and myself, Perry,’ she answered evenly.
‘Hey, I wasn’t criticising,’ he instantly assured her. ‘I have no right to do that, anyway. However, if you don’t mind my saying so, it’s good to see you have someone in your life again. You’ve been on your own too long, Laura.’
She did mind him saying so! But with those wretched photographs in the newspapers, and Liam’s request to call at the house later this evening, she was only going to make the situation worse if she protested too much.
Perry’s remarks did not put her in a particularly good humour for welcoming Liam into her home later that evening. She scowled at him as Amy showed him into the sitting room, where Laura stood alone beside the unlit fireplace. Bobby was upstairs changing in anticipation of Liam’s arrival.
‘Champagne worn off?’ Liam queried once they were alone, as he took in her glowering expression.
The fact that that could be half the reason she felt so irritable did not elevate her mood one little bit! ‘How like you to pass the blame on to something other than yourself,’ she snapped scathingly. She was still wearing the black suit and cream blouse she had worn to work today, very conscious of Perry’s comments concerning business and pleasure; she wanted to make it clear that for her part this association with Liam was solely business!
Liam’s own expression darkened. ‘You really should try to put your bitterness behind you, Laura,’ he advised. ‘After all, you did all right for yourself in my absence.’ He looked about them pointedly at the obviously luxurious
