night, and because he was off duty he had been able to spend the weekend with her. Cosseted in the warmth and comfort of her beautiful apartment, and smitten with each other, they had forgotten the everyday world they lived in, their pain and their worries for the next forty-eight hours.
At one point, during the weekend, they had talked about Mikey, who had vanished the year before. Everyone was troubled by his mysterious disappearance, and most especially Nell. After their youthful romance had ended, they had remained good friends, drawing even closer over the ensuing years, sharing confidences as old pals so frequently do.
That night when she and Kevin had first made love, Nell had told him that this was one of the reasons she was so concerned about Mikey; it was simply inconceivable to her that he had chosen to leave New York without telling her he was going away. Or where he was heading.
What Kevin had thought but not said that night was that perhaps Mikey hadn’t had a chance to tell her. No one really knew what had happened to him, not even his room mate. He had simply vanished.
Kevin had often thought that Mikey might easily have been the victim of foul play. Being a cop, he was only too well aware of the frightening statistics – every year hundreds of thousands of Americans disappeared without a trace. Few were ever found, or showed up again to pick up their lives. The Missing Persons List at his own precinct was dismaying, miles long.
Nell stirred in his arms.
Kevin glanced down at her.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him, returning his steady gaze. ‘That’s a mighty serious face you’re wearing, Kevin mine. Is something troubling you?’
Although there was no subterfuge between them, only honesty and straightforwardness, he chose not to mention Mikey at this moment. It was inappropriate. And so he said, ‘I was thinking about us, Nell, how we’ve been seeing each other for a year now. Yet nobody knows about us.’
‘Neil O’Connor certainly does,’ she said, and laughed.
‘I was talking about our nearest and dearest.’
‘You mean you haven’t mentioned it to Gavin?’
‘I’ve not seen him this year, except for those few days when I came to London during filming. Besides, you should know I’m not the sort of guy to kiss and tell. And I know you haven’t confided in Rosie, or she would have mentioned it.’
‘I don’t know why I’ve never told her, Kev, or why we’ve kept it a secret, and we have done that, you know.’ Nell moved closer to him, put her arms around him, held him tightly. After a moment, she added, ‘I suppose I should say something to her. We are best friends.’
‘It’ll please her…that we’re seeing each other, I mean.’
‘Oh, yes, she’ll be approving!’ Nell exclaimed, leaning her head back, looking up at him, eyeing him a bit coquettishly. ‘Of that I can assure you, my darling. Oh yes, she’ll give us her blessing all right.’
‘When is she coming back from LA?’
‘Good God, Kevin, she only left last night. But I expect she’ll return with me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m going to the West Coast myself –’
‘When?’ he cut in somewhat sharply, staring down at her in surprise.
‘On Tuesday or Wednesday.’
‘And I was just about to take a week off, before transferring over to the Crime Intelligence Division. I was hoping to spend a bit of time with you, honey.’
Nell bit her lip, looking chagrined. ‘I wish I’d known, Kevin, it would have been great. But I’ve made all the arrangements now, and it’d be really difficult to change my plans. I have a meeting scheduled with Gavin, who’s flying in to LA from London on Monday for a week. And I also have meetings set with other clients.’
‘I see.’
‘I’m sorry, really sorry. Look, I’ve got a great idea! Why don’t you come out to the coast? That’d be fabulous, like old home week, me and you and Rosie and Gavin.’ Her face lit up at the thought of this, and she exclaimed excitedly, ‘Oh come on, say yes, Kev! Please say yes.’
He hesitated. ‘I just don’t know…’ He let his sentence trail off, not sure what to do, wondering whether to commit himself or not.
Nell sat up, kissed him playfully on the nose and slipped off the bed, heading in the direction of the bathroom. From the doorway she said, ‘Well, at least think about it.’
‘I have. It’s better I don’t come.’
‘But why?’
‘I’d be at a loose end, since you’d all be busy during the day. And I’ve got a lot of things to attend to here, Nelly. You know, personal stuff that always gets neglected because of my job.’
She nodded, and went into the bathroom.
When she came out a moment later she was wrapped in a terry robe and carrying another one. ‘Here, put this on, and let’s go and eat something. Dinner’s cooking in the kitchen.’
‘I was planning on taking you out, lady.’
She grinned at him. ‘Allow me to have my moment of domesticity, please. I made a chicken casserole earlier. Mind you, it’s been in the oven for ages, and I just hope it’s not ruined. Otherwise, you may well be taking me to the local hamburger joint, or eating scrambled eggs here.’
He followed her out of the bedroom, pulling on the robe as he did, and laughing with her. ‘I’m not all that hungry, Nelly,’ he said. ‘But I wouldn’t mind a glass of wine.’
The casserole was delicious, and they ate it at the kitchen table, sipping a good Beaujolais Villages, which Kevin had opened earlier.
At one moment he touched his glass of red wine to hers. ‘Who’d have thought that our Little Nell would become such a high-powered businesswoman with a brilliant career…travelling the world and running her own international company.’
‘Me,’ she answered, and winked at him, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
He gave her the benefit of an admiring smile. ‘I’m proud of you, you know, and of Rosie, too.’
‘You should be proud of your sister,’ Nell murmured, her voice growing serious. ‘Her costumes for Kingmaker are quite extraordinary. They’ll knock your socks off – wait until you see the film. She’ll be winning another Oscar in the not too distant future.’
‘No kidding! That’s great! She said something to me about Gavin’s next movie. Is she going to do it?’
‘I don’t know.’ Nell lifted her shoulders in a small shrug, shook her head. ‘He hasn’t told her, or me, what it is. Perhaps he doesn’t know himself yet. Mind you, whatever he decides to make, it’s bound to be a humdinger.’
‘I must’ve misunderstood her. I thought that was why she went to Los Angeles.’
‘Not
