childhood bedroom—and her heart sank even further. Had he known, or guessed, she wondered, or was it simply coincidence which had made Philip select that particular room for Tim?
Drawing a deep breath, she walked straight in, and then stopped.
Two heads were bent close over a swatch of fabrics—one dark and nut-brown, the other blonde, and Lisi almost gave a hollow laugh. She had imagined Tricia Brady to be blonde with legs up to her armpits, and in that she had been uncannily accurate—but she had imagined the blonde hair to have come out of a bottle and for an aging face to be caked in heavy make-up.
But this woman fulfilled none of those criteria.
Her shiny blonde hair was fair and pale and completely natural, and when she lifted her head at the sound of Lisi’s footsteps she didn’t appear to be wearing any make-up at all. But then she didn’t need to—skin that flawless and china-blue eyes that saucer-like did not need any help from nature to enhance them.
She was dressed practically and yet stunningly—in a pair of butter-soft suede trousers which must have cost what Lisi earned in a month. A cream silk shirt and a sheepskin-lined waistcoat completed the look and Lisi shuddered to think what her off-the-peg department store workaday suit must look like in comparison.
Philip smiled, but the expression on his face was as cool as it had been since Christmas. ‘Lisi, hi,’ he said. ‘This is Tricia Brady—she’s helping me with decor for the house.’
She’s helping me. It didn’t sound like a strictly working relationship, did it? thought Lisi indignantly. He could have said, Tricia is the designer, or, Tricia is working for me.
‘Hello,’ she said, thinking how wooden her voice sounded. ‘I’m pleased to meet you.’
‘Me, too.’ Tricia grinned. ‘I would shake hands, but my fingers are freezing—I keep telling Philip to turn the heating up, but he won’t listen!’
‘That’s because people tend to go to sleep if it’s too warm. Not good—but especially not good for people who are working,’ he responded drily, but flashed her an answering smile.
Lisi felt sick, but she guessed that this was something she was going to have to get used to. If it wasn’t Tricia it would be someone else. Some beautiful, expensively dressed woman who would temporarily or permanently share Philip’s life one day.
And become a surrogate mother to Tim while he was here, she reminded herself, gritting her teeth behind a smile which pride forced her to make.
‘Lisi is the mother of my son,’ explained Philip. ‘And so I thought she could give us some input on colours and fabrics.’
It was the coldest and most distancing description he could have given her—and yet, when she thought about it, how else could he have put it? She wasn’t his girlfriend—current or past.
Pulling herself together, she walked over and looked down at the swatch of fabrics which Tricia was still holding. ‘May I?’ she asked pleasantly, and Tricia handed it to her.
She pretended to lose herself in them, though her mind was only half on the task—but she had spotted immediately the one which Tim would like the most.
‘This one,’ and she jabbed at the brightly coloured piece of material which depicted Mickey Mouse dancing all over it.
‘Lisi likes Disney,’ Philip explained with a smile, thinking how jerky and unnatural her movements were. ‘She always has done, haven’t you, Lisi?’
He was remembering her birthday cake, and so was she. That innocent start to a supposed friendship which had brought so much heartache in its wake. She nodded. ‘Wh-what colour are you planning to do the walls?’
Tricia peered down at the fabric and pointed a perfect fingernail at several of the colours. ‘We could pick out one of these shades,’ she suggested and turned her head. ‘What do you think, Phil?’
Phil?
Phil?
Lisi wanted to scream and to demand what right she had to call him by a nickname that she had never heard used before, but there was absolutely no point at all. Tricia could call him anything she liked, and probably did—in bed at night when he was making mad, passionate love to her.
‘I like the…I like the yellow.’ She swallowed.
‘Mmm!’ Tricia smiled. ‘Perfect! Sunny and positive—and with all that glorious light flooding in—’ She waved an expansive arm at the window. ‘The room will look irresistible!’ She shot a look at Philip, and her eyes glimmered. ‘We could do it in the same colour as your London dining room, in fact—or would you rather something different down here?’
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