but Lucy’s smile made every cell in his body tingle. Alison’s blonde hair had been silky and pretty but Lucy’s insane curls made him want to tangle his hands in them and never let go.
‘Not in the sense you think,’ he panted in reply. He leaned against the wall and towelled the sweat from his face. ‘She’s going to propose to her boyfriend. There’s some kind of leap year thing where women are supposed to be allowed to propose marriage instead of men. I was helping her pick some clothes out.’
To his surprise, Joe nodded. ‘My sister did it. She asked her husband to marry her eight years ago on February twenty-ninth. Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.’
Gabriel ran his hands distractedly through his hair. ‘Thing is, Lucy’s a friend. More of a sister really—we grew up together. But watching her showing off in these clothes… I never really noticed before just how stunning she is. Now I can’t stop thinking about her. And I’m meant to be helping her plan this proposal to the guy in less than two weeks’ time. Right now I feel like I want to knock his head off if he goes anywhere near her.’
Joe stared at him as if he were mad. ‘You are kidding me, right? You need to see the new girl in the office. That’ll soon get your mind back on track.’
Gabriel buried his face for a moment in the towel. He felt no spark of interest whatsoever in the new girl in the typing pool. But two weeks ago he would have already been dating her. He felt as if his life had been turned upside down.
‘Maybe you’re right,’ he said, more to placate Joe than anything. ‘I haven’t dated for a few weeks. Every waking moment’s been taken up with the Pryor case and this thing with Lucy.’
‘Course I am.’ Joe clapped him encouragingly on the shoulder as they walked back onto the court. ‘Get the proposal out of the way and things will get back to normal. She’ll have a wedding to plan and, trust me, you don’t want to get within a hundred miles of a woman doing that.’
Gabriel picked up his racket and smacked the squash ball with every ounce of strength he had. The thought of Lucy marrying Ed was beginning to make him feel ill.
‘Lucy, darling, you look as beautiful as ever. It’s so good to see you.’ Gabriel’s mother Elizabeth swept Lucy into a tight warm hug, and Lucy momentarily closed her eyes so as to soak up every drop of love in it. She thought for the hundredth time what a lovely person Elizabeth was and felt that age-old pang of childhood jealousy against Gabriel for having such a supportive close family when her own home life had been such a shambles.
‘These are for you.’ Lucy handed over the white cardboard box she had brought with her. Elizabeth lifted the lid and exclaimed delightedly at the sight of the cake selection inside. Billowing swirls of jewel-coloured meringue nestled alongside delicately decorated cupcakes.
‘Lucy, they’re marvellous. Although just one of them is more pudding than I normally eat in a week! You are kind. Gabriel’s told me all about how well you are doing. We love hearing about the shop—I’m so pleased it’s such a success.’
Lucy followed her as she led the way through the cool hallway to the large kitchen at the back of the manor. She met Gabriel’s eyes behind his mother’s back. He shrugged apologetically but she shook her head at him and smiled. She adored Elizabeth, and thought it was wonderful to have a mother to whom you could entrust all the tiny details of your life. Her own mother had been totally preoccupied by her own life and problems and Lucy had never been able to confide in her. The kitchen was warm from the Aga with a huge scrubbed wooden table and a kind-faced woman of about fifty preparing the lunch.
‘This is Angela,’ Elizabeth said. The woman turned from peeling vegetables at the sink and smiled at them. ‘Angela’s an absolute treasure,’ she confided to Lucy as they returned to the sitting room, having deposited the cakes in the kitchen. ‘Keeps the house perfect and cooks for us when we need her to. Like today. I’m more than capable of rustling up scrambled eggs for Gordon and myself, but it’s such a joy to have someone else cook the more demanding meals now.’
The lunch proved to be delicious, the multitasking Angela serving them all as effortlessly as she had apparently cooked the meal. Lucy realised she was having a wonderful time; she really did feel as if she’d come home. She supposed Gabe must feel like this every time he came—how lucky he was.
‘How are your parents, Lucy dear? Do you see much of them?’ Lucy felt a stab of embarrassment that Elizabeth knew what a nightmare her mother and father were.
‘Not really. Christmas and birthday cards, you know. The occasional phone call.’ Exactly the way she wanted it. She had total control now over her own life, the polar opposite to her awful childhood years. ‘My mother’s in Las Vegas now with her latest husband. Number three. And my father’s up in Birmingham. A friend of his offered him a job. Nothing like the work he did for you, of course.’
Elizabeth nodded politely.
‘Hospital porter, I think he is now,’ Lucy added vaguely. ‘It suits me, to be honest, that they’ve both moved away. I have my own life now and that’s the way I want it.’ She smiled at Elizabeth. ‘It’s lovely coming here, though. Reminds me of the fun Gabriel and I had as kids.’ She’d changed the subject swiftly and effortlessly. God knew she’d had enough practice at avoiding discussing her parents.
After lunch, Gabriel and his father had coffee in the drawing room, and Elizabeth asked Lucy to accompany her on a walk in the gardens. They strolled arm in arm.
‘It’s looking lovely.’ Lucy admired the beds and the well-kept lawn. She could almost see herself and Gabriel kicking the old football around here when they were little. There were some fantastic trees to climb on the estate too. She smiled to herself. She’d been such a tomboy.
‘How kind of you to say so, dear. I don’t do so much of it myself these days, of course. Gordon has a man come in a few times a week in the spring and summer. Keeps it up together. Less to do in the winter of course.’
They walked on in silence for a moment. Elizabeth seemed faintly tense and Lucy couldn’t help thinking she’d asked her to come for a walk deliberately so that they could talk privately. She had no idea why that might be.
‘Is something wrong?’ she asked curiously.
Elizabeth smiled at her. ‘Not especially, dear. I just wondered how Gabriel is. I know he tells us he’s fine but I can never really get any information out of him. I was hoping you could give me some insight. Do you think he’s happy?’ She sighed. ‘We don’t see as much of him as we’d like these days.’
Lucy looked at her in surprise. She’d always thought of Gabriel as very close to his parents.
‘Yes, of course he is. He’s done so brilliantly at work, you know. He’s ahead of his time. He’s quite well known in legal circles, I think. And he has an incredibly busy social life.’
Elizabeth didn’t miss the implication. ‘Still no one special, then.’ She sighed again. ‘I do worry about him so. When he lost Alison he was still very young. Young enough to start again. She was such a lovely girl, I knew it would take him some time to get over it. But he’s never even once brought a girlfriend to meet us since.’
Lucy patted her hand reassuringly, thinking that the word ‘lost’ just didn’t really cover it. It was Elizabeth’s shorthand for the fact that Gabriel’s first love, his college sweetheart, had died in a car accident the year after they left university. She knew he’d been devastated at the time. But as the years had passed he had never opened up about it beyond the bare facts, not even to her. Eventually he had stopped talking about it altogether and Lucy had taken her cue from him and avoided the subject like the plague for fear of upsetting him. Gabriel behaved as though Alison had never existed at all. Until you took a closer look and realised that he’d simply spent every relationship since making sure nothing like it could ever happen to him again. None of his girlfriends were ever allowed to get close enough for them to mean anything to him. Elizabeth was right: after ten years he really hadn’t moved on.
She