The Seduction Business

‘Oh, poor baby!’ Bianca said with sympathy. ‘It would be a nightmare for her, wouldn’t it? Couldn’t your neighbour take care of her?’

He sighed. ‘She’s eighty years old. She couldn’t possibly cope with Lisa. No, I shall have to collect her, take her back to my flat, and in the morning find someone to take care of her for the moment. The problem is, I want to go to the hospital, too, to see my mother, and I can hardly take Lisa with me. And tomorrow’s Saturday; it won’t be easy to find a temporary nanny during the weekend.’

‘What about your sister? You do have a sister, don’t you?’

He gave her a dry look. ‘I imagine you’ve been looking for her in the hope of buying her shares. Yes, I have a sister, but I have no idea where she is at present. She’s probably abroad somewhere.’

‘Haven’t you got a mother-in-law?’

‘I had one, but she died last year. She never recovered from Aileen’s death. She had a heart attack in bed one night and was found dead in the morning. And I have no other relatives to take Lisa, unhappily. Neither my wife nor I came from big families. But I can look after Lisa myself, tonight, although this comes at the worst possible time, with all the workload of the take-over to deal with.’

‘I could look after her tonight,’ offered Bianca before she even knew what she was going to say. Her mouth had opened of its own accord and out the words had popped. Instantly she realised what a stupid offer it had been. What did she know about taking care of small children? She had never had anything to do with children. Hadn’t she got enough to do without taking on such a responsibility?

But it was too late to have second thoughts or doubts. Slowing down, Matt Hearne looked round into her eyes again, smiling.

‘You’re an angel. Thank you. That would be an enormous help.’

What have I done? she thought, staring back at him and smiling stupidly. I must be out of my mind. I’m probably going to regret this.

But ever since she’d heard about Matt Hearne’s wife’s death and the fact that his little girl lived apart from him, with his mother, she had felt a link, a strange sense of kinship, with the child.

CHAPTER THREE

THE lanes grew narrower and more windy, set deep between hedgerows of hawthorn and ivy, holly and elder which rustled in a strong wind that seemed to Bianca to have a salty taste, as if it blew from the sea.

‘Is it much further? Where is your house?’ she asked Matt.

‘Not far from the Thames Estuary.’

‘The river, not the sea,’ she thought aloud.

‘What?’

‘The wind smells of the sea, but obviously it’s the river.’

‘It’s both. This is a very flat coastline full of little rivers; the Crouch, the Blackwater, the Stour all empty into the sea. Beyond the coast there are great mudflats. At low tide you can walk for hours from Shoeburyness before you find any water. I was born here. In the summer I spent every spare minute fishing, catching crabs, swimming, messing about in boats. I want my daughter to have the happy childhood I had. That was what my wife and I planned—’ He broke off; she saw his mouth trembling, his throat moving convulsively as if he was fighting not to cry.

A wave of sympathy filled her. To give him time to recover, she hurriedly said, ‘I had the same sort of childhood, but in the West Country, on the Dorset coast. We spent every fine day on the beach; my mother used to despair of keeping my room tidy. I brought home shells, driftwood, seaweed, flowers, pebbles—and arranged them on every possible surface as if they were precious antiques. There’s nothing like the sea, is there?’

‘Nothing,’ he said in a voice roughened by emotion.

‘And it’s all for free, which is the magic thing about it.’

They slowed to drive through a sleepy village whose shops were all closed. A few teenagers wandered along the street, laughing, before diving into a small eighteenth-century white-painted pub. The pub sign swung to and fro, creaking. It carried a painting of a goat’s head, sinister horns, the slanting, ominous yellow eyes staring down at her. Was it meant to be the Devil?

‘They do great food,’ said Matt. ‘And have the sexiest barmaid in Essex.’

She laughed. ‘You go there often, I suppose?’

He turned his head to grin at her and she saw he was back to normal, his spasm of emotion over. ‘What do you think? Whenever I’m down here I drive over for a drink at The Goat. I ought to come more often. I’m missing out on Lisa’s childhood, seeing so little of her; my mother nags me endlessly about it.’

‘How old is your mother?’ asked Bianca, thinking that Mrs Hearne was very brave, taking on a new baby.

‘Sixty-three.’

‘Doesn’t she find Lisa tiring? Even young mothers find it exhausting to run after three-year-olds.’

He frowned. ‘She’s never complained.’

‘Maybe she didn’t want to worry you.’ She saw his face tighten, his mouth tense, and wished she had kept her mouth shut. ‘Sorry,’ she added hurriedly. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’ It wasn’t her business, anyway, was it?

How thoughtless! As if he hadn’t enough to worry about with his mother being rushed off to hospital for an emergency operation. At sixty-three any emergency was likely to have potential dangers. Luckily, an appendectomy was an operation which most surgeons would have frequently performed, but he must be anxious. She could kick herself for saying what she had, implying criticism. She didn’t even know his mother. How did she know whether Mrs Hearne was fit enough to take care of a small child?

‘You think I’ve been selfish?’ he curtly said, and she bit her lip.

‘No, of course not—just…maybe…well, I don’t know your mother; she could be having the time of her life, looking after your little girl. Oh, look, I shouldn’t have said anything—don’t take any notice of me.’

‘Huh,’ he grunted, lines biting into his forehead. ‘Too late to say that. You’ve put the idea into my head now.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she guiltily said.

‘No, you’re right, I have been thoughtless. When my mother’s over this I’ll talk to her. She has said Lisa should start at playschool in the mornings and that might help. Or maybe I should hire a nanny?’

Bianca didn’t risk commenting. She had said more than enough already. She stared out into the dark landscape. The fields on either side were very flat; she saw the occasional cow loom up as they drove past. Bianca thought it dull, compared to the grandeur of the Dorset landscape—the rounded hills, flowing green fields, the ancient hill forts, with their barrows and stone circles, the woods and copses, and the white chalk cliffs along the coast.

They turned a corner and slowed before parking outside a white-painted wooden gate leading into a large garden. By the rising moon Bianca saw the house, half red brick, half timbered, with a black gabled roof of rosy tiles, and a little thicket of trees behind it, to shelter it from the cold, piercing winds blowing in from the estuary and the unseen sea.