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‘Hah Move in closer You s in left-hand circles I ed direction My arms looped around his neck, I pulled back a little to look at hilanced down at my chest To be fair, with me positioned where I was, there wasn’t anywhere else he could really look He lifted his gaze froe and raised an eyebrow ‘You know, you would never have let those brsts so close to me if I weren’t in a wheelchair,’ he murmured

I looked back at him steadily ‘You would never have looked at my brsts if you hadn’t been in a wheelchair’

‘What? Of course I would’

‘Nope You would have been far too busy looking at the tall blonde girls with the endless legs and the big hair, the ones who can smell an expense account at forty paces And anyway, I wouldn’t have been here I would have been serving the drinks over there One of the invisibles’

He blinked

‘Well? I’lanced over at the bar, then back at me ‘Yes But inso hard that even htenhysterical’

‘Do you know soht The way his eyes wrinkled at the corners That place where his neck met his shoulder ‘What?’

‘So that o somewhere’ The words were out alo somewhere Let’s have a here we just have fun You and me None of these … ’

He waited ‘Arses?’

‘… arses Say yes, Will Go on’

His eyes didn’t leavehim I don’t knohere it all caht, with the stars and the freesias and the laughter and Mary, then I had no chance at all

‘Please’

The seconds before he answered me seemed to take forever

‘Okay,’ he said

19

Nathan

They thought we couldn’t tell They finally got back fro day and Mrs Traynor was so ,’ she said

She had stayed in just toup and down the tiled corridor next door since I got there at 8ahteen tied to call the Dewars’ house and soone to a hotel that I could be sure you hadn’t both had some terrible accident on the motorway’

‘"The man in the wheelchair" Nice,’ Will observed

But you could see he wasn’t bothered He was all loose and relaxed, carried his hangover with hu he was in soo at Louisa that he stopped s to say she should say it to hiht, and Louisa had si with it

‘And as far as I can see, Mother, as a 35-year-old man I’ to spend a night at a hotel Even toabout ‘common courtesy’ and then left the rooone over andto her, and that was the point at which I saw it She went kind of pink and laughed, the kind of laugh you do when you know you shouldn’t be laughing The kind of laugh that spoke of a conspiracy And then Will turned to her and told her to take it easy for the rest of the day Go hoed,around the castle with someone who has so clearly just done the walk of shame,’ he said

‘Walk of shame?’ I couldn’t keep the surprise fro rabbed her coat to leave

‘Take the car,’ he called out ‘It’ll be easier for you to get back’

I watched Will’s eyes follow her all the way to the back door

I would have offered you seven to four just on the basis of that look alone

He deflated a little after she left It was as if he had been holding on until both hishim carefully now, and once his smile left his face I realized I didn’t like the look of him His skin held a faint blotchiness, he had winced then he thought no one was looking, and I could see even frooosebumps A little alarm bell had started to sound, distant but shrill, insideokay, Will?’

‘I’m fine Don’t fuss’

‘You want to tell ned then, as if he knew I saw straight through hi time

‘Okay Bit of a headache And … ued Probably quite sharpish’

I had transferred hi the equip?’

‘She didn’t’ He winced And he looked a little guilty ‘Or last night’