His mother? In love? ‘How well do you know this guy?’ he asked. ‘You haven’t seen him for years. What if he’s turned into some wacko weirdo on the make who just wants you for your money? Come on, Mum, think about this for a bit. You can’t just rush into a relationship without giving it some careful thought.’
‘Like you gave it so much careful thought before you decided Phoebe was the one you wanted to marry?’
James frowned. ‘I didn’t tell you I was going to marry Phoebe.’
‘You didn’t need to,’ Louise said. ‘I figured it out for myself. She’s totally wrong for you. I’m surprised you can’t see it for yourself.’
He rolled his chair back and stood. ‘I’m starting to smell a very big meddlesome rat.’
‘I had nothing to do with what’s happened,’ she said. ‘But maybe the universe is trying to tell you something. Don’t ruin your life by marrying someone you don’t love when I know the way you’re capable of loving someone. Don’t love with part of yourself, James. Love with all of yourself.’
James paced the floor, his fingers clamped on his phone so tightly the tendons in his wrist protested. ‘Look, this engagement with Aiesha isn’t the real deal. I hope you understand that? It’ll be over as soon as I get this project with Howard Sherwood finalised.’
‘Of course it will.’
‘I’m not in love with her.’
‘Of course not, darling.’
James frowned again at his mother’s disingenuous tone. ‘Don’t get any funny ideas.’
‘Darling, you’re so cynical. I didn’t orchestrate poor Julie to run her car off the road. And I certainly didn’t have anything to do with the weather. Aiesha needed a place to stay and I welcomed her. The fact that I didn’t mention it to you is neither here nor there. I don’t tell you every time I invite someone to stay with me. But would you like me to do so in future?’
‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’
Louise gave a confessional-sounding sigh. ‘Look, I must admit I’ve always secretly hoped you would one day have some face-to-face time with her, even if it was only for a few minutes. You haven’t seen her for a decade. It’s surely time to move on? The fact that you got stranded together is a good thing. It’s like it was meant to be.’
‘Have you been drinking?’
‘Darling, you can be so terribly stubborn at times. You made up your mind about Aiesha years ago when she was a troubled teenager. That’s not who she is now. I suspect that’s not who she ever was. Please be nice to her.’
James wondered what his mother would say if she knew just how nice he was being to Aiesha. Nice enough to hold her. To kiss her. To want to make love to her so badly his whole body throbbed with it. ‘I’m taking her to Paris with me. Is that nice enough for you?’
‘Lovely,’ Louise said. ‘I knew you’d sort out your differences eventually. Now, will you be nice to Richard when I introduce you to him?’
‘When do I get the chance to give him the once-over?’ James asked.
‘We’ll have to have a double date or something when we get home,’ Louise said. ‘Won’t that be fun?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘An absolute riot.’
* * *
Aiesha was flicking through the channels on the television in the sitting room when James came striding in with a brooding frown on his face. ‘My mother has hooked up with some guy and fancies herself in love with him. Can you believe that? She knew him years ago but she’s only seen him for a few days since and now she thinks she’s in love. Unbelievable. Freaking unbelievable.’
‘Aw...how sweet.’
He glared at her. ‘This is my mother we’re talking about, not some young girl with stars in her eyes. She’s fifty-nine years old, for God’s sake. She should have more sense.’
Aiesha put the remote control on the ottoman before she got up from the sofa. ‘Just because she’s middle-aged doesn’t mean she’s dead from the waist down.’
His brows were jammed together over his eyes. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
She eased her hair out of the back of her sweater, shaking it free over her shoulders as she held his narrowed gaze. ‘Sex.’
He sent a hand through his already tousled hair, suggesting it wasn’t the first time he’d done so this evening. ‘I don’t even want to think about my mother and sex in the same sentence.’
‘You’re being terribly old-fashioned, James,’ Aiesha said. ‘Your father’s getting it on with any female under twenty-five with a pulse, and yet you won’t allow your mother to be in a mature and respectable relationship? That’s hardly fair.’