Dangerous Promises (45 page)
Read Dangerous Promises Online
Authors: Roberta Kray
Stone smiled for the first time since she’d arrived. ‘In that case, thank you, I’ll have a Scotch.’
Sadie went over to the bar, ordered the drinks – a Scotch for him, a small red wine for herself – and took them back to the table. She pulled out a chair and sat down.
‘Cheers,’ he said, raising his glass. ‘Here’s to… what would you suggest?’
Sadie gave a shrug. There was, she thought, something artificially casual about him, as if she’d caught him off guard and he was trying hard to hide it. Perhaps it wasn’t just her that was feeling ill at ease. ‘Moving on?’ she suggested.
Stone chinked his glass lightly against hers. ‘Moving on,’ he echoed. He took a sip of the whisky and put the glass back down on the table. ‘I take it things went all right with the boys in blue?’
‘A picnic.’
‘Somehow I doubt that, but you’re still a free woman so you must have been reasonably convincing.’
‘Convincing might be too strong a word. But yes, as you see, they haven’t locked me up.’
‘That’s always a good sign. So what brings you back to Kellston?’ He inclined his head and grinned. ‘Other than the more obvious attractions.’
Sadie wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh, please. Anyway, I think the clue was in the toast.’
‘I take it things didn’t work out in the cold wasteland of the north, then?’
Something like that.’ Sadie took a few quick sips of wine, wondering what it was about him that always made her feel defensive. He got under her skin, but she couldn’t explain exactly why. The only time she’d felt any real connection was the night Mona Farrell had died, although then she’d been so exhausted she could barely think straight. ‘But it’s not a problem. I’ll be fine.’
‘So what’s the plan?’
‘Plan?’
‘What are you going to do next?’
Sadie lifted and dropped her shoulders again. ‘Start again. Get a job, get a life. You know, the usual.’
‘So you’ll have some time on your hands.’
Sadie wasn’t sure what he was getting at. ‘Will I?’
‘Until you get a job, I mean.’ He picked up his glass and swirled the Scotch around. ‘I’m taking Barry and his missus out for lunch on Thursday. Why don’t you come along? For some obscure reason, Cheryl seems to like you.’
Sadie gave him an incredulous look. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘Yeah, there’s no accounting for taste.’
‘Very funny. You know what I meant.’
Nathan grinned at her again. ‘Have a think about it.’
‘I don’t need to think about it.’ She waited for him to try and persuade her, to maybe even say that she owed him, and was surprised when he didn’t. ‘That’s what got me into trouble in the first place, remember?’
‘That wasn’t the mistake,’ he said.
‘No?’
‘No. The mistake was talking to a stranger on a train.’
Sadie lifted her glass and sighed into the wine. She thought of Mona Farrell walking along the carriage and sliding into the seat opposite to hers. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut about Eddie? Why hadn’t she put the file away? If only she could turn back time, but she couldn’t. ‘That may be true,’ she said, ‘but there’s still no such thing as a free lunch.’
‘No point in going hungry either. I take it you’re back at Oaklands? I’ll pick you up at twelve.’
Sadie gave him a long steady look. ‘I haven’t agreed to anything yet.’
‘Well, while you’re thinking about it, shall we have another drink?’
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