What Marcella would think truly didn’t bear thinking about. Shovelling the bra and briefs back into their black carrier, Maddy said, ‘Mum, I promise you, there isn’t anyone. This stuff’s going back to the shop, I’m meeting Jen and Susie in Brown’s at seven and if it’s OK with everyone, I’d quite like a bath before I go.’

‘She thinks I was born yesterday,’ Marcella said cheerfully as Maddy squeezed out of the crowded kitchen, ‘but she’s forgotten two important things.’

Ever inquisitive, Sophie said beadily, ‘What important things?’

‘I’m her mother,’ Marcella told Sophie, raising her voice so that Maddy could still hear as she escaped up the stairs. ‘And I’m always right.’

Chapter 14

The glorious bra and knicker set, now destined never to be worn, was back at the cottage. Wearing a bronze lace top and tight black trousers – because she was, after all, supposed to be out clubbing with Susie and Jen – Maddy parked in Armitage Close, an anonymous cul-de-sac around the corner from Kerr’s house. Feeling like a fugitive, she checked all around before sliding out of the car, then made her way hurriedly to his address.

He answered the door so quickly that Maddy knew he’d been looking out for her. Now that she was actually here, she could barely make out what he was saying, so loud was the adrenalin-fuelled pumping of blood in her ears.

She took a deep breath. This was it; she was here.

‘ I’m sorry, I’ll calm down in a minute. I just feel so bad about deceiving Mum ... Marcella ...’

Managing a shaky smile, Maddy said, ‘And then I thought about not coming here tonight and that made me feel worse.’

Kerr led her through the panelled hallway, into a high-ceilinged sitting room. Primrose-yellow walls and a cream carpet didn’t go at all with the heavy, reddish-brown mahogany furniture or the dark blue rugs sprawled across the floor.

‘I know.’ Kerr intercepted her gaze. ‘It’s horrible, a complete nightmare. I rented it furnished.

The kitchen has to be seen to be believed. Anyway, that’s not important.’ He shook his head. ‘Being appalled by my kitchen tiles isn’t why you’re here. Bloody hell, life would be a damn sight easier if it was.’

Maddy nodded, acknowledging this with feeling. If only she were Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, life would be a doddle. Apart from having to wear the clothes, obviously.

‘I still can’t believe this is happening,’ Kerr went on. ‘It’s only been a week, for heaven’s sake. This time last Saturday I hadn’t even met you.’ He paused. ‘And then at the party, barn. Since that night I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.’

He was wearing a dark blue cotton shirt and faded jeans, the body beneath them — frankly — to die for. Her stomach knotted with lust, Maddy whispered, ‘I know. Me too.’ There was no point in trying to deny it; the attraction was fairly obviously mutual. She cleared her throat. ‘But what if we’re feeling like this because we know it can’t happen? Like being on a diet and knowing you can’t have chocolate mousse?’

‘OK, I thought about that too. That’s why I invited you here tonight.’ Moving towards her, Kerr smiled slightly and reached for her hands. ‘Come here, mousse.’

Pulling her towards him, he kissed her on the corner of her mouth, then on the other corner, then properly, and Maddy thought, At last. It was like going to heaven, feeling Kerr’s warm body pressed against her own and his fingers (thank goodness she hadn’t used hair gel) sliding unimpeded through her hair. All too soon he pulled away, surveying her with an expression in his dark eyes that almost made her want to cry.

‘OK, you have to bear with me now because I’m not used to saying this kind of stuff. I’m not sure, but I think I love you.’

‘Oh God, don’t say that ...’ Maddy covered her mouth, not meaning it for a moment; this was what she wanted to hear him say more than anything. But it was just so scary, so impossible. How could anything but misery result from a situation so dire?

‘It’s the only way. We both know how we feel, it’s too late to back down and pretend it hasn’t happened. Not seeing you again would only make me want you more.’ Kerr waited. ‘Right, so this is the plan. We are going to see each other. We’ll be incredibly discreet, no one else will know, and with a bit of luck we’ll discover we don’t like each other as much as we think we do.’

Maddy stared at him in disbelief. ‘With a bit of luck?’

‘I know, I know.’ He shrugged helplessly. ‘But what other choice do we have? And it could happen, you know. In fact, the odds are that it will. How many boyfriends have you had?’

Taken aback by the bluntness of the question, Maddy said cautiously, ‘Well ... quite a few, I suppose. All in all.’

‘OK, same here. Maybe a bit more than quite a few.’ A flicker of a smile crossed his face. ‘I’m sorry. If only I’d known, I’d have saved myself. But the point is, we went out with other people because we liked them. And each time, sooner or later, and for whatever reason, we stopped going out with them. Fingers crossed, that’s exactly what’ll happen to us.’

It didn’t help that while he was saying this, he was running his fingers magically down the side of her face, touching her neck, looking very much as though he wanted to kiss her again.

‘But you said ...’ Maddy’s throat constricted with emotion . . you said that you thought you might, um ...’

‘Love you. I know. But it could still happen, couldn’t it?

Give it a couple of weeks and I might realise I can’t stand the sight of you. Or you may decide you never want to see me again.’

Right now, that seemed about as likely as deciding that your favourite sandwich was cat food and mustard. ‘And if we don’t?’

‘If we don’t, it’s officially a disaster. We’ll just have to run away together.’ Kerr drew her towards him once more, his dark eyes fixed on hers. ‘We’ll have to find somewhere where Marcella can’t track us down. Join up with the VSO or something, and devote the rest of our lives to helping homeless smelly old tramps in Siberia. It’ll be vile, but at least we’ll be together. God,’ he pulled a face, ‘I really hope it doesn’t come to that. Talk about an incentive to get you out of my system.’

‘Maybe we should write down a list of our had points, to get the ball rolling,’ Maddy said helpfully.

‘You know, I could go off you really quickly if you told me lots of completely hideous things about you.’

‘You think? Like what?’

‘Oh, like if you watch Sky Sports all the time. And get really worked up about football. And you hate dogs. And you’re really irritatingly tidy. Or if you only change your socks once a fortnight. And you tell bad jokes all the time and expect me to laugh at them over and over again.’

Actually, this was easy, all she had to do was remember all the things that had annoyed her about previous boyfriends. ‘Or you’re proud of the fact that you’ve never done the washing-up in your life, or you play with model train’s, or you think it’s funny to mock people with speech impediments, or like to pretend you’ve got a huge spider in your hand when you know perfectly well someone’s terrified of spiders—’

‘Stop, stop.’ Kerr held up his hands in protest. ‘Jesus, what kind of men have you been associating with? That’s the most appalling list I’ve ever heard. Do you seriously think I’d do any of those things?’

‘Well, no.’ Maddy was embarrassed.

‘Apart from the spider trick, of course.’ He nodded matter-of-factly. ‘I’ve done that.’

‘Really?’

‘When I was about sixteen. But if you think it would help, I could do it again.’

‘No thanks. How about you?’

‘What puts me off girls, you mean? God, loads of things.’ Sliding his arms around her, Kerr said,

‘Girls on diets, girls asking if their dress makes them look fat, girls reading out your horoscope even though they know you aren’t interested, girls who think spending a fortune on clothes and manicures makes up for not having a personality, girls who eat crisps with their mouths open, girls who pee in other people’s gardens then expect to be rescued when they can’t climb back over the wall – OK, not true,’ he said as Maddy shot him a warning look, ‘I love it when girls do that.’

‘Where can we go?’ said Maddy.

‘I told you, anywhere in the world. Actually, Siberia’s bloody freezing. How would you feel about Barbados?’

‘I mean here, while we’re secretly seeing each other and doing our best to hate each other. Every time we go out I’ll be terrified Marcella might see us, or friends of Marcella might see us and tell her.’

She gestured in desperation. ‘Or friends of friends, and God knows there must be thousands of them around. Don’t you see, we can never go anywhere.’

‘ Fine.’ Kerr shrugged, unperturbed. ‘We’ll just have to stay here and make our own entertainment.’

‘But it’ll be like being stuck in a prison cell,’ wailed Maddy. ‘It’ll be boring!’

‘I’ve been called a lot of things in my time. But never boring. Anyway, why does it have to be?

We can play card games. Watch documentaries on the TV. Make Airfix kits, do giant jigsaw puzzles ...’

He was teasing her. Maddy squirmed with pleasure as his hands settled around her waist, his thumbs idly stroking her back. She was getting the distinct impression that the jigsaw puzzles he had in mind comprised two pieces.

‘This isn’t going to work.’ She held her breath as his warm mouth brushed her collarbone.

‘OK, you’re right, let’s forget it.’ Abruptly spinning her round, Kerr marched her back to the hall, yanked open the front door and

‘Noooo!’ shrieked Maddy.

He closed the front door.

‘Think it might work after all?’

She exhaled slowly. Kerr, having successfully called her bluff, regarded her with amusement.

‘Maybe.’ Trembling again, Maddy leaned back against the wall.

‘Sorry. Not good enough.’

‘OK. We’ll do it.’ What choice did they have, after all? The alternative – not seeing him again –

was unthinkable.

‘Wise decision.’ Smiling, he kissed her again. Feeling as though her whole body was on fire, Maddy wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him back. Twannggg, went her bra strap and for a split second she thought Kerr had unfastened it.

‘That definitely wasn’t me.’ Raising his hands, he protested his innocence. ‘I didn’t do that.’

Bugger, he was right. With impeccable timing, Maddy realised, her left shoulder strap had chosen this moment to snap.

‘Sorry, it’s an old bra.’ Wryly, she added, ‘The excitement must have been too much for it.’

‘You see? That’s one of the things I like about you. What colour is it?’

‘Um ... sort of coffee coloured.’ Mocha, actually, but Kerr was only a man. He wouldn’t understand.

‘And what colour are your knickers?’

Oh, the shame. But since modesty clearly wasn’t an option, Maddy said, ‘Black.’

Anyway, with a bit of luck he’d find this out for himself before too long.

‘Do you know how much I love it that you’re wearing a brown bra and black knickers?’ Kerr said happily.

Brown? The horror. Unable to help herself, Maddy blurted out, ‘Mocha.’

There was a difference.

‘Whatever. I just ... all my life, whenever I’ve been out with girls and undressed them for the first time, they’ve always been wearing brand new super-lacy matching bra and knickers. It’s so contrived, it makes me feel as if I’ve been set up. The situation just doesn’t feel spontaneous any more.’

‘If you feel that strongly about it, you could always try not undressing them,’ Maddy pointed out.

‘It doesn’t put me off that much. Anyway, I’m just saying it makes a refreshing change, and I really like it that you aren’t the kind of girl who meets a new man and rushes out to buy a sexy new bra and knicker set.’

‘This isn’t going to work,’ said Maddy. ‘I’m supposed to be putting you off me.’

‘Sorry, but you haven’t.’ Kerr’s eyes glittered. In fact you’ve failed, with flying colours.’

‘But I did buy a sexy bra and knicker set! This morning! It’s at home, I was going to wear them tonight, but Bean found them under the sofa,’ Maddy babbled, ‘and then Marcella saw them and started teasing me about having a new man, so—’

‘Nice try.’ Kerr tilted her face up to meet his and slid the broken bra strap down over her shoulder.