Page 40 of Her Fantasy Husband

Chapter Eight

Lexi gave him a quick sideways glance as they turned into her road. She could read nothing from his expression.

He’d said yes.

She should be feeling euphoric, but instead she felt a little letdown and anticlimactic. Presumably, he would now disappear back to his own life and turn up again in six months when it was time to get a divorce. And that was fine. Except…

Except what, Lexi?

Was she going to turn into some sex-starved woman now that she’d had a little taste? That would be very inconvenient, not to mention pathetic. She needed to get a grip. He didn’t want her. Last night he’d been desperate. Any woman would have done. Except he hadn’t had a woman in five years. Just her.

Shut up!

As he pulled up outside the gates, she frowned. They were open. They never left the gates open because the dogs could get onto the main road.

“Everything okay?” Josh asked.

She peered down the drive and could see the bumper of a black car. She had a bad feeling about this. “Shit,” she muttered.

“What is it?” he asked.

She sighed. “At a guess, my new lodger.”

She so did not need this right now. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Harry. The truth was she hardly knew him. Once she had gotten an inkling of her grandmother’s long-term plans for the two of them, she’d shut him out. But he was a painful reminder of the family she’d rather forget. Oh well, she could put him as far away from her as possible and keep busy over the next month, or however long he planned to stay.

“Harry?” Josh asked.

“Yes. I’d better go deal with him.”

She reached for the door, but Josh stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You don’t have to let him stay,” he said. “Just tell him to piss off.”

“Maybe I should.” But she probably wouldn’t. “Look, thank you for agreeing. You know, to the staying married thing. It means a lot.”

She opened the door and climbed out, surprised when Josh switched off the engine and got out as well. “I’ll come with you. Check everything is okay.”

She frowned. Why wouldn’t everything be okay? But she didn’t argue as he stepped up beside her. The truth was, she didn’t want him to go. And that was stupid. Now that she had what she wanted from him, she should leave well alone, not rock the boat. But a shiver of excitement ran through her as they walked down the drive.

He slid his hand into hers. “In case he’s watching,” he murmured.

It’s all an act.

She had to keep telling herself that, but it was hard as his thumb rubbed over her palm and pleasure shot along her nerves at the tiny caress.

“Well, he could certainly stay somewhere else—he’s not short of money. That’s a Porsche,” Josh said as they passed the black sports car.

She cast it a disinterested glance. “It is? I don’t know much about cars.”

“You don’t? What do you drive?”

“I don’t. I never learned. There didn’t seem much point, living in London.” They’d stopped at the front door, and he was staring at her in disbelief. She shrugged. “Really, I use public transport or take a taxi. Parking is murder in the city anyway. I do have a bike, though.”

“I can’t believe you can’t drive. I’ll teach you.”

She glanced at him. So he wasn’t planning on vanishing from her life. That really shouldn’t make her feel all warm and fuzzy. Again. But it did. She didn’t particularly want to learn to drive, and she suspected deep down that she was afraid. Her mother and father had been killed in a car crash. She’d been in the vehicle with them at the time, and while she couldn’t remember anything of the accident, the memory was probably loitering somewhere in her subconscious.

“That would be nice,” she heard herself saying.

“So why do you think he’s here?” Josh asked, nodding at the car.

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