Page 35 of Bad Luck Bride

“Of course not. We’ll come with them to see them settled at school, of course, but that doesn’t mean—”

“And what about our daughters?” she interrupted. “When they are ready to make their debut, what am I to do? I can’t bring them out from Cairo. If I do that, their marriage prospects will be dismal.”

The marriage prospects of his as-yet nonexistent daughters had never occurred to him, though admitting that fact was clearly not going to score him any points with Pam.

“Perhaps you’re right,” he said instead. “But all that’s a long way off, and even if we do decide to live here during that period, it won’t be permanent, no matter what happens.”

“Oh, no,” she agreed quickly. “Of course not.”

“Then aren’t we getting a bit ahead of ourselves, talking about things that won’t be happening for at least a dozen years?”

“Hmm… perhaps you’re right. And if you’d rather wait, of course we will. But the more time that goes by, the higher the prices on London properties will become.”

That was an irrefutable point. “So you think we ought to buy a house now?”

“That’s up to you, darling. I just thought it would be an excellent business investment, even if we only rarely use it ourselves.”

He almost laughed at that, for he’d never known Pam pay any attention to business investments before, his or anyone else’s. Nonetheless, she wasn’t wrong, and as he considered her idea, he appreciated that acquiring a London property did make a certain amount of sense.

“It’s not necessary for us to purchase something now, of course,” she went on when he didn’t reply. “As you said, the possibility of living here is a long way off.”

“If we did buy something now,” he said slowly, thinking it out as he spoke, “we could lease it. That is, if we can find a decent one.”

“It’s amazing how we think so much alike!” she cried, giving him a delighted smile. “Because that’s just what I thought, too. So…” She paused, reaching into her skirt pocket and pulling out a folded sheet of paper. “So I took the liberty of finding some we might look at.”

“Did you, now?” he murmured, her words of a few minutes ago flashing through his mind.

I thought you’d want to stop on here for a bit longer than we’d originally planned.

How long, he wondered suddenly, before she was pointing out other London investments that he might wish to consider?

Studying her face as she looked down at the sheet in her hand, he thought of her ready acceptance of his business investment withKay’s fiancé, and he wondered suddenly if her encouragement and approval there stemmed not from business and social considerations but from a desire to tie him to England in as many ways as possible. But what about Kay?

Lady Kay is no threat to me.

The memory of those words in the flower shop deepened the uneasy feeling clenching his guts.

“Do you want to look over this list?” she asked, bringing him out of his reverie.

“You seem to have put some serious thought into this, my dear,” he said, watching her, trying to tell himself he was being absurd.

“It’s always best to plan ahead, don’t you think?” she asked serenely and returned her attention to the sheet in her hands. “Most of the prospects are from house agents, of course.”

“You’ve been visiting house agents? Without consulting with me first?”

She looked up, her eyes innocently wide. “Only because I have so much more free time than you do. But it hardly matters, anyway, since the best prospect is one I learned about quite by accident. It’s Lord and Lady Shrewsbury’s house in Eaton Square. They want to sell it, Lady Shrewsbury told me, once the season is over. She said we were welcome to see the place any time we like. But I’m not sure you’ll like it, though.”

“Does it matter if I like it?” he countered, wondering what she’d say. “Since we’ll be leasing it?”

Her eyes widened further. “Of course it matters. You are a far better judge of investment property than I am, darling. And prospective tenants aside, if we ever do decide we want to live in it for a few years while our boys are in school and our daughters do theseason, it will have to suit us as well. So it’s important that we both like it.”

Devlin was only slightly reassured by her use of the words “if” and “we,” and he felt compelled to be blunt. “You aren’t changing your mind, are you, darling? About living in Egypt? Because marrying me requires that, you know. Or perhaps it’s me you’re having second thoughts about?”

The astonishment in her face turned to dismay. “Changing my mind? About you? Heavens, no! Goodness, if I ever thought you’d think my little jaunt around London with house agents was motivated by that, I’d never have done it. Darling!”

With those words, Devlin forced aside his alarming speculations about her motives, speculations, he reminded himself, that had no basis in fact. His past experience with Kay was just making him imagine the worst, that was all. Pam wasn’t Kay, nothing like, and it was stupid to worry about his future with her based on the nightmare experiences of his past.

“Eaton Square, eh?” he said. “Sounds all right, I suppose. Why do you think I might not like it? No bathrooms? Bad drains?”

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