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Of course she couldn’t drive in them. She could dig out her driving shoes from the boot … or she could just let Gib drive.
Reading the decision in her face, Gib held out his hand and Phoebe put the keys into his outstretched palm.
‘As long as you drive carefully,’ she said with a flash of her old self as she got into the passenger seat.
Gib inserted the key into the ignition and pushed back the seat to allow room for his longer legs. ‘You don’t trust me, do you?’ he said as he pulled out into the street.
‘If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t be exposing you to my family,’ said Phoebe, grabbing at the door as a taxi swerved in front of them.
‘If you trusted me, you wouldn’t be sitting there clutching the door and jamming your foot on an imaginary brake,’ said Gib in a dry voice. ‘If you’re going to do that all the way to Wiltshire I’d rather you drove after all!’
Phoebe made a conscious effort to relax. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered.
Contrary to all her expectations, Gib was a calm, competent driver, quite unflustered by the London traffic. It was odd seeing him in the driving seat, his hands sure on her steering wheel. Phoebe’s eyes kept sliding sideways, and every time the sight of him was like a tiny shock that made her look quickly away.
For a while the conversation was limited to Phoebe’s attempts to direct Gib through the labyrinth of back streets to get out onto the M4, but once they hit the motorway, he put his foot down and settled back comfortably into his seat with a wriggle of his shoulders that sent a peculiar little shiver down her spine.
‘Do you want to fill me in on a bit more background before we get there?’ he said with a sideways glance. ‘I know the situation with Ben, and I’ve got the job covered, but am I likely to meet anyone else I should know about?’
Phoebe looked out of the window at the speeding traffic. ‘There’ll be various friends who knew me when Ben and I were together, but I suppose we could say that our relationship is too new for me to have mentioned them to you.’
‘Ah, yes,’ said Gib with a wicked smile. ‘When you’re as much in love as we are, you’ve got better things to think about, haven’t you?’
Faint colour touched Phoebe’s cheekbones. ‘Exactly.’
‘So it’ll just be your family I really need to worry about?’
‘Yes.’ Phoebe was glad of the chance to move onto a safer topic. ‘Mum and Dad are pretty much what you’d expect, and my little sister will be there, too. Lara’s the baby of the family. She looks like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but don’t be fooled. She’s sharp as a tack.’
‘What does she do?’
‘Drives my parents to distraction mostly,’ she said wryly. ‘She’s incredibly bright, but she gets bored so easily. She keeps starting courses and not finishing them, or walking out of perfectly good jobs, and she’s always got some unsuitable boyfriend in tow.’
‘Not like big sister, then?’ said Gib with another of those disconcertingly blue glances.
‘No, I’m the boring one of the family.’ Phoebe gave an unconscious sigh as she stared through the windscreen and thought about her sister. ‘I’ve had such a conventional life. Fell in love with the boy next door, got a degree, saddled myself with a mortgage … Giving up my job to work for Purple Parrot Productions is the riskiest thing I’ve ever done, and that’s not exactly living dangerously, is it?’
‘Is that what you’d like? To live dangerously?’
‘Sometimes,’ she admitted, ‘but I don’t think I’d be very good at it. I’m too sensible.’
That was what Ben had said. You’re so sensible, Phoebe. I know that you’ll understand that it’s not that I don’t care for you. It’s just that we know each other so well that things aren’t that exciting, are they? We can’t surprise each other any more.
‘I wish I could be more like Lara sometimes,’ she told Gib, pushing away the memory. If she had been, maybe Ben wouldn’t have fallen in love with Lisa, who wasn’t predictable and familiar. ‘She decides she wants to do something, and she does it. She’ll try anything. She doesn’t stop to think about the consequences, or what might happen if something goes wrong, she just goes for it.’
Gib slid her another glance. ‘I’ll look forward to meeting her.’
‘You’ll like her.’
Phoebe was conscious of a faint wistfulness. Her sister had exactly the same streak of recklessness that seemed so much part of Gib. It didn’t matter that he was rattling along in the slow lane in her battered old car, or that he was dressed in the most conventional of grey suits, he still exuded an air of danger and excitement that alarmed and intrigued her in equal measure.
Gib would find a kindred spirit in Lara, she thought. Lara was reckless and funny and open, the complete opposite of her big sister in fact.
CHAPTER FIVE
WITHOUT meaning to, Phoebe sighed.
‘What’s the matter?’ Gib was watching her more closely than she realised.
‘Nothing,’ said Phoebe quickly.
She could feel his blue gaze sharpen assessingly as it rested on her averted profile, but after a moment he evidently decided to let it go.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘What about us?’
‘What about us?’
‘We ought to agree on how we met,’ he suggested.
‘I thought we’d already decided that.’ Phoebe pulled herself together. ‘We met when I contacted you about the programme we’re making.’
‘You don’t think that sounds a bit dry?’ said Gib. ‘I mean, won’t they want to know a few more details?’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, lifting one hand from the steering wheel to gesture vaguely. ‘Like whether it was love at first sight for both of us, or did I have to work really hard to win you?’
‘Oh, that last one, I think,’ said Phoebe crisply. ‘I don’t want to be a pushover.’
Gib cast her a wry look. ‘I can’t imagine you ever being that,’ he said. ‘Still, you obviously didn’t play too hard to get since I’ve moved in with you already. In fact,’ he went on with one of his swift, sidelong grins, ‘I think you’d better just admit it! You couldn’t resist me, could you?’
She hated his habit of being right about things like that. It would sound odd if she was claiming to be keeping her distance when Gib had apparently moved into her house barely a week after she had supposedly met him.
‘I suppose we’d better say I was swept off my feet,’ she agreed stiffly.
Gib’s eyes rested thoughtfully for a moment on her averted profile before he looked back at the road. ‘What would it take to do that, Phoebe?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘It’s never happened to me. I always knew I loved Ben, so it wasn’t something that happened overnight. I can’t imagine ever doing anything as rash as falling in love with someone I don’t really know,’ she admitted. ‘I mean, being swept off your feet is all very well in theory, but in practice, how would you be able to trust a man who overwhelmed you and persuaded you into changing your life before you’d had a chance to think about what you were really doing?’
‘I thought you wanted to live dangerously?’
‘Not that dangerously,’ said Phoebe. ‘Falling in love like that seems like a sure way to get yourself hurt.’
Gib signalled and then moved out to overtake. ‘I think if you fell in love you might change your mind. If you really loved someone, you’d be prepared to take that risk.’
‘I’ve been in love,’ she said flatly. ‘I took that risk, and I got hurt. I’m not going through that again.’
There was silence for a while. Gib concentrated on driving, and Phoebe looked out of the side window and thought about Ben and the look in his eyes when he had told her that he had fallen in love with Lisa. He was the last person she had ever expected to hurt her. They had been so comfortable together, so gentle, so safe. She had thought that was what he had wanted too, but she had been wrong. Perhaps she hadn’t known him as well as she had thought.
And then for some reason she found herself remembering what she had said to Bella about Gib. It would be hard to find a man more different from Ben. Safe was the last word you would use about him! Phoebe could imagine him sweeping a girl off her feet all right. He was the type who saw what he wanted and went for it, and if what he wanted was you, you would have little choice in the matter, she thought with a tiny shiver. He would turn your life upside down, spin you around, subject you to a roller coaster of adrenalin and excitement—and then drop you back down to earth with a thump when he was bored and wanted to move on.
No, thank you, thought Phoebe. She could do without that kind of excitement. Living dangerously like that would not be worth the pain and humiliation you would have to endure afterwards. She had had enough of both of them in the last year.
‘What shall I call you?’ Gib broke the silence at last, and she turned to look at him in surprise.
‘What’s wrong with my name?’
‘I was thinking more along the lines of endearments. Do you want to be “darling” or “honey” or what?’
Phoebe grimaced. ‘I’m not really a “darling” kind of girl.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because darlings are soft and sweet and pretty, not sharp and intimidating.’
‘Hey,’ said Gib with a grin, ‘you don’t intimidate me, baby!’
She shot him a look. ‘I’m not a “baby” either!’
‘Shall I call you bunnikins then?’
‘Not unless you want to spend the next month with your jaw wired,’ said Phoebe evenly, and he threw back his head and laughed.
‘But we’re so in love!’ he pretended to protest.
‘We’re not that in love,’ she said, more unnerved than she wanted to admit by the way Gib looked when he laughed like that. He had obviously taken advantage of American dentistry because his teeth were very white and strong, and the creases starring his eyes deepened in what was—OK, she was prepared to concede this—a disturbingly attractive way. The sound of his laughter rolled around the car and seemed to linger, reverberating over her skin so that she shivered slightly.
If only he wasn’t quite so overwhelming. He was so vivid, so vital, that she was left feeling pale and drab and somehow vulnerable in comparison.
Gib was still talking. ‘I thought I was supposed to be the perfect man for you?’
‘Exactly,’ said Phoebe, pulling herself together with an effort. She really must get a grip. ‘And everyone knows that I wouldn’t let a man who would even think about calling me bunnikins within a mile of me!’
‘So if they heard me calling you bunnikins, they’d know it had to be true love,’ he pointed out.
‘Listen, who’s paying you here?’ she said crossly, feeling herself being drawn into a ridiculous argument that would, on past form, end with her not only agreeing but begging Gib to call her bunnikins. That was how she had ended up in this mess in the first place! She had been determined not to be talked into asking him to act as her imaginary lover, but somehow, here she was, heading down the motorway towards the wedding with Gib beside her.
‘If I hear the word bunnikins cross your lips, I’ll cut that fee we agreed in half, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!’
‘OK, bunni-boss!’
‘Very funny,’ she said with a frosty look.
‘Perhaps I just call you madam and be done with it, if you’re going to be that stand-offish,’ said Gib, pretending to sound aggrieved.
Phoebe gritted her teeth. ‘Look, I don’t care what you call me, as long as it’s not bunnikins, all right? You’re supposed to be perfect!’
‘If I’m so perfect, how are you going to explain the fact that our fantastic, perfect relationship is going to end shortly after this wedding?’
‘Well, I haven’t quite decided yet,’ she admitted. ‘Perhaps I’ll discover that you’ve got a deep dark secret. Everyone knows that I could never love a man who lied to me.’
‘Oh?’ he said carefully. ‘Why’s that?’
‘I’ve always had a thing about lying. I hate it.’
‘But you lie,’ Gib pointed out with a cool glance. ‘You’ve lied to your mother about our relationship and you’re going to carry on lying today.’
‘That’s different,’ she protested.
‘How?’
‘My lies aren’t going to hurt anyone.’
‘Things aren’t always as straightforward as you want them to be,’ said Gib, choosing his words with care. ‘Sometimes the truth can hurt as much as a lie.’
Did he think she didn’t know that? Phoebe thought about Ben, insisting on telling her about Lisa as soon as he knew that he was in love. That was one thing about Ben, he was always absolutely honest. He had never pretended, and if the truth had been unbearably painful, at least it had been better than discovering it from someone else much later.
Gib glanced sideways. Phoebe’s face was sad and he cursed himself inwardly for triggering what were obviously unhappy memories. He was supposed to be supporting her today like the good friend he was trying to prove that he was, not making her even more miserable.
‘So the idea is that in a couple of weeks’ time you’re going to tell your mother that I lied to you and dump me without hearing my side of the story, is that right?’ he said, deliberately keeping his voice light and upbeat.
‘I’ll probably have found out by then that there are lots of other things about you that have begun to irritate me,’ said Phoebe loftily, but Gib saw the effort it cost her to reply in kind. ‘Your lies will just be the final straw.’
‘Wouldn’t it be simpler to forget about the whole lies thing?’ said Gib. ‘Why don’t you just say that I’m a bastard who’s dumped you?’
‘Because I’ve already been dumped once,’ she said with a slight edge to her voice. ‘This time I’m the one who gets to do the dumping. And what’s more,’ she went on, pointing at him for emphasis, ‘you are going to devastated! I’m going to tell Mum that you’re making a real nuisance of yourself, sending me flowers every day, showering me with diamonds, and ringing up every five minutes to beg me to give you another chance.’
That was better. Gib pretended to look disconsolate. ‘If I’m going to humiliate myself to that extent, I think you should give me one.’
‘No way!’ Phoebe shook her head definitely and he heaved a sigh.
‘You’re a hard-hearted woman!’
‘You deceived me,’ she pointed out.
‘Yes, but I couldn’t help myself,’ said Gib. ‘You drive me crazy. I haven’t been able to think of anyone but you since I met you.’
Primming her mouth, she tried hard not to laugh. ‘You should have thought of that before you abandoned your wife and six children in the States, shouldn’t you?’
‘Six children? Cut me a break! Wouldn’t two be enough?’
‘Nope. You’ve got six little darlings depending on you.’
There was a twitch at the corner of Gib’s mouth. ‘I’m surprised I’m in any state for a passionate affair with you in that case! I must be quite a guy!’
‘No, you’re not,’ said Phoebe firmly, realising with an odd start that she was actually enjoying herself. ‘It turns out that you’re a low, treacherous, lying creep.’
He considered the matter, but after a moment shook his head. ‘I don’t think that’s going to work,’ he decided.
