‘Ah, Will,’ he said, putting a hand under her chin to turn her face up. ‘Do you know, I think I rather like you in glasses.’
‘You can’t,’ she said, peering at him over the top of them to see whether he was teasing her. ‘I look ghastly.’
‘Don’t be so hard on yourself.’
Willow looked round the beautiful room and, thinking about the ease and self-indulgence of her life, laughed.
‘You are, you know,’ said Tom. ‘You give yourself a very hard time.’
Before Willow could answer, the door opened and Mrs Rusham reappeared, holding a brown envelope. ‘I quite forgot the post in all the excitement this morning,’ she said, flushing. ‘I am sorry.’
‘I don’t suppose it’ll matter at all. It looks fearfully boring.’ Willow took the proffered envelope and ripped it open.
‘What is it?’ asked Tom as she started to laugh.
‘That bloody little Jason Tillter! I bet it’s him.’ Willow handed Tom the short, printed letter, which he read aloud:
Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to enquire whether you are certain that all your income for the years 1989/ 90, 1990/91 and 1992/93 has been declared in your tax returns.
Yours faithfully
The letter was signed with an illegible ballpoint squiggle over the printed title of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Taxes.
‘Well, I expect that’ll give you quite a lot of fun now that you know the way they operate,’ said Tom, putting his arm around her. ‘And with luck it’ll stop you doing anything else dangerous for a bit.’
‘In the circumstances, I suspect it will. It should keep me nice and busy while you’re recovering your strength.’ Willow eyed her husband for a moment and then added, laughing: ‘And perhaps it’ll distract me enough to stop me asking how you’re feeling every two minutes.’
‘That’s m’girl!’
Copyright
First published in 1995 by Simon & Schuster
This edition published 2012 by Bello an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies throughout the world
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ISBN 978-1-4472-3857-7 EPUB
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Copyright © Natasha Cooper, 1995
The right of Natasha Cooper to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted in accordance
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