The Celibate Mouse
Page 31
The blond had vanished from his mind before he reached the end of the carriage.
The girl introduced herself as Ariel Maxwell and announced that she lived a few miles away. She kept up a steady stream of chatter as they found their way out of the station. He hefted her case into a taxi, confessing that he needed to find somewhere to stay, a pub perhaps.
‘That’s all right, there’s one just near us, The Fox and Duck,’ she chirped. The jewellery in her ears caught the light as it jingled. ‘We’ll share a cab.’
‘How about dinner later, then?’ he asked, greatly daring. ‘Is the food any good at that place? Or we could go somewhere else if you like.’ Suddenly, he appeared shy, his gaze skittered away from hers and then almost
‘Maybe.’
He leaned forward: ‘I go on to the pub after this, thanks,’ he told the cabbie.
Ariel didn’t want to appear too eager, but she couldn’t help regarding him with keen interest and growing excitement. His skin had a bronzed tinge which set off his handsome features. She wondered how much time he spent on the beach. Perhaps he worked outdoors. His dark brown eyes and longish, glossy dark hair gave him a rakish, gypsy appearance. She wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through the silken strands and smirked inwardly. What would Deanna say, when she heard what a prize she, Ariel, had discovered on the train? A gorgeous, tall, broad-shouldered Australian no less! And well spoken, not an “ocker.”
From having to suffer her own company this weekend – her younger brother had got himself stranded with his motorcycle, so her parents drove to Calne in Wiltshire to rescue him–things were looking up. She could do worse, she thought, as he handed her out of the taxi and dragged her bag out onto the footpath.
‘This home?’ He eyed up the neat house planted in the pretty garden. Fourteen fence posts along the front, five rose bushes, ten–
‘Yeah.’ She took the money out and paid the driver, who grunted, stuffed the note into his cash bag and coughed impatiently as he waited for his other passenger to get back into the cab.
He forced his mind back to the girl, not about to let her go without obtaining a commitment. ‘Shall I come back for you, about seven?’
She smiled. Tonight dinner and who knew what would be next? Caught up in the excitement of her unexpected date, her parents request to stay in that night had flown from her mind.
‘No, I’ll come down there. Seven in the lounge bar.’
He gestured to the bag. ‘Do you want me to carry this in for you?’
She thought quickly. What if they ended up back there? The house would be a tip; she had two hours to get it sorted. ‘No thanks, I’m good.’
She watched as the cab turned the corner. A little thrill shivered down her spine. Australians, everyone said, were great fun but not to be taken seriously. And they’d be in a pub, surrounded by the Friday night crowd.
What could possibly go wrong?
Author’s Bio
Diana Hockley lives in a southeast Queensland country town, surrounded by her husband, Andrew, two cats and six pet rats. She is a dedicated reader, community volunteer, and presenter of a weekly classical program on community radio. She and her husband once owned and operated the famous Mouse Circus which travelled and performed throughout Queensland and northern New South Wales for ten years. They also bred Scottish Highland cattle. She has three adult children and three grandchildren.
She has had articles and short stories accepted and published in a variety of magazines, among them, Mezzo Magazine USA, Honestly Woman (Australia) The Highlander, Austin Times and Austin UK, Australian Women’s Weekly, It’s A Rats World, Solaris UK, Literary Journal of University of Michigan USA, Foliate Oak, children’s website Billabong, King’s River Life, USA. In 2006, she was awarded Scenic Rim Art Festival prizes for poetry and fiction.
The Naked Room was launched in November 2010. Her next crime novel, After Ariel, will be published before Christmas, 2011.