Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell [109]
`Going home.'
`Can't you stay?'
`No, it's been a long day.'
`It's been a long date.' Miles pulled her up on to the sofa next to him. `A thirty-one-hour date. I've known marriages shorter than that.'
`I still have to go home.' Help, now he was tickling the back of her neck. Suppressing a quiver of lust, Miranda willed herself to be strong. `Could you call me a cab?'
He took her copper pig out of his shirt pocket and turned it over in his hand, his expression doubtful.
`Are you sure this is a lucky pig? He doesn't seem to be doing me any favours.'
`You've only just met him,' said Miranda. `Give him time to get to know you.'
`I've only just met you.' Miles half smiled. `Properly, anyway. But I already know how much I like you.'
Oh dear, this was more than she could cope with. Desperate to make him laugh, Miranda held up one hand, her thumb and forefinger three-quarters of an inch apart.
`This much?'Miles raised an eyebrow.
`You still think I'm joking. And I'm not.'
`I don't think you're joking. I think you're just trying it on.'
`I'm serious.'
`Where does this come from?' parried Miranda. `The Miles Harper Seduction Manual? Chapter Six: How to Convince Gullible Girlies that This Time It's For Real?'
Miles sat back and heaved a sigh.
`You have no idea how frustrating this is. When I don't give a toss about a girl, you can guarantee she'll leap into bed faster than you can say Murray Walker. But when I meet someone I really like…' He threw up his hands in defeat.
`Chapter Eight,' Miranda recited, pulling on her shoes. `How to Play the Wounded Soldier: Going For the Sympathy Vote.' She rolled her eyes soulfully. `Next, you'll be telling me you're impotent.'
He raked back his hair. `You really won't stay, will you?' `No.' Feeling proud of herself, Miranda stood up. `Now, are you going to phone that cab for me or not?'
`Phone that cab?' Miles parodied her brisk tone. `No, I won't.' He paused, then broke into a broad smile. `I'm giving you a lift home.'
It was twenty to two in the morning when he turned the corner into Tredegar Gardens and pulled up outside Florence's house.
Nobody up, thought Miranda, to peer out of their windows and see me, in a silver Porsche, getting a goodnight kiss from Miles Harper.
Nobody in the entire street, dammit.
Honestly, what was the matter with the people in this neighbourhood?
`Can I see you tomorrow night?' As Miles spoke, his mouth lingered over hers.
Daisy isn't due back until Friday, Miranda reminded herself. He's at a loose end. I'm a stopgap, that's all.
Oh, but when they were together she really didn't feel like a stopgap.
And if she said no, what would she do instead? Watch EastEnders? Flick through old copies of Hello! drawing warts and moustaches on photographs of Daisy Schofield? Clear out her underwear drawer so that the next time she managed to lure a drop-dead-gorgeous racing driver into her bedroom he wouldn't be able to tease her about her less-than-stylish back catalogue of knickers?
Frankly it wasn't much of a contest.
In the semi-darkness Miranda nodded.
`Okay.'
`No Johnnie this time,' Miles promised. `Just the two of us.'
`No sex either,' she reminded him.
His warm mouth brushed her cheek. `Why are you being so cruel to me?'
Miranda knew why. It was to make up for the fact that she had offered herself to Danny Delancey - well, pretty much hurled herself at him - and been turned down. This was an attempt at restoring her shattered dignity, proving to herself that she really wasn't some sad, pitiful character so desperate for sex she was reduced to begging for it.
That was the difference between men and women, Mirandarealised. She cringed every time she recalled that excruciating scene in Danny's car, when she had pleaded with him - extremely loudly - to make love to her. Yet men, who spent practically their entire lives trying it on, simply shrugged and laughed when their efforts were rebuffed. Okay, so it hadn't worked, but at least they'd given it their best shot.
Would