the wedding plans and of course he was frustrated and angry about that. Wouldn’t any reasonable man feel the same way?
There had to be a way they could work through their issues. She was sure that if they had some time alone, away from a hovering real estate agent, they could resolve everything. Who knew? Perhaps they both wanted the same things but were simply coming at them from different angles.
The fast dial to Simon’s mobile soon clicked through but it rang so many times that Alex was gathering her thoughts to leave a message.
“Hello?” A young woman’s voice was suddenly on the other end of the line.
“Oh … I’m sorry,” Alex replied. “I’ve rung the wrong number.’
“Is that you, Alex?”
Suddenly the penny dropped. “Monique?” Alex asked tentatively.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“What … what are you doing answering Simon’s phone?” Alex blurted before she could stop herself. It sounded accusatory but Alex’s pulse was already racing as suspicion rose within her.
“I’m with Simon … we were just … I mean … he wanted me to look at an apartment.”
“Which apartment?”
“It’s in Bellevue Hill … Alex, are you there?”
“I’m here,” she answered quietly as the reality check seeped through her veins like poison; so her mother was right: Monique did have her sights set on Simon.
“He wanted my views about it from a woman’s perspective,” Monique explained, the guilt almost oozing out of the phone.
“Could you put Simon on please?” Alex’s voice was cool.
“I’m afraid he’s talking to the agent outside. Can he call you back in a minute?”
Alex replied stiffly that she was working but that she’d phone him later and then ended the call. Easing herself onto a chair she sat very still and tried to absorb the new turn of events.
So Monique wanted Simon. But did Simon want Monique?
Alex fought hard to sort her thoughts into some kind of rational order. Simon and Monique had clearly spent time alone in New Zealand, and they’d changed their bookings so that they could fly home together. Then there’d been that awkward conversation as Simon had explained he had to drive Monique home the night they’d had dinner at her parents. Come to think of it, he hadn’t really resisted very much when JP had wanted to take her home; wouldn’t a love struck fiancé do anything to be alone with his girl when they’d been apart for so long—particularly when her attentive new boss seemed eager to step into his shoes?
Was it really possible she’d missed all the signals between Monique and Simon that night at her parents’ house when her mother, and perhaps JP too, had not? But who was she kidding? Alex knew she’d been so distracted by JP that night she hadn’t been capable of noticing anything.
Alex jumped as her mobile sang into life. She grabbed it and before looking at the screen blurted Simon’s name down the line.
“No it’s not Simon. It’s me,” JP answered gruffly. “Where are you?”
“Just down the hall.” Alex looked at her watch and realised she’d been gone from the conference room for nearly a quarter of an hour.”
“Well if you haven’t immersed yourself in some hotel spa treatment do you mind getting back here? I want to start again.” He rang off.
Normally JP’s curt order would have bothered Alex but not that afternoon. She was too flustered about Monique and Simon to react to JP and yet she knew she shouldn’t jump to conclusions about her fiancé and her cousin. It could all be quite innocent, she told herself as she turned off her phone; the last thing she wanted was Simon calling back and launching into an emotionally charged conversation with her in front of JP and Mark Jackson.
“It’s about time,” JP murmured without looking up as Alex strode back into the conference room.
“I need to talk to you,” she demanded hotly.
JP lifted his eyes slowly from his papers to meet hers. “Unless it’s about work that’s going to be difficult. Mark Jackson will be back in a minute.”
“It’s about Simon and Monique.”
“What about them?” JP asked as he threw his pen down on the table and rose to his feet.
“I need to know what you saw when they got out of the cab last week.”
JP stared hard at her. “Why?”
“You said they made a cute couple. I need to know whether you meant anything by that.”
“Something’s happened between them, hasn’t it?”
“It’s nothing. I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
JP hesitated, watching Alex carefully. He tossed up whether he should just give her