CHAPTER FIVEADAM turned the corner and found himself at the end of a long queue of cars. ‘This is the sort of thing I was supposed to have left behind in the city.’ He glanced impatiently at his wristwatch.Jessica laid a pacific red-nailed hand on his arm and smiled sympathetically. ‘Poor darling.’A relationship which up until recently had consisted of civilised excursions to the theatre and restaurants followed by intimate evenings alone meant Jessica had never experienced the more difficult side of Adam’s nature. She carefully kept her displeasure to herself.The teenaged girl in the back of the Range Rover saw the possessive gesture and grimaced at her elder brother. Jake, aware that his uncle was watching them through the rear-view mirror, shot her a warning glance. On balance they’d decided that subtlety might be a better bet than outright hostility to get rid of the ghastly Jessie. The little ones were too young to be of any use, but Jake and Kate were determined to throw a few spanners in the works.‘I need to go!’ a small but determined voice announced.‘You only went just before we left the house,’ Kate observed, frowning at the youngest of her siblings.‘I want to go too,’ an identical voice announced sleepily.Kate and Jake glanced at the mutinous expressions on their three-year-old twin brothers’ faces and said in unison, ‘They need to go, Uncle Adam!’‘What am I supposed to do about it?’ Adam appealed for guidance as a large van pulled up behind them, effectively blocking them in.‘I don’t know,’ Jake said cheerfully.
