Patrick laughed and the tension eased. He knew that Declan was trying to smooth it over, sorry that he mentioned Michael. He sussed out that Declan enjoyed telling him something that he was not aware of – it was a rare enough occurrence and, for Declan, it was like winning the pools. Still, he was on his guard now.

‘Michael will be here soon. Let’s just see what he has to say, shall we?’

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Josephine was wearing a cream-coloured silk dress that fitted where it touched and, even though she had no skin on show other than her arms, it showed off every curve she was in possession of to its full advantage. She looked stunning and she knew it.

She had added cream leather high heels, and a thick black belt that emphasised her tiny waist to complete the outfit. Michael liked her to look good, because he loved showing her off. He was proud of her and appreciated how she looked after herself, and he especially loved it when she dressed herself up like this. There was no cleavage on show – just as he wanted it – nothing that could be seen as provocative, yet she looked sexier than if she was wearing a micro-mini skirt with thigh-high boots.

Her hair fell down her back; it was lightly curled and lacquered. It looked natural, even though it had taken her hours to perfect it. Her eye make-up was not too heavy, but she was wearing a deep wine-coloured lipstick as her only splash of dramatic colour, which finished off her whole look perfectly.

She was pleased to see the reactions from everyone at the party as she’d walked into the room with Michael. He wanted her to be noticed and she was more than happy to oblige. She loved getting dressed up, it was something she knew she was good at.

Michael handed her a glass of champagne, and she took it from him carefully. Michael was considered an important man, and she had to make sure that she was seen as worthy of his attention. After all, they were going to be married soon, and that fact alone guaranteed her respect from the people around them. Still, a man like Michael was seen as fair game by most of the women in their world, but she had sworn to herself that she would make sure that he never had any reason to look anywhere else for attention. She herself had seen the women who had married their men, had a few kids and then let themselves go, got fat and frumpy. They stopped wearing make-up and taking care of themselves. It was easy to let your guard down with a wedding ring on your finger and believe that having a man’s kids was enough to keep the man of your dreams beside you, loyal to you because you had produced their flesh and blood.