The Chocolate Lovers' Diet by Carole Matthews Page A

what the emotion is behind it. Is it love, familiarity, contempt or plain old frustration? The red chilli lights are blinking, but there’s a new knowingness in their flashes.
    Marcus lies next to me and, without thinking, I curl into him. He strokes his fingers lightly over my body, caressing, teasing. I feel his breath on my neck. I’ve given in to Marcus again. And I know that I could very well hate myself in the morning. But, for now, I just want to be loved.

Chapter Twelve
    W hen Toby opened the door to them, he was wearing an apron. Beads of perspiration peppered his brow and his cheeks showed a flustered glow. There was a tea towel over his shoulder.
    ‘I think I’ve got the timings all wrong,’ he said, a note of panic in his voice. ‘We might have to eat the potatoes now and the turkey at ten o’clock tonight.’
    Nadia laughed. She was already stripping off Lewis’s coat. Her own followed quickly. ‘Do you want me to come to the rescue?’
    ‘I’d love it,’ Toby said with a relieved sigh. ‘I had no idea there was so much to cooking a Christmas dinner.’
    ‘That’s because you were always at the pub while I prepared it all,’ she teased.
    He stopped and kissed her on the cheek. ‘It’s good to have you both here,’ he said.
    ‘Daddy,’ Lewis said. ‘Aunty Chantal bought me an electric guitar.’
    ‘Really?’ He looked at Nadia for confirmation.
    ‘She hasn’t got any kids,’ Nadia said by way of explanation. Only someone without children would think that itwas a great idea to give a small boy a loud present. ‘It’s a pretend one, but it’s certainly noisy enough to make you believe it’s the real deal.’ It would be the first toy to be hidden as soon as the batteries ran out.
    Toby scooped his son into his arms. ‘Hiya, champ. Have you got a kiss for your dad?’ Lewis giggled as Toby buried his face in the soft skin of his neck. He swung his son back to the floor. ‘Look what I’ve got for you.’
    ‘Toby,’ Nadia said quietly. ‘You shouldn’t have bought him anything, not while we have so many debts outstanding.’ She felt terrible that she couldn’t even stand her round these days at Chocolate Heaven, but the girls were so understanding. Nadia had no idea what she’d do without them. They were her lifeline.
    ‘It’s just a little something,’ Toby insisted. ‘I couldn’t buy him nothing at all. I’m his dad.’
    Nadia wished that Toby’s paternal instinct had extended to abstaining from gambling their money away on the myriad internet sites that he frequented.
    ‘We’re back on the right track now, Nadia,’ he told her as if he’d been reading her mind. ‘I’m not even buying so much as a lottery ticket. I promise you.’
    They both sat and watched Lewis’s delighted face as their son opened the gift that no self-respecting kid should be without – a talking workbench and a full range of plastic tools.
    ‘That’s a nice present,’ Nadia said. Though in truth she thought it had every bit as much potential to be as annoying as the electric guitar and even more potential to be downright dangerous.
    ‘Are you going to build a space ship today?’
the bench asked in irritatingly perky tones.
    Lewis shrieked with delight. She’d have to find a very big cupboard to hide this in.
    ‘Thanks for putting the hammer away!’
    ‘Come through to the kitchen,’ Toby said.
    ‘Are we safe to leave him?’ Nadia whispered. ‘Or do you think the hammer will end up through the television screen?’
    ‘I guess the older he gets, the more destruction he’s likely to create.’
    ‘Lewis, play nicely,’ Nadia instructed. ‘Don’t break things.’ That monkey wrench might be plastic but it still looked lethal to her. ‘Daddy and I are going to cook lunch.’
    In the kitchen there was steam bubbling from an assortment of pans. The windows were running with condensation. Nadia switched on the extractor fan.
    ‘I’ll do everything,’ Toby assured her, ‘but I