Love and Devotion by Erica James Page B

taken early retirement from being a desk jockey for the police force. He’d worked his way up to being a peaked-cap and gold-braid type of copper, where the only dangerous action he saw was the occasional paper cut. Then he started his own security firm, installing burglar alarms and CCTV systems. Will didn’t know the exact figures involved, but he didn’t need to be a mathematical genius to work out that business was booming - the prestigious double-fronted Victorian house opposite the park and the expensive top-of-the-range Jag (slightly damaged) told its own story. Combine that with Maxine’s earnings from Stone’s Auctioneers, which she now ran, and they were fairly rolling in it. Like a couple of porkers in mud.
    Expert these days at keeping the animosity out of his voice and sounding sufficiently blokey, Will turned up the charm ready to smooth the waters. ‘Hi, Steve. Good holiday?’
    ‘Yes, but I have to tell you I’m not at all pleased with Suzie, she’s — ’
    He was interrupted by the girl herself coming into the kitchen. ‘Hey, Dad, I didn’t know you were here.’ She came over and planted a kiss on his cheek. He put his arm round her, and with Gemma standing the other side of him, it seemed the perfect moment to tell Steve the awful truth.
    ‘Steve,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to say. You won’t like it, and I’m ashamed of myself for being such a coward, but ...’ he lowered his gaze to emphasise just how pitifully sorry he was, ‘well, the thing is, I reversed into your car when you were away and — ’
    ‘But Dad — ’
    He tightened his hold on Suzie. ‘It’s okay, you don’t need to cover for me any more, Suzie. I should never have got you to lie on my behalf. I don’t know what I was thinking of.’ He returned his gaze to Steve, noting Maxine’s flinty look of suspicion. ‘I’m really sorry, Steve. I tried my best to get it fixed before you came home, but if you want to get it done properly, just send me the bill.’ The feeble bleating now over, Will held out his hand. ‘No hard feelings I hope?’ Yes! An upbeat finale. Performance over. I thank you!
     
    It was anyone’s guess how much he’d be down on the deal by the time Steve had shopped around to find the most expensive garage to exact his revenge, but Will didn’t care. It had been pretty dumb of Suzie to borrow the wretched car in the first place, but he’d be damned before he’d stand back and let Steve punish her. And to hell with what any textbook said about step-children needing to respect their step-fathers. Baloney with knobs on! They were his children, not Steve’s. End of story.
    Instead of taking the road away from the centre of town, he drove into Kings Melford. A fraction smaller than Maywood, but definitely more attractive, it had an abundance of black and white half-timbered buildings, and a quaint cobbled square that had been the original marketplace, going back to the time of Henry VIII when the town was given some kind of official status. Some Tudor duke geezer called Melford, who’d been a chum of the King, had taken a liking to the place - it was then no more than a village — and Henry had had it named in his honour. But if you really wanted to get down and dirty historically, you could do no better than visit the town’s museum and read up on its Anglo-Saxon heritage.
    The museum also had a section devoted to anything and everything to do with inland waterways. The Shropshire Union canal skirted the top of the town and when it was built it became an important part of the system for transporting salt out of Cheshire. Nowadays it wasn’t the canal workers who stopped off in Kings Melford to stock up on provisions and fuel; it was the people cruising the waterways in their pleasure crafts. There was a purpose-built marina a short walk along the towpath to The Navigation - the best pub in the town, and Will’s current destination - and a couple of boat firms, one of which still made