Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

1 Kerry Greenwood
elegant, appeared to take Phryne’s coat and murmur admiration
of the green dress, and suddenly Simon felt as though he had
been coming to this place for years. He sat down and beamed.
‘Very nice,’ said Robby ambiguously, looking at Phryne and
then at Simon. ‘Nice to see you again, Miss Fisher. You match
the decorations.’ Phryne’s green satin was indeed much the same
shade as the green pines in the mural of Capri behind her.
‘Thank you Robby dear, I don’t need a menu. The gentleman
is Jewish and I’m starving. Feed us,’ said Phryne, and leaned
back in her comfortable chair.
Robby returned with a bottle of wicker-clad chianti, which
he opened with an ease which spoke of long practice. Simon
looked at it dubiously.
‘Isn’t that the stuff that tastes of red ink?’
‘Generally, yes, but this won’t,’ promised Phryne. Simon was
delighted to find that it didn’t. It was a light vintage tasting of
crushed grapes. He watched Phryne sipping, noticing the way
that the red wine was matched by her ruby mouth, how she
passed her tongue neatly over her wet lower lip.
‘This wine is the colour of your mouth,’ he said. ‘You don’t
really want to go to Kadimah and listen to a lot of people talking,
do you?’
‘Yes,’ said Phryne uncompromisingly. ‘I do.’ She slid one
fingernail over the back of his hand, and he shivered. ‘But I
haven’t forgotten you,’ she added.
‘I haven’t forgotten you,’ he replied. ‘I love you.’
‘No, you don’t,’ said Phryne gently. ‘You love the idea of me.
You love the femaleness of me. I told your mother that I was just
borrowing you, and that I’d give you back. I have had that conversation
before,’ she added, remembering Lin Chung’s alarming
grandmother. ‘But I’ll love you while I have you, dear Simon.’
Robby, who had been waiting for a break in the conversation,
put down two plates of pasta with a thin red sauce.
‘Fettucine puttanesca,’ he said, grinning at Phryne, who
grinned back. Fettucine in the manner of whores, eh? Phryne
resolved to clip Robby’s ears for him when she got him alone.