The Unexpected Baby

‘Whatever.’ He dipped his head in seeming compliance, but she knew he didn’t like her taking charge. He liked making his own decisions—witness the way he’d issued those directives on the way their future was to be conducted.

Tough! Elena consulted the menu and opted for roast vegetable salad—red peppers, tomatoes and aubergines—and clams cooked with sherry and garlic. ‘Does that sound OK to you guys?’

She beckoned one of the white-coated waiters over and ordered in fluent Spanish. When she’d come out here all those years ago learning the language had been a priority, and now Catherine said admiringly, ‘Is there no end to your talents?’

Smiling enigmatically, Elena plucked the shady hat from her head and ran her fingers through her hair, looking at Jed through her long, tangled lashes, her mouth pouting. ‘I think you should ask my husband that!’

Recklessly flirting with him throughout the meal, Elena caught Catherine’s doting, satisfied smile and guilt pushed itself right into her heart.

She was creating a fool’s paradise for this nice woman. She felt ashamed of herself. The true situation, stripped of pretence and game-playing, crashed down on her then, swamping her with misery, making her feel wretched.

And she felt worse than wretched—she felt terrified—when, after Catherine had excused herself to visit the washroom, Jed took her chin in cruel fingers and told her, ‘I know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.’

His eyes raked her face and her heart quailed at the dark, brooding intensity of his eyes as they rested on her lips. ‘Our marriage may be over in all but name, but be careful I don’t grab what’s so enticingly on offer. There’s only so much a man can take before he forgets his scruples.’

And then his mouth was on hers, savagely parting her lips to gain admittance to the soft, sweet moisture within. She fought against the punishment—her hands balled into fists, pushing against his shoulders—fought against the flames of desire inside her, until the pressure of his lips altered, became utterly, shatteringly sensual, deeply erotic, as incredible as it had ever been when he’d loved her as much as he’d needed her, and then she opened willingly for him, fists unclenching, fingers gripping the wide span of his shoulders, blood pounding through her veins.

There was no room in her head for thought, misgivings. Her whole body had exploded with need, with wanting him, loving him. Her brain had suffered meltdown, couldn’t cope with reality, wallowed in fantasy...

Until he smoothly put her away from him, advising coldly, ‘Think before you play games with me. Teasing can be a two-edged sword. So watch your step, sweet wife, or you might find you’ve bitten off rather more than you want to chew.’

CHAPTER FIVE

ELENA put herself in the back of the car and let the conversation between mother and son up front wash

right over her.

Jed had declared sexual war. That was what his kiss, his steel-edged remark had amounted to.

Men could make love without love having a lookin, he’d as good as warned her. For her it would be different, because she couldn’t stop loving him, no matter how she tried, but she’d despise herself if she allowed him to use her that way.

Why had she been so stupid? Why couldn’t she have acted normally, smiled and looked pleasant whenever he spoke, for Catherine’s peace of mind, but kept her distance? In acting the way she had she’d pushed him to the limit of his endurance.

The way she’d behaved had been cheap and childish, and under normal circumstances she was very far from being either. But these weren’t normal circumstances, she thought miserably. She’d found herself in the terrible situation of feeling hatred for the only man she’d ever really loved. Hatred, love, pain and despair were a mind-shattering combination, and had made her act in a way that made her despise herself.

She spent what was left of the afternoon showing Catherine around the property with a smile pinned on her face. Jed had said he had a raft of business telephone calls to make and had shut himself away in her study. As far as Elena was concerned he could stay there. The less she saw of him the better.

But he appeared in time for a light supper, herb omelette and fresh fruit, and afterwards Elena excused herself. ‘I’ve got masses of watering to do, Catherine. So why don’t you put your feet up and let Jed tell you about the new premises he’s opening in Seville?’

And she escaped to the peace of her garden.

She’d changed into soft worn denims and a workmanlike cotton shirt, and tied her hair back with a leather thong. The everyday, pleasant chore of wandering up and down the winding paved paths, turning the hose on the stands of stately white lilies, hedges of dwarf lavender, fat pink roses and the silvery eucalyptus trees which looked wraith-like in the dusky light calmed her troubled spirits just a little.

Trying to retaliate had been an unworthy idea, serving only to inflict further hurt on both of them. Jed no longer loved her, so it was better to let it go with as much dignity as possible. The way she’d flirted and flaunted hadn’t been dignified at all.

A sound at the head of the path she was working from brought her head round, her colour coming and going, her heart racing as Jed walked down the short flight of stone steps.

His face wore the closed look she had come to dread, but as he drew nearer she could see the pain in his eyes, pain he was trying to hide.

As her heart flooded with sudden compassion she despised herself anew for what she had set out to do today, and wondered if she had enough courage to tell him so. She felt as if she’d reached an important crossroads in their relationship. If she could apologise and make him believe her sincerity—

‘Catherine says to say goodnight. And while I was in your study I found these.’ He spoke tonelessly, cutting through her thoughts, and for the first time she noted the papers he held in his hands. ‘Another came through today. Your agent is beginning to sound hysterical. Perhaps you should deal with them.’

Those neglected faxes. She shrugged, pulling in a long breath. ‘I guess,’ she agreed listlessly. ‘Whatever it is she needs to discuss just hasn’t seemed important.’

He gave her a level look. ‘No? Not even something that could set the final seal of approval on your work?’

Twilight deepened the lines at either side of his mouth, shadowed his eyes, making them an enigma. She shrugged his question away. ‘Look—can we talk?’