The Yuletide Child

‘No!’ she said fiercely, voice shaking. ‘You aren’t sharing my bed; you can’t have both me and your mistress! ’

His face turned grim and he came towards the bed with a loping tread like a jungle cat, a jaguar, big and dark and menacing, making her heart leap into her mouth.

‘I haven’t got a mistress!’ he said through clenched teeth.

She lifted her chin defiantly, out-staring him, jealousy and pain in her face and voice. ‘Did you think I’d forgotten about her? Having the baby hasn’t softened my brain or made me lose my memory, Ross. You said you hadn’t been making love to me because your sister told you not to! But I know the truth, don’t I? You haven’t been interested in me because you’ve been having an affair with Suzy!’

In the same clipped, harsh voice, he snapped, ‘You can’t seriously believe I’d do something like that to my best friend!’

Staring with shock and contempt at Ross, she accused, ‘I know what I heard! Suzy thought it was you answering your mobile. She called you darling, whispered in a furtive sort of way, saying she couldn’t leave yet because Alan was still around but she was looking forward to that night. . .it was obvious what was going on! And it will kill Alan when he finds out she’s been having an affair with you!’

‘She hasn’t!’ he angrily shot back, face darkly flushed and brows heavy over his hard grey eyes. ‘There is no affair—it’s all in your imagination!’

‘Don’t lie to me, Ross! Why else would she say she couldn’t leave because she didn’t want Alan to suspect anything? What else could that mean?’

‘She didn’t want him to guess what we were planning! ’

Dylan laughed scornfully. ‘I bet she didn’t!’

Curtly, Ross said, ‘Will you listen? It was Alan’s birthday yesterday and we were organising a big birthday party for him at the hotel in York!’

Shaken, Dylan stared up at him, eyes hunting over his clenched face before she slowly asked, ‘If that’s true, why didn’t you ever mention this party to me?’

‘Because I couldn’t take you and I didn’t want to upset you by talking about a party you couldn’t go to!’

Tears burnt behind her lids. ‘You couldn’t take me because if I saw you with her I might guess what was going on!’

‘For God’s sake! Nothing has been going on between me and Suzy! She loves Alan...’

‘Is that why she picks on him all the time, criticises him in public, makes fun of him?’

Ross sighed. ‘Yes. I wish she wouldn’t treat him like that, but she does love him, Dylan. It’s just her nature, all that sniping. Alan takes it all in good humour.’

‘He ought to give her as good as he gets some time! I wouldn’t stand for being spoken to the way she talks to him.’

‘I know, I agree—but Alan’s a slow, quiet chap. He isn’t the aggressive type. He adores her.’ Ross looked at Dylan soberly. ‘Dylan, I wouldn’t hurt Alan for the world, and I have never been interested in Suzy. She’s fun, she’s very attractive—but she isn’t my type.’

She wanted so badly to believe him, but she wasn’t going to let him make a fool of her. She wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

‘I saw you with her once, sitting in your car, talking, in the forest car park.’

His face was blank. ‘When was that?’

‘I don’t know—back in the autumn. The two of you looked very cosy, as if you were sharing secrets.’

‘Are you sure Alan wasn’t there? Some time in the autumn he did spend the day in my region; we were marking trees for felling... I remember he brought Suzy with him and we ate our sandwiches together in my car.’

‘I didn’t see Alan!’

Ross gave her an impatient look. ‘When we get back home you can ask Alan himself! If Suzy was there, so was he! I have never met her anywhere alone. Dylan, I’m not having an affair with her!’

‘Then why couldn’t you take me to the party? If you aren’t having an affair, why couldn’t I come? I haven’t been to a party for months, and you know I love parties.’

He sighed. ‘I know you do, darling, but I was afraid the drive to York would be too much for you. This hasn’t been an easy pregnancy, has it? I’ve been very worried about you, especially during the last few weeks, and the doctor warned me that you ought to rest as much as possible over the final month or two. You’re so small and delicate.’

‘She told me I was as fit as a fiddle. She said I wouldn’t have any problems!’

‘She lied to you. She didn’t want to worry you, and neither did I, but although you were very fit and healthy you were tiny; she thought you might have problems giving birth because your hips are so narrow.’