Bittersweet Passion

‘You’ve changed quite radically.’ Carter contrived to sound peevish and reproving. ‘Still, you’ve done very well for yourself. But I can’t say I ever expected to see Dane settling down. Although with the children—–’ a sneer crept into his pompous voice ‘—he didn’t have much choice, did he?’

‘If I were you, I wouldn’t repeat that insinuation again.’ Dane’s soft intervention from behind turned both their heads. His arms enclosed her teasingly, drawing her back against him firmly as he coldly surveyed Carter’s flushed face. ‘What is it about the Fletcher clan?’ he mused. ‘Even at a christening they find time to be unpleasant.’

Dane deliberately headed her away before she could add anything. ‘I hate to say you were right about them but you were,’ she murmured. ‘With the exception of Steve, they only came to pry and bitch. Celia’s been running about pricing everything. Sandra could barely bring herself to smile even at the twins!’ Her breath ran out with an angered hiss.

His dazzlingly blue eyes were amused. ‘Don’t look now, they’re leaving …’

‘I’d better go.’ His hand had already dropped from her arm which was no surprise to her. Dane rarely touched her except in public, and Matthew and Joy were seven weeks old now. Their marriage was a happy, easy-going pretence, with separate bedrooms and the separate lives that would inevitably develop from the absence of intimacy. And if anything she was more deeply in love with Dane than she had ever been. He had hugged home and hearth with unDanelike fervour of recent. He was clearly making one heck of an effort, and she wondered why she should resent him for the necessity. It was scarcely fair. He hadn’t made her any promises. Colliding with his rueful smile, a drumbeat of aching tension held her tautly still until she shook hurriedly clear of the needling reminders of her own sexuality. ‘And I’ll check the twins, too.’

‘What do we have a nanny for?’

Since Dane was often to be found at six in the morning in the nursery, getting under that same starchy nanny’s feet, she just laughed. ‘I haven’t seen them in hours.’

‘Yes, we surely have hit the jackpot on longstaying guests,’ Dane breathed drily, glancing round the still crowded confines of the lounge.

She couldn’t help smiling at his tone, and she took her leave of her erstwhile relatives with poise. She had much to be grateful for after all, and it wasn’t being pessimistic but realistic to suspect that Dane was bound to start disappearing for long stretches soon. Squashing that apprehension irritably, she chose to survey with pride instead the difference refurnishing had made to the penthouse. Although they spent most of their time at Wytchwood, Claire had worked hard to bring a less chilly aspect to the apartment, and the warm colour schemes in the large reception-rooms were a great improvement.

Surely there was more to marriage, though, than being mother, hostess and interior decorator … if there was, it looked as if she was destined to remain in ignorance this time around. She sighed. He liked her. He adored the twins. There was nothing cool, sophisticated or pretend about his unashamed fascination with them, and when she got to the stage where she was inclined to be envious of her own children, she knew how unreasonable she was being.

‘A gentleman has called to see you, madam,’ Thompson intercepted her before she reached the nursery. ‘A Mr Walker. He insisted that he needed to speak to you privately. I showed him into the study.’

Claire’s smooth brow furrowed. Max? What on earth would Max be doing here? Her feet carried her swiftly back down the corridor and there he was, considerably improved in apearance from their last meeting, his stocky figure complemented by a smart brown suit, his dark hair shorter and neartly combed.

He spoke the moment she entered the room, his manner almost jocular. ‘You’re certainly not easy to get hold of these days! Ex-directory number, out of the country half the time, and when I do finally get hold of you you’re in the middle of a party,’ he complained.

‘Max.’ Rather awkwardly she held out her hand. ‘You look well.’

He clasped her fingers and held on to them. ‘I must’ve looked a slob that day at the flat. Fact of the matter is, things have changed. I’ve got a job now again, and after speaking to your cousin … Good lord, Claire, why didn?

?t you tell me what you’d done that day?’ he demanded heavily. ‘I didn’t know you were married or why until I got your cousin on the phone. He told me the whole story. I was horrified.’

Uncomfortably Claire tried to retrieve her fingers. ‘My cousin?’

‘Carter. When I realised what you’d done for me … the sacrifice …’ He had the cheek to look insufferably smug.

Claire tugged her hand back, mentally cursing Carter. He was a pot-stirrer. He had had absolutely no business telling Max about Adam’s will and embarrassing her like this. ‘What sacrifice?’ she asked stiffly.

‘Marrying Dane. I mightn’t have been able to find you but I have been reading the papers,’ he confided with a covert smile. ‘The guy’s been running around with other women ever since you married him.’

Claire turned an angry pink. ‘I fail to understnad what my marriage has to do with you, now, Max.’

‘Look, Sue … well, I can understand you still being annoyed about that.’

‘It’s nothing to do with Sue,’ Claire got in, in exasperation. ‘Carter had no right to give you the wrong impression … oh, what does it matter? I happen to love Dane.’

He regarded her with irritating disbelief. ‘You couldn’t possibly,’ he argued. ‘Your cousin told me you married him to get your grandfather’s money for us.’

Her mouth set. ‘I’m still in love with him.’

‘Sue and I are finished,’ he emphasised tautly. ‘Claire, I still love you.’

He grabbed both her hands as if determined to force a more encouraging response from her. She could see the anger gathering in him now, born out of the fear that he was making a fool of himself. ‘We can still be together. You can get a divorce. You can’t want to stay with him …’ he beseeched roughly. ‘You don’t know how much I’ve regretted hurting you and how much I’ve missed you.’

A rush of moisture stung her eyelids. She hated to hurt anybody. Perhaps only loneliness and boredom had been behind Max’s involvement with Sue, but it was irrelevant now. His appearance here was only an embarrassment now for both of them. ‘Max,’ she interrupted tightly, a tiny shake in her voice. ‘Dane and I have children. I’m sorry … I …’

Max suddenly loosed her hands and backed off. Abstractedly she turned her head to see what had stolen his attention from her.

CHAPTER TEN