Ruthless Tycoon, Innocent Wife

Once outside on the drive, Rafe said quietly, ‘Thanks, Crystal. That was very tactfully done. I’m grateful. The thing is, he refuses to admit how sick he is and that’s where the danger lies. If he’s not kept an eye on, he’ll do too much and then…Anyway, thanks again.’

‘Any time,’ said Crystal softly.

Rafe smiled at her and Marianne felt an ache in her heart. He had never looked at her the way he was looking at Crystal—openly and candidly. With her, there was always a watchfulness, even a wariness in his manner.

‘You love him very much, don’t you,’ Crystal said softly, ‘and that’s natural, him being your father, but I can understand why he gets impatient sometimes. I remember him as one of those lads who was always on the go, never stopping for two minutes. Being forced to take things easy must be driving him mad.’

‘You don’t know the half.’ It was rueful. ‘He’d try the patience of a saint.’

‘Well, I’m no saint, Rafe, so if I do come and stay for a while there’ll probably be fireworks now and again.’

‘Fireworks he can take, Crystal. It’s boredom that’s sapping his will.’

The blue eyes switched to Marianne and she felt the impact in every cell in her body. ‘I want to thank you again for agreeing to let Crystal make the offer, however it works out. It was kind of you.’

Marianne flushed. It was a polite word of thanks but the wariness was there. ‘No problem,’ she said crisply, before swinging round and pressing the key to unlock her car.

Rafe followed them as they slid in, bending over and peering through Marianne’s open door as he said, ‘I shall be returning to America at the end of the week and it looks like I’m going to be tied up there for a month or so. I’ve let things slip a little lately, with all the visits to find Dad a place here and so on. I’d like to take you both out to dinner as a thank you for this morning before I go.’

‘There’s no need,’ Marianne said quickly, ‘and your father might not even agree to Crystal moving in for a while anyway.’

‘Nevertheless, I’d like to take you both for a meal somewhere nice. Somewhere where you can dress up and take a breather from all that’s been going on.’

Marianne opened her mouth to refuse again but, before she could voice the words hovering on her tongue, Crystal said, ‘That would be very nice, Rafe, thank you. We’d like to come, wouldn’t

we, Annie.’ It was a statement, not a question.

Marianne was tempted to tell them both to go together but, knowing Crystal would be upset, she said stiffly, ‘Wouldn’t you rather spend the time with your father if you’re returning to the States?’

‘I thought Dad might like to come along, too.’ Laughing blue eyes took in her discomfiture. ‘Unless you have any objection to that?’ he murmured.

Marianne’s flush deepened. ‘Of course not.’

‘Good, that’s settled then. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.’

‘Fine.’ She tried to ignore her view of his narrow-waisted, lean-hipped torso but it was hard. Thankfully, he closed the car door and straightened in the next moment and she could start the engine. Her last sight of him was in the rear-view mirror as she left the drive. He was standing with his hands thrust in his pockets, his black hair slightly tousled and falling in the merest of quiffs across his forehead. He looked so good that she functioned on automatic all the way home.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ANDREW STEED telephoned that evening to say he would be delighted if Crystal would stand in as his housekeeper until the work at Seacrest was finished, by which time he was sure he could arrange for a replacement to take over. While Crystal stayed with him Marianne must treat his house as her own, he added, and he would like to think she would come and share her meals with them both.

Marianne was glancing through colour schemes for the bedrooms, brochures spread out in front of her as she sat cross-legged on the drawing-room carpet, when Crystal finished the call.

‘Come and have my meals with you and Andrew? I don’t think that’s practical,’ she prevaricated when Crystal added her support to the suggestion. ‘Maybe the odd evening meal but that’s all. There’s going to be heaps going on here I need to keep my eye on.’

‘Exactly, and if you pop to us for lunch and dinner it’s one less thing to think about,’ Crystal stated, as though she were already in residence at the cottage. ‘It’d put my mind at rest if nothing else.’

‘I’ll see how things work out.’ It was a lie. She had no intention of socialising with Andrew Steed more than was necessary. Not that she had anything against him personally now she had met him, although she still wasn’t happy at his interpretation of why her mother had chosen her father over him. But perhaps that was more Rafe’s view of the past rather than his father’s? She would have to ask Andrew some time how he felt but that would be a good way into the future when she knew him better. If she got to know him better. Which she didn’t really want to do because that would mean there was more likelihood of running into Rafe when he was over here visiting his father.

Her thoughts causing her head to whirl, she turned her attention back to the brochures. She wasn’t going to let Rafe Steed dominate her mind, she was determined about that, she told herself firmly. And once this ridiculous ‘thank you’ meal was over she would make sure nothing similar happened again. Business lunches were one thing. Nights out on the town were something else.

What are you afraid of?

The thought came out of nowhere, as clear in her head as if someone had spoken out loud. Now she was no longer seeing the shiny leaflets and colour schemes in front of her, her eyes inward-looking.

Him. Rafe. I’m afraid of him. Not in a physical sense, because even in their few brief encounters he’d proven he was a man who was dangerously accomplished in the art of making love but who would stop the moment his partner gave the signal. No, it was a lot more subtle than that. For the first time in her life she had met a man who could potentially break her heart.

And then she caught at this last thought, telling herself she was being silly. You had to love someone for them to break your heart and she did not love Rafe. She was sexually attracted to him but that was entirely different. She was just at sixes and sevens with herself over the loss of her parents and the huge changes in her life, that was all. She wasn’t her normal logical, calm self. That was why thoughts of Rafe pierced her mind at the oddest moments and why she had a burning interest in who his wife had been, what she’d looked like, how they had met, what had finished the relationship.