‘We?’ Frazer pressed.
‘Yes. Lillian stopped off in London to see her parents. She’ll be joining me up here tomorrow. She seemed to think it was time we checked up on these two,’ Rory added airily, indicating the silent and almost hostile twins, who, Rebecca had noticed, had crept closer to Frazer.
Inside she wept for them, and wondered why she had never realised before that Rory was cruel as well as shallow. Couldn’t he see how much he was damaging them with his careless and uncaring attitude towards them? She remembered how when her own parents used to come home her father had swept both her and Robert into his arms, hugging them fiercely, letting them know how much they were missed and loved.
Rory had made no attempt to touch his children, and was still standing next to her, his hand resting possessively on her shoulder, his fingers stroking her skin. A tiny shudder of revulsion went through her, and she gritted her teeth against it.
‘I was just saying to Rebecca that it’s a surprise to see her here. I thought she was still forbidden the place.’ Rory laughed in amusement. ‘Mind you, I’m glad she is here. We’ll be able to spend some time together while Lillian does her doting mother bit.’
Rebecca couldn’t say a word. She was too stunned by Rory’s appalling selfishness. Didn’t he care that the twins were there listening to what he was saying? Had he really no conception of what he was doing to them?
She was too caught up in her anger on the twins’ behalf to pay much attention to what Frazer was saying until she caught her own name and focused on him just in time to hear him announced, shockingly, ‘I’m afraid Rebecca won’t be able to spend her time keeping you amused, Rory.’
She waited for him to explain that she was being packed off home, but Rory challenged smoothly and softly, ‘Isn’t that for Rebecca to say, Frazer? As I remember, she once used to enjoy my company very much indeed.’
The sheer audacity of it took Rebecca’s breath away. There had never been the kind of relationship between them that Rory was intimating, and once she was alone with him she intended to demand to know what he thought he was doing in suggesting that there had. All right, so he wanted to annoy Frazer…but she was not going to be dragged into their quarrels.
‘Once, maybe,’ Frazer agreed urbanely. ‘But now she and I are engaged…’
‘Engaged!’ Rebecca’s own whispered repetition of the word was lost beneath Rory’s louder, almost angry, ‘You and Rebecca engaged? Since when? You’ve always hated the sight of one another!’
There was a moment’s pause while Rebecca tried to deal with the pain flowering inside her and declare that Frazer was lying, but by the time she had the pain under control it was too late, and Frazer was saying quietly, and with such conviction that she felt herself quiver inside with unwanted emotion, ‘Once, maybe, but we’ve learned better now. Haven’t we, my love?’
She could only stare at him in disbelief as he came to her side and took hold of her hand, lifting it to his mouth. His lips were warm and firm against her skin, but his eyes were icy cold, warning her not to deny what he was saying.
Of course Aunt Maud would choose that moment to arrive with Mrs Norton and the tea tray, and of course Rory would barely allow her to get over the shock of seeing him before saying queryingly, ‘I gather I’m not the only surprise you’ve been having,’ then he turned to Frazer and asked directly, ‘Rebecca isn’t wearing a ring, Frazer. How long have you been engaged?’
‘Since this morning,’ Frazer lied promptly, ‘or rather, since last night.’The look he gave her made Rebecca go scarlet, as much with indignation as with shock. ‘I think it must have been the catalyst of almost losing her that brought me to my senses, and made me realise exactly how I feel about her.’
There was a moment’s silence, then Rory looked at her and said unkindly, ‘And you, of course, Rebecca, have always had a weakness for my big brother, haven’t you? How very unfortunate that I should choose to arrive so untimely, like a spectre at the feast, stirring up unwanted memories! You’re a very lucky man, Frazer—as I have good reason to know.’
Rebecca could only stare at him, her shock at Frazer’s unexpected announcement superseded as she wondered why she had never seen this malice in Rory before. Had she and Frazer really been in love and engaged, how very painful it would have been for both of them to be reminded that supposedly she had loved the other brother first, and loved him recklessly and foolishly enough to break his marriage vows with him.
‘So,’ Rory asked suavely surveying their silent faces, ‘when is the wedding to be?’
It was Aunt Maud who answered, saying briskly, ‘As soon as Rebecca’s parents return from Australia, of course.’Rebecca stared at her. Surely Aunt Maud didn’t really believe they were engaged? She must realise…but apparently she didn’t, because she was saying firmly to Rory, ‘I think it might be an idea if you spent time with your children, Rory. They could certainly do with some supervision,’ she added curtly.
* * *
LATER IT SEEMED to Rebecca that days and not hours passed before she was finally able to see Frazer on his own and tackle him about his incredible announcement.
In the end it was Maud who gave her the opening she needed. Having exhausted the topic of the wedding she had now virtually planned down to the last detail, she suddenly announced unexpectedly that Rebecca looked tired and that they must none of them forget how very lucky they were that she was still with them at all. This, accompanied by a dark look at the twins, had Rebecca sighing faintly and wishing that Aunt Maud could be a little more tactful and a little less forthright, but when she added firmly, ‘Frazer, I think you’d better help Rebecca upstairs,’ she reflected that such forthrightness had its advantages after all.
Rory raised one eyebrow and said drolly, ‘My dear Maud, is that wise—allowing them to be alone? Perhaps I ought to go with them as chaperon.’
‘Thank you, Rory, but that won’t be necessary,’ Frazer said calmly.
As she hobbled towards the door, Rebecca wondered if anyone else beside herself had been aware of the edge of malice creeping up under Rory’s apparently teasing comment.
Now more than ever, she wished it were possible for her to go home. It had been bad enough anticipating spending close on another week here when she had had Frazer’s antipathy towards her to contend with, but now, with Rory here as well…
She gave a small shudder, unaware that Frazer was watching her as he held the door open for her, until he said sharply, ‘You’re cold.’
‘No, not really…’
Something in her expression must have betrayed what she was thinking, because as he guided her towards the stairs Frazer said harshly, ‘You’ve only yourself to blame, you know. It’s never wise to put people on pedestals. When they’re revealed as mere human beings, it can be a painful process, but then I should have thought you’d already realised that my brother enjoys hurting people. He’s jealous, of course.’
‘Jealous?’ Rebecca stopped and stared at him. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! How can he be?’ and then she stopped, realising that what Frazer said was true, and that Rory was jealous of his older brother. Had that jealousy always been there, and had she been too naïve and inexperienced to see it? But if it had, surely Rory would not have begged her to pretend that they had had an affair? Surely he would have delighted in revealing to Frazer that he and she had been lovers? Or perhaps he had not dared risk revealing the truth.
Because this afternoon, she had realised something else. Rory might be jealous of his older brother, but he was also just a little in awe of him.
She raised her head and saw that Frazer was looking at her, giving her a mocking, unkind look that made her body tense uneasily.
‘Why? I should have thought that was obvious. I now have something he believes he wants.’
It took a moment for his meaning to sink in, and when it did Rebecca said furiously, ‘Is that why you said we were engaged? Because you think Rory wants me?’All her pent-up feelings of ang
er and disgust were in her voice. ‘I’ve thought you many things over the years, Frazer, most of them uncomplimentary, but I’ve never thought of you as being petty or vengeful—and besides, you’re wrong. Rory doesn’t want me at all,’ she told him scornfully. ‘In fact…’
She stopped abruptly, realising that she was on the edge of admitting the truth.
‘No, you’re the one who’s wrong,’ Frazer told her grimly. ‘I saw the way he was looking at you—and you can disabuse your mind of its infantile belief that my announcement of our engagement was motivated by petty fraternal and juvenile emotions. Eight years ago, I told you that Rory was a married man. He still is. He still has those same responsibilities now that he had then. You heard what he said—he and Lillian have come here to spend some time with the children, and if you think I’m going to let your presence here damage their marriage by allowing you and Rory to indulge in some romantic dream of might-have-beens, then you can think again. Because I’m not. That’s why I told him we were engaged.’
Rebecca stared at him, lost for words. Did he really think she posed that kind of threat to Rory’s marriage? If so, it must be a very fragile structure indeed.
‘You’re out of your mind!’she told him grimly when she could speak. ‘To go to such lengths! All you needed to do was to let me leave…’
‘And have Rory come haring after you? Is that what you had in mind? A passionate reunion, somewhere private where the two of you could be alone?’
His voice had dropped to ice-cold derision, and Rebecca shivered under the contemptuous lash of it. What he was saying was so far from the truth that it was risible, but the last thing she felt like doing was laughing.