Forgotten Passion

‘Spoilsport—but aren’t you forgetting something, darling?’

His hand slid down her naked back, tracing the shape of her spine, his free arm imprisoning her so that there was no way she could escape the tormenting caress.

‘I can see when I’m not wanted!’ Leigh chuckled, making for the door. ‘We’ll talk together later, honey,’ he said to Lisa.

‘One word, just one word to make him think that we’re not blissfully reconciled and I’ll make you sorry you were ever born!’ Rorke threatened when the door closed behind his father.

‘You’ve already done that,’ Lisa sniped back at him, pulling away. ‘And anyway, I wouldn’t dream of hurting Leigh. He means a great deal to me.’

‘Oh, sure,’ Rorke agreed cynically, ‘so much that you simply walked out on him without so much as a word!’

‘I wrote him a letter,’ Lisa protested, but Rorke brushed aside her claim, anger chilling his eyes as he surveyed her flushed cheeks and tangled hair.

‘You look innocent enough,’ he muttered beneath his breath, ‘but we both know how deceptive appearances can be, don’t we, Lisa? Just tell me one thing,’ he was breathing harshly, and she could see the tension in his muscles as he crossed the room and came towards her. ‘If I hadn’t taxed you with the truth would you have let me make love to you?’

‘Why not?’ she threw at him wildly, ‘I’d married you hadn’t I?’

‘And Peters didn’t mind?’

‘Why should he?’ Lisa retorted coolly. ‘Mike knew the truth.’

‘He couldn’t have thought very much of you, Lisa, if he let you leave his arms for mine—but then we both know that he didn’t, don’t we? Otherwise he would have married you.’

‘You’re despicable, Rorke!’ Lisa told him, choking out the words. ‘You measure everyone by your own standards and because of that you can’t recognise the truth when you hear it. You were my only lover, Robbie is your child.’

‘I’ll give you ten out of ten for persistence anyway,’ he muttered as he thrust past her. ‘What are you hoping to do, Lisa? Wear me down by constant repetition? It can’t have been easy bringing him up on your own, despite the help I’m sure you’ve received over the years from your lovers. Perhaps you’re just beginning to realise that marriage does have its compensations after all, mm? You shouldn’t have run out on me.’

‘You didn’t give me much option, as I recall,’ Lisa retorted coldly. ‘And now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to finish getting dressed.’

‘Feel free.’ His bored glance slid over her exposed skin. ‘That’s a very sexy dress, Lisa, as I’m sure you know, but when I remember what lies under your undoubtedly alluring skin, somehow it turns me off.’

Lisa heard his whistling as he turned on the shower. Her fingers were trembling as she pulled up her zipper and put on her make-up. She checked quickly on Robbie before putting on her shoes. The little boy was fast asleep. She was still trembling with a mixture of anger, and something she was forced to admit could only be thwarted desire when she went downstairs.

She found Leigh in the drawing room—alone.

‘Ah, Lisa, my dear, you look lovely,’ he complimented her as she kissed his cheek. ‘Where’s Rorke?’

‘Still getting ready.’

‘And you didn’t wait for him because you knew it was only likely to delay him even more,’ Leigh teased. ‘Oh, my dear,’ he continued emotively, ‘I can’t tell you what it means to have you back here, to see you reconciled with Rorke. And Robbie—an added bonus for a man who thought he’d never live to see his grandchildren. Lisa, why didn’t you write to us, tell us that you were safe at least? Rorke nearly went out of his mind! He searched the length and breadth of St Lucia for you before he discovered that you’d flown to England. He went after you, but he couldn’t trace you.’

He wouldn’t have been able to, Lisa acknowledged. She had changed her name, booking into a small boarding house that didn’t worry about such formalities as seeing passports, and she had paid cash, using some of the money she had changed at the airport. Then, she had been too bitterly hurt to care whether Rorke came after her or not, and then, later when she did care, it had been too late.

‘You never touched your allowance,’ Leigh reproached. ‘You never even told us about Robbie.’

‘I wrote to you,’ Lisa told him. ‘My letter must have gone astray. I wanted you to know about Robbie—about what had happened.’ Her voice broke, tears flooding her eyes. Dear God, she mustn’t cry now, but it was too late, Leigh had seen her tears and she was in his arms. It frightened her to realise how frail he had become, and to think that she might in some part be responsible.

‘Your letter never reached us,’ he told her. ‘I was worried about you. I blamed myself for what happened. I could see how much Rorke wanted you. It was obvious from the way he looked at you, and just as obvious that he was fighting against it. He avoided being alone with you, but I loved you both so much, Lisa, and selfishly I wanted to keep you with me. I threw you both together. Rorke wanted you intensely, I could see that, and although you were so young I knew you cared for him.’ He sighed. ‘What I did was wrong, as Rorke has so often told me. You were a child, and Rorke was a fully grown man, it was inevitable, I suppose… He had restrained himself too much before the wedding… my fault again. Had you not been living here under my protection…’

‘He would simply have indulged in an affair with me and that would have been that,’ Lisa supplied dryly. ‘Oh, I have no illusions, Leigh,’ she continued honestly. ‘Rorke might have wanted me….’

‘Too much, perhaps,’ Leigh interrupted sadly, ‘and because of that; because he had been forced to keep his feelings on such a tight rein, he frightened you and you ran away.’

‘He told you that?’ Lisa was amazed.

Leigh shrugged, ‘Not in so many words. He didn’t need to. I taxed him with it when he returned without you, and he didn’t deny it. It must have come as quite a shock to you to discover you were having his child. Didn’t you even think of coming home then, Lisa?’

‘Many times,’ she agreed honestly, ‘but somehow I just couldn’t.’