Elusive as the Unicorn

She should have known the other woman was too self-confident to even look mildly uncomfortable about the subterfuge she had used concerning Adam’s presence here and obvious intention of staying for dinner, Sophy merely giving her a cheeky grin as she preceded her through to the kitchen.

‘Sophy——’

‘Fascinating man, isn’t he?’ the other woman announced as she picked up the ornate soup tureen. She paused at the door, auburn brows raised mockingly. ‘At least, you seemed to find him so.’

Eve stood in the middle of the kitchen and counted to ten while the door swung shut behind the other woman. She didn’t like this situation one little bit; she had the definite feeling Adam was right about Sophy’s intentions, and that the other woman’s dislike of Paul was making her behave in this shameless way. Eve just hoped Paul would be able to get away and arrive soon so that he could put an end to this stupidity; she very much doubted she was going to get any help from Adam Gardener in that direction!

In that she was proved very much correct, as Adam made a point through dinner of drawing her into the conversation, constantly prompting her to talk about herself, to tell him of what little family she had, to discuss the job she had continued to do at the local library despite her other career, simply because she enjoyed meeting and talking with people. Painting was a very solitary occupation.

Her uneasiness with the situation turned to apprehensive qualms when Patrick answered the telephone after the meal, then told her the call was for her—from Paul.

‘Take the call in our bedroom,’ Patrick offered softly as he saw her agitation.

She gladly accepted the invitation, carefully avoiding compelling dark eyes as she crossed the lounge

to firmly close the bedroom door behind her.

Adam Gardener had the gift of making her feel totally uncomfortable; he wouldn’t allow her the privilege of drifting into the background as she liked to do, always having preferred to be the listener rather than the centre of attention.

She took a deep, controlling breath before lifting the receiver of the extension, forcing her voice to be bright and untroubled. ‘Hello, darling,’ she greeted smoothly. ‘Nearly finished?’

‘No, I’m not,’ Paul’s abrupt answer instantly dashed her hopes that he was on his way to join her. ‘What are you doing at the O’Donnells’ after all?’ he added impatiently. ‘I telephoned Ashton House to talk to you just now, and your grandmother gave me your message that I was to join you when I had finished. I thought we had agreed earlier that we would cancel the dinner for tonight and make other arrangements?’

Eve sat down on the edge of the quilt-covered bed, the purple and lilac décor in here as flamboyant as the rest of the house. ‘It was such short notice for us to cancel, so I——’

‘It was utterly ridiculous for you to go to the O’Donnells’ alone,’ Paul cut in irritably.

‘A friend of Sophy and Patrick’s called unexpectedly and stayed for the meal, so we weren’t an odd number,’ she quickly defended, and then wished she hadn’t as she guessed the questions that would follow such a leading statement.

‘Male or female?’ Paul queried suspiciously.

Usually this protective part of Paul’s nature made her feel cherished and loved, but tonight, after another emotional battering from Adam Gardener, it just made her feel weary. The last thing she felt like doing just now was answering a lot of questions from Paul on the ‘unexpected guest’, especially as he had already met the other man—and their dislike had been mutual.

‘Female,’ she heard herself reply—and then wondered why on earth she had told such a lie.

She could never remember lying to Paul about anything before! It was no good telling herself she hadn’t felt like going into lengthy explanations; the truth of the matter was that she had just lied, blatantly. And it was going to cause more trouble than it was worth to tell Paul the truth now; she could hardly say, Oh, no, sorry—it was a man, after all! What on earth was happening to her?

‘Nevertheless,’ Paul answered sharply, ‘I’m sure the O’Donnells would have understood our need to cancel dinner tonight if you had just explained the situation to them.’

Sophy wouldn’t have understood any such thing, she would have been full of scathing comments, although that wasn’t the reason Eve had decided to come to dinner on her own; she had just hoped Paul wouldn’t be delayed too long by business and they could still have had most of the evening together with Sophy and Patrick.

Paul couldn’t possibly realise how much she wished she had taken heed of his suggestion now and made their excuses!

‘Never mind, darling,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘When do you think you might be able to get away?’ She would arrange to meet him at home if it were to be soon; she didn’t want him coming here and finding her out in her stupid, ridiculous lie.

‘Not soon enough tonight for us to meet,’ he told her irritably, dashing her hopes that they might salvage something of the evening, after all. ‘For some reason, Daniel Wall has decided he wants to review his will this evening,’ he muttered. ‘Forget I mentioned who the client is—although I know that isn’t really necessary.’ He sighed heavily.

She certainly wouldn’t mention Daniel Wall’s name to anyone as the client Paul was spending the evening with, but there was no way she could forget he had been the one to delay Paul tonight—or that he was a very good friend of Patrick’s! The idea that Sophy was matchmaking between herself and Adam Gardener was now more than a ‘feeling’.

‘I’d better not keep you from him any longer,’ Eve said distractedly, more than a little annoyed with Sophy for creating this crazy situation. She was in love with Paul, and didn’t need the complication of a man like Adam Gardener disrupting her life. ‘Will you be over to the house tomorrow evening?’

‘Your grandmother has already invited me to dinner. Apparently Marina has managed to get away a few days earlier than expected, and there’s to be a family dinner party to celebrate,’ Paul explained derisively.

Sophy wasn’t alone in her opinion of Marina; it was probably the only thing she and Paul had in common, and even that was probably one they wished they didn’t have!

In her career as an actress, Marina could sometimes be a little thoughtless in her actions, a little selfish, but there was no malice in her. The only thing that did bother Eve about Marina’s behaviour was the way she occasionally let their grandmother down; but, as the elderly lady affectionately accepted the thoughtlessness, Eve tended to do the same thing.

‘That will be nice.’ She smiled at the thought of seeing her cousin again; Ashton House was never dull when Marina was about. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then. And don’t work too hard tonight,’ she added teasingly.