Elusive as the Unicorn

Ironically there was nothing now standing in the way of telling Sophy to go ahead with the exhibition as she had planned; she doubted Paul cared any more what she did.

She walked despondently about the studio, gently touching a canvas here, gazing unseeingly at another canvas there.

In the past she had always found pleasure in her work; today she couldn’t find pleasure in anything, and her life seemed in a shambles.

She had little enthusiasm for the canvases she had yet to finish, either, making her wonder if there could be a winter exhibition, after all.

‘Your grandmother said you were back; I had a feeling you might be up here.’

Eve spun around like a startled doe at the sound of Adam’s voice behind her, eyeing him warily as he stood in the doorway at the top of the stairs.

‘May I?’ He indicated his desire to enter the studio as she made no effort to answer him.

She swallowed hard, finding difficulty in breathing, this the first time she had seen him since she had lain so wantonly in his arms the night before.

‘It looks as if you already have.’ Her reply was sharper than she would have wished, but then, Adam shouldn’t have invaded her privacy—especially when she was feeling so rawly vulnerable!

He held up his hands placatingly. ‘If you would rather I went away again …’

She would rather the whole world went away until she felt more able to face it; most of all she would rather not be anywhere near the man who had been instrumental in starting the tumbling down of the life she had planned for herself.

‘No, come in,’ she heard herself say dully. ‘After all, it won’t be the first time you’ve been up here, will it?’ she dismissed harshly.

Adam stepped frowningly into the studio, his hands thrust into the pockets of the black trousers he wore, the cuffs turned back to just below the elbows on his pale blue shirt.

Eve could feel an involuntary tightening of her defences, as if her body was more than usually aware of the danger this man was to her. He had no right to affect her this way!

‘I didn’t mean to intrude last night,’ he told her softly, his dark gaze compelling. ‘It was just that I was worried when you didn’t come back to your room, and decided to come looking for you.’

‘And in your search you stumbled across The Unicorn,’ she said derisively.

‘I found you,’ he corrected evenly, his dark gaze still holding hers captive.

Her head went back challengingly. ‘The Unicorn,’ she repeated firmly.

‘I wanted you in my life long before I knew anything about that.’ He stood in front of her now, so close that the warmth of his breath stirred the soft wisps of her fringe.

‘Did you?’ Her throat ached with the effort of holding back unshed tears.

Adam looked down at her searchingly. ‘Eve, where have you been all morning?’

Her throat moved convulsively, but still she held her emotions in check. ‘I went to tell the man I’ve loved all my life that I

can’t marry him, because of my response to a man I’ve just met,’ she told him in a clear voice, only a slight underlying tremor to give away her true feelings.

Adam breathed in harshly before breathing out again in a low sigh. ‘That must have been very difficult for you to do.’

If he had been gloatingly pleased, looked in the least triumphant, showed even the slightest pleasure in the act that had caused her so much pain, Eve might have managed to remain in control. As it was, his understanding of the trauma she had been through knocked down the walls of her defences and opened up the floodgates.

She literally fell into his arms, her body shaking with sobs, seeking comfort and reassurance, receiving it unquestioningly; Adam murmured soothingly into her hair, one hand moving comfortingly up and down her spine as he held her lightly to him.

The loud hiccup she gave in the midst of the tears broke the tension, and she gave a watery smile in return as Adam smiled down at her affectionately at her self-conscious grimace.

‘Not exactly elegant,’ she sighed, wiping away the tears with her fingertips, knowing her cheeks would be flushed, her nose bright red.

‘It’s only movie stars who manage to cry and still look beautiful,’ he said drily. ‘And that’s only because for the most part, they’re paid small fortunes to look that way!’

No surer way than that of telling her cheeks were flushed, and her nose was bright red! Oh, well, she had asked for it.