Gypsy

by Carole Mortimer

  But it seemed that he hadn’t, so it was up to her. ‘I want you to move back into your own suite,’ she told Lyon bluntly. ‘It isn’t necessary for you to be near Richard.’

  ‘I want to be.’

  ‘And I don’t want you to be,’ she glared at him. ‘Richard has me, he doesn’t need anyone else. I had expected you to insist he had a nanny, but not this—!’

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of suggesting you had a nanny, but a night-nurse may not be a bad idea—’

  ‘I don’t need one of those either,’ Shay informed him coldly.

  ‘You’ll tire yourself out.’

  ‘I’ll cope.’

  ‘What about your writing?’

  ‘What about it?’ she frowned.

  ‘You’ll be too tired to do any if you take complete care of Richard,’ he warned harshly.

  Her eyes widened. ‘Don’t tell me you’re waiting with bated breath for my next publication?’ she scorned.

  ‘No,’ denied Lyon predictably. ‘But I thought it might bother you if you can’t work.’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m taking six months off to spend with the baby now that my sixth book has been accepted.’ Her publisher had visited her in hospital and told her of their delight with the latest book she had submitted. ‘I hope by the end of that time Richard will be sleeping through the night.’

  ‘You’ll still be tired,’ Lyon insisted.

  ‘Most new mothers are,’ she dismissed. ‘Now about your suite—’

  ‘I’m staying where I am—’

  ‘The staff will talk!’ Two bright spots of angry colour heightened her cheeks.

  ‘Let them,’ he bit out. ‘I want to be close to you and Richard.’

  ‘But especially Richard,’ she scorned. ‘You feel as if he’s yours, don’t you, Lyon?’ she taunted, knowing she had hit target when he flinched.

  ‘Why are you doing this to me, Shay?’ he asked her dazedly.

  If she told him the reason for that she would have to tell him everything. And she had no intention of ever doing that!

  ‘I’m sorry if you think I was being offensive,’ she replied woodenly.

  ‘Are you?’ Lyon still looked puzzled.

  ‘Yes.’ She turned to pick up Richard as the nurse came in with the wheelchair that was dictated by the hospital regulations as being necessary to take her to her waiting car at the front doors. ‘Would you take my case, Lyon?’ she requested coolly, turning away dismissively as he did so.

  She had expected Lyon to be the one driving them back to Falconer House, but instead of that he got in the back of the Rolls with her and Richard, Jeffrey at the wheel on the other side of the glass partition.

  ‘I want to talk to you about the Christmas party before we get home,’ Lyon said after several minutes, very close to her on the seat, although the length of it made his proximity unnecessary.

  Shay frowned. ‘Matthew’s been bringing in my mail, and almost everyone seems to have already accepted. And all the arrangements had been made before I went into the hospital.’

  ‘It isn’t that.’ He absently tucked Richard’s hand back inside the shawl he was wrapped in. ‘Now that you all know of the circumstances, I think it would be madness to go ahead with the party. It would be an ideal opportunity for the person who is trying to harm us to strike again, to get all of us if necessary.’

  ‘Maybe they don’t want all of us,’ she frowned.

  ‘It would still be too much like asking for trouble.’

  ‘Are you saying we should cancel the party?’ demanded Shay incredulously.

  ‘I’m saying we should think about it,’ Lyon nodded.

  ‘I disagree,’ she shook her head. ‘I’m not going to be forced into living my life in fear because of some nut-case who seems to be making a lousy job of it if he wants to harm any one of us!’

  Lyon smiled. ‘I had a feeling you would say that.’ He sat back with satisfaction. ‘It was Matthew’s suggestion that we cancel the party, but I felt sure you would feel the same way about it that I do.’

  Shay stared at him helplessly as she realised she had been tricked into doing what he had wanted from the beginning of the conversation. She would never have done it voluntarily.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  LYON watched Shay as she moved easily and confidently among the hundred or so guests gathered in the reception area and main lounge, the purple of her gown a perfect match for her sparkling eyes, her face glowing with health and happiness.

  It was just a month since Richard’s birth, and already Shay was looking more beautiful than ever before, her body more slender than he had ever seen it, her hair glowingly ebony. She was a wonderful mother to Richard, and that she was enjoying the rôle showed in her inner air of contentment.

  There had been a few clashes of wills between them since she had returned home, the first one being the following morning when he had carried Richard into her bedroom for his early-morning feed. She had protested at his intrusion the next morning too, and the morning after that, and then she had given up protesting and accepted that he intended doing it whether she wanted him to or not.

  A week later he had lingered in the room as Richard yelled loudly for his food, shaking his head when Shay asked him to leave. Her request had turned to anger, but as Richard became more and more upset at the delay in his breakfast, she had had no choice but to feed him. Lyon’s heart leapt as she unbuttoned the front of her nightgown to reveal one brown-tipped breast, Richard latching greedily on to the nipple as it was placed in his mouth, the other breast unwittingly bared as Shay became engrossed in feeding her son. Lyon hadn’t been able to look away from the beauty of mother and child so intimately together.

  ‘Jealous, Lyon?’ Shay had suddenly looked up to taunt.

  ‘Insanely,’ he answered instantly. Watching Richard suckling from her breast was the most moving experience of his life; it also gave him the deepest surge of passion he had ever known! He had watched mother and child a lot the last three weeks, and he still got that same aching rush of warm desire every time he saw them together.

  He was aroused now as he watched her circulate among their guests, her breasts only slightly heavier from feeding Richard, her waist so thin he could span it with both hands, her hips swaying provocatively. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen!

  ‘Lovely, isn’t she?’ mused Matthew mockingly at his side.

  ‘Very.’ Lyon didn’t rise to the taunt, still following Shay’s progress with his eyes.

  ‘You should have married her, Lyon, while you had the chance,’ his brother continued heartlessly.

  Lyon looked at him with narrowed eyes. ‘I already had a wife, remember.’

  The two men turned simultaneously to look at the glittering Marilyn, the silver dress she wore held up only by thin shoulder-straps, the style of the dress almost indecent. She easily outshone the handsome man standing amiably at her side.

  ‘You shouldn’t have invited her here tonight, Lyon,’ Matthew bit out curtly. ‘Three of your women in the house at the same time is two too many!’

  ‘Three?’ Lyon frowned, looking at the many beautiful women in the room; he had touched none of them. ‘What are you—’ His brow cleared as he saw the way Matthew was looking at Patty as she moved about the room with a tray of drinks. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Matthew,’ he snapped. ‘Just because you don’t like the girl doesn’t mean I have to be having an affair with her!’

  ‘It wasn’t my idea,’ Matthew snapped.

  Lyon’s frown returned, and then he gave a weary sigh. ‘Shay seems to think I have affairs with every young woman I meet.’

  ‘Does that mean you aren’t involved with Patty?’ he brother rasped.

  ‘Of course I’m not.’ Lyon took two glasses of champagne off a tray as Hopkins passed him, handing one to Matthew. ‘I haven’t so much as looked at another woman since I brought Shay back from Los Angeles. I want her every time I look at her,’ he admitted ruefully, the evidence of
that desire hidden beneath his dinner jacket.

  ‘So I see,’ Matthew drawled. ‘Well I wish you luck; I think you’re going to need it.’

  Lyon watched his brother move smoothly away, frowning heavily. Matthew really was the damnedest man! A few minutes ago he had been ready to rip out his throat, had been acting like a wounded animal for weeks, snapping and snarling at him at every opportunity, and now he acted as if nothing had happened, his good wishes concerning Shay genuine, if cryptically given.

  He didn’t have the time right now to probe Matthew’s unpredictability, filled with a new tension as his gaze darted restlessly about the room. Was it one of these people, friends for years most of them, deliberately trying to hurt members of this family?

  * * *

  SHE MIGHT HAVE acted unconcerned when Lyon had suggested there could be another accident, but now that the night of the party had actually arrived, Shay couldn’t help suspecting everyone there. Maybe if they knew the reason for the ‘accidents’ it wouldn’t be so difficult to know who was doing them. Obviously the person responsible thought that too, no explanation given for what had already happened, no threats made, just the coincidence of possible-fatal accidents to all of them. Or so each of them said; she was still wary of trusting anyone other than her grandfather.

  ‘Would you care to dance, Shay?’

  She turned to smile warmly at Derrick Stewartby, had been at Lyon’s side when they greeted the other couple on their arrival a short time ago, Derrick looking a little strained now. ‘I’d love to.’ She moved gracefully into his arms as they stepped on to the dance-floor, looking up at him with a grimace as they both caught the fiercely angry face of his fiancée as she glared at them.

  ‘Marilyn looks a little annoyed,’ Shay commented as she turned away.

  ‘She is,’ Derrick nodded grimly.

  Shay’s eyes widened. ‘With you?’ If she were it would explain the worry-lines beside this man’s eyes.

  Derrick gave a tight smile. ‘I merely remarked what a good party this is, and—’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Shay couldn’t hold back her smile. ‘Not the most tactful of things to have said, I’m afraid.’ Marilyn had been giving her venomous looks ever since she arrived because Shay was so obviously the hostess tonight instead of her.

  ‘So I gathered,’ he groaned. ‘It’s difficult for her,’ he frowned. ‘Realising she’s—no longer a part of all this.’

  Shay would have liked to have pointed out that it was even more difficult for him, constantly being thrust into the company of Marilyn’s estranged husband and his family. But she didn’t say it, knew Derrick must love the other woman very much to put up with the things he did.

  She patted his arm understandingly. ‘Go and tell her how beautiful she looks,’ she smiled. ‘No woman can resist a genuine compliment.’

  ‘Marilyn can,’ Derrick sighed. ‘It is a good party, Shay,’ he told her softly. ‘And you’re a beautiful hostess.’

  Colour highlighted her cheeks. ‘You see.’ She gave an embarrassed laugh at this unexpected praise. ‘I told you no woman can resist a genuine compliment.’ She stepped back from him as the music ended.

  He returned her smile. ‘I’ll go back to Marilyn and try it.’

  She squeezed his hand, really liking this man who had unwittingly placed himself in the unenviable position of loving a woman who wasn’t prepared to let go completely of her ex-husband.

  She watched as he approached Marilyn, the other woman giving him a cold look, thawing a little as Derrick bent to whisper something in her ear, the two of them moving to the adjoining room, Marilyn laughing throatily as Derrick took her in his arms and they began to dance.

  ‘Like something to eat?’ Neil joined her, having arrived for the holidays only that afternoon.

  ‘Not for me, thanks,’ she smiled. ‘But you go ahead.’

  ‘It’s a successful party, Shay.’ He helped himself to a pastry stuffed with turkey from the buffet table, several other people helping themselves to the sumptuous array of food.

  ‘I hope you’ll save me a dance for later,’ she teased. ‘I’ve noticed all the single women here giving you inviting looks.’

  ‘But of course,’ he mocked, ‘I’m the most eligible Falconer here. Matthew isn’t interested, and Lyon—’

  ‘Yes?’ prompted Shay tautly.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry if I’ve put my two left feet in it,’ Neil grimaced. ‘But it’s obvious to everyone in the room that Lyon can’t see anyone but you.’

  She had been aware of the golden-eyed man across the room for the last hour, knew he was watching her, devouring her with his eyes, making silent love to her. It dismayed her to realise everyone else here was aware of Lyon’s preoccupation with her too!

  ‘Damn him!’ She turned to glare at Lyon furiously, satisfied by the stunned surprise he showed at her vehemence.

  ‘He damned himself a long time ago,’ Neil chided, taking her hand in his. ‘Come on, let’s give the gossips something else to talk about; we’ll have the next half a dozen dances together and have everyone guessing!’

  ‘Which Falconer I’m after next,’ she finished wearily, following him into the adjoining room where the band was playing, several couples dancing to the slow, romantic music. ‘Most of them know I knew Lyon before Ricky.’

  ‘What difference does it make?’ Neil teased as he held her close as they danced. ‘Every one of the men in the room would marry you if you would have them—even the ones that are already married!’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ She blushed at the compliment.

  ‘It’s true,’ he shrugged.

  ‘I’ve just had my husband’s baby!’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So I’m not on the look-out for another husband,’ Shay told him firmly. ‘And especially another Falconer.’

  Neil grimaced. ‘I wish you wouldn’t make us sound like some sort of disease!’

  She laughed softly. ‘If you were you would be a fatal one!’

  ‘Don’t look now but we’re being stared at,’ Neil bent to whisper conspiratorially in her ear.

  She instantly stiffened. ‘Lyon?’

  ‘How on earth did you guess?’ Neil drawled with sarcasm.

  Despite the fact that it was obvious who their observer was, she also felt a tingling at the nape of her neck every time Lyon looked at her. She could feel it now, had been aware of it all evening. She stepped back from Neil. ‘Would you please go and tell him to stop this,’ she said forcefully. ‘Before I cause a scene he’ll never forget!’

  ‘I think you must have become more of a Falconer than I realised,’ he derided. ‘And I must be more of one that I realised too,’ he added ruefully. ‘Because I would love to see you cause a scene.’

  ‘Neil!’

  ‘All right,’ he soothed. ‘I’ll go and talk to him. Not that it will do any good, Lyon’s never listened to anyone but himself!’

  ‘He’s making fools out of all of us,’ Shay said between stiff lips, knowing they were the cause of amusement among a lot of the guests. They were certainly the cynosure of all eyes!

  ‘Come outside for a walk,’ Matthew invited softly as Neil approached Lyon. ‘Before the sparks start to fly,’ he added dryly.

  She took her wrap from Hopkins as she and Matthew went outside, the air feeling crisp enough for snow. ‘Do you think we’ll have a white Christmas?’ She snuggled down into her white velvet jacket.

  Matthew looked up at the dark cloudy sky. ‘Who knows?’ he shrugged.

  ‘Or cares?’ she teased, looking down at him as they moved across the brightly-lit yard towards the stables.

  ‘Or cares,’ he acknowledged disinterestedly. ‘It certainly daren’t snow before Lyon finishes for the holidays at five o’clock tomorrow.’

  That bitterness again! ‘Matthew, what’s been wrong with you lately?’ she prompted concernedly. ‘You seem to have lost interest in everything.’ And she had missed his cryptic humour the last few weeks.


  ‘It’s that time of year,’ he revealed abruptly, as if he instantly regretted revealing even that much. ‘It was Christmas when I had my accident and put myself in this chair,’ he added harshly.

  ‘I didn’t realise,’ Shay apologised. ‘No one mentioned it …’

  ‘I’ve never felt it as much before as I am this year,’ he shrugged.

  ‘Has something happened to upset you?’ she frowned.

  ‘No,’ he rasped. ‘And it isn’t going to either!’

  ‘Matthew—’

  ‘Let’s go back to the house,’ he suggested abruptly.

  ‘Matthew, please—’

  ‘Now!’ he insisted harshly.

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not ready to go back inside yet.’

  He frowned. ‘You know staying out here on your own isn’t a good idea.’

  Her mouth twisted. ‘I’m sure Donaldson is about protecting me somewhere,’ The other man had become almost like her shadow lately!

  ‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Matthew derided. ‘But don’t stay out here too long, we don’t want you to catch a chill.’

  ‘I have to come in and feed Richard soon anyway,’ Shay nodded.

  ‘With Lyon as your audience!’ He chuckled as she blushed. ‘Don’t look so upset, love,’ he chided. ‘I only know about it because I saw him follow you into the nursery when it was time for Richard’s feed one evening. He didn’t come out again until you did.’

  ‘He just won’t go away,’ she muttered uncomfortably. ‘Even though I’ve repeatedly asked him to.’

  ‘Don’t feel you have to apologise for Lyon’s actions, Shay,’ Matthew soothed. ‘I’m sure he would consider it unnecessary.’

  ‘Lyon is a law unto himself!’ she agreed resentfully.

  Lyon had become even more insistent since she had come out of hospital, invading her life on every level. She had been outraged the first time he insisted on witnessing the intimacy of her feeding Richard, but her distress only upset Richard, and so after that first time she had just ignored Lyon’s presence in the room as he watched them heatedly.

  His divorce was only weeks away, and although he no longer mentioned marriage between them, she knew he considered it a foregone conclusion.