Two-Week Wife

by Miranda Lee

  She’d hit the poor thing.

  Her hands were shaking as she pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine, dreading what she would see when she climbed out. ‘Stay in the car, Mum,’ she ordered, sounding much more in control than she felt.

  It was worse than she’d expected. Much worse.

  The pathetic bundle of matted fur was lying in the gutter, his head lolling limply to one side, one of its back legs twisted at an impossible angle and a bloodied area around the hip. Bianca bent to look closer. The pup didn’t have a collar round its throat and it wasn’t moving.

  It’s dead, that’s why, Bianca thought numbly as she bent to touch it lightly. I killed it. I’m a murderer.

  She straightened and looked away, feeling sick. Adam, who must have seen what had happened in his rear-vision mirror and pulled over as well, came running back up the pavement.

  ‘What happened? You almost hit that car. Dear God, Bianca, you scared me to death. For a moment there, I...Dear heaven, you’re as white as a sheet. Oh, darling, don’t cry,’ he said, and gathered her to him. ‘There, there,’ he soothed, stroking her hair and cuddling her close. ‘There’s no need to cry. A miss is as good as a mile.’

  ‘But I didn’t miss,’ she sobbed. ‘I wasn’t concentrating. I was thinking of my new car and...and other things, and then...and then it was just there, and I...I...Oh, Adam, I killed it!’ she wailed, and buried her tearstained face in the warm expanse of his chest.

  ‘Killed what?’

  ‘That poor little dog,’ she said, turning from his arms to point down the gutter.

  It was then that the animal lifted his head and whimpered.

  Bianca burst out of Adam’s arms. ‘It’s alive’! She raced over and knelt down in the gutter, and patted the frightened puppy on the head. ‘Oh, Adam, look, it’s alive! Look, I didn’t kill it.’

  He was looking, with a wry smile on his face. ‘So I see. I suppose you’ll want me to take it to the vet now, and pay for all its bills, and then find it a home.’

  ‘Well, it doesn’t have a collar, Adam. And it’s so skinny and scrawny. If anyone owns it, they’re certainly not looking after it. But I can pay for the vet bills myself, if you’ll help me get it there. I’m not that poor, and I’ve almost finished paying you back for my plane trip to Scotland.’

  Her mother joining them at that stage rather put paid to that line of conversation. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked. It was then that she saw the dog. ‘Oh, the poor little thing.’

  ‘Adam’s going to take it to the vet, aren’t you?’ Bianca said, looking up at him with pleading eyes·

  He squatted down beside her, his hand on her arm as gentle as his expression. ‘Of course,’ he said softly. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t?’

  Tears pricked at her eyes, for underneath she’d been worried that the new Adam might have a hard heart all the way through. Now she saw that down deep there was still a soft core. He was still someone she could count on, and the sense of relief was enormous. Her gaze blurred and she leant forward to kiss him on the cheek. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

  He said nothing, merely patted her on the arm.

  After a few seconds he stood up. ‘I’ve got a blanket in my boot. You stay put with the dog while I go and get it.’

  ‘It looks like a terrier of some kind,’ her mother ventured while they awaited Adam’s return. ‘A nicelooking little dog.’

  ‘I’m going to keep him if he gets better,’ Bianca suddenly decided, blinking hard to stop herself from crying.

  ‘You can’t keep a dog in a flat, Bianca,’ her mother said, with typical Scottish practicality. ‘Do be sensibly.’

  ‘Then I’ll move into a house,’ she said stubbornly.

  ‘I think Adam might have something to say about that, don’t you?’

  ‘What will I have something to say about?’ Adam said on rejoining them. He knelt down and began spreading a blue blanket alongside the injured animal.

  May pretended not to see Bianca’s warning glance. ‘Your wife wants to move to a house,’ she said blithely, ‘so that she can keep this dog. Actually, I agree with her—not so much because of the dog, but because a flat is not the best place to raise a family, no matter how nice it is.’

  Bianca’s silent groan was echoed in her face, but no one was looking at her. Adam’s attention was all on the dog as he rolled it gently onto the blanket and Bianca’s mother was watching him for some reaction, burbling on with meddling intent.

  ‘You know, Bianca has always held the opinion she wouldn’t make a good mother, but that’s not so. My daughter has a wealth of maternal instinct in her. That’s why she’s always lavishing love on animals. I think she’d make a marvellous mother, don’t you, Adam?’

  Bianca saw the flash of scepticism in Adam’s eyes before he wiped them of all expression and looked up at his pretend mother-in-law. ‘I’m sure you know your daughter better than anyone, May,’ he said as he wrapped the dog securely in the blanket and scooped him up. ‘But I suggest you don’t hold your breath on becoming a grandmother. Bianca has a mind of her own, and she just doesn’t see herself as a mother just yet.’

  Bianca could not have agreed with Adam more. Though the conversation brought back to mind that niggling qualm about the other night, when Adam had slept with her without protection. Still, her conceiving a baby on that one-off occasion would be like a thousand to one shot winning a race. When she looked at it like that, she decided it wasn’t worth worrying about. One day a period would come along. And if it didn’t...well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

  ‘Mum, you’re being a meddling mother-in-law,’ Bianca pronounced sternly, though she did feel a little sorry for her mother.

  May had wanted a big family herself, but hadn’t been blessed with one. And now her only daughter wasn’t going to fulfil her very natural wish to compensate by having a tribe of grandchildren. She’d be lucky if she got one grandchild at some time in the nebulous future.

  Bianca felt rotten about it but could hardly rectify the situation. It wasn’t her fault she was lacking in the right hormones to become a prolific bleeder. Like mother, like daughter, it seemed.

  ‘Adam, do you want us to come with you to the vet?’ she asked. ‘You might need someone to hold the dog while you’re driving.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. This little fellow’s not going anywhere, and I can keep a good eye on him in the passenger seat. I suggest you go on home—if you feel capable of driving, that is.’

  ‘I’ll be OK. It’s only a few miles from here. I’ll take it slowly.’

  ‘You do that.’

  ‘Adam...’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Oh...nothing.’ She’d been going to thank him again, but that would look a bit funny in front of her mother. ‘We’ll see you later.’

  ‘I could be quite a while,’ he warned.

  ‘I’ll put dinner on. Is there anything special you want?’

  ‘You know I like anything you cook, Bianca. Now do let me get this dog to the hospital or he’ll die on me, and then there’ll be hell to pay!’

  ‘You and Adam have a wonderful relationship,’ May said, once mother and daughter were on their way. ‘Being best friends before you became lovers was probably all for the best.’

  Bianca felt a sudden urge to shock her mother out of thinking everything was perfect, Adam included. What would be her reaction, she wondered, if she learnt it was Adam who’d taken her daughter’s virginity, when she was only seventeen? May had always thought Adam was such a nice, quiet, good boy. So had I, Bianca thought. Till recently.

  But to reveal that old piece of history would be so unfair. That hadn’t been Adam’s idea.

  ‘We still have our problems, Mum,’ she said instead. ‘And don’t you go believing what he said about that Sophie woman. He slept with her, all right.’

  ‘Oh, no. No, I won’t accept that. Your Adam loves you, my girl He was only trying to make you jealous with
that flashy piece of goods, like he said.’

  Bianca shook her head. Little did her mother know that Adam liked flashy pieces of goods in general. He’d turned her into a flashy piece yesterday. Her mother would have died if she’d seen her.

  ‘Much the same as you were doing with that Derek person,’ her mother added. ‘I know you too well to believe you were unfaithful to Adam, darling. You’re the most faithful girl I know, once you’ve decided you love someone. In the past, that love has been somewhat misguided, but I can see with Adam that you love him now as much as he loves you.’

  Bianca swallowed as tears threatened again. She wished. ‘I hope so, Mum. But no more talk about babies, please. I can’t even think of babies while my marriage is on shaky ground. Having a baby would be the worst thing I could do at this moment.’ Which it most certainly would!

  ‘Your marriage, my girl, is as solid as a rock,’ her mother pronounced with irritating certainty.

  Bianca almost laughed. ‘How can you say that? Two days ago my husband was dripping all over another very sexy woman.’

  ‘I just can.’

  ‘Second sense?’

  ‘Common sense. And my own two eyes!’

  ‘Whatever you say, Mum,’ Bianca agreed, with a weary sigh. Thank God she was only going to be with them for a fortnight. Bianca loved her mother very much, but she loved her even more from afar!

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘IT WAS so good of you to buy me a business class ticket back home, Adam,’ May said warmly. ‘You’re still a good boy. Now, look after my girl for me, won’t you?’ And she gave him a peck on the cheek.

  Adam nodded, then stood back a little while mother and daughter said their goodbyes, doing his best to watch them without depression setting in. The call had come to board the British Airways flight to Edinburgh. It was time for Bianca’s mother to leave, and time for his pretend marriage to Bianca to end.

  Perhaps it was all for the best, he reasoned, firmly pushing aside his emotions to concentrate on logic. How long could he have kept playing a combination of perfect husband and perfect playboy?

  In May’s company he’d been as nice and wholesome as apple pie, but behind closed doors he’d kept up the bad-boy act, never taking no for an answer to his demands, but never answering Bianca’s own perfectly natural questions about his gambling habits, and that puzzling penthouse and what he’d been up to in it.

  Yet it was the bad boy she’d fallen in love with, not good old loyal Adam.

  Which left him where, if he wanted to keep Bianca in love with him? Being a bastard for ever? She would eventually grow bored with that as well, he knew, so what was the point?

  The point, he decided, with a surge of ruthless resolve, was to keep her in his life and in his bed as long as possible. Maybe he might even marry her for real while she was vulnerable to this new side of himself. Who knew what he might do?

  Adam frowned. Hell, was being a bastard becoming second nature to him?

  Bianca returned to his side, red-eyed and sniffling. ‘She’s gone,’ she croaked.

  He gave her his hankie and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. ‘Do you want to stay and watch the plane take off?’

  ‘No, I hate that.’ She blew her nose noisily. ‘I’d rather go visit Lucky.’

  Adam sighed. ‘That mangy dog again. You visited him the other day, didn’t you?’

  ‘I’ve been visiting him every day. You’ve been happily at work, so you wouldn’t know.’

  Happily at work? That was a joke.

  It was as well his students had been doing end-of-year exams these past two weeks, as his concentration had been shot to bits. Lecturing in maths required a clear brain and some focus, but all he’d been able to think about all day every day was getting home to Bianca. He was glad it was Saturday and he had the rest of the weekend with her.

  It was only ten in the morning and the sun was shining. The rest of the day stretched ahead, warm and sensuous and theirs alone. He didn’t want to waste too much of it visiting a dog, no matter how cute it was. Truly, he was beginning to feel jealous of that animal.

  ‘You don’t honestly mean to keep him, do you?’ he asked.

  ‘I certainly do. The vet said he’d be ready to go home tomorrow.’

  ‘Might I remind you that all that talk of moving into a house was just talk for your mother.’

  ‘I suspected as much,’ she said glumly. ‘But I do have friends, you know. Maybe one of them can look after Lucky for a while, till I can find a house to share with someone.’

  ‘Such as whom?’ Adam snapped. God, she meant to leave him for that damned dog! It felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. So much for his belief that even the bastard in him had captured her love.

  She shrugged and stuffed the hankie into her jeans’ back pocket. ‘I don’t know. I’ll find someone.’

  ‘I dare say you will,’ he said sourly. Bianca had a knack for getting people to do things for her—himself included.

  ‘Oh, all right,’ he growled by the time they reached the car. ‘I’ll look around for a house.’

  Her face was almost worth the effort he knew it would take, selling his unit and finding a house which wouldn’t break his bank. Of course, if he sold the penthouse he would have plenty of money. But, damn it all, he didn’t want to sell the penthouse. It gave him a real buzz, using the place—especially with Bianca in tow. He was planning on taking her there tonight.

  ‘I’ll go see some real estate agents today,’ he added resignedly.

  ‘Oh, Adam!’ she exclaimed, and threw herself into his arms, covering his face with kisses. ‘I do so love you!’

  He grabbed her shoulders and held her away from him. ‘Do you, Bianca?’ he ground out, his heart thudding with a mixture of desire and anger. ‘Do you really? This isn’t just gratitude talking?’

  Confusion clouded her lovely eyes for a moment. ‘No,’ she said at last, but in a tentative voice. ‘No, it’s not gratitude.’

  ‘You love me?’ He scowled with all the cynicism the years of rejection had put there. ‘Adam Marsden? The same Adam Marsden you met in kindergarten?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said with heart-wrenching certainty, and went to kiss him again, this time on the mouth.

  He stopped her. ‘Great sex is not love, Bianca,’ he pointed out coldly. ‘When are you going to learn that?’

  She looked uncertain now. ‘I...It’s not just that,’ she said. ‘Surely not...’

  Adam’s frustration was acute. To place his heart in her hands was unthinkable, no matter how much he was tempted. She had no idea of true love. No damned idea! Dear God, if he let her, she’d tear his heart out completely. She’d already broken it a dozen times over.

  ‘Don’t try to make the last fortnight into more than it was, Bianca,’ he continued harshly. ‘Your mother’s gone away happy and we had a great time together. Let’s leave it at that.’

  ‘You mean you...you don’t want us to...to continue?’

  ‘I didn’t say that,’ he said roughly. ‘But let’s not romanticise our relationship. We’re friends and flatmates who’ve discovered we’re sexually compatible.’

  ‘Sexually compatible,’ she repeated, rather blankly.

  Exasperation at her lack of insight had him pulling her against him and kissing her with more impatience than passion. ‘There,’ he growled, once he’d reduced her to trembling. ‘That’s sex, Bianca, not love. What we’ve been doing every night in bed is sex, not love. What we did in the penthouse was sex, not love. Get the picture?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, and the hurt in her eyes nearly killed him. ‘I get the picture. Your pretending to be my husband was just for sex. Your being nice to my mother was just for sex. Your buying me that car was just for sex. Yet all the while, down deep, stupid me thought it was because you loved me. You’re sick, Adam Marsden. And cruel. Don’t bother selling the unit and buying a house on my account. Because I won’t be living in it with you. I won’t be having sex with you
any more either!’

  Her tirade pained him terrible. He grimaced and went to say something, but she was too quick for him.

  ‘Oh, don’t bother trying to defend yourself,’ she bit out. ‘I recognise a right bastard when I see one. Occasionally it takes me a while, but once the penny drops, it stays dropped. Funny—all these years I admired and respected you so much. I might not have loved you as I love you now, but I always thought highly of you. Now I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire!’

  He couldn’t bear her looking at him like that. He just couldn’t bear it.

  She wrenched out of his hands and started stalking off.

  ‘Bianca, don’t go!’ he called after her.

  But she kept on walking.

  ‘I love you!’ he confessed aloud with a tortured groan. ‘I’ve always loved you. You must know that...’

  She stopped, then slowly turned, scepticism warring with hope on her ravaged face. ‘Don’t say that if you don’t mean it.’

  His shoulders squared and he looked her straight in the eye. ‘I mean it,’ he said, looking strong on the outside while inside he was unravelling. Dear God, he’d done it now. He’d really done it.

  Well, if he was going to burn his bridge behind him he was sure as hell going to get across that bridge first. He began walking towards her with a purposeful stride.

  ‘I love you,’ he repeated, his eyes locking hard with hers. ‘And I don’t want you to go.’

  She fell into his arms, as he’d known she would. Bianca, he realised resignedly, was a romantic. What a pity her commitment never matched her ardour. It was a case of the flesh being willing, but the future being weak.

  But, oh...that ardour...and that flesh.

  He gathered her to him and began wallowing in both.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  BIANCA had never felt so happy. Adam loved her. He’d always loved her, he’d said. All those qualms she’d been having over his treatment of her lately had already disappeared in the face of that love.