Fugitive Wife

by Sara Craven

  It was good to be back behind the wheel again, and to have something to concentrate on, to take her mind off all the questions which were buzzing unanswered in her brain.

  She drove steadily, keeping her father’s tail-lights always in view. Christopher, beside her, looked hunched and rather miserable as if he too wished he had some papers to bury himself in. Briony thought, Maybe he knows that he’s out of favour. And wondered why.

  At last she asked, ‘Was Daddy terribly angry when Logan phoned and told him where I was?’

  ‘Angry,’ Christopher said fervently, ‘wasn’t the word for it.’ He gave her a sidelong glance. ‘I always knew he disliked your―your husband, but I don’t think I realised quite how much until this morning.’

  ‘It took me quite a time to realise too.’ she said drily, remembering the file of cuttings hidden in the desk drawer, and the woman paid to divide and destroy. If he’d done it once, she thought, he could do it again.

  She tried to make her voice casual. ‘He’s so impatient, of course. He must have known that the marriage wouldn’t work, but that didn’t stop him trying a few dirty tricks to speed the process along, as it were.’

  She gave him a quick glance. ‘I hope I’m not shocking you.’

  ‘Not at all,’ he laughed awkwardly. ‘They say, don’t they, that all’s fair in love and war? And it’s certainly war between Logan and your father.’

  ‘Yes.’ It was starting to rain again, and she switched on the windscreen wipers. ‘They quarrelled, then?’

  ‘That’s putting it mildly.’ Christopher sighed. ‘I thought at first your father was going to have an apoplectic fit. He kept shouting “I won’t have it, do you hear? You get out of her life, and you stay out! ” , He shook his head. ‘Odd, really. I suppose your―husband can’t have made it clear to him that the marriage was over, or he wouldn’t …’ He stopped suddenly.

  ‘He wouldn’t what?’ Briony pressed gently.

  ‘Wouldn’t have insulted him as he did, I suppose,’ Christopher said after a pause.

  He was aware that he was being indiscreet, and was retreating into silence she realised. Her brain worked madly.

  She said with a light laugh, ‘I should think Logan’s quite used to Daddy’s insults.’ She managed a slight yawn. ‘Don’t tell me he tried to buy him off again?’

  ‘Well, yes.’ Christopher looked thoroughly taken aback. ‘You mean it’s happened before?’

  ‘In a way.’ The steering wheel was beginning to feel slippery in her hands. She said smilingly, ‘It would serve Daddy right if Logan took the money.’

  ‘Oh, but he didn’t,’ Christopher assured her hastily. ‘I don’t know what he said, but I think it must have been equally insulting, because Sir Charles went crimson, and couldn’t speak for a moment or two. When he started again, the air was blue, I can tell you. He said the reason your husband wouldn’t take the money he offered was because he expected to get far more than that when he―Sir Charles that is―died, you being his heiress. Hey!’ He grabbed at the steering wheel in alarm. ‘Mind that lorry! ‘

  ‘I saw it,’ she said through stiff lips. ‘What else did he say?’

  ‘Not much.’ Christopher was clearly uncomfortable. ‘Look here, Briony, I shouldn’t even have told you this much.’

  ‘But you have.’ she said. ‘And now you can tell me the rest of this charming one-sided conversation.’

  ‘There was nothing charming about it,’ he said sullenly. ‘Your father told your husband that unless he got out of your life for good, he would cut you out of his will―leave you entirely penniless. He said, “She’s enjoyed being a rich man’s daughter. Let’s see how long she can stand being a poor man’s wife. And you haven’t even got a job any more.” He stopped and looked at her stricken face. ‘Well, you did ask me.’ he said defensively.

  ‘What happened then?’ She moistened her dry lips with her tongue.

  Christopher thought for a moment. ‘Not a great deal,’ he said at last. ‘Your father began to look pleased, and then he put the phone down, and he was smiling. “Well, I’ve made sure that we’ve seen the last of him.’’ he said.’ He sighed. ‘I’m afraid I was shocked, and I showed it.’

  Shocked, Briony thought, or anxious in case Sir Charles was setting a precedent for the treatment of sons-in-law unfortunate enough to arouse his displeasure? But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she knew the truth. She set her indicator going and drew on to the hard shoulder.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Christopher demanded. ‘Is something wrong with the engine?’

  ‘The engine’s fine,’ she said. ‘This is where you get out, Christopher, I’m afraid. There’s an exit just ahead, and I’m going back to Yorkshire while I’ve still got time. Don’t worry. Daddy will soon notice that we’re not behind him and come back to have a look. Or you can hitch-hike if you prefer not to face him just yet. I’ll tell you something―I bet Logan won’t be the only one without a job very soon.’ She leaned across him and opened the passenger door, as he seemed paralysed with shock.

  ‘Out,’ she said mercilessly.

  It was nearly closing time when her car drew up in front of the Black Bull. She switched off the engine and ran into the foyer. One glance into the crowded bar told her that Logan was not there, and the surprised girl who came in answer to her imperative ring on the brass bell on the reception desk told her that Mr. Adair had decided not to stay after all, and had left early that evening.

  ‘Where did he go, do you know?’ Briony demanded urgently, but the receptionist couldn’t say.

  Briony walked back into the dark street. The rain had eased somewhat, and a scatter of stars was dimly visible between the bulk of the slowly moving clouds. Logan, she supposed, would also be on his way to London by now; she had probably passed him on her mad dash here. She stiffened suddenly as a thought struck her. The next moment she was running down the village street.

  The track was worse than ever in the darkness, and she was splashed from head to foot with slush and dirty water by the time she reached the cottage gate. She leaned on the gate for a moment to catch her breath, straining her eyes towards the living room window, wondering if she was just imagining that the curtains were drawn and a faint chink of light peeping from between them.

  She opened the gate and stumbled up the path. The front door wasn’t locked and a great breath of relief escaped from her as she flung herself across the threshold.

  She opened the living room door and went in. Logan was sitting by the fire, his head buried in his hands.

  At the sound of her entrance he looked up sharply, his brows snapping together in disbelief as he looked at her.

  He demanded, ‘What the hell are you doing here? I thought you’d be in London by now.’

  ‘I bet you did.’ She slipped off her jacket and let it fall to the floor. She said simply, ‘Oh, darling, why didn’t you ask me if I’d rather be a rich man’s daughter than a poor man’s wife?’

  She took one step, and she was in his arms, and he was kissing her as he’d kissed her the previous night, with passion and tenderness―and love. She knew it now with a deep and radiant certainty, and her heart sang joyously as she clung to him.

  Presently he lifted her into his arms and sat with her by the fire, holding her close against him as if he would never let her go.

  He said, ‘I’ve got something for you.’ Briony looked down wonderingly at the little circle of gold he was holding out to her.

  ‘My ring!’ she exclaimed. ‘Where did you find it?’

  ‘Under the dresser first thing this morning. I was curious to know what you’d been looking for the other day, so I poked about a little bit. It had rolled almost to the back,’ he said, sliding it on to her finger. ‘I intended to give it to you when you woke up. Then I spoke to your father, and everything changed.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me that he’d tried to bribe you to leave me and then threatened to cut me out of his will instead?’ She put a c
aressing hand against his cheek.

  ‘I think I was afraid to.’ he said after a pause. ‘In a way, I felt your father had a point, even though I didn’t like the way in which he expressed it. You would be giving up a great deal if you stayed with me. I can’t guarantee the book will be a success, and I have no other job at the moment. Besides, the thing between us was so new, so fragile, I didn’t know whether it would be strong enough to withstand an open breach with your father.’

  ‘You didn’t trust me.’ She wound her fingers in his hair and tugged at it.

  ‘You didn’t trust me.’ He kissed her parted lips lingeringly. ‘Why did you drag poor Karen into the conversation? Though I must admit it was useful, as I was trying to drive you away. And I had phoned her, as it happened, to ask if I could take over the tenancy of the flat again once she’d departed to join Tony.’

  ‘So that’s why she was on her way there that day.’ said Briony, thinking aloud, and blushed fierily when she met his questioning glance. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ she mumbled.

  ‘I think it does.’ he said gravely. ‘All right, Karen and I were―involved for a time, but it had finished even before I started going out with you. What made you think she was still part of my life? ’

  ‘She did.’ Briony said unhappily. ‘I went round to see you after I discovered that my father had bribed Marina Chapman―oh! Of course, you didn’t know about that.’

  ‘I guessed.’ he said. ‘Her appearance on the scene was just too damned convenient, and the effect it would have on you had been gauged by someone who knew you very well. But go on. You came round to see me―when and why?’

  ‘It wasn’t very long after we’d got back from here.’ she said. ‘Perhaps a fortnight or less. I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for the hysterical way I’d behaved. I wanted to tell you what my father had done, and ask if we could begin again. ‘But Karen answered the door. She ―she wasn‘t dressed, and she said―things which made me think you were sleeping with her again. She wouldn’t let me see you, or talk to you.’

  ‘She couldn’t,’ Logan said drily. ‘I was down in Cornwall for most of the fortnight that we should have been on our honeymoon. I was pretty broken up when I got back to the flat, and Tony saw it. I couldn’t go into work because that would have set tongues wagging, and I was drinking too much, so Tony sent me down to stay with a cousin of his who runs a small hotel near Fowey. I walked a lot, and went out in their boat, and gradually I began to get my head together again.’ He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. ‘You weren’t the only one who had things to apologise for, you know. I loathed myself for the way I’d treated you that night. You were so sweet, so responsive―God!’ He shook his head. ‘The hardest thing I ever did was turn away from you.’ His mouth found hers. ‘Almost as hard as sending you away today,’ he murmured against her lips.

  ‘But why was Karen at the flat?’ Briony persisted when she was allowed to speak again. ‘And why did she pretend there was still something between you?’

  Logan shrugged. ‘She was at the flat because she’d asked if she could borrow it as Tony was abroad and I was away while her own was being redecorated. As for why she said what she did’―he was silent for a moment ― ‘perhaps, for a while, it was more finished for me than it was for her. She didn’t like you, and perhaps she saw a chance to get back at you.’ He pulled her close to him.

  ‘Anyway, she’s married to Tony now and they’re blissfully happy, so let sleeping dogs lie.’ His exploring hand found the soft curve of her breast, and lingered. ‘And what about you, Mrs Adair? Are you going to make me blissfully happy?’

  Briony was oddly shy and a little breathless as he began to unfasten the buttons on the velvet shirt.

  ‘Logan, what will we do if my father comes chasing me?’

  ‘Exactly what we’re doing now.’ He eased the velvet from her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. ‘God, but you’re lovely,’ he said huskily. ‘And the imminent arrival of all the fathers in the world isn’t going to make the slightest difference to my plans for the next few hours. I love you, Briony, and this is going to be the honeymoon we never had. Sure you don’t want to run away again while you still have the chance?’

  ‘I stopped running a long time ago,’ she whispered, sliding her arms round his neck and drawing him down to her.

  His kiss was warm and possessive and increasingly urgent, ending only as he rose to his feet, still holding her cradled against him. His eyes were tender as he smiled down into her flushed face.

  ‘You’ll never be rid of me, then,’ he said softly, and in his voice Briony heard the promise of future joys as yet undreamed of.