Ruthless Husband, Convenient Wife

by Madeleine Ker

  Ryan Wolfe walked onto the set one morning to see how his baby was doing—all his films were his ‘babies’—took one look at her, and decided there and then that she was his.

  That was so typical of his certainty, his arrogance. Turning her into one of his projects. His latest ‘baby’.

  But things were edgy between them right from the start. Being swept off her feet by an older man was exactly what Penny didn’t want to happen to her right then.

  She had been there, done that.

  Penny told Ryan the reason for her dropping out of university in the second year of her fine arts degree—her doomed love affair with the much older lecturer which had made her so unhappy. How it had ended by wrecking her happiness, her studies and her life.

  Ryan seemed to listen as she told him about Tom, who had exploited the innocence and trust of his best and prettiest student—as he’d done with other brilliant and pretty students before her.

  Ryan seemed to listen, yes. Then he kissed her and told her to forget Tom, that it was all over, that she was starting a new life now.

  Problem solved.

  He never understood that what Tom had done to her had left Penny very vulnerable. That there was a very real danger he would be a second Tom in her life. That he would trap her in just the same way. Despite all those warnings, he couldn’t leave her alone.

  He wanted her so much.

  So much that he was unable to give her what she so desperately needed—time. Time to get over Tom, to take a look at her life, time to consider the decisions she needed to take.

  He swept all her objections aside. To all her pleadings, Ryan had the same answer—he knew best.

  Lucky Ryan, Penny thought bitterly as she drove through the wintry landscape. It must be so pleasant to know what was best for other people. It made life so simple. To be so free of self-doubt that the tangled lives of others were nothing more than simple puzzles to be solved with a few clever moves!

  But when she’d learned that she was expecting his baby, that she was going to become a mother in a few months, she’d known there was no way to solve that particular puzzle.

  It was the last straw.

  Desperate to escape, to be alone with herself and look into her own heart, she told Ryan she was leaving.

  Ryan, overjoyed at the news that he was going to have a real baby at last, that his beloved was going to bear him a child, was flabbergasted.

  Why did she want to leave him now? Now, when their love was bearing such wonderful fruit? Now, when she was going to need him more than ever?

  Because she felt that her life was closing around her before it had even begun. Because she was in a trap between Ryan and her baby, with no escape at either end.

  The arguments raged. Until, driven by desperation, she made that terrible threat. He was stunned just long enough for her to make her escape—and disappear from his life forever.

  She’d never dreamed that biology would turn her over-heated words into a tragic reality.

  It was snowing lightly as she drove to Northcote. The headlights of her little delivery van shimmered on the snowbound roads. There was no traffic except the occasional owl sweeping through the bare trees. The high stone wall to her right meant that she was already driving along the boundary of Northcote Hall.

  In its heyday, Penny knew that Northcote had been one of the finest country houses in this part of Kent, with gardens designed by Capability Brown and architectural details by Robert Adam.

  In recent years, the house had stood empty. The owners, finding it too expensive to maintain, had put it on the market. They had modernised the house, and it was in good condition, but almost all of its once famous furnishings had been sold off, leaving the house bare. It was in need of a major refurnishing that would depend on finding a wealthy purchaser.

  Though Ryan Wolfe was probably easily rich enough to buy the grand old place and fill it with the beautiful furniture and art it deserved, she somehow doubted whether he was serious about that.

  Ryan was too restless, too much a lover of new things and adventures, to want to be tied to a life-long project like Northcote.

  She reached the gates now and drove up the tree-lined avenue to the house. She would have to postpone her memories and meditations until after her drink with Ryan. Her stomach was tightening with nerves, and she felt her mouth start to dry up.

  It added to her dismay to see that there were two other cars parked beside Ryan’s outside the Palladian entrance. He had not warned her that he had invited guests, people from the movie world, by the look of their expensive cars.

  She sat clutching the wheel with sweating hands, her heart pounding, poised to flee like a bird. She did not want to face this. Not tonight, not when Ryan’s re-entry in her life had shaken her up so much.

  But then a dark figure loomed up next to her van, and it was too late to flee.

  She lowered her window slowly. Ryan leaned down, his handsome face speckled with snowflakes, and smiled at her. ‘I’m glad you came,’ he said softly.

  ‘You wretch,’ she retorted. ‘You didn’t tell me there would be anyone else.’

  ‘They’re leaving in a short while,’ he told her. ‘In any case, you know them both, Penny. And they’re dying to see you. Switch off your engine and come in.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  HIS warm hand was on the small of her back as he ushered her into the house.

  Her gaze was drawn upwards to the great sweep of the moulded ceiling, and the marble staircase that led to the upper floor. The emptiness of the house somehow added to its grandeur, giving it a theatrical feel that was entirely at one with Ryan’s larger-than-life presence.

  ‘Glorious, isn’t it?’ he commented. ‘It’s big, but it has such noble proportions, you don’t notice the size.’

  ‘It suits you,’ she said. She looked at him. He was not so unkempt-looking as he had been a few days ago. His dark hair had been neatly trimmed and his face was more relaxed. He’d shaved, and he smelled of some delicious cologne. He was wearing a dark suit with a dark grey polo-neck. As always, in elegant clothes he looked utterly stunning.

  He helped her out of her coat, underneath which she was wearing jeans, boots and a white embroidered blouse. It was hardly the smartest outfit she possessed.

  ‘I would have dressed to meet company if you’d warned me, Ryan.’

  ‘It’s not a formal occasion.’ Ryan’s deep eyes, with their thick black fringe of lashes, surveyed her up and down. ‘And you look beautiful, darling girl.’ He hung her coat under the stairs, then took her arm. ‘Come.’

  The room he led her to was evidently a library or study, with beautiful linenfold panelling. But the shelves were bare of books and the room contained only some well-worn leather armchairs, drawn up around the fire that burned brightly in the hearth.

  As she walked into the room Dame Lucinda Strong rose from her chair, spreading her arms. ‘Penny! Dear heart! How wonderful to see you again!’

  It was an embrace which brought a lump to Penny’s throat. The celebrated actress, who was one of Ryan’s close friends, had been very kind to Penny, and seeing her was almost like seeing her dead mother again. Lucinda was already in middle age, but her face was filled with a glow of motherly beauty.

  Waiting in line to hug her was David Warlock, a distinguished film producer known for his powerful movies about love, who rarely appeared in public lately.

  ‘Welcome back, precious,’ he said, squeezing her tight. ‘We all missed you.’

  ‘We did indeed,’ Lucinda smiled, as Ryan seated Penny between them and put a glass of champagne into her hand.

  ‘I’ve just been here, working,’ she said awkwardly.

  ‘You’re more beautiful than ever,’ David Warlock told her in his quiet way. ‘It’s good to have you back.’ He patted her hand. On the set, he had one of the most commanding presences in the movies, but his off-set manner was far gentler, often tinged with unexpected melancholy. With his mane of silver hair
and his aquiline face, David reminded Penny of an ancient druid. But she knew he was in almost total retirement these days, and she wondered what could have brought him out of his Celtic sanctuary.

  These two people, Penny knew, belonged to Ryan’s inner circle. They were very different from each other in style. The reclusiveness of David Warlock, who lived in isolation on the west coast of Ireland nowadays, contrasted with Lucinda Strong’s extrovert manner, very much the grande dame of the theatre.

  But they had something in common. Though they made their living in a world where insincerity was all too common, they were rock-solid. Though both had achieved great success, there was not a false note or a fake smile around this fireplace.

  Ryan, she quickly realised, was raising funds for a movie to be directed by David Warlock, his first film in years. He had come across a script called The Other Side, which he described as ‘the most original thing I’ve read in years’, the story of a passionate love affair between a young man and an older woman. None of the studios had been interested so far. But David Warlock loved the script, Lucinda Strong was intrigued by the lead role, and Ryan was doing his best to encourage them both.

  ‘It’s been ages since you’ve done anything romantic, Lucinda,’ he pointed out. ‘Not since Autumn in Shanghai.’

  ‘That’s because I’m an old lady now, sweetheart,’ she said. ‘I play batty grandmothers and wicked witches these days, that’s all I’m fit for.’ But her eyes were sparkling, and the famous smile was hovering on her lips.

  ‘Are you fishing for compliments?’ Ryan sighed. ‘You’re a great beauty, and you know it. But that’s hardly the point. You’re the only actress with the emotional range to do this part justice.’

  ‘But all those bedroom scenes,’ Lucinda protested. ‘People don’t want to see the Nurse in bed with Romeo. It’s not appealing.’

  There was a grunt of protest from David Warlock.

  ‘The Other Side is a poignant story about an unusual and beautiful love affair,’ David said in his soft voice. ‘Only an actress with a beautiful soul could play Tamara.’

  Lucinda turned to Penny, who was smiling quietly as she listened to the debate. ‘What do you think, Penny Bun?’ It was her pet name for the younger woman. ‘Actresses should stop playing sexy roles when they’re no longer young, don’t you agree?’

  ‘I haven’t read the script,’ Penny said, ‘but love doesn’t have an age limit. Nor does sex. There just aren’t any barriers. And you are such a powerful actress that you make all your roles unforgettable.’

  ‘The flattery apart,’ Lucinda smiled, ‘do you really think the public want to see a grey-haired Juliet?’

  ‘I think if Romeo and Juliet had met in a retirement home, they would have fallen in love just as passionately.’

  The others, who had been listening, agreed. David nodded approval. ‘Bravo. Well said, Penny.’

  Snow was now starting to fall heavily again. The roads would soon be impassable. It was time for the little meeting to break up.

  Lucinda turned to Penny as they walked out, and said in a low voice, ‘It’s so wonderful to see you and Ryan together again, Penny. He’s been lost without you. We were all quite worried about him this last year. He’s just started to look his old self again in the past few days.’

  Penny looked into the wise eyes of the legendary actress. ‘We’re not exactly together again, Lucinda.’

  ‘You’re together tonight, at any rate. You and Ryan make one of the most perfect matches I’ve ever seen.’

  She grimaced. ‘Appearances can be deceptive. We’re very different people.’

  ‘Haven’t you just been telling me that there are no barriers to love?’ Lucinda said with a smile.

  ‘That’s true,’ Penny agreed. ‘But some kinds of love consume people. They don’t leave any room for you to be yourself.’

  ‘I think you will always be yourself,’ Lucinda commented. ‘But I have a different outlook, in any case. I think people only become themselves when they are truly in love.’

  Penny knew that Lucinda had lost her husband, and she could not think of anything to reply except, ‘I’m so sorry, Lucinda.’

  ‘I’m still in love with him,’ Lucinda replied lightly. ‘I always will be. It’s incurable, you know.’

  ‘Is it because you lost Bill that you’re hesitant about this part?’ Penny asked.

  ‘Partly,’ Lucinda admitted.

  ‘Perhaps you could do it for him,’ Penny said softly. ‘A tribute to him?’

  Lucinda smiled wryly. ‘You and Ryan are cut from the same cloth, my dear. Well, I’ll think about it. Now, tell me something—why did you leave Ryan?’

  ‘It all got too much for me,’ Penny replied, not knowing any other way to put it.

  ‘Ryan’s lifestyle?’

  ‘No…I got used to the jet-setting, the celebrities, the pace. It was just Ryan himself. He gave me no space.’

  ‘The important thing is that you’ve let Ryan back into your life.’

  ‘I’m doing my best to get him out of my life again!’

  ‘Ryan is a very special man,’ Lucinda said gently. ‘He’s a kind of magician. He brings people together, people who seem to have nothing in common, and then wonderful things happen. I don’t think he’s the domineering monster you think he is. He’s just very sure of himself. And I know he’s very sure that he’s the right man for you.’

  The words echoed what Ryan had said to her, and Penny shook her head slightly. ‘He can’t take that decision for me.’

  ‘Oh, I know! I suspect that you still love Ryan, and that you always will. He just has to learn to give you more space.’

  Penny caught Ryan’s bright grey eyes on her. He smiled in a way that always made her heart turn over in her breast. No doubt he was pleased she had done her bit towards persuading Lucinda Strong to take the role.

  Lucinda had caught the glance between Ryan and Penny. ‘He adores you, Penny,’ she said gently.

  ‘In his way, I suppose he does. You see, I had a bad experience when I was at university. I never had a chance to get over that. Ryan blew into my life like a tempest. Everything was too much, Lucinda. Even his love. He loves me too much, pushes me too much, dominates me too much. My soul wasn’t my own any more. And then—’ She was about to mention her pregnancy, but that was too painful a topic to bring up, and she stopped short.

  ‘And then something happened?’ Lucinda asked, looking at Penny with shrewd eyes. ‘Something you don’t want to talk about?’

  ‘I had some bad times,’ she said with an effort. ‘I was sick for a while, and…’

  Lucinda put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I know. Ryan told me you had a bad time in Exeter. I’m sorry.’

  Penny froze. ‘He told you about Exeter?’

  ‘He didn’t tell me anything specific,’ Lucinda smiled. ‘He just said you had been ill there. The doctors told him you almost died.’

  She felt even colder. ‘The doctors?’

  ‘He went up to the hospital where you were treated, a couple of days ago. I thought you knew.’ Lucinda’s face clouded as she saw Penny’s expression of horror. ‘Oh, dear. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you that!’

  Penny forced a facsimile of a smile onto her icy lips. ‘No, it’s all right. So that’s where he went. To Exeter. Not London.’

  ‘Penny, I shouldn’t have spoken. Please forgive me.’

  ‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ Penny said brightly. ‘Believe me, Lucinda, I would much rather have known.’

  Watching the tail-lights of the last car receding into the whirling clouds of snow, with Ryan’s arm tight around her waist, Penny was rigid with cold anger.

  ‘I’m so proud of you,’ Ryan said, kissing her neck. ‘You make everybody love you.’

  ‘I don’t set out to do that. And it wasn’t very fair to spring that on me.’

  ‘I needed to talk to Lucinda and David. I’m excited about this project. And you were perfect,’ he said.


  ‘I’m always perfect, aren’t I?’ she said.

  ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, you are,’ he replied, smiling. ‘Are you angry with me about something?’

  ‘You could say that.’

  He led her in, out of the cold. ‘What is it?’ he asked, looking intently down at her.

  ‘I hear you took a little trip to Exeter,’ she said in a taut voice. ‘A fact-finding mission, was it? Gathering background for a new film, perhaps?’

  His face seemed to close. ‘Lucinda told you.’

  ‘Yes. Mind you, I should have guessed, shouldn’t I? I should be used to your devious ways by now. So what did you do? Did you walk into St Cyprian’s disguised as a doctor in green scrubs, and demand my medical records? Or did you merely have to seduce some starry-eyed filing clerk?’

  ‘I did not try to get access to your medical records,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Oh, tell your lies to someone else,’ she retorted.

  ‘They wouldn’t have shown them to me, even if I had asked for them,’ he went on. ‘And I would never have asked.’

  ‘Ryan, you believe I’m your property. You think you own me, and have the right to take every decision for me.’ She was panting with anger as she spat the words at him. ‘So nothing you do surprises me any more. What did you do? Get some specialist friend of yours to put in the request? Pull my file so you could satisfy yourself as to whether I deliberately aborted your child?’

  ‘It is hateful to hear those words come out of your mouth,’ he said, the coldness of his tone matching her heat now.

  ‘It doesn’t really matter.’ Penny’s eyes were dark violet, as they often were when she was deeply upset. His, by contrast, were icy grey. Their gazes locked. ‘The mere fact that you went to St Cyprian’s, prying and snooping, shows you for what you are.’

  His mouth, normally so sensual, was a grim line. ‘And what am I?’

  ‘Someone so concerned about himself that he has no feeling for others. You went there because you didn’t believe what I told you. You wanted to prove that I lied to you, that my sickness never happened, that I jettisoned that baby to spite you.’