Ice In His Veins

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Let me finish, darling.’ She pushed the dark hair back from his furrowed brow. ‘I just wanted to make sure Gary was all right after you hit him.’ Teasing entered her voice.

  ‘It didn’t take you four hours to find that out,’ he scowled.

  ‘No,’ she agreed. ‘I felt so good, so happy, that I went for a walk before going to see him.’

  ‘If you felt that good why didn’t you walk down the corridor to my bedroom? I would have welcomed you with open arms.’

  She smiled. ‘I thought you’d gone to work.’

  ‘I stayed at home with the intention of spending the day with you.’ He grimaced. ‘I wasn’t pleased when I found your bedroom to be empty.’

  ‘What would you have done if it hadn’t been?’ she asked softly.

  ‘This,’ he groaned, pulling her head down so that their lips met in a searing kiss. ‘And this,’ he kissed her throat, slowly unbuttoning her blouse, his lips moving down to the hollow between her breasts. ‘And this,’ he released the front fastening of her bra to plunder the rosy peaks below. ‘Oh God, yes, this!’

  Eden had known herself lost at the first touch of his lips on hers, and now she held him to her by her fingers entwined in the dark thickness of his hair. Jason pulled her down so that she lay across his lap, his lips on hers while his fingers touched her hardened nipples, transferring her into a world of heady delight,

  ‘I love you,’ she murmured throatily.

  ‘And I love you,’ he moaned, his desire unhidden as he kissed and caressed her to meet his passion.

  ‘If you believe that then you’re a fool,’ drawled a feminine voice from behind them.

  ‘Isobel!’ Jason stood up, pushing Eden behind him as she endeavoured to tidy her clothing. ‘Isobel….’ he repeated.

  ‘Yes!’ Brown eyes flashed as Isobel slammed the door behind her. ‘I should have known what was going on, I suppose,’ she sneered. ‘I must congratulate you on succeeding so quickly, Jason.’

  Eden was rapidly buttoning her blouse, her fingers seeming to be all thumbs in her haste. It was bad enough that anyone should find Jason and herself in such an embarrassing situation, but that it should be Isobel Morton….

  ‘What is that remark supposed to mean?’ Jason appeared completely calm.

  Isobel smiled, a smile that held no humour. ‘I’ve been expecting this ever since you brought her back here.’

  Eden moved from behind Jason, a deep colour in her cheeks. ‘I—It was just one of those things. There was nothing more to it than heightened emotions,’ she lied.

  ‘Eden!’ Jason gave her a furious look. ‘Don’t make matters worse.’

  ‘Is that possible?’ Isobel asked in a bored voice, looking coolly beautiful in a silky cream-coloured dress that showed the slender curves of her body to perfection. ‘Really, Eden, you don’t have to lie to me. I’ve known Jason a lot longer than you have, and I know exactly the way his devious mind works. Besides, I heard your declarations of love, remember?’

  ‘Just the heat of the moment,’ Eden excused, although she had to admit this woman didn’t look unduly concerned by finding her in Jason’s arms. Perhaps it was going to be all right after all.

  ‘I’m sure,’ Isobel agreed. ‘Jason is very good at making one forget everything but him, very accomplished.’

  ‘Yes….’ Eden said miserably.

  ‘No need to look so upset, Eden,’ Isobel taunted. ‘I told you, I know Jason, very well in fact.’ She turned to look at him. ‘When did you intend telling me of your forthcoming marriage? I take it there is to be a marriage?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said grimly.

  ‘That’s what I thought. It would have to be marriage, wouldn’t it, otherwise there’d be no point to this. It’s really too bad I had to upset David as I did. If he hadn’t died I would probably have been Mrs Jason Earle by now.’

  ‘You upset him?’ Jason demanded to know.

  ‘Not intentionally, I can assure you. As I just told you, his early death was not part of my plans,’ Isobel told them calmly. ‘In fact just knowing I was partly responsible has made me feel ill these last few weeks. But I really couldn’t let his new will stand unargued by me. I’m sure his will must have come as something of a surprise to you too, darling.’

  ‘I knew about it before he died,’ Jason informed her tautly.

  ‘But not all of it, and not long before either. Am I right?’

  He shrugged. ‘You could be.’

  ‘Poor Jason, what a shock for you,’ she laughed.

  ‘Not at all,’ he dismissed. ‘It was only to be expected that David would leave everything to his grandchild.’

  ‘A grandchild you didn’t even know existed. It altered your plans somewhat, didn’t it?’

  The conversation was mainly passing over Eden’s head, although she had registered Isobel taking the blame for David Morton’s second and fatal heart attack. Her own feelings of guilt gratefully faded. Isobel didn’t seem at all upset or surprised at finding herself and Jason in a passionate clinch, and although she could only feel grateful they hadn’t been subjected to a scene it was a surprising reaction, almost as if Isobel had been waiting for this to happen.

  ‘I had no plans, Isobel,’ Jason said calmly. ‘I knew that I was to be responsible for David’s business affairs after his death, but I could have no idea,’ he reached out to entwine his fingers with Eden’s, smiling down at her, ‘that I was going to fall in love with his granddaughter.’

  ‘Oh, spare me that!’ Isobel snorted. ‘You may be able to dupe this lovesick child with that rubbish, but you and I know the truth. And this has nothing to do with you loving her. But I congratulate you on managing to make her fall in love with you.’

  ‘Shall I leave the two of you alone to talk?’ Eden looked pleadingly at Jason as he refused to let go of her hand, keeping her at his side.

  ‘Certainly not,’ Isobel laughed. ‘This concerns you as much as it concerns us, more so in a lot of ways.’

  ‘I—I’m just sorry you had to find out like this,’ Eden said awkwardly.

  Isobel looked bored. ‘I didn’t find out “like this”,’ she dismissed. ‘I knew as soon as David told me he had left you in Jason’s control that this would happen. Jason is too much the business man to let this slip out of his grasp. But you’ll be the only one to get hurt, Eden, I can assure you of that. Men like Jason never get hurt—you can’t if you don’t have a heart and ice in your veins.’

  Eden frowned at yet another person likening Jason to ice. ‘I don’t understand what you mean. Let what slip out of his grasp?’

  Isobel gave Jason a searching glance. ‘She still doesn’t know?’

  He looked at her coldly. ‘Isn’t that obvious?’

  ‘None of it?’

  ‘No,’ he confirmed harshly.

  ‘I suppose you were saving that for after the wedding.’ Isobel laughed. ‘My God, you really are a devious swine!’

  ‘What don’t I know?’ Eden demanded, tired of being ignored. ‘Jason—tell me!’

  He looked at her with remote eyes. ‘Isobel can tell you. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.’

  ‘I certainly will,’ Isobel confirmed.

  ‘Then tell me,’ Eden said impatiently. ‘But just stop talking around me. I want to know what’s going on.’

  Isobel sat down, crossing one silky leg over the other. ‘I think maybe you should sit down too,’ she suggested. ‘I’m going to knock your romantic daydreams about Jason right out of the sky.’

  ‘I’ll stand,’ Eden refused stiffly.

  ‘Please yourself,’ Isobel shrugged. ‘Then I’ll begin,’ she added maliciously. ‘You obviously know that Jason is your financial guardian, but do you know why?’

  Eden looked puzzled. ‘Because my grandfather trusted him.’

  Isobel smiled. ‘Oh yes, he did that. He trusted him because he was his partner.’

  ‘P-partner?’ Eden looked at Jason with startled eyes.

  Isobel nodded. ‘It wasn�
��t a well-known fact, and in latter years David had kept it pretty much to a financial partnership. That suited Jason, he always preferred to work alone anyway. He would have bought David out if he could, but David always refused.’ Her mouth tightened. ‘That was when Jason decided that if he couldn’t buy him out he would have it when he died, by marrying me.’

  ‘Yes?’ Eden prompted, feeling sick. And she had a feeling there was worse to come.

  ‘Then David dropped his bombshell—he wasn’t leaving it all to me at all, he was leaving it all to his granddaughter. Even then I don’t think Jason was too perturbed, believing he could persuade your mother to sell out to him. And then he met you. You were a great shock to him, Eden, not a child at all. You’re twenty years of age, capable of making your own decisions, and with a strong mind of your own too.’

  Jason remained silent through all this, curiously remote as he gazed out of the window, his attention apparently on the view in front of him. Eden wished he would say something, anything, but his profile remained rigidly turned away from her. If he just once looked at her with love in his eyes she would be reassured, but he was either ignoring her silent pleadings or he was unaware of them.

  ‘I haven’t finished yet, Eden,’ Isobel drew her attention back to her. ‘You see, there was a clause in David’s will that even Jason didn’t know about until after his death.’

  ‘Yes?’ Eden asked dully.

  ‘Even if you wanted to sell and Jason wanted to buy, which he obviously wishes he could, you aren’t allowed to sell out to him or anyone else. The partnership has to stand.’

  ‘Then he has nothing to worry about, has he?’ Eden snapped. Isobel’s implication was now explicit. And still Jason didn’t defend himself!

  ‘He would if you married,’ Isobel announced triumphantly.

  Eden looked startled. ‘If I married…?’

  ‘Mm,’ the other woman smiled. ‘When you marry your husband takes control and Jason gives up any say in your side of the partnership. So now you know why Jason has to marry you. He simply doesn’t want anyone else involved in his empire.’

  Eden was white, deathly white, her eyes glazed with pain as she turned to look at the man still staring rigidly out of the window. ‘Jason?’ she choked. ‘Jason, is this true?’

  CHAPTER TEN

  IT WAS good to be home, good to be back among the people who loved her, people who weren’t trying to deceive her. Fortunately Drew hadn’t given her job to someone else, just employing a temp until her return, and the last year she had slotted back into her job and life as if she had never met and fallen in love with Jason Earle.

  But her aching heart knew she had met him, the heart that had shattered into tiny fragments at Jason’s refusal to defend himself. His silence had confirmed his guilt, and Eden had left England the next day, her heart broken but a new determination about her that warned men off her by the dozen.

  She hardly ventured out of her home any more, preferring to stay in her bedroom listening to records or quietly reading to accepting any of the invitations she received.

  If Jason had scorned her meriting her job as a secretary with Drew’s firm then he would now have to change his opinion. She had become the perfect secretary, always punctual, her work accurate and fast, with no complaints from her if she was asked to work late. Maybe his opinion of her being a spoilt little brat had once been true, but it certainly wasn’t now.

  She hadn’t heard from Jason or tried to contact him herself since her hurried departure, and as far as she knew he could now be back with Isobel Morton. She knew nothing about him, wasn’t interested in knowing, any correspondence concerning her inheritance passing between Drew and Jason, at her request. Things appeared to be going well in that direction, the monthly cheques she received were enough to keep her in luxury should she choose to live that way.

  Her mother had changed on Eden’s return, her appreciation of Drew as a husband dulling the sharpness of her tongue. As Drew had predicted, he had become his wife’s strength, and to Eden they looked happier than ever.

  She hurried home to dinner, her mother’s telephone call earlier urging her to do so. Something must have happened to make Angela so agitated, but she refused to say what it was over the telephone.

  ‘Isobel Dean came here today,’ her mother burst out as soon as Eden came through the front door.

  ‘Isobel Morton, Mother,’ Eden said stiffly. ‘What did she want here?

  ‘Even that isn’t her name now,’ her mother said disgustedly. ‘She’s married again.’

  Eden paled drastically. ‘M-married?’

  ‘Mm. She just came here to flash her diamond engagement ring at me, I’m sure she did.’

  Jason had married the other woman after all! ‘Why did she say she came?’

  ‘To see you, she said.’ Angela rearranged some roses in a vase standing on the coffee table. ‘I think she just came to crow over her good fortune in trapping a millionaire.’

  How could he! If Eden had ever doubted her mistrust of Jason it had now been confirmed in a way that was irrefutable. He must have loved Isobel all the time, and when it became obvious that his plans had gone wrong had married the other woman after all.

  ‘I—Is she coming back?’ Oh, not with Jason, please! That she couldn’t bear.

  But her mother shook her head. ‘She said she doesn’t have time, that this was just a lightning visit, part of her honeymoon.’

  ‘H-honeymoon?’ Eden echoed dully.

  ‘Mm,’ her mother grimaced. ‘She and her husband have been travelling the world as their honeymoon. She’s just as much of a bitch as she always was. She only came here to show us that David’s will meant nothing to her.’

  Apparently not, if she had married Jason after all. ‘I think I’ll have dinner in my room.’ Eden’s eyes were shadowed.

  ‘Oh, you can’t do that,’ her mother dismissed. ‘You’re going out to dinner.’

  Eden sighed. ‘Where to this time?’ Her parents had been arranging these invitations to dinner parties the last few weeks, deciding she didn’t go out enough. But after what she had just been told she didn’t think she could bear to sit down to dinner with other people and make polite conversation.

  ‘We aren’t going anywhere, but you are. Tim telephoned this afternoon and invited you out. I accepted for you.’

  ‘Tim Channing?’

  ‘But of course, darling. I didn’t think you knew any other Tim.’

  She didn’t, and she didn’t want to know this one any more either. ‘You had no right to accept on my behalf,’ she said tautly.

  ‘It’s high time you mended this silly rift between the two of you,’ said Angela. ‘He’s done nothing but keep calling you the last six months. And you look like a ghost walking about the house.’

  ‘But not because of him, Mother,’ Eden cried impatiently.

  ‘Of course it’s because of him,’ her mother dismissed. ‘You weren’t over there long enough to meet anyone else of importance. Besides, you admitted that you argued with him while you were there.’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Stop being silly, Eden,’ her mother snapped. ‘Tim is a very nice young man and—’

  ‘He wasn’t very pleasant to me in England.’

  ‘I’m sure you must have done something to anger him.’

  Oh yes, she had angered him, but he had jumped to conclusions. ‘I don’t want to go out with him.’

  Her mother shrugged. ‘He’s going to be here at eight-thirty. Drew and I are going to the Merricks’, so you’ll have to tell him yourself.’

  ‘I’ll ring him,’ Eden said adamantly.

  ‘I give up!’ Her mother stormed off.

  Eden wandered into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, automatically switching on one of the slow records that were always on the turntable nowadays. She didn’t hesitate to ring Tim’s apartment, determined not to even see him, only to be met by the constant dialling tone. She tried again, hoping she had had a wrong
number, but there was still no answer.

  At eight-fifteen she had still received no answer to her frequent calls, giving up as she realised he would be on his way by now. She could always send him away when he got here.

  And yet she found herself getting ready for her date with him, choosing to wear a black dress that gave her an air of sophistication, a cool hauteur that was impregnable. Right on time she heard the doorbell ring and the maid show Tim into the lounge.

  He hadn’t changed at all, still the same boyish good looks, shown to advantage now in a black dinner suit and snowy white shirt. His eyes darkened appreciatively at her cool beauty. ‘Hi,’ he said huskily, obviously unsure of his welcome.

  ‘Hello,’ she returned coolly. ‘Drink?’ She indicated the tray of drinks on the table.

  ‘No, thanks.’ He put his hands nervously into his trouser pockets. ‘I—I’ve booked a table at Delanie’s, is that all right with you?’

  Delanie’s! Oh God, that was where she had first danced with Jason!

  ‘We can go somewhere else if you would prefer it,’ Tim interpreted her expression correctly. ‘Just name the place and we’ll go there.’

  She shook her head. ‘I—’ she bit her lip. ‘I don’t—’

  His shoulders slumped. ‘You don’t want to go anywhere with me, do you? I knew it when the telephone kept ringing again and again. It was you, wasn’t it, calling to cancel tonight?’

  Her eyes were wide and very golden. ‘You were there all the time?’

  He nodded. ‘Afraid so.’

  ‘Then why on earth didn’t you answer?’ she demanded crossly, thinking of all the time she had wasted.

  He gave a deep sigh. ‘Because I didn’t want you to cancel.’

  ‘I can’t think why. I thought we’d said all we had to say to each other over a year ago.’

  ‘I said altogether too much. I couldn’t have been thinking straight or I would never have believed what I did. You just aren’t capable of the things I accused you of. Jason told me I was an idiot, and—’

  ‘When did he tell you that?’ she interrupted sharply.

  ‘Yesterday. But I knew before that. These last six months—’