The Temptation Trap

by Catherine George

  ‘As you wish,’ he said, after a lengthy pause.

  ‘But I need to talk to you.’

  ‘You are talking to me.’

  ‘I meant in person.’

  ‘I thought you’d be winging your way to America by this time. Is it urgent, or can you wait until the weekend?’

  Her heart plummeted. ‘Yes,’ she said dully. ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘All right. I’ll be at the house before you leave on Friday.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I was coming anyway. After you’d finished for the weekend, of course,’ he added.

  ‘Of course. Goodbye.’ Rosanna put the phone down quickly, and poured herself another large, medicinal dose of caffeine.

  The week that followed felt like the longest of Rosanna’s life. No matter how hard she worked each day seemed endless, and the time dragged by so slowly she wondered if Friday would ever come. When it did Ewen arrived so late she was half demented by the time he put in an appearance, her worried greeting stifled at birth by the aloof, hostile look in his eyes.

  ‘Hello, Rosanna,’ he said coolly. ‘Sorry to hold you up. The traffic was bad. I’m surprised you’re still here.’

  ‘Is that why you were late? Hoping I’d be gone?’ she snapped, making no mention of her frantic worry for the past hour or so. Vivid images of the Morgan’s mangled remains, and Ewen’s inside it, had turned the endless wait into a nightmare.

  Ewen threw down an overnight bag, then stood with arms folded. ‘Well? What was so important that you had to see me in person to talk about it?’

  Rosanna felt cold. Now they were face to face she was horribly afraid that her news wasn’t important after all. ‘I suppose I should have just told you over the phone,’ she said quietly. ‘I thought you might care to know that my—my arrangement with David is off.’

  Ewen stood utterly still. ‘Off?’

  She nodded wordlessly, convinced now that her news wasn’t the world-shaking pronouncement she’d thought it would be.

  ‘You mean,’ he said without expression, ‘that you’re not going to marry him?’

  She nodded again, afraid to trust her voice.

  Ewen looked at her in silence for so long that at last Rosanna could bear it no longer.

  ‘I’d better go,’ she muttered.

  ‘Wait.’

  Rosanna looked up to see a smile lifting one corner of Ewen’s mouth.

  ‘Come here,’ he ordered.

  But Rosanna couldn’t move. Because her feet seemed nailed to the floor Ewen closed the space between them and seized her in his arms, kissing her with a ferocity she responded to by bursting into tears.

  ‘Hey!’ He held her away, smiling down into her streaming face. ‘What’s all this?’

  ‘I thought for a minute you didn’t care,’ she sobbed, and buried her face against his chest.

  He laughed unsteadily and held her close, one hand smoothing her hair. ‘You know damn well I care, Rosanna. What the devil do I have to do to convince you?’

  She lifted her head to look at him. ‘For the past hour I’ve been going out of my mind,’ she said hoarsely, ‘imagining you dead in some accident in that beloved car of yours. Convince me you’re alive, Ewen. Make love to me. Please?’

  He let out a long, unsteady breath, then grabbed her by the hand, almost dragging her upstairs to his bedroom. ‘I couldn’t sleep for thinking of this,’ he said roughly, and pinned her beneath him on the bed. He seized her hands and spread them wide. ‘I escaped to the cottage because I couldn’t trust myself to keep my hands off you if we were together here.’

  ‘I thought you couldn’t bear the sight of me any more,’ she said, sniffing hard.

  He rained kisses all over her wet face. ‘All the way up tonight I kept wondering what the hell was so important that you had to tell me face to face.’

  ‘Didn’t you guess?’ she said breathlessly.

  ‘I didn’t let myself. I just hoped, and called myself all kinds of fool for imagining it was even possible!’ He kissed her with sudden, hot demand, and she trembled beneath him.

  ‘I can’t stop shaking,’ she gasped.

  ‘Neither can I.’

  ‘I hope I’m not dreaming this, Ewen!’

  ‘If you are I’m sharing the dream.’ He smiled down into her glittering, tear-wet eyes. ‘Let’s make it come true.’

  He began to make love to her with a passion fuelled by the misery of their separation. Her hair tossed back and forth on the pillow as she gloried in the sensations he was rousing in her body, their response to each other heightened to the point that when they reached the climax of their reconciliation the shared joy was so intense, the pleasure was almost pain.

  Afterwards they stayed locked in each other’s arms, Ewen’s face buried in her tangled hair.

  ‘Are you hungry?’ he whispered, a long time later.

  ‘Not really.’ Rosanna tightened her arms as he drew away a little. ‘I just want to lie here like this and pinch myself at intervals to make sure it’s all true.’

  He laughed, and kissed her nose, then moved his mouth down to hers, and slid his hand to cup the breast that rose, taut, to his touch. ‘If we stay here, exactly like this, are you prepared for what will happen?’

  For answer Rosanna slid the tip of her tongue delicately over his lips and wriggled closer, then they both jumped as the phone rang beside the bed.

  Ewen swore under his breath, and barked his name into the receiver, then listened. ‘Yes, she is. Hang on a second.’ He gave the phone to Rosanna, pulling a face.

  ‘Hello,’ she said cautiously.

  ‘Rosanna,’ said Louise indignantly, ‘have you forgotten we were going to see that new Tom Cruise film tonight?’

  ‘Oh. Oh, dear. Yes, I had. Sorry, Lulu. I had some work to finish,’ said Rosanna contritely, her face on fire at the gleam in Ewen’s eyes.

  ‘Nice work if you can get it, by the sound of it,’ said her friend, cackling. ‘All right, I’ll toddle off with Paula, then. See you later? Or not?’

  ‘I’ll make the coffee when you come home,’ promised Rosanna, and put the phone down, smiling at Ewen guiltily.

  ‘A broken appointment?’ he enquired, folding his arms behind his head. He grinned at her. ‘The lady sounded indignant.’

  ‘I was supposed to be back at the flat at seven. Then you came, and—’ She smiled at him. ‘I forgot all about Tom Cruise.’

  ‘What greater compliment could a guy ask?’ he said dryly, then slid out of bed and stretched unselfconsciously. ‘I’ve got a plan for the rest of the evening. Want to hear it?’

  Rosanna nodded happily. ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘I vote we send out for something to eat, then come back up here and make love until it’s time for you to go home. If you must go home.’

  ‘I must tonight,’ she said with regret. ‘But otherwise I love your plan. It’s perfect.’

  They ate tagliolini with meat sauce, accompanied by quantities of garlic bread, Rosanna wearing one of Ewen’s shirts, and Ewen in a towelling robe as they sat cross-legged on the bed.

  ‘You look a lot better in that than I do,’ he told her, grinning as he watched her mop up the sauce with her bread. ‘Very ladylike!’

  ‘I was hungry,’ she said with dignity. ‘I haven’t been eating well lately.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You know why!’

  Ewen smiled, and leaned across to lick some sauce from the corner of her mouth, and Rosanna turned her head so that his tongue slid between her lips as they kissed.

  ‘It’s a good thing we both like garlic bread,’ he said hoarsely as he drew away.

  ‘True.’ She frowned seriously. ‘I don’t think I could fancy a man who didn’t like garlic.’

  ‘You fancy me, then?’

  ‘You bet your life I do,’ she said, and took his plate from him to put it on the floor with hers. She smiled at him slowly. ‘Want me to show you?’

  It was late by the time they’d
shared a bath together, and Rosanna was dressed again and respectable enough for the drive back in the taxi.

  ‘I’d rather drive you myself,’ said Ewen as they went downstairs to wait for it.

  ‘In which case you should have eschewed the champagne.’ Rosanna giggled, feeling drunk with love. ‘Good word, eschewed.’

  ‘On the other hand I can cuddle you all the way to your flat in the back seat, my lovely one.’ He sighed. ‘And then I’ll come back to my lonely bed on my own.’

  She smiled at him with her heart in her eyes, and he lifted her from the last step up into his arms and held her close, her feet swinging clear of the floor. ‘Have you any idea how I feel right now, Rosanna Carey?’

  ‘If it’s anything like the way I feel,’ she said breathlessly, ‘just wonderful!’

  He bit gently on her earlobe. ‘You know, I took one look at that good-looking hunk of a doctor of yours that night and tried to accept defeat. I never thought in a million years you’d give him his marching orders and settle for me instead.’

  Rosanna’s eyes dropped, and Ewen set her on her feet, frowning.

  ‘What? Speak, woman!’

  ‘I don’t really want to tell you this,’ she muttered. ‘In fact I should have said it the moment I saw you, but—’

  ‘But I was in too much of a hurry to take you to bed,’ he said, eyes narrowed. ‘I take the blame. But don’t keep me in suspense, darling. What should you have told me?’

  Rosanna squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. ‘I didn’t give David his marching orders,’ she blurted. ‘It was the other way about. David flew home to tell me he’s met someone else. Like you said, doctors often marry doctors. The lady works at the same Boston hospital, and they’re getting married next month. He came home to see his parents and talk to me at the same time. He felt he couldn’t tell me in a letter or over the phone. He wanted to break the news in person.’

  Ewen stood very still, the animation draining from his face. ‘How very noble of him,’ he said, in a tone which turned Rosanna’s blood cold. ‘And how fortunate you had me in reserve. Not first choice, of course, but I mustn’t complain. One can’t have everything.’

  ‘Ewen, please, I haven’t finished. Let me explain—’

  ‘You already have. And I wish to God you hadn’t,’ he said savagely. ‘Did you mention that you had me as second string?’

  ‘No—but it wasn’t like that!’

  ‘It was exactly like that. It’s flatteringly obvious, after the evening we’ve just spent, that you “fancy” me. But that’s not enough for me, Rosanna. And while you still had David in view it wasn’t enough for you, either. You weren’t prepared to throw him over in exchange for me.’ Ewen flung away in sudden rage. ‘I could see why the minute I laid eyes on him. He’s taller than me, bigger than me, and looks like a bloody film star.’ He turned on her in sudden menace. ‘Is he a better lover than me, too?’

  Rosanna backed away. ‘It was never like that with David.’

  ‘Why? Don’t tell me Mr Perfect falls short in the sex department!’

  ‘No, he doesn’t,’ she said hotly. ‘Ewen, please. Try to understand. I met David when we were both very young. We were just friends in the beginning. The other part just sort of—evolved.’

  Ewen eyed her in distaste. ‘Oh, I understand, Rosanna. It’s insultingly obvious that whatever you had with Norton was too good to pass up for what you had with me!’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ she said in despair. ‘If you’d just let me finish—’

  ‘You don’t have to. I already know the story,’ said Ewen scornfully. ‘You couldn’t jilt your doctor in case it ruined his life. You don’t honestly believe that a man with his attractions would have gone unconsoled for long?’ His eyes blazed into hers. ‘Or were you obsessed with some crazy idea about emulating Rose Norman’s sacrifice?’

  ‘Of course I wasn’t!’ Suddenly Rosanna lost her temper. ‘Shut up and listen, Ewen Fraser. In the beginning I resented you because you were thinking of Rose when you looked at me. And I was jealous, heaven help me, because you were in love with a ghost—’

  ‘Utter nonsense!’ he interrupted harshly, but she held up her hand.

  ‘Hear me out. That day in the lift changed everything. I had no idea I could behave like that, feel like that. It was a revelation. And when you made love to me at last, at the cottage, it surpassed anything I’d ever imagined. But it made me frightened. I was sure it couldn’t last. Too hot not to cool down, and all that. Because there was no question of marriage I was afraid to throw away my future with David for a love affair that would burn itself out one day.’

  Ewen raked a hand through his hair, glaring at her. ‘The boot was on the other foot, though, wasn’t it? It was this unswerving devotion of Norton’s that died a death.’

  Her chin lifted. ‘It’s not like that. David still loves me in his own way—’

  ‘Does he really? To hell with the doctor’s feelings. It’s my own that concern me right at this moment, and they feel as though they’ve been trampled on.’ His eyes bored into hers with such hostility, she shrank away involuntarily. ‘I like to win, Rosanna Carey. To come first. I can’t handle the role of runner-up.’

  ‘Will you let me finish—?’

  ‘No! You’ve said enough.’ Ewen looked up in obvious relief as the doorbell rang, and brushed past her, his body taut with anger as he made for the door to speak to the taxi driver.

  By this time Rosanna was so furious, she wanted to hit him. ‘All right, I’m going. I’m up-to-date with the disks I’ve had so far, in case you’re worried.’

  ‘I finished the first draft today,’ he said shortly.

  ‘Really?’ she said, diverted for an instant.

  ‘One way and another,’ he said with sarcasm, ‘I forgot to mention it.’

  ‘You must be pleased.’

  ‘I’ll deliver a verdict when the book is finished.’

  ‘Ewen—’ she began, but he shook his head.

  ‘Just go, Rosanna.’

  ‘Right,’ she said in sudden fury. ‘I will. And I’m not coming back.’

  ‘Fine,’ he snapped, his eyes narrowed to furious gold slivers.

  Rosanna looked at him blankly, hiding her horrified disbelief. Telling him she was leaving for good had been a last, desperate throwing down of the gauntlet. But it had failed. Ewen Fraser was actually going to let her walk out of his life.

  ‘Goodbye, then,’ she said with hauteur.

  ‘Goodbye.’

  Ewen slammed the door shut the moment she was outside, and Rosanna got into the waiting taxi, feeling as though the bottom had dropped out of her world.

  After a night of unrelieved misery it was dawn before Rosanna slept, and she woke late next morning to find Louise sitting on her bed, offering a mug of tea.

  ‘Thanks,’ croaked Rosanna. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Tennish.’ Louise handed over the mug, then got to her feet, an odd expression on her face as she hovered.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Rosanna without interest. The events of the night before were already flooding her with such renewed misery she had no attention to spare for Louise’s incessant man-problems. I’m the one with problems this time, she thought bitterly. ‘Shouldn’t you be getting ready for lunch with Lawrence?’

  ‘It’s early yet.’

  ‘Right. I’ll be up in a minute. How long has David got before taking off for Heathrow?’

  Louise hugged her arms across her chest. ‘Not long, thank goodness. Personally, Ro, I’m amazed you let him stay last night.’

  ‘Why? He came out of his way to say goodbye on his way to the States. It saved him a hotel room.’ She drank some tea.

  ‘I don’t know how you could bear to know he’s dumped you for someone else!’ Louise chewed on a finger. ‘The thing is, Rosanna, he answered the door just now.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Ewen Fraser called to bring your raincoat back. You left it behind yesterday
.’

  Rosanna stared in utter horror. ‘And David opened the door to him?’

  Louise nodded glumly. ‘Wearing only a smile and a towel—he’d just got out of the bath. Someone left by the main door as Ewen arrived, so he came straight down to ours.’

  Rosanna shuddered. ‘Break it to me gently—what happened?’

  ‘Nothing much. Your author explained very briefly, handed over the raincoat and left. In a hurry, David said— Rosanna! Don’t look like that. Oh, dear, come here—let me give you a hug.’

  Later, when Rosanna had showered, dressed, and regained something of the will to live, she went into the sitting room to find Louise had taken sanctuary in her room, well away from the line of fire. David was waiting for her, ready to go.

  ‘I’m off, then, Rosie. By the way, this guy Fraser you’ve been working for called to bring your raincoat back.’ David eyed her warily. ‘Does he come here much?’

  ‘No,’ said Rosanna shortly. ‘Today was the first time.’

  ‘Are you in love with him?’ he asked, eyeing her pallor.

  ‘Why should you think that?’

  David smiled his toothpaste-ad smile. ‘Louise dropped the odd hint or three. She went for me like a wildcat because I greeted the famous author in my skin, so to speak. Fraser wasn’t exactly overjoyed, either—went off in a bit of a strop.’

  ‘You’re exaggerating,’ she said curtly.

  ‘No way.’ David wagged a finger at her. ‘It explains a lot. No wonder you took my news so calmly, Rosie.’

  ‘How did you expect me to take it?’ she said scornfully. ‘Tearing my hair, and begging you not to abandon me? I was just being civilised, David.’

  ‘If you say so. Anyway, thanks for letting me stay last night.’ He reached for her but Rosanna backed away.

  ‘Time you were going, David,’ she said briskly.

  He looked down at her, regret mingled with affection in the bright blue eyes. ‘I just wanted to say my feelings for you aren’t changed, Rosie.’

  ‘I realise that.’ She smiled wryly. ‘Mine aren’t changed for you, either. I was just a tad mistaken about them both, unfortunately. You and I had a loving friendship, David. But in the end it wasn’t enough. For either of us.’