The Jilted Bridegroom

by Carole Mortimer

  Delicate colour entered her cheeks. ‘This afternoon was a mistake—’

  ‘No mistake, Sarah,’ he cut in firmly. ‘A little ill-timed, perhaps, but—’

  ‘Come on, Ben.’ Sally spoke loudly enough for them to hear her. ‘Let’s join Sarah and Griff.’

  ‘That young lady is going to get her bottom smacked before very long,’ Griff muttered for Sarah alone.

  She gave a rueful smile. ‘She would probably enjoy it!’

  ‘No doubt,’ he muttered again. ‘But I am going to talk to you, Sarah,’ he warned softly. ‘So stop avoiding me.’

  Her eyes flashed a warning. ‘As soon as you stop making things difficult for me here!’

  ‘Sarah—’

  ‘Did you finish your work today, Griff?’ Sally interrupted challengingly.

  ‘Later,’ he promised Sarah before turning to face Sally, his gaze steady. ‘As a matter of fact, I did get some work done today,’ he nodded.

  ‘Work?’ Roger repeated in a puzzled voice. ‘But I thought you were here because—’

  ‘Shall I make room on the table for you?’ Sarah offered thankfully as Clarissa came through with the tray of coffee; really, were all of this family lacking in tact?

  ‘I’m actually trying to write a book,’ Griff answered Roger while Sarah hastily cleared the coffee-table, although she turned to him sharply when he said this. ‘I’m not doing too well,’ he added ruefully. ‘Writing a book isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.’

  ‘But that’s so interesting.’ Clarissa sat down, crossing one slender leg over the other, showing off a long expanse of bare, tanned thigh. ‘What’s the book about?’ she encouraged as she began to pour the coffee for them all.

  Sarah sat back on her heels, listening intently to what Griff was saying. As far as she was aware, he had never written a book before—at least, she had never seen one with the name Griff Morgan as author. But, then, perhaps he had a pseudonym?

  Griff shrugged. ‘I’m not sure yet—that’s part of the problem I’m having with it.’ He gave a self-derisive smile.

  ‘Sarah, take this coffee over to Griff.’ Clarissa held out the cup to her.

  She got up automatically to do as she was instructed, but Sally got there before her, almost knocking her over as she grabbed the cup of coffee and turned towards Griff.

  ‘Sally!’ Roger looked at his daughter exasperatedly, the deliberate rudeness too obvious to go unchecked, shaking his head at Griff as their gazes met in complete understanding.

  Sarah stepped back, not in the least put out, interested in this book Griff was writing in spite of herself. ‘Does this mean we won’t be seeing any more of your exposé stories in the newspapers?’

  ‘Er—not for a while, anyway,’ he confirmed a little restrainedly.

  Of course! Until Saturday Griff had been working for Sandra’s father on his newspaper; that could be a little awkward for all of them now that Sandra had decided not to marry Griff.

  ‘A book about the adventures you’ve encountered while working on your stories would be fascinating.’ Roger nodded interestedly.

  Griff frowned. ‘I had something more in the fiction line in mind.’

  ‘I’m sure it will be wonderful, whatever you decide to do,’ Clarissa told him brightly. ‘We’ll be sure to look out for it.’

  Griff sat down, smiling slightly. ‘Oh, it wouldn’t be published for months after I’ve completed it—whenever that might be.’ He grimaced. ‘This delay in publishing is something else I would have to get used to; I’m accustomed to a more immediate market.’

  ‘What made you decide on the change?’ Roger queried curiously.

  Sarah had a feeling it might not have been completely Griff’s decision, that he might not actually have been given any choice.

  ‘It was time for a change.’ Griff shrugged dismissively. ‘Unfortunately, the pool is becoming a temptation I’m finding hard to resist.’

  Sally looked at him coyly. ‘Only the pool?’

  Sarah felt the colour flood into her cheeks as Griff looked not at Sally but at her, albeit almost against his will.

  And she was far from the only one to notice the way he turned to her.

  Clarissa watched them with raised brows, obviously deeply curious.

  Ben’s gaze narrowed suspiciously.

  Roger looked slightly puzzled.

  But it was Sally, the one who had initiated the flirtation, who looked absolutely furious.

  Sarah knew that look only too well, and she tensed for the retaliation.

  It wasn’t long in coming!

  ‘Sarah’s enjoying her stay here too, aren’t you?’ Sally prompted brittly.

  Where was this conversation going to go? ‘Well—I—’

  ‘But then, with all these lovely men around, she would, wouldn’t she?’ Sally continued tauntingly.

  ‘Sal—’

  ‘Oh, stop acting so outraged, Mummy.’ She turned on Clarissa as she would have rebuked her. ‘You can’t have been blind to the way Sarah has been flirting with Daddy, and Ben, and—’

  ‘That’s a lie!’ Sarah gasped incredulously. Ben had been making a nuisance of himself, and as for Roger—

  ‘—and we all know that Sarah only came away with us at all to get away from the scandal she caused in England,’ Sally concluded scornfully, standing up to look down triumphantly at a now white-faced Sarah.

  How did Sally know about that? Who could have told—? Sarah heaved a ragged sigh as she saw the impatient fury on Clarissa’s face as she looked at her daughter, knowing she needed look no further for Sally’s source. And she didn’t need two guesses who had talked to Clarissa about her completely personal business. Clarissa’s good friend, Sarah’s own mother! It explained so much—even this unexpected suggestion that she come away with the Forbes family in the first place. Oh, Mother!

  She hardly dared look at Griff, and when she did his expression told her none of his feelings, although he now sat tensely forward on his chair where minutes before he had been relaxing back in it.

  Well, that was hardly surprising; he must be wondering what sort of scandal she was running away from!

  ‘Sally, I think it might be best if you go to your room,’ Roger told his daughter tautly, all of the paternal indulgence for her earlier behaviour completely gone.

  ‘But—’

  ‘Go—to—your—room!’ he thundered at her this time, his usually mild temperament pushed to its limit.

  Sally looked at them all, appealing for someone to back her up. No one appeared to be about to do so in the face of this uncharacteristic anger from Roger, even Clarissa, for once, silent.

  Tears filled Sally’s eyes before she gave a choked sob and ran from the room.

  Sarah felt an urgent need to escape too, standing up abruptly.

  ‘Sarah,’ Roger touched her arm, ‘I’m so sorry about what Sally just said. I don’t know how she came to know so much about your personal business, but I—’

  ‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Roger,’ Clarissa scorned impatiently, her silence at an end. ‘I suppose she overheard Margaret and me talking about it,’ she dismissed.

  Just as Sarah had thought. Oh, Mother; she gave an inward groan at this apparent disloyalty, although she was sure her mother had only done it at the time because she was so worried about Sarah. But wasn’t it enough that she had to live with her mistake—did everyone else have to know about it too?

  ‘Then the two of you had no right letting her overhear you,’ Roger turned on Clarissa.

  She looked furious at this public rebuke. ‘We were only telling the truth,’ she defended indignantly. ‘And, anyway, I don’t know why you should suddenly be so protective of Sarah. Unless…?’ She looked at the two of them suspiciously.

  ‘I’m going for a walk,’ Sarah cut in tautly.

  Clarissa’s eyes were narrowed to hard blue slits. ‘Has something been going on between the two of you behind my back?’ she demanded to know. ‘After all,’ she ad
ded hardly, ‘Sarah has done her best to break up one marriage; why should another one matter to her?’

  Roger drew in a sharp, controlling breath. ‘If anyone succeeds in breaking up our marriage it will be you, Clarissa, with your bitchiness!’ He shook his head. ‘I came away for a rest, a holiday, and instead of relaxing as I’d expected it’s been one late night after another, so that I hardly have the strength to make love to you, let alone another woman! As for Sarah, she’s been treated more like a slave than a friend of the family doing us a favour by helping us out, the way that she was supposed to be!’

  ‘Sally was right about that,’ Clarissa told him waspishly. ‘If it weren’t for the scandal Sarah had caused for herself in England she wouldn’t have come away with us at all!’

  ‘After the way she’s been treated, I’m sure she wishes she had never bothered,’ Roger said exasperatedly, which started a verbal tirade from Clarissa that seemed in danger of never stopping.

  Sarah wished she could walk out of here and never come back, but something had happened to her legs, so that she couldn’t seem to move them. But she felt like a particularly nasty insect put on display, everyone seeming to be staring at her when she needed so desperately to get away.

  ‘Come on.’ Griff gently took hold of her arm.

  She looked up at him as if she had never seen him before.

  ‘We’re leaving,’ he told Clarissa and Roger loud enough to interrupt their argument.

  Clarissa brought herself under control with effort, slowly realising what she had done, and in front of someone like Griff Morgan. ‘There’s no need for you to go. Either of you,’ she added hastily as she saw the proprietorial hold Griff had of Sarah’s arm. ‘This is just a little misunderstanding—’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Griff cut in calmly as he felt the tremor that passed through Sarah. ‘Thank you,’ he added tautly. ‘Sarah?’ He indicated she should leave ahead of him.

  She walked across the room, her head held high as she saw Ben was looking at her with a sly reassessment she found repellent, obviously unaware of the reason she hadn’t minded leaving England for a few weeks until a couple of minutes ago, Clarissa’s gaze furious at having her guest whisked away from under her nose in this way, and Roger watching her with open respect. But, even so, Sarah had no doubt he would be made to pay for his defence of her once she and Griff had left!

  She breathed in deep gulps of warm fresh air once they were outside, the feeling of oppression instantly beginning to fade, although she still felt unclean from the accusations that had been hurled at her.

  All the more so because what had been said about Simon was mostly true. She had broken up his marriage, caused a scandal that had reverberated around the hospital where they both worked. It didn’t matter that the relationship was over, that she had probably lost her chance of promotion because of it, that Simon was even now trying to patch up his marriage; she had been branded the selfish little bitch chasing after a married man, and it did no good, she knew from experience, to cry her innocence.

  And Griff had been a witness to the accusations of her shame. What must he think of her?

  She looked at him tentatively in the darkness.

  ‘I don’t think anything,’ he sighed, correctly reading her thoughts—once again. ‘Except possibly to pity Roger Forbes for the wife and family he has.’ Griff shook his head. ‘I would want to strangle the lot of them!’

  ‘It was true, you know. What they said,’ she added as Griff looked unmoved. ‘All of it.’ She shuddered, remembering all too well the awkwardness and terrible embarrassment there had been at the hospital once her relationship with Simon had become public knowledge. Somehow the ‘other woman’, as she had become known, seemed to come out the worst in these things, the man seeming to be thought an innocent victim of her machinations.

  That was far from the truth in this case!

  ‘Let’s go for a drive,’ Griff said firmly as the raised voices of Clarissa and Roger could clearly be heard from inside the villa.

  ‘Griff, I said—’

  ‘I heard what you said.’ He turned to her intently. ‘I said, let’s go for a drive.’

  He guided her firmly over to his car, seeing her safely seated inside before going around the other side to get in behind the wheel.

  They didn’t talk; Griff just drove away from the villa, out of the village, and up into the mountains. Not far up, he stopped the car in an almost empty car park that belonged to a restaurant, their view over the village and the valley around it.

  And still they didn’t talk, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

  Sarah cringed at what Griff’s must be about!

  It had all started out so innocently. Simon had been new to the hospital, all the female staff falling for his blond-haired Adonis looks. But of them all he had chosen Sarah to ask out.

  She had been flattered, excited, that first date passing in a perfect dream.

  They had been seeing each other on a fairly regular basis when he’d told her his wife was due back that evening so he wouldn’t be able to see her until tomorrow.

  Wife!

  Back from where?

  The grapevine hadn’t been sure whether Simon was married or not when he’d first come to the hospital; some had said yes, some had said no, but the general consensus had seemed to be that Simon had been married once but was now separated or divorced.

  And they had all been wrong.

  Simon was still very much married—had actually been taking Sarah out during the time that his wife had been away on holiday.

  And now she’d been coming back.

  It was an unhappy marriage, Simon had claimed when Sarah had confronted him with the deception. And anyway, he’d told her, he hadn’t set out to deceive her at all; she had just never asked if he was married or not. That this was true didn’t alter the unpalatable fact that she had fallen in love with a married man.

  His marriage was all a sham, he’d told her, held together by their ten-year-old daughter, neither one of them wanting to hurt the one good thing to come out of their marriage. As soon as Melissa was old enough—

  And when did he expect that to be, Sarah had asked with sarcasm—when she was eighteen, twenty-one, when she married? But then there would be grandchildren, and they couldn’t be hurt either, could they?

  Simon had seemed heartbroken by her anger, asked, begged for her understanding, claiming he couldn’t lose her now that he had found her.

  It had all sounded so convincing.

  And she had been so stupid.

  So naïve.

  And it didn’t help in the least that she was far from the first woman to fall for that ‘my wife doesn’t understand me’ line. She should have known better, shouldn’t have been swayed by a love that was doomed from the onset. And not only because Simon was already married.

  Through it all she hadn’t noticed, or realised, that not once had Simon said that he loved her and wanted to be with her!

  And that was because, as she had later discovered, he had been lying to her about the state of his marriage. His marriage to Fiona was no worse than a lot of fifteen-year marriages that had slipped into complacency.

  Simon had certainly had no intention of ever stepping out of it, had been quite happy with the comfort of his wife at home and Sarah to add excitement to his life at work and on the evenings they did manage to grab a few hours together.

  And then his wife, on her way to a night out with some girlfriends, had seen the two of them drinking together in a pub. Why wasn’t Simon at his staff-meeting? Fiona had wanted to know, still completely innocent of what she had really stumbled upon. Sarah was one of his staff, Simon had claimed, and as the meeting had finished early they had decided to have a drink before going home.

  Sarah had been mortified at the meeting. All these weeks ‘Fiona’ had been a shadowy figure who made Simon unhappy, but, actually coming face to face with this tall raven-haired woman who was beautiful enough to have be
en a model, Sarah had suddenly felt inadequate and used.

  And still Fiona had remained blind to what they were really doing there together, but, as she’d continued to talk to them brightly, understanding had slowly begun to dawn on her, and she’d looked from Sarah’s awkward embarrassment back to Simon’s over-jolly mood in disbelief.

  Sarah hoped she never again had to witness the crumbling of another woman’s total trust in her husband, her secure if complacent world disintegrating in front of her eyes.

  Fiona had told Simon she thought it best if they discussed this when they got home, and Sarah had offered no objection when Simon had said he thought he ought to leave with his wife now. As far as she, Sarah, was concerned, the myth of her relationship was finally over.

  But now Simon’s marriage really was in a shambles, and he had relied on Sarah’s friendship more than ever as Fiona, humiliated beyond endurance, had broadcast far and wide that Sarah and Simon had been having an affair.

  In the midst of all the gossip and whispering that had spread through the hospital like wildfire, Sarah had felt she didn’t have any other friend but Simon she could talk to. And he was far from ideal!

  But Fiona Robbins hadn’t finished yet, had seen to it that Sarah’s private life wasn’t thought respectable enough for a new ward sister, and Sarah’s hopes of getting the post vanished into thin air. She thought about starting afresh somewhere else.

  As for Simon and Fiona, they would get over this little set-back, he’d assured Sarah; things would settle down again, and then they could all get on with their lives as before.

  Sarah had known then that he would never leave his wife, had never intended to, that, for all his protestations to the contrary, for all that he was attracted to Sarah, he loved Fiona and would never end his marriage to her.

  Sarah had taken immediate leave from the hospital, needing this break to try and sort out what she should do with her life now.

  She had had no idea that the Forbes family knew anything about that tangled mess she had left behind, certainly hadn’t expected to have it thrown up at her as an accusation accompanying implications that she had been flirting with Roger and Ben since they had been here!