Images Of Love
Page 17
‘But you said—’
‘I know what I said. But during the course of that Godawful day I realised I had to have you, whatever you’d done.’
‘Mark and I were never lovers,’ Tobie assured him.
‘I know that. I knew it at the time I made love to you on the yacht. I knew no other man had touched you. I just wanted to hurt you, as you’d intended to hurt me.’
‘By coming here? But you invited me.’
‘Yes, I did. Mother wasn’t keen, as you can imagine. But as soon as I found out who you were, I knew I had to see you. I’d have moved heaven and earth to achieve that.’
‘And when you did see me?’
He turned his head to smile at her. ‘I fell in love with you all over again.’
Tobie rolled on to her stomach beside him, running her hand lightly across his flat stomach. ‘Poor Mark!’
‘Poor Mark, nothing. He and his mother have done their best to ruin my life.’
Tobie bent her head. ‘Did you tell him—everything?’
‘As much as was necessary to prove I meant what I said.’ Robert hesitated. ‘I think I’ve limited his expectations, if that’s the right word. You realise, don’t you, that all Mark really wants is money?’
Tobie nodded. ‘He wants to specialise.’
‘So he said. Unfortunately, I don’t think he has the ability.’
‘I still don’t understand why your mother hated me so much.’
‘Don’t you?’ Robert’s eyes grew lazy. ‘She probably saw you as a threat. I was very ill, remember. I might have died. Imagine how frustrating it would have been if I’d insisted on a deathbed marriage ceremony!’
‘Robert!’
‘Well!’ he was unrepentant. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ And remembering that Mrs Newman had suspected she was pregnant, it was not so unreasonable. One day she would tell Robert about that. But not now. Not today.
‘But why did Mark let me go? When he knew what you’d said?’
‘Ah, yes, the final insult,’ murmured Robert, with a sigh. ‘It probably has to do with the fact that I didn’t respond to his little attempt at extortion.’
‘Extortion!’ Tobie was appalled. ‘You mean—money? How could he do that?’
‘He couldn’t.’ Robert grimaced. ‘But he tried. Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested in his threats to make my condition public. You see, I knew what their idea was all along. It pains me to say it, but they might well have been right. It was a reasonable assumption that I might not recover. Until I found out that Mark was dating you, I’d been pretty apathetic, but after that I determined to get well.’ He made a rueful gesture. ‘But as you see, I haven’t succeeded.’
‘You’re well enough for me,’ Tobie whispered, bending to caress his chest with her lips. ‘What are you going to do about them now?’
Robert lifted her chin, his expression eloquent of what her teasing lips were doing to him. ‘I don’t know,’ he said huskily. ‘What can I do?’
‘Mark hasn’t gone back to London, as you probably know,’ Tobie ventured gently. ‘Perhaps he ought to stay with his mother, as they depend upon one another so much.’
Robert grimaced. ‘Should I let him build his clinic?’ he speculated softly. ‘It’s one way of ensuring that my mother leaves Emerald Cay. I pity his poor patients, that’s all.’
‘He had no time for Mr Jennings,’ mused Tobie thoughtfully, and Robert nodded.
‘I know. Of course, he never examined him, so he didn’t know about the cancer. All he saw the Jennings as was a drain on my resources.’ Robert let Tobie untie the cord on his robe. ‘If he’d only known, they were my lifeline, the only real friends I had.’
Tobie moved over him. ‘I’m your friend,’ she breathed, tasting his lips. ‘Is that the talking over?’
Robert half smiled. ‘One last thing. Why did you come to Emerald Cay? Was it for revenge?’
Tobie hesitated. ‘I can’t deny a certain desire to see you squirm when you saw me and Mark together,’ she admitted honestly. ‘Only it didn’t work out like that, did it?’
‘How did it work out?’ he probed, easing her dress off her shoulders. ‘Hell, I’m going to tear this, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll buy you a dozen new ones.’
‘You’re a brute,’ she teased huskily, as the material shredded. Then: ‘You know how it worked out. I was as jealous as any other woman scorned by the man she loved.’
‘Scorned?’ With her slender body exposed to his satisfaction, he uttered a low rueful laugh. ‘Oh, Tobie, if you’d only known! You don’t know what it was like pretending to be indifferent. And that night I came to your bedroom I suffered agonies by denying you.’
‘Did you?’ Her lips opened over his, and with exclamation he rolled over, imprisoning her beneath him. ‘Oh, Robert, I thought you were tired!’
‘I can sleep later,’ he told her thickly, finding the swollen fullness of her breast. ‘Right now, we’ve got a lot of time to make up.’
And she could only agree.
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IMPRINT: Sexy
ISBN: 9781488743306
TITLE: IMAGES OF LOVE
First Australian Publication 2014
Copyright © 2014 Anne Mather
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