by Penny Jordan
‘Just a minute,’ Ward objected grimly. ‘I had my reasons for doing what I did.’
‘If by “reasons” you mean your erroneous belief that Anna was involved in one of Julian Cox’s scams, then I have to tell you that you got it completely wrong,’ Dee told him scornfully. ‘Anna was as much a victim of his deceit as your brother.’
Ward stared at her.
‘I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I know for a fact that Anna and Julian Cox were partners.’
‘Don’t you mean you know for a fact that you saw a piece of paper claiming that they were partners?’ Dee queried fiercely. ‘It’s a pity you didn’t check your facts a little more carefully. Had you done so you might have discovered the truth.’
‘What truth?’
‘The truth that Julian Cox simply used Anna’s name without either her knowledge or her permission.’
‘If that’s true then why didn’t Anna tell me that herself?’ Ward questioned Dee.
‘Perhaps she would have done so had she been given the chance and had she not been suffering from amnesia,’ Dee told him frostily.
Ward studied Dee’s set face. There was no doubt that she was speaking the truth.
‘If you had been honest with Anna, if you’d told her at the hospital just who you were and why you were there, no doubt in time, when she had regained her memory, she could have told you just how wrong you were in assuming that she was Julian’s partner.’
Ward paused for a moment before retaliating hotly, ‘If that’s the truth, then why didn’t she tell me when she had the opportunity the first time we met?’
Now it was Dee’s turn to pause.
‘She didn’t tell you because she wanted to speak with me first,’ she told him reluctantly.
‘To speak with you?’
‘Yes,’ Dee confirmed.
It was obvious to her that Ward was waiting for a more detailed explanation, but why should she give him one? After what he had done to Anna he didn’t deserve an explanation—he didn’t deserve anything.
‘Have you any idea just what you’ve done to Anna, just how much you’ve hurt her? You let her think...’ Dee stopped, pressing her lips together. ‘Do you really think there’s any way she’d want to see or speak with you ever again? You’ve had your pound of flesh and your money.’
‘Is that her decision or yours?’ Ward demanded bitingly, but Dee refused to be intimidated.
‘Anna’s my friend and it’s my right as her friend to protect her. I blame myself in part for what you’ve done to her. The only reason she ever got involved with Julian Cox in the first place was to help me.’
‘To help you? Why? What is Cox to you? An ex-lover...?’
‘No,’ Dee denied sharply.
‘You’re accusing me of behaving unfairly towards Anna, but it seems to me that you’ve scarcely treated her very kindly yourself,’ Ward accused Dee angrily. ‘By exposing her to Cox’s malice and—’
‘I didn’t tell Anna that I loved her. I didn’t allow her to believe we were lovers. I didn’t take her to bed and—’ Abruptly Dee stopped, suddenly conscious that she had said too much, trespassed too far into private and intimate territory.
It was useless trying to talk to this aggressive and angry young woman, Ward decided, and if he continued to stand here and argue with her he was going to be in danger of losing his own temper. He was still trying to come to terms with the bombshell Dee had dropped with her revelations regarding the truth about Anna’s relationship with Julian Cox.
Strangely, despite his resentment at the way Dee was speaking to him, Ward knew instinctively that what she was telling him was the truth. Suddenly everything clicked into place. No wonder he had been so confused about the apparent dichotomy in his misjudgement of Anna’s character and the way he had seen her behave. It made him feel as if someone was twisting a knife in his heart to know how badly he had misjudged Anna, how despicably he had treated her. No wonder she didn’t want to see or hear from him again. He couldn’t blame her.
It had been one thing to tell himself that his love for her was so strong that he could overlook her involvement with Julian Cox, it was quite another to have to acknowledge how totally their roles had just been reversed.
And, besides, even if Anna allowed him to talk to her long enough for him to tell her that he had known how much he loved her before he had discovered the truth about her, Ward was afraid that he simply wouldn’t be able to convince her. After all, in her shoes, he would not have been easy to convince.
He had treated her in the most cruel and unjustifiable way and it served him right that she now no longer wanted anything to do with him.
Without another word he turned round and walked back to his car.
Dee watched him get in and drive away before climbing back into her own car and driving up to Anna’s house.
* * *
‘ANNA, WHAT ARE you doing out of bed?’ she asked as she opened the kitchen door and found Anna humming as she filled the kettle.
‘I feel so much better that I didn’t want to stay in bed any longer. After all, I’m not an invalid, you know,’ Anna responded dryly. ‘You don’t look very happy,’ she added perceptively. ‘Something’s wrong. What is it?’
Dee, who had had no intention of telling Anna anything whatsoever about her run-in with Ward, suddenly discovered to her own chagrin that she was actually flushing a little as she tried to mumble a protective fib.
‘Oh, it’s no good,’ she finally admitted. ‘I shall have to tell you. Anna, just... I was just turning into your drive when...when Ward Hunter turned in after me.’
‘Ward’s here? Where?’ Anna demanded, immediately flying to the kitchen window to peer out into the garden.
‘No, he’s not here,’ Dee told her. ‘I...I told him that you wouldn’t want to see him and, in fact, I actually told him that you weren’t even here.’
‘He’s gone? When? Just now? Oh, heavens, that means... Dee, I have to go after him. He’ll have gone home; I know the way.’
‘Go after him? What? After what he’s done...?’ Dee looked stunned.
‘No, it isn’t like you think,’ Anna assured her, quickly explaining to Dee what Ward’s mother had told her during their telephone call.
‘And you believe her, do you?’ Dee asked Anna.
‘Yes, I do,’ Anna confirmed quietly.
Dee was both startled and impressed by Anna’s unfamiliar decisiveness and determination.
‘It seems I’ve done the wrong thing, then, in sending him away,’ she commented ruefully. ‘I’m sorry, Anna, but I...’
‘It’s not your fault. After all, you didn’t know about Ward’s mother’s phone call. I know you just wanted to protect me, Dee, and I’m truly grateful to you for that,’ Anna told her friend, hugging her. ‘Can I ask you a favour, by the way?’ When Dee nodded Anna asked her, ‘Could you look after Missie and Whittaker for me? I don’t know when I shall be back—later this evening, if Ward refuses to listen to me.’
‘Yes, I’ll look after them,’ Dee agreed. ‘It’s the least I can do.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
WARD HADN’T EATEN anything since breakfast but as he forced himself to go through the motions of preparing a meal he acknowledged that he didn’t really have any appetite for it.
What was Anna doing now? Where was she? He only hoped that wherever she was she was being treated with tenderness and the love she so much deserved, the tenderness and love he should have given her, he should be giving her, he so longed to give her.
As he had driven north he had kept picturing her in the hospital when she had looked up at him, her eyes shining with relief and love; at her house when she had turned her head and smiled at him; in his bed when she had told him, shown him...
Ward coul
d almost taste the bitterness of his own pain. His eyes felt gritty and sore. He pulled open the fridge door and then closed it again, blinking fiercely. He had switched on the radio when he had come in, hoping that the sound would blot out the agony of his thoughts, but the voice of the woman talking jarred on him. The only voice he longed to hear was Anna’s quiet, soft one, the one she used after they had made love, all warm and tender with the emotion of what they had shared.
‘Oh, God, Anna!’
‘Yes, Ward?’
He swung round in disbelief, opening his eyes, which he had closed as he had cried out her name in helpless longing and despair.
‘Anna... What are you doing here...?’
Anna smiled tremulously at him.
It had been such a relief to drive into the courtyard and discover that his car was here, but now the courage and determination which had brought her in hot pursuit of him had been overwhelmed by her awareness of the risk she was taking, the way she was exposing herself to further hurt and rejection. Only Ward wasn’t looking at her as though he was going to reject her. He was looking at her as though...
Anna took a tentative step towards him and then stopped as he abruptly turned his back on her and reopened the fridge door.
There was so much they both needed to say, so many potential dangers and hazards in doing so that she was afraid they might still lose one another in a morass of explanations and apologies.
There had to be a way she could reach out to him, tell him...show him...
And suddenly, as she studied his back, remembering achingly how it had felt beneath her fingertips, the skin so smooth and taut over his muscles, the breadth of his shoulders so thrillingly masculine and powerful, she knew what it was.
Taking a deep breath, she asked him gently, ‘You might want to turn your back on me, Ward, but do you want to turn your back on your son or daughter as well?’
The speed with which he moved surprised her. One minute he was opening the fridge, the next he was jerking her forward against his body into his arms, demanding thickly, ‘What are you saying, Anna? My God, woman, are you
really...? Have we...?’
Behind her back Anna crossed her fingers, hoping that Mother Nature wasn’t going to make a liar out of her as she told him shakily, ‘It’s early days yet, but yes, Ward, I...I think we have...’
‘A child—you’re having my child...’
‘Our child,’ Anna corrected him firmly.
Ward shook his head, groaning.
‘My mother warned me that this could have happened, but I thought she was exaggerating the risk...’
‘I think maybe we were the ones who did that,’ Anna told him demurely.
‘You’re pregnant...with my child...’ Ward repeated. He was running his hands tenderly over her body, his eyes dark with emotion. Anna could feel his fingers trembling slightly as he cupped her face.
‘Oh, God, Anna, I’ve missed you so much,’ he told her rawly, adding, ‘Can you ever forgive me?’
He was a very proud man and Anna knew how much it must be costing him to ask for her forgiveness and understanding. Another woman might have been tempted to punish him a little more, to remind him of just what he had done and how much he had hurt her, but Anna’s gentle nature did not incline her that way.
‘We both made mistakes and got things wrong,’ she told him softly, adding truthfully, ‘We’ve been very lucky, Ward, because we’ve been given the chance to start again.’
‘I loved you before your friend told me the truth about Cox,’ Ward told her huskily.
‘I know; you told me so—after we made love...’
‘You heard that? I...’ He smiled painfully.
‘I heard it,’ Anna confirmed. ‘And even if I hadn’t,’ she added in a more light-hearted voice, ‘I would have to believe that you love me because your mother told me so.’
‘My mother? She’s spoken to you? But...’
‘But what?’ Anna demanded provocatively, lifting her mouth towards his.
‘But nothing,’ Ward responded thickly, accepting the soft invitation of her half-parted lips with the hungry pressure of his own. ‘Hell, Anna, you shouldn’t be allowing me to do this,’ he groaned as he kissed her. ‘There are things we ought to talk about, explanations I ought to make; apologies...I need...
‘What is it?’ he demanded as she tried to silence him by placing her fingertips against his mouth.
‘Later,’ Anna told him simply. ‘Take me to bed, Ward. I want that so much. I want you so much,’ she breathed ecstatically as he started to kiss gently and then nibble the fingers she had touched to his lips.
‘If we go to bed now, I’m not sure I dare trust myself,’ Ward confessed as he held Anna’s face and looked deep into her eyes.
‘I trust you,’ Anna told him steadily—and meant it.
‘Oh, Anna...’
Anna could see the emotion in his eyes darkening their colour and sparkling on his lashes.
‘We both...misinterpreted the facts,’ Anna told him
gently. ‘But, Ward, if you hadn’t thought I was Julian’s partner and if I hadn’t thought we were lovers, then we would never have had...this...’
‘How could I ever, ever have misjudged you so badly?’ Ward groaned as he reached for her.
* * *
‘WARD...? I’VE BEEN thinking,’ Anna murmured happily over an hour later as she lay nestled at Ward’s side in bed.
‘Hmm...’ he responded. ‘I don’t want to think; I just want to hold you and touch you, kiss you and—’
‘Ward,’ Anna protested half-heartedly, snuggling blissfully and murmuring her appreciation of the way he was lovingly nibbling at the delicate flesh of her throat. However, as his hand reached out to cup her breast, she caught hold of it and told him severely, ‘It’s about the baby...’
Immediately she had his attention.
‘I’d like Dee to be his or her godmother,’ Anna told him quietly.
‘Dee?’ Ward demanded suspiciously, knowing the answer to his question even before he had asked it. ‘She wouldn’t be that man-hating virago who refused to allow me to see you this afternoon, would she?’
Anna shook her head chidingly.
‘Dee isn’t a man-hater, Ward, and as for her being a
virago... Underneath she’s really very kind—and I think very vulnerable. I promise you, once you get to know her you’ll like her,’ Anna coaxed him lovingly.
‘I’ll try to believe you,’ Ward offered ruefully. ‘But right now,’ he added in a softer voice, ‘I’ve got far more important things on my mind...’
‘Oh? What things?’ Anna teased him.
‘Come here and let me show you,’ Ward said tenderly.
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Subscribe to our newsletter: Harlequin.com/newsletters
Visit Harlequin.com
We like you—why not like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books: HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN: 9781459249622
Copyright © 1999 by Penny Jordan
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of
the individual works as follows:
THE MISTRESS ASSIGNMENT
Copyright © 1999 by Penny Jordan
LOVER BY DECEPTION
Copyright © 1999 by Penny Jordan
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmi
tted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com