Lovers in the Afternoon

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘But I did, didn’t I?’ She smiled up at him.

  ‘Yes, you did.’ He shook his head in amazement. ‘I thought I had changed after you left me, you see I tried to do exactly that, but now I realise I’m still as arrogant, that I haven’t changed in that respect at all. What right do I have to expect you to waste one day of your life on me after what you went through when you were married to me?’

  ‘It isn’t wasted,’ she assured him huskily.

  ‘And if I hurt you again?’ he rasped.

  She shook her head. ‘You won’t.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘Why should I want to be?’ she cajoled. ‘One thing I’ve learnt from our marriage, Adam, is that the whole of life is a risk. You simply have to live it the way that is best for you.’

  He pulled her up to sit on his knees. ‘And this is best for us, isn’t it, Leonie?’ he said fiercely.

  ‘Yes,’ she said softly, hope completely gone. ‘This is right for us.’

  She met his kiss halfway, their emotions spiralling rapidly, standing up in unison to go to her bedroom, needing more than just caresses.

  They had barely reached the bedroom when the telephone began to ring, Adam frowning heavily as he glanced down at his watch. ‘Friday, eleven-thirty,’ he muttered darkly. ‘He’s consistent, isn’t he,’ he ground out, turning to pick up the receiver.

  ‘No, Adam, let me—’

  He easily shrugged off her attempt to take the receiver from him, listening to the man in silence for several seconds. ‘As I said before, it all sounds very interesting,’ he finally cut in gratingly. ‘But if you don’t stop these calls I’m going to do some heavy breathing of my own—down your damned neck! Do I make myself clear?’ He shrugged, putting down the receiver. ‘He hung up.’

  ‘Wouldn’t you?’ she teased, relieved that the call was over for another week.

  Adam sighed. ‘Leonie, he worries me. I know you say he’s harmless, but—’

  ‘He is,’ she insisted. ‘And maybe now that he realises I have an aggressive lover he’ll stop calling.’

  ‘Maybe…’ But Adam didn’t sound convinced.

  ‘Darling, let’s not think about him now,’ she moved sensuously against him. ‘Can’t you see this is exactly what he wants?’ She sighed as she received no response. ‘Adam, don’t let one sick person ruin everything that we have.’

  He looked down at her with pain-darkened eyes. ‘If anything happened to you…!’ His arms came about her convulsively, carrying her over to the bed to make love to her until she begged for his possession, until neither of them had a lucid thought in their head other than pleasing each other.

  Adam still lay next to her when she woke the next morning, and with a contented sigh she realised neither of them had to go to work this morning. She looked down at the man at her side, remembering the incredible night they had just spent together, a night when Adam seemed determined to possess her time and time again, and had.

  ‘Adam…?’

  His lids opened instantly she spoke his name, almost as if her voice were all that were needed to wake him. A light glowed in his eyes as he saw the sensuality in her face. ‘Again, Leonie?’ he said huskily.

  ‘Please,’ she encouraged throatily.

  It was after eleven when they woke the next time, Leonie resisting Adam’s caressing as she insisted they needed food rather than more lovemaking. It was while they were eating the brunch Adam had prepared that she remembered she should have visited Liz and Nick that morning.

  ‘What is it?’ Adam was sensitive to her every mood, fully dressed as he sat across the table from her, although he had told her he intended bringing some of his clothes here the next time he came, sick of dressing in the same clothes he had worn the evening before. He did look rather out of place in the tailored black trousers and white evening shirt, although he had dispensed with the dinner jacket that completed the suit.

  ‘Nothing,’ she dismissed, not wanting to do or say anything that would dispel the harmony of the morning.

  ‘Leonie?’ he prompted reprovingly.

  She shrugged narrow shoulders, wearing denims and a cream cotton top. ‘I should have visited Liz and Nick this morning, but it isn’t important. I can call them later.’

  ‘There’s still time—’

  ‘I’d rather stay with you,’ she said huskily.

  ‘I have an appointment myself at twelve-thirty.’ He sipped his coffee.

  ‘Oh?’ she frowned, had imagined they would spend the day together.

  ‘Yes.’ He didn’t enlarge on the subject. ‘And I have to go home and change first,’ he added ruefully. ‘So you can still go to Liz’s if you want to.’

  It seemed that she might as well when he put it like that. But she couldn’t help feeling curious about who he was seeing at twelve-thirty; he wasn’t exactly keeping it a secret, but he didn’t seem anxious to talk about it either.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure,’ she frowned.

  ‘I am,’ he nodded. ‘I’ll come back here around six, okay?’

  ‘Okay.’

  His sharp gaze narrowed on her. ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she dismissed with a bright smile.

  Adam smiled. ‘I know you well enough to realise when you’re sulking—’

  ‘I do not sulk!’ she claimed indignantly.

  ‘Yes, you do,’ he chuckled. ‘Your bottom lip pouts—like that,’ he touched the passion-swollen redness with the top of his thumb, ‘and your eyes get stormy.’ He looked into the glittering green depths. ‘Like that. Yes, you’re definitely sulking. What is it, Leonie?’ he prompted softly.

  She shrugged. ‘I thought we were going to spend the day together, that’s all,’ she admitted moodily.

  Pleasure glowed in his eyes. ‘Tomorrow we won’t even get out of bed,’ he promised. ‘But today we have our courtesy visits to make, you to Liz and Nick’s, I to a business meeting.’

  ‘On a Saturday?’

  ‘Sometimes it’s the only time that’s convenient. But if you would rather I didn’t go…?’

  ‘Oh no,’ she denied instantly, not wanting him to think she was acting shrewish, as he had once claimed a wife’s possessiveness could be. ‘I’ll cook us dinner this evening.’ That way they could spend more time alone together.

  ‘It’s about time you cooked me a meal.’ He mocked the fact that he was the one who had once again done the cooking.

  ‘You never used to like my cooking,’ she reminded softly.

  ‘That isn’t true,’ he sobered. ‘You used to get yourself in such a state about it if something went wrong that I thought you would prefer to eat with my father. I couldn’t have given a damn if some of the food was a bit burnt around the edges!’

  ‘It was usually burnt all over,’ she grimaced.

  ‘Didn’t you know that I didn’t give a damn if it was charcoaled?’ he rasped. ‘I didn’t even notice what I was eating, I was too busy looking at my wife!’

  ‘Oh, Adam,’ she choked. ‘Tonight I’ll cook you something really special,’ she promised. ‘It’s just that I’ve been too exhausted the rest of the week to be able to crawl from my bed, let alone cook you dinner in the evenings,’ she teased lightly.

  ‘Tomorrow you won’t have to bother,’ he promised, standing up to pull on his jacket.

  ‘I may starve,’ she warned.

  ‘You won’t.’ His gaze held hers before he bent to kiss her.

  ‘Man—or woman—cannot live on love alone,’ she told him.

  ‘We can try,’ he murmured throatily, shaking his head as he moved away from her. ‘If I don’t leave now, I may not have the strength to get out the door.’ He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. ‘I’ll see you this evening, darling.’

  Her flat seemed very empty once he had left, not even Harvey’s presence as he jealously followed her from room to room helping to dispel the feeling of loneliness as he usually did. Accustomed to sleeping on the bottom of her bed at ni
ght he wasn’t too happy about being relegated to the sofa in the lounge this last week.

  To Leonie’s dismay Nick was out when she arrived for her visit, feeling awkward at being alone with Liz, something she had pointedly avoided since the day she had seen her sister in Adam’s arms. But she could hardly leave again just because her brother-in-law was out.

  But she didn’t know what to talk about to Liz, had felt uncomfortable with her sister since knowing she and Adam had been lovers. Luckily feeding Emma and putting her upstairs for her nap filled the first half an hour, although without the distraction of the baby Leonie felt even more awkward.

  ‘That’s a lovely ring.’ Liz reached her hand across the kitchen table as they sat in there drinking coffee together, admiring the diamond-studded ring on Leonie’s slender hand. ‘It’s new, isn’t it?’ she looked up enquiringly.

  Leonie put the offending hand out of sight under the table. ‘Yes, it’s new,’ she mumbled, wondering why on earth she hadn’t thought to take it off before visiting her sister.

  ‘It looks expensive,’ Liz sipped her coffee.

  ‘I—It probably is,’ she acknowledged awkwardly.

  Her sister’s eyes widened. ‘It was a gift?’

  ‘Yes,’ she admitted reluctantly.

  ‘Well don’t be so secretive, Leonie,’ Liz laughed reprovingly. ‘Who’s the man?’

  She shrugged. ‘No one important.’ She instantly felt disloyal for dismissing Adam in that way. ‘That isn’t true,’ she said quietly, her head going back proudly. ‘Adam gave me the ring.’

  ‘You’re back together?’

  She wished she could tell more from her sister’s expression how she felt about the idea, but Liz was giving nothing away, her expression guarded. ‘In a way,’ she finally answered.

  Liz frowned at the evasion. ‘What does that mean?’

  She moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘We’re together, but not back together if you know what I mean.’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ Liz looked puzzled.

  ‘Our marriage was a failure, being with Adam now is nothing like that.’

  ‘But you are—together?’ Liz persisted.

  She drew in a deep breath, not wanting to hurt her sister as Liz had hurt her in the past, their roles somehow reversed now. ‘Yes,’ she confirmed abruptly.

  Liz let out a long sigh of relief. ‘You don’t know how happy that makes me,’ she said shakily.

  Leonie frowned. ‘Happy?’ It was the last thing she had expected her sister to feel about her reconciliation with Adam. ‘You realise I know of your involvement with Adam before we were married?’

  ‘Yes,’ Liz nodded. ‘I always felt that it was partly that involvement that parted you and Adam.’

  Partly! It was her sister’s involvement with her husband that had ended the marriage!

  ‘I’m so glad Adam has at last explained to you what really happened between us,’ Liz said happily. ‘He has, hasn’t he?’ she hesitated.

  ‘I know about it,’ she acknowledged curtly.

  ‘Adam always said that knowing wouldn’t make things any better between you, that you had other problems that couldn’t be worked out.’

  ‘Yes.’ But they had worked those problems out now! So what was the secret behind Liz’s involvement with Adam, how did her sister think Adam could ever condone their actions so that she could forgive them both?

  ‘I couldn’t imagine what they were,’ Liz frowned. ‘And it wasn’t my business to ask. I know how kind Adam is, I couldn’t think what could be wrong between you, but Adam insisted that knowing the truth about the two of us would serve no purpose, that things were over between you. I’m so glad he was wrong!’

  Leonie had no intention of correcting her sister’s assumption that Adam had explained everything to her, knowing that Liz was going to reveal it without realising she was doing so.

  ‘Adam so deserves to find happiness, he was so kind to me. When Nick went through what I can only assume to be his mid-life crisis a couple of years back and had an affair with a young girl at his office I felt so—so humiliated, so—so unfeminine, so unattractive, that I just wanted to crawl away and hide.’

  Nick’s affair? This was getting more complicated than she had imagined! She made a non-committal noise in her throat, encouraging Liz to continue.

  ‘Adam made me feel like a woman again, a beautiful woman,’ she recalled emotionally.

  ‘Wasn’t going to bed with you a little drastic?’ Harshness entered Leonie’s voice. ‘Offering you a shoulder to cry on might have been just as effective—and less complicated.’

  ‘I was the one who instigated our lovemaking,’ Liz admitted heavily. ‘It could have been any man, I just wanted to prove, to myself, that I was still an attractive woman.’

  ‘If it could have been any man why did you have to choose Adam!’

  She shrugged. ‘Because I knew he was too kind to rebuff me. He knew I couldn’t take any more rejection, acted as if it were what he wanted too, but afterwards we both knew it was a mistake. I still wanted Nick, not Adam, and the only way to get Nick back was to fight for him, to show him how important he was to me, not have an affair myself.’

  ‘You obviously won,’ Leonie said dully, the involvement she had believed to be an affair not an affair at all. Then why hadn’t Adam told her that! Because he didn’t care enough about her to explain himself…? Somehow his actions now disproved that.

  ‘Yes, although it wasn’t easy,’ Liz smiled tremulously. ‘Knowing Nick had slept with another woman, was perhaps comparing me to her, was a difficult hurdle to cross.’

  Leonie didn’t need to be told about that torment, she had lived it!

  ‘And I knew I could never tell Nick about the night I spent with Adam,’ she sighed heavily.

  ‘But he had an affair himself.’

  ‘Yes,’ Liz nodded. ‘But to be told that I had spitefully slept with another man because he had betrayed me was something I knew he could never accept. Besides, Adam was married to you by this time.’

  ‘All the more reason for the truth to come out, I would have thought!’

  ‘And what was the truth?’ Liz reasoned. ‘That Adam had loaned me his body for a night so that I might feel a whole woman again? Why ruin five lives just to ease our consciences?’ she shook her head.

  Because Leonie had a feeling it was that guilty conscience that had ruined her own marriage, Adam’s guilty conscience that he had once gone to bed with her sister. ‘You were never in love with Adam?’ she probed.

  ‘No,’ Liz denied instantly. ‘Or he with me. He took one look at my baby sister and fell like a ton of bricks,’ she added ruefully. ‘I’d always teased him that it would happen that way for him, and he had always scorned the idea. When I came back from my reconciliation holiday with Nick to be told the two of you were getting married I didn’t know whether to be ecstatic for your sake or nervous of losing the happiness I had just refound with Nick.’

  ‘That’s why you were less than enthusiastic by our news.’ She had thought it was for completely a different reason!

  ‘Yes,’ Liz grimaced. ‘I should have known Adam would never break his promise to me. But when I knew I was expecting a baby it somehow seemed important that he reassure me Nick would never find out about that night I had spent with him. Adam assured me no one would hear of it from him.’

  And she had walked in on that scene, had misread it completely. Could Liz be right, had Adam fallen deeply on love with her the first time they met? And if he had, did he love her still?

  ‘He told me your marriage wasn’t working out,’ Liz looked sad. ‘That he expected you to leave him any day. I couldn’t understand it, the two of you had seemed so much in love. But Adam assured me my behaviour with him had done nothing to cause the rift.’

  And he had lied. He had risked their happiness for the sake of her sister’s! She knew it as surely as if Adam had told her so himself. But he never would. He was kind, had never deliberately hurt anyone i
n his life. Not even her, she realised now. Two years ago she had been too immature, too starry-eyed, to accept and understand what had prompted him to make love to Liz, a new maturity gave her the insight to realise he had been helping a friend cope with her pain. He couldn’t have had any idea at the time that he would fall in love with Liz’s young sister, that he would want to marry her even though he knew that, like Nick, she couldn’t have taken the truth about him and Liz. When she had found out about the two of them she had acted predictably, hadn’t cared that what she had thought to be their affair had taken place before their marriage, that Adam had been completely faithful to her since that time. All she had seen were the black and white facts; Adam had slept with her married sister!

  But had he really sacrificed their happiness for Liz’s sake? Eight months after their separation they were back together, happier than ever.

  And suddenly she needed to tell him she understood the past, that she wanted a future with him, a permanent future, with a wedding ring. There would be no more evasions of the truth between them, she wanted to be his wife, and she intended telling him so.

  ‘He was right.’ She stood up to kiss her sister warmly on the cheek, seeing Liz’s surprise to the first instantaneous show of affection she had given her in a long time. ‘We had other, much more serious problems.’ Such as not talking to each other about what was bothering them. She intended remedying that straight away!

  ‘I’m so glad you’re back together again,’ Liz hugged her.

  ‘So am I.’ She gave a glowing smile.

  ‘I hope it works out this time. Adam loves you very much, you know.’

  Yes, she finally believed that he did. He had been brought up in a household where love was never expressed openly, found it difficult to show love himself as a consequence, even when he knew it was pushing them apart. While they had been separated he had set about changing a lifetime of emotional repression, of sharing his feelings and fears with another person. The despair he had shown last night when they got back from his father’s because he thought he had failed was evidence of that.

  It also made her question the affair between them now. What was it he had said the first night they had slept together since their separation, that the affair had been her suggestion? He believed it was what she wanted!