Chelsea moved restlessly about the room. ‘Poor me, you mean. Why is it that everyone feels sorry for Lucas, I’m the one who loves a man who doesn’t even believe in the emotion!’
Camilla’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve told Jace about this?’
‘Yes,’ she sighed.
‘What’s his opinion?’
‘That I have a long struggle ahead of me to convince Lucas I’m serious,’ she dismissed. ‘If he talks to me much more the way he did just now I’m not sure that I want to!’
Camilla touched her arm consolingly. ‘Lucas is angry with me, not you.’
‘But why?’
‘It’s a long story.’
‘And you don’t feel like telling it right now,’ she realised understandingly.
‘Lucas is very wrong about you, Chelsea,’ Camilla touched her cheek affectionately. ‘You’re very adult.’
She gave a rueful smile. ‘I wish I could get him to believe that.’
‘Maybe you have,’ Camilla shrugged. ‘Did I mention the fact that Lucas is also stubborn, and very self-sufficient? He doesn’t like leaving himself open to pain, Chelsea.’
‘Doesn’t like his emotions to be involved, you mean,’ she grimaced.
‘That’s about it,’ the other woman nodded. ‘You know, hearing about your problems has taken my mind off my own,’ she realised dazedly.
‘Maybe if you tell me yours it will have the same effect on me,’ she encouraged.
‘I’ll tell you, Chelsea,’ she nodded gently. ‘But not just yet. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ she agreed with a shrug.
Camilla gave her a considering look. ‘You know, I’m going out for a walk, and you look good enough to eat, so why don’t you rejoin Lucas for dinner?’
‘Because I just more or less told him what to do with his dinner!’
Camilla laughed softly. ‘Why miss one of Mrs Harvey’s wonderful dinners just because you’re angry with Lucas?’ she reasoned.
‘Because I’m afraid I may tip it over Lucas’s head if he’s rude to me again!’
‘All the more reason,’ Camilla encouraged. ‘A bowl of gravy tipped all over him may do him good.’
She heaved a deep sigh. ‘Lucas doesn’t think that anything I do is good.’
Camilla sobered. ‘Lucas isn’t very adept at showing his emotions, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. He’s looked after me all his life, and yet he’s never once said he loves me.’
‘He does though,’ Chelsea frowned.
‘Exactly.’
‘But he can be so cruel when he wants to be!’
‘When he wants to be,’ Camilla echoed. ‘It isn’t a wanton, hot-headed cruelty, it’s something he thinks out and acts upon. He always has his reasons.’
‘You know,’ steel entered Chelsea’s voice, ‘I think I will go and have dinner with him after all. And I’ll be so nice to him he’ll wonder what’s hit him.’
Lucas was sitting in an armchair when she entered the lounge, the newspaper held up in front of his face, his tightly gripping fingers showing he was still angry. Well so was she, and she had more reason to be!
‘Dinner will be getting cold,’ she told him loudly, watching with glee as he crumpled his newspaper as he jumped in surprise.
He lowered the paper slowly, his eyes steely. ‘I thought you weren’t eating dinner?’
She raised innocent brows. ‘I didn’t say that,’ she shook her head, her hair still loose down to her waist.
‘When you stormed out of here—’
‘When I went to talk to Camilla, you mean,’ she corrected. ‘I told you to start dinner without me.’
His mouth twisted. ‘That isn’t the way it sounded!’
‘Well it’s the way I meant it,’ she glibly lied.
‘Chelsea—’
‘Yes?’ she looked at him with challenging eyes.
‘Nothing,’ he rasped, throwing down the newspaper in an uncustomary gesture. ‘As you said, dinner will be getting cold.’ He followed her through to the dining-room, his mouth tight.
Chelsea was so sweet to him for the rest of the evening it was sickening. But she had the satisfaction of knowing she had disconcerted Lucas; he just didn’t know what to make of her behaviour!
‘How did it go?’ Camilla asked sleepily as Chelsea joined her in the bedroom, having returned from her walk shortly after nine and gone straight to bed.
‘He’s confused,’ Chelsea said with satisfaction, undressing in the darkness so that she didn’t disturb the other woman too much.
‘Keep him on the run, Chelsea,’ Camilla advised with a tired yawn. ‘He has to stop for breath some time.’
That was true, but there was no guarantee that when he did stop it would be with her. As she lay in bed unable to sleep she knew Camilla lay awake too, despite her rather obvious efforts to look tired a few minutes ago. But she respected the other woman’s privacy, as Camilla respected hers, and finally she did fall asleep.
Camilla had gone from the adjoining bed when she woke the next morning, and after looking at her watch she knew that Lucas would have left for work too, taking her time about dressing, in no hurry to start being sociable when she felt so unsociable. She had a headache this morning, felt decidedly unlike her robust self.
She could hear voices in the lounge, frowning as she realised Lucas must be at home after all, one of the voices decidedly male. ‘I thought you—John!’ All tiredness left her as she realised the identity of the person Camilla was talking to, turning to glare accusingly at John before turning stricken eyes to Camilla, turning back to John as Camilla seemed innocent of his troublemaking, her smile friendly. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked John flatly.
He had stood up at her entrance. ‘I came to see you.’ He was watching her closely.
Her body braced as if for attack; she hadn’t seen him since that day he had so skilfully pumped all that information out of her that had gone into his story. ‘How did you get in?’ she demanded to know.
Camilla was listening to the exchange with a puzzled expression. ‘I met Mr Anderson outside, and—’
‘And naturally he charmed you into bringing him up here,’ Chelsea finished with contempt for the man. ‘I hope you’ve been careful what you’ve said to him, Camilla,’ her contemptuous gaze still rested on John even though she spoke to the other woman, his expression uncomfortable, ‘because it will all be in print tomorrow.’
‘What!’ Camilla stared at the reporter with horror in her eyes.
‘John is a reporter, Camilla,’ she said with distaste. ‘I made the mistake last week of thinking he was just a nice man offering me a little sympathy and a shoulder to cry on, and lo and behold the next morning every word I’d told him appeared on the front page of his newspaper!’
‘Not quite every word,’ he reminded softly.
She flushed at the truth of that. ‘Almost every word,’ she conceded grudgingly.
‘And I don’t have a newspaper,’ he corrected. ‘I’m freelance.’
‘I’m sure you didn’t have a shortage of offers for that disgusting story you wrote last week!’
‘I had only a lukewarm response to the story I originally submitted.’
‘Really?’ she said disinterestedly. ‘So you decided to spice it up a little to really get their interest, hm?’
‘I’d think I’d better leave the two of you alone to talk,’ Camilla frowned.
‘Please stay, Camilla,’ she pleaded.
The other woman shook her head. ‘I think it would be better if I left. I’d like to say it’s been nice talking to you, Mr Anderson,’ she sounded upset. ‘But if what Chelsea says is true I don’t think it has been.’
‘It has,’ he told her firmly, pointedly, turning to Chelsea once they were alone. ‘I’ve been trying to talk to you for the last week.’
‘I believe Lucas’s housekeeper told you I didn’t want to talk to you,’ she said stiffly.
‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘And I could u
nderstand that. But I just wanted to apologise—’
‘You think an apology makes everything all right again?’ she cut in disbelievingly. ‘You wrote a story that was completely erroneous—’
‘I didn’t write the story that appeared in the newspaper,’ he shook his head.
‘Lucas telephoned the newspaper,’ she told him with distaste for his lie. ‘They freely admitted that their informant was a John Anderson.’
‘Informant,’ he nodded. ‘They took the story I submitted and turned it into—into what you saw,’ he grimaced. ‘I swear to you that I didn’t write what they printed.’
‘It doesn’t really matter now who wrote it, does it,’ she dismissed wearily. ‘The damage has been done, both to Lucas and myself.’
‘I know,’ he sighed. ‘And I’m sorry. You’ve already had to face so much, that story on top of everything else must have really distressed you.’
Chelsea took compassion on him, some of her anger fading; he did genuinely seem upset. ‘It didn’t help matters,’ she conceded. ‘And I can tell you, Lucas was absolutely furious about it.’
‘I’m sure,’ John nodded, chewing on his bottom lip. ‘I couldn’t believe my luck when I ran into you the way I did. I was following up a very sketchy lead a friend of mine in the States had given me, and when you got into the lift I recognised you immediately from your photographs.’
‘You deliberately coaxed that information out of me,’ she reminded coldly.
‘So that I could write a humane story,’ he insisted. ‘Not something full of sketchy facts and innuendo! I was as disgusted by what they did print as you must have been.’
‘Is that why you’ve come here under false pretences this morning and tried to get information out of Camilla?’ she accused.
He shook his head. ‘I didn’t ask her anything, and she didn’t tell me anything. And even if she had I wouldn’t write about it; I owe you that at least for what happened last week. I really am sorry, Chelsea,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll leave now that I’ve had the chance to tell you that. And you won’t hear from me again, I can assure you of that.’
‘Not even in tomorrow’s newspapers?’ she said sceptically, having learnt the hard way to distrust this man.
‘No.’ His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘I like you, Chelsea, I never meant to hurt you,’ he added seriously. ‘I promise you that I’ll write no more about you or your family.’
‘That isn’t a very professional attitude,’ she mocked.
He grimaced. ‘To tell you the truth this last week has shaken me up a bit. I work for a local newspaper back home where the highlight of the week is the latest missing cat escapade; I’d never before dealt with a story as big as this one. It’s a cut-throat business on Fleet Street, and I don’t think I’m up to it yet, maybe I never will be. I’m going back home, anyway, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be back.’
Chelsea couldn’t help but smile. ‘Maybe you just jumped in to too big a story.’
‘Maybe,’ he shrugged. ‘But I certainly don’t intend to let this happen to me again. Now I’d better leave you in peace,’ he gave a rueful smile as he moved to the door. ‘Thank you for hearing me out, I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me.’
He was so sincere that she couldn’t help but believe his regret was genuine. ‘I already have,’ she said with her usual warmth.
He gave a rueful smile. ‘Thanks for being so understanding.’
She may have been, but she had a feeling that understanding was the last thing Lucas was going to feel, that he was going to be furiously angry when he heard John Anderson had managed to talk to her a second time!
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHE was right, he was.
Maybe she should have warned Camilla against telling Lucas of John’s visit, but the other woman unwittingly revealed that he had been to the apartment as the three of them retired to the lounge after dinner.
Lucas grew very still, his jaw rigid. ‘Anderson came here?’ he rasped.
‘Well, yes,’ Chelsea blushed. ‘But—’
‘You actually let him in here after what happened last time you spoke to him?’ Lucas thundered.
‘No, I—’
‘Don’t tell me you met him in the lift again,’ he dismissed disgustedly.
‘You’re being unfair—’
‘Unfair!’ he repeated incredulously. ‘You invite some damned reporter here when he’s already told the whole country we’re lovers and you call me unfair! Oh yes,’ he insisted grimly as Camilla gasped, very pale beneath the perfection of her make-up, unable to conceal the dark smudges of unhappiness beneath her eyes. ‘That’s exactly what he did,’ he ground out. ‘And Chelsea actually invited him into my home!’
‘I didn’t—’
‘It was me, Lucas,’ Camilla told him quietly.
‘Don’t try and protect her, Camilla,’ he sighed impatiently. ‘It seems to me that she’s been protected by one person or another all her life, and it’s time that it stopped.’ He towered over Chelsea like some avenging angel. ‘If Anderson reports one libellous statement about me or a member of my family you’ll find yourself sued along with him!’
‘Lucas!’ Camilla gasped.
‘Do I make myself clear?’ he ignored his sister’s shocked reaction, glaring at Chelsea.
‘You make yourself very clear,’ she nodded abruptly.
‘Lucas, it was me,’ Camilla insisted. ‘I had no idea who he was, and I invited him in.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ he shook his head. ‘Chelsea has been behaving irresponsibly, one way or another, since the moment she arrived here. It’s time she faced her responsibilities—’
‘Lucas, will you please listen to me,’ Camilla raised her voice impatiently. ‘I did let John Anderson in here. In fact, I brought him up to the apartment after my walk. I thought he was a friend of Chelsea’s, he acted as if he were.’
Lucas grew very still, looking at his sister with narrowed eyes. ‘Is that the truth?’
‘Of course it is,’ she snapped. ‘And stop glowering at me, I’m not a nineteen-year-old that you think you can browbeat!’
He glared at her. ‘Sometimes you act like one!’ He slammed out of the room.
‘What a dear brother I have,’ Camilla said with sweet sarcasm.
‘Why is he like that?’ Chelsea flared. ‘Is it just that he can’t bear to be wrong?’
Camilla smiled at her anger. ‘No one likes to be wrong,’ she drawled. ‘And arrogantly decisive men even less so than most.’ She frowned. ‘But I have to admit that he’s even more unreasonable than usual at the moment.’
‘Why?’
Camilla shrugged. ‘I think maybe you’re making him realise what he’s lost.’
Now Chelsea was totally confused, and said so. ‘Lucas seems to have everything,’ she added.
‘Looks can be deceptive. I’m sure that part of the problem is that Lucas can see himself in you at that age—’
‘You heard him,’ Chelsea derided. ‘He thinks I’m irresponsible. Lucas was never irresponsible,’ she said bitterly.
Camilla gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Lucas was wild at your age—’
‘Lucas was? I don’t believe it!’
‘But he was,’ the other woman insisted. ‘Our parents were—repressive—’
‘He told me,’ she nodded.
‘He did?’ Camilla said with slow consideration. ‘Now that’s interesting. Anyway, in his late teens Lucas rebelled—’
‘He said you were the rebellious one.’
Camilla smiled. ‘Nothing like Lucas, believe me. He even ran off to live in a commune for a time.’
She somehow couldn’t imagine Lucas as a ‘free-spirited’ person. ‘What went wrong?’ she grimaced.
Camilla laughed. ‘My father would have said what went right!’ She sobered, shrugging. ‘He grew up, I suppose. He came home, repressed his own ambitions and entered the law like our father wanted him to.’
‘I thought Lucas
had always wanted to be a lawyer,’ she frowned.
The other woman shook her head. ‘He can write. At least, he used to,’ she shrugged. ‘I haven’t known him do anything like that for a long time.’
‘You mean books and things?’ she was stunned.
Camilla nodded. ‘He’s good too.’
‘Has he ever had anything published?’
‘He’s never sent any of his work to a publisher,’ Camilla sighed. ‘And just lately he’s become too immersed in his career to have time for his writing. Jennifer Sutton doesn’t help, she’s so ambitious she encourages Lucas to live for his career too.’
‘He isn’t seeing her anymore,’ Chelsea told her quietly. ‘At least, he wasn’t a couple of days ago. They had this big argument—’
‘Jennifer and Lucas did?’ Camilla sounded incredulous.
She blushed as she remembered the scene that had followed the argument. ‘Miss Sutton took exception to my staying here with Lucas.’
‘And he took exception to her saying so,’ Camilla said knowingly. ‘I bet Jennifer was surprised when he took your part; I think she had designs on being Mrs Lucas McAdams.’
‘Maybe she still will be.’ She shrugged to hide the pain she felt at the thought. ‘After all, they still work together,’ she added almost questioningly, wanting Camilla’s verbal assurance that she didn’t think Lucas would return to the other woman.
‘Maybe,’ Camilla agreed dismissively. ‘I think I’ll go to bed now.’ She stood up.
‘I’ll be through in a few minutes,’ Chelsea nodded distractedly.
‘Don’t rush to bed on my account,’ Camilla told her. ‘I’m going to take a couple of pills tonight to ensure that I get some sleep.’
‘I promise not to tell Lucas,’ she mocked. ‘He doesn’t approve, you know.’
Camilla grimaced. ‘My dear brother is far too opinionated. Thank goodness I stopped listening to him years ago!’
Chelsea’s smile faded as soon as the other woman had left. Lucas was opinionated, he was also overbearing, bossy, and obstinate—and she still loved him! He was impossible to reason with, so firm in his beliefs that he couldn’t even begin to accept it when he was wrong.
‘Has Camilla gone to bed?’
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