‘He’s divorcing me, the rat! And it was her fault.’ She stabbed a finger towards Ginny.
That brought Ginny to her feet. ‘I did nothing, Mrs Adams,’ she denied calmly. ‘It was all your own work.’
Jenna glared at her. ‘You said something to him. I know you did!’
Ginny shook her head. ‘I said nothing. I admit I was going to, but as it turned out I didn’t have to. Lewis had already seen through you.’
The other woman seethed with anger, and it took away any trace of her beauty. ‘You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Well, Roarke may have the hots for you, darling, but he’ll never marry you. He’s all screwed up inside when it comes to love and marriage. So don’t think you’ve got it made! You’ll never keep him.’
Ginny looked at her coldly. ‘I think you should go now, Mrs Adams.’
Jenna slayed them with a withering look. ‘Don’t worry, I’m leaving. The sooner I’m free of this lousy family, the better! There are other fish in the sea, and I’m going fishing!’ she exclaimed, and flung herself out of the office with another crash of the door.
After a stunned moment when neither of them moved, Roarke crossed the room and shut the door after her. Letting out his breath in a silent whistle, he ran a hand through his hair. ‘Jenna always did know how to make an entrance and an exit. Let’s hope we’ve seen the last of her,’ he declared feelingly. ‘I’m sorry for the way she spoke to you.’
Ginny smiled faintly. ‘That’s OK. I have broad shoulders.’
Roarke grimaced. ‘You’re going to need them. If the staff didn’t know about us before, they know now.’
She pulled a similarly wry face. ‘So much for secrecy, then.’ By now the office grapevine would have spread the news far and wide. ‘What brought her here?’
‘The desire to hurt me. She thinks if she can break us up, justice will have been done,’ Roarke explained with a shake of his head.
Ginny frowned. ‘But there’s nothing to break up. We aren’t in love with each other,’ she added, when he looked a query. ‘We’re just…’
He eyed her with curiosity, amusement dancing in his eyes. ‘Just?’
She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You know what I mean. We don’t have that kind of relationship.’
Roarke pursed his lips as he considered that. ‘No, we don’t. It’s just good old-fashioned sex,’ he agreed at last.
She nodded, although the description didn’t sit well. However, there was no denying the truth. Put plainly, it was just sex. ‘Anyway, I’m not expecting a proposal.’
‘That’s comforting,’ he rejoined sardonically, and she frowned at him.
‘I just wanted you to know…’
‘That ours is not a love affair. I got the message.’
Ginny blinked at his odd behaviour. ‘Are you feeling all right?’
He laughed wryly. ‘To tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure. Look, I’m late for that meeting. Let’s just forget about Jenna, OK?’
Blowing her a kiss, Roarke vanished back into his office and Ginny slumped into her seat, running over the last half-hour in her mind. Jenna’s sudden appearance had certainly created a stir. The cat was out of the bag now, but she found she wasn’t worried about that. What she did find uncomfortable was Roarke’s description of their relationship.
True, they enjoyed great sex, but that wasn’t all of it. She enjoyed being with him, and it was amazing how much they had in common. So it wasn’t just sex. On the other hand, she didn’t know what word to use to accurately describe it. It certainly wasn’t love! She didn’t love Roarke. She wanted him, but that wasn’t love. So it had to be sex, and yet… It just didn’t sit right, that was all.
With an irritable sigh, Ginny forced herself to forget about it. It was just words, after all. Semantics. It was what it was and that was that. There. Finished. She reached for the colour charts she had been studying before Jenna’s arrival and gave them her total concentration. If her thoughts wandered from time to time, she dragged them back into line with grim determination.
Later that evening, Ginny sat beside Roarke in his car, her stomach churning with nerves. This dinner with Caroline and James was going to be very important and she hoped she didn’t do or say anything to mess it up. She glanced across at Roarke, but he was concentrating on the road. He had been strangely quiet since he returned from his lunch appointment, almost introspective, and that added to her sense of disquiet. What was he thinking? It could be business, but generally he left that behind when they left the office. Tonight, however, his thoughts were elsewhere, and she couldn’t help thinking it had something to do with Jenna’s visit.
Having crossed the Thames, they were now driving through a leafy suburb, and Roarke turned into a road lined with large detached houses set back from the road. Eventually he steered the car through a pair of wrought-iron gates on to a driveway and parked the car before the house.
‘Very nice,’ he declared as he came round to open the door for her. ‘At a guess, I would say it was a wedding present from our mother.’
‘The Brigadier would have been impressed,’ Ginny observed dryly. A sound behind them made them glance round, to see the gates gliding shut. She laughed. ‘No uninvited guests. Good idea.’ There could be a problem with crime here, but Ginny rather thought the gates would have been Caroline’s idea.
Roarke smiled as they walked to the door. ‘I told you Caroline was a determined woman.’
‘Not only determined,’ his sister declared from the door where she stood waiting, having anticipated them. ‘But clever, too.’ She stood back with a smile to allow them to step inside. ‘I’m so happy to see you again, Ginny,’ she said, giving Ginny a hug. ‘Has Roarke been behaving himself?’ she asked, kissing her brother fondly on the cheek.
‘Mostly,’ Ginny returned, handing her evening jacket to the waiting housekeeper.
‘Good. I’m so glad the two of you are still together. Of course, I was pretty sure you would be,’ she added, with a twinkle in her eye.
Ginny exchanged an amused look with Roarke, who raised his shoulders in a helpless shrug.
‘Where’s James?’ she asked. The fact that he wasn’t at the door didn’t bode well.
Caroline’s response surprised her. ‘He’s in the drawing room mixing Martinis. He’s nervous.’
‘He is?’ That was a first! James had always seemed so sure of himself.
Roarke’s sister shepherded them towards a doorway. ‘He thinks you might be angry with him. He wasn’t very nice to you at the wedding,’ she explained.
‘He wasn’t, but that made me sad, not angry,’ Ginny replied wistfully.
The drawing room was large and designed for comfort. James was standing at a sideboard pouring liquid from a mixer into four glasses. He glanced round as they walked in, set the mixer aside and visibly braced himself with a deep breath before coming to join his wife.
‘Hello, Roarke.’ He shook his brother-in-law’s hand, then looked at his sister warily. ‘Ginny.’
Ginny searched his eyes, seeing some unease there, but the nervous tension that had always been with him when their father was around had vanished. As Caroline had said all those weeks ago, getting him away from his father would do him a world of good, and Ginny could see that it had. Consequently, she smiled at him and held out her hand.
‘Hello, James,’ she said huskily, then held her breath as he hesitated. However, it was only for a moment, and then he was squeezing her hand tightly.
‘Good of you to come,’ James added gruffly, clearing his throat. ‘I wasn’t sure you would.’
His uncertainty brought moisture to her eyes, and she shook her head then laughed, overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions. ‘You know me better than that. You’re my brother and I love you.’
James’s throat worked madly, and he shot a glance at his wife, who nodded encouragingly from the sidelines. ‘I said some pretty rotten things to you.’
Ginny sighed, unable to deny it. ‘Yes, you
did. But I understood why, James. I’ve always understood. All I care about now is that I can see you and talk to you. You don’t have to tell our father anything about it. Let’s leave him and the past out of it and just be friends. Can you do that? Will you do that?’
‘It’s what I would like, if you can forgive me,’ her brother responded stiffly, and without having to think about it Ginny slipped her arms about his neck and hugged him, feeling her heart swell as, after a short pause, he hugged her back.
‘There’s nothing to forgive. Nothing,’ she told him, stepping back, and then Caroline stepped in and hugged them all, and the tears were replaced by laughter.
As she watched Caroline shoo James off to fetch the drinks, Ginny felt Roarke take her hand and squeeze it. She glanced up at him.
‘OK?’ he asked simply, and when she nodded he bent and pressed a swift kiss to her lips.
It seemed to Ginny, as she took the glass James handed her and they toasted each other, that life couldn’t get any better.
From then on the evening buzzed with laughter. Ginny couldn’t remember her brother ever being so relaxed, and she had quite forgotten that he had a wacky sense of humour. She couldn’t have said what they ate for dinner, though it tasted wonderful. She was too busy watching and listening. The banter between Roarke and his sister showed them how family life should be, and Ginny was determined that that was how it would be once Lucy broke away.
She enjoyed watching James relax, and caught sight of the boy he had been, but mostly she watched Roarke. She sat back, fascinated by the play of emotions over his face as he said something serious or told a joke. Somehow, she just couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him, and when he glanced her way and quirked a questioning eyebrow to check that she was all right, she smiled, feeling a warm sense of well-being swell up inside her. She was happy, and happiness had been in short supply all of her life. Which was why she hugged the feeling to her, for it was precious beyond words.
Eventually a lull fell as they exchanged the wine for coffee, and it was during the lull that Caroline set the cat among the pigeons.
‘So,’ she said, looking from her brother to Ginny. ‘When are you two getting engaged?’
Ginny blinked and almost choked on her after-dinner mint. Roarke had gone still, his cup halfway to his lips.
‘What?’ they asked in unison, casting cautionary glances at each other, which Caroline found highly amusing.
‘Oh, come on,’ she chided. ‘I can’t recall ever seeing you so happy, Roarke. It must be love!’
Roarke set his cup down with a sharp tap of china on china. ‘I’m not in love,’ he said bluntly, and Ginny caught her breath sharply as she was struck by an unexpected shaft of pain. ‘Neither of us are.’ He looked to Ginny for confirmation, and she turned to his sister.
‘We don’t have that kind of relationship.’ She repeated the phrase she had used only hours before. It sounded lame now.
‘Fiddlesticks!’ Caroline exclaimed. ‘Are you both ostriches? What kind of relationship do you think you have?’
James put his hand on his wife’s arm. ‘Er, Caro, I don’t think this is the right time,’ he warned awkwardly.
She frowned at him. ‘But it’s obvious!’
He smiled at Ginny and Roarke, then held his wife’s gaze pointedly. ‘Not to them, darling.’
Caroline looked confused. ‘But…’ She frowned at her brother. ‘You’re…not…in love?’
‘No.’
Once again they spoke together.
The other woman’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head. ‘Well, OK, if you say you’re not, you’re not. Who am I to argue?’ ‘Surely we should know?’ Ginny put in, trying to ease the uncomfortable moment, and Caroline smiled ruefully.
‘Of course you should, Ginny. Forget I ever mentioned it,’ she ordered, smiling at everyone. ‘Now, who wants a brandy to go with their coffee?’
So the awkward moment was glossed over, and the remainder of the evening passed without anything else untoward happening. However, as they drove home, Ginny couldn’t help thinking about it.
‘It’s funny that your sister should think we’re in love,’ she remarked. ‘What made her think that?’
‘Being in the happy state herself, no doubt,’ Roarke returned sardonically, then spared her a glance. ‘You don’t love me, do you?’
Ginny turned startled eyes his way. ‘I think I’d know. You don’t?’
‘You know my feelings on the subject. Love is for the birds.’
‘So it’s still sex, then?’ She sought confirmation.
‘Just sex,’ he agreed, and they fell silent.
Ginny stared out into the darkness and saw her own reflection. It seemed to be asking a question. If this was just sex, why did she suddenly feel so empty inside? Neither she nor her reflection had an answer.
CHAPTER TEN
ABOUT ten days later Ginny stirred in the night, and knew instantly that she was alone in the bed. Running a hand over the sheets, she found they were cool, and knew that Roarke had been gone some time. Sliding from the bed, she slipped on her robe and went in search of him. He had been acting a little strangely ever since they had had dinner with Caroline and James, and now finding him out of bed like this gave her a vague feeling of disquiet.
She almost didn’t see him. Roarke was sitting on the sofa in the dark, his feet propped up on the coffee table. She stood and watched him in silence, unable to dispel the feeling that he was a million miles away instead of just a few feet.
‘What are you doing here in the dark?’ she asked quietly, and his head turned towards her.
‘Just sitting and thinking. I thought you were asleep.’
She padded into the room. ‘Something woke me, and I discovered you were gone. Can’t you sleep? Is something bothering you?’
Roarke held out a hand to her, and Ginny took it, allowing herself to be pulled down on to the sofa beside him. She tucked her feet under her and rested herself against him. The closeness should have helped but, contrarily, it didn’t quite. She still had the feeling something was wrong, but couldn’t put a finger on it.
‘I’m going to New York tomorrow morning,’ he said into the darkness.
Ginny frowned, for there was nothing scheduled or she would have known about it. ‘You are? Has something happened?’ she asked in all seriousness, and was surprised to hear Roarke laugh wryly.
‘You could say that. There are some…people I have to see,’ he added, and she didn’t miss the faint hesitation.
People? That was an odd way of putting it. ‘You’re making it sound very mysterious.’
‘Am I? Well, it isn’t. It’s just something I have to do. For Grandfather,’ he explained, and Ginny felt a sense of relief totally out of proportion to the situation, which showed how uneasy she had been feeling lately.
‘Oh, I see. Family business. Ah, well, if he needs you, he needs you, but I’ll miss you,’ she declared, touching a hand to his chest.
‘I’ll miss you, too,’ he responded, dropping a kiss on her head.
A lump lodged itself in her throat as she started to miss him already. ‘How long will you be gone?’
Roarke ran his hand gently up and down her arm. ‘I really have no idea, but not too long, I hope.’
‘Do you want me to pack for you?’ she offered helpfully, but he shook his head.
‘No. I’ll pop into my apartment on the way to the airport and collect some fresh things from there.’
Ginny sighed heavily. ‘I don’t suppose you can pack me in your suitcase and take me with you?’ she joked, though if he had asked she would have gone with him in a trice.
He laughed huskily. ‘Much as I would like to have you with me, this is something I have to do alone.’
‘There’s nothing I can do to change your mind?’ she asked, running her hand over his chest and slipping it inside the towelling robe he was wearing.
Roarke’s free hand came up and stopped her roving one in its tra
cks. ‘There’s plenty you could do, but it won’t make me change my mind, sweetheart.’
She hadn’t supposed it would, but it was worth a try. ‘Will you ring me? Let me know how things are going on?’
Roarke raised the hand he held captive to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm. ‘Every day, and that’s a promise.’
As satisfied as she could be with the situation, Ginny eased herself away from him and stood up. ‘Come back to bed, then, and let me give you something to remember whilst you’re away,’ she suggested huskily, and she saw his teeth flash in the darkness as he grinned and stood up.
‘There might be some men who could ignore an offer like that, but I’m not one of them, thank God,’ he declared, sweeping her up into his arms and striding back to the bedroom.
Maybe it was knowing that they would be apart for some time that gave their lovemaking a degree of urgency which made it impossible for either of them to hold back. From the first touch they wanted each other with a hunger and need that would not be denied, and the result was white-hot passion. Limbs tangled, bodies grew slick with sweat, and their moans of almost unbearable pleasure led on to a climax that left them so satiated they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Roarke had showered and was already eating breakfast when she woke next morning. Memories of the night before brought a smile to her lips as she showered and dressed, then joined him in her tiny kitchen.
Their eyes met and a silent message passed, though neither mentioned the passion they had shared. They remembered, and that was enough.
‘What time’s your flight?’ she asked, nibbling at a piece of toast whilst watching him wash his breakfast things and set them on the drainer.
‘Eleven. I’ll have time to run you to work, then go on to my apartment,’ Roarke informed her after glancing at his watch.
‘You’ll be exhausted. You didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,’ she commiserated with him, though her eyes twinkled flirtatiously.
He grinned ruefully. ‘Never mind. I can catch up on lost sleep during the flight.’
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