The Marriage Takeover

by Lee Wilkinson

  Now it was too late, she wished she’d told him earlier of her own free will, rather than having it dragged out of her.

  CHAPTER TEN

  HER face pale, and with a despairing feeling that she’d already been tried and found guilty, Cassandra began jerkily, ‘It was towards the end of my second year at college. We met at the theatre. I’d been given a ticket by another student who couldn’t go.

  ‘Sean and I had neighbouring seats, and somehow we got talking. He bought me a drink during the interval. When the show ended it was pouring with rain and I hadn’t a mac. He offered me a lift back to college.

  ‘The following day, after classes, he turned up with tickets for a play I’d mentioned I’d like to see. From then on he was a regular visitor.’

  ‘And a welcome one, I gather?’

  Ignoring any snideness, she went on, ‘Sean was tall, dark, handsome, and charming, any woman’s dream. He dressed well, drove an expensive car, knew all the best bars and restaurants in town, and seemed to like lashing his money about.

  ‘It was a change from penny-pinching, and at first I enjoyed it… Then I began to feel uncomfortable, to worry about him spending so much on me. But whenever I tried to refuse a meal or a gift or an outing he wouldn’t hear of it. He said it was his pleasure to buy me things.’

  Bitterly, she added, ‘All the girls envied me like mad. Except Penny. For some reason she never really took to him.

  ‘Before long he wanted us to become lovers…’ Cassandra’s voice faltered, and she stopped speaking.

  Making it a statement rather than a question, Lang prodded, ‘But you didn’t.’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Why not, if he was as handsome and charming as you say?’

  ‘I don’t really know,’ she admitted honestly. ‘Something held me back.’

  ‘Even though you were still letting him spend his money on you?’ There was censure in both Lang’s voice and his expression.

  ‘I told you, I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer—’

  ‘Had you any idea where all this money came from?’ Lang cut in sharply.

  ‘I thought at first he must have a very good job. But when I asked him what he did he said he didn’t need to work; his father had died and left him well off…’

  ‘Go on.’

  Memories crowded in, cruel and sharp as barbed wire. ‘He was pressing me hard to sleep with him. He’d become so intense…obsessed almost… I was starting to feel stifled, threatened, and I’d begun to dread the thought of seeing him…

  ‘I couldn’t concentrate and my work was suffering. Penny suggested that I simply told him to get lost. But he’d spent so much on me that I felt trapped…indebted… I was trying to find a kind way to end things when I discovered he was married—’

  ‘You mean you didn’t know before?’ Lang demanded sharply.

  ‘Of course not.’ A shade helplessly, she admitted, ‘Though we’d been going out for weeks I knew hardly anything about him. If ever I tried to find out more, he changed the subject—’

  ‘So how did you discover he was a married man?’

  ‘Quite by accident. Penny and I shared a unit in the hall of residence, and occasionally, if it wasn’t too late when he took me back, and I knew she was home, I let him come in for a coffee.

  ‘That particular night he’d pushed a small concert programme into his pocket. As he was fishing it out to verify some point he was making, he dropped an envelope addressed to Mr and Mrs Sean Bonington.

  ‘When he realized I’d seen it, he admitted that he had a wife, but he said he didn’t love her, it was me he wanted.

  ‘I felt dreadful about the whole thing, and deeply sorry for his wife. My only consolation was that I’d never slept with him.’

  A warm night breeze blew a tendril of hair across her cheek and she tucked it behind her ear before going on. ‘I told him that it was all over between us and I never wanted to see him again. I asked him to leave.’

  His face showing no emotion, Lang asked, ‘But that wasn’t the end of it?’

  ‘No. He came back the next night and the next. I wouldn’t let him in, and I refused to answer his calls or read his letters. But instead of giving up he started to hang around the college…’

  She shuddered. ‘The next few weeks were a nightmare. If it hadn’t been for Penny I think I’d have cracked. She went everywhere with me, and never left me alone for a minute.’

  ‘If it was like you say, why didn’t you tell the authorities?’

  ‘Penny said I should, but I didn’t want to get him into trouble because of his wife… And I couldn’t help but feel it was partly my own fault for not realizing sooner where things were leading…

  ‘Then one afternoon, coming out of classes, we turned a corner and there he was. Before I’d got over the shock, Penny waded in. Normally she’s so honest it hurts, and I’d never known her to tell a lie. But this time she lied like a trooper. She told him that his behaviour had been reported, and if he was found on the premises again Security would pick him up and call the police, and I would press charges.

  ‘That seemed to do the trick. He turned and walked away without a word, and we both breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘At the end of the school year we were given the chance to rent a small flat. After living in student accommodation for two years we were only too pleased to take it.

  ‘One night, a few weeks after we’d moved in, there was a knock at the door. Penny was out, and I answered. It was Sean…

  ‘I was just starting to feel safe, and seeing him standing there was a nasty shock. The chain was on, but he’d put his foot in the door so I couldn’t close it.

  ‘When I asked him how he knew where I was living, he admitted he’d followed me home. He said he’d realized how stupid he’d been, and wanted to apologize.

  ‘He told me he and his wife were moving up to Manchester, and before they went he’d like me to have a drink with him for old times’ sake, and to show there were no hard feelings. He was carrying a bottle of champagne, and he sounded genuine. Like a fool I let him in…

  ‘The minute he got inside, he changed. He caught hold of me and started to kiss me. When I tried to fight him off, he called me a frigid bitch and said I was driving him wild…

  ‘If Penny hadn’t come back when she did—’ Cassandra stopped abruptly, racked by shudders.

  There was dead silence.

  Hoping for a kind word…a trace of support or understanding…something, she looked up.

  Lang sat a little aloof, watching her. The warm, carefree man of the past month was gone, in his place a hard-eyed stranger who showed no sign of understanding and offered no comfort.

  Hoarsely, she said, ‘You think the same as Alan, that I led Sean on, used him, and then got scared when he wanted to collect…’

  ‘Isn’t that how it was?’

  She felt a kind of dull hopelessness. If that was what he believed, what use would it be to deny it?

  ‘Isn’t it?’ he persisted.

  ‘Ask Penny,’ she suggested wearily.

  Coolly, he assured her, ‘I fully intend to.’

  It took a moment or two to sink in, then she said slowly, ‘So that was why you asked her to come over.’

  ‘I’m sure Miss Lane will enjoy her visit and it saved me having to go to London.’

  Shaken by the intent, Cassandra said uncertainly, ‘I can’t see why something that’s over and done with matters so much. Why you needed to go to those lengths.’

  ‘I wanted to know what happened between you and Sean.’

  ‘I’ve told you what happened.’

  ‘As Brent remarked, you could be making your own side right. I would prefer an unbiased version.’

  ‘Are you sure you’ll get one from Penny?’

  ‘As a loyal friend, I’m sure she’ll stick up for you, but I’m equally confident of being able to read between the lines and end up with the truth.’

  White
to the lips, Cassandra asked scornfully, ‘And what then? Will you forgive me?’

  ‘That stung, didn’t it? I watched your face when Brent was sounding so noble…

  ‘And no, if it turns out that you knew Sean was married and you still led him on for what you could get out of him, I’ll never forgive you.’

  Trenchantly, he added, ‘You see, it would make you the same kind of woman as my first wife.’

  She sat quite still, while every drop of blood in her body seemed to turn to ice. So, far from being the idyll it had seemed, their honeymoon had been nothing but a sham.

  Rather than being happy and enjoying her company, as she’d fondly imagined, Lang’s apparent insouciance had stemmed simply from relief that he no longer felt any guilt over Nina’s death.

  Like her, he had had hidden reservations, a dark question, lodged at the back of his mind.

  Finding her voice somehow, she said, ‘You’ve known about Sean since you talked to Alan. If you feel so strongly, why haven’t you brought it up before?’

  ‘I was rather hoping you’d tell me of your own free will.’

  ‘On our wedding night I almost did. But it isn’t something I like to remember or talk about, and…’

  ‘And?’ he prompted, when she paused.

  With difficulty, she said, ‘It occurred to me that you might see it the same way as Alan… And I was right…’

  Mockingly, he said, ‘You sound reproachful.’

  She hit back. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have hoped for trust from a man who’s been warped by his first marriage.’ Then she said bitterly, ‘I’d have to get Sean himself to admit the truth before you’d believe it… And I doubt if he’d do that, even if I knew where to find him.’

  Curtly, Lang asked, ‘Then you don’t know what happened to him?’

  She shook her head. ‘He’d mentioned moving north… I suppose he did. I never tried to find out. All I wanted to do was blot him from my mind…’

  But like some vengeful phantom his ghost had returned to spoil her honeymoon, to threaten any faint chance of happiness, or of making her marriage work.

  There was a long silence, heavy with shattered images and disappointed hopes.

  ‘About ready for bed?’ Lang’s voice was studiously casual.

  Cassandra glanced up. His expression was neither friendly nor unfriendly; it merely held a kind of waiting.

  ‘Yes, I’m ready,’ she said tonelessly, and rose to her feet.

  ‘What a docile little wife,’ he taunted. ‘Aren’t you going to refuse to sleep with me? Insist on moving into the other room in case I want to make love to you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Anxious to prove you’re not like Nina?’

  ‘No. I just don’t see the point of cutting off my nose to spite my face.’

  She saw her answer had startled him, as she’d intended it to.

  ‘My, my,’ he murmured admiringly, ‘while this kind of spirit lasts it should prove to be fun.’

  But his searching glance at her pale face suggested he had guessed her real feelings and was merely mocking her bravado.

  An arm around her waist in a parody of togetherness, he led her inside.

  ‘Would you like to use our shower? I’ll have the spare one.’

  During the past weeks they had got into the pleasurable habit of showering together, and his rejection of this intimacy chilled her, but, refusing to show it, she agreed, ‘Yes, I don’t mind.’

  When she emerged some ten minutes later, dried and perfumed, wearing the satin robe over her nightdress, her sun-streaked hair in a cloud around her shoulders, he was already in bed.

  At the sight of him lying with just a sheet drawn up to his waist, his hands clasped behind his blond head, she swallowed hard.

  ‘Come here.’

  The arrogant command brought a faint flush of apricot to her cheekbones, but, well aware that he was testing her mettle, she went and sat on the edge of the bed.

  He looked up at her, dark blue eyes gleaming between thick lashes. ‘Feel free to kiss me.’

  She tried hard to keep her cool. ‘Thanks, but I’m not sure I want to.’

  ‘Changed your mind about the spare room?’

  ‘You sound as if you want me to go. Or do you just want the pleasure of telling me I’m like Nina?’

  ‘I was simply giving you another chance.’

  ‘How kind of you. But, practically speaking, it wouldn’t be worth the effort of moving. By tomorrow night Penny will need the spare room.’

  He smiled a little. ‘Then while you’re feeling so enthusiastic about staying, perhaps we could try something different.’

  ‘Something different?’ In spite of all her efforts, her voice squeaked.

  ‘Well, I have this fantasy—’

  ‘What kind of fantasy?’ she broke in sharply.

  ‘I thought for once you might take the initiative and make love to me.’ Watching her change colour, he added softly, ‘But if you prefer to go…?’

  Wondering why he felt this need to goad and punish her, but determined that she wasn’t going to back down, she squared her shoulders. ‘Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,’ she assured him boldly, and watched his expression change from a kind of cynical satisfaction to respect.

  ‘Bravo!’ he applauded.

  Fighting down her natural shyness, with a kind of fragile dignity, she took off her robe and slid in beside him.

  He lay quite still while, propped on one elbow, she trailed little kisses along his jawline and down the strong column of his throat. Her fingertips stroked over the smooth skin of his shoulders and his muscular chest, before following the sprinkle of crisp body hair down to his trim waist and flat stomach. When he still made no move, she hesitated and her hand stilled.

  ‘You don’t seem to be putting your heart into it,’ he complained.

  ‘You don’t seem to be in the right mood,’ she retaliated.

  He looked at her through half-closed lids. ‘On our wedding night you were much more seductive.’

  ‘On our wedding night it was a great deal easier.’

  Then, she had wanted to arouse him. Now, because of his coolness, and the knowledge that he was just playing with her, it was only bravado, an unwillingness to admit defeat, that kept her there.

  ‘Perhaps if you were to try some verbal blandishments?’ he suggested.

  ‘You once said our true forte was non-verbal communication.’

  ‘It is, once we’re on the same wavelength. But I’ve always agreed with D.H. Lawrence that sex isn’t just physical, it’s mostly in the head. Love too, I strongly suspect. Perhaps if you were to pretend you loved me…?’

  ‘You mean like Nina?’

  He didn’t even blink. ‘Why not? I’ve learnt not to take declarations of love too seriously.’

  Her voice sounding hoarse, impeded, she said, ‘I’m afraid I’m not very good at pretence…’

  But with sudden blinding insight she knew there was no need for pretence. All the times she had denied loving him, had labelled her feelings as just physical attraction, she had been lying to herself.

  From the moment he’d taken her hand and looked into her eyes, though on one level she’d tried hard to resist, she had been lost.

  Suddenly, dangerously close to tears, she threw in the towel. ‘Perhaps it would be better if I did move into the other room…’

  When she made to get out of bed, he caught her wrist. ‘Don’t go…’

  Her voice brittle, she said, ‘As I’m hopeless at pretence, and not too hot at seduction, there’s not much point in staying.’

  He touched his lips to the inside of the wrist he was holding. ‘If you give me a bit of cooperation I’ll take over and show you how it’s done.’

  ‘I’ll be happy to give you as much cooperation as you gave me.’

  ‘I thought you weren’t going to cut off your nose to spite your face?’

  ‘That was before I realized you just wanted to play with me.’ />
  ‘Oh, I want a great deal more than that.’ Taking her hand, he placed it on his firm flesh. ‘Your seduction technique is better than you first imagined. All that’s needed now is to make you want me.’

  And in that he succeeded easily. But while her body welcomed his her heart shed tears of blood for a love she dared not admit.

  Next day, rather than sending a car to meet Penny, Lang suggested that they go in person. Only too pleased, Cassandra agreed, and they drove to the airport in the late afternoon sunshine.

  The flight was on time and they’d only been waiting a matter of minutes before Penny appeared, accompanied by one of the cabin crew who was carrying her cases.

  When the women had hugged each other, Cassandra introduced the two people she’d suddenly realized were the most important in her life.

  Lang took the newcomer’s hand. ‘I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Miss Lane.’

  ‘Won’t you call me Penny?’

  ‘If you’ll call me Lang.’ While he spoke, he studied her coolly.

  Penny was short and sturdy, with a snub nose and dark curly hair framing a square-jawed, no-nonsense face. She was saved from plainness by the most beautiful pair of amber eyes. Eyes that met his levelly, and were fearlessly honest.

  Apparently liking what he saw, he smiled at her.

  Looking more than a little bowled over, she said cheerfully, ‘You’ll just have to excuse me if I gawp. I’ve never met a real live millionaire before.’

  Lang threw back his head and laughed. ‘And I’ve never met a woman who spoke her mind with such refreshing frankness.’

  Taking her luggage from the steward with a word of thanks, he turned and led the way out to the convertible.

  When Penny had finished goggling at the spectacular pyramid that flanked the airport, and they were heading back to town, he asked, ‘What was the flight like? Are you feeling very tired?’

  ‘It was wonderful, and I’m not at all tired. I had about seven hours’ sleep in a real bed. I’m used to travelling economy class, but this time I was looked after as though I was a VIP.’

  ‘Being the guest of a millionaire does have its advantages,’ Lang said drily, adding, ‘Now, is there anything in particular you’d like to see or do?’