For a moment he didn’t respond, and when he did victory echoed through his words. “Meet me at eight. Raphael’s in Mayfair. I’ve reserved a table.”
He’d already reserved a table? Carmen didn’t trust herself to respond.
Instead, she cut the connection and left for her meeting. As she strode down the corridor she shook her head, annoyed with herself. She’d given him the tiniest of openings and he’d played her, well and truly. I hate you, Rex Carruthers. Nevertheless, anticipation began to bubble inside her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
REX GLANCED AT his watch. In four hours, he would be meeting Carmen. That felt good, although he had a lot of work to do in order to prove himself to her. Right now, however, he was seeing another woman, and he was pretty sure Carmen wouldn’t approve if she knew.
But it had to be done.
A buzzer sounded and a door at the far end of the visiting room opened. The women prisoners filed into the room. Rex watched with interest. Instead of uniforms they were wearing their own clothes, except each wore a blue bib that marked them out as what they were. It wasn’t what he expected, but he’d never visited a prison before. He’d envisaged being behind a Perspex screen. Instead, he’d been ushered to a numbered seat facing another, with just a low table in between. The women fanned out across the room as they caught sight of their visitors.
Olivia Fordyce was one of the last to emerge. She peered across the room, narrowing her eyes. Was she reluctant to see him? Rex didn’t think so, because as soon as he’d asked for permission to visit she’d immediately granted it for the following day.
When she spotted him, she smirked.
Rex meshed his fingers together and rested his elbows on his knees as he watched her approach, forcing down his anger.
“Rex,” she said smoothly as she took her seat opposite him, “how lovely of you to come and visit me.”
“You think so?”
She gave a sardonic laugh. “I don’t suppose you’re here to forge a deep friendship with me, but you remind me of your father...how could I resist your request?”
Every word grated on him. “I’ll be brief. I doubt I can stomach your company for long.”
“But you want to talk about what happened...to understand.” The condescension in her tone riled him.
“Not at all. You already said enough last week. I don’t need to hear any more about that particular event.” It was the truth. He was far more interested in what had gone on before then, and his P.I. had uncovered something about Sylvia Shelby’s death that hadn’t been revealed before.
Olivia’s eyebrows lifted. “Go on.”
The fact that she was treating it like an audience with the queen irked Rex to no end. Her refined lady act didn’t fool him. The woman had a heart of ice and a wicked, vengeful nature. “Sylvia Shelby’s death. My suspicion is that you were involved in that, as well.”
Something flickered in her eyes, and then she laughed.
“I see you do know something about it.”
“Of course I knew about it. Sylvia Shelby was the reason your father stopped seeing me. I celebrated when I read about her tragic death in the papers.”
She really was vile, Rex decided. He cut to the chase. “There was a witness that day, the woman who called the police to report Sylvia’s accident. I have a private investigator tracking her down. He’s already uncovered the fact that your son, Charles, was seeing the woman at the time, which doesn’t look good now, does it?” He paused but she didn’t react. “As you’re probably aware, she emigrated to Australia, but my investigator has contacts there and it’s only a matter of time until we find her. If you or your sons were involved in Sylvia’s accident, I will find out.”
She gave a slow smile. “Even if there was something to tell, why on earth would I tell you?”
The truth was written all over her—she knew exactly what he was talking about. Rex gestured about the walls of the prison. “This can’t be easy. Wouldn’t you rather be at home in your apartment?”
She shrugged and for a moment Rex thought she really didn’t care. “I’m willing to do you a deal,” he continued. “If you tell me everything you know, I’ll back up Jason’s story that he wasn’t involved.”
She shook her head. “No deal. I intend to take all the blame myself.”
Rex was sure that Charles had little chance of escaping conviction, but he thought she might bite if he covered Jason’s back. “You’re enjoying prison that much?”
“Say whatever you want. It’s meaningless.” She gestured fluidly with her hands. “You think you know all about me. You don’t. I’m already a condemned woman. I’ve got nothing left to lose because I have cancer and I’m going to die soon, anyway.”
Rex was shocked, but the pieces fell into place.
“My sons have a life to lead,” she continued. “I’ll make sure they are both cleared.”
Rex’s frustration grew.
“I’m going to die inside a year. Frankly,” she added icily, “you were well provided for by your father, and you can bloody well bugger off if you think I’m going to assist you in any way.”
Rex bit back his annoyance, but this wasn’t his only option. “Fine. If you don’t want to make amends for your actions, so be it. Take it to your grave.” He rose to his feet. “The police have reopened the case. The new evidence means we won’t need your help to know what happened.”
He began to turn away, then he paused. “It’s ironic, though, isn’t it? Because that charge will be added to your list, and yet your cruel actions against Sylvia Shelby didn’t make the slightest difference. Even with her out of the picture, my father chose being alone over being with you.”
She narrowed her eyes, but he saw the pure venom reflected there.
He’d finally touched a nerve. Good.
With that, Rex turned his back on her and left.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
REX’S MOOD REMAINED dark until the moment he saw Carmen entering the restaurant that evening. He watched as the maître d’ approached her. She spoke briefly and the man smiled and offered to direct her. When she returned the man’s smile, the sight of it made Rex grateful to be alive.
Rising from his seat, he watched as she approached. She wore a sleek red sheath of a dress and matching high heels. When she met his gaze, he was sure. Passion flared in her eyes. She blinked and it was gone, but not before Rex absorbed it. They were meant to be together. That was his firm belief, and it was also the only thing that had sustained him since she’d walked away the week before.
“Rex.” She nodded and took up the seat opposite him.
“I’m glad you came.” He battled his desire to touch and claim her, attempting to be cautious when he really wanted to push things forward to a solid relationship as soon as possible.
“You didn’t give me a lot of choice.”
She was nervous, he could see that, but those sidelong glances she gave him proved one thing—this was an exercise in resistance for them both, and it was hard, because the simmering erotic tension between them was as evident as ever. It was his job to keep the situation on the middle ground, for the time being at least. He wanted her to relax. “I hope I wasn’t too demanding.”
She arched her eyebrows at him.
He shrugged. “I’m trying to be straight with you.”
“You can stop giving me the sexy eyes. I didn’t come here to flirt with you, as hard as that may be for you to accept.”
Sexy eyes? “I was just looking.” It was the truth, but there was a spark he couldn’t ignore. “You could have arrived wearing a nun’s habit and I would still admire you. That’s never going to change.”
Her gaze dropped. “Well, don’t expect me to do more than exchange pleasantries.” She rearranged her cutlery as she spoke,
shifting it from side to side before returning it to its place. “I came here for one thing, the information you said you had about the investigation into my mother’s death.”
The waiter approached. Rex accepted the menu and encouraged her to look at hers.
“Given the difficult nature of this meeting,” she said after a few moments faking interest, “my appetite is nonexistent.”
“In that case, I’ll order you something light.” He shut the menu and gestured at the waiter, encouraging him to step forward. “I’ll take a steak, rare, with the usual sides, and for the lady—” he glanced over at her “—a Greek salad, heavy on the olives, light on the feta.”
Her eyes widened.
Rex restrained a smile. It always surprised her when he remembered details about her and what she liked. That’s why he couldn’t resist doing it.
“Thank you, sir. Anything from the bar?”
“Your best medium white wine for the lady—make sure it’s well chilled, with a sparkling mineral water on the side. And I’ll have a Scotch on the rocks.”
When the waiter retreated, Carmen observed him warily.
“Why so mistrustful, Carmen? We know each other well now, do we not?”
“You need to ask? You lied to me and kept me in the dark. I can’t trust a man who keeps secrets.”
“Okay. Maybe it was the wrong way to handle it, but I was trying to protect you. It’s too late to alter that now. No more secrets.” Even as he said it he was certain that Carmen wouldn’t approve of him meeting Olivia, but he wanted to present a result, not narrate his frustration. Before he’d thought of a way around it, she spoke.
“So, you really think a restraining order is necessary with Jason?”
He rested back in his chair. “Probably not, but I can’t be sure. He approached me after the hearing. He was in a state. He does seem to be aware that his life has been completely derailed by his mother’s actions.”
She nodded. “I found it hard to believe. I mean, I don’t know him well, but I talked to him a few times when we were up there.”
He could tell that she instantly regretted referring to their time at the manor, albeit inadvertently. To keep things neutral, he told her about the hearing, and then brought the subject around to her mother’s car crash and the renewed investigation.
“I wonder if they’ll find out what happened,” she said, and she was deep in thought. When the waiter brought the drinks, she immediately reached for her wine. “If the truth is that she made an error in judgment, so be it. At least I’ll finally know.”
It was so important to her. “Oh, there’s more to it. I’m sure you were right.”
She stared at him for the longest moment, and it was a combination of relief and hope that he saw.
“There was a witness, did you know that?”
“Yes. I don’t recall her name, but she was walking nearby and heard the crash. She was at the scene within moments and called the police.”
“The police records show that she said there wasn’t anyone else around. No other vehicles or pedestrians. The road conditions were a bit misty when she got there.”
“It wasn’t misty when I got there.”
“You were at the house?”
“Yes.”
“The police say they had no reason to doubt the witness, but my private investigator has discovered that she was seeing Olivia Fordyce’s eldest son at the time.”
Carmen was about to pick up her wineglass again, but froze. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “I’m working on getting to the truth of it.”
“You really meant it,” she murmured. “You really want to find out.”
“Of course I meant it. I want you to have the answers you need, and if they’re painful, I want to help you get through it.”
“Thank you for trying.”
“I don’t want your thanks.”
Carmen inhaled audibly. Wariness shone in her eyes.
Rex hated to see it there, but they had to get past this to find their way back to when it had been good. “I want something else—your trust.”
Their food arrived.
Once the waiter had gone Carmen picked up her fork and stabbed vaguely at her salad. “I can give you my thanks, and I can give you Burlington Manor, but that’s all I’m offering in return for your help this time around.”
“This time around?” Rex smiled. “So you thought you knew what I was going to say next. The same deal as before—is that what you thought? Four weekends with you all to myself?” He allowed his gaze to drift over her, remembering again how good that had been. “And in return you got my half of Burlington Manor. You thought it was a good deal at the time, I seem to recall.”
“It was a deal based on old desires, as you pointed out at the time,” she said sarcastically. “Well, we already had plenty of time to ‘burn it out,’ don’t you think?” Her eyes looked molten, her cheekbones slashed with red.
The atmosphere was thick with erotic tension. For Rex it only proved they were meant to be together. “I don’t think we’ll ever burn out, but I’d happily die trying.”
“Stop right there, please.” Her eyes blazed. “You got me here on the vague promise of information. It was a trick. We both know you have a knack for this...with me. Don’t abuse it.”
It was a warning, but Rex experienced it as a red flag in all the wrong ways. It only served to show how aware she was—how aware they both were—of the tug of desire between them. It hadn’t gone away; it never would. The more she denied it, the more Rex knew it wasn’t something either of them could walk away from. He reached for his drink. He didn’t want to charge at her red flag, but God knows he wanted her. More than anything in life. She’d drawn a line, and now she was teetering on it. One sign, if she even gave him one sign, he would take her in hand. It was within his grasp, and he would edge her over that line of hers very soon.
“A knack? No ‘knack’ would make you give yourself to a man, not if you didn’t want to.”
Her hand trembled and she put down her fork. “Okay, so I wanted you. I’ve said it out loud. Happy now?”
“Only if it stays that way.”
She shook her head, slumped back in her seat. “I can’t...I mean, I know we need to be in touch, to sort out ownership of the manor—”
“And the rest.”
“Yes, but we don’t have to...” She stared at him, blinked, like a rabbit in the headlights.
This was it, time to show his hand. “Carmen, we can’t be alone and not be intimate. Sitting here is an exercise in restraint for me. I want to hold you. I want to love you...and I know that you want to be loved. Is it so wrong?”
She stared at him, and for a moment he thought he saw the whole of the world spinning in her eyes. “No. In itself it’s not wrong...exactly. I should be able to do this.” She lifted one shoulder and her eyes glistened. “I’m an adult and a businesswoman and having an affair shouldn’t be such a big deal...but...”
The edge loomed close. Rex had to take the risk; he had to edge it forward. “What are you afraid of?”
“It’s so intense, when I’m with you, and I’m afraid of how I will feel when it’s over—”
“What if it never was over?”
She faltered, but ignored his comment. “I’m afraid of what it would do to me, what it has done to me...and yet I do want to know. Human nature, whatever. I do want to experience it again. You.” Her eyes darkened and she swallowed.
Never had she looked more sensual.
Their eyes locked.
“But it’s a big risk,” she added. “Too big.”
He felt her indecision and pounced on it. “I don’t agree.”
Her lips parted and she took a deep breath. Rex saw desire in her eyes and silently willed her to
say it, to give them a proper chance.
Before she had time to speak they were interrupted.
“Rex, how lovely to see you.”
It took a moment before he could even bring himself to drag his attention away from Carmen. When he did, he realized it was his ex, Kelly, who was speaking. She was blinged to the rafters and stood alongside their table with three friends in tow.
“I heard about your dad. I’m so sorry.”
Rex acknowledged that with a nod.
“Is this Carmen?” Kelly smiled at Carmen, who had reacted to the interruption by putting her napkin back on the table, as if making ready to leave.
“Yes, I’m Carmen.” She gave a forced smile, then threw an accusing look Rex’s way.
He hadn’t responded to the interruption, that’s why.
Before he had a chance, Kelly continued. “I thought so. As soon as I saw you I thought you must be Rex’s sister. I read about you in the obituary and I looked you up. It’s lovely to meet you. I’m a good friend of your brother’s.”
Carmen stared at Rex.
He knew what that look meant—it was never going to go away, the brother/sister thing. “I’m sorry, Kelly,” he said, “it’s not a good time. We’re right in the middle of something.”
“Of course. I’m sure you have a lot of family stuff to deal with at the moment. I’ll leave you to it.” Kelly touched him on the shoulder and smiled before she moved on. “We must catch up, though, sometime soon.”
Rex frowned. Nate had said something about Kelly wanting to get back together. It seemed ludicrous to Rex because he was sitting opposite the only woman he would ever love. How did everyone in the world not know that already? Frustration bit into him, hard. They’d been so close to a breakthrough.
Carmen bent to pick up her bag where she’d put it under the table, her actions jerky and hurried. “I knew this was a mistake.”
“Carmen? People will make that error, and she obviously read the obituary wrong, but once we announce we’re in a proper committed relationship they’ll all know the truth of what we are to each other.” He blurted it out in response to her imminent departure, but as soon as he did he realized he’d gone from teasing it out of her to a full-on demand, and for all the wrong reasons.
The Burlington Manor Affair Page 30