‘No,’ she dismissed with a derisive laugh. ‘I’ve stayed at several of your hotels in the past, Mr—Aaron, and I don’t think I could compete.’ His hotels offered the sort of first-class accommodation James had always insisted on when they travelled abroad. ‘I’m sure Shevton House would make a very good hotel, I just happen to have other plans for it.’
‘Shevton isn’t likely to sell to either of us now until he gets top dollar,’ Aaron grimaced.
She shrugged. ‘We both know it’s worth it.’
Green eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘You must want it very badly.’
‘Yes,’ she confirmed flatly.
He continued to look at her steadily for several seconds, then he shrugged. ‘May the best man—person, win.’
Her mouth twisted. ‘Oh, I will,’ she assured him.
Aaron looked amused. ‘That might be difficult, as I intend Shevton House to be mine.’
‘We’ll see,’ she said enigmatically.
‘You weren’t in for your delivery this morning, so I brought this with me.’ He drew out a jewellery box from his pocket, holding it out to her.
‘You must realise now that I don’t want—or need—the bracelet and necklace,’ she told him stiffly.
‘It did occur to me,’ he drawled. ‘So I took them back and got you this instead.’
Charly took the velvet box uncertainly, flicking open the lid. Inside was a gold charm bracelet, but it was the charms attached to it that made her smile, tiny animals all made in minute detail. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she smiled up at Aaron, frowning as she saw the last charm. ‘But what’s this?’ she held up the miniature engagement and wedding rings, the emerald in the former obviously genuine.
‘Obligatory, I’m afraid,’ he grimaced. ‘Window dressing for Molly tonight.’
Charly looked up at him slowly. ‘I thought we had agreed we would make my excuses?’
‘Hm,’ he sighed. ‘I’m afraid, as Matt pointed out to me, it would look a bit odd, to Molly, if we broke off our engagement so quickly. Which is why I also purchased this,’ he took a ring-box out of his other pocket.
‘Oh no,’ Charly put her hands behind her back, staring with horror at the finger-sized replica of the emerald ring on the charm bracelet, the emerald the size of a penny. ‘I’m not wearing that,’ she shook her head.
‘I know we told Molly we weren’t bothering with an engagement, but—’
‘I am not wearing it.’ She repressed a shiver of revulsion as she imagined the gold shackle around her finger. ‘I’m allergic to rings,’ she told him breathlessly.
‘To the gold, you mean?’ he frowned.
‘No—to wearing them!’ This time she couldn’t hold back the shudder. ‘They’re a licence to imprison.’
His brows rose. ‘So the marriage wasn’t so convenient after all,’ he drawled.
She looked at him sharply. ‘I don’t wish to talk about my marriage.’
‘There seems to be quite a few things you refuse to talk about,’ Aaron taunted.
‘Have I tried to pry into your private life?’ Her eyes shone silver. ‘Have I asked even one question?’
‘You asked if I were married,’ he reminded.
She sighed. ‘In the circumstances I would have thought you would be as averse to the thought of my wearing your ring as I am,’ she derided.
‘But I know it’s only temporary.’
‘It’s also unnecessary. Thank you, but no thank you,’ she said firmly. ‘And are you absolutely sure you can’t get me out of dinner this evening?’ she frowned. ‘I’d really rather not go.’
‘Matt seemed to think it was necessary.’ He pocketed the ring-box.
She chewed on her inner lip. ‘Very well then—if I have no choice.’
‘My ego has taken a severe beating since I met you,’ Aaron drawled dryly.
‘I don’t think it’s going to do it much harm,’ Charly derided.
‘You aren’t exactly lacking in self-confidence yourself, you know,’ he pointed out softly.
Perhaps if he had met her a year ago he would have thought differently. Six years of marriage to a man as strong-willed as James had stripped her of most of the poise and confidence that had been imbued in to her at the finishing-school she had attended in Switzerland. When a man was as assured and arrogant as James had been something had to give in a marriage, and for the sake of peace it had always been Charly. It would never happen to her again, she was her own woman now, and intended to remain that way.
‘I’m Rocharlle Allenby-Hart, remember?’ she drawled. ‘With the gold spoon in my mouth.’
He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Maybe that gold becomes a little heavy to carry at times,’ he murmured.
She wasn’t sure if he meant literally or figuratively—whichever one he was right! ‘I can live with it,’ she mocked.
‘Who couldn’t?’ he derided. ‘And if Matt isn’t the man in your life then who is?’
She avoided his probing eyes. ‘There isn’t one. My husband has only been dead a year,’ she defended—and then mentally chastised herself for doing so; she had given up justifying her actions after James died. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me,’ she added briskly, ‘I have work to do…’
‘Buying country houses being part of it,’ he mocked.
‘Yes,’ she acknowledged challengingly.
‘We’ll see,’ Aaron murmured.
She could see the return of challenge in his own eyes, and knew that he was enjoying himself. James had enjoyed challenges too, an easy conquest held no interest for him. But she hadn’t known that until it was too late, until she found him in her cousin’s arms, Jocelyn treating him in the same casual way James regarded Charly. And how James had loved it. And how he had loved Jocelyn too. But when she had asked him for a divorce he hadn’t wanted Jocelyn enough to give up the one thing he did want from his marriage to Charly. And then when he had decided he wanted a divorce he had once again used the one threat against her guaranteed to make her agree to anything he wanted.
‘Where have you gone to?’
She focused her attention on Aaron Grantley with effort, having forgotten his presence as she thought of that last conversation with James that had ended in tragedy. ‘Nowhere, Mr Grantley.’ She moved to sit behind her desk. ‘For a moment you reminded me of someone,’ she added as he seemed to expect more.
His eyes narrowed. ‘They seemed unhappy thoughts.’
‘They were,’ she acknowledged bluntly.
‘I realise we got off to a bad start last night—’
‘We didn’t get off to a start at all,’ she corrected abruptly. ‘You threw out a lot of groundless accusations, bullied me into acting like your girlfriend—’
‘No one bullied you into anything,’ Aaron cut in. ‘I don’t think anyone ever could—What did you say?’ he frowned as she muttered something under her breath.
She straightened her shoulders. ‘I said they could try,’ she spoke loud enough for him to hear this time.
He shrugged dismissively. ‘You wanted to put Molly’s mind at rest,’ he stated firmly.
‘Matt adores her,’ she said flatly.
‘He wouldn’t be the first man in love with his wife to be attracted to another woman,’ Aaron spoke hardly.
‘What time are we expected for dinner this evening?’ she ignored the question in his tone.
‘Eight o’clock.’
She nodded. ‘I’ll drive myself down,’ she told him briskly. ‘I expect to be working late.’
‘I’ll call for you.’
‘I’d prefer to drive myself,’ she said determinedly.
‘Independent, huh?’ he derided.
‘Absolutely.’ Cold grey eyes met his amused gaze.
‘James Hart must have been a bastard,’ he said with narrowed eyes.
‘He was a very charming and well-liked man,’ she stated flatly.
‘But hell to live with, I bet.’
Hell exactly described what it had been l
ike to live with James. ‘I was married to him for six years,’ she taunted. ‘So it can’t have been all that bad.’
‘Bad enough,’ Aaron said dryly. ‘You have Matt’s home address?’
‘Yes.’ She met his gaze challengingly, daring him to make something of that fact.
He nodded. ‘Try not to be late; it might be awkward trying to explain the non-appearance of my “fiancée”.’
As she had been the one to actually announce their engagement to Molly she had to go! ‘I’ll be there,’ she assured him.
‘Looking a little more like you know what love is, I hope,’ he mocked.
She drew in a ragged breath. ‘I believe, of the two of us, I am in a better position to have known the emotion than you are!’ she scorned harshly. She certainly knew what love wasn’t!
‘If you mean I’ve never been in love with a woman then that’s true. But I do know what love is; my home life as a child was a very happy one. My parents always showed their love for me and each other.’
‘It wasn’t so different in my home,’ she told him hardly.
‘I take it your own child hasn’t fared as well,’ Aaron drawled.
Charly stiffened, her face paling. ‘I don’t have a child,’ she said between numbed lips.
He frowned. ‘But I thought—’
‘Whoever your informant was, Mr Grantley, they are out of date,’ Charly looked at him coldly, the trembling of her hands hidden beneath the desk. ‘My daughter was in the car with James when he crashed. She died too.’
‘I didn’t know…’
She didn’t talk to anyone of the agonisingly slow loss of her daughter, of the hatred she had for James because of that even though he, too, was dead and unable to defend himself. There was no defence for what he had done!
‘I had no idea,’ Aaron Grantley sounded concerned. ‘Charly, I—’
‘I don’t need your sympathy,’ she snapped, her mouth tight. ‘Sympathy can’t bring back Stephanie.’
‘Or your husband,’ he put in softly.
‘I’m sure it must be obvious that I don’t want James back,’ she rasped.
‘I did get that impression, yes,’ he confirmed dryly. ‘What did the poor guy do to you?’
‘He married me, Mr Grantley.’ She stood up, her eyes cold.
‘I see,’ he frowned.
‘I doubt it,’ she derided. ‘Now if you wouldn’t mind, I have an appointment in a few minutes…’ It was a lie, but she didn’t want to talk any more just now, this man was getting to the vulnerability of her private grief without even seeming to try.
He shrugged. ‘I have to be somewhere else myself,’ he nodded. ‘But I’ll expect to see you tonight, wearing the bracelet as I can’t persuade you to wear the ring.’
‘Take the ring back where you bought it, Mr Grantley,’ she advised dryly. ‘And get your money back.’
‘You really are allergic, huh?’
‘They make me nauseous!’
‘You’re going to make some lucky man a good mistress one day,’ he mused.
Her eyes flashed deeply silver. ‘It’s only men’s illusion that women are subservient to them, we know that we actually aren’t. Some man might make me a good lover,’ she said with distaste, unable to envisage the day that she ever took a lover.
‘Don’t you think that’s taking your independence too far? No, probably not,’ he grimaced. ‘Not for Rocharlle Allenby-Hart.’
‘It doesn’t matter who I am,’ she dismissed. ‘I’m just a woman—’
‘A very bitter one,’ he put in softly. ‘You’re too young to let one bad experience sour you.’
‘Age has nothing to do with it,’ she scorned. ‘And it wasn’t an experience, Mr Grantley,’ she added hardly. ‘It was a marriage. At least, I thought it was.’
He looked as if he wanted to say more, then he shrugged dismissively. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’
Charly was still standing tensely in front of the window when Sarah entered her office a few minutes later. She turned to face the younger woman, her features schooled into their usual calm.
‘Are you really going to marry Mr Grantley?’ Sarah was too stunned to be politely silent about the man who had just left.
Charly gave a rueful smile. ‘Didn’t you recognise a ruse to get in to see me without an appointment?’ she said lightly, having decided this was the only way to treat Aaron Grantley’s vengeful statement, having no intention of acting a part at work too.
‘But—’ the other woman looked confused. ‘Is that all it was?’
‘Of course,’ Charly smiled, meeting her secretary’s gaze steadily. She would not find herself intimidated by Aaron Grantley in any aspect of her business life!
‘Oh.’ Sarah looked disappointed.
Charly laughed softly. ‘He’s much too bossy for me,’ she teased.
‘But gorgeous, don’t you think?’ her secretary said eagerly.
She grimaced. ‘Very,’ she admitted. ‘If he calls or turns up like that again perhaps you had better just let him in,’ she said dryly. ‘I don’t think we need a repeat of today’s scene.’
Sarah looked disappointed. ‘So you really aren’t going to marry him?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not going to marry anyone, I’m leaving that to you.’ Her secretary was marrying her long-time boyfriend in a couple of months.
Sarah nodded, turning to leave. ‘By the way, I like your bracelet. It’s new, isn’t it?’ she teased knowingly.
Charly couldn’t prevent the colour that brightened her cheeks. ‘Yes, it’s new,’ she confirmed abruptly, wishing she had never entered into this deceit with Aaron Grantley.
But she knew better than anyone how painful it was to believe your husband had another woman, how the bitterness and uncertainty eroded away at love and finally left only bitterness. She had never met Mart’s wife Molly before, but he had spoken of her often, always with deep love, and she hadn’t liked to think his kind gesture of letting her use his apartment while her own was being redecorated would result in a serious misunderstanding between him and his wife. Jocelyn had once made her very aware of the fact that her involvement with James wasn’t quite so innocent.
At eighteen Charly had suddenly found herself without parents, half owner of the Hartall empire, with not a clue how to cope with the sudden responsibility. James’ parents, Will and Glenda, had been on a weekend trip with her own parents to Scotland, their plane going down on the return journey, all four passengers and the crew killed. If it hadn’t been for James’ support during the next few months she didn’t know how she would have got through. Ten years her senior, he had been involved in the running of Hartall Industries for some years, taking over the reins of complete control with no trouble at all.
With the difference in their ages Charly hadn’t socially had a lot to do with the son of her father’s partner, but during the next few months she came to rely on him totally, for the running of the company and also for her mental salvation, the two of them spending most of their evenings together. When she had begun to fall in love with him she didn’t know, but suddenly it was a fact, her contentment complete when James asked her to marry him. Of course he had used words like love and forever in his proposal, what he should have said were gain and convenience! In her youthfully trusting innocence she had entrusted the running of Hartall Industries to James. Ian Anderson had advised her against such a move, but she had laughed off his caution. After all, James was her husband, and she trusted him implicitly.
For two years she had lived in ignorant bliss, had given birth to Stephanie during their first year of marriage, giving almost all her attention to the beautiful baby that was her daughter. When she first heard the rumours of James’ mistress she had dismissed them as malicious gossip; she and James were ecstatically happy together. But the rumours persisted, and she finally asked James about it. He had flown into a temper, saying it was her fault, that she gave all her attention to the baby and ignored him and his needs. The fa
ct that he did have another woman was blow enough, that it was her fault affected her badly. She began to put James first in everything, to give her love and attention to Stephanie only when they were alone during the day, virtually ignoring the confused baby when James was at home. That hadn’t satisfied him either, he accused her of suffocating him with her love, and within a few weeks there was yet another woman. And then another. And then another…
During the following years she lost count of the amount of women that passed briefly through James’ life, for the most part ignoring their existence, her confidence in herself completely undermined, leaning more heavily on James than ever in her effort to hold on to their marriage. Stephanie thought her father was wonderful, and by the time she got past the baby stage he was taking quite an interest in her too. Just seeing them together was enough to show Charly that none of the other women really meant anything to James.
On their fifth wedding anniversary they had given a family party, James’ absence when it came time for them to receive her uncle’s good luck toast causing her to stumble across James in the arms of his latest mistress. She had heard noises from their bedroom, had guessed James must be in there, the smile freezing on her lips as she walked in on the partly undressed couple, James glaring at her furiously, Jocelyn giving a self-satisfied smile. Charly had hastily backed out of the room, too shocked to even speak.
She had returned downstairs to the party as if nothing had happened, too numbed to even think just yet, but knowing she couldn’t cause a scene with all these people in the house. James and Jocelyn had rejoined the party several minutes later, her stricken gaze meeting James’ bored one as her uncle finally made his toast to them.
She avoided being near either Jocelyn or James the rest of the evening, almost at breaking point by the time they had seen the last guest depart, her tension causing her to tremble uncontrollably.
James poured himself a drink, facing her across the lounge. ‘I suppose you want to talk now,’ he drawled.
‘How could you?’ she accused. ‘For years I’ve ignored your affairs, but I won’t allow this relationship with Jocelyn to continue.’
Lady Surrender Page 4