by Kim Lawrence
She didn’t actually hear Sam’s anguished plea of ‘Don’t do this, Flora,’ as she wove her way sinuously through the seething mass of packed bodies.
They didn’t even notice her! She stood there with only the width of the table separating her from the couple who seemed far too engrossed in each other to notice if the ceiling fell in. Josh’s dark head moved towards the redhead’s ear. He said something that brought a becoming flush to her lips and a low, husky chuckle to her white throat.
It was the sexy laugh that really tipped the balance and sent Flora right over the edge. Without being sure of what she expected to happen, she cleared her throat very noisily. They both looked at her, but Flora had eyes only for Josh.
She couldn’t believe it when his eyes swept over her with an expression of polite—even vaguely irritated—indifference. He didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed!
This had been the same man who had been pursuing her with passionate avowals of enduring love! Now he was acting as though he didn’t know her. A small choking sound of outrage emerged from her dry throat. The irony was she had been halfway to believing him!
‘It might not matter to you,’ she said in a shaking voice to the redhead, ‘but this man you’re with is a shallow, faithless, lying rat.’
Josh began to get to his feet, an expression of cautious alarm on his drop-dead gorgeous features. ‘I think there’s been…’
‘A mistake?’ she drawled, her eyes snapping. ‘Tell me about it.’ So saying, she flung the contents of her glass straight in his face.
She had a brief glimpse of his white-faced shock as she placed the empty glass in his hand before she turned on her heel and, head held high, stalked out of the now silent foyer.
‘Tissue…?’
Jake Prentice took the proffered tissue from his wife and sat slowly down. ‘I’ve never seen her before in my life…I swear!’ he told her earnestly.
‘Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you, my darling?’
‘Listen, Nia…you’re having me on, aren’t you?’ he said, heaving a sigh of relief. ‘You do believe that she was a mad woman.’
His wife gave a serene smile. ‘Lucky for you, stud, I do believe you, considering she’s a pregnant mad woman.’
‘Pregnant!’ The way Jake recalled it the blonde had had a very trim midriff, but he didn’t question his wife’s assessment. He’d learnt that Nia seemed to know this sort of thing. She had either received an extra large dose of female intuition or she had a bit of witch in her—he suspected the latter.
His eyes opened wide. ‘Josh…?’
‘Sometimes, Jake, you’re very slow,’ she mused with a patronising little sniff.
‘Sometimes, Nia, you like it when I’m very slow.’ Oblivious to the fact they were the cynosure of all eyes and numerous low-voiced conversations since the blonde had departed, Jake kissed his wife very thoroughly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JOSH perched on the edge of one of the many packing cases stacked in the room and watched with a resigned expression as his twin produced an outsized bar of chocolate from his pocket for Liam. Predictably his son went into transports of chocoholic delight.
‘Ever heard of a balanced diet?’ he enquired as Liam threw a fit—the noisy variety—because his mean dad had exerted a bit of parental control and confiscated the biggest portion of the foil-wrapped bar.
‘That stuff’s a parent’s province, I’m his uncle… Have you noticed how little Liam here is one of the few people who can always tell us apart?’
‘That’s because he can spot a soft touch a mile off, and I’ll remind you about that uncle thing when the twins have got teeth to rot,’ Josh warned darkly. ‘How are the twins?’ he added, enquiring after his six-month-old nieces.
‘Blooming, and brilliant. Why, little Angharad…’
Josh knew from experience that the soppy smile on his brother’s face usually preceded a long rambling discussion concerning the perfection of his small daughters. In common with a lot of new fathers, Jake was under the impression that everybody else was as fascinated as him with every minute detail concerning his offspring. Josh was a doting uncle but there were limits to his devotion…
‘It’s good of Nia to offer to have Liam today,’ he cut in quickly.
‘Least we could do, considering moving house is supposed to be right up there with the most stressful things in life…which would account for the fact you look like hell,’ his brother mused slyly. ‘It would account for that, wouldn’t it, Josh?’
It might, after all, have been less tiresome to let Jake ramble on about the babies. Josh resisted the urge to tell his brother to mind his own damned business—he knew from experience it wouldn’t do any good—and contented himself with grunting unhelpfully.
‘Where’s Nia?’
‘In the car, she didn’t want to ruin a male bonding moment. And, before I forget, I’ve got something for you.’
The casual mention of male bonding brought a suspicious frown to Josh’s brow as he looked down at the piece of paper his twin had pressed into his hand. ‘What’s this?’
‘As you see, a bill.’
Josh turned the innocuous scrap of paper over. ‘Your dry-cleaning bill?’ Bizarre even by his twin’s standards.
Jake nodded in confirmation. ‘Wine, the shirt was a write-off…’ he elaborated sadly.
‘I’m sure you’re going to get to the punchline eventually. The thing is…’ Josh glanced pointedly at his watch ‘…I don’t have all day.’
‘Save the sarcasm. I would have sent it to the lady, but I don’t know her address—I expect you do…’
‘Will you stop being so enigmatic?’
‘The lady in question was tall, blonde, attractive—very attractive actually,’ Jake conceded thoughtfully. ‘Ring any bells?’ He saw his brother stiffen. ‘But if Nia asks, I didn’t notice the attractive part.’
‘Where…? When…?’ Taking a deep breath, Josh regained control—at least partially. ‘What did she do?’ he asked tensely. Wine over a dinner jacket implied clumsiness or a defensive act of sorts—Flora didn’t have a clumsy bone in her body. ‘What did you do to her?’
Jake held up his hands. ‘Hold up, boy, you’re looking at the victim of the piece. Does she have a name? We didn’t really reach the polite exchange stage.’
‘Flora.’
Jake did his wide nod thing, the one that always irritated Josh. ‘Nia thought it must be…’
‘How did Nia…?’ Josh exploded. ‘Ah, Megan,’ he grunted in a disgruntled tone. Was the concept of a private life totally alien to his family?
‘Your Flora verbally abused me and then chucked her wine over me…it was red, actually,’ Jake elaborated with a fastidious shudder. ‘All this, I might add, was done in front of my wife, not to mention a captive audience of what felt like thousands.’
For a split second the grimness of Josh’s expression was lightened by a light of unholy glee as he imagined how much his twin would have hated this public humiliation, although admittedly Jake had lightened up considerably since his marriage. His amusement speedily faded when it hit home that the attack and the humiliation had been meant for him!
My Flora, she is my Flora—the inescapable certainty of this ran bone-deep in him. It was just convincing her of the fact that presented the problem! His jaw tightened with determination. Wasn’t it just ironic that he’d been scouring the city for her, virtually camping on her doorstep, and it was Jake who got to see her?
He glared resentfully at his twin. ‘She thought you were me?’
‘The thought doesn’t make me happy either, but it seems a fair assumption. It’s certainly not an effect I usually have on women, but then my social life has never been half as interesting as yours, brother dear.’
‘You mean you’ve always been a dull, virtuous stick-in-the-mud.’
Jake displayed no sign of offence as he shrugged off the insult. ‘It may have escaped your notice, Josh, but you’ve been e
qually dull and virtuous for several years now. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but most people have forgotten you even had a misspent youth! Don’t you think it’s time you stopped trading on your youthful hell-raising image? If you ask me…’ he continued thoughtfully.
‘Which I wasn’t…’
‘She was jealous.’
Josh suddenly looked a lot more interested in what his twin was saying. ‘You think so…’ he began, trying not to sound too eager and failing miserably.
‘Nia was being quite affectionate at the time,’ Jake informed him cheerfully.
‘Must you be so smug?’ Josh complained out of habit rather than conviction. ‘We all know you’re the perfect husband and father, you tell us often enough.’ If Jake was right—which he had an irritating habit of being—then that opened up all sorts of interesting possibilities…
‘I’ll have you know that Nia holds you up as the ultimate example of the perfect dad ad nauseam…’ his twin responded indignantly.
‘I’d say she was a woman of taste, but she married you…’
‘If you want…’
‘The benefit of your worldly wisdom,’ Josh cut in sarcastically. ‘I don’t. I don’t know what makes you think you have the right to interfere with my personal life?’ he growled, displaying a complete lack of gratitude for the brotherly concern.
‘What a woefully short, amazingly selective memory you have,’ Jake drawled. ‘I seem to recall someone lying through his teeth to get me together with Nia, not to mention locking me in a room with her! I didn’t notice you displaying any reluctance then or ever to interfere in my personal life!’
Josh conceded the point with a reluctant grin. ‘Like you wanted to escape! Anyhow, you’ve always been a complete loser with women; without my help you’d still be a crusty old bachelor.’
‘Old!’ Jake protested. ‘What does that make you?’
‘Some people are born old.’
‘Well, at least no woman has ever thrown wine in my face…at least not knowing it was me.’
Josh’s expression sobered as he announced abruptly, ‘She’s Graham’s daughter, you know.’
He did his best not to recoil from the glimmer of sympathy in Jake’s eyes as his twin slowly nodded. It didn’t really come as a shock to see Jake displaying no signs of incredulity; he’d suspected from the outset that his brother knew more about the situation than he was letting on.
‘I did catch some of her previous public appearances, but the drastic change of style threw me a bit—icy composure to spitting fury…?’ Jake let out a silent whistle.
‘Was she alone?’ Josh found he couldn’t dismiss the disturbing thought that Flora might have been with another man from his mind.
‘Well, her regal exit was a strictly solo affair, not that that means much. It’s not actually very likely she went to the theatre alone.’
‘Thanks for nothing.’
‘Well, I didn’t actually see anyone, but then if I’d been with her I’d have been hiding too,’ Jake admitted frankly.
‘I’m going to marry her.’
‘Don’t tell me, tell her.’
‘What do you think I’ve been trying to do?’ Josh yelled. ‘It doesn’t make any difference who her father was,’ he added aggressively.
‘Obviously not.’ It would have taken a more reckless man than himself to contradict Josh in his present volatile mood. ‘I take it you are seeing things a bit clearer in the Graham area these days?’
‘I am, but Flora doesn’t believe it, with some justification,’ Josh admitted. ‘A hell of a lot of justification, actually.’
‘So you were still on a revenge trip when you took off without a word to anyone and ended up with my in-laws?’ His twin gave a grudging nod of assent. ‘And your motives for getting involved with the lady weren’t originally entirely pure,’ Jake surmised.
‘What exactly did she say to you?’ Josh barked, looking ready and willing to squeeze the information out of his sibling if he didn’t voluntarily cough it up.
‘Nothing that wasn’t cryptic and damned right insulting—you two obviously have a lot in common—I’m just making an educated guess. Come along and see Aunty Nia, Liam,’ he coaxed, kneeling down and holding out his arms for the toddler to climb into. Liam ignored his uncle with a sweet but stubborn smile and continued to smear chocolate over the remaining clean parts of his face.
‘Talk about déjà vu,’ Jake mumbled. That grin was identical in every way to the one his twin had frequently used to get his own way through their formative years together. If there was any justice in the world Josh would be in for a taste of his own medicine over the coming years.
‘Actually I’ve made a real dog’s dinner of this, Jake.’
His expression sober, his twin got to his feet. ‘I had gathered that much, I’m just amazed that I’m hearing you admit it, Josh. What are you going to do?’
‘Damned if I know, she’s made it crystal clear she can’t stand the sight of me.’
Jake regarded with a frown the uncharacteristic dejected slump of his brother’s shoulders. He was beginning to feel quite concerned about his twin’s state of mind. He needed shaking up a bit.
‘I always knew you were a closet romantic, Josh, but I never knew you were a wimp!’
Josh, his expression one of seething frustration, grabbed his twin by the shoulders and glowered dangerously into eyes remarkably similar to his own. The hot fire died away as quickly as it had erupted. A grim expression on his face, he released the creased fabric of his brother’s top.
‘God, that’s me, sensitive new age man,’ Josh bit back angrily.
‘You’ve made your point,’ Jake conceded wryly with a weak grin as his brother flexed his not inconsiderable shoulder muscles. ‘You’re no wimp, just an idiot. Actually, there’s something you might like to take into consideration when you’re deciding what you’re going to do next.’
‘Which is?’ Josh asked, kissing his son’s brow and handing him over to his uncle with a firm, ‘Be good for Aunty Nia, champ.’
‘Aunty Nia says your Flora’s pregnant.’
Jake watched sympathetically as his big, tough brother clutched towards the wall for support. ‘She can’t be,’ he croaked after a short, painful pause.
‘You’d be in more of a position to know about that than me, but personally I wouldn’t bet against Nia’s intuition.’
‘Well?’ Nia prompted impatiently when her husband returned carrying their nephew.
‘Well what?’
‘Were you kind and gentle?’
‘Kind and gentle would have really put his back up.’
‘And I suppose nasty and sarcastic didn’t!’
‘What was I supposed to do…cuddle him?’
Nia rolled her eyes. ‘Now wouldn’t that be shocking?’ she observed waspishly. Men! To hear the pair of them talk you’d never know they’d each walk through fire for the other.
Well, there was no point her hiding out in Sam and Lyn’s spare room any longer—Josh had obviously given up trying to contact her. It was just as well she already knew Josh’s so-called love was a hollow sham otherwise the fact that his devotion had strict geographical limits—and Hong Kong was outside them—might have come as a blow.
It wasn’t as if she’d expected him to hop on the first available flight, but he might have waited for a semi-decent interval before hopping into bed with the first available female! She gave a tiny shudder of revulsion as an image of the sexy redhead materialised in her head.
Flora continued to tell herself how relieved she was that Josh had no staying power, at least in the fidelity department. Elsewhere…well, the sooner she stopped thinking about Josh Prentice’s staying power elsewhere, the sooner she could get her life back on track!
A soft holdall looped around her neck, two more at her feet, she struggled with a recalcitrant lock.
‘Damn and blast it to hell!’ she cursed wearily just before the key finally clicked. With a sigh
she threw her bags carelessly over the threshold and followed them.
The sound of the door being clicked shut made her swing around in alarm. Josh was standing there looking tall, dark and dangerous.
He’d hurt and betrayed her in every way possible, he’d forgotten about her when the going had got tough and yet every instinct in her told her to walk—no, to run—straight into his arms.
‘Get out!’ she yelled hoarsely, picking up the nearest thing, which happened to be a soft cushion—it bounced harmlessly off his dark head.
‘In my own good time,’ he soothed, rubbing the side of his head. ‘That hurt.’
‘I wish!’ she hissed venomously. ‘And you won’t get out in your good time, you’ll get out in mine—in other words now, if not sooner! Does the green-eyed vamp know you’re here?’ she asked shrilly, then, just to establish she didn’t care one way or the other, she added hastily, ‘I almost feel sorry for her.’
‘The only green eyes I see,’ Josh murmured with provocative pleasure, ‘are right here!’ He looked pointedly at her flushed face and flashing cornflower-blue eyes.
‘Cut out the wisecracks—and, actually,’ she added huffily with a dignified sniff, ‘you couldn’t be more wrong!’ Even she didn’t believe it, and one glance at his face told her he didn’t either!
‘If you don’t care, would you mind explaining to me about the wine-in-the-face stunt?’
‘I don’t think you’re in any position to gripe about my behaviour, but if you must know it was just a spontaneous expression of my deep contempt for you.’
Considering the fact she hadn’t had the faintest idea what she was going to say when she opened her mouth, Flora felt moderately pleased with this glib face-saving explanation.
‘I’m so sorry if I ruined your evening,’ she added with spiteful insincerity.
‘Actually I didn’t come here to discuss the extortionate cleaning bill I’ve been presented with.’
‘Really! I didn’t think we had any other unfinished business.’ If he had the bare-faced cheek to present her with a bill she’d make him eat it!