‘Oh, God...Randal...Randal.’ Her voice was splintering, delirious; she was gasping with pleasure, clinging to him.
‘It’s all you understand, isn’t it?’ he bit out hoarsely, slamming cruelly into her, hands bruising her. ‘The only way to get through to you...’
She raised her lips, kissing him gaspingly. ‘Yes...I want you...’
He gave a guttural shout, jerking against her in agonised pleasure.
When he was spent, he rolled away from her, his face hard.
‘Randal...?’ She reached for him, wanting to feel that warm intimacy which always drew them together after lovemaking.
‘I wanted to hurt you,’ Randal said tightly, rearranging his clothing and getting off the bed. ‘But it seems I can’t do that through lovemaking. You like it too much, don’t you, my beautiful little whore?’
Her faced rushed with hot colour. ‘Stop calling me that!’
‘Why not?’ he asked savagely. ‘It’s what you are. You married me for money and sex, but you love another man—a crook, a cheat and a con-man.’ He laughed harshly, his eyes barbaric. ‘If I didn’t find you so damned exciting, I’d want to put my hands round your amoral little neck and strangle you! I’m certainly beginning to wish I’d never married you, you faithless little—’ He broke off suddenly.
There was a stunned silence. His voice had risen in fury until it was hoarse with rage. Now they were left staring at each other, and Lucy was white with pain as she saw the extent of his hatred.
‘I don’t know how you can fling accusations like that at me,’ she whispered bitterly. ‘You married me for sex. It was all your idea.’
‘Yes, and if I hadn’t come along you would have been happy to stay with Blair. Wouldn’t you?’ His eyes held a savage glitter as he bit out thickly, ‘Wouldn’t you?’
‘He was always there!’ she said defensively, angrily.
‘And now I’m the one who’ll always be there!’ he bit out, leaning towards her, his face barbaric. ‘Count on it, Lucy. Don’t try my patience. I already want to hurt you. It won’t take much to push me into wanting to kill you!’ He turned on his heel and strode from the room, slamming the door so hard behind him that it rattled in its solid wooden frame.
Lucy lay awake for what seemed like hours. His outburst had appalled her. Did he really hate her so much? Tears burned her eyes, falling uncontrollably. So his hatred would never turn to love, as hers had. That was painfully clear. He wished he had never married her...
It was two a.m. when the bedroom door opened and Randal came back to bed. She lay in the darkness, listening to him moving about, getting undressed, washing in the bathroom, walking to the bed and sliding in beside her.
He turned his back on her and went to sleep. He smelt of whisky.
Pain shot through her. He had stayed up drinking alone, unable to contemplate what he had done in marrying her. The agony she felt was intolerable. When she woke the next morning, Randal was gone.
‘He left at seven,’ Edwina told her at breakfast. ‘In a horrible temper. Snarled at the chauffeur to bring the Rolls, and then changed his mind. Drove off in the white sports car, leaving a cloud of dust.’
Lucy paled, and hid her expression by concentrating on pouring coffee.
‘Never mind.’ Edwina misinterpreted her anxiety. ‘He’ll be in a better temper when he gets home tonight. Meanwhile—I’ve arranged an eleven o’clock meeting with Mrs Travers and the rest of the staff.’
She spent the morning with Edwina, studying household accounts books and the files of each member of staff complete with photographs and personal details. Mallory Hall was run like a business, with the kind of streamlined efficiency she had grown to love in Randal Marlborough.
When she met the staff, she was astonished by how many of them there were. A head gardener, four under-gardeners, six housemaids, a butler, three grooms and of course—The Housekeeper.
Mrs Travers was briskly polite and treated Lucy with great respect, although she never smiled. Various housemaids bobbed and smiled to make up for it, and one of the grooms gave her a distinctly flirtatious look.
‘I think I’m going to enjoy being mistress here,’ Lucy said when the staff had gone. ‘It’ll be like a real job, won’t it?’
‘Oh, good heavens, yes!’ Edwina nodded vigorously. ‘You have to run a tight ship, Lucy. Randal expects everything to go like clockwork.’
After lunch, the head gardener gave Lucy a tour of the estate. They both sat in his bright red lawn-buggy and drove around the grounds in the hot sunshine. He was a ruddy-faced country man, and he loved his work.
‘Well,’ said Edwina later that afternoon, ‘I think you’ve completed your work for today. Why not take the rest of the afternoon off?’
Lucy made a face. ‘There’s nowhere for me to go. I don’t have a car and—’
‘But Randal left the limousine here,’ Edwina shrugged. ‘And the chauffeur is somewhere around. Ring him on extension seventeen. Tell him you want to go out.’
Her lashes flickered. She thought of Edward, lying and swindling for years. ‘I’d quite like to go to London,’ she said casually.
‘Very good idea,’ Edwina said briskly. ‘You do that.’
It was easy to track down Edward Blair. All she had to do was go to his previous address. The elderly landlady had known Lucy for years, and was happy to give her Edward’s forwarding address. As she got back into the waiting limousine, she realised it would be dangerous to let the chauffeur know where she was going.
‘Park Lane Hilton,’ she told him. When he dropped her there she said casually, ‘Could you pick me up at seven?’
‘Yes, madam.’ He tilted his cap respectfully, and drove away.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lucy took Edward’s address from her handbag, and set off to find him.
The apartment building was, as Randal had said, luxurious. A glittering foyer was guarded by a liveried doorman. Luckily, he did not try to prevent her from taking the mirrored lift, and she was able to ride up to the tenth floor without Edward being warned of her arrival.
It was six o’clock as she rang the doorbell of his luxury apartment.
He opened the door, expensively dressed, suntanned, a smile on his face. It died as he saw Lucy.
‘Hello, Edward,’ she said, coldly polite. ‘May I come in?’
His lashes flickered. He stepped back and held the door open for her in silence. Lucy walked past him into a luxurious hallway, then through double doors into a fifty-foot penthouse living-room of such breathtaking luxury that she felt waves of rage swamp her.
Edward closed the doors. ‘How did you get my address?’
‘Your previous landlady.’ Lucy turned, face tight with dislike.
‘I should have told her not to reveal it to you,’ he said. ‘But it never occurred to me that you might try to find me.’
‘I wouldn’t have done,’ she said icily, ‘if Randal hadn’t told me about your sudden windfall.’
‘My windfall...’
‘How much did you steal from my father?’ Her eyes were contemptuous. ‘One million? Two?’
‘A gentleman never tells,’ he drawled with open mockery.
Lucy’s mouth tightened. ‘You’re very sure of yourself, Edward. What did you do? Burn the account books?’
‘As a matter of fact,’ he said lightly, ‘all the account books were lost in transit when I moved here.’
‘What a shame,’ she said sarcastically. ‘No chance of prosecuting you for grand larceny, then?’
‘Careful,’ he murmured. ‘You’ll find yourself in court for slander.’
‘And where do you tell the authorities you got all this money?’ she asked angrily. ‘Pennies from heaven?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Your father would have frittered it all away in the end. What difference does it make if I helped the process along a little?’
‘He trusted you!’ she spat, green eyes blazing. ‘He took you into his home and his family and tre
ated you like a son!’
‘Big wow!’
‘My God.’ Her heart was thumping with fury. ‘You really are a nasty piece of work, aren’t you? I can’t believe I nearly married you. I’d rather have married a weasel.’ She walked towards him, her eyes scathing. ‘You’re a crook and a thief and a con-man, Edward Blair, and I’m ashamed to have known you.’
‘You have no right to sneer at me,’ he said flatly. ‘You married Marlborough for his money and we both know it.’
‘I was forced into marrying him,’ she said icily. ‘It’s true—I hated him at first, and resented my marriage. But I’ve grown to respect and love him since then. He’s cynical and arrogant and ruthless—but he’s made his money through ambition and hard work.’ Her eyes raked him with blazing contempt. ‘Not through conning his surrogate father out of millions!’
Edward went scarlet. ‘Don’t try to justify your marriage like that! I know what really happened! I was there—remember!’
‘No, Edward,’ she said tightly. ‘You were never really there. You were an actor living behind a mask—nothing but a tacky little con-man.’
‘I wasn’t!’ he said furiously. ‘I was bloody brilliant!’
‘Brilliant?’ She laughed contemptuously. ‘If you think it’s clever to behave like a snake, you’re a fool. Snakes have slimy skin and crawl around on their bellies. That just about sums you up, I think.’
His eyes blazed. ‘I got away with millions and you can’t prove it!’
‘I don’t need to prove it,’ she said icily. ‘I know it. My opinion is worth far more to me than seeing you behind bars, and right now, Edward, my opinion of you isn’t worth repeating. As for my father’s opinion—well, I’m going to see him tonight. I’ll break this gently to him. He’ll be hurt at first, but it won’t take long for him to loathe and despise you, just as I do.’
‘But he won’t be able to do anything about it,’ Edward sneered. ‘And neither will you!’
‘Oh, I think we can do quite a lot,’ she said, arching her brows. ‘For instance, we can completely erase your memory from our lives. Get rid of everything that reminds us we ever knew you.’
‘I’ll be so hurt,’ he mocked unpleasantly.
‘Yes, you will, Edward,’ she said quietly. ‘Maybe not now, maybe not for a few years. But eventually—’
‘Rubbish!’ he snapped, his skin reddening.
‘Have you got any other family?’ she asked coolly. ‘Or is this it? Is this all you’ve got to show for your life?’ She waved a hand to the apartment.
There was a silence.
‘We may not be able to prove what you did,’ Lucy said quietly. ‘We can’t take you to a court of law and demand justice. But there’s such a thing as natural justice, Edward, and it always works. I don’t know how or when you’ll get the bill for what you’ve done. But you will get it. And I have a feeling that bill will be loneliness and regret.’
His colour deepened. He said nothing, his mouth a bitter line. Lucy flicked her lashes from him with icy contempt, then walked coolly towards the door.
As she took the lift down, she felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. All those years of loving Edward—purely out of habit and familiarity. Edward had taken advantage of that, and of her father’s affection. Now the slate felt wiped clean, leaving her free to step into the future untainted by what Edward had done.
Smiling, she walked out into the sunlit courtyard, and saw the long white sports car waiting for her.
Her heart stopped dead. She went white. Randal was opening the door, getting out, his face hard and expressionless. He stood there, magnificent in his grey business suit, bristling with unleashed anger.
Lucy walked over to him with trepidation. ‘What a coincidence, Randal, I—’
‘Don’t try to pretend you haven’t been seeing Blair!’ he cut in tightly. ‘The chauffeur came straight to the casino and told me where he’d dropped you. As soon as I heard the words “Park Lane” I knew where you’d gone.’
She swallowed, her throat dry as ashes. ‘I only arrived here half an hour ago. You can’t think—’
‘I think you’ve been doing exactly what I knew you’d do,’ he said through his teeth. ‘Seeing your little con-man lover!’
‘He’s not my lover!’ she said, whitening. ‘He never has been and you know it.’
‘Shut up and get in the car,’ he said icily.
‘I wanted to see my father,’ Lucy began. ‘I rang him and said I’d be there at six—’
‘We’ll go to see him together,’ Randal bit out, eyes blazing, and Lucy had no option but to walk to the passenger seat.
The car shot away into the glittering London traffic. Randal drove with a face like barbed wire. He was so angry; she could sense under that civilised business exterior the primitive desire to hit her, and her misery was unbearable. He really hated her...regretted marrying her...what future was there for them now?
They went into her father’s house a short while later, the anger clinging to Randal like a dark cloak. Her father didn’t seem to notice it. He was bright, cheerful, delighted to see them and full of stories about his busy, exciting new life.
‘The coffee morning went off without a hitch.’ Gerald Winslow looked debonair in his grey suit. ‘I greeted all the guests, kept an eye on the staff, helped with the raffle...’
Lucy listened with affection, glad to see him so happy. Randal loomed ominously at the mantelpiece, a look of brooding anger on his face as his eyes moved back and forth between Lucy and her father.
‘Heard anything from Edward?’ Gerald suddenly asked, and an electric silence fell.
‘Ask Lucy,’ Randal drawled unpleasantly. ‘She’s just seen him.’
‘Really?’ Her father turned, staring. ‘But where is he? How is he?’
She hesitated, then said carefully, ‘He’s not very well, Dad. But I’d rather discuss this with you another time. I promised Edwina I’d be home for dinner at eight-thirty.’ Looking at Randal, she added, ‘If we leave now, we should just make it.’
‘But, Lucy—’ her father began, frowning.
‘I’ll come to see you tomorrow,’ Lucy said at once. ‘I promise.’ She got to her feet, her eyes pleading with Randal. ‘Can we go now...?’
They said their goodbyes, then went out to the car. Randal watched her with narrowed eyes as she slid into the passenger seat. They drove down to Mallory in tense silence.
Suddenly, Randal said flatly, ‘Why didn’t you want to tell your father you’d seen Blair?’
She tensed. ‘I will tell him. But I wanted to do it privately.’
His teeth met. ‘Without me around to hear the loving details?’
Lucy looked away, her face pale, unable to reply. What could she say? If he knew how she really felt about Edward, he would guess that she had stopped loving him—and started loving Randal.
‘You may as well know,’ Randal said tightly, ‘that I’ve informed the authorities about Blair. They’ve already begun investigations.’
She turned, eyes wide with hope. ‘What...!’
‘Don’t look so shocked, my love,’ he said savagely. ‘Did you really think I’d let the little bastard get away with grand larceny?’ He laughed harshly. ‘I’ve no doubt he spun you a believable tale about how he got that money. You believed him because you’re too much in love with him to see him for what he really is. But I can assure you the Inland Revenue won’t be as gullible. They’ll march him off to prison in double-quick time.’
Lucy wanted to fling her arms around him and shower him with kisses. Quickly, she looked out of the window, her pulses leaping, love flooding her, so proud of him that she couldn’t speak.
‘You’re not to see him again,’ Randal said in a voice thickly cloaked with rage, as the car shot along the motorway. ‘He’s on a one-way visit to prison, and I won’t have you getting dragged into it. Do you understand me?’
‘Yes,’ she said quietly, her face averted.
>
That night, for the first time since their wedding, Randal did not make love to her. Lucy lay in the dark beside him, pain eating at her heart.
Next morning, she woke up to find herself alone in the vast four-poster bed. He not only regrets our marriage, she thought in despair, he’s actually beginning to tire of making love to me.
She almost felt like throwing herself out of the window. Was this the way their married life was to be? Distrust, isolation and despair? At least when they had been making love every night, they had had an intimate bond powerful enough to ease the pain.
Now, they had nothing. She refused to give in to the pain, though, and spent the day adjusting to her life as mistress of Mallory.
At six, she left with the chauffeur for London. Her father was waiting eagerly for her to tell him what had happened with Edward. Gently, she told him the truth.
‘I can’t believe it...’ Gerald Winslow was white, severely shocked. ‘How could he do it? I loved and trusted him. Treated him as a son...’
‘You’d better sit down,’ Lucy said, concerned, as she led him to an armchair. ‘It’s a terrible shock, I know, but it’s the truth, Dad. It was Edward all along.’
‘I could understand the odd pound or two,’ he whispered, ‘but two million?’
‘There’s no real proof about the amount,’ Lucy told him quietly, ‘but Randal believes it’s close to two million.’
‘And you say he’s alerted the authorities?’ he said with a bitter smile. ‘Well, I hate to say it, but I’m glad. I hope they nail him to the wall. When I think of what I did for that boy— ’
The doorbell rang.
‘I’ll get it,’ Lucy said, her heart beating with abrupt violence. ‘I expect it’s Randal.’
‘Is he meeting you here?’
‘No.’ Lucy went to the drawing-room door, and into the hall, saying as she walked, ‘But he knows I’m here, and as he’s in London too he probably thought I...’
Extreme Provocation Page 14