A Convenient Husband (13 page)

‘I don't!'

A vision of Tess lying crumpled and broken like a rag doll on some roadside flashed before Rafe's eyes; he felt physically sick. He became conscious that some of his revulsion must have shown in his voice—Tess was staring at him oddly. He cleared his throat.

‘Exchange isn't a solution in these cases,' he informed her drily. ‘What the hell had Chloe seen in Alec anyhow? Silly question—the same as all the others did, I suppose.'

‘She was very young and you can't deny he was
extremely
good-looking.'

‘God, not you too!'

Tess had always disliked intensely the elder Farrar for trying to belittle his younger brother on every possible occasion. Even back then Rafe had been remarkably self-contained. It must have infuriated Alec that Rafe had risen above his sly jibes; it had also made him more vicious. Some people had seen the charm when they'd met Alec; Tess had seen that streak of viciousness.

‘I thought he was a first-class sleaze,' she responded indignantly as she lifted her head from his shoulder. ‘And you have to take your share of the blame in this.'

‘Me!'

‘Well, Chloe only turned her attention to Alec when you didn't co-operate. Don't tell me you didn't know she fancied you something rotten.'

‘I knew, all right,' he conceded, looking uncomfortable as he recalled some of her attempts to gain his attention.

‘And I'd sooner—! Well, shall we just say she's not my type?'

Tess couldn't let this assertion pass without comment. ‘I'd have said she was
exactly
your type…tall, leggy and blonde.' She suddenly felt acutely the lack of all these attributes.

‘You seem to have made an in-depth study of the subject,' he mused, taking her chin in his fingers and turning her face up to him.

Tess didn't want to expand further on that theme; she tugged her head away. ‘Actually, I'm pretty sure Chloe imagined he'd leave Annabel and marry her,' she explained grimly.

‘At least his death spared her a very nasty wake-up call,' Rafe rasped. A puzzled frown puckered his brow. ‘Knowing Chloe's big romance with materialism, I'm just amazed she hasn't been milking Grandfather for money.'

‘Chloe isn't
that
avaricious,' she protested stoutly.

‘If you say so.'

‘Actually,' Tess admitted awkwardly, ‘she thinks she is…well, not
milking
exactly.' She raised herself up on her elbow and tucked a hank of floppy hair behind her ears.

‘There's an annuity for her from the capital she
thinks
your grandfather provided…'

‘And he didn't…'

‘Gran never touched any of the money Mum and Dad left me for my education, and even after the taxman had his cut I did make quite a lot when I was working…'

‘No wonder you seem strapped for cash.' Rafe shook his head in astonishment. ‘Why the hell, Tess…?'

‘My thought exactly. Run away, girl.' They hadn't noticed the two people enter the cubicle. The young nurse, even more overawed by the older generation of Farrar than she had been the younger, vanished like a worried rabbit. Edgar's gimlet gaze fixed on Tess. ‘I assumed you were the mother…'

‘No…no, I…Chloe…'

‘Tess thought Alec was a sleaze,' Rafe explained succinctly, coming to Tess's rescue. ‘You'd better make it quick, Grandfather—that poor kid has probably gone for reinforcements,' Rafe predicted, nodding after the retreating student nurse. Tess wondered how he could sound so calm. ‘Or maybe it's just tea she's gone for. They did promise me some, not to mention biscuits. Shall I ask for another cup, Grandfather?'

‘Spare me your savage wit, and don't get up on my account,' Edgar Farrar drawled as Tess, painfully conscious of how she must appear, tried to scramble off the bed. A strong and determined arm prevented her.

‘We won't,' Rafe promised, his eyes coldly derisive as they clashed with his grandfather's.

‘Well, girl?' the old man rapped.

‘She's not a girl, she's a woman…she's
my
woman.' Rafe made it sound as if it made all the difference in the world, and of course it did—at least to Tess's world…or it would have if he'd meant it.

Tess knew Rafe's retort had really been intended to wind up, aggravate and generally provoke his grandfather—he never could resist an opportunity. Despite this, his words hit Tess just as hard in their own way as the lorry had hit Ian's car earlier that evening. The dramatic impact swept away the last wispy doubts she'd managed to retain; she wanted to be Rafe's girl, his woman, his
love
.

She wanted it for real because she loved him just about as much as it was possible for a woman to love a man. Strange that, even though she had very little personal experience of such things, Tess knew in every cell of her body that this was the for ever sort of love…Or, in this case, the hopeless, unrequited sort of love, she reminded herself brutally.

His grandfather's narrowed eyes moved over the two figures entwined on the bed. ‘I'm not blind, boy,' he snapped. ‘And I don't care who she is, I still demand to know what she thought she was about denying me my great-grandson. I won't bother asking why you're conniving with her…' he drawled contemptuously.

His contempt made Tess's face harden; she suddenly felt purposeful, not embarrassed. Rafe was worth a hundred of any Farrar alive or dead, and yet they all persisted in treating him appallingly! She touched the side of Rafe's face; it felt different somehow to look at him and know she loved him and always would.

‘It's fine,' she murmured, wondering if she looked as different as she felt.

‘Sure?'

Tess nodded firmly. This time he allowed her to rise.

She faced the figure who even now was much feared and revered in financial circles with a militant light in her blazing eyes.

‘I didn't tell you for several reasons. Firstly I liked Annabel.' Alec's wife had been a sweet woman who had obviously thought her husband had been perfect. Even before his death she'd been devastated by her inability to supply him an heir; to learn Chloe had been expecting his child would have been one blow too many for the grieving widow.

A lot of people apart from Annabel seemed to think Alec had been perfect, Tess reflected, glaring at Rafe's grandfather as she angrily compared his attitude towards his two grandsons.

‘She was always nice to me and I didn't want her to be hurt. Secondly—' her voice shook as she glared contemptuously at Edgar Farrar ‘—I'd seen how unhappy your household had made one young boy…' Her eyes softened momentarily as she looked back quickly over her shoulder at Rafe, before narrowing to emerald ice-chips again as she squared up to his grandfather. ‘I'd no reason to believe you'd do any better the second time around,' she announced scornfully.

Rafe looked on in amazement as his grandfather flinched and looked away from those critical, unforgiving green eyes. He doubted Tess realised what a rare thing she was seeing.

‘Rafe was…is my son's responsibility,' he blustered uncomfortably. ‘It wasn't my place to interfere with Guy.' This statement lacked his habitual assurance and it seemed from his expression he was conscious of the fact.

‘Can I have that in writing?' Rafe muttered. He wasn't surprised when both combatants ignored him.

‘I don't know who I despise more,' Tess announced, her clear voice ringing with scorn. ‘Those people who beat children or those who know about it and do nothing!' She thought maybe she'd gone too far when Edgar gasped and clutched at his chest. ‘Are you all right?' she cried anxiously.

‘Sit down, Grandfather,' Rafe instructed sharply, rising from his sickbed with an athletic bound and taking charge of the situation. ‘Shall I call a doctor?'

‘Don't be stupid, I just need my pills!' Edgar drew a bottle from his breast pocket with tremulous fingers. ‘That's better,' he breathed a few moments later.

Tess was relieved to see the blue discoloration had faded from his lips.

‘Your father is a weak fool,' he wheezed. ‘When I found out what Guy was doing I told him if he ever laid a finger on you again I'd break every bone in his body.'

‘And they say violence breeds violence,' Rafe remarked. Underneath the sarcasm Tess could see he was looking thoughtful.

‘You've brought up this boy alone, I take it.' The shrewd old eyes moved momentarily towards Rafe. ‘There is no husband, live-in lover…'

Tess shook her head before he came up with another phrase to describe her solitary state. ‘So far there's just been Ben and me,' she confirmed cautiously. She wasn't sure she liked the way Edgar Farrar's thoughts were heading. ‘Shouldn't you lie down?' she fretted, watching as Rafe began to pace about the tiny space like a caged animal. ‘You've lost a lot of blood.'

‘I didn't lose it, I gave it away.'

‘And I'll never forget it!' she told him, her eyes shining with gratitude.

He'd be finding out just
how
grateful later; Rafe felt ashamed of the thought. ‘Don't worry, I won't put up a fight when you want to get me into bed later,' he promised. He grinned unrepentantly as heat flooded her indignant face, leaving it prettily pink. ‘Only just now I feel like being on my feet…'

Not if…
when
…The arrogance of the man was astounding. Almost as astounding as his scorching sex appeal. She made a last-ditch effort to tear her bemused eyes from his face.

‘There's plenty of time for courting later, boy,' his grandfather remonstrated, listening to this interchange with a critical frown. ‘Right now I've got more important matters to discuss than your love life…'

‘Talking about important matters.' Tess gave a distracted frown and patted the pager they'd promised to activate when Ben was out of theatre. ‘It shouldn't be long—perhaps I should go and wait upstairs…' She turned with a frown to Rafe.

Edgar Farrar stared in startled disbelief at the slim young woman who had so summarily dismissed him.

‘I'll come with you.'

‘You should be resting, and you can't leave your grandfather…'

‘I'm not an invalid, I don't need a keeper!' Edgar Farrar exploded. ‘And in point of fact I'm not your grandfather either!'

Rafe's lip curled in a sneer. ‘Isn't that taking wishful thinking too far?' he asked, pointedly tapping his distinctive aquiline nose. An almost identical feature adorned his grandfather's weather-worn features. ‘This sort of evidence is kind of hard to deny.'

‘I'm not trying to deny anything.' The old man pulled himself to his feet with difficulty; his eyes didn't leave the younger man's scornful face for an instant. ‘I'm your father.'

Tess realised by a process of elimination that the startled gasp had emerged from her mouth; neither man had moved or made a sound. Rafe's face looked as though it were carved from stone, except stone didn't have a pulse and she could see one in his blue-veined temple pounding away like a piston as he stared fixedly back at the older man.

‘My father is living in the South of France with his charming wife.'

‘Guy isn't your father.'

Rafe shook his head. ‘Is this some bizarre attempt—?' He broke off, his eyes on the older man's face. ‘You're telling the truth, aren't you?' he grated. ‘My God, you
bastard
, you slept with your own son's wife! You slept with my mother…' He closed his eyes and shook his head as though his brain just couldn't deal with the information. ‘I was always convinced that you were behind her going away, but I never suspected why!'

Edgar visibly recoiled from the white-hot animosity that glowed in the younger man's eyes.

Tentatively Tess touched Rafe's arm. ‘His heart…'

‘What heart?' Rafe grated, dismissing her concern with a harsh laugh. ‘Did—?' He stopped on the point of saying
father
. A humourless grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. ‘Does he know?'

‘Guy…?'

‘Well, I'm not talking about Prince Charles.'

‘Nobody knows but your mother and I. It would have destroyed him.'

‘Is it just me, or does your concern come a bit late in the day?'

‘You have to understand that we did what we thought was best.'

‘Best for who?' Rafe blasted. ‘I know now why she went away, something that I've never been able to understand, but why the hell did she leave me behind where nobody wanted me?'

‘I wanted you with me.'

‘Don't make me laugh.'

Edgar gritted his teeth and persisted in the face of his son's acid scorn. ‘You were…you
are
a Farrar, it's your birthright. Your mother understood this. Eventually it became untenable for her to stay with Guy.'