Wild and Willing! (12 page)

‘Angus died three years ago. Jessica is his stepdaughter,’ he said stiffly.

A feeling of hopelessness washed over Anna. The stepdaughter of a man Adam considered he owed his career to. He would never leave her for the sake of a passion he regarded as nothing more than temporary insanity. She couldn’t compete, but then she’d always known that so it shouldn’t hurt this much.

‘You’ve known her for a long time, then?’

‘Actually I’d never met her until the funeral. She was devastated.’

‘And you comforted her.’ It made Anna feel sick, imagining the form that comfort had taken. ‘Odd you’d never met her before if she was such a devoted daughter.’

‘There’s nothing odd about it,’ he said tersely. His expression made her feel small and mean-minded. ‘It made a difference at the time that there was someone else who had known Angus well and missed him. He was an extraordinarily perceptive man with a great mind.’

‘Perhaps I did jump to conclusions. I’m sure Lindy would have more sense than to get involved with someone who’s already spoken for. It’s not a formula for happiness.’

‘Very subtle,’ he said admiringly in a tone that made her flush. ‘But there’s no need to be subtle at this stage in our acquaintance, Anna. There’s no perhaps about it—if Lindy has lost her heart, it’s not to me. A man always knows when a woman is in love with him.’

‘He does…?’ This was bad news, she thought, closing her eyes. Was he trying to tell her that he knew?

‘I know you don’t love your Simon.’

Anna gave a sigh of relief which was submerged by a flash of anger. ‘You also know you don’t love your Jessica!’ She caught hold of his hand and removed it from the side of her face. If he could be personal so could she!

‘Jessica cares enough about me to give up an offer of a job in New York, a job she’s always wanted. When I needed her she was there.’

‘And you’re proving how grateful you are by making love to me,’ she choked. She still held his hand pressed between her two smaller palms.

‘Don’t you think I’ve told myself that? For pity’s sake, Anna, have you any idea what you did to me when I saw you go under that car?’ He closed his eyes and shuddered as if reliving the incident. ‘I know it’s crazy to feel this way,’ he groaned, cupping her face in his free hand.

Anna felt choked with emotion. ‘I don’t want the dregs, Adam.’

‘You expect me to reject Jessica after all the sacrifices she’s made for me and the children?’

‘I expect nothing from you except to be left in peace!’ she told him with quiet dignity.

Not surprisingly the rest of the journey was completed in stony silence. On their arrival at Anna’s parents’ home, one look at Adam’s profile silenced her protest as he scooped her up into his arms and strode up the path to the farmhouse.

Her parents greeted her with so much warmth and concern, she felt her eyes weakly fill with tears.

‘You wouldn’t believe how many people have been ringing, asking about you. You’re the local heroine,’ her mother said.

‘Hopefully that won’t take long to wear off.’

‘I’d have thought you’d have lapped up the publicity.’ Adam treated her grimace with a look of disbelief.

‘That’s it, put her down there, son,’ her father encouraged
Adam, who laid her on the sofa. ‘We’ve just been watching you two on the local news. Well, Anna mostly, although they had managed to dig out your credentials as the doctor who was fortuitously on the scene.’

‘Enterprising.’

Anna could see he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about his moment of fame. He’ll probably blame me for that too, she thought bleakly.

‘You’ve got your moment in the sun too,’ she said. ‘It just so happens I wasn’t seeking to thrust myself into the limelight either, just the issue.’ He couldn’t be more wrong if he imagined she relished her up-front role.

‘Sit yourself down; we’re very grateful to you,’ Charlie Lacey said.

‘I can’t stay. I’ve got a taxi waiting and my fiancée has had sole charge of my niece and nephews all afternoon. Above and beyond the call of duty.’

‘Have you all been staying at the Rectory?’ Beth asked, having satisfied herself that her daughter’s injuries really were as superficial as Adam had told them on the phone.

‘A hotel; things are a bit too primitive at the house at the moment.’ He didn’t add that Jessica’s praise of the house had been strained, to put it mildly. ‘The builders are in next week, though there’s not much wrong with the place structurally. The sooner we can move in the better. The children are staying with my mother just now, but she’s not young. It’s only a temporary solution at best.’

Beth nodded sympathetically, not pretending that the intricacies of his personal situation were unknown to her.

‘Well, thank you for putting yourself out on Anna’s account. Simon told us all about it.’ She exchanged a quick, amused look with her husband that left Anna wondering what exactly ‘all’ had been. ‘You’ve only just missed him. We finally persuaded him to go home. I thought it best; Anna hates being fussed. She gets
quite…ahem…astringent,’ she said, ignoring her daughter’s squeak of protest. ‘But then perhaps you’ve already noticed that.’

Adam wisely didn’t comment. ‘Goodnight, Mrs Lacey, Mr Lacey.’ His hand was heartily wrung by her father.

‘Thank you, Adam, dear,’ Beth said warmly. She looked pointedly at her daughter, prompting her to remember her manners.

‘Thank you,’ Anna managed gruffly. The ‘Adam, dear’ hovered in the air. She badly wanted to know how it would feel on her tongue.

To her surprise Adam bent down, his hand on the back of the sofa, to brush her forehead with his lips. ‘Don’t make a habit of throwing yourself under the wheels of cars, will you?’ His words initiated a ripple of laughter, but Anna had seen strain, not humour in his eyes as he’d leant close.

‘I don’t hold out much hope,’ she heard her father say as the mobile members of the small assembly moved into the hallway. ‘That’s always been Anna’s problem—she never did think before she did anything.’

I’ve really surpassed myself, Anna thought dismally. I’ve fallen in love this time, and no amount of thinking after the fact is going to alter that!

CHAPTER SIX

A
FTER
two days of hobbling along on crutches Anna was almost screaming with frustration. Never blessed with patience, she liberally inflicted her ill humour on the rest of the household.

‘Is it just your leg that’s making you so unpleasant?’ her mother asked after suffering another of her daughter’s outbursts. ‘Or is that just a convenient excuse?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Anna propped her crutches against the dresser and reached up to replace a china plate. She knew she was being impossible. She felt guilty for being such a pain, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t snap out of it.

‘I mean are you really being so vile because your wings are temporarily clipped, or is there some other reason?’

Anna hooked the crutches back under her arms and swung herself across the room. ‘I’m sure I’ll regret asking this,’ she said resignedly, ‘but what other reason did you have in mind?’

‘Adam Deacon?’ Beth’s eyes were filled with sympathy as her daughter’s face went fiercely hot and then deeply pale in rapid succession.

‘Adam Deacon has nothing whatever to do with me.’ From her mother’s expression Anna could see she might as well have denied her eyes were brown. Her mother hadn’t referred back to the embarrassing incident before and Anna wished she hadn’t now. Pity was the last thing she wanted!

Beth Lacey gave an unruffled smile and wiped the excess flour from her hands onto her apron. ‘If you say
so, my dear. I always thought you were more of a fighter.’

‘Fighter! In case you’d forgotten, Mother, Adam is almost a married man.’ Anna’s teeth clenched against the sob of frustration in her throat.

‘Almost.’

‘Mother!’

‘Sometimes fate has rotten timing, child.’

‘Is it really that obvious?’ Anna asked huskily, abandoning pretence.

‘Not to him perhaps. Have I said something funny?’ she asked as Anna began to shake, her laughter tinged with hysteria.

‘Obvious is exactly what Adam thought me when we first met. I haven’t actually given him much reason to revise his opinion.’ Her lips twisted in an ironic smile as she recalled their first meeting.

Nothing had gone right since she’d met Adam, Anna reflected gloomily. First her direct approach had been misinterpreted and she’d succeeded in alienating him. When he had finally decided to follow his instincts she’d discovered she wanted a lot more than a brief fling. Great timing!

Adam obviously set a lot of store by his integrity, and it was obvious to Anna he held her responsible for his moral lapse. It seemed Adam Deacon didn’t allow himself to become as human as everyone else. When the sexual attraction he felt for her had dissipated he would probably be grateful that nothing had happened. She could only hope that she would be too.

That afternoon Simon chauffeured her to the small consulting room she leased in town. She could at least catch up with her paperwork even if she’d been obliged to cancel all her appointments for the week.

When she’d got what she’d come for she found him curiously examining the small consulting room. She’d
built up a small but growing clientele, and her relationship with the local medical practice meant she was frequently sent patients they thought might benefit from treatment.

‘I see you’re wired for sound,’ he observed, looking at the speaker system housed in niches around the walls.

‘Music, soothing lighting and the correct atmosphere are important,’ she explained, smiling as he took the file she was balancing.

‘I might give it a try.’ He flexed his shoulders.

‘For you it would be on the house,’ she said lightly.

This new Simon did seem to have kinks in his spine. He certainly didn’t have the carefree attitude of the boy she’d once known. But then he wasn’t a boy any longer, she reminded herself.

‘We’d better be off.’ Her casual comment had made him look at her in a way that made her feel vaguely uneasy.

God, but I’m fickle, she thought, locking the door behind her. Once upon a time I’d have given anything to have Simon look at me like that, and now… With a sigh she carefully negotiated the flight of stone steps. Simon stood at her elbow, offering advice and constantly admonishing her to take care. She didn’t receive his concern with the gratitude it warranted; she just felt a sense of increasing irritation.

‘Hello, there!’ For a moment the green eyes made Anna’s breath freeze. ‘I don’t know whether you remember us?’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said, quickly flicking a quick glance to either side. Her breathing slowed. No sign of Adam, just his charges. You’re being ridiculous; it doesn’t matter if he is here. Act your age, girl, she admonished herself sternly. ‘This is Simon…’

Jake nodded easily in the direction of the older man but kept his attention firmly on Anna. She found she
wasn’t offended by the overt curiosity in his eyes. There was something very engaging about this young man.

‘My name’s Jake.’ He extended his hand, and then laughed when he realised she didn’t have a free hand. ‘This is Sam and Nathan,’ he said, extending the introduction to his two small charges.

Anna didn’t flinch under the unblinking regard of two identical pairs of eyes. The only way to differentiate between them she could detect was a large brown stain over Nathan’s white T-shirt.

‘Hello, boys.’

‘Uncle Adam said you wouldn’t die,’ the owner of the clean T-shirt commented.

‘He’s a doctor, he fixes people,’ the other added.

‘Adam’s giving the local schools the once-over with Kate,’ Jake explained. ‘We’re sort of at a loose end for an hour or so. I thought we’d explore the town, but these two need feeding and watering every twenty feet or so. Do you know anywhere that sells ice cream?’ he asked appealingly.

Whilst he was more than capable of taking care of his brothers Jake knew when a little male helplessness was called for. On cue the twins started chanting, ‘Ice cream,’ in piercing voices.

‘Tell you what,’ Anna said, ‘why don’t I show you where the tea rooms are? They do chocolate fudge cream sundaes to die for.’ The look of gratitude on Jake’s face made her glad she’d made the impulsive offer. She wondered with an aching heart whether Adam had ever had such an ingenuous, open expression in his eyes.

‘We don’t want ice cream,’ Sam said, literally digging his heels in and tearing his hand from his brother’s grasp.

‘I do,’ his traitorous twin announced.

‘She said you have to
die
for it,’ came back the hissed reply.

Anna exchanged a stricken glance with their elder
brother. ‘I’m sorry.’ She was appalled at the result of her inadvertent comment.

‘Don’t worry, they’re at the literal stage,’ Jake replied calmly. ‘Death is by way of being the taboo word just now,’ he explained. ‘The lady just meant the ice cream is excellent. It’s quite safe; nobody is going to die. The lady will come with us,’ he added to his half-convinced brothers. ‘Won’t you?’

It would have taken a harder heart than Anna possessed to resist the appeal. ‘Simon?’

‘I’ve got to get back, love,’ he said, not looking delighted at the turn of events. In fact she discovered he looked faintly sulky. ‘Tell you what, I’ll pick you up in an hour.’

‘You don’t have to do that.’ She was already chafing against her temporary loss of independence.

‘It’s no bother.’

Anna offered her cheek as he bent his head, and was startled when he kissed her mouth instead. She turned to find Jake watching her with an expression of disapproval that was so uncannily similar to his uncle’s that she found herself blushing guiltily.

Some ten minutes later, when they were all happily installed in the tea rooms, Anna allowed herself, against her better judgement, to be talked into having a confection that required a foot-long spoon to get to the gooey bottom of the glass.

‘Bit on your nose,’ Jake told her with a hint of apology as she scraped the last remnants from her glass.

‘Thanks.’ She wiped the tip of her nose with her napkin.