Wild and Willing! (22 page)

‘All this is meant to impress
me
! This…this circus?’ she spluttered.

‘I’m just entering into the spirit of the thing. Let’s face it, I couldn’t make a bigger fool of myself than I did that morning. Besides, there’s nowhere for you to hide from me here.’

She only lost her rhythm for a second. There never had been anywhere for her to hide from him. Despite the confidence and determination in his voice she glimpsed uncertainty etched in the lines of his face.

‘You won’t have any arguments on that subject from me. You’re a fool, Adam.’ Adam was apologising—she couldn’t believe it, but if he wanted to say something he would have to spell it out clearly.

‘I hate being told what to do, Anna—’

‘You don’t say,’ she snorted.

‘For God’s sake, woman, let me finish. I really thought I was doing the right thing when I got engaged to Jessica. The fact my entire family made it clear they didn’t agree made me dig my heels in. I didn’t want to admit they were right.

‘Even if I hadn’t met you I don’t think I’d have gone through with it,’ he confessed. ‘I felt a complete swine! As far as I was concerned Jessica was the one prepared to make all the sacrifices and I was going to throw it all in her face. It was my fault for rushing into the engagement.
After Ben and Tessa’s death I should have taken time out before I made any decisions, but I didn’t. Angus Montford meant a lot to me, and although it might seem bizarre I felt as if it was him I would be betraying.

‘For God’s sake, Anna, if you don’t slow up you’ll never reach the finish line.’

‘I don’t like being told what to do either.’ The arm that hooked around her waist brought her to an abrupt halt. ‘How dare—?’

A firm kiss silenced her protest as he lifted her clear off the ground. A ripple of applause broke out as runners ran around the obstacle of a ballerina in football boots being ruthlessly kissed by a six-foot-plus rabbit. An enterprising young local took a snap which would end up on the pages of a national daily and launch him into a new career.

‘Adam, people are staring!’ Dazed, she clutched at him as her shaking knees threatened to buckle beneath her.

‘Let them,’ he said carelessly.

‘I thought you had to be careful of your reputation.’ The possessive gleam in his eyes was making her heart thud.

‘I’d have the reputation of being the biggest fool in history if I let you go. I love you, Anna.’

‘You loved Jessica,’ she reminded him. His simple statement had made her nearly explode with joy.

‘Never,’ he said with a hint of impatience. ‘You knew that, Jessica knew that. I had told her long before we spent the night together that it was over. I had every intention of telling you just that, but your own agenda that night did sort of divert me,’ he reflected.

She blushed as she recalled how cold—no,
hot
-bloodedly she’d set out to seduce him. ‘Marrying someone you don’t love is an awful thing to do.’

‘I’m a reformed man,’ he announced. The humble statement was spoilt by the dangerous gleam in his eyes.
‘But if it’s any comfort my blue eyes were never the main attraction for Jessica. She played on my gratitude to her stepfather right from the beginning, and I was too blind to see it. She became angry enough to admit she had never really cared for Angus at all. In fact she was furious that he’d left part of his estate to set up a charity devoted to medical research. I am a director of the charity, and it seems early on she had a notion that she might be able to break the trust.

‘As for the job she sacrificed, it was never hers to refuse.’ His lips twisted in a cynical grimace. ‘Jessica is incredibly ambitious and seeing the job she’d spent the last two years grafting to get go to someone else must have been agony. For some reason she decided to transfer her energies to getting me. This probably sounds conceited, but it explains why she was so understanding when I told her how I was feeling about you.

‘I really expected her to see what had become so glaringly obvious to me—that we were totally unsuited. That was why I tried to throw her together with the children that weekend, but mumps and my mother intervened. At the time it seemed kinder to let her be the one to call things off.’

‘They’re green,’ Anna corrected him. ‘Your eyes are green.’ She was still trying to take in these revelations. Jessica’s visit to her had obviously been motivated by pure malice. She couldn’t have Adam and she’d wanted to make sure no one else did either.

‘You noticed,’ he said with a pleased grin.

‘The way you glare at me, it would have been hard to miss. You said some awful things to me.’

‘I did think you’d left my bed to jump into someone else’s. I’m normally the mildest of creatures. Remember this was the same guy you’d had some mawkish adolescent crush on and the same guy whom I’d seen kissing you in the garden. I should have done what my instincts told me to at the time,’ he observed grimly.

She didn’t enquire what this had been; his clenched fists sort of gave the game away. ‘You didn’t trust me.’

He ripped off his gloves and took her chin in his hand. ‘That morning after hadn’t gone exactly as I’d planned,’ he explained drily. ‘I was all pumped up to pledge my eternal love—something I’ve had little practice at. I wanted to tell you that it was all off between Jessica and me, and you proceeded to act as if we’d done nothing more intimate than shake hands. “Casual” doesn’t even begin to describe your behaviour. I thought you’d succeeded in exorcising your obsession.’

‘It was you who said that,’ she reminded him.

‘I was clutching at straws at the time, Anna. I’d never had cause to call my integrity into question before I met you. Learning love is stronger than pride was a hard lesson.’

‘What about during our night together?’ she enquired huskily. His voice might have contained a wry note of humour when he’d spoken of love, but there was nothing humorous about the deep sincerity in his eyes. ‘I just about exhausted the dictionary definitions of love that night. You didn’t say a word.’

‘People say things they don’t mean in the throes of passion.’

‘I don’t.’ Adam caught his breath at the expression in her eyes as she made the admission.

‘I couldn’t be sure of that at the time,’ he said, holding her gaze steadily. ‘That’s why I waited. I didn’t want any misunderstandings about what I wanted to say. Unfortunately I couldn’t compete with the cows.’ His smile carried the shadow of recent pain.

‘I thought you wanted it casual, Adam. You hadn’t said anything and as far as I was concerned you were marrying Jessica. I had no right to demand anything you weren’t going to give freely. It’s just that loving you felt so
right
, Adam.’ A husky catch throbbed in her low, passionate voice. ‘I couldn’t let you marry Jessica without
trying to show you how much I loved you. I thought I’d made a terrible mistake and you didn’t feel the same way. I didn’t want to be your mistress, Adam.’

He called her an extremely rude name and his fingers tightened on her upper arms.

‘If you really loved me, you wouldn’t be so rude.’

‘I don’t expect marriage to you to be a smooth ride.’

‘Is that a proposal?’ She tried to look shocked and disapproving, but she could feel an idiotic grin on her face. So much for being mysterious and hard to get!

‘I’ve taken advice from my family…’

‘Adam, I won’t marry you just because the children like me,’ she said, a cloud passing over her shining joy. Uncertainty made her lips quiver slightly.

‘Kate tells me neither she nor Jake are children. My darling Anna, if the children hated you I wouldn’t give a damn. Mind you, it makes life easier that they don’t,’ he felt compelled to admit. ‘You haven’t given me an answer yet. Is it because of the ready-made family?’

‘Not at all.’ She nipped that stupid notion in the bud. ‘They’re much easier to get on with than you.’

‘Then say it, Anna! Say “I love you, Adam, and I’ll marry you”.’

‘This is coercion,’ she told him with mock severity.

‘This is two weeks of pure hell talking, Anna,’ he said seriously. ‘I’m not letting you go until I know you’re mine.’

Anna could have pointed out the impractical nature of this assertion, but she didn’t. ‘I’ve been so miserable,’ she cried, surging forward and flinging her arms enthusiastically about his neck. ‘You’re the only man I’ve ever seduced and the only man I’ve ever loved.’ Her brown eyes glowed as he lifted her up to face level.

‘You’re the only woman I’ve ever dressed up as an Easter bunny for,’ he admitted. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve made a fool of myself, though it’s probably the most public. I had made my mind up never to repeat the experience
after that awful morning. Only there’s something very infectious about your recklessness. You’ve let me look at the world through your eyes, and you know something? It’s really not such a bad place, so long as you’re in it.’

‘Don’t be so
nice
,’ she gulped urgently. ‘Or I’m going to cry!’ she warned.

He looked at her wet lashes with tender astonishment. ‘I’ll never understand women.’

‘That’s obvious,’ she sniffed, ‘or you wouldn’t have got engaged to Jessica. When she warned me off—’

‘You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?’ he interrupted her. An attentive expression abruptly stole over his face. ‘Warned you off?’

‘She paid me a little visit, and I’m not telling you what I said because it will only confirm your opinion that I’m a shameless hussy. Besides, you’re big-headed enough without women fighting over you. If I’d been Hope I’d have laid her out cold,’ she told him a tinge wistfully. ‘Her temper bypasses her brain and goes straight to her fists.’

‘What sort of family have I got myself mixed up with?’ he said mournfully. His eyes darkened with passion as she laughed up at him. ‘God, but I want to make love to you,’ he said.

‘In that case,’ she replied, casting him a sultry smile that sent his pulses racing, ‘it might be a good idea to finish this race.’

Some time later, holding hands, they stepped over the finish line together.

‘Not your best time, Anna,’ a group of fellow fundraisers teased. They eyed Adam with overt curiosity.

‘My fault, I’m afraid,’ Adam said, his smile widening as he saw Anna’s blush deepen. ‘I needed nursing.’

‘There you are, Adam.’ A voice Anna vaguely recognised averted his attention.

‘Mother, what are you doing here?’ Adam’s voice
held a note of resignation as he turned to face the tall, elegant woman for whom the crowds parted.

Anna stared. This couldn’t be the frail old lady she’d spoken to on the phone. Elderly she might be, but this woman looked the picture of health. Her posture was elegant and erect, and her clothes had an unmistakable designer quality.

‘I came to see you compete, darling. I always came to see you and Benedict on sports day.’

‘I suppose you’re too old to stop listening at keyholes?’

‘I’d never resort to anything so vulgar, Adam. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your charming friend? I rather think we’ve spoken before. Anna? I was aching to meet a woman who could make my painfully proper son dress up in a bunny outfit.’

‘How did you…?’ Adam began.

His mother gave him a superior smile. ‘When one has a son who is secretive and uncooperative in the extreme, one has to be resourceful.’

Anna smiled shyly. ‘Mrs Deacon?’ The elder woman’s eyes were on the hand still firmly enclosed in Adam’s. Anna tried to disentangle her fingers, but Adam resisted her efforts.

‘Actually, it’s Arnold, but do call me Sara—or Mother?’ She threw a challenging look in Adam’s direction. ‘Don’t glare so. Can you blame me for being so relieved to see you with someone nice after that harpy? Considering how undemonstrative you can be holding hands is tantamount to a public declaration of love.

‘Don’t you find him a little reserved?’ she asked Anna curiously. ‘I was going to say stuffy, but…’ She smiled and Adam gave a philosophical shrug. ‘The boys didn’t want to change their name when I married Gerald,’ she explained to Anna.

‘Anna’s looking a little shocked because she was expecting a weak, fragile, grey-haired old lady. I believe
you gave an Oscar-winning performance over the telephone.’

‘I was very concerned at the time. You can hardly blame me for taking advantage of the circumstances.’

‘He’s apt to do that himself,’ Anna commented.

‘Precisely,’ Sara Arnold said, bestowing an approving smile on Anna. ‘I do have grey hair, Adam.’ She raised her hand to her perfectly coiffed hair. ‘And I am seventy-five. I was forty when Adam was born, Anna; he was a very troublesome baby. I’ll be so relieved when he settles; I’ve had nothing but worry for thirty-five years.’

‘How did you get here, Mother?’ he asked casually. ‘By bus? Or did you decide to wheel out the chauffeur and Rolls today? My mother, Anna, is the widow of Gerald Arnold—
the
Arnold of Arnold frozen foods.’

Anna’s brain was whirling; the food chain was a nationwide operation. ‘Does that mean you’re rich?’ she asked with some dismay.

‘My stepfather left Ben and me a large chunk of shares in his will,’ he admitted with a shade of embarrassment.

‘And Adam and the children will get the rest when I die.’

‘As you can see,’ Adam drawled sarcastically, ‘that could be any moment.’ He exchanged a dry smile with his parent. ‘It injures my male pride no end to have to admit that Jessica, it transpired, was more in love with my prospects than me. She had a lot of ideas about how she’d like to spend my fortune. That’s why she was so willing to put up with the inconvenience of children, not to mention the fact that I was in love with someone else.

‘You don’t know what a relief it was when I realised she didn’t want me for my body, or even my mind, but my bank balance! Mother, could you give us a few minutes alone?’ He spoke curtly enough to bring a frown of protest to Anna’s smooth brow. ‘I’ll try and persuade
Anna to forgive your manipulative machinations; only a truly heartless woman would exploit her grandchildren’s illness.’

‘That was rude,’ Anna said, watching the elderly woman move away, leaning slightly on a silver-topped cane.