A Convenient Husband (18 page)

Tess wasn't too keen on playing Little Red Riding Hood to his big bad wolf. Her mouth firmed as she looked him straight in the eyes and declared in a clear voice, ‘I wouldn't let you.' She didn't want him having any doubts on that score.

‘No, I don't suppose you would.' A thoughtful expression accompanied this response. ‘Is Rafe at home?'

At the mention of Rafe she was plunged straight back into the depths of despair.

‘He's got company.'

Edgar hadn't mentioned her tears, but it was unrealistic to suppose he hadn't noticed and put two and two together. His next words confirmed her suspicions and his interrogator's keen eye.

‘The sort of company that makes you weep?' With a lordly gesture he brushed aside Tess's mechanical rebuttal.

‘You don't strike me as a young woman who weeps easily'

Another second and he'd see exactly how easily she could weep. ‘If you'll excuse me.' She tried to brush past him but he moved to block her path.

‘No, I don't think I will.'

‘Pardon?'

‘I won't excuse you just yet. Where exactly are you going?'

It was easier to reply than argue, so she did. ‘I'm going to catch the first train home.'

A crowded train on a hot and sticky day—what better way to round off a perfect day? she wondered sourly. What was I thinking of, imagining even for one minute that Rafe might admit he felt anything other than lust, and possibly pity for me? She flinched away from the mortification of her own stupidity. At least she'd had her eyes opened before she'd made a total fool of herself…the thought of her lucky escape didn't do much to improve her frame of mind.

‘I think we can do rather better than the train.'

Edgar moved—quite nimbly for someone of his years—to one side and Tess saw the large sleek Rolls illegally parked at the kerbside.

At a gesture from the owner the driver leapt out and opened the nearside passenger door. She glanced nervously over her shoulder, half expecting Rafe or his lover to emerge from the building. Deliverance had never looked so fraught with danger to Tess, or so luxurious.

She didn't imagine for one moment that Edgar's gesture had been motivated by concern for her welfare. On the one hand her nose was detecting the unmistakable odour of an ulterior motive, but on the other there was no denying that railway travel with a tired toddler was no picnic, especially when you'd been stupid enough to leave behind all the toddler's favourite foods and toys. She wanted to be well clear of here when Rafe discovered the bag of baby things in his bedroom.

‘I thought you were going to see Rafe.'

The elder Farrar didn't deny this. ‘As were you…' her determined rescuer pointed out.

‘I changed my mind.' About a lot of things.

‘Not the sole prerogative of women. Now get in, Miss Trelawny…' his shrewd eyes scanned her pale face ‘…this is becoming tiresome.'

What was it about the Farrar men that made them automatically assume she was there for them to bully?

‘I should explain that I react very negatively to intimidation tactics.'

‘The last time we spoke you were far more decisive. Despite what you might have been told, I don't eat babies.' He gave a thin-lipped smile.

‘I suppose,' she conceded ungraciously, ‘that you're the lesser of two evils.' Actually it was the realisation that her wallet had been in the holdall along with Ben's things that tipped the balance. She sat back in the air-conditioned luxury and sighed.

‘Would I be correct in assuming that the greater evil is tall, dark and at present entertaining another woman?'

It would seem that Rafe had inherited his irritating habit of reading between the lines from his father. Aware that she was being observed for any response, Tess willed her expression to remain impassive.

‘We'll be going home, William,' her host told the driver.

‘You'll be happy to know the wedding won't be going ahead.' Somehow she didn't think that Rafe was going to be too sad when she explained she could no longer consider marrying him.

If this news gladdened the elderly financier's heart, he hid it well. ‘You know, you look very like your grandmother.'

Tess was momentarily diverted from the gloomy contemplation of the rest of her life. ‘I didn't know you knew Gran.'

‘A remarkable woman. When it came to my attention that Rafe was making nocturnal visits to your home, I confronted her.'

‘You knew!'

‘So did your grandmother. She assured me that when the time was right she'd put a stop to it. I trusted her judgement.'

‘Put a stop…' Tess puzzled.

‘I believe she had a word with Rafe when she considered it to be inappropriate.'

‘
Oh!
I didn't know…' Tess's cheeks began to burn. ‘It was all perfectly innocent!' she protested.

‘I never doubted it, but youthful hormones being what they are…' He gave an expressive shrug. ‘Actually, I was glad that there was somewhere that Rafe felt at home.'

The expression on his hard, autocratic face hadn't altered, but something in his tone made Tess forget her own embarrassment and stare.

‘You knew Rafe was unhappy, yet you didn't do anything about it,' she accused.

‘My hands were tied,' he told her stiffly. ‘I regretted it, but…'

‘Your regret didn't do Rafe much good,' she told him bluntly. ‘The way I see it, he suffered for your mistakes!'

‘It seems to me that Rafe is most fortunate to have so loyal a friend.'

‘I don't want to be his
friend
!' she wailed. ‘Oh, God!' She gulped, covering her mouth with her hand. ‘I'm sorry.' She sniffed and found a large, beautifully laundered white handkerchief thrust in her hand.

‘I was under the impression that Rafe desired more too,' Rafe's father murmured drily.

‘That was all an act,' she admitted miserably.

‘My, my, the boy's talents are limitless, it would seem. You probably think I was extremely…
clumsy
when I told Rafe about his true parentage.'

‘I think your timing was a bit off, say by twenty years or so,' she told him resentfully.

‘I loved Natalie, you know.' He glowered at a startled Tess as if she was about to dispute this surprising confession.

‘I don't really remember her. Rafe has a photo…' Rafe had inherited her dark colouring.

‘You'll find as you get older that there are pivotal moments in life. You don't always recognise those decisions for what they are at the time. You don't realise there's no going back…There are so many things I'd do differently, though loving Natalie is not one of them,' he growled.

‘There hasn't been a day since she left I haven't wished I'd had the guts to create a scandal and say to hell with family honour! I shouldn't have sent her away, we should have gone with her, the boy and I…but it's too late now. Do you think me a very selfish man?' he wondered.

There was an intensely sad expression in Edgar's pale blue eyes as he contemplated what might have been. Tess felt some of her hostility dissolve towards this powerful, driven old man.

‘I suppose it makes me think of you as human…which I have to admit,' she told him with a tiny spurt of mischief,

‘comes as something of a surprise to me.' Her expression sobered. ‘Have you explained to Rafe how you felt about his mother? It might help.'

The old man's dark scowl was back. ‘I tried…you heard me…Rafe isn't interested in listening.'

‘Since when did you take no for an answer? Not that it's any of my business,' she added, uncomfortably aware that, just when she ought to be distancing herself from the Farrars, she was getting sucked in all over again.

‘While you're bringing up the youngest Farrar—and, if I may say so, doing an excellent job of it…' this unexpected commendation stilled her alarmed protest ‘…I would think that it's as much your business as anyone's.'

‘Does that mean…?'

‘Give me some credit! I'm stubborn, girl, not blind! I can see that you're an excellent mother to the boy. I would, however, like to get to know my great-grandson. How do you feel about that?'

‘If you must know, relieved.'

‘Excellent! Then, if you're not too tired, why not bring Ben here over…he does wake up occasionally, I take it?'

‘Oh, he wakes up, all right,' Tess promised drily.

‘Bring him over to the house for afternoon tea. I'll send the car for you. It would be an opportunity for us to discuss financial arrangements.'

The smile vanished from Tess's face. That would teach her to remember not to lower her defences with a Farrar. ‘I don't want your money.'

Regarding the mutinous jut of her soft chin with a thoughtful expression, Edgar leaned forward in his seat and spoke softly.

‘I've never been a big fan of this modern compromise nonsense either, but then look where stiff-necked pride has got me…I'm a lonely old man with one son who would stab me in the back for my money, if he thought he could get away with it, and another who hates my guts and wouldn't take my hand if he was drowning. Let me do something for Ben, Tess?'

Despite her natural inclination to view everything he said with cynicism and hostility, she was impressed by his obvious sincerity. Even allowing for the fact the ‘lonely old man' part was a little bit hard to swallow, Tess was sure that this was as close to pleading as Edgar Farrar had ever been and it was close enough to amaze her.

‘We'd like to come to tea.'

It wasn't a major concession, but to judge by Edgar's expression he was satisfied with his progress.

‘You mentioned that you're no longer engaged to my son…'

Her spine stiffened until her back was barely brushing the deep upholstery. ‘That's right.'

‘Did you come to this conclusion as a couple, or was this a unilateral decision…
your
unilateral decision?'

‘Rafe won't fight me on this,' she assured him dully.

‘If you're sure…? You accused me earlier of not taking no for an answer. I think you'll find when it comes to obstinacy Rafe is in a class of his own. Think about it,' he advised when she didn't respond.

 

Tess was treated to a first-hand sample of Rafe's stubbornness later that day when she'd secured a freshly scrubbed and refreshed Ben in the back of the chauffeur-driven Rolls and was sliding in beside him.

‘Where the hell do you think you're going?'

She slammed the door in Rafe's face. ‘Drive on, please!' Tess appealed to the impassive-faced driver.

‘Don't move!' Rafe barked, banging his hand on the roof of the Rolls and poking his head through the open rear window.

The driver was obviously at a loss to know what to make of his conflicting instructions. Rafe took advantage of his indecision.

‘You do know who this car belongs to, don't you?'

‘I'd hardly get into a stranger's car, would I?' she announced carelessly.

‘I've not even been gone forty-eight hours. You've got to hand it to the old man, he's a fast worker.' He sounded anything but admiring. ‘How did he work the magic? A slick line or have I misjudged you—did it just take a nice fat cheque?' he jeered nastily.

‘If I didn't know it would frighten Ben,' she snapped, glancing protectively towards the small boy fastened into his brand-new child restraint before bestowing a contemptuous glare on Rafe, ‘I'd slap that self-righteous smirk off your face.'

It was the fact she obviously considered he could be a threat to Ben rather than the threat of physical violence that really made him mad!

‘Would you care to explain to me exactly what's going on? I found your bag complete with credit cards, cash and cheque-book on my bed. You, however, were noticeable by your absence. You haven't been answering my calls—as far as I knew you could have been lying on a morgue slab!' He bowed his dark head and she saw his knuckles whiten against the window rim.

‘Don't be so dramatic!' she advised him scornfully.

His head lifted sharply; his dark eyes were burning. ‘I've been
frantic
!'

Tess sniffed with deliberate disdain, but her feelings overcame her.

‘Was that before or after you'd finished rolling around on the bed with Claudine?' she spat, abandoning her dignified contempt in favour of green-eyed—in more ways than one—fury!

Was there no end to his deceit? she wondered, conveniently ignoring the fact he'd never denied being in love with Claudine as she viewed with growing contempt his superb display of bewildered confusion.