Carole Mortimer - Taggarts Woman

‘We were just discussing poor Phillip, my dear,’ her husband put in with a sigh.

‘He left, you know,’ the other woman snapped at Heather. ‘I think you used him shamefully——’

‘Stella——’

‘She’s been leading him around by the nose for almost a year now, Lionel,’ his wife reminded him waspishly. ‘And now, just because that savage——’

‘Stella, that will be enough!’ her husband said with quiet authority. ‘Heather is doing the only thing she can in the circumstances.’

‘I always did think Max was slightly vindictive where she was concerned,’ Stella scorned, completely unperturbed by her husband’s disapproving frown. ‘It’s the only reason I can think of for wishing a man like that on his only daughter!’

The first part was true and undeniable, but ‘a man like that’ rankled; Stella had no reason to malign Daniel in that way. ‘He’s a good man——’

‘He’s uncouth!’ the other woman dismissed disparagingly. ‘That remark he made about your not being being pregnant, for instance——’

‘And wasn’t that what Rita was thinking?’ Heather’s eyes were deep purple. ‘Wasn’t that what almost all the people here had assumed?’ she scorned.

‘I think you’re being a little unfair to some of them,’ her uncle chided.

‘Well, I don’t,’ she snapped. ‘And all because we’ve decided to marry soon!’

‘With undue haste,’ Stella corrected pointedly. ‘I can’t see what all the rush is about personally, you have another six months before Max’s deadline is up.’

‘Daniel and I discussed waiting,’ Heather bit out tautly. ‘And we decided that for the good of the airline——’ She broke off as Stella gave a disbelieving snort. ‘—For the stability of the airline,’ she added firmly, ‘it would be better if we ended the uncertainty of ownership as soon as possible.’

Blue eyes raked over her scathingly. ‘You can’t wait to crawl into his bed, can you?’

Heather paled at the viciousnesss of the taunt, all the more hurtful because it was the truth. When Daniel had asked her earlier if she were willing to share his bed, to give herself to him, she had known a thrill of anticipation like never before. She could imagine nothing more wonderful than being his woman. But it was his wife she was destined to be, a wife he was forced to accept, and not his woman at all.

Her eyes flashed as she glared at her aunt. ‘I think our sleeping arrangement once we’re married will be no one’s concern but our own——’

‘Or before we’re married,’ drawled Daniel as he suddenly appeared at her side, his arm moving possessively about her waist, his flinty gaze fixed on Stella’s flushed face. ‘Don’t you know better than to taunt children? he jeered softly.

Stella relaxed a little, glancing dismissively at Heather. ‘That child will be your wife in a month’s time!’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘As Heather has already said, we don’t believe that is any of your business.’

Stella gave him a taunting smile. ‘I suppose you should be admired, really,’ she mocked.

‘You——’

‘Heather, I’ve performed all the duty dances that I’m going to,’ he firmly cut in on her angry outburst, letting the other woman know that was all he considered his dance with her to be. ‘When are we going to throw this lot out so that we can be alone?’

Lionel chuckled softly, obviously relieved to have someone step in and prevent the two women from indulging in a full-scale battle. ‘I think that’s a hint for us to make the first move to leave,’ he told his wife indulgently.

‘I can’t imagine why the two of you would want to be alone,’ Stella remarked, determined to be the one to have the last word.

Daniel looked at her with flinty eyes, before turning pointedly to Heather’s alluring curves outlined in the clinging black dress, and then back again to the more obviously displayed charms of the older woman in the low-cut red dress. ‘Can’t you?’ he taunted softly. ‘I’m sure all the men in this room could give you numerous reasons!’

Strange as it felt, Heather was grateful for Daniel’s defence of her, especially when Stella flounced off in search of her wrap, her chuckling husband following once he had kissed Heather warmly on the cheek and shaken Daniel by the hand. It was the first time that any man, with the exception of Uncle Lionel, had defended her in that way, and it felt a little strange to feel gratitude to a man who obviously held her in contempt.

Daniel shook his head as he watched the other couple leave, the expression on Stella’s face boding ill for the older man once they were safely outside. ‘I don’t know how Lionel puts up with the shrew,’ he muttered drily. ‘If you turn into a witch like that I’ll put you over my knee and spank you,’ he warned harshly.

She stiffened, moving away from his arm about her waist. ‘I’m grateful for your intervention just now,’ she bit out abruptly. ‘But I believe there are several things we need to discuss before we can be married.’

‘Why do you think I want “rent-a-crowd” to leave?’ he rasped. ‘I want this thing settled, and I want it settled tonight!’

‘Are you sure you can spare the time?’ Her eyes flushed the colour of the flower she had been named for.

‘Just,’ he snapped grimly.

Her cheeks were flushed with anger at his arrogance, but she forced herself to relax as their guests took note of Lionel and Stella’s departure, and came over to congratulate them one last time as they began to take their leave.

An hour later her cheeks ached from smiling so much, although she knew Daniel couldn’t be suffering from the same affliction, his goodbyes terse to say the least. But finally the last guests had taken their leave, and they were now free to leave the staff to clear up the debris of the party while they retired to the small sitting-room where coffee was waiting for them.

Heather handed Daniel a cup of the black, unsweetened coffee she knew he preferred, watching as he curled a hand around the cup to take a sip, completely ignoring the delicate handle. Considering how hot the coffee had been when she poured it out, she was surprised he hadn’t burnt his mouth. Although from his grim expression, he wouldn’t have noticed even if he had!

He stood across the room from her, his restlessness something to be sensed, as he stood completely unmoving. ‘Well?’ he suddenly rasped.

Her hand shook slightly, spilling some of her coffee into the saucer. She didn’t pretend to misunderstand what he meant. ‘Well, fortunately, although my father took care of the idea of divorce—’ the shares were to be sold and the money distributed to the various charities, exactly as it would have been if she didn’t marry Daniel! ‘—he didn’t say anything about us having to have a normal marriage——’

‘In other words, you would prefer to leave things as they are?’ he said drily.

‘No, I wouldn’t!’ She swallowed hard at the speculative raise of his eyebrows. ‘I don’t like—like a Cassandra in your life.’ She looked away after having made the admission.

‘A mistress, you mean?’ he drawled.

‘Is that really what she is?’ Heather frowned. ‘Not a lover, or—or girl-friend?’

‘I go to her for only one reason,’ he shrugged. ‘So, what do you think?’

The other woman was his mistress! ‘Everyone must know that, and—and——’

‘And you couldn’t stand the humiliation of people thinking you can’t satisfy me in bed,’ he said mockingly. ‘ Can you satisfy me in bed?’

How did she know; she had never tried to satisfy a man anywhere! But Daniel seemed to think Phillip had been the most recent in a long line of lovers for her, and she wasn’t about to tell him that after the mess her mother had made of her life, pregnant by one man but marrying another, she wasn’t about to take any risk of getting pregnant without a husband herself. Since meeting Daniel she had been glad she hadn’t fallen into the bed-hopping trap many of her friends had just because it was expected of them, for she knew that he was the only man she had ever wanted in that way.