Carole Mortimer - Fear Of Love

ROGER flushed furiously. ‘Now look here, you can’t go around saying things like that! Alexandra can’t be held responsible for—–’

‘I think Alex knows she can be held entirely responsible,’ the elder man interrupted. ‘She knew the delicacy of Gail’s condition, but she went ahead with her stupid personal grudge against me, walking out of the house swearing vengeance for some wrong she believes me to have done her.’

‘But you—–’

‘He’s right, Roger,’ Alexandra said dully. ‘I did walk out of the house with the intention of going to see him, and I did tell Gail. She’s eight months pregnant, I should have realised it would upset her.’

‘Yes, you should have,’ Dominic agreed abruptly. ‘Like I told you earlier, you’re utterly selfish. Now, if you’re ready, I’ll take you to the hospital. Gail will want to see you.’

‘Is she going to be all right?’ Her eyes pleaded for him to say yes.

‘With rest and being kept under observation they think she’s going to be fine, no thanks to you.’

‘That’s enough, Tempest,’ Roger said angrily. ‘Can’t you see how upset she is? There’s no need to keep saying things like that to her.’

‘There’s every need, damn you!’ Dominic snapped forcefully. ‘Alexandra has to be made to see how her thoughtlessness can hurt other people. We’re lucky the baby isn’t being born right now.’

Alexandra raised distressed eyes. ‘It isn’t, is it?’

‘No,’ he gave her an impatient look. ‘Are you ready to leave, because I’m going back to the hospital now whether you come or not. Trevor needs a little moral support at the moment.’ He turned sharply on his heel and began walking back towards the house.

‘Dominic!’ she cried out his name, beginning to run after him. ‘Wait for me!’

He didn’t look at her as she ran to keep up with him. ‘I don’t have the time.’

She clutched at his arm. ‘Please, Dominic,’ she pleaded. ‘Tell me how Gail is.’

At last he looked at her, his eyes cold. ‘I’ll tell you in the car if you really want to know, but I’ve wasted enough time on you for one day. I’ve been looking for you for over an hour now. Why the hell didn’t you stop when I waved you down?’

‘I—–’

‘You thought you were being clever, getting one up on me,’ he guessed correctly.

‘Well, I—– Was that what the telephone call was about?’

‘Yes.’ They had reached his car by now. He wrenched open his car door and got in behind the wheel. ‘If you want to know any more get in.’

‘But—– My car,’ she said desperately.

Dominic started the engine. ‘Leave it.’

‘I can’t do that. It—–’

‘Then don’t.’ He started to reverse the car out of the driveway.

‘Dominic, wait!’ She turned desperately to Roger. ‘I want to go with him, he can tell me more about Gail on the way. My car—would you drive it over later for me?’

‘Of course, darling,’ he kissed her lightly on the lips: ‘Call me and let me know how your sister is.’

‘I will.’

Dominic hardly gave her time to get in the car before accelerating down the road. ‘That kid’s like a lapdog,’ he remarked grimly. ‘He does exactly as you say.’

She flushed angrily. ‘He was only trying to be helpful.’

‘I hope I didn’t interrupt anything just now,’ he taunted. ‘You looked like you were just getting started.’

‘We weren’t,’ she answered tautly.

He shrugged. ‘You looked as if you were. His parents said you were playing tennis, but you looked as if you were playing something else to me.’

‘We were just going to play tennis,’ she said resentfully.

‘It looked like it. And you said my display this morning was disgusting!’

Her eyes flashed her dislike of him. ‘I didn’t come with you to be insulted. You said you’d tell me about Gail.’

‘So far there isn’t a lot to tell you, except that she has to stay in hospital.’

She nodded. ‘Just for a few days. I can spend the time getting the house spring-cleaned for her return,’ she continued eagerly.

Dominic shook his head. ‘She isn’t staying in for a couple of days, Alex. The doctors have decided it will be better for both her and the baby if she spends the last few weeks before the baby is born resting in a hospital bed.’

‘But that—that’s four weeks away,’ she gasped in dismay. ‘She has to stay in all that time?’

‘At the moment they think it best.’

‘How awful for her! I would hate to be in hospital all that time.’

‘So will she, so you can damn well behave yourself when you see her. Gail is to have no worries whatsoever.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of worrying her,’ she said indignantly.

He drove into the car park of the hospital. ‘Then make sure you don’t.’

‘Now look, I don’t have to take this from you. You aren’t—–’

Dominic turned with barely concealed violence to face her. ‘You’ll take from me exactly what I care to give out! At the moment I could quite easily beat the hell out of you and not feel a moment’s remorse.’

Alexandra flung open the door, quickly scrambling out. ‘I don’t have to stay here and suffer your insults!’ She slammed the door.

He was beside her in seconds, swinging her round to face him. ‘You’ll listen to me for as long as I want you to,’ his grey eyes glittered down at her. ‘No matter what Gail says to you when you see her you’re to agree to it, do you understand?’

She frowned, shaking off his restraining hand. ‘No, I don’t understand at all. What could Gail possibly say to me that I’m not going to agree with?’

‘You’ll see. And I want you to know that I’m no happier about the arrangement than you will be.’

‘What is it?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘Wait and see. Come on, let’s find Trevor.’

They found him in Gail’s hospital room, sitting on the side of the bed holding his wife’s hand. Alexandra rushed straight to her sister, the ready tears falling unheeded down her cheeks.

‘Oh, Gail,’ she sobbed, ‘I’m sorry, so sorry.’

Gail cradled her in her arms, laughing softly. ‘What on earth are you saying sorry for? It’s my own fault I’m here.’

‘I—–It is?’ she looked uncertain.

Gail pushed her young sister’s hair away from her tear-wet face. ‘Of course, silly. I knew my blood pressure was a little high, I should have slowed down.’

‘You mean I should have helped you more. I didn’t realise you were ill.’

‘I’m not ill, pet,’ Gail insisted. ‘And you do far too much at home already. Besides, I enjoy looking after the two of you.’

‘Well, now you have to pay for your obstinacy,’ Trevor put in lightly.

‘And you’ll have to sleep alone,’ his wife teased. ‘You’ll have no one to warm your cold feet on now.’

He grimaced. ‘The bachelor quarters here aren’t very glamorous. But at least I’ll be able to visit you when I’m off duty.’

Alexandra frowned. Somewhere along the line she had lost the meaning of this conversation.

‘Is it all right for you to move in?’ Gail asked Trevor worriedly. ‘Have they got a room?’

Her husband squeezed her hand. ‘Everything is arranged. I just have to go home and collect a few things.’

Gail looked at her sister. ‘You’ll be all right at Dominic’s, won’t you, Alexandra?’

So that was it! She turned to look accusingly at Dominic Tempest and met only his icy disdain. He had known all along that it had been arranged for her to stay at his home with him. How on earth was she going to stand it? One look at Gail’s pale face told her that somehow she would have to, Gail simply wasn’t up to any more worries.