Carole Mortimer - Burning Obsession

‘He has to be told,’ she said unthinkingly, looking up at the doctor. ‘He’ll have to be told that Jordan and I——’

‘I doubt it’s wise to tell him anything?’ Jordan interrupted coldly. ‘Am I right, Dr Jones?’

‘Quite right, Mr Lord,’ the other man nodded gravely. ‘At the moment he simply couldn’t cope with the knowledge that five years of his life are total blackness to him. His heart condition——’

‘Heart condition?’ Kelly repeated dazedly. ‘I don’t know of any——’

‘I know,’ Jordan acknowledged. ‘David told me about it years ago.’

‘How many years ago?’ she demanded to know.

‘About four.’ he replied calmly.

Dr Jones nodded. ‘That would be about the time he first found out about it.’

‘But I wasn’t told,’ Kelly said dully. ‘My father said nothing to me.’

‘He probably didn’t want to worry you,’ the doctor excused. ‘After all, he’s still a young man, he wouldn’t see any necessity for telling you of something that may never happen, to worry you unnecessarily.’

‘Now that he’s lost his memory he probably doesn’t even know about it himself,’ she pointed out bitterly.

‘I would say it’s a certainty that he doesn’t, which is all the more reason why he must receive no undue shocks. Normally he knows to avoid any unnecessary stress or strain, without the knowledge of his condition he won’t take the necessary precautions, so we must try to protect him all we can.’

‘But how long will he be like that?’ Kelly sat forward in her seat. ‘How long before he remembers?’

The doctor shrugged. ‘It could be hours, days, even weeks. I have no way of telling.’

‘Weeks?’ she echoed. ‘But he—In the meantime what do we do?’

‘The safest thing is to act as if it really were five years ago. His memory will come back of its own accord, if we try to force the issue it would in all probability make things worse.’

‘But we can’t—Jordan and I—we don’t——’

‘What my wife is trying to say,’ Jordan cut in dryly, ‘is that she and I are separated.’

A ruddy hue coloured the other man’s cheeks. ‘I see,’ he said slowly. ‘That makes things a little difficult.’

‘In what way?’ Jordan’s eyes were narrowed.

‘Mr Darrow has no other injuries other than the cut on the head. Medically he’ll be able to leave hospital in a few days’ time. Normally he would go home to you, I wouldn’t recommend that he be alone at the moment. But if you’re divorced——’

‘We aren’t divorced,’ Jordan put in smoothly. ‘Just separated, as I said.’

‘I see. Then perhaps it would be possible after all.’ He stood up in preparation of ending the meeting. ‘I strongly recommend that you seriously consider a temporary reconciliation for Mr Darrow’s benefit. Obviously I can only advise you …’

‘Obviously,’ Jordan accepted dryly. ‘We’ll discuss the problem and let you know what we decide.’

‘I’m not going back to living with you,’ Kelly told him as soon as they were alone.

‘I knew you’d say that,’ Jordan said disgustedly, standing up to pace the room. ‘As usual you’re only thinking of yourself.’

‘I’m——’

‘You’re a selfish little bitch!’ he dismissed. ‘You always were. You aren’t thinking of your father at all, are you? Think what will happen if he suddenly finds out that far from being an ecstatic couple just back from our honeymoon we’ve in fact lived apart for the past five years.’

An angry flush coloured her cheeks when he called her a selfish bitch, but the rest of what he said basically made sense. ‘ We can’t turn the clock back,’ she said desperately, knowing that she couldn’t live with him, especially after responding to that kiss yesterday. She would be leaving herself open to further attacks of that sort.

Jordan’s expression was cold and removed. ‘I’m not proposing we turn the clock back, I wouldn’t want that either. Marrying you at all was sheer madness, I should have had more sense. No, we won’t be returning to that, Kelly, but I’m willing to make a show of things for the sake of my friendship with your father. Of course, the ultimate decision lies with you.’

‘I—I can’t think! I don’t want to be with you any more than I have to, and yet—There’s my father! I don’t want him harmed.’

Jordan’s expression was remote. ‘You don’t have to decide now, I doubt if he’ll be discharged for a while.’

‘Couldn’t you—well, couldn’t you go away on business or something?’ she looked hopeful.

‘That wouldn’t be the natural move of a man just back from his honeymoon,’ he derided.

‘No,’ Kelly agreed reluctantly.

Jordan sighed his impatience with her. ‘Let’s go in and see him now. You can think about this other business later.’

Think about it! She wouldn’t be able to do anything else. The last two days of knowing Jordan was here had been bad enough, if she had to actually put on a show of living with him, of loving him, she didn’t think she would be able to cope with it. The whole idea of it was ridiculous!

And yet what other solution could there be? At least Jordan was willing to be co-operative, which he didn’t have to be. After all, it couldn’t be all that convenient for him to suddenly, to all intents and purposes, become a husband again. Janet Amery was just one of the women he would have to explain this strange occurrence to; there could be numerous others. Knowing Jordan there would be.

‘Don’t think about it now,’ he ordered tersely as he looked down at her and saw her pensive expression. ‘Try and look the ecstatic bride,’ he added derisively.

Her eyes flashed violet. ‘I’m trying to remember what it was like to be naïve about you!’ she snapped insultingly. ‘And I can’t think how I could have been taken in by you.’

‘I can tell you that in one word, Kelly—sex,’ he scorned.

She gasped. ‘That’s a lie!’

‘You enjoyed being made love to,’ his gaze ran slowly over her body, his mouth quirked in a humourless smile. ‘And I enjoyed making love to you.’

Her eyes sparkled, her mouth set in an angry line. ‘For a time,’ she nodded. ‘Until I bored you. I can’t think why you married me.’

‘Can’t you?’ he drawled, casually flicking her dark hair back from her cheek.

‘No!’ she snapped, flinching away from his long sensitive fingers.

‘For a very good reason, Kelly.’ He strode out of the office.

She hurriedly followed him, her short legs having trouble keeping pace with his much longer ones. She looked up at him questioningly. ‘What was the reason?’

Jordan suddenly stopped dead, causing several other people in the corridor to give them curious looks. ‘Now listen, Kelly,’ his voice was harsh. ‘The time to ask for these explanations was before you walked out on me and our marriage. I certainly don’t intend having a postmortem on it now.’

‘Why have you never divorced me, Jordan?’

‘Why?’ he laughed softly, unpleasantly. ‘Quite simply you’ve proved a valuable deterrent.’

‘Deterrent …?’

‘To any other woman who thought she might like to be my wife,’ he explained tauntingly. ‘Now smile, my love,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘We’re going in to see your father.’

‘But——’

‘Smile, Kelly!’

She did so with extreme difficulty, resenting the way he deliberately laced his fingers through hers, the smile of intimacy he gave her as they went into the hospital room.

Her father was very pale, although he brightened somewhat as they came in. ‘Did you enjoy Barbados?’ his eyes twinkled merrily.