Читать книгу In the Boss's Arms - Barbara Hannay - Страница 14

THE woman in the chemist shop smiled at Alice. ‘This is our most popular brand. It comes with instructions. One blue line means a negative result, two lines positive. And you get two testing kits.’

‘Two?’ Alice repeated with a gulp.

‘Some people like to double-check.’

‘Yes. Right. Thanks, I’ll take it.’

Clutching the packet to her chest, Alice hurried outside and almost jumped into her car. Then she opened the packet, took out the box and sat for several minutes staring at the printed words: Pregnancy Test.

She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. Her period couldn’t really be five days overdue.

Except…she’d checked the calendar and her diary a thousand times this weekend. And every time she’d arrived at the same answer. So here she was on Sunday night, so unable to bear the suspense any longer that she’d rushed out to find a 24-hour pharmacy.

She felt a bit silly really, testing when she knew the kit was going to show one blue line, a negative result. She couldn’t be pregnant. It simply wasn’t possible. Todd had been desperate for a son and they’d tried for almost two years with no luck.

His doctor had run tests on him that proved without a doubt that it was her fault. She shuddered now just remembering Todd’s anger and the ghastly names he’d called her. He’d made her feel so useless, so unfeminine and unlovable; her self-esteem had hit rock bottom.

By the time he’d finished abusing her, she’d accepted the blame, of course. Why wouldn’t it be her fault? She’d let him down in every other way.

She realised now that she should have doublechecked Todd’s assertion with fertility tests of her own, but at the time she hadn’t been able to face going through painful medical procedures just to confirm something she already knew.

Besides, what was the point? Almost immediately, Todd had turned to other women.

Setting the box carefully on the seat beside her, she started the car and drove home through the quiet suburban traffic. It was raining. Tyres swished through puddles and headlights slanted across shiny roads. Even though she knew it was pointless, she couldn’t suppress a tiny kernel of crazy excitement. But it felt so unreal. This couldn’t be an ordinary Sunday night, with families at home watching television and wishing the weekend could last a little longer.

By the time she reached home she was a bundle of nerves, but it was time to put an end to the awful tension that had made a nightmare of her weekend. With the test over and done with she could go to work tomorrow confident that at least one potential problem had been overruled.

OK.

She set the testing stick on the bathroom bench, sat on the edge of the bath tub and closed her eyes while she counted the minutes.

All weekend she’d felt as if she were teetering on a knife edge, on the brink of toppling into someone else’s life, some weird other dimension, like Alice falling into Wonderland. Very soon now and her own life would rock back into place.

Once she knew for sure that she was right, that she wasn’t pregnant, she could—

Oh, my God. She leapt to her feet.

There were two of them.

Two blue lines.

Trembling, she stared at the tiny window on the testing stick. Good heavens. Sinking back onto the edge of the bath tub, she tried to take it in.

She was pregnant.

No, it must be a mistake.

Heart pounding, she rushed back to the kitchen to grab the second kit. It had to be an error. The woman in the chemist shop said people liked to double-check. That was probably because the first test was often wrong.

She felt shaky and sick with a weird kind of excitement as she stood staring again at another tiny plastic window, watching the first line form and then, oh good grief, the second one.

Oh, heavens. Oh, Liam.

What have I done?

In a daze she wandered through her flat, trying to take it in. The test said she was pregnant. Her period hadn’t come and her breasts felt unusually tight and tender. Her body said she was pregnant.

It didn’t make sense.

‘I don’t understand. How could it have happened?’ she asked the doctor next evening.

He looked at her with amused surprise. ‘You don’t really need me to explain about the birds and the bees, do you, Alice?’

‘No, of course not. But I’m supposed to be infertile.’

The doctor frowned and then glanced back at his computer screen, scrolling through her records.

‘You won’t find anything there. I didn’t actually have any medical tests,’ she admitted.

‘Well, my dear, if there was a problem, it seems that nature has taken care of it. You can go home and tell your husband the good news that you’re not infertile any more.’

‘Yes,’ she said softly.

There was only one answer, she thought as she drove home. Todd had lied to her. As soon as she had slept with another man she’d fallen pregnant, which meant that Todd’s stubborn macho pride must have prevented him from admitting that he was the one who was sterile.

Or perhaps he’d never had the test and had simply convinced himself that it must be her problem. The silly sod. Had he chased other women in a desperate bid to prove his virility, his fertility?

For a brief moment she almost felt sorry for him, but then she was too busy feeling sorry for herself. How dared Todd lie? Damn him. She would never have taken a risk with Liam if she’d thought there was any chance of pregnancy.

She was a mess of whirlwind emotions. One minute angry, the next scared and then, in the next breath, incredibly happy.

There was a baby growing inside her.

She almost smiled at the careful way she walked from her garage to the front door with a hand cradling her abdomen, as if she was a fragile vessel with sacred cargo. It was amazing and scary to think of a tiny baby alive and growing in her womb. Her baby.

It was a fantasy she’d never allowed herself.

She gave in to it now—saw herself in a few months’ time in snazzy maternity dress, proud of her round pregnant stomach. She envisioned a divine little nursery, with a white bassinette and delicate baby things—special little soaps and baby talcum powder and little pots of baby lotions.

She could almost imagine her mother and aunts knitting or crocheting tiny things…

And Liam. Where was he in this picture?

She tried to picture him standing beside her, tall and proud, with a protective arm about her shoulders, and a look of loving wonder in his eyes.

And then, of course, the foolish picture fractured. She had no idea how Liam would react to her news. She’d insisted she was safe, that she couldn’t possibly get pregnant, and he’d trusted her completely.

The only communication she’d had since he left was the brief message that had accompanied the beautiful green glass bowl. He’d been away so long he almost felt like a stranger.

Sinking onto a lounge chair, she wrapped her arms across her middle. Liam wasn’t a family man. If he was he’d have married years ago. He was a businessman, a high flier. When he learned that she was pregnant he might well decide she’d been trying to trap him and he would have every right to be angry with her.

What a mess she was in. There was every chance that Liam would be furious. And there was no way her mother and aunts were going to leap into action to knit baby clothes. They would be too outraged by the shock and shame Alice had foisted yet again on her family.

As for everyone at work—damn—how could she face them?

She felt so overwhelmed she couldn’t cry. This was like the nightmare of her divorce all over again.

The bad times were supposed to be behind her. She’d met Liam in the Hippo Bar on her thirtieth birthday as a contemporary, liberated, single woman—and what had happened?

She’d fallen into the same trap that had been ensnaring women since time began.

Monday morning brought worse news.

Dennis’s eyes were almost popping out of his head. ‘You’re never going to believe this,’ he said, staring directly at Alice.

‘What?’ cried all three women at once, and poor Alice’s heart took off like a sky rocket.

Dennis wet his lips and took a dramatic deep breath. ‘The boss is back and he’s brought his wife with him.’

‘He’s what?’

‘He can’t have.’

This time the chorus of cries was closer to shrieks. A wave of nausea rose into Alice’s throat and she felt so suddenly awful she thought she might faint.

‘Mr Conway can’t be married,’ said Mary-Ann, sending anxious looks to Alice.

‘I’m sorry but you’re wrong,’ said Dennis airily. ‘He’s turned up with a woman and her name is Mrs Conway and he was paying her a great deal of attention when he lifted her out of the limo a moment ago.’

‘Lifted her?’ cried Shana, leaping from her seat and tearing across the room to peer through the slats of the venetian blind that screened their office from the front reception area. ‘Oh, my God.’ Her eyes were as huge as Dennis’s as she turned back to Alice. ‘She’s in a wheelchair.’

Alice was glued to her seat.

‘Come and look,’ hissed Shana.

No, Alice didn’t want to. She couldn’t.

Dennis was at the window with Shana now and they were both riveted by the scene taking place in the foyer.

‘I wonder who the young fellow is,’ mused Dennis. ‘Their son?’

A son? Could this get any worse? Alice’s heart pounded like a battering ram; her stomach lurched. Liam couldn’t have a wife. He couldn’t; he couldn’t. He’d told her he wasn’t married. She believed him.

By now Mary-Ann was at the window too. ‘Gosh, she’s beautiful,’ she said in a low, rather awestruck voice.

Both women turned back to Alice.

‘Come and have a look,’ said Shana again.

Alice’s legs felt leaden as she struggled to her feet. For a horrible moment she thought she might need a wheelchair just to get across the room, but somehow she made it. Shana had adjusted the blinds so it was possible to look out without being observed.

She looked and saw Liam out in the foyer with a woman in a wheelchair and a boy of about fifteen. Liam’s hands were resting on the back of the chair and he was smiling and talking to Sally at the front desk. The woman in the chair was laughing.

Shana was right; Mrs Conway was beautiful. She had delicate features, high cheekbones and long autumn-coloured, wavy hair. She was smartly dressed in a cream silk blouse with a chic scarf in mocha tones draped with casual elegance over her shoulders. A longish dark olive-green skirt covered her legs.

There was something very appealing about her, a kind of inner light and friendly warmth. Under other circumstances Alice suspected that she might like the woman very much.

The boy was tall, with the typically gangly build of a teenager, and he had dark hair like Liam’s.

As she and her workmates hovered at the window, spying on them, the trio began to move away, down the corridor towards the accountant’s office. Alice swayed on her feet. Any minute now she was going to be sick. Or she was going to faint. She wasn’t sure which.

Dennis snatched up the nearest phone. ‘Sally,’ he hissed to the girl just a few feet away from them in Reception. ‘What’s going on? What’s the boss up to?’

The three women watched in tense silence as he received the answers. His eyes flashed mysteriously as he hung up.

‘Come on, then,’ cried Shana. ‘Put us out of our misery.’

‘Well,’ said Dennis slowly, enjoying the power of his secret, ‘her name is Mrs Julia Conway and she’s moved here from Sydney. She plans to live here and the boss is going in to talk to Merv, because he’s buying her a house.’

A house! Alice was swamped by a wave of shock. That could only mean…Surely that meant the woman must be…

With a hand clasped over her mouth, she bolted for the corridor, heading in the direction of the Ladies’.

‘Liam, what’s the matter with you?’ asked Julia Conway. ‘You’ve been pacing about like a caged lion all evening.’

Liam paused midway down the length of the balcony that opened off his apartment’s living room. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ve been a little distracted.’

‘More than a little.’ Julia laughed gently. ‘I doubt you’ve heard a word I’ve said in the past fifteen minutes.’

‘Have I been that rude? Sorry.’

‘Who is she?’

His jaw dropped. Julia’s blunt question had caught him completely off guard.

She laughed again. ‘I’m right. I knew it was something personal. You’re never like this when it’s work. If you were worried about a business matter you’d be on the phone, getting to the bottom of the problem.’

He lowered himself into a wicker chair beside her and shoved his hands deep in his trouser pockets. ‘Am I really that transparent?’

‘To me you are, but then I’ve known you for nearly twenty years. And you’re so like Jack. He has a hard time keeping secrets from me too.’

The sound of taped laughter floated out from the living room, where Jack was watching television.

For a little while they sat in companionable silence.

‘What a deliciously balmy night this is,’ Julia said. ‘I know this tropical climate is going to be wonderful for me.’ She laid a cool hand on Liam’s arm. ‘Thank you so much. For everything.’

They shared a smile and then Julia gave his wrist a playful slap. ‘Now, why don’t you hop on the phone and talk to this woman? Put your mind at rest. Where is she? In Sydney?’

‘Actually, no, she’s here in Cairns.’

Julia’s eyes widened. ‘That was quick. You were only here for a week or so before I threw a spanner in the works with my dash to hospital.’

‘Yeah.’ His shoulders lifted in a brief shrug. ‘It was kind of spontaneous.’

‘Spontaneous? How unlike you, Liam.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘I really like the sound of this.’

‘It’s nothing serious,’ Liam insisted when he saw the hope that flared in her eyes.

Liar. His right hand closed around the little jewellery box in his pocket.

In an act of complete spontaneity—or insanity—he’d bought a ring in Sydney…an emerald, of course. It had been a totally off-the-wall, spur-of-the-moment impulse, fuelled by a whim of fierce sentiment, and Liam still couldn’t quite believe he’d done it. He knew it was reckless and impulsive.

But it hadn’t felt foolish.

Not at the time.

Now, however, he realised just how rash he’d been. There were difficult bridges to cross before he asked a woman to share his life. He would have to reveal the shadows that stalked him.

Beside him, Julia let out a worried sigh. ‘Liam, don’t look so gruff. I didn’t mean to sound as if I was criticising you just now. I’m all for spontaneity. You know I’d be only too delighted to see you indulge in a little romance. It would be better still if you fell completely head over heels in love.’

He smiled at her. ‘You’ve been pushing me at other women for years.’

‘With very little success.’ After a bit Julia said, ‘I hope you haven’t stayed in this evening to keep me company.’

‘It’s your first night in town. You’ve been ill. I’m certainly not going to desert you.’

‘I’m absolutely fine now.’ She glanced at her wrist-watch. ‘It’s not very late. Why don’t you go out? I’ll watch a little television with Jack. I’d like an early night.’

Liam nodded, but he didn’t move. He sat staring out across the dark, moonlit water of Trinity Inlet, thinking about Alice, worrying about her. She was ill apparently and she’d gone home from work midmorning, but she hadn’t answered his calls. He’d left three messages on her answering machine and she hadn’t returned any of them. And yet her workmates were almost certain that she was at home, which meant she was either too sick to answer the phone—or she was avoiding him.

Either way he was worried.

Movement beside him dragged him out of his dark thoughts. Julia had turned her wheelchair and was heading back inside. He leapt to his feet.

‘Shoo, Liam,’ she said, waving a hand over her shoulder. And then she dropped her head back and winked up at him. ‘I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.’

Bending down, he dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘All right, if you insist, I’ll go.’

She continued inside, while he flipped open his cell-phone and called for a taxi. And then he went downstairs and waited on the footpath for the cab to arrive.

The night was indeed, as Julia had said, balmy. He drew a deep breath and caught a whiff of salt from the sea as well as perfume from a nearby garden, a very sweet, heady, floral fragrance. The deep breath didn’t calm him. In fact, he was astonished by how nervous he felt. By the way his heart was pumping anyone would think Alice Madigan was armed and dangerous.

But of course…she was armed…with a dangerously sensual femininity that had made him her captive slave.

This evening, however, when she opened her front door and saw Liam on her doorstep, all colour drained from her face.

‘Oh,’ was all she said and she clutched the door knob as if she needed its support.

‘Hello, Alice.’ He was alarmed by her apparent frailty. ‘I hope I haven’t got you out of bed.’

‘No, no.’

Despite her paleness, her beauty couldn’t be dimmed. Her dark hair was shining as if she’d just finished brushing it a thousand times and her deep red jeans and multi-toned T-shirt offset her pale skin perfectly. He wanted to feast his eyes on her. ‘I was very sorry to hear that you weren’t well.’

She nodded, but offered no explanation.

‘It’s nothing serious, I hope?’

‘No. Just a stomach virus.’ She gave a little shrug, but its effect was rather spoiled by the bleakness in her eyes that suggested she was troubled by much more than a stomach bug. ‘You must think I make a habit of leaving work early.’

‘Not at all.’ Liam stood on the step with his hands shoved deep in his pockets and she continued to cling to the door. ‘May I come in?’ he asked and then, reluctantly, ‘Or are you too tired?’

‘I—I’m rather tired.’

The tension between them was palpable. He couldn’t stand it. Taking a step closer, he reached out and touched her cheek. It was soft and warm beneath his fingers. ‘I’ve missed you so much, Alice.’

She turned her head away quickly, but not before he saw the movement of her throat as she swallowed and the sudden glitter of silver in her eyes. Were they tears? What was the matter? His heart rocked.

Standing stiffly, with his hand returned to his side, he struggled to think of something else to say. This stilted conversation was agony, but it was an agony that had to be prolonged. He couldn’t walk away till he knew what the matter was. ‘I hope my parcel arrived safely.’

‘Oh, yes. I meant to thank you.’ She looked up at him again. ‘I’ve never had any Venetian glass. It’s just gorgeous. I love it.’

‘You found a place for it among all your other green things?’

‘Yes.’ She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and he thought for a moment that she was going to invite him inside to see it, but obviously she dismissed that idea almost as quickly as it had come to her and she gave the door a little push as if she was keen to shut him out.

‘I assume everything went smoothly in the office while I was away.’ He was grasping at straws now.

One corner of her mouth tilted in a wry smile. ‘We managed very well without you.’

Her deliberate taunt found its mark. He sighed. ‘I guess you’re angry because I didn’t make contact while I was away.’

She didn’t reply—just stood there looking upset

‘I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch,’ he said. ‘It was a little crazy in Sydney.’

She dropped her gaze quickly. Her feet were bare and she rubbed one nervously against the other.

‘Is it something else? What is it, Alice? What’s the matter?’

Her mouth tugged out of shape and then a little sound that was suspiciously like a sob escaped. ‘Just about everything.’

Hearing that, Liam gave up waiting for an invitation. He pushed the door out of her grasp and stepped inside.

There wasn’t much room in the narrow hallway and in the confined space he was acutely aware of her proximity. The scent of lemon shampoo lingered about her and he wanted to ignore whatever was bothering her and to draw her close, to have her in his arms, with her warm, sweet body rammed tight against him, to bury his face in her fragrant, silky hair.

But he continued walking down the hallway and turned into her living room, and she closed the front door and followed.

Her living room was almost in darkness save for the gentle glow cast by a table lamp in the far corner. It was a room of intense atmosphere with strong pieces of furniture, richly coloured wall hangings, cleverly selected cushions and objets d’art. There was music playing softly—a woman singing a moody love song about walking in fields of gold.

The urge to drag Alice down onto the deep chocolate sofa was so strong Liam almost groaned aloud.

‘Now,’ he said gruffly as he stood to attention in the middle of her room. ‘You’re going to tell me what’s the matter.’

A look of despair swept over her lovely face.

‘And you’ll also tell me how I can help,’ he added more gently.

She shook her head. ‘I don’t want your help.’

The hardness in her voice caused an involuntary flinch, but he chose to ignore it. ‘Take a seat, Alice.’ He said this as he might have done to an employee in his office and he half expected an angry response, but she sat meekly in a deep armchair and he took the sofa.

They faced each other in the lamplight.

‘So, what kind of problem are we dealing with here?’ He was aware that he sounded more like a boss at a board meeting than a lover.

The wry smile returned, tilting her soft pink mouth to an unhappy slant. ‘On a scale of one to ten?’

‘If that’s the way you want to present it.’

Picking up a cocoa and black striped cushion, she hugged it to her chest and sighed. ‘From my point of view, right at this moment, it feels like a ten.’

‘Good God, Alice, is it that bad?’ A knife point twisted in his heart. ‘You’re not seriously ill, are you?’

‘No,’ she said quickly, but then she dropped the cushion as she covered her face with her hands.

‘What is it?’ Liam was across the floor and kneeling beside her. He couldn’t bear this. His heart filled his throat.

She dragged her hands slowly down her face and her eyes glittered again with the hint of silver. ‘I’m really embarrassed about this,’ she said.

‘What?’ he demanded in a breathless gasp.

‘I—I’m—’ She swallowed and a tear spilled down her cheek. ‘I’m pregnant.’

It was as if she’d thrown a grenade in his face. He felt strangely numb. He knew there was a reason why her words didn’t make sense, but for the moment he couldn’t think of it, couldn’t think at all.

And then slowly the shock subsided.

‘When? How?’

‘The outback trip is the only time it could have happened. I’m sorry,’ Alice said. ‘I had no idea.’

Sinking onto the carpeted floor with his hands behind him for support, he let his thoughts unscramble. ‘You said pregnancy was impossible.’

‘I know. I thought I was infertile. Honestly.’ Her hands were clenched tightly on her knees. ‘Apparently, I was mistaken.’ She looked directly at him. ‘You have a right to be angry.’ Her eyes were the colour of rainwater and awash with tears. ‘You are angry, aren’t you?’