Читать книгу A Rogue And A Pirate - Кэрол Мортимер, Carole Mortimer - Страница 5

IT had been a long and tiring day, her last at work for some time; she and Graham were going away for a two-week honeymoon after their wedding. But at least these two weeks with her new group of children for the year had helped cement a relationship that she hoped the children would remember until she returned. And by that time her name would have changed from O’Rourke to Simond-Smith. It was quite a mouthful for small children, but Graham’s family wouldn’t hear of using just Simond or Smith.

The last few weeks had been so hectic, but the weekend would see the culmination of all their plans. Saturday was her wedding day to Graham.

Caitlin had tried so hard not to think of Rogan McCord today, but it was difficult not to remember her wanton response to the man. She had wanted him to go on kissing and caressing her. Who knew where it might have ended if she hadn’t come to her senses! She had blushed profusely at lunch-time when Paul Raymond had delivered her car to the school and asked if she had got home all right.

After that thoughts of Rogan had been impossible to put from her mind, and the last thing she felt like facing tonight was a family dinner party. But her mother had made the arrangements weeks ago, and she couldn’t disappoint her. Besides, she needed this time with Graham, to sort out her feelings for him. God, it was a bit late in the day to start having doubts about their marriage now! But the disturbing memory of her response to Rogan McCord wouldn’t go away.

‘You look lovely, darling,’ her mother complimented, entering Caitlin’s bedroom after a brief knock.

She knew the black of her dress set off the fire of her hair, although that had been subdued to a burnished bronze by the loosely swept-up hair-style that left several loose tendrils framing the oval of her face. ‘So do you.’ She put her arm companionably through the crook of her mother’s, several inches taller than the tiny woman at her side.

‘Brian and Beth have arrived, but Graham rang a short time ago to say he would be slightly late; he’s been delayed at the office,’ she frowned. ‘He and his parents should be here soon, though.’

Why did Graham have to be late tonight of all nights, when she needed to see him so badly!

‘—your father was sure you wouldn’t mind,’ her mother was saying.

‘I’m sorry, Mummy.’ She shook her head with a guilty grimace. ‘I wasn’t listening.’

Her mother gave her an indulgent smile. ‘Thinking about Saturday?’

‘Yes,’ she confirmed shakily.

Her mother squeezed her arm. ‘You’re going to be a beautiful bride.’

What woman wouldn’t in the gown that had cost a small fortune? Oh God, if only she had never met Rogan McCord!

‘I was just explaining earlier that—well, you can see for yourself now,’ her mother said brightly as they entered the lounge.

‘See what for myself?’ She frowned her puzzlement. ‘Mummy, what——.’

‘I think your mother was just trying to tell you that I’m their guest,’ cut in an arrogantly mocking voice that she had hoped never to hear again!

All the colour drained from her cheeks as she turned to face her tormentor. Rogan was wearing a black dinner-suit and snowy white shirt tonight, but even those trappings of civilisation couldn’t disguise his rakish, rather than polished, attraction.

What was he doing here? How had he managed to wangle an invitation to a family dinner from her father? By the look of the half empty glass in his hand he had been here for some time!

Before she could make any comment to his mocking statement Rogan put out his hand. ‘I’m Rogan McCord,’ he introduced himself unnecessarily. ‘A business associate of your father’s,’ he added derisively.

He wasn’t going to give her away to her family! Why wasn’t he?

A business associate of her father’s, he said. Since when? Today, perhaps? She looked at him suspiciously.

‘Poor Rogan has been staying at a hotel the last few days,’ her father put in sympathetically. ‘I wouldn’t hear of that continuing once he told me; I insisted he stay on here until our business is concluded.’

The two of them made that elegantly expensive hotel sound like the next thing up from a hovel! And she still didn’t know how long this ‘business association’ had been going on.

Rogan was the one to answer that question. ‘It was originally planned for me to see your father next week,’ he explained. ‘But I wound my business up in Germany much quicker than I expected to and came straight over.’ His gaze levelled on her coldly. ‘I had no idea I would be intruding on such an intimate family occasion.’

‘You aren’t intruding,’ her father dismissed. ‘We’re glad to have you.’

‘Miss O’Rourke?’ Rogan prompted, his gaze fixed firmly on her flushed face.

‘Any friend of my father’s is most welcome,’ she assured flatly.

‘He’s just invited me to attend the wedding, too,’ he continued remorselessly. ‘Saturday, isn’t it?’

Oh God, now he must believe her to have been a panicked bride last night when she had responded to him so easily! ‘Yes,’ she rasped. ‘Please do come, Mr McCord,’ she regained some of her usual poise. ‘We’re hoping it will be a memorable occasion.’

‘I’m sure it will be.’ He gave an inclination of his head.

‘Excuse me,’ she said abruptly. ‘I have to say hello to my brother and his wife.’

Saying hello to Brian and Beth took all of two minutes, by which time Rogan was ensconced on one of the sofas with her mother, the two of them deep in conversation. Surely he wouldn’t—? No … Would he?

‘What do you think of him, then, little sister?’ Brian mused at her side, following her gaze as she watched Rogan charming their mother.

She sipped the dry sherry her father had brought over to her before answering, knowing how astute her brother could be at times. ‘I don’t really know much about him,’ she shrugged uninterestedly.

Brian, tall and whipcord-thin, raised his brows over laughing blue eyes. ‘You’ve never heard of Rogan McCord?’

Obviously not in the way her brother meant! ‘Should I have done?’ She sounded bored.

‘He’s a big shot in the real estate business,’ Brian drawled. ‘Although I think this is the first time he’s ever ventured across the Atlantic.’

‘And what lured him?’ she asked.

‘Dad, of course, and a partnership in a hotel chain they’re both interested in,’ Brian chuckled. ‘The two of them met while Dad was in the States a few months ago. Of course your head has been too filled with wedding plans to be interested in the dry old family business, otherwise you would probably have heard all about him.’

Caitlin deliberately took the time to sip her sherry, not wanting her brother to see just how curious she was about the man who had been able to talk her father into a partnership in anything. ‘Tell me now,’ she invited softly, her eyes narrowing as Rogan made her mother giggle like a schoolgirl. Her mother never giggled!

‘Self-made man—they’re always the toughest kind,’ her brother said matter-of-factly. ‘He’s made a bundle over the years in property speculation.’

‘That doesn’t tell me anything about the man except that he’s clever and shrewd,’ she bit out. And she needed to know all there was to know about Rogan McCord, needed all the ammunition she could get.

‘Sister dearest, you shouldn’t want to know any more about the man; you’re getting married on Saturday.’

‘Brian!’ his wife admonished as Caitlin blushed. Beth was a tiny blonde woman with warm brown eyes and a bubbly personality. ‘Caity was merely interested. I must say I’m a little curious myself,’ she added pointedly.

‘Elizabeth O’Rourke, behave yourself!’ her husband scowled.

Beth chuckled. ‘I never realised what a jealous husband I was getting when I married a reformed rake!’

Caitlin shared in the humour at her brother’s expense. Brian hadn’t just been wild in his youth, he had been untameable, always smashing up his cars, their father always warning that this would be the last time—before he replaced the car yet again. Caitlin smiled as she remembered the parties Brian used to go to that lasted weeks rather than a single evening. And the women——! Even Brian had stopped counting them.

And then he had met Caitlin’s school friend Beth. He seemed to change overnight, sure that a sweetly beautiful girl like Beth wouldn’t want a hell-raiser in her life. The month after they first met, Beth being eighteen to his twenty-seven, they had been married. Three years later they were happier than ever, and Caitlin’s nephew, three-month-old Matthew, had completed that happiness.

Brian was a changed man, had joined their father in his considerable business interests as his assistant, and was now the successor their father had always wanted him to be. Caitlin didn’t doubt that Brian was also a more contented man.

‘You knew exactly what you were getting when you married me,’ Brian said drily in answer to his wife’s taunt. ‘You realised the night I asked you to marry me and your old friend Jake asked you to dance and then held you too close for my liking.’

‘Poor Jake saw stars for hours after you hit him!’ Beth looked at her husband with indulgent affection.

‘He was lucky to be able to see at all with that black eye,’ Caitlin chuckled. ‘I didn’t appreciate having my date walking around looking like a panda all night because my brother acted like a caveman!’

‘You told me you didn’t like him that much, anyway,’ Brian dismissed. ‘You were just looking for a chance to get away from him.’

‘I could hardly walk out on him after you’d hit him!’ she pointed out drily.

‘He should have kept his hands to himself,’ Brian glowered at the memory.

‘He did, you were the one that didn’t,’ Beth scolded. ‘And stop changing the subject——’

‘Me?’ he said incredulously. ‘You were the one——’

‘He’s just trying to avoid telling us about Rogan McCord,’ Beth told Caitlin knowingly.

‘What’s to tell?’ Brian dismissed impatiently. ‘He’s in his mid-thirties—and handsome as the devil!’

Beth smiled at her husband’s disgruntled expression. ‘So are you, darling.’

He sighed. ‘You’re just trying to humour me now.’

‘Then stop acting like a baby,’ ordered Beth. ‘Is he married?’

‘Rogan?’ he frowned. ‘I don’t know why either of you should be interested in his marital status. You——’

‘Brian!’ Beth prompted firmly.

‘No, he isn’t married,’ he told them irritably. ‘Really, Beth, I don’t know why——’

‘Good evening.’

Caitlin turned sharply at the sound of that husky interruption, blue eyes clashing with green. She hadn’t noticed Rogan leaving her mother’s side as she and Beth engaged in one of their favourite pastimes, that of winding Brian up, but Rogan was standing all too close. She swallowed hard. ‘Mr McCord,’ she nodded, giving Beth and Brian an accusing look as they crossed the room to join her parents.

‘I believe Rogan will do,’ he drawled. ‘And of course, you’re Caitlin.’

She stiffened. ‘Yes.’

‘I told you we would meet again,’ he told her challengingly.

Her eyes widened. ‘You knew who I was all the time!’

‘Not all the time, no,’ he rasped. ‘But as soon as I heard your name, yes. Your father told me about his beautiful daughter Caity when he was in the States earlier this year. He was quite right about your beauty.’

‘Thank you,’ she accepted tensely.

‘He did forget to mention, however,’ he continued slowly, ‘that you’re also wilful, spoilt—and a liar.’

‘How dare you!’ she gasped.

‘How dare I?’ He raised dark brows, his mouth thinning angrily. ‘The drive that took us all of an hour last night took a mere twenty minutes this evening. Of course I knew that at the time, but I thought I’d let you have your little bit of fun——’

‘You——’

‘Don’t add obscene language to your list of faults,’ he bit out caustically. ‘You were enjoying yourself,’ he shrugged. ‘And so I thought, what the hell? That takes care of wilful and spoilt,’ he rasped. ‘And tonight when I arrived your father told me he and your mother were just having a small family dinner party in honour of their daughter’s wedding on Saturday. I thought he must have two daughters, but no, he told me there’s only his Caity!’ He looked at her disgustedly.

‘So?’ she challenged defiantly.

‘So,’ he was so close the warmth of his breath stirred the feathered fringe above her eyes, ‘where was your engagement ring last night?’

‘I’m not engaged,’ she snapped. ‘My family doesn’t believe in them.’ Mainly because they never knew their partners long enough to bother with them!

‘You didn’t act like a woman about to be married in five days!’

‘I didn’t act?’ she repeated incredulously. ‘You were the one who kissed me,’ she hissed.

‘And you kissed me right back!’

A guilty flush darkened her cheeks at the truth of that. ‘You took me by surprise——’

‘For fifteen minutes!’ he derided harshly.

‘Rogan, please,’ she looked about them awkwardly, very conscious of where they were, and of her family in the room, even if he wasn’t.

‘Take me outside to look at the garden. Or something,’ he instructed hardly, his eyes narrowed.

‘No, I——’

‘You would rather we continued with our conversation here?’ he mocked tautly.

Brian and Beth were still talking with her parents on the other side of the lounge, but it was only a matter of time before they became curious about the intensity of the conversation between two supposed strangers. ‘All right,’ she agreed irritably. ‘But Graham and his parents will be arriving in a few minutes.’ She hoped!

‘The man you’re going to marry?’ Rogan prompted.

‘Yes,’ she confirmed defensively.

‘I pity the poor bastard,’ Rogan rasped as he accompanied her out on to the terrace that overlooked the gardens. ‘God knows how you’re going to behave after the two of you are married!’

‘Will you keep your voice down?’ She turned on him as soon as he had closed the door behind them, the September evening was warm, the sun not having gone down yet. ‘Must I remind you that you were the one who kept following me last night,’ she snapped agitatedly.

‘All you had to do was calmly tell me you were getting married in five days’ time; why didn’t you?’

She had asked herself the same question all day, and not found a single answer. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted heavily.

‘Caity——’

‘Please don’t.’ She moved away from him as he would have enfolded her in his arms. ‘I’m not proud of what happened last night, but I—I’ll learn to live with it.’

‘Why?’ His eyes were narrowed to emerald slits, his hair taking on a blue-black sheen in the sunlight.

‘Because I did respond to you,’ she acknowledged gruffly. ‘And I shouldn’t have done.’

‘Caity——’

‘Let’s go back inside.’ Once again she avoided his arms. ‘I heard a car just now; it must be Graham and his parents.’ She deliberately evaded looking at him as he politely held the door open for her to enter.

The Simond-Smiths were just being shown into the lounge as the two of them entered from the garden, and Caitlin’s eyes lit up as she saw Graham, reassured by his boyish smile, moving forward to receive his kiss before acknowledging his parents, Joanna and Peter, and his sister-in-law, Gayle.

Gayle kissed her on the cheek. ‘I really am so sorry about last night. I was helping Graham with some research for his book, and it completely slipped my mind that I’d arranged to meet you.’

The other woman had telephoned her first thing this morning to apologise for the oversight, and once she had heard the reason she had forgiven Gayle for the lapse; the book Graham was writing on the Vikings was absorbing stuff. An accountant by profession, in partnership with his father, Graham had a passion for Viking history.

‘Please don’t worry about it,’ she tucked her hand into the crook of Graham’s arm, ‘I know how carried away Graham can get over his book.’ She gave him an indulgent smile.

‘Aren’t you going to introduce us, Caity?’

She glared at Rogan as he used the term of affection deliberately. ‘Graham Simond-Smith, and his sister-in-law, Gayle,’ she bit out tautly. Graham’s parents were in conversation with her own and Brian and Beth, leaving them a curious quartet. ‘A business acquaintance of my father’s, Rogan McCord,’ she supplied pointedly.

His handshake with Graham was brief to say the least, Caitlin’s mouth tightening as Graham gave a perplexed frown at the other man’s coldness, looking completely baffled by his own treatment as Rogan gave Gayle a smile of lingering charm.

Caitlin wasn’t puzzled at all by his behaviour; she knew that he despised Graham as much as he pitied him, believing she treated the other man as a fool. And he couldn’t help turning his charm on Gayle, who, widowed for the last two years, was still very young and beautiful.

Gayle had been married to Graham’s older brother, and continued to live in the family home even after his death at the end of a long illness. Caitlin had never known Thomas Simond-Smith, but she knew Graham had admired his brother tremendously, and that Gayle hadn’t looked at another man since his death.

Until now! Gayle couldn’t help but look at Rogan McCord as he drew her away to talk quietly together in one of the bay windows fronting the house. Gayle was blushing prettily at what Rogan was saying to her, reminding Caitlin that the other woman was still only thirty years old, even though her widowhood occasionally made her seem much older.

‘Who is he?’ Graham frowned as he watched the other man across the room.

‘I told you, a business associate of my father’s,’ she dismissed, turning her back on the other couple. ‘How about a proper hello; I haven’t seen you for two days!’ she teased.

He grinned down at her, looking younger than his twenty-six years, his blond hair, kept cut short because of its tendency to curl, in need of the cut it was undoubtedly going to get on the morning before their wedding, falling untidily on to his forehead.

He was young and uncomplicated, and Caitlin had been attracted to him from the moment they met a year ago. Happily he had returned the attraction, and they had both looked forward to their wedding-day.

Had. Caitlin stole a glance at Rogan and Gayle as she and Graham strolled out into the garden; the other woman was totally engrossed in Rogan’s drawled words. Caitlin wondered what they were talking about.

‘Mmm.’ Graham drew his head back to gaze down at her with warm eyes, his hands linked at the base of her spine as he held her to him after their lingering kiss. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I’ve missed you too.’ This time she kised him with a fierceness that bordered on desperation.

‘Hey!’ Graham straightened, a flush to his cheeks. ‘Someone could come out to call us for dinner at any moment.’

‘Someone already has,’ rasped a harsh voice, Rogan’s gaze cold as it flickered over Caitlin’s dishevelled hair and slightly swollen lips. ‘Your mother said dinner is about to be served. Unless you would like me to tell them you’ve decided not to bother?’ he added suggestively.

A dark flush heated her cheeks. ‘Please tell Mummy we’ll be right there,’ she snapped.

‘Who is he?’ Graham muttered once again when they were alone.

‘Just someone Daddy felt obliged to invite to stay.’ She walked apart from him back to the house.

‘He makes me feel about ten years old,’ Graham told her uncomfortably.

‘Don’t be silly,’ Caitlin dismissed brittly, knowing the feeling only too well!

‘He almost makes me feel guilty for slipping out to the garden to kiss the woman who is almost my wife,’ he said in a disgruntled voice as they reentered the lounge.

‘Just forget about him,’ she advised, knowing that was going to be impossible with Rogan in this baiting mood.

Not that there was much evidence of that as he concentrated his attention on Gayle throughout dinner. Caitlin was very quiet, as was Graham, still resentful of the other man’s condescension if his glowering looks in Rogan’s direction were anything to go by.

But Gayle flowered under the undivided attention of such an attractive man, her blue eyes sparkling her enjoyment, even her dark cap of hair seeming to take on a new vibrancy. No one else but Caitlin and Graham seemed aware of the friction at the oval table, Brian and Beth enjoying themselves as usual, the two sets of parents talking over the last-minute details of the wedding.

For a bride and groom they were singularly lacking in enthusiasm for this discussion!

‘I wonder what Graham would say if he knew that last night I was the one kissing you and receiving that passionate response that frightened the hell out of him!’

Rogan had moved to stand behind her as Graham went to get her an after-dinner brandy, having been delayed returning to her as her brother waylaid him, teasing him about the wedding Saturday if the good-natured laughter was anything to go by.

She turned sharply to Rogan. ‘It didn’t frighten him,’ she defended. ‘He was naturally cautious about our location!’

‘Like you were last night when we sat outside your parents’ home?’

‘Please keep your voice down!’ She looked about them uncomfortably, returning her father’s smile shakily as she caught his gaze on them.

Rogan shrugged. ‘I should think it would mess up all those expensive wedding plans somewhat if I were to mention who you were with last night.’

‘You wouldn’t.’ She frowned her distress. ‘Tell me you wouldn’t, Rogan!’

‘I wouldn’t,’ he repeated obediently.

‘You would!’ she groaned, closing her eyes, a deeper blue when she opened them again. ‘Do you have any idea how long my mother has been planning this wedding?’ she accused.

‘Since you were in your cradle, probably,’ he drawled uninterestedly.

‘Longer,’ she said flatly. ‘Brian was supposed to have been a girl. It was another nine years before I came along.’

‘And you’ve been spoilt ever since,’ Rogan grated. ‘Did no one ever explain to you that you can’t have your cake and eat it as well?’

Her eyes widened indignantly. ‘You must have heard Gayle say she was the person I was supposed to be meeting last night!’

‘I also heard you telling Graham how you missed him last night,’ Rogan taunted. ‘You didn’t seem to be coping too badly when we were together.’

She shot another frantic look about the room. ‘We were not together,’ she snapped.

‘Don’t kid yourself—or me, Caity,’ he rasped. ‘Another couple of minutes and we would have been making love on the front seat of my car in front of your parents’ house!’

‘No!’ She shook her head in firm denial.

Rogan gave her a scathing glance. ‘I know damn well that you wanted me.’

‘No. I——’

‘Here we are, Caitlin.’ Graham finally arrived back with their drinks, looking at the other man with questioning eyes as he noticed Caitlin’s flushed face. ‘Sorry, old man, I only brought two glasses,’ he dismissed smugly.

‘That’s all right—son,’ grated Rogan, taking both glasses of brandy out of the other man’s hand, giving one to Caitlin and keeping the other one for himself. ‘I’m sure Caity and I can amuse ourselves while you get yourself a drink.’

Good manners warred with indignation in Graham’s good-looking face, the former winning out as he left them with a mumbled ‘excuse me’.

Rogan raised dark brows at Caitlin as she demurely sipped her brandy. ‘No comment?’

She shrugged. ‘Graham doesn’t like you.’

The feeling is mutual,’ he bit out, his eyes narrowed as he watched the other man. ‘I wonder why that is?’

She turned away. ‘I have no idea.’

‘Don’t you?’ Rogan taunted.

Her face became flushed. ‘The time to make trouble for me was when we were first introduced, not now!’ She glared at him.

‘Oh, I don’t intend making trouble for you, Caity,’ he drawled.

‘No?’ she scorned.

‘No,’ he confirmed calmly. ‘I’m sure that in the end you’ll make the only decision that you can in the circumstances.’

She frowned. ‘There’s no decision to make; I’m going to marry Graham on Saturday.’

Dark brows rose over mocking eyes. ‘Why bother, when you’ll be unfaithful to him within a couple of months?’

Her eyes flashed. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about——’

‘Don’t I?’ he challenged softly, one lean hand moving up to caress her cheek. ‘I can assure you I do, you see I’ll be the man you’re unfaithful with! It’s going to be worth hanging around in England just for that,’ he taunted.