Gypsy

by Carole Mortimer

  His mouth twisted. ‘Maybe when the woman I want to share them with stops acting like a spoilt little child, I will! Now if that’s all, I’m going home,’ Lyon said forcefully. ‘I feel as if I could sleep for a week!’

  ‘That isn’t all!’ She stopped him at the door. ‘What about Ricky?’

  ‘What about him?’ Tawny eyes were narrowed.

  ‘Someone could have murdered him!’

  ‘Someone could have murdered all of us by now if all the attempts had been successful,’ he blazed. ‘But a series of accidents don’t make a crime!’

  ‘You sound like a policeman yourself now!’

  ‘None of it can be proved!’

  She knew that, but somehow she had expected Lyon to be able to do something.

  * * *

  LYON LOOKED AT that beautiful face so vulnerable and raw and he could have wept. He knew what she expected of him, and there was nothing he could do. He had already done everything humanly possible to protect her and her baby. Except stay with her constantly himself. And he knew she wouldn’t allow that.

  He hadn’t seen Richard since the day after his birth, and as the baby had stayed hidden in his crib the whole of his visit he had no reason to suppose Shay wanted him to see her son now either. He hesitated about leaving. ‘Shay, could I look at Richard?’ he requested huskily, expecting her to say no.

  Wide purple eyes looked at him fearfully, and he knew the reason for that fear. But he wasn’t about to deny the tenuous claim being present at Richard’s birth gave him with the baby.

  She avoided his gaze now. ‘As you can see, he’s asleep.’

  ‘I only want to look at him, Shay,’ he prompted gently.

  As if on cue, the baby in the crib began to move restlessly, letting out a tiny grunt of displeasure, as if he knew someone wanted to disturb his rest. Lyon’s throat closed emotionally as Shay bent over the crib to take out the baby, handing Richard to him. Wide blue eyes looked up at him seriously, eyes that held none of the fear and apprehension of his mother. Lyon’s throat closed with emotion.

  ‘Thank you.’ He gave Richard back to Shay, nodding curtly to her before leaving, a frown marring his brow as the man outside stood up expectantly. ‘She knows all there is to know now, Patrick,’ he told her grandfather, the elderly man the one to meet him at the airport, the two of them coming to the hospital together after Patrick told him of Shay’s wish to see him.

  ‘How is she?’ Patrick showed his deep concern.

  Lyon’s mouth twisted. ‘Angry. And as usual, it’s mainly directed at me.’

  The older man grimaced. ‘She’s never been able to forgive you for making her love you.’

  A heavy weight pressed down on Lyon’s chest. ‘I couldn’t give her what she deserved then,’ he said dully. ‘And now she doesn’t want what I can give her.’ He shook his head at the other man’s gasp of surprise at this revelation. ‘She’ll probably be angry all over again because I’ve told you that,’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘Nothing I do is right for her. But I want to marry her, Patrick, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.’

  ‘You’ve got a battle on your hands, lad,’ Patrick agreed sympathetically.

  ‘But you don’t object?’

  ‘I’ve never objected to anything or anyone that could make my Shay happy,’ Patrick assured him softly. ‘And I believe you’ve learnt by past mistakes and truly want to make her happy.’

  ‘Ricky has only been dead six months,’ he reminded.

  ‘Time is irrelevant. And I’m sure Ricky would have approved,’ he nodded.

  ‘I’m not!’ Lyon declared ruefully. ‘And I know Shay doesn’t.’

  ‘Where you’re concerned Shay has always only seen what she wanted to see,’ her grandfather said indulgently. ‘When you were together six years ago she loved you as if you were a cardboard hero, and when you let her down she couldn’t forgive you—’

  ‘She still hasn’t,’ Lyon said with regret.

  ‘Give her time, lad,’ the other man advised. ‘She’ll come round.’

  Lyon didn’t agree with him; six years hadn’t softened Shay’s feelings towards him, probably another six years wouldn’t either!

  Much as he loved Shay, he had something much more pressing on his mind now; when the next ‘accident’ would occur, and who its victim would be!

  * * *

  ‘NOT LATE AT ALL, Shay,’ Marilyn drawled mockingly, ‘but early.’

  Shay had been deeply shocked when this woman had arrived during afternoon visiting, sweeping into the rooms with her usual arrogance, making herself comfortable in the bedside chair. Her flowers the other day had come as something of a surprise, the woman herself was totally unexpected.

  ‘Now I suppose I’ll have to withdraw the remark I made about an “overdue" baby,’ she grimaced delicately.

  ‘You don’t have to do anything,’ Shay told her dazedly, feeling at a disadvantage in her nightgown and robe, although her hair was neat and clean, her light make-up perfect.

  Marilyn’s gaze returned from looking critically around the hospital room. ‘Oh, but I must,’ she drawled. ‘Lyon would never forgive me if I didn’t.’

  ‘And is that important to you?’ Shay said dryly, sceptical of this woman’s needing anyone’s approval, especially Lyon’s.

  Anger flared briefly in blue eyes before it was quickly masked. ‘Yes, it is,’ Marilyn snapped. ‘Did you think it wouldn’t be?’

  As that was exactly what she had been thinking, it would be useless to deny it. Surely it was a natural assumption to make considering the other couple were obtaining a divorce. Now she realised that perhaps Marilyn’s decision to end the marriage wasn’t all that it appeared to be; she certainly seemed to want and need her husband’s approval still.

  ‘Marilyn, why are you divorcing Lyon when you still love him?’ Shay frowned.

  Colour came and went in the other woman’s face. ‘I don’t believe that is any of your business!’ she finally bit out coldly.

  Shay sighed. ‘No, possibly not—’

  ‘Or is it?’ Marilyn looked at her suspiciously. ‘I’ve heard that he’s in hot pursuit of you again.’

  ‘I don’t know who your informant is, Marilyn,’ she said indignantly, ‘but I can assure you I have no interest in Lyon.’

  ‘I didn’t say that you had,’ she replied in a tight voice. ‘I said he was after you.’

  ‘Lyon’s fantasies have nothing to do with me,’ Shay dismissed.

  Marilyn looked at her steadily for several minutes before looking away. ‘Now that I’m here I might as well take a look at the baby everyone is talking about …’

  Yet another shock. Marilyn had never given the impression of being the baby-holding type! ‘He’s occasionally sick,’ Shay delayed. ‘He makes a pig of himself and then brings up the excess.’ The dress Marilyn was wearing looked like cashmere!

  ‘It will clean, Shay.’ The older woman correctly read the reason for her concern. ‘Or don’t you want me to hold him?’ Her eyes were narrowed.

  She had to admit to an inner suspicion of everyone now that she knew of the attempt on the lives of the Falconer family. Although she couldn’t think what Marilyn’s motive could be! Now that she knew how the other woman still felt about Lyon, she couldn’t believe she would want to harm him, seriously, as he could have been in the car crash or falling off Wildfire’s back.

  ‘Of course,’ she smiled, bending to pick up the sleeping baby and hand him to the other woman.

  Marilyn’s expression softened as she looked at the downy softness of black hair, the cherubic beauty of the pink rounded face. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked up at Shay. ‘He’s beautiful.’ Her voice was husky. ‘You must be very proud of him.’

  ‘Yes.’ Shay frowned at the other woman as her attention returned to the baby she gently held.

  Marilyn acted so hard, had mocked her pregnant state even as she said she was glad Lyon had never been able to give her children, and yet the awed w
onder in her face as she looked down at four-day-old Richard gave lie to the claim. Marilyn was a fraud, had become as hard as Lyon over the years, and just as adept at hiding her real feelings. Until she held a small baby in her arms! But things like sterility didn’t break up marriages any more, the constant breakthroughs in such fields enabling lots of couples who previously hadn’t been able to have a child of their own to achieve that dream. And there was always adoption. No, if Marilyn and Lyon had really loved each other they would have made their marriage work regardless.

  ‘Marilyn—’

  ‘Here, you had better take him.’ The other woman thrust Richard back into her arms. ‘He feels as if he might be wet!’ She grimaced her distaste. ‘I have to be going now, anyway. I have to change before seeing a client; I don’t want to smell of babies!’

  If Shay hadn’t seen the tenderness in the other woman’s face as she held Richard she would have bristled angrily after having warned the other woman of the ‘baby smell’. But she had seen the tenderness, and she also knew of Marilyn’s love for Lyon. Marilyn hid behind a wall of bored disdain for everyone and everything, her real emotions masked and unreadable.

  ‘I’m sure the client won’t mind,’ she smiled, gently placing the still sleeping baby back in his crib.

  ‘I wouldn’t want them to think it was my baby!’ Marilyn snapped.

  ‘Why not?’ Shay asked. ‘I think you would make a good mother, Marilyn.’

  Dark colour tinged the other woman’s cheeks. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’

  ‘Marilyn, there’s no shame in wanting children—’

  ‘I don’t want them!’ the older woman glared. ‘I may have done once, but I’m too old now.’

  ‘That’s silly,’ Shay dismissed. ‘A lot of woman are having children later in life nowadays.’

  ‘By the time Derrick and I get married I’ll be thirty-six; that’s too old,’ Marilyn insisted.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Shay shook her head.

  ‘Then you have some more,’ Marilyn scorned. ‘Although that isn’t going to be possible if you marry Lyon,’ she taunted.

  ‘I have no intention of ever marrying Lyon,’ she snapped.

  ‘But he wants you,’ Marilyn mocked. ‘At least, he wants your son! Within a year he would make sure you didn’t even remember Richard is Ricky’s son!’

  ‘I’ll never forget that,’ Shay bit out coldly, all compassion for this woman gone in the face of her taunts.

  ‘As Lyon’s wife you would,’ Marilyn assured her firmly.

  ‘I am not marrying, Lyon,’ she said with slow emphasis. ‘I wish you would believe that.’

  ‘I don’t have to,’ the other woman shrugged. ‘It’s Lyon you have to convince.’

  ‘Lyon already knows exactly how I feel about him,’ Shay’s reply was firm.

  ‘We’re all aware of that.’ Matthew came into the room. ‘But it doesn’t mean a hell of a lot, does it, Marilyn?’ he taunted his sister-in-law.

  She turned cold blue eyes on him. ‘Lyon has always done exactly as he pleases,’ she snapped.

  ‘Then why did he stay married to you for so many years?’ Matthew scorned.

  The older woman’s face flushed with anger. ‘Obviously because he wanted to,’ she dismissed. ‘Now if you’ll both excuse me, I have to go and change out of these sticky clothes!’

  Shay was smiling as the other woman left. ‘Marilyn will never change.’ She shook her head ruefully. ‘She insisted on holding Richard even though I warned her against it, and then proceeded to complain about it!’

  ‘What was she doing here at all?’ Matthew’s eyes were narrowed. ‘She’s never come across as the nursery-oriented type.’

  Shay shrugged. ‘She said she came to apologise about the “overdue" baby insult. And to see Richard.’

  ‘And did she?’

  ‘Apologise or see Richard?’

  ‘Either!’

  ‘Both,’ Shay nodded.

  ‘Why?’ he asked suspiciously.

  ‘Because she was wrong,’ Shay shrugged.

  Matthew’s mouth twisted. ‘When you’ve known Marilyn as long as I have you’ll know that wasn’t the only reason for her visit,’ he derided sceptically.

  ‘Oh, she also wanted to find out if I intended marrying Lyon once she’s divorced him,’ Shay mocked him.

  ‘We would all be interested to know that,’ he drawled.

  ‘The answer is no!’ Shay flared.

  ‘Really?’ he mused. ‘Have you told Lyon that?’

  ‘Repeatedly!’

  ‘Then why has he moved from his suite of rooms into the ones the other side of Richard’s nursery?’

  ‘He hasn’t.’ Shay gasped.

  ‘Hasn’t he?’ Matthew frowned. ‘I thought he had.’

  ‘Matthew!’

  ‘Shay?’ he taunted, repaying her for her earlier mockery.

  ‘Don’t tease, Matthew,’ she chided. ‘Not about something like this.’

  ‘I wasn’t teasing, Shay,’ he told her with quiet sincerity.

  ‘You mean Lyon has changed suites?’ she gasped again. ‘But what will the servants think?’

  ‘Are thinking,’ he corrected, shrugging. ‘He was with you during the birth, now he’s moved next to the baby’s room, I would say that gives them enough scope to think just about anything!’

  ‘If he doesn’t care about himself or me he might at least think of Richard!’

  ‘I’m sure he does that, all the time.’ Matthew sobered. ‘The baby means a lot to him.’

  Her mouth twisted bitterly. ‘I’m well aware of what Richard means to him.’

  ‘Are you?’ Matthew frowned.

  She nodded abruptly. ‘Yes. But he isn’t taking Richard over.’ She looked at Matthew challengingly.

  ‘Shay, he wanted you again long before he knew there was going to be a baby.’

  ‘Matthew, you don’t have to lie for him,’ she scorned. ‘He can do that very well for himself.’

  ‘I told you, Lyon never lies!’

  ‘He lies by omission, by deception, and by seduction,’ Shay accused heatedly. ‘From the day he found out about the baby, he’s tried to insinuate himself into our lives. He can move back into his own suite,’ she stated determinedly.

  ‘I think you had better discuss that with him yourself,’ Matthew shrugged. ‘And as he isn’t due back until the day you’re due to come out of hospital, that could prove a little difficult.’

  Shay frowned. ‘He’s gone away again?’

  ‘He was always the one to do the travelling, you know that,’ Matthew replied.

  ‘Where has he gone to this time?’

  ‘Los Angeles,’ he revealed reluctantly.

  ‘Why?’ she asked sharply. ‘Does he have new information about Ricky’s crash?’

  Matthew shook his head. ‘He’s just gone over to see Neil.’

  ‘Oh.’ She turned away as Richard began to fret for his tea.

  ‘Shay, he’s left instructions that he’ll be the one to come and collect you and Richard once you’re discharged,’ Matthew told her quietly.

  She wasn’t surprised by that, and didn’t pretend to be. ‘Neil hasn’t been involved in an—accident, has he?’ she asked anxiously, suddenly realising there could be another, more dangerous, reason for Lyon’s sudden departure to Los Angeles.

  ‘There have been no more accidents since the night Lyon came off Wildfire,’ Matthew assured her. ‘It’s like waiting for an axe to fall!’

  ‘But at least we now know it’s probably going to!’

  ‘Shay, stop being so bloody-minded,’ he rasped. ‘What good has knowing done you? Don’t you look at everyone now and suspect them?’ he derided.

  ‘With four possible exceptions,’ she nodded.

  ‘Four?’ he prompted frowningly. ‘I can only count three.’

  ‘There’s you, Neil and Lyon—for obvious reasons. And Marilyn, because I know she would never harm Lyon. She respects him too much ever to want to hurt
him.’

  It wasn’t until she was on her own later that evening that she realized Marilyn was perhaps the only exception she could make!

  Matthew, Neil and Lyon had all claimed to have had accidents, but they had each been alone at the time of those supposed accidents, and none of them had received serious injuries. She was the one who seemed to have been hurt the most, almost losing the baby. God, she had to suspect everyone, could trust only her grandfather!

  * * *

  LEAVING THE HOSPITAL with Richard seemed very strange after being cocooned in such a safe environment for over a week. Once she stepped out the front doors she was on her own. Nervousness was mixed with exhilaration at finally having Richard in her sole care. Luckily he had remained jaundice-free, that yellow tinge to his skin that Peter Dunbar had warned her about never materialising, and now that Richard was ten days old they were both being allowed home.

  The only dampener to her pleasure was Lyon gloweringly watching her every move as she packed her own and Richard’s things now that they were both dressed in their outdoor clothes, the woollen suit a little big on Richard still, although he was gaining weight nicely.

  ‘Let me.’ Lyon took over as she closed the small case ready for fastening.

  She stepped back silently; the only noises in the room since Lyon’s arrival half an hour ago had been Richard’s contented grunts and her movements as she packed.

  Lyon closed and locked the case, turning to Shay with a heavy sigh. ‘What is it?’

  She looked at him coldly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  He gave a sceptical grimace. ‘You’ve hardly spoken since I got here, so what have I done wrong this time?’

  ‘Didn’t Matthew tell you?’

  ‘Matthew and I don’t talk much lately either!’

  She had forgotten the argument the two men had had the day before Richard was born. Surely they weren’t still at odds because of that?

  ‘You tell me?’ Lyon frowned as she seemed lost in thought.

  She had noticed a harsh bitterness emanating from Matthew whenever the two men were in the same room together, but she had felt sure Matthew would have told his brother of the displeasure she felt over the new sleeping arrangements at the house. Matthew would probably have enjoyed it, knowing his warped sense of humour!