Lifelong Affair

by Carole Mortimer

  Morgan blinked her surprise. 'Role?'

  'As doting wife and mother,' the other woman derided. Tfou may be a competent actress, but how much longer do you think you'll be able to keep up the act?'

  She drew in a steadying breath. 'Mrs Hammond, I invited you here today to have tea and visit Courtney, that doesn't entitle you to insult me.'

  'I merely asked——'

  'An impertinent and ridiculous question!' Morgan stood up in her agitation, Courtney clinging to her hair as he sensed her anger. 'I am not acting as Alex's wife and Courtney's mother, I am both those things. I would have thought that by now you would have been able to forget your prejudice and accept me as such.'

  'I've suffered you only because my son has chosento ruin his life by marrying you,' Rita

  scorned haughtily, 'and because you have joint I of my only grandson. Otherwise I wouldn't give yxw the time of day!' Two bright spots of colour flared in her cheeks as she glared her dislike. 'I'm well aware that it's been your influence that has prevented my son inviting me to his own home, that you have also prevented my seeing Courtney as often as I would like '

  'Alex brings him over every week!' she gasped.

  'For half an hour,' the other woman dismissed. 'Not nearly long enough.'

  'Too long, I think,' remarked a dangerously soft voice.

  Both women turned in the direction of that voice, Alex standing in the open doorway.

  'Alex darling-- ' his mother held out pleading hands to him.

  'Mother,' he bit out a cold greeting, crossing the room to Morgan's side, putting an arm possessively about her shoulders, drawing her against his side as he felt her tremble.

  'Your mother was just leaving,' Morgan told him challengingly.

  He nodded grimly. 'So I gathered,' he said tautly.

  'Alex, you can't mean it!' his mother gasped her

  outrage. 'I'm your mother! I '

  'And Morgan is my wife,' he rasped harshly. 'I will not have you or anyone else insulting her—and you might as well pass that on to Janet too.'

  'Janet?' his mother frowned.

  'You're two of a kind, Mother,' he derided harshly. 'But this lime you've gone too far—you've voiced your insults against Morgan in front of me. Morgan has done her best to protect both you and Janet from my knowing the exact nature of your vindictiveness—Oh yes, she's done that,' he nodded grimly at his mother'ssnort of disbelief. 'But after listening to you just now, to the lies you actually believe, I think she was wrong to do that. I made no mistake when I married Morgan, Mother,' he told her coldly. 'And it had nothing to do with Morgan that you haven't been invited here before, / didn't want it."

  'You?' his mother gasped again. 'I can't believe that,

  Alex---- '

  'Believe it,' he bit out ruthlessly. 'And believe this too, Mother. My marriage to Morgan is completely successful. Completely,' he repeated harshly. 'The last thing I wanted was your coming here and disrupting that. But you have,' his fingers bit painfully into Morgan's shoulder in his anger. 'Now I second Morgan's request that you leave. He seemed not to notice Morgan's gasp of surprise. 'And I don't want to see you here again until you feel you can apologise to my wife for the insults you've given her both today and in the past.'

  'Never!' came his mother's instant—and expected— reply.

  He turned away from her, to ring for Mrs Whitney. 'Then we have nothing more to say to each other. Ah, Mrs Whitney,' his voice softened to politeness as the housekeeper came in answer to his call. 'My mother is just leaving.'

  'Alex--- '

  'Goodbye, Mother. His voice was uncompromising.

  She shot an impatient glance at the waiting housekeeper. 'You'll regret this,' was all she could bring herself to say in front of a servant.

  'I don't think so, he replied confidently as his mother marched out of the room and out of the house.

  'God . ..!' Morgan shuddered as reaction began to set in, the scene the ugliest yet.

  'Give Courtney to me,' Alex prompted gently.

  She gave him the baby, then buried her face in hershaking hands. 'Why does she hate me so much?' she choked.

  He shrugged. 'She just can't bear to see anyone else happy.'

  'You mean no woman is good enough for her sons!' Morgan snapped.

  Alex grinned. 'There's that too . . .' He sobered. 'Look, I can't ever guess the reason she dislikes you. But she will apologise to you.'

  'You heard her! Never, she said.'

  'She will,' he repeated grimly. 'And if she doesn't then it's her loss.' His eyes darkened. 'Can you leave Courtney with Mrs Whitney for an hour—or two?' he asked throatily.

  She looked at him with a frown, wondering why on earth she should want to leave Courtney with the housekeeper. At the warmth in his gaze she knew. 'Alex!' she exclaimed in a shocked voice.

  He laughed huskily. 'You were magnificent, darling. And I want to feel the fire that's built up in you. Do you mind?'

  She took Courtney from him. ' just go and ask Mrs Whitney to take care of him for a while.'

  'Don't be long,' Alex requested throatily as she reached the door.

  'Two minutes,' she promised eagerly.

  She was less than that, and hurried upstairs to their bedroom to find Alex waiting for her in his bathrobe.

  'I thought we could shower together,' he explained softly.

  'Oh yes!' She eagerly took off her own clothes.

  Alex watched her with appreciative eyes. 'What did you tell Mrs Whitney?'

  Morgan moved about the bedroom with unconscious grace, knowing that Alex loved to see her nakedness. 'I told her we have a few things to discuss and that the baby might be a distraction, she laughed softly.

  Alex returned that smile, curving her nakedness against him, murmuring his agreement as she untied the belt to his robe, then stepping inside the garment to press herself against him. 'I have quite a lot of things I would like to—discuss with you,' he said softly. 'And I'm not sure I can wait for the shower,' he groaned urgently, hi body already hardened to passion.

  'Then we won't.' She drew his head down to hers, revelling in his mastery of her, giving herself to him completely each time they made love, and knowing that little by little, Alex was slowly coming to give himself to her in return without even realising it. He always gave her pleasure, always accepted the pleasure she gave him in return, but now it was more than that, now he was starting to give some of his inner self, to reveal more and more of himself to her as they grew closer da}' by day.

  'I wasn't expecting you home so early.' She lay on his sweat-dampened chest some time later, unwilling to break the oneness with him as she looked down at him.

  'Are you complaining?' he taunted with lazy satisfaction, pushing back a damp tendril from her forehead.

  'Are you?' she mocked from her dominant position above him.

  Alex laughed throatily. 'I never complain when you become aggressive. I love it!'

  She wished he could have been saying that he loved her, but maybe in time that would come too. 'Why did you come home so early?" she persisted. 'It was only five o'clock, and you don't usually get home until at least six o'clock.'

  'I was thinking of you, and had to get home before I raped my secretary in my frustration!'

  'Alex, Miss Kingsley is fifty years old!'

  He grinned. 'I know. Think how shocked k have been!'

  'Alex . ..!' She gave him a stem look as he once again evaded her question.

  'Okay,' he sighed. 'I had a feeling my mother might try her Lady of the Manor act.' He shrugged. 'I had no intention of letting her get away with it again.'

  The light died out of Morgan's face as she thought of the ugly scene that had taken place just over an hour ago. ' really thought she would be all right this time,' she sighed.

  'I knew she wouldn't,' Alex drawled. 'She probably never will be.'

  She remembered the determination on the other woman's face. 'She'll never apologise to me, Alex. She dislikes me too much.'
<
br />   'Then as I said, she isn't welcome here again.' His tone was implacable, 'And I have no intention of going there either.'

  Alex kept to his word, and during the two weeks that followed they didn't see or hear from his mother, something that didn't seem to bother him in the least, but which worried her. There was already enough friction in this family, and she didn't like being the reason for causing more. Finally it was Janet Fairchild who came to see them. Morgan hadn't forgotten that the last time the two of them had met she had struck the other woman. Janet gave no indication of remembering the incident, but Morgan had come to know the other woman well enough to know she hadn't forgotten a thing.

  The three of them sat in the lounge, with the fire lit on this Saturday afternoon in early December. 'Don't you think you've punished Mother enough?' Janet drawled bluntly.

  Alex raised dark brows at the description. 'Punished?' he repeated softly, 'There's no punishment intended.'

  His sister gave an impatient sigh. 'Then why do you persist in staving away, in keeping Courtney from her?'

  'I don't "persist" in anything,' he replied confidently. 'If Mother wants to see him all she has to do is apologise to his mother.'

  Janet's eyes flashed angrily. 'Morgan is not Courtney's mother!' she snapped.

  'Janet,' he drawled in a softly warning voice, 'I would hate to have to ask you to leave too.' He raised dark brows questioningly.

  'Alex, please!' Morgan touched his chest pleadingly as they sat side by side on the sofa, Courtney having fallen asleep on a cushion at her other side.

  Janet's mouth tightened even more. 'I don't need you to defend met' she rasped insultingly.

  Morgan knew that Alex's eyes darkened dangerously, and she turned to give the other woman a smile. 'I'm sure you don't,' she said smoothly. 'And your mother is welcome here at any time.' She felt the feud had gone on long enough.

  'Not until she apologises,' Alex said harshly.

  "Alex-- '

  'I mean it, Morgan,' he told her softly. 'Mark may have been too weak to defend his wife against his family, but I am not.'

  'Mark was too weak to stop a lot of things,' Janet taunted.

  Morgan stiffened, glancing anxiously at Alex. Surely the other woman wasn't going to bring up the question of Courtney's paternity in front of Alex? She would swear Alex didn't even suspect such a thing about Glenna; he always spoke of her so warmly, so without the prejudice of his mother and sister.

  'Well, I'm not.' He stood up forcefully. 'So you can go home and tell Mother that this touching little plea didn't work. An apology for Morgan is what I want, and an apology is what I shall have. It's what I demand, damn it!'

  His anger stayed with him for the rest of the day, but as soon as they were in bed together it gentled to exquisite adoration, and he made love to her with his usual consideration and passion.

  Alex showed no surprise when his mother arrived the next day, although Morgan's heart somersaulted wildly as Mrs Whitney came into the lounge to announce her.

  'Show her in,' Alex nodded, moving to stand with his foot on the hearth, an indulgent smile curving his lips as he saw Morgan's nervousness. 'Relax,' he soothed. 'She can't hurt you.'

  'She can try!' she grimaced

  Rita Hammond certainly didn't have the look of a woman about to apologise for anything as she swept regally into the room seconds later, her eyes flashing angrily as she looked ready to do battle.

  'Good afternoon, Mother,' Alex drawled.

  'Alex,' she nodded coolly. 'Morgan.' Her voice hardened even more.

  The silence seemed to stretch out after these curt greetings. Alex was unwilling to bridge the awkwardness, Rita Hammond was unlikely to, and Morgan was unable to. She knew Alex was determined his mother should apologise or leave.Hard blue eyes were finally turned on Morgan, the words seeming forced out of Rita Hammond's red-painted lips. 'I believe I owe you an apology, that you took exception to something I said '

  'I took exception to it,' Alex corrected hardly.

  His mother flushed her displeasure. 'Very well. I'm sorry, Morgan,' she ground out, 'if anything I said to you seemed rude.'

  'It didn't "seem" it, Mother,' Alex bit out. 'It was. I heard it all, remember?'

  For a brief moment Morgan saw the older woman's bottom lip tremble precariously, and she realised that Rita Hammond wasn't as in control of herself as she wanted to appear. 'That's perfectly all right,' she rushed into speech, unable to bear the other woman's humiliation any longer. Alex could still be a very hard man, despite his apparent satisfaction with their marriage. 'Would you like to come up to the nursery and see how well Courtney is doing? He should be awake now.'

  'Thank you,' her mother-in-law accepted huskily.

  If she expected the other woman to take back her apology as soon as they were out of the room then she was disappointed, pleasantly so. They discussed only Courtney, and that in a friendly way too.

  'He's grown so much in just two weeks.' Rita lifted the baby up into her arms as he lay gurgling up at them from his cot.

  'Yes.' Morgan at once felt guilty, knowing it was her fault the other woman had been denied access to her grandson. 'Mrs Hammond

  'Rita,' the other woman invited, laughing softly at Morgan's shocked expression. 'Oh, don't worry, I'm not suddenly going to turn from the Wicked Witch into the Good Fairy,' she drawled. 'I'm just wise enough to know that Alex has made the choice everyone has to make one day, that between family and a new spouse. Mark never did seem to make the transition, and that was probably my fault, but Alex is more like me than any of my children. He has made a decision, that you and Courtney come first in his life now, and I either accept that or lose you all. I'll accept it,' she added dryly.

  It was the nearest to an acceptance into the Hammond family she was ever likely to get, and she knew that. As for coming first in Alex's life, she knew the baby did that, that despite the physical attractionbetween Alex and herself that he still didn't love her, that he probably never would.

  Her parents flew over for Christmas, and stayed on for Courtney's christening in January. Her father was much stronger now, Courtney was all he needed to make the recovery a hundred per cent.

  The christening was the first real formal occasion Morgan had hosted for Alex, and she wanted everything to be perfect for him, wanted him to be proud she was his wife. Rita had been a lot of help in the organisation of the party. The older woman had been right—they hadn't suddenly become friends, but they did tolerate each other, and Rita Hammond was much more helpful as a mother-in-law than an enemy.

  The church service was short and beautiful, and even when the water was dribbled over his head Courtney didn't cry.

  'He reminded me so much of you at that moment, Alex,' Morgan's mother laughed softly later at the house, her parents and Alex having become good friends the last three weeks during their visit. 'He looked positively indignant!' she chuckled.

  Morgan held back her "own smile as Alex's brows rose, knowing that her husband had been the recipient of a lot of teasing while her parents had been here, his English reserve amusing them. It amused her too, and yet she knew that when it came to making love Alex wasn't reserved at all.

  'He probably wondered what on earth was going on,' he drawled, glancing at the sleeping baby in his carrycot. 'He isn't even going to know that we're about to toast him in champagne.

  'We are?' Morgan's eyes widened.

  'A gift from your father,' he nodded. 'I'll go and organise it.'

  He strode off towards the kitchen, tall and attractive in a navy blue suit and constrasting lighter blue shirt.

  Morgan watched him with pride—she would give up a hundred parts like Mary-Beth to be his wife. The series had been shown over here the last few months, and her death as Mary-Beth had shocked a lot of the public. What they couldn't realise was the happiness she had found as Morgan Hammond. She shivered with the anticipation of sharing a bed with Alex that night, knowing that tonight, as every other night since they were ma
rried, Alex would make love to her until she was mindless.

  She looked around the room with the critical eye of the hostess, checking that everyone had food and drink, that no one was sitting in a corner being bored. Everyone looked happy enough—

  Her gaze was caught and held by belligerent blue eyes—Janet Fairchild's eyes! The other woman stood slightly across the room from her, her mouth twisted sardonically.

  Morgan never felt comfortable about Alex's sister; she always sensed that the other woman was just waiting for something, the right time, and she was going to strike, and strike hard. It was a ridiculous feeling, the other woman's manner was always pleasant, and the day they had spent with them over Christmas had been enjoyable. And yet that unease persisted . . .

  Janet was smiling at her now, the dislike gone from her face, making Morgan wonder if she had just imagined the venom there to start with.

  'Champagne, darling?

  She turned to look at her husband, accepting the champagne he held out to her, used to the casual words of endearment he gave her now. She smiled at him warmly, Janet forgotten as the toast was given to Courtney.

  When Courtney woke up he was passed from guest to guest to be duly admired, looking quite affronted by all these different people admiring him; as if he needed anyone else's opinion on how wonderful he was!

  'Your mother was right.' Janet suddenly stood at Morgan's side, still sipping at her glass of champagne. 'Courtney does have Alex's air of breeding. And that wasn't meant to be insulting,' she drawled with amusement. 'Heaven forbid that Alex should order me from the house!

  Morgan felt that feeling of unease return. 'I'm sure it wasn't,' she returned smoothly.

  Janet strolled over to the window, looking up at the grey sky. 'They forecast snow for today,' she murmured thoughtfully. It looks as if they might actually be right for once!'

  Morgan moved to stand next to the other woman. 'Yes,' she agreed softly, still wary.

  Hard blue eyes were turned on her. 'Your parents return home soon, don't they?'

  She felt a sense of sadness, and nodded slowly. 'In two days' time.'