A No Risk Affair

by Carole Mortimer

  Not that any of that showed in her face as she looked up at Caroline. ‘He sends what he can when he can,’ she murmured stiffly.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ the younger girl scoffed. ‘He must earn a small fortune doing the job he does, and you don’t see a penny of it!’

  ‘Caroline—’

  ‘I wouldn’t let him get away with it,’ she declared haughtily. ‘Although how the two of you ever got married in the first place I’ll never know!’ she added scornfully.

  Robyn had often wondered about that herself since the separation and divorce, had come to the conclusion that it was her near hero-worship of Brad that had persuaded him to marry her. At the time she had been too much in love with him to realise how ill-suited they were. She had been eighteen to his twenty-eight, had found Brad exciting just to be with, had been wide-eyed and innocent about physical relationships, not having had a lover before Brad. The proof of that innocence had been her pregnancy only two months after their wedding! Brad had been furious at her stupidity, had taken it for granted that she would be responsible for any use of contraception between them. The rage he had flown into when he learnt he was to be a father had been only the first of many.

  ‘I don’t believe this is any of your business, Caroline,’ she said distantly.

  ‘Maybe not,’ the younger girl shrugged. ‘But cousin-by-marriage or not, I am not looking after your two brats this afternoon.’

  ‘Kim and Andy are not brats—’

  ‘They’re always into one scrape or another—’

  ‘That’s just high spirits!’

  ‘Was it “high spirits” when they knocked over the Christmas tree last year?’

  Robyn sighed. ‘It was an accident. Kim slipped on one of the rugs in the hall.’ And she could still remember her horror as the huge decorated tree had crashed down on her tiny daughter.

  ‘It was a mess,’ Caroline remembered disgustedly.

  ‘Maybe when you’ve given your father grandchildren of his own he’ll stop feeling compelled to invite us to join your festivities,’ she derided.

  ‘I don’t intend ruining my figure giving some man children he’ll probably ignore.’

  Robyn ignored this latest jibe at Brad and herself. ‘It improved mine,’ she smiled.

  ‘Maybe on the surface,’ Caroline acknowledged. ‘But stretch marks can be so unsightly!’

  Robyn didn’t even attempt to defend this insult. She had a few finely silver stretch marks on the flatness of her abdomen, yes, but unless someone was looking really closely they weren’t noticeable. And she knew that she would risk having much worse marks than that if she could have Kim and Andy at the end of it. ‘So you’ll be taking the party around this afternoon?’ she said dryly.

  Caroline flashed her an angry look. ‘If you weren’t family you wouldn’t be so sure of yourself,’ she snapped.

  If she didn’t at least have that claim she didn’t know if she would be able to stand Caroline’s constant bitchiness. At least this way she was partly able to defend herself, although at the back of her mind she always had the danger of losing her home and job. Caroline did have a lot of influence with her over-indulgent father, and if she made enough of a fuss about Robyn and her children he could just be talked into asking them to leave. Nevertheless, she never let herself or the twins be treated as inferiors; there were some limits to her pride.

  ‘If I weren’t family then I wouldn’t be here,’ she pointed out in a reasoning tone. ‘And couldn’t you have your hair done tomorrow?’

  ‘I wanted to look good for when Sinclair Thornton arrives,’ her cousin-by-marriage said moodily.

  ‘He’s arrived.’

  Blue eyes sharpened questioningly. ‘What do you mean?’

  She shrugged narrow shoulders. ‘Exactly what I said, he’s already arrived.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘This morning.’

  ‘You’ve seen him?’

  Robyn nodded. ‘Before I came to work. Your father didn’t mention his arrival to you?’

  ‘No,’ she answered in a preoccupied voice. ‘But then he’s been rather busy this morning.’ Caroline’s expression was sharp as she focused on Robyn. ‘What’s he like?’

  ‘Mr Thornton?’

  ‘Well I hardly mean Daddy!’

  She had known exactly who Caroline meant, but the occasional need to bait the younger girl persisted. The two of them had never got on, Caroline seeming to have more poise and sophistication even at fourteen than the young girl being introduced as the newest member of the family. It soon became obvious that even this youngest member of the family found her unsophisticated naïveté totally unsuitable in a relation of hers. And just occasionally Robyn couldn’t help the defence mechanism that sprang into action whenever she remembered those past slights, motherhood having given her a confidence she previously lacked. Finding herself solely responsible at nineteen for two other vulnerable lives besides her own was sure to have had some effect!

  ‘Mr Thornton seemed—quite pleasant,’ she answered dismissively.

  ‘As good looking at his photographs?’ Caroline couldn’t keep the eagerness out of her voice as she forgot for a moment her usual affected air of boredom.

  Sinclair Thornton’s good looks couldn’t be denied, neither could his charm, and yet somehow she doubted he was exactly Caroline’s type. The men the younger girl usually dated all seemed to be highly sophisticated, always perfectly dressed for the occasion, and Robyn felt sure that any denims those men owned would carry designer labels on the back and not be as disreputably faded and old as the denims Sinclair Thornton had worn this morning had been. But maybe she was misjudging Caroline, maybe the author’s raw masculinity would be a welcome change after all that polished charm.

  ‘I’ve never seen a photograph of him,’ she shrugged. ‘But he is very good looking.’

  Caroline chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip, seemingly unaware that she was smudging her lipgloss by doing so, something she wouldn’t be pleased about when she realised it later. ‘I wonder if it would be too forward of me to go over and introduce myself?’ she murmured to herself.

  Remembering the author’s casually friendly manner Robyn doubted he would find it at all forward to have a beautiful young girl introduce herself to him. ‘I’m sure he would welcome it,’ she drawled.

  Caroline looked at her with narrowed blue eyes. ‘I don’t want to go down there if you’ve already made a nuisance of yourself,’ she questioned haughtily.

  Robyn held on to her temper with effort. One of these days—! She didn’t have red hair for nothing, as Caroline would one day find out if she didn’t stop playing ‘Lady of the Manor’ in this way! ‘I didn’t make a nuisance of myself at all, he came over to borrow a cup of milk—’

  ‘How original!’

  ‘You said it,’ she sighed wearily.

  Caroline flushed at her misdirected sarcasm. ‘I’m sure he really did need the milk.’

  ’So am I,’ she said dryly. ‘An author would be able to think of a much better approach.’

  ‘Of course,’ the younger girl scorned. ‘I think I’ll go and invite him over to dinner tonight, I’m sure he can’t be organised enough for that yet.’

  ‘Er …’

  ‘Yes?’ Caroline prompted impatiently.

  She gave a resigned sigh. ‘He’s coming to the cottage for dinner this evening,’ she revealed reluctantly.

  ‘The cottage?’ the other girl repeated dumbfoundedly. ‘You mean with you and the twins?’

  ‘Well as we’re the ones that live there, yes,’ she nodded.

  Caroline flushed at the sarcasm. ‘What on earth possessed you to invite a man like Sinclair Thornton to dinner?’ she snapped disgustedly.

  ‘What on earth possessed him to accept?’ she flashed back, her eyes dark.

  ‘Politeness, I expect,’ Caroline returned waspishly, her eyes suddenly narrowing again. ‘You aren’t seriously interested in him, are you?’ she said disbelievingly.
>
  Robyn flushed at the younger girl’s incredulity at such an idea being possible. The fact that she never dated, that a man like Sinclair Thornton would be the last man she would be attracted to if she did, didn’t alter the fact that Caroline seemed to think she had no right to find any member of the opposite sex attractive, that her divorce and motherhood meant she had to be unattractive herself to any man.

  ‘I was merely being a polite neighbour,’ she bit out tightly. ‘If he would rather accept your invitation then I won’t be in the least insulted.’ Any imp of pleasure she may have got out of this morning’s teasing of Sinclair Thornton had evaporated during this unpleasant exchange with Caroline. It probably wouldn’t have been funny anyway, not if Sinclair Thornton felt about children the same way Caroline did.

  ‘I should hope not,’ Caroline said haughtily. ‘The man is here to see Daddy, after all.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I’ll just go and change before going down there,’ Caroline spoke softly to herself, her smile one of anticipation.

  ‘Er—Caroline?’ she halted the other girl at the door. ‘The coach-party this afternoon?’ she prompted, having received no definite reply on the matter.

  The pouting red mouth tightened. ‘I’ll have to take them round, I expect,’ she snapped. ‘Daddy’s silly to be so soft with you, you are an employee, after all.’

  Robyn made no reply to this last bitchiness, although her breath left her in a barely controlled sigh once she was alone. It was true, she was an employee, but the Colonel always made allowances for the fact that she was a single parent first. She had no doubt that if, or when, anything happened to the Colonel there would be a lot of changes made.

  She had never thought of herself as totally ineligible before, either. Oh the twins would be a big responsibility for any man to take on if he should happen to fall in love with her, but she had never even thought of being on her own for the rest of her life, knew that although she had had one disastrous marriage that with another man it could all be perfect. For the moment she preferred things the way they were, knew that although Kim and Andy were well-adjusted children that the fact that their father had chosen not to live with them troubled them at times. But one day they would be old enough to understand, and when that day came she would be ready herself to perhaps find a new love of her own. For the moment she was satisfied with her lot.

  And for Caroline to imply she might be interested in Sinclair Thornton was ridiculous! He wasn’t her type at all, and she doubted she was his either.

  * * *

  The twins were particularly boisterous when they got home that evening, and it took a good play and their baths to calm them down enough for their evening meal. Not that Robyn had gone to any trouble over the latter, fully expecting that Caroline would be able to convince Sinclair Thornton that dinner at the Hall would be much more comfortable. Not that Caroline had come to tell her of the change of plans, she hadn’t seen the other girl all afternoon, but she took it for granted that she and the twins would be eating alone as usual. And if their neighbour did happen, by some remote chance, to come to them for dinner there was enough casserole for all of them. It may not be what he was used to, or what he would have got at the Hall, but it was good food, and well cooked.

  ‘Is Daddy coming to see us this weekend?’ Andy asked as she helped the two of them to dress upstairs after their bath, as alike as two peas to look at, both having Robyn’s bright red hair and warm brown eyes.

  ‘Not this weekend,’ she dismissed lightly, brushing her daughter’s unruly curls into some order before they dried.

  ’It’s ages since he came,’ Andy said moodily.

  ‘He’s busy,’ his sister put in quietly, the younger by five minutes, also the more introvert of the two; Kim tended to follow where Andy led, her brother outspoken as well as outgoing.

  ‘Yes. But—’

  ‘Kim’s right, Andy,’ Robyn told him brightly. ‘Daddy has to work very hard. And it’s only a few weeks since he telephoned you both.’ For a total of five minutes, she thought bitterly. Not once had she tried to deter Brad from seeing the children, or to influence them in any way concerning his long absences, it had all been Brad’s decision, although she couldn’t help the inner resentment she felt on the twins’ behalf at his lack of interest in them, knew that Kim was as hurt by it as Andy, no matter how much she defended him. Sometimes, when she felt her children’s pain the most, she wished Brad would just stay out of their lives completely, let the twins forget him. But life just wasn’t that tidy or straightforward. And maybe it was a selfish wish, the twins loved their father however little they saw of him, and perhaps in his own way he loved them too.

  She was stopped from making further comment by the ringing of the doorbell, a glance at her watch as Andy leapt to look out of the window showing her it was exactly six o’clock!

  ‘There’s a man outside, Mummy,’ Andy told her excitedly.

  She stood up slowly, feeling a moment’s panic before she instantly calmed again. Probably Sinclair Thornton had come to apologetically explain that he was going up to the Hall for dinner. Yes, that would be it. ‘Finish dressed, children,’ she told them in a preoccupied voice. ‘I—I’ll go and see who it is.’ She hadn’t mentioned the possibility of a guest for dinner to them, they were too often let down by their father without a complete stranger doing it too!

  She checked her appearance in the mirror in the hallway before going to the door. If anything she looked even younger than she had this morning! She released her hair about her shoulders, wishing she had time to change from the cut-off denims and cream sun-top. But the doorbell ringing for a second time made that impossible.

  As she had guessed, her caller was Sinclair Thornton, a bunch of tulips in one hand as his eyes gleamed at her mischievously over the petals. He wore fitted brown trousers and a lemon shirt tonight, but he looked no less ruggedly attractive in this slightly more formal clothing.

  ‘Hi,’ he greeted softly. ‘I’m not too early, am I?’ he added as she made no move to let him in.

  ‘Er—no,’ she blinked her surprise. ‘It’s just—Caroline—Miss Masters, said something about inviting you up to the Hall tonight.’

  ‘She did,’ he nodded. ‘But I had to refuse her, after all I had already accepted your invitation.’

  ‘Oh but—’ She was stopped from further speech by the clatter of small feet down the stairs behind her, turning to see the twins arrive at the bottom together, looking adorably innocent with their newly washed faces and hair, wearing identical blue T-shirts and denims.

  Robyn turned back to apologise to their guest for keeping him on the doorstep, her eyes widening as she saw his stunned expression, his incredulity obvious as he stared at the twins. Whatever he and Caroline had discussed after he had refused the other girl’s invitation this afternoon he certainly hadn’t been told of the twins’ existence!

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘PLEASE, come in,’ she huskily invited the still silent Sinclair Thornton, relieved when he did so, taking him into her small but comfortable lounge. The twins stared back at him, as wide-eyed as he was, and she put a protective hand on either of their shoulders as she looked at Sinclair Thornton with challenging eyes. ‘I don’t think we introduced ourselves properly this morning,’ she told him softly. ‘I am Robyn Warner, and these are my two children, Kim and Andy.’

  Considering how shocked he had been seconds earlier he was recovering well, the gleam back in his blue eyes as he began to smile. ‘I’m sure it was just an oversight on your part,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘And in that case, these are for you.’ He held out the tulips for her. ‘I’m afraid I forgot the cup, Mrs Warner,’ he added pointedly.

  ‘My friends call me Robyn,’ she returned much as he had done this morning.

  ‘Can I?’ he teased.

  ‘Please,’ she nodded, relieved that he had taken her deception so well.

  ‘Well, Kim and Andy, you just have to be twins,’ he spoke to them
in a pleasantly interested voice, and not down to them as so many adults tended to do. ‘And both as cute as your mother,’ he teased.

  Andy giggled at this description being given to his mother. ‘Mummy isn’t cute,’ he scorned. ‘She’s beautiful.’

  Appreciative blue eyes swept over her blushing face. ‘So she is,’ Sinclair Thornton said slowly.

  ‘I’ll just go and put these in water,’ Robyn said awkwardly, instantly annoyed with herself for appearing so gauche. No doubt Caroline would have accepted the compliment with much more aplomb! But then, the younger girl was used to the meaningless charm, she wasn’t. ‘Perhaps the children would like to show you some of their toys while I’m gone,’ she added briskly.

  It took her only a few minutes to put the tulips in water and check that the dinner was ready, stopping in the lounge doorway when she got back. She should have known Sinclair Thornton was one of those men who found children’s toys as fascinating as they did! He was down on the floor with Kim and Andy, with little regard for his clothes, seemingly fascinated by the workings of the dolls’ house and fort the two of them had received recently for their fifth birthdays.

  He looked up sheepishly as he sensed Robyn watching him. ‘I never can resist these things.’ He put one of the soldiers up on the battlements.

  She smiled, sure that all men were still children at heart. ‘Do you have children of your own, Mr Thornton?’

  ‘Not at the moment, no,’ he shook his head. ‘And it’s Sin,’ he reminded.

  She knew what his name was, she just felt uncomfortable saying it, the name Sin making her feel wicked too! And what did ‘not at the moment’ mean? Was he, like Brad, a part-time father who chose to forget about his children when he wasn’t actually with them, or did he mean he was contemplating fatherhood? Maybe what she should have asked him was whether or not he was married.