He shook his head. ‘It was all I ever wanted. Until I met Holly.’ He hesitated, then took out his wallet. ‘I’ve got a picture. Do you want to see it?’
‘Of course,’ said Rosanna, thawing, expecting to see a gorgeous, long-legged blonde. But the girl in the photograph was wearing the white coat of her calling, with no legs visible, her brown hair pinned severely back, and she looked tired. But her smile was warm in her clear-cut, clever face, and to Rosanna’s surprise she found she liked the look of Holly very much. ‘She’s lovely.’
‘She’s tall, too,’ said David with a grin. ‘I don’t have to bend double to kiss her.’
Rosanna managed a laugh, and David took her hand, looking remorseful. ‘I didn’t get a chance to explain to your man. Sorry.’
‘He’s not my man.’
‘Pull the other one!’ David bent down to kiss her cheek, then winked over her shoulder as Louise made a very wary entrance into the room. ‘It’s OK, Lulu. No bloodshed. I’m on my way.’
When he’d gone Rosanna slumped down on the sofa, wondering whether to ring Ewen. ‘He took one look at David and jumped to the wrong conclusion, of course. Should I try to explain?’
‘I could kick myself,’ said Louise angrily. ‘If only I’d answered the door—’
‘It’s not your fault.’
‘I’m so sorry, Rosanna. You really like this man Fraser, don’t you?’
‘No, I don’t like him, I’m mad about him.’ She managed a shaky smile. ‘Not that it matters. If Ewen’s convinced I let David share my bed last night for auld lang syne I’m hardly likely to be seeing him again.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IN THE end Rosanna decided to take the bull by the horns and ring the Chelsea house, but the only reward for her courage was Ewen’s recorded message. She asked him to ring her back, then tried the cottage, but he wasn’t there either. Or if he was he wasn’t answering the phone. She left the same message, and spent most of the weekend waiting for a call that never came. In the end Rosanna’s misery gave way to a deep, abiding anger. Ewen, she thought fiercely, wasn’t the only one with pride.
Her mother, who now knew most of the story, advised a change of scene. ‘You’ve got plenty of time before you start at the school,’ she pointed out. ‘Use the money for a holiday, as you originally meant to.’
‘Where do you suggest I go?’ Rosanna’s smile was wry. ‘Boston’s no longer an option.’
‘How about a trip to see Sam in Sydney?’ Mrs Carey smiled coaxingly. ‘He’s got a nice spare room in his house in Bondi. He’ll only be free at weekends, of course, but you can go sightseeing in the week on your own. Maybe take a trip up to the Barrier Reef, like we did.’
Rosanna eyed her mother in surprise for a moment, then said slowly, ‘I think that’s probably a quite brilliant idea. I’ll ring Sam in the morning.’
During the course of the weekend Rosanna came to terms with the fact that she’d been right about Ewen all along. The flare of passion between them had been too sudden and too fierce to last. This trip would serve as therapy. A cure for the longing that still burned inside her at the thought of his hands and mouth, of his lean, taut body compelling hers towards such dizzying peaks of ecstasy, she still trembled in the night at the memory of it.
During the long hours of the flight to Sydney, Rosanna had plenty of time for reflection. She knew, now, that it would have been a disaster to marry David. But it was rather funny that her original idea of sticking to her quixotic guns had been an unwanted sacrifice after all. Sacrifice? She frowned suddenly as she stared at the brilliant sky through the window. Was Ewen right, after all? Surely she hadn’t been trying to live up to Rose!
A suntanned, thinner Rosanna returned from her holiday on a late August Sunday morning to a warm reception from her parents at Heathrow.
‘Sam’s fine, I loved Sydney, but it’s great to be home.’ She hugged her mother and father in turn, and on the way from the airport talked nonstop. ‘I dragged Sam to Sydney Opera House, visited the prisons they’ve made into museums, and went to that fabulous fish restaurant you told me about.’
‘I’m glad you enjoyed it, darling,’ said her mother, looking relieved.
‘I did. It was just what I needed.’ Rosanna was enthusiastic as she described her trip to Port Douglas with Sam to marvel at the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef, including a trip in a glass-sided boat to marvel at coral banks and exotic, translucent fish and stingrays, huge marine turtles, even the occasional shark. ‘It was an amazing experience.’
‘We thought you’d enjoy it. You look a lot better than the girl we put on the plane to Sydney,’ observed her father. ‘By the way, Ewen Fraser came round last week. He brought your mother flowers, and thanked her for letting him see Rose’s papers, and all that. He’s finished the book.’
‘Oh, good,’ said Rosanna, determinedly casual to cover her reaction to the mere mention of Ewen’s name.
‘He was a bit behind schedule, apparently,’ said Mrs Carey.
‘Because I left him to finish it on his own?’
‘No, but I’ll give you the details when we get home,’ said her mother, and gave Rosanna a look which meant she would prefer the conversation left until they were alone, since John Carey was blissfully ignorant of his daughter’s feelings for Ewen Fraser.
By the time her father had gone upstairs after lunch for a nap, Rosanna could contain her curiosity no longer.
‘Why was Ewen behind with the book?’ she asked.
‘He had an accident—”
‘In the Morgan?’ said Rosanna in horror.
‘No, on the way to the Underground,’ said her mother in swift reassurance. ‘When Ewen was leaving your place the day he brought your raincoat back, one of those motorcycle couriers ran into him and knocked him over. Don’t look like that, darling. Ewen’s fine. Now. His only injury was a broken ankle, and concussion. He hit his head on the pavement. He was kept in hospital for a couple of days, then his parents collected him and took him home with them to convalesce.’
‘So that’s why he didn’t ring back,’ said Rosanna, feeling limp. ‘Is he back in his own place now?’
‘I think so.’ Henrietta Carey smiled, and patted her daughter’s hand. ‘He said he rang you at the flat, but Louise told him you’d gone to Australia. He came round to invite us to lunch last weekend with his parents and his grandmother.’
Rosanna’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Did you go?’
‘Of course we did! I was dying to meet Alice. What a character! We got on like a house on fire. With Mary and Alec Fraser, too,’ added Mrs Carey. ‘You made quite an impression on them. They were annoyed with Ewen because he hadn’t taken you back to see them again.’
Rosanna felt quite unable to cope with all this. The shock of Ewen’s accident rendered her jet-lagged brain incapable of anything other than relief that he hadn’t been seriously hurt.
‘He asked me to explain why he hadn’t returned your calls,’ said her mother, and took Rosanna in her arms. ‘Go on. Cry.’
With only a short time to go before she started teaching again Rosanna decided to move back into the flat after a couple of days in Ealing. But there would be no more phone calls to Ewen Fraser. The ball was now firmly in his court. She had every excuse to ring him, it was true, if only to ask about his health. But she wasn’t going to. If he wanted to see her he could ring and say so. And if he didn’t it wasn’t the end of the world. She would survive. Just as her grandmother had done before her.
Later that evening Rosanna was ironing in front of the television when the buzzer rang on the intercom. She spoke into it and leaned against the wall, her knees trembling when she heard Ewen’s voice.
‘I rang your parents to ask if you were back, Rosanna. They said you were here. I need to talk to you.’
‘Come down, then.’ She pressed the release button, wishing vainly that she were wearing something more presentable than the brief, striped singlet dress she’d bought on holiday.
Ewen greeted her very formally when she opened the door. He looked drawn and tired. His hair was untidy as usual, but he was wearing a dark city suit, and at the sight of him Rosanna wanted to throw her arms round him and hug him to death. Instead she greeted him politely and asked him to come in.
‘Do sit down. You won’t mind if I go on ironing?’
Ewen looked slightly taken aback. ‘No, not at all.’ He limped slightly, she noticed, as he crossed the room to sit on the sofa.
‘How are you?’ she asked, her eyes on the silk shirt she was ironing. ‘My parents told me about your accident. Are you fully recovered now?’
‘In time I’ll be good as new for the most part.’ He leaned back in the chair, his eyes riveted to the length of bare brown leg on view. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t return your calls, Rosanna. When I came out of hospital I rang the house to access my messages. But by then you were on your way to Australia.’
She gave him a friendly, impersonal smile. ‘Not to worry.’
Ewen looked at her levelly. ‘Was it something important?’
‘It seemed so at the time.’ She hung the blouse up and took another from the basket.
‘But not any more,’ he said grimly.
Rosanna shrugged. ‘It’s quite a while since then. Things have a way of working themselves out, given time.’ She looked up, then frowned as she realised Ewen looked alarmingly pale. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Headache,’ he admitted. ‘Not a hangover this time. Since my head met the pavement that day I get them fairly often. I’m assured it’s only temporary.’
‘I do hope so,’ she said politely. ‘It must be hell to stare at a computer screen with a blinding headache.’
‘Did your mother tell you I’d finished the first draft?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Are you pleased with it?’
‘Not yet. I’ve altered it quite a bit. I should have the second version ready any day now.’ He winced suddenly.
‘Would you like some painkillers?’ she asked gently.
‘I would, indeed. Thanks.’
‘Look in the cabinet over the washbasin in the bathroom, first on your left down the hall. Several types there; take your pick. I’ll make some tea.’
Rosanna folded away the ironing board and put it in the cupboard in the hall, wondering if Ewen was all right. In the kitchen, a rather grand description for the cooker and fridge hidden behind a screen, she made a pot of tea, and found a packet of plain biscuits, experiencing a strong feeling of déjàvu. Only this time Ewen’s pain was due to something far worse than a hangover.
It was some time before he rejoined her, looking even more haggard than before. ‘Sorry to take so long.’
‘Do sit down. Did you take some pills?’
Ewen nodded, then grimaced, regretting it.
‘Can you manage a biscuit?’ she said coaxingly, offering the plate.
He ate one with care, then drank gratefully from the cup she handed him, but clenched his jaw as the heat of the tea made the pounding in his head worse for a moment. Rosanna watched him anxiously over the rim of her cup.
‘Shouldn’t you see a doctor?’ she asked after a while.
‘No. I’ve had my fill of doctors lately. One way and another,’ he added with sudden, bitter emphasis. ‘But that’s enough about me. I want to know about you, Rosanna.’
‘I’m fine. I had a great time in Australia with Sam. And without him. I did a lot of sightseeing.’
‘Good. I’m glad you enjoyed it. But I haven’t come to talk about your holiday.’ His eyes met hers with an impaling look. ‘I’m asking about your health. You’ve lost weight.’
She shrugged. ‘It was quite a hectic holiday, but I’m very well. I think I look rather good with a suntan.’ She smiled a little. ‘Though I wouldn’t be displaying quite so much of it if I’d expected company.’
Ewen downed the rest of his tea as if it were a dose of medicine. ‘Why did you want me to ring back so urgently, Rosanna?’
She curled up on a chair. ‘So I could do some explaining. About the last time you were here for one thing, though there was something else. At the time it seemed real life-or-death stuff to explain.’
His mouth twisted. ‘You mean my encounter with your naked ex-lover.’
‘I thought he was wearing a towel.’
‘It fell off when he took the raincoat I shoved at him.’
‘Oh.’
There was silence for a moment.
‘Not that it matters now, but it wasn’t quite the way it looked,’ she said at last. ‘David came to say goodbye on his way to Heathrow. And, before you ask, he’d just come out of the bath after spending the night on our floor.’
‘Why the floor?’ asked Ewen politely.
Rosanna waved a hand at the small sofa. ‘He doesn’t fit on that.’
‘I meant,’ he said deliberately, ‘why not in your bed?’
‘I know you did,’ she said evenly. ‘He spent the night on the floor because it seemed pointless to send him to a hotel when he could stay here. David and I are still friends, Ewen, whoever he, or I, should happen to marry. I’m afraid I wasn’t very good company for his last night in London. Not after the way you sent me packing. I pleaded a headache in the end and went to bed. Alone.’ Her eyes locked with his. ‘I’m amazed you could think otherwise after the evening we’d just spent together, Ewen.’
His mouth twisted. ‘I realised that, once I came round, days later. But after confrontation with a naked Hercules that morning I stormed off to the Underground in such blind fury I never saw the lad on the bike. I woke up in Casualty a fair time later, and the rest you know. The courier escaped with only a bruise or two, thank God.’
‘So I’m to blame?’ she asked.
‘Of course not! I was so obsessed with wanting to knock Norton’s perfect teeth down his throat I didn’t look where I was going. Simple as that.’
Rosanna pulled a face. ‘David said you were— put out.’
‘Put out? I was off my head with jealousy.’ He smiled his familiar, lop-sided smile. ‘We’re back to the testosterone again. The two main outlets available to the male of the species are fighting or making love. That day I was out of luck on both counts.’
‘I sympathise on one of them,’ said Rosanna dryly. ‘When Louise told me what happened I could have murdered David myself.’
‘Is that true?’ he said, brightening.
‘Yes. Which I would have told you, if I could have found you.’
‘Was that the only reason for wanting to talk to me?’ said Ewen, sitting up straighter. His eyes met hers compellingly. ‘Are you being honest with me, Rosanna?’
She frowned, pushing her hair back behind her ears. ‘Of course I am. I was desperate to put you straight about David. But when you didn’t get in touch I gave up in the end. Thought you weren’t interested. So, thanks to you, I took myself off to Australia.’
‘As far away from me as you could get,’ he said bitterly.
‘I meant the salary you paid me made the trip possible, Ewen. I went to visit my brother, Sam.’
‘I know.’ He frowned. ‘Which reminds me. I owe you some money. I didn’t pay you up to date.’
Rosanna stiffened. ‘Is that why you came here tonight?’
‘Of course it isn’t,’ he said irritably. ‘I’ve only just thought of it. One way and another I haven’t been firing on all cylinders lately.’
‘When Mother said you’d had an accident I thought you were in the Morgan,’ she said, not looking at him.
‘Damn good thing I wasn’t. If I’d been driving things could have been a lot worse.’
‘The thought had occurred to me.’
Ewen was silent for a moment, then he got to his feet, looking down at her with such urgency in his eyes, Rosanna jumped up in alarm.
‘What is it? Do you feel ill?’
‘No. I just want you to tell me the truth, Rosanna.’
She frowned, puzzled. ‘But I have. David
stayed the night, that’s all—’
‘I don’t give a damn about David,’ grated Ewen, and seized her hands. ‘Are you pregnant, Rosanna?’
Rosanna stared at him, aghast, then wrenched her hands away. ‘Certainly not.’
‘You mean you’re going to keep it secret from me?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, yes, you do!’ He grasped her by the shoulders, his fingers digging into her skin. ‘I’ve just been in your bathroom. There’s a pregnancy testing kit in your cabinet, next to the aspirin.’
‘You’re hurting me,’ she said coldly, and he dropped his hands.
‘So either you’re pregnant and you already know, or you haven’t made the test yet because you’re afraid you are,’ he said with certainty. ‘Was this why you were so desperate to contact me?’
Rosanna eyed him with distaste. ‘Your knock on the head has addled your brains, Ewen Fraser. Those phone calls were made only a week or so after—after—’
‘We first made love together,’ he finished for her.
‘Exactly. It was a bit soon for any doubts on that particular score. Besides which,’ she added with sudden heat, ‘you were very careful to protect me—and yourself—from any possible consequences. So if you think I’m pregnant you must assume someone else is responsible.’
‘No!’ He raked a hand through his hair, and winced as his head protested. ‘I was half asleep in the night when I began to make love to you again at the cottage. By the time I was fully awake I was too much overtaken with—’
‘Lust?’ she said sweetly.
‘Longing, desire, or anything else in the thesaurus you fancy,’ he bit back. ‘Whatever it was I realised afterwards I’d been careless. So tell me the truth. Are you expecting my child?’
‘No, I am not!’ Rosanna’s stomach muscles clenched at the thought. ‘Don’t worry. There’s no embarrassing little sequel to our short-lived encounter. Which is just as well. Picture your reaction,’ she went on with sarcasm, ‘if I’d confided that kind of secret to you the moment you came through the door tonight. Would you have really believed the baby was yours—and not David’s?’
The Temptation Trap Page 13
