by Miranda Lee
‘You’re quite wrong,’ she stated firmly. ‘It has to be someone else. Some woman who’s probably in love with Phil and followed us because she was jealous.’
‘And what? She just happened to know my phone number?’
‘It wouldn’t be hard for anyone at work to find out your business number, Scott. It would be in the files.’
‘That’s a stretch, Sarah. Of course, there is an alternative explanation.’
‘What?’
‘That you actually are having an affair with your work buddy.’
Scott’s ongoing distrust hit Sarah like a physical blow. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
‘It’s a well-known fact that an affair can spice up a bored spouse’s libido,’ he went on ruthlessly. ‘And you were a different woman last Friday night. And then again, today. The virgin I met and married would never have acted like that.’
Her eyes flew open, dismay banished in favour of outrage. ‘If you honestly think that, then I feel sorry for you,’ she snapped.
‘Then how do you explain it?’
‘You want the truth?’
‘That’s exactly what I want.’
‘When I was told that you were having an affair with Cleo, I didn’t want to believe it, but I still went into a total panic. While I was waiting for the PI’s report, I began thinking that maybe you’d grown bored with me in bed—that maybe you’d only married me because I was a virgin,’ she went on before he could agree with her. ‘Anyway, I was so relieved when I found out you weren’t having an affair that I actually threw up.’
‘God, Sarah.’
‘Yes. I know. And yet, when you believed that I was having an affair you came home and proceeded to ravage me endlessly, proving that men and women are totally different creatures.’
Scott grimaced as he thought back to his behaviour last Friday. ‘I do regret the way I acted afterwards.’
‘Really? I haven’t seen much regret. You still believe today that I was having an affair and just look at us! Tearing each other’s clothes off. It’s madness.’ Sarah paused as the weight of her words settled in the silence between them. She needed some space away from Scott, time to gather her thoughts and plan her next steps.
‘I’m going to leave, Scott, and I suggest you don’t try to stop me.’
He straightened, his broad shoulders squaring as he faced her with narrowed eyes. ‘Are you planning on leaving me for good?’
‘I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait and see.’
‘What does that mean, exactly?’
‘It means I need some time away from you, Scott. Time to think and to work out what I should do.’
‘I don’t want you to leave,’ he growled. ‘Look, I’m sorry for what I did. Sorry I jumped to conclusions. Sorry I acted like a bloody idiot. But we’ve sorted that out now so there’s no need for you to leave. We still love each other, don’t we?’
‘No,’ Sarah said, resisting the temptation to accept his apologies and just stay. ‘Scott, we don’t even know each other. I can see that now. We got married way too quickly. All we have between us is lust. And that’s not enough for me. I need to have a husband who truly loves me, and trusts me unconditionally.’
‘You expect too much.’
‘Perhaps. But I refuse to settle for less.’ Her mother had settled for less. And look where that had got her? Dead, at forty-five.
‘You didn’t trust me unconditionally,’ he pointed out harshly. ‘Underneath, you believed I was having an affair with Cleo.’
A guilty colour crept into her cheeks. ‘Then I’m as bad as you. Hardly a good recipe for a happy marriage.’ Or good parents, she thought bleakly. Of course, there might not be a baby, but Sarah wasn’t hopeful.
Still, she might be lucky...
With a heavy heart, she stood up, putting her shoulders back and facing her husband with as much courage as she could muster. ‘I’m going to pack now, Scott, then I’ll be leaving. And please...don’t try to stop me.’
His top lip curled derisively. ‘What point would there be in that? You’ve clearly already made up your mind to go. To abandon your vows. Did they mean so little to you?’
His barb cut her deeply. She’d meant every one of her vows, but how could she stay with Scott if there was no trust between them? She shot visual daggers at him. ‘I’ll ignore that,’ she bit out. ‘But if we keep arguing in this way, Scott, I can’t see any hope of a reconciliation.’
‘And if you keep working in the same law office as that man, then I feel the same.’
That rocked her. ‘You can’t possibly expect me to quit my job?’
‘You will if you ever want me to take you back.’
His comment stopped Sarah in her tracks and she laughed at the sheer arrogance of her husband. ‘Take me back? Can you hear what you’re saying, Scott? It’s me who has to decide if I’ll take you back. And right now, I think the answer to that is a definite no.’ Despite her heart breaking into little pieces, she lifted her chin and set defiant eyes upon him. ‘I’ll be at Cory’s,’ she said, her voice only wobbling a little. ‘I’ll let you know what I decide in due course.’ Sarah hated that she sounded like a lawyer, but it was the only way she could survive at this moment without breaking down.
Scott sank down onto the nearest chair as Sarah left their apartment, but he didn’t try to stop her. His words had been reckless and he could have kicked himself for behaving like such a Neanderthal. Did he not know Sarah at all? Of course she wouldn’t respond to such arrogant threats!
Scott felt suddenly powerless and bereft. He had wanted his treacherous wife to leave and now she had. So why did he feel that he had just made the biggest mistake of his life?
CHAPTER FIVE
HALF AN HOUR later Scott headed out to see exactly how much Sarah had taken with her. Just about her whole wardrobe, he noted with a sinking heart, only a few of her long evening gowns left behind. He swore as he ran his hands through his hair. This couldn’t be happening to him. They’d been happy. He loved her. And she still loved him, no matter what she’d said. It was all a bloody nightmare!
A tortured groan ripped from Scott’s lungs as he faced the fact that Sarah had just actually left him for real. It was one thing to talk about a divorce. Quite another to face the reality of it.
God, but the place seemed so empty without her, he thought despairingly as he made his way back through the bedroom. At the foot of the king-sized bed he stopped, his gaze settling on its crumpled quilt, plus the indentation of where her body had lain. It seemed impossible that just over an hour earlier they’d been on that bed together, making love with a passion that had blown his mind.
Sarah had said that they didn’t love each other, that it was just lust, but Scott didn’t believe that. He’d experienced plenty of lust in his life and what he felt for Sarah went way beyond that. He’d loved Sarah from the first moment he’d set eyes on her. Loved her and wanted her like a man possessed.
‘And damn it all, I’m going to get her back!’ he vowed, and marched down the hallway to what he called his thinking room. Not his study. His gym.
Over the past year whenever Scott was presented with a business problem—and there’d been plenty—he’d come in here, climb up on the exercise bike and pedal away. Not too fast. Just a nice steady rhythm whilst he stared blankly out at the view and set his mind to analysing the problem, usually coming up with a plan of action before too long.
Scott wasn’t so optimistic of success this time. He’d finally accepted that his actions last Friday night had been beyond the pale. He hadn’t been too nice to Sarah just now as well, letting his temper and his male ego get the better of him. She’d every right to be more than furious with him. He’d really messed things up this time.
Scott suspected that the odds of his securing Sarah’s forgiveness any time soon were about the same as the odds of his keeping that nickel refinery open. But he had to try something, or go quietly mad. Changing into his gym gear, he cl
imbed up onto the bike and began to pedal. And pedal. And pedal, his normally pragmatic brain firing up his feet as he struggled with his emotions. Despite knowing that he still loved Sarah, he was also totally frustrated with her.
Why couldn’t she see that it was Philip Leighton who’d orchestrated this whole nightmare? It was obvious to him. Why wasn’t it obvious to her?
Clearly Leighton was a clever devil, plus an ongoing risk to Scott’s goal of getting Sarah back. If she continued to work with him he might somehow poison her mind further. Or come up with some other devious scheme to make trouble for their marriage.
Scott groaned in despair at the realisation that he was powerless to persuade Sarah to quit her job. She wasn’t the kind of girl who wilted under fire. She was a courtroom lawyer, after all. But Leighton wasn’t the only problem—the startling lack of trust in their marriage would have to be addressed too.
Still, it galled Scott to think of Leighton taking advantage of this moment, hanging around his wife every day at work, worming his way into her affections. If Scott had any chance of saving his marriage, he’d need to speak to Leighton—man to man.
Scowling, he glanced up at the clock—twenty past four. Jumping off the bike, he retrieved his phone from his trouser pocket, brought up the right number and pressed call.
‘Goldstein & Evans,’ the female receptionist answered. ‘How may I help you?’
‘Good afternoon. My name is McAllister. Scott McAllister. I was hoping to see Mr Leighton this afternoon.’
‘Have you seen Mr Leighton before, Mr McAllister? Are you a client of his?’ Clearly, she didn’t recognise his name. So much for his being described by Leighton’s investigator as a celebrity.
‘No. We’ve never met before.’
‘I’m afraid Mr Leighton is busy in a meeting for the rest of the afternoon. I could make an appointment for you to see him later in the week.’
Scott smiled a wry smile. He wasn’t about to be put off by that old ‘in a meeting’ chestnut. ‘That won’t do, I’m afraid. I need to see Leighton today. It’s urgent. I’m sure he’ll see me if you let him know who’s calling.’
‘Might I ask you the reason you wish to see Mr Leighton?’
‘No. It’s personal.’
‘Personal...’
‘Yes. Please tell him that I will be there to see him at five-thirty.’ And he hung up.
After a quick shower, Scott put on his new black suit, a crisp white shirt and skinny red tie. Since marrying Sarah his wardrobe had been overhauled and updated, Sarah insisting that he had to look the part if he wanted politicians and wealthy business colleagues to take him seriously. Which he did. He also didn’t want to feel in any way inferior to the man he was about to meet. He couldn’t help but notice how well dressed the lawyer had been in those photos. Very elegant. Scott knew he could never look elegant. He was much too tall, too broad-shouldered, too big. But he could look impressive. And intimidating. And seriously rich. Which was what he was aiming for.
A final check on his appearance in the vanity mirror left him mostly satisfied. Handsome he would never be but he wasn’t ugly by a long shot. His facial features, though on the large side, were symmetrical, his nose was straight and his eyes—which were the same pale grey as his father’s—were supposedly sexy. His thick brown hair was annoyingly wayward so he kept it cut very short. He quickly ran a comb through it, glad now that he hadn’t shaved, the dark stubble his face was sporting giving his macho looks an added edge. Last but not least he slipped on the gold Rolex wristwatch that he rarely wore but which his father had bought when he’d struck gold two decades earlier. Unfortunately, the mine in question had soon petered out, as had happened with most of his father’s finds.
Scott scooped in a deep, gathering breath, picked up his wallet and keys, then set out to do battle with a foe that he vowed not to underestimate. For if he did, things could quickly go belly-up. It was a risk to confront Leighton, but it was a bigger risk to sit back and do nothing. Sarah was upset right now, which could make her vulnerable to a man like Leighton.
Leighton’s secretary looked up as he strode into her office, her dark brown eyes showing curiosity as they ran over him. Scott wondered if she knew Sarah; or knew that he was Sarah’s husband.
‘Mr McAllister, I presume,’ she said, smiling as she stood up.
‘The one and the same,’ he agreed, and smiled back at her.
‘Mr Leighton said to take you straight into him the moment you arrived.’
Did he now? Scott thought ruefully as he was shown into his enemy’s office.
Leighton was even more handsome in the flesh than in his photos. Handsome and smooth and supremely confident. He came forward to greet Scott with a dazzling smile and hand outstretched. Scott’s first reaction was to bypass any pleasantries and just go for the jugular, but he suspected that wouldn’t be smart. He had to outmanoeuvre this slime bag, not fall into any of his traps. And there would be traps, Scott was sure of it. So he took the offered hand and resisted the temptation to crush all his elegant fingers to pulp.
‘So pleased to finally meet you, Scott,’ Leighton said, doing the old politician’s trick of covering their handshake with his other hand, aping a false warmth. ‘Sarah has told me so much about you.’
‘Really? She hasn’t mentioned you,’ Scott said, his iron control slipping a little as he pulled his hand away.
A mistake, he quickly realised, Leighton’s brows lifting as though he was puzzled by his visitor’s attitude.
‘I see,’ he said slowly, giving a good impression of working out why Scott might want an urgent appointment with a divorce lawyer. ‘Would I be right in assuming you’re seeking my help in a professional capacity?’
You wish, Scott almost snapped, but held his tongue just in time.
‘Actually no,’ Scott was pleased to announce. ‘That’s not why I’m here at all.’ And he handed him the phone with the first of the many photos already on the screen. ‘I’ve come to ask if you have any explanations for these photos that were sent to me last Friday afternoon.’
Leighton frowned as he scanned through the photos before glancing up at Scott, his expression seemingly shocked. ‘Has Sarah seen these?’ was his first question.
‘Of course.’
‘What did she say?’
Scott recounted Sarah’s explanation, letting Leighton think he’d shown her the photos last Friday, not the next morning.
‘And you believed her?’ he said, sounding surprised.
‘Of course,’ Scott retorted, ignoring the stab of guilt which accompanied the lie. ‘Sarah would never lie to me.’
‘Of course not,’ the oily bastard said with a smirk. ‘If that’s what Sarah said happened, then that’s exactly what happened.’
Scott adopted his best poker face. ‘You sent me those photos,’ he said, his quietly controlled voice a credit to him, considering how furious he was inside. But Scott knew it was never a good idea to let an enemy see weakness. And losing one’s temper made a man look weak.
Leighton was clearly taken aback at the unexpectedness of Scott’s accusation. ‘Why would I do something like that?’
‘The why is obvious,’ he returned smoothly. ‘You want my wife for yourself and you’re prepared to do anything to have her, even set her up so that it looks like she was having an affair with you.’
The man actually smiled. ‘I’d be careful what you say in the presence of a lawyer, if I were you. That could constitute slander.’
Oh, yes, he was a clever bastard. But Scott was ready for him. ‘Don’t threaten me, Leighton,’ he countered coolly. ‘Give me forty-eight hours and I’ll know all there is to know about you. All your dirty little secrets.’
Suddenly, Leighton didn’t look quite so confident, or so handsome. His cheeks puffed out, his close-set eyes darkening as he blinked incessantly. ‘I...I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of,’ he blustered before suddenly pulling himself together, clearing his throat and straightenin
g his tie before speaking again. ‘You’re nothing but a rough-neck bully, McAllister. Sarah would be better off without you. You think I haven’t worked out what happened when you got those photos and that telling little text? You didn’t believe Sarah at all. You came storming home and did something awful to her. That’s probably why she didn’t come to work today. Because she’s sporting a black eye. Or worse.’
‘I would never hit Sarah,’ Scott said with cold fury, though he was close to hitting him. Still, he had been close to the mark. He hadn’t believed in Sarah and Scott already knew that he would have to work very hard to get her to forgive him. If she ever did, that was. Meanwhile, this manipulative creep wasn’t about to go away. But he’d tripped himself up just now.
‘How did you know about the text that came with the photos?’ Scott asked. ‘I deleted it before I came here.’
Leighton just smiled. ‘What text? I know nothing of any text. Now I think this meeting is over,’ he stated with an arrogance that needled Scott no end. ‘Unless, of course, you have something else to say.’
Scott smiled, but somehow he restrained himself. ‘Stay away from my wife.’
Leighton smirked again. ‘That’s up to Sarah, don’t you think? Or do you plan on dictating who she can have as friends in future? That’s the usual tactic for bully-boy husbands.’
‘You’re a dead man.’ The unwise words fell out of Scott’s mouth before he could stop them. Furious at his stupidity, Scott whirled and marched over to the door, flinging it open then striding quickly past the wide-eyed brunette. He didn’t have the satisfaction of seeing the fear that filled Leighton’s eyes, or the way the coward slumped down in a nearby chair, his legs having gone to jelly.
CHAPTER SIX
‘SO LET ME get this straight,’ Cory said as he set out the Chinese food on the breakfast bar in the upstairs kitchen. ‘Scott was there when you came out of the shower, after which you had fantastic make-up sex, but didn’t make up at all, despite you telling him what really happened at the hotel last Friday and his eventually believing you. Did I get that right?’
