Putting his hand under her chin, Bruno forced her head up so that she had to look at him. 'Now say that again,' he demanded cruelly.
She tried to push his hand away. 'You're hurting me.'
'Don't try and evade the issue. I want the truth.'
Norrie's temper suddenly flared and she put her hands against his chest and pushed him away with all her strength. 'Who the hell do you think you are? And what makes you think you can force your way in here and start throwing your weight about? Now get out. D'you hear me? Get out or I'll 'phone the police and have you thrown out.'
'Nice try,' Bruno told her bitingly. 'But you needn't think you can fob me off so easily. Why else would an unmarried girl be looking after a child unless he was her own? And he's so like you that he couldn't be anyone else's.' Lifting a hand, he traced his finger along the line of her jaw and down her throat while Norrie stared at him balefully.
'He could belong to a member of my family,' she pointed out. 'My brother, for example.'
He laughed. 'I seem to remember that your brother is happily married and probably has a family of his own by now.' His finger grew still. 'Why did you go through with having Ben? You could have had an abortion. Or had him adopted, even. But you chose to keep him and bring him up on your own, even though you must have realised the difficulties it involved. So why?'
Norrie moved away from him. 'Mind your own damn business.'
Catching her arm, Bruno angrily pulled her back. 'It is my business. And I am involved, whether you like it or not. Now that I've found out about Ben there's no way I'm just going to walk away and forget about him. He's as much mine as yours and I'm . . .'
'No, he isn't,' Norrie told him forcefully. 'I've told you, he's nothing . . .'
'Don't try and shut me out,' Bruno interjected. 'You may have had him to yourself up to now, but from now on you're going to have to learn to share him.'
Norrie laughed scathingly. 'And how do you intend to do that—by sending him birthday and Christmas presents every year from whatever part of the country you happen to be in?'
His voice cold, Bruno answered, 'Oh, but I'm going to take a much closer interest in him than that. I'm going to marry you and legally adopt him.'
For the second time that afternoon Norrie could only stare at him speechlessly, but then she began to laugh, little giggles that grew inside her until she was doubled up with laughter, tears streaming down her face. 'You want to—you want to marry me. Oh God, that's funny. That's really funny.'
'Shut up. You're getting hysterical. If you don't stop it I shall have to slap you,' he warned when she sank into a chair, still convulsed with laughter. 'What's so damn funny about it anyway?'
'You are,' Norrie told him, sobering suddenly. 'What you're suggesting is utterly ridiculous.'
'He's my kid and I want to share him,' Bruno repeated obstinately, his jaw thrusting forward.
'But haven't you forgotten one small point?' she asked with heavy sarcasm. 'You're the last man on earth I'd ever want to marry.'
'But you're going to all the same. I'm not going to let any kid of mine be brought up in these conditions.'
Norrie stood up and faced him. 'And just what's wrong with this house?' she demanded truculently.
For a moment Bruno's eyes softened as he said, 'Nothing. I'm sure you've done your best. But,' he gave a helpless kind of shrug. 'Look, I'm not trying to offend you in any way or belittle what you've done, but I'm in a pretty good position financially now and I can give him so much more. Both of you so much more.'
'I'm not exactly a pauper, you know,' Norrie informed him, her cheeks flushed. 'I own this cottage and I still have some money that my father left me.'
'But how long will that last now that you've left the Welford Observer?' He raised a hand to stop her when she was about to speak. 'Okay, I know that you can probably get another job, but it will mean having Ben looked after by strangers, and I don't want that.'
'Don't you indeed?' Norrie glared at him and suddenly realised she was arguing with him as if Ben really was his child. It brought her up short and she realised that she must end this before it went any further. But he seemed so sure, so convinced that Ben was his. Bruno was making a bigger fool of himself with every word he said, and Norrie rather enjoyed making a fool of him. So, perversely, she decided to play him along a little longer.
'No, I don't. Small children like Ben should have their mothers to look after them. And what about his education; can you afford to pay for that?'
'By that I suppose you mean can I afford to send him to a private school. No, I can't, but an ordinary state school was good enough for me and it will be good enough for Ben.'
'But it isn't good enough for my son,' Bruno informed her tersely, his face determined.
Norrie stared at him, then, unable to resist, said, 'What makes, you so absolutely certain that Ben is your child? I haven't said that he is.'
'You didn't have to. I was told quite definitely that he was mine.'
'You were told?' Norrie's eyes widened in astonishment. 'Who by?'
'By Sue Stewart. After you walked out of her office this morning, having made your grand gesture, she said that she knew about our affair and then asked me why I wasn't man enough to face up to the responsibilities of my own child. Which was quite a staggering question to have thrown at me,' he added sardonically.
Norrie was pretty staggered herself. She had no idea that Sue had put that interpretation on what she'd told her. 'She should never have done that,' Norrie murmured, half to herself. 'She had no right to say anything to you.'
'No, she didn't,' Bruno agreed coldly. ' You were the one who should have told me, right from the start.'
'It wouldn't have made any difference,' Norrie pointed out, unable to resist carrying on with the act. 'I wouldn't have married you any more then than I would now. I hated you for what you did to my father, and my feelings haven't changed in the last four years.'
'Four years ago you said that you loved me,' Bruno pointed out, his eyes fixed on her face. 'Among other things you also said I meant more to you than anything else in the world and that you would . ..'
'Shut up! I was infatuated by you then, that was all. You can be very charming when you want to. When you want to use someone. And I was stupid enough to fall for it. But my feelings soon changed when I found out what you were really like. I thought I made that quite clear at the times' she added derisively.
Bruno sat down in her favourite armchair, his long legs stretched out casually in front of him. 'At the time you were upset and not thinking clearly. Added to which, your father was doing his best to come between us. He hated the thought of having a son-in-law who knew him to be inefficient and unbusinesslike.'
'That's a lie. He was perfectly capable of running that paper.'
'Rubbish. It had been going downhill almost from the moment he took it over. It was one of the most antiquated local papers in the country. And he knew it but couldn't face up to the fact and let someone else take over.'
Her eyes flashing angrily, Norrie said, 'We're never going to agree on that or anything else, so why don't you just get out of here?'
'We haven't settled when we're going to get married yet,' Bruno reminded her calmly.
Norrie gasped. 'I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.'
He laughed, and it was as if she were hearing an old song that she had loved and hadn't heard for a long time, it brought back so many memories of youth and happiness. 'Somehow I don't think you'd stand a chance. Unless I rescued you from getting killed in the rush.'
She wanted to smile, but stopped herself because she knew it would be a small victory for him. 'I shall never marry you, not under any circumstances, and that's final. So will you please go. Ben's hungry and so am I.'
'So let me take you both out to lunch.'
'No.' She looked at him antagonistically. 'We don't need you or your money. So just leave us alone.'
Bruno stood up. 'I don't give up tha
t easily. You should know that I'm not afraid to take up a challenge.'
'It wasn't a challenge. It was a statement. We don't want you.'
For a moment his eyes flamed with anger but he quickly controlled it. 'I'm not going to let you shut me out from my own child—even if I have to take legal steps to gain access to him.'
'You wouldn't dare!' . 'Oh, yes I would. I'll fight you for him if I have to.' He paused to add emphasis, then said, 'And I always win any fight I undertake. You should know that. So you might just as well accept the inevitable and marry me. You will in the end, anyway.'
Norrie smiled coldly. 'That's where you're wrong. This is one fight that you don't stand a chance of winning. Because you'll never be able to prove that Ben is yours.'
'Is he mine?'
'No.'
Bruno grinned. 'You're getting quite good at lying. I could almost have believed you then. But you've left it too late to try and convince me now. Ben's mine and you're not going to keep him from me.' He raised a hand in mock salute. 'Goodbye—for now.'
He left, closing the door behind him, and the room seemed suddenly much larger and very empty. Norrie's knees felt weak and she sank into the nearest chair, which happened to be the one that Bruno had just vacated, and when she felt its warmth she hastily got up again. Her mind was in a whirl, filled with a crazy kind of excitement that Bruno had made such a silly mistake and she'd let him go on thinking it. She laughed aloud as she remembered the way he had completely disbelieved her, even when she'd come right out and told him that Ben wasn't his. Deceiving him gave her a feeling of power over him that she had never felt before. And it felt good. She had been able to hurt him because of his feelings of possessiveness towards what he thought was his son. And she had enjoyed seeing him hurt. It was a very minor repayment for the hurt he had done to her. She could almost wish that Ben really was his son so that she could go on turning the screw, perhaps indefinitely. For a few minutes she let her mind roam free, thinking of a future in which she would have Bruno at her mercy and of all the things she could do to make his life as miserable as he had made hers.
The old grandfather clock that Norrie had brought with her from her father's house chimed the hour and broke into her thoughts. Ben! She'd completely forgotten him. Hastily she ran upstairs to his room, wondering why he was so quiet and afraid that he was either up to mischief or something had happened to him. It wasn't like him to be quiet for more than ten minutes at a time. But he was asleep, curled up on his bed with his fair hair falling over his face. Poor darling, he must have got fed up waiting for his lunch. Leaning over him, Norrie gently brushed the lock of hair off his forehead. How innocent he looked when he was asleep, so angelic that you'd never believe the mischief he could get up to when he was awake. A fiercely protective feeling filled her heart. How dare Bruno just walk in here and demand to take Ben over? What did he think the child was—just another newspaper? she thought indignantly.
Ben stirred so she moved away and sat on one of the big cushions on the floor. The room was small with a sloping ceiling and rather dark because there was only a dormer window to light it, but Norrie had done her best to cheer it up, painting the woodwork a warm honey colour and papering the walls with Ben's favourite Mr Men wallpaper. She looked round, resenting Bruno's implication that she couldn't provide for Ben, but then remembered that he had admitted that she was doing all she could for him. Norrie frowned, thinking how different Bruno seemed. His character in some ways seemed far more complex than four years ago. But four years ago she had been in love with him and he could do no wrong in her eyes until his shattering betrayal. And, let's face it, it had been such a highly sexual affair that she had been unable to think of anything else, had been blind to what was going on around her. They had made love as often as they could, mostly at the flat that Bruno had rented in the town, sometimes spending the whole day in bed, but always meeting as often as they possibly could. For a few months she had felt that life was absolutely perfect and she had lived for nothing but to be near Bruno, the hours dragging until they could be together. She longed for his touch, to hear his voice, just to look at him, even. And when she did see him her whole being throbbed with excitement and anticipation so that sometimes it was difficult to breathe. When he touched her her heart did crazy somersaults and she wanted desperately to go to bed with him. Wanted to lie beneath him and have his hard body thrust her into the giddy heights of ecstasy. And he knew it, too. His dark eyes would fill with triumphant amusement when he saw the desire in her face and he would occasionally tease her by holding her close against him when they were in a public place, at a dance or walking along the street, and it would drive her mad with frustration. But it worked both ways because it drove Bruno crazy, too, and then they would abruptly leave or go back to his car and Bruno would drive fast to his flat and hurry inside. And by then their need would be so urgent that there wouldn't even be time to take off all their clothes before he pulled her down on to the floor or the bed and made love to her.
Norrie's hands trembled as she remembered and she had to wipe away a silly tear. All she had wanted out of life, then, was to marry Bruno. To be near him for the rest of her days—and nights. To make love and to have his children. Children that might have looked like Ben, she supposed, or like Bruno. Once she had often pictured the children they would have together, and perhaps, after she'd told him she never wanted to see him again, she had been as miserable about the things that never now would be as much as for the things she'd had and lost. Norrie laughed silently. That Bruno should ask her to marry him now was the height of irony. And especially because he'd been completely misinformed. It would serve him right if she did agree to marry him and turned his life into a hell on earth. Just like hers had been hell for such a long time—and still was in many ways, in the long, lonely nights when her body craved for his touch, his love.
Once, to her shame, she had gone to bed with another man to try to exorcise the memory of Bruno out of her heart and her mind. But it hadn't worked, it had been the most terrible night of her life. Because she gave herself to the man without love, her body had shrunk from physical commitment and she had been wooden and frigid. She had quite liked the man before, but afterwards, when it was thankfully all over, they both knew that they would never see each other again. That had been over two years ago now, but Norrie had never met another man that she had even contemplated having a close relationship with. Once bitten twice shy. Although of course at the back of her mind there was always the hope that one day the right man would come along.
Sighing, Norrie stood up and looked down at Ben again; it was time to wake him or he wouldn't sleep tonight. How sweet, she thought, how very, very sweet a repayment it would be if she married Bruno and then told him that Ben wasn't his son, that he'd been incredibly foolish enough to marry her just to give a name to a child that wasn't even his. Impossible, of course, but what a wonderfully apt revenge.
CHAPTER FIVE
The first intimation that Bruno hadn't given up arrived outside the house at around eleven-thirty the next morning in the shape of a brand new car. It was a small hatchback, ideal for loading Ben's pushchair and, as the salesman who delivered it assured her, easy to drive and economical to run. 'And it's all taxed and insured of course,' he pointed out. 'Mr Denton took care of all that when he came in and bought it this morning. So you'll be able to drive it straight away.' He held out the keys but when Norrie didn't move, added, 'Would you like me to take you out for a ride in it first so that you can get used to the controls?'
Walking forward, Norrie opened the door of the car and looked inside. The front seats still had their thin plastic covers over them and it smelt new and clean, a stimulating smell that made her want to get inside and drive it. But instead she shut the door and walked round the car, the sun reflecting off its shiny blue paintwork and polished chrome. It was exactly the sort of car she would have picked herself, if she'd had a choice, just right for her and Ben. But she hadn't been given a c
hoice. Turning to the salesman she said shortly, 'Take it back.'
His eyebrows rose at least an inch. 'But why? Don't you like it?' he spluttered. 'I might be able to get a different colour for you.'
'Oh, there's nothing wrong with the car. I just don't want it.'
'But it's all paid for. It isn't going to cost you anything,' he hastened to assure her. 'It's a present from Mr Denton.'
'But maybe I don't want to accept presents from Mr Denton,' Norrie pointed out. 'I'm sorry, but you'll have to take it back.'
He started to argue but gave up when Norrie shook her head determinedly. 'You're mad,' he exclaimed. 'Nobody turns down a free car.'
Norrie laughed as she turned to go into the house. 'Well, I do. There's no way I'm going to accept it, so please don't try bringing it here again.'
She went back to an article she was writing which she hoped would be accepted by the local county magazine, but was interrupted an hour later by an imperative knock on the front door. Glancing out of the window, Norrie saw the blue car again parked outside and gave a snort of annoyance. Why hadn't the silly man listened to her? Opening the door fiercely, she cried, 'Now look here, I told you that I didn't. . .' Her angry words trailed off as she saw not the salesman but Bruno standing on the doorstep. And he was frowning.
'That you didn't want the car,' he finished for her, and pushed his way into the house.
'No, I don't. You're the last person I'd accept presents from, especially something as expensive as a car.'
'It wasn't only for you, it was for Ben as well. He could have caught a chill in that bus queue in the pouring rain.'
'Nonsense, he was perfectly dry in his pushchair. I was the one who was getting wet.'
'All the more reason, then, to take the car,' Bruno pointed out brusquely.
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