by Anna Clifton
The visitor didn’t bother to reintroduce another topic of conversation and Abbie didn’t feel motivated to fill the silence either. Instead she turned back to the kitchen bench to pour her own coffee, but then two warm, familiar arms were curling around her from behind and an unshaven cheek was brushing up against her own.
“I cannot find my belt in this messy house for love or money,” Adam murmured as Abbie felt his lips against her ear, but her heart was catapulting away as she twisted in his arms and laid her hands on his bare chest.
“Adam, you have a visitor,” she advised with a warning note in her voice.
He stared back at her in disbelief before casting his eyes around the kitchen and spotting the woman in the window box.
“Hello, Adam,” the visitor crooned, her eyes moving languorously over him. “Don’t you look like sex on a stick!”
And that was exactly what he did look like.
Even Abbie gave out an audible gasp of stunned admiration as he took a step back from her.
He’d found his beltless jeans; they were sitting low and loose on his narrow hips, well below his midriff and the hard ridges of his flat stomach. But there was no shirt in sight, and the muscles in his powerful arms and chest were rippling in the cool of the kitchen after his hot shower. His hair was towel dried and unruly and his beard was well and truly at second day stage. Capped off with gorgeous olive-skin and the heart stopping flash of brilliant blue eyes, Alpha Male was standing in all his glory right before the women’s eyes.
“Kate!” Adam barked, having a rare attack of disarmament. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Your two sons—I’ve come down to see them,” the visitor replied coolly, unperturbed by Adam’s less-than-welcoming outburst.
“Rather out of your way, isn’t it?” Adam replied in quick rejoinder, but then spying his shirt near the lounge room door walked over to retrieve it and tug it over his head.
Meanwhile, Abbie was on a mission to read the signals bouncing between the two people in front of her. She suspected they knew each other well, but she wasn’t getting the feeling there was an old romance factor. It seemed more likely to be a barely tolerated family relationship.
“Not at all out of my way,” Kate tossed at him lightly. “I’m spending the day with Michael at school. This village is on my way there, as you know.”
“I can’t imagine why you came to the cottage though,” Adam asked suspiciously, leaning back against the kitchen bench and crossing his arms across the broad chest that had doubled as Abbie’s pillow for the little time they’d slept the night before. “You know I rarely stay here these days.”
“I saw smoke coming out of the chimney and took a chance.”
“Is that so?” Adam replied doubtfully.
“Adam, darling,” Kate purred, unperturbed by his accusatory tone. “You’re so suspicious. When did that come on?”
“I’ve always had a high level of suspicion when it comes to your motives. Have you introduced yourself to Abbie yet or have you left her swinging in the breeze and wondering who you are?”
“I thought I’d leave the introductions to you.”
“Very well,” Adam grated and Abbie could hear the sharp irritation in his voice. “Abbie McCarthy, mother of Henry, I’d like you to meet Kate Blackwood, aunt of Pete and sister to Ellen.”
At that point Kate raised her eyebrows and watched Abbie closely for her reaction, but Abbie was steadfastly poker-faced. She was determined not to be daunted by the haughty manner of the woman in front of her, although she was reeling at the news she was meeting Ellen’s sister.
“So you were the sight-seeing attraction in Sydney five years ago,” Kate declared, her eyes narrowing as she drove her gaze into Abbie’s. “Adam obviously overlooked the chapter in the guide book directing him to the Opera House instead. And now here you are—featuring as an attraction in England as well! You do get around, don’t you?” she finished with a cruel lilt to her voice.
“Kate!” Adam rebuked sternly.
“Adam, you know I don’t mean any harm,” she shrugged slightly. “Ellen’s been dead going on five years now. I’m not expecting you to live like a monk forever.”
And with that Abbie’s blood began to boil. In her cryptic fashion, Kate Blackwood was treating her as though she was the trash who’d seduced her brother-in-law all those years ago. It was the very reaction she’d dreaded from Adam’s family and friends in England, and yet she’d been welcomed with open arms—until then.
In a rare attack of self-restraint, Abbie thought about how difficult the encounter between the three of them was for Adam. And thinking only of him she bit down on her bottom lip to stop her right-hook comeback at Kate—something deliberately provocative about monks, and how Adam had borne absolutely no resemblance to one the night before in front of that log fire. Instead she offered in a conciliatory tone, “I know it’s difficult for you, Kate, meeting me. If I were in your shoes I’d find it … very confronting …”
“Not at all,” Kate snapped in sharp interruption and sniffed in disgust before continuing. “After all, my sister and Adam were together for two years. You and Adam were together for how long? Two hours? Or is that an overstatement?”
“That’s enough, Kate!” Adam snapped. “Have some respect for Ellen’s memory. And don’t forget Pete and Henry are a part of this too.”
‘But it’s okay to humiliate me,’ Abbie breathed wordlessly as she stared at Adam in a sudden daze of disenchantment. Was that what his omission of her name had meant? Did he really look on her as nothing more than a two-hour blip in his life, as she’d always suspected he did?
“Quite right, Adam,” Kate purred in quick retreat, evidently satisfied with Adam’s priorities that didn’t appear to include Abbie. “We must concentrate on those boys—the next generation of Coopers.”
“There’s no need for you to worry yourself about them,” Adam replied dismissively. “Abbie and I can manage things where Pete and Henry are concerned.”
But that was definitely the wrong thing to say to Kate Blackwood. She appeared to levitate out of the window seat, onto her feet, and up to her full height—her face turning cherry pink in the process.
“Abbie may have things under control as far as her boy is concerned,” Kate spat in seething fury. “But need I remind you that Pete is not her son?”
“As Pete’s father you needn’t remind me about anything to do with him.”
“Adam!” Abbie interjected urgently, sensing that full-scale war was about to erupt between the people in front of her. “Kate’s right. Pete’s not my son, and I have no intention of deciding his future.”
Adam switched his eyes towards her, white-hot with anger. But something in her expression must have reached him because the heat dissipated a little. He continued to stare at her for a few seconds as though using the anchor of her gaze to steady himself before he turned back to Kate. When he finally spoke again his voice was cool—icily so.
“This is getting us nowhere, Kate. You came to see Pete and that’s what you should do. I’ll take you up to the house now.”
“I’m not quite finished yet.” Her words rolled off her tongue like tiny hailstones as she drew herself up to her full height and rested her hands combatively on her hips. “You know that Ellen asked me to help you with Pete and you’ve always respected that. But lately I seem to have been cut out completely as you swing in confusion between Australia and the UK. Personally, I think the source of that confusion is clear,” she added with a marked glance towards Abbie and then the dishevelled lounge room beyond. “But if you’re confused then you can bet your life that Pete is too, and Pete is my priority here.”
“Pete has never been happier or more secure in his life,” Adam grated in livid indignation at Kate’s suggestion he was failing in his duties as a father.
“I don’t think you have the perspective at this time to judge. See it from the point of view of an objective outsider,” Kate persiste
d unperturbed. “You’ve got law firms and charities in two countries, children in two countries, parents and career paths here, dead-end ex-girlfriends and career paths there. What exactly are your plans, Adam? I’d very much like to know.”
“My plan, Kate, for a start, is to tell you that if you had any clue then you wouldn’t call the firm in Sydney a dead-end career path.”
And as Adam and Kate faced off against one another Abbie stood to their left, quietly absorbing the second body blow of Adam’s betrayal. For by his silence he’d just confirmed Kate’s dismissal of her as nothing more than a ‘dead-end ex-girlfriend’.
As Abbie watched him in horrified fascination she knew that he was oblivious to her feelings, and the promise he’d made just days ago to protect her from an attack like the one Kate was hurling at her. With a sick feeling of panic and heartache rising up within her she sensed that the tentative house of cards they’d made together over the last two weeks was toppling down—this time there would be no rebuild.
“Fiddlesticks!” Kate declared loudly, breaking into Abbie’s ruminations. “When did you stop being a realist, Adam? How can you contemplate Australia as a future? What about the family estate? What about Pete’s future? What about your career in politics? Do I have to remind you that you’re expected back here in the next few months to prepare for candidacy? I know you planned to come back but now I’m not so sure you will because you’re sending out mixed signals. One minute you’re relocating Pete and yourself to Sydney, the next minute you’re asking me to pick up Eton College application forms for Henry.”
At this Adam threw a look of panic at Abbie, but it was too late. The blood was already draining from her face and her head was swimming. She moved to the nearest chair and lowered herself onto it, staring blindly into nothingness as she clutched her bathrobe around her.
The final bell had tolled. If she hadn’t been such a fool, she would have heard it a lot earlier. Adam’s hopes and plans were all about himself, Pete and Henry. Once again she was being stripped for parts, relevant to the extent that she was Henry’s mother and not one jot more. Adam would have to deal with her until Henry was of age, but then she’d become obsolete in her son’s life—permanently.
With an involuntary sob of overwhelming unhappiness she pictured herself in the distant future as she grew old alone, her son ensconced within his father’s glittering family in England, lost to her forever.
“Abbie, don’t jump to conclusions,” Adam counselled firmly as though he could read her mind. He’d squatted in front of her and taken her hand but she pulled it away in slow revulsion.
“Don’t touch me,” she whispered.
“This is not what you think,” he murmured. “Damn it, Kate!” he exploded, turning to his sister-in-law. “Why did you have to come here this morning?”
“I’m glad she did,” Abbie replied coldly. “Now I know where I stand. Now I know how relevant to your plans I am.”
“It’s only a school application form. It doesn’t mean anything,” Adam argued, reaching up to try and cup her face so that she would look at him but she shied away. She’d fallen for that trap before. Once she looked at him he would start to get under her skin, and she would never let that happen again.
“It means everything,” Abbie declared wretchedly. “It sums up what this is all about.”
“That’s not true,” Adam argued as he ran a hand through his hair in patent frustration.
“Oh really? When have you ever thought about what I might want or need?”
“Don’t turn this into a test. Our situation is difficult in anyone’s books.”
“Difficult! I haven’t even started on difficult yet!” Abbie threw at him ominously. “What if I were to tell you that I have no intention of changing my life to accommodate yours? How would that work in your grand plan?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Adam scoffed. “We have to compromise and work together. You can’t simply refuse to discuss options for Henry’s future with me.”
“Yes I can, because you don’t know the meaning of compromise. All you know is what’s best for Adam Cooper. But things are going to be different from now on. You can tell me what you want for Henry, without trying to manipulate me. Then I’ll tell you what I’m prepared to do. And don’t threaten me with the Family Court because I may very well call your bluff.”
“When have I ever manipulated you?” Adam retorted in disgust as he got to his feet and began to pace the kitchen with jerky steps as though half demented.
Abbie laughed bitterly. “The day you gave me no choice but to move in with you; the day you asked me to be Pete’s guardian; and last night when you followed me into this cottage with one thing on your mind—all of it was planned to achieve one thing: soften me up for Henry’s move here.”
“I didn’t hear you asking me to leave last night!”
“Leaving? What a good idea,” Kate declared loudly from her silent corner of the kitchen. “I’ll see you up at the house, Adam.”
“No you won’t, Kate!” Abbie snapped angrily and shot to her feet. “You’ve treated me like dirt from the moment you walked in this morning—not that I care because your opinion’s nothing to me. But if you think I’m going to stand by and let you loose on my son then you can forget it. I’m not having you size him up as the progeny of Satan, and I won’t allow you in his presence unless Adam or I are there too. Is that clear?” Abbie barked in final confirmation.
“Crystal,” Kate replied crisply with a toss of her head. “I’ll wait in my car until Adam is free then.” With that Kate disappeared out of the kitchen before the reverberations of the front door slamming shook the whole house.
“Abbie, now that Kate’s gone we can sort this out,” he murmured imploringly, taking steps towards her and reaching for her shoulders. But she held out her hand to block him, all the while wanting to sink into his arms and pretend Kate’s visit had been nothing more than a bad dream.
“Don’t look at me with those bedroom eyes. The whole seduction thing is over. I know you thought that if you could turn me into a lovesick puppy again then I’d agree to everything you want for Henry. But you’re going to have to deal with me on my terms now—not yours. I don’t care how important you are to world peace, global financial stability or anything else!”
“Abbie, listen,” Adam pleaded, an impatient edge creeping into his voice. “Believe me on this, even if you don’t believe anything else I say. What happened last night was not because I wanted to soften you up, manipulate you, or anything else. It happened because we both wanted it to happen.”
“Just like what happened when I let you kiss me outside Justin’s apartment the night I met you. And look what happened to me then!” Abbie spat back, marching to the window on the other side of the kitchen in a desperate attempt to escape his magnetic pull upon her. “And even if what you say is true—and I don’t believe it is—it doesn’t change the fact that it’s been all about your needs from the first hour we were reunited. Not once have you asked me what I might want or need.”
“I always assumed you’d want what’s best for Henry,” Adam railed at her.
“And I suppose that’s what the application for Eton is all about?”
“That’s exactly what Eton is about. Although he’s young, Henry’s gifts are already emerging. Forgive me if I assumed you’d want every opportunity for him to explore those.”
“There’s more to life than rubbing shoulders with the sons of bankers and politicians at a posh English public school.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. You’re being obtuse. If Henry grows up here, he’ll have all kinds of opportunities to make a real contribution to the world, as will Pete. My family can give them the spring board they need—you know that.”
“You see!” Abbie retorted in a shrill tone as she swung around to face him with a bitter laugh. “That’s the difference between you and me. I still look on Henry as the master of his own destiny. But you, you’re already signi
ng it away to the world, just as you’ve signed your own life away.”
“That’s completely unfair!” Adam replied incensed.
“But it’s true. And I will fight you tooth and nail to make sure that Henry’s not swallowed up by the Cooper juggernaut. When he makes his own choices in life, it will be because they come from passion and instincts and feeling, not from years of cold-hearted drilling and expectation.”
“And that’s what you think I’m capable of—with my own son!” Adam exploded.
“Yes I do. I trusted you but I shouldn’t have. You’re incapable of making a decision based on feeling or gut instinct. I was right when I called you a cold fish.”
“You mean those gut instincts that never let you get close to a man in case he does what your father did to you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Be honest, Abbie, you’re terrified of letting a man into your life. But you’re not the first person to be abandoned by their father. Just because he didn’t stick around doesn’t mean every other man will let you and Henry down.”
“I haven’t tried to keep Henry from you.”
“Oh no,” Adam replied with a guffaw of disdain. “Not after the first three years of his life that is.”
“I explained why I didn’t tell you!”
“And you know what?” Adam began, his voice holding a menacing note that suggested she’d pushed him further than ever before. “I understood. I moved on. But the truth is, a big part of keeping Henry from me all those years was because you were frightened I’d destroy your family, just like your father did all those years ago. And you still think I’m capable of that, don’t you?”
“Get out, Adam,” Abbie whispered, turning her back on him.
“I will, don’t worry. I’ll take Kate to see Pete and I’ll make sure she behaves herself with Henry. But there’s one thought I want to leave you with that I hope will bother you for a long time to come.”
