Elusive as the Unicorn

by Carole Mortimer

  His grin widened. ‘I like you when you’re like this … Sorry,’ he grimaced as she instantly stiffened. ‘If you would rather not give her the satisfaction of knowing she has successfully staged this, too, I can always get a cab.’

  ‘Staged this, too’? Did Adam realise the lengths she believed Sophy to have gone to on his behalf tonight? The open amusement in his ruggedly handsome face said a definite no; this man didn’t need anyone’s help where women were concerned!

  ‘I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of thinking I was afraid to drive you home,’ she said determinedly. ‘Which I’m certainly not,’ she added firmly at his questioningly raised brows. ‘Besides which,’ she added mockingly, ‘it will be worth it just to see her face the next time we meet, when I refuse to tell her all the details!’

  ‘Will there be any “details” not to tell her?’ Adam countered interestedly.

  She gave him a warning look. ‘No.’

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ he sighed with exaggerated disappointment. ‘Maybe we should just add to her curiosity by telling her we intend leaving now? That should have her guessing, when we’ve been alone in her bedroom all this time.’

  My goodness, so they had! She hated to think what construction the other woman would put on that.

  To add to her embarrassment, Eve heard a delighted chuckle from behind her as she hurried from the bedroom, her cheeks burning fiery red as Sophy and Patrick turned to them both with mocking enquiry.

  ‘Eve and I thought we might leave now.’ Adam spoke before she had a chance.

  She turned to him with a furiously warning glare, forcing a tight smile to her lips as her gaze returned to the other couple. ‘Paul isn’t going to be able to get away at all tonight, after all,’ she excused lightly.

  ‘That’s no reason for you to have to go just yet,’ Patrick told her softly, his expression sympathetic to the situation his wife had undoubtedly created.

  ‘We both have an early start in the morning.’ Once again, Adam was the one to do the talking for both of them.

  And while Eve was quite happy, loving him as she did, to let Paul make decisions for them both, she certainly wasn’t willing to let Adam Gardener do the same thing.

  Adam Gardener—oh lord, the very name still gave her the shudders!

  ‘I really do have to go now,’ she put in firmly. ‘And as I’m giving Adam a lift to his hotel …’ she added with a warning look at Sophy, the other woman looking back unrepentantly.

  ‘Yes, we really must be on our way,’ Adam added provocatively.

  Sophy stood up slowly. ‘Well, if you really must,’ she remarked, her eyes gleaming her satisfaction with the arrangement.

  ‘Patrick has himself a tiger by the tail,’ Adam chuckled once the two of them were outside and crossing the road to where Eve’s car was parked.

  ‘He doesn’t seem to mind,’ Eve dismissed unsympathetically, more than a little put out with both Sophy and Patrick. Maybe if Patrick tried a little harder to curb Sophy’s mischief-making …

  At the very least there was going to be a very heated telephone line between Eve’s home and the O’Donnells’ in the near future—the very near future!

  Adam grinned. ‘Life sure can’t be dull with a woman like that. Although my life has been far from monotonous since I met you on Saturday night.’ He gave Eve a pointed glance.

  Her mouth firmed at his flirtatious manner. Sophy and her ideas! ‘This is just a lift back to your hotel, Mr Gardener,’ she bit out.

  ‘I never thought it was anything else,’ he returned innocently, too innocently for Eve’s peace of mind.

  ‘I’m going to be married in a few months’ time,’ she reminded crossly.

  ‘What’s that saying? The deed isn’t done until the ring is on the lady’s finger?’ He quirked dark blond brows.

  Eve’s eyes widened. ‘I think you just made that “saying” up!’

  He grinned again. ‘I think I did, too—but it doesn’t make it any less true.’

  ‘Shall we just get this journey over with, Mr Gardener?’ she snapped impatiently.

  ‘Certainly, Miss Eden,’ he mocked. ‘I——What’s this?’ He frowned his puzzlement as she held out her car keys to him so that he could get in behind the wheel.

  The passing over of the keys had been a completely automatic gesture on her part. ‘I’m sorry, I forgot you weren’t used to driving on our roads,’ she said ruefully, unlocking the car doors for them both.

  ‘I’ve driven myself in England many times,’ he shrugged off the statement, still frowning as he gingerly eased his bulk into the small white sports car.

  The purchase of the car had been an adolescent weakness of hers that she hadn’t been able to resist once she had the money to indulge it. But it was obviously a completely unsuitable vehicle for a man of Adam Gardener’s stature; he looked most uncomfortable beside her as she climbed in behind the wheel, their elbows knocking together.

  ‘Do I take it from the offer that Paul usually drives your car for you when you’re together?’ Adam queried softly.

  ‘Yes, he——’ Eve broke off as she realised the incredulity behind his question. ‘There’s nothing wrong with a man wanting to do the driving.’ Her cheeks were flushed as she was once again put in the position of having to defend Paul.

  ‘Not if you’re a one hundred per cent male chauvinist, no,’ he acknowledged drily. ‘Tell me, does he ever let you behind the wheel of the BMW I noticed he was driving the other evening?’

  She breathed in deeply. ‘I’m not used to driving a car of that size.’

  ‘Has he ever offered to let you try?’ Adam persisted.

  She gave him an impatient glare. ‘Do you ever let women drive your car?’

  ‘Frequently,’ he drawled, pausing before adding softly, ‘I’ve always thought it says a lot about a couple’s—intimate relationship.’

  ‘Driving?’ she gasped.

  ‘Who does it.’ He nodded. ‘It’s a question of who is in control, and I’ve always believed——’

  ‘I don’t think I care to hear what you believe on the subject,’ she cut in tautly.

  ‘Possibly not,’ he conceded gently. ‘But just for the record, you could drive my car any time you wanted.’

  There wasn’t a lot she could say to that! But the conversation had disturbed her so much, she crunched the gears in her agitation.

  Adam arched mocking brows at her. ‘Maybe I should have done the driving, after all.’

  After the double-edged conversation they had just had on the subject, never!

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ she told him firmly, determined not to make another mistake in her driving during the short drive to his hotel.

  She also didn’t speak. This man deliberately went out of his way to be rude to her. The suggestive latter part of the conversation aside, why on earth shouldn’t Paul be the one to do the driving when they went out together? Thousands of other men in the world did the same thing every day of their lives, and yet Adam Gardener had to make it seem as if it were yet another black mark against Paul. In his opinion.

  She didn’t give a damn about his opinion!

  ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks,’ popped unbidden into her mind.

  Maybe she was being a little vehement about Adam Gardener and his outspoken views, but then, those views were of someone he didn’t even know. Her grandmother simply hadn’t brought her up to criticise someone she did know, let alone pass judgement on people she didn’t know. Maybe if she had, Eve could have dispatched Adam with a few well-chosen words the first time they had met!

  She forced herself to relax at the thought, knowing that her efforts to use those ‘few well-chosen words’ this evening had so far failed, so why blame herself for something she couldn’t change?

  ‘Would you like to come into one of the lounges for a drink?’ he offered once she had halted her car, with some relief, outside his brightly illuminated hotel.

  She gave him
an openly incredulous look. Prolong this nightmare; he had to be joking!

  ‘I guess not,’ he drawled with amusement. ‘I hope we meet again, Eve Eden. You don’t need to tell me you wish the opposite.’ He grinned unabashedly. ‘Maybe I would feel the same way if the roles were reversed,’ he conceded lightly.

  Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘That isn’t ever likely to happen.’

  ‘No,’ he acknowledged thoughtfully, his gaze moving searchingly across her face, his smile tinged with sadness now. ‘Don’t be in too much of a hurry to dismiss me from your life, Eve,’ he murmured softly. ‘I’m a great believer in fate, and so I believe there has to be a reason for the two of us having met in this way.’

  ‘Fate’s malicious sense of humour, most probably,’ she dismissed scornfully.

  ‘Or its way of showing you that you’re making a mistake marrying Paul,’ Adam almost whispered the words. The two of them were suddenly locked in a tension-filled spell, their gazes enmeshed, seeming to reach into each other’s souls.

  ‘I happen to love him,’ she snapped.

  ‘Do you?’ he frowned.

  ‘Of course,’ she said irritably, but she was still held captive by that spell, even felt herself moving slowly towards Adam at the same time as he seemed to move compulsively towards her.

  And then the spell was harshly broken as the reflection in the driving mirror of the blaze of headlights of the car pulling in behind hers momentarily dazzled her. She shook her head dazedly, frowning as she saw it was taking Adam several seconds to regain his usual bantering manner, too.

  ‘I’d better go,’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘But I have a definite feeling you haven’t seen the last of me.’

  Eve sincerely hoped that she had! He upset her, disturbed her, and she didn’t need that at this time in her life.

  ‘Take care driving home,’ he told her softly.

  ‘Isn’t that being chauvinistic and over-protective?’ she derided, to hide the fact that the last few minutes had shaken her—badly.

  ‘No,’ he spoke softly, ‘that’s just me being concerned about someone I care for.’

  ‘How on earth can you “care” for me?’ Eve scorned. ‘You don’t know me any more than you know Paul.’

  ‘I’ll admit I haven’t known you any longer, but then, that doesn’t mean a thing. It only takes a second, Eve.’

  She gave him a startled look. ‘What does?’

  He didn’t answer immediately, just looked at her steadily. ‘Knowing someone,’ he finally answered—but Eve was left with the feeling it hadn’t been what he meant to say at all.

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ she said firmly, refusing to think of that time only minutes ago when she had felt herself being drawn towards him. She loved Paul, always had, and no outspoken stranger was going to make any difference to that.

  She pushed firmly to the back of her mind the fact that Adam was no longer a stranger at all, that the very nature of the man made that impossible.

  ‘You probably have a wife in America and six children!’ she said disgustedly.

  He smiled. ‘No wife. No children. And six of the latter at my age wouldn’t be very fair to them; I’d be approaching fifty when the last one was born.’

  ‘It wouldn’t matter too much if your wife was younger than you,’ Eve said without thinking, her cheeks burning as she saw the speculative look in his eyes.

  ‘That’s right,’ he said softly. ‘Although I’d be happy with just two—if you would.’

  ‘Me? But——’

  ‘I’m afraid your fate was sealed the moment I heard Paul Lester order you to stay put—I know, you didn’t see it that way,’ Adam drawled. ‘But I know what I heard, I also know it made me want to tell him to go to hell, that you were with me. And I rarely, if ever, change my mind,’ he added warningly. ‘Besides,’ he went on mockingly, ‘we’ve already covered one of the subjects that a lot of couples argue about—how many children we intend having.’ His eyes openly laughed at her.

  ‘We aren’t having any children at all,’ she snapped, to hide how much his outrageous statement had affected her. The children they intended having was the one subject she and Paul tended to disagree about, Paul insisting they could give one child a better upbringing than two or three. Eve, although she saw the point of his claim, didn’t approve of only children; they tended to either be very spoilt or very lonely. And neither was something she wanted for her child. It was something she hoped they could compromise on once they were married.

  ‘We’ll see,’ Adam murmured softly. ‘In the meantime, bear in mind the fact that if I had been averse to Sophy’s plotting and planning for the two of us, it would have been the simplest thing in the world not to have turned up tonight.’

  ‘You’re as much a fantasiser as she is,’ Eve bit out tautly. ‘And talking of fantasy, won’t these outrageous ideas you have about me distract you from your real purpose, that of finding The Unicorn?’ Anything to divert his attention from the two of them as a prospective couple!

  He sighed. ‘Sophy is being so close-mouthed about him.’ He shook his head. ‘But don’t worry, I have another project moving ahead that should get me that introduction.’

  The exhibition in New York. After the ridiculous claims he had already made concerning her this evening, she definitely didn’t dare run the risk of him finding out she was The Unicorn; he would probably carry her off there and then!

  ‘I’m so glad,’ she said with ill-concealed sarcasm. ‘Now, I really must be going,’ she told him pointedly; he had been on the point of getting out of the car for the last fifteen minutes, and had the attentive doorman in a state of agitation with his indecision.

  ‘Remember what I’ve said,’ he said as he finally got out of the car.

  How could she forget? She simply wasn’t the type to induce this state of impetuosity in complete strangers. Now, if it had been Marina, beautiful, flamboyant Marina, she might have understood it, but she personally had always managed to remain inconspicuous in a crowd. Maybe Adam Gardener just had a warped sense of humour, although he had seemed perfectly serious at the time …

  But she didn’t have to see him again if she didn’t want to, not once she had firmly told Sophy to behave herself in future!

  But, to her dismay, Adam proved correct about it not being the last she saw of him! And he turned up again in the most unlikely place imaginable.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  BY THE TIME Marina arrived the next day, Eve had managed to push Adam Gardener’s strangely disturbing comments from her mind. And, by the time the weekend came around and she had neither heard nor seen any more of him, she had managed to convince herself that she must have imagined the whole incident.

  Almost.

  It wasn’t really all that easy convincing yourself that a man you hardly knew had calmly sat discussing with you the amount of children the two of you might have!

  Sophy had once again been unrepentant about her part in things when Eve had telephoned her the day after the dinner party, the answering machine having conveniently been switched on at the apartment when Eve had tried to call the previous evening, immediately she got home. And any message she might care to ‘leave after the tone’ on that thing would have needed to have been highly censored!

  She might just as well have saved her breath when she did finally manage to talk to the other woman; Sophy was convinced in her mind that Paul was all wrong for her, and that anything—or anyone—who could help Eve to realise that had Sophy’s approval! She certainly saw nothing wrong in having suggested to Daniel Wall that the previous evening was as good a time as any to have his will reviewed considering his recent divorce, doing so with the full knowledge that such an occurrence would mean Paul couldn’t join them for dinner.

  By the time the call came to an end, Eve was feeling as frosty towards the other woman as Paul always was.

  And she didn’t see anything of Adam Gardener over the next few days, either. No unexpected appearances, and so no mo
re caustic observations about her relationship with Paul.

  She should be feeling happy. But she wasn’t. Marina had come home in a terrible temper, the latest man in her life having let her down, in her estimation, by refusing to arrange for her to get the television role she had been interested in. The fact that so far Marina had only done a few commercials and a couple of very small parts in the theatre had no bearing on the subject as far as she was concerned.

  Consequently, because her own world wasn’t going the way she wanted it to, Marina was out to make trouble during her visit, deliberately antagonising Paul whenever she saw him, a fact he took great exception to. With good reason, Eve knew, but that didn’t change the fact that she felt like a bone being pulled between the two of them, Marina playing on the sisterly affection there had always been between them for all she was worth. The way she was acting at the moment, Marina could have played the bitchy television role she had wanted blindfolded!

  ‘I do so hope it’s going to be a better day today.’ Her grandmother frowned across the breakfast table to Eve on Saturday morning, Marina having her customary lie-in before Mrs Hodges took up her breakfast on a tray. Eve had never been able to understand how Marina got away with that one, considering all the other work Mrs Hodges had to do, but the housekeeper didn’t seem to mind in the least.

  Eve hoped today was going to be an improvement too; after three days of bickering between Marina and Paul every time they met, she was feeling decidedly ragged around the edges. ‘Paul isn’t coming over until this evening,’ she said, as if that might help the situation.

  ‘Then let’s hope Marina doesn’t decide to find someone else to take her temper out on.’ Her grandmother shook her head ruefully. ‘I can’t understand it. I tried to bring the two of you up the same, to show the same amount of love and understanding to each of you, and yet I never have managed to completely master this temper of Marina’s. Of course it was nowhere near as bad as this when she was a child. It seemed to surface more when she was in her teens, and even then I just thought it was a phase she was going through. She’s been going through it for ten years now!’ she said drily.