Elusive as the Unicorn

by Carole Mortimer

  And their bantering teasing had taken the edge off the confrontation with Paul. But that was all it had done, taken the edge off it, dulled the shock a little of knowing her love for Paul was no longer enough. Strange, she had always believed love between two people was enough to sustain a relationship. She just hadn’t allowed for a man like Adam entering her life.

  Now her life was no longer the planned and ordered thing she had always believed it to be, and she knew that she would have to go through even more soul-searching and pain before this whole sorry mess came to an end.

  If it did.

  But surely everything had to come to an end, one way or another.

  Didn’t it …?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘WHAT on earth is going on?’ Marina wandered into the studio a few minutes later, beautiful as usual in a pale blue cotton top and matching thigh-length shorts. ‘Paul arrived looking like a thundercloud, and left looking even blacker, and Adam—after spending most of the afternoon up here with you, I might add,’ she pouted complainingly, ‘is in the kitchen charming a second ice-pack out of Mrs Hodges. What on earth happened to his chin?’ she probed, her eyes widely curious. ‘You didn’t hit him, did you?’ She gasped as the idea suddenly occurred to her.

  ‘Of course not,’ Eve dismissed scathingly, the question really requiring no answer.

  ‘Well, it certainly wasn’t Paul, so——’ She broke off speculatively as Eve’s cheeks blushed hotly. ‘Good heavens, he didn’t?’ she breathed disbelievingly, coming to sit on the edge of the table that stood next to Eve’s easel and canvas, with little regard for her expensive clothing. ‘What did Adam do to cause that reaction?’ she prompted eagerly.

  ‘I didn’t say Paul had hit him …’

  ‘You didn’t have to,’ Marina scorned. ‘Good lord, I still can’t believe it of old Paul,’ she said in amusement, shaking her head.

  ‘None of this was Paul’s fault,’ Eve snapped defensively.

  ‘Then whose fault was it?’ her cousin pounced.

  She realised, too late, that she had admitted more than she had wanted to. Marina, as she knew of old, wasn’t going to stop pestering her now until she had the full story out of her.

  She gave a heavy sigh, deciding to keep this as brief as possible. ‘You may as well know that I’ve decided to put off my wedding to Paul for a while,’ she revealed stiffly.

  Marina’s eyes widened. ‘You mean you’ve jilted him?’ she gasped disbelievingly.

  Eve’s cheeks were flushed. ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘Yes, you did,’ her cousin dismissed scathingly. ‘Goodness, he must still be wondering what’s hit him!’ she said with obvious relish.

  Eve gave her a reproving look. ‘Paul is naturally upset that I——’

  ‘Upset?’ Marina echoed scornfully, her brows raised incredulously. ‘I should think the poor man is gnashing his teeth down to the gums!’

  She frowned. ‘It isn’t going to be an easy time for any of us——’ She broke off as Marina’s gaze once again became speculative. ‘I’m just a little uncertain about getting married at the moment, that’s all,’ she insisted. ‘I still love Paul——’

  ‘Just not enough to marry him,’ Marina mused, her leg swinging casually back and forth.

  ‘Marina,’ she began warningly at her cousin’s obvious enjoyment of the situation.

  ‘OK.’ She held up her hands submissively. ‘But I really would like to know what you and Adam were doing in here when Paul arrived, to make him actually resort to hitting Adam.’

  She gave a heavy sigh at her cousin’s persistence. ‘I didn’t say we were doing anything.’

  ‘You mean Paul just walked in and jumped to the conclusion that you were?’ Marina nodded with tongue-in-cheek understanding. ‘Did you tell him before or after he hit Adam that the wedding was off?’ she added innocently.

  ‘Marina!’ said Eve exasperatedly. ‘The wedding has only been cancelled,’ she insisted again firmly, ‘until I feel more sure about things.’

  ‘You’ve loved Paul since the year dot and you suddenly feel “unsure” of things?’ Her cousin shook her head incredulously. ‘I think my idea of marrying for money has a lot to be said for it, after all!’

  ‘It’s cynical and—and underhand,’ Eve rebuked frowningly.

  Marina shrugged. ‘It’s only underhand if the other person doesn’t know about it.’

  ‘You mean the poor man would know you were only after his money?’ She gasped at this unexpected honesty.

  ‘And life-style.’ Her cousin nodded, pouting thoughtfully. ‘Anything else would be underhand.’

  Marina’s philosophy on life and love was completely foreign to her! ‘Then why on earth should he marry you, knowing you only want his money—and life-style?’ she pointed out practically.

  Her cousin stood up, grinning. ‘Because all that money will ensure that I’m completely faithful, and also suitably adoring. And besides,’ she added saucily as she stood up, ‘I have a great body!’

  Eve was still shaking her head dazedly long after Marina had gone back downstairs. How could they, two women who had the same upbringing, have such different outlooks on life?

  The fact that thousands of other woman had ‘great bodies’ didn’t daunt Marina in the least; she was so confident of her own capabilities. And, knowing Marina as she did, Eve didn’t doubt her cousin had the confidence to achieve exactly what she wanted to!

  All of which didn’t alter the turmoil in her own life one little bit. And she still had to break the news of the cancelled wedding to everyone else …

  Sophy’s reaction was so predictable, it almost went without saying. Almost.

  ‘I think it’s the best thing you’ve ever done,’ she said once Eve had joined the other couple in the garden and she had told them the news. ‘Maybe now we can get down to talking sensibly about an exhibition.’

  ‘Darling, now isn’t the time to be discussing that,’ Patrick put in reprovingly. ‘Eve needs time to adjust, to get over——’

  ‘The wisest decision she ever made?’ his wife scorned. ‘Anyone with any sense—or who isn’t in love with the man—can see him for exactly what he——’

  ‘Sophy, I said leave discussing the exhibition until another time.’ Again Patrick interrupted, his tone measured, but none the less effective for all that. ‘We have some packing to do, I believe, Sophy,’ he added pointedly.

  ‘But——’

  ‘Take care of yourself, Eve.’ Patrick ignored Sophy’s protest, bending down to kiss Eve warmly on the cheek. ‘And if you need someone to talk to, give me a call,’ he encouraged softly.

  ‘Yes, do call us,’ Sophy added distractedly, giving her a light hug.

  ‘I said me, Sophy,’ Patrick corrected drily. ‘You can hardly be called a sympathetic ear!’

  She drew in an angry breath. ‘I——’

  ‘Good news, everyone.’ Marina strolled out of the house, closely followed by Adam. ‘I’ve persuaded Adam to stay on here instead of going back to London to an impersonal hotel.’

  Eve looked at her sharply, not fooled for a minute by the guilelessly innocent expression in those wide blue eyes. Marina knew exactly what she was doing, and was relishing her role as matchmaker.

  Her cousin could be so unpredictable: until this afternoon she had been flirting with Adam for all she was worth; now that she knew there was something—although she wasn’t quite sure what it was—between Adam and Eve, she was throwing the two of them together as if she had never shown the slightest interest in him herself. It was this very unpredictability that made her such an enigma at times.

  Eve’s attention turned to Adam, looking for some sign of triumph within him. Once again it wasn’t there, only an air of satisfaction—that things were working out so well in his favour.

  ‘How nice,’ she responded non-committally.

  ‘You know, Marina,’ Sophy drawled slowly, her eyes narrowed to jade slits, ‘maybe I’ve underestimated you al
l these years; we have more in common than I’d realised.’ She put her arm through the crook of Marina’s as they turned back towards the house. ‘Perhaps we could arrange to have lunch together when we get back to town?’ she suggested brightly.

  ‘Perhaps we could,’ Marina responded mischievously as they entered the house.

  ‘I have some packing to do,’ Patrick excused hastily, as he suddenly felt in the way.

  Eve was aware of Adam watching her closely, but she deliberately kept her face expressionless, not really sure yet how she felt about the fact that he wouldn’t be leaving today after all.

  One thing she did know, these feelings of manipulation were really beginning to grate on her!

  ‘Marina made the invitation,’ Adam told her softly once the others had left, moving to stand close beside her. ‘And as I really do have this aversion to the impersonality of hotels …’

  Eve gave him a sceptical glance before turning to look out over the garden where her grandmother was tending her roses in complete innocence of the machinations that were taking place around her eldest granddaughter to confuse and befuddle her life.

  Her grandmother had disappeared among her precious blooms almost immediately after Eve had announced the cancellation of her wedding to Paul, as if she had difficulty coming to terms with the news. They would have a long chat together later.

  ‘Is it so wrong of me to want to spend more time with you?’ Adam prompted huskily at her silence.

  ‘A little unfair, don’t you think?’ she answered without turning.

  ‘Is it fair that I can’t touch you and love you as I want to?’ he ground out fiercely. ‘Is it fair that I have to stand by and watch everyone bathed in your warmth but me? Is it fair that I tremble like a young boy when I stand close to you like this? Is any of that fair, Eve? Is it?’

  She knew he wasn’t responsible for what was happening between them, but was as much a victim of this lightning desire as she was.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Her smile was tentative as she turned to him. ‘Of course you’re a very welcome guest here.’

  ‘Am I?’ His dark gaze searched her face. ‘Am I really?’

  ‘Yes.’ Her reply was breathless, her own gaze caught up in those chocolate-brown depths. ‘I—you didn’t finish telling me your life story earlier,’ she prompted briskly to escape his spell.

  He shrugged. ‘When I left college I borrowed some money from my father and played about with stocks and shares. I was one of the lucky ones, I was successful at it.’

  She had the feeling he would be successful at whatever he set out to do. That was what worried her!

  ‘I paid my father back his money from my profits,’ Adam continued dismissively. ‘And after that I began to invest directly into businesses I thought showed potential—and a reasonable profit for me! Once I’d mastered that, I decided to go into the ownership business myself. End of story.’

  She knew that wasn’t the end at all, that the years since he had left college had been hard and sometimes difficult; the mark of those years was in the hardness of his face and the cool, enigmatic mask he sometimes wore. But he obviously wasn’t in a mood to discuss that.

  ‘I own and live in an apartment in Manhattan,’ he continued softly. ‘But I can run my business organisation from anywhere in the world I choose.’ Even here, in this house, he seemed to say without actually voicing the words.

  ‘You obviously enjoy the challenge of what you do.’ Eve chose to ignore the unspoken statement.

  ‘It has its excitements,’ he conceded with a casual shrug.

  ‘We live very quietly here,’ she told him abruptly.

  ‘I’m sure I’ll survive,’ he drawled at her effort to put him off staying here.

  She moved her shoulders dismissively. ‘I hope you won’t be too bored.’

  ‘Excitement can take many forms, Eve,’ he said softly, his gaze holding hers. ‘I haven’t been bored for a single moment in your company so far. And I don’t expect that to change. When will you realise that I’m not some callow youth who doesn’t know what he really wants out of life?’ He sounded irritated.

  She didn’t for a moment doubt his maturity—or his determination!

  ‘As for staying here,’ Adam looked around them appreciatively, ‘it could be our own paradise,’ he told her mischievously, grinning as she gave a pained frown at the pun. ‘Do you think your grandmother will let us rename the house Garden of Eden after we’re married? I know,’ he held up silencing hands as she went to make a cutting reply, ‘you don’t believe that will ever happen. But if you take away a man’s dreams, Eve,’ he sobered, ‘you take away his reason for living.’

  What about a woman’s dreams? She had dreamt of marrying Paul for the majority of her life, and now that dream had come within her reach she had chosen not to take it.

  Maybe you should never try to make dreams fit into reality.

  * * *

  ‘I don’t understand the young people of today.’ Her grandmother shook her head with feeling. ‘Marina has invited Adam to stay on here, which is perfectly all right with me; he’s such a nice young man. But now Marina tells me that she intends leaving tonight herself!’ she said exasperatedly.

  This was news to Eve, although she couldn’t say she was altogether surprised. Sophy and Marina seemed to have put their heads together over this—despite Patrick’s protestations, Eve felt sure—and come up with the idea of leaving Eve and Adam to their own devices.

  ‘How can Marina think of just going off like that and leaving her own guest?’ their grandmother still frowned. ‘Oh, never mind that for now,’ she dismissed with impatience. ‘I’m sure Marina has her reasons.’ Although she obviously had no idea what they could be! ‘Tell me, how are you, darling?’ she prompted concernedly.

  It was the first opportunity the two of them had had to talk privately, Sophy and Patrick leaving after tea, Marina staying for dinner before she too left. Adam had discreetly disappeared at the same time as Marina had gone upstairs to do her packing, leaving Eve and her grandmother alone in the lounge.

  How was she? She wasn’t really sure. Yesterday she had been going to marry Paul, today she felt as if she were adrift in a tumultuous ocean. Her life was suddenly all loose ends with nothing to tie on to. And it made her feel very vulnerable.

  ‘As you can imagine,’ she sighed, ‘Paul isn’t very pleased——’

  ‘I didn’t ask how Paul was,’ her grandmother cut in firmly. ‘I want to know how you are.’

  ‘Feeling exposed. Vulnerable,’ she admitted. ‘Weak,’ she added tautly.

  Her grandmother gave her a puzzled look. ‘Weak?’ she repeated gently. ‘I think what you’ve done is very brave. A lot of women would have felt compelled to go on with the wedding at this late stage, no matter what their feelings of uncertainty. Divorce may be easy nowadays if the marriage doesn’t work out, after all, but I’ve always believed that prevention is so much easier than cure. So you mustn’t feel in the least weak, darling.’ She patted Eve’s hand reassuringly.

  Much as she loved her grandmother, Eve didn’t feel she could explain to her just yet that the weakness she was experiencing was an attraction to a man other than Paul. If it had all seemed to happen so suddenly to her, how much more confusing her grandmother would find it all!

  ‘It will work out, darling,’ she told Eve with certainty. ‘In whatever way is for the best, I’m sure.’

  Eve only wished she knew what was for the best! Like many people before her, she wished she were able to see into the future and know that things had worked out for them all. If that were possible!

  ‘Would you like to talk about it?’ her grandmother suggested seeing the uncertainty in her eyes.

  ‘Not yet.’ She gave a rueful grimace. ‘It’s all still such a nightmare.’

  ‘Whenever you feel ready.’ She squeezed Eve’s hand understandingly. ‘Now,’ she added briskly, ‘you can help me with the problem of what we’re to do with Adam while Marina disa
ppears back to London!’

  * * *

  ‘My grandmother isn’t quite sure what to do with you,’ Eve murmured softly against Adam’s chest, enveloped by his masculine warmth.

  He chuckled softly, the sound vibrating against her ear as he played with silky tendrils of her hair. ‘Tell Evelyn she doesn’t need to worry about it, you can take very good care of me.’

  Eve grimaced, shaking her head. ‘I think she’s confused enough already, without that.’

  He shrugged beneath her, lightly kissing her brow. ‘She likes me; that should make it easier.’

  There could be no doubting the fact that her grandmother liked him. But then, hadn’t Eve known the first time she looked at him that Adam would find favour in her grandmother’s eyes? Eve’s own grandfather had been a similar type of man, tall and handsome, and as strong inside as he looked on the outside; and her grandmother had been married to him for thirty happy years before his unexpected death. Adam and her grandmother were like kindred spirits!

  ‘This shouldn’t be happening.’ Eve turned her face into Adam’s chest with a groan.

  ‘When it comes to love, the words “shouldn’t”, “couldn’t” and “wouldn’t” cease to exist,’ he murmured softly against the creaminess of her cheek.

  She couldn’t think straight with him touching her like this, her heart racing, her breath coming in ragged gasps. ‘But that can’t happen between us,’ she protested feebly.

  ‘ “Can’t” is just another way of saying “couldn’t”,’ he dismissed harshly.

  ‘Adam, listen to me,’ she pleaded, trying to stop the destructive path of those marauding lips down her throat to the sensitive hollows of its base, hollows that Adam had already discovered were highly sensitive to his slightest touch.

  She looked down at his face, which was slightly flushed with passion; the blush that came to her own cheeks was for quite another reason—as she knew the rakish disorder of his hair was due to her caressing fingers at the height of their passion.

  ‘I’m not like this,’ she groaned. ‘This isn’t me!’