Elusive as the Unicorn

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Of course it’s you,’ he reproved gently. ‘The woman you become in my arms.’

  She had lost track completely of how long she had been in his arms, had shut herself away in her studio earlier in the hope that she could lose herself in her work, only to have Adam come up to join her. She hadn’t been able to resist when he’d taken her in his arms, laid her down on the sofa and joined her there, his mouth and hands knowing her intimately.

  Once again she had known the aching dismay of not being able to say ‘no’ to him, and once again Adam had been the one to be strong for both of them, assuring her that they had time, that there was no rush. He had been the one to soothe and calm her until desire throbbed only dully, holding her in his arms as she had begun to talk of her grandmother’s confusion.

  Could this really be her, as he said, the real her, this vibrantly alive woman who only seemed to exist for the times she could be in Adam’s arms like this?

  It didn’t seem possible this other woman, a woman she didn’t really know, could have been inside her all the time. Why couldn’t she have come alive like this in Paul’s arms?

  ‘Sweetheart, don’t dwell on what should have been but wasn’t,’ Adam urged softly as he read the pain in her eyes. ‘Just think about the two of us, here, together, now.’

  ‘But——’

  ‘Let’s talk about the arrangements for Christmas,’ he put in lightly.

  ‘Christmas?’ She gasped; if he had been hoping to disconcert her, he had succeeded! ‘But you just said we should only think of now.’

  ‘And us, here, together,’ he reminded with a soft reproving tap on the end of her nose. ‘And things like where to spend Christmas can be the cause of friction between a lot of couples.’

  Eve sat up abruptly. ‘We aren’t a couple. And Christmas is months away yet!’

  ‘I may be a thirty-eight-year-old liberated man,’ Adam continued as if she hadn’t made the protest, ‘but when it comes to Christmas I’m pretty old-fashioned; I always spend the festive season with my folks in New York. But I’m sure that this year, as you always have Christmas here with your family, it would be easier if my parents just flew over and stayed here for a few days. They’re really looking forward to meeting you, by the way,’ he added teasingly.

  ‘You can’t have told them about me!’ she groaned disbelievingly.

  ‘The day after I first met you.’ He nodded. ‘I told them then that you were very special. And when I realised you were The Unicorn I just couldn’t wait to share that news with them too. I had your grandmother’s permission to call them while the two of you talked earlier. My parents couldn’t have been more thrilled for me. They knew that I’ve always had a special love for your work, so it was only natural I would love you too. Last year I gave my parents one of your paintings for Christmas; this year I’ll be able to give them the real thing!’

  Eve looked uncertain. How could he remain so one-hundred-per-cent sure, when she didn’t know what she was feeling from one moment to the next?

  ‘A little faith—and not too much time, I hope—and things will work out, you’ll see,’ he assured her softly. ‘I don’t really think——’

  ‘I thought I might find the two of you up here,’ drawled a lightly mocking voice.

  Eve pulled abruptly out of Adam’s arms, her expression one of guilt as she looked across the room at Marina; the other woman had come upon them so quietly that neither of them had been aware of her presence, Eve felt sure. Although, typically, Adam didn’t look in the least disconcerted by the interruption, or the intimacy in which they had been found!

  She shot him a reproving look as he merely grinned a greeting to Marina.

  ‘Stop acting so coy, Eve,’ her cousin derided impatiently. ‘If you want my opinion, dumping Paul and falling in love with Adam are the two most sensible things you’ve ever done in your life; and we both know how practical you’ve always been!’

  Bright spots of angry colour burnt Eve’s cheeks. ‘I haven’t dumped Paul, and I’m not in love with Adam.’

  ‘Then maybe you should have been the one to go into acting,’ Marina told her dismissively, turning to Adam, completely ignoring Eve’s angry gasp at the taunt. ‘I thought at the time that Eve was lucky to be sharing a bathroom with you,’ she teased wryly.

  ‘I know perfectly well what you’re implying,’ Eve snapped. ‘But Adam has behaved the perfect gentleman as far as those communicating doors are concerned!’

  Marina’s eyes narrowed as she continued to look at Adam. ‘It’s serious, then?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Yes.’

  Eve and Adam answered together, Eve heatedly, Adam with total calmness—and conviction.

  ‘I hoped it was.’ Her cousin nodded. ‘In that case, could I see you for a few minutes before I leave, Adam?’ Marina’s flamboyance had left her now, her manner was almost tentative, an emotion completely out of character.

  Adam sobered instantly, also alerted by something in her manner. ‘Of course.’ He nodded.

  Marina glanced uncomfortably at Eve. ‘Alone,’ she added abruptly.

  Eve frowned her puzzlement; earlier Marina had seemed determined to throw Adam and herself together; could it now be that her cousin regretted her impetuosity?

  What other reason could she have for asking to be alone with Adam now?

  Whatever Marina’s reasons, Eve had no choice but to excuse herself. ‘I’ll just go down and say goodnight to Grandmother.’

  ‘Eve,’ Adam halted her at the door, and she turned slightly, not quite able to look at him. ‘Don’t forget to come back,’ he said softly.

  Come back to what, though? she puzzled as she went down the stairs.

  What was Marina up to?

  CHAPTER NINE

  WELL, she certainly wasn’t going to get the answer to that from Adam, for he excused himself directly after breakfast the next morning, claiming he had a business meeting in London.

  The fact that he would be out for the day didn’t particularly worry Eve; after all, she had work to do herself this morning at the library, and this afternoon would be taken up with her painting. It was the fact that Adam hadn’t previously mentioned the business meeting that bothered her, and she had a strange feeling that his conversation last night with Marina was all mixed up in it. He had been grim-faced the evening before when she’d returned to the studio after talking to her grandmother, shrugging off her concern with his usual teasing manner, although for once she had the feeling the lightness was forced.

  And now, this morning, he was disappearing to London for the day.

  Her grandmother shook her head as she watched Adam’s long, easy strides of departure. ‘He’s the strangest house-guest I’ve ever known. What do you suppose is going on between him and Marina?’ She frowned her puzzlement.

  Eve wished she knew!

  She was very preoccupied at the library that morning, and her mood wasn’t helped by Paul telephoning to say he thought that afternoon would be a good time for them to discuss business. It wasn’t a good time for her, it was the last thing she felt like doing today, but she realised that Paul was a busy man and that it was only through someone cancelling an appointment that he was able to see her that afternoon. Besides, a drive into town might help to clear her head a little, she tried to convince herself.

  But it became apparent after only a few minutes that Paul had little or no interest in discussing business himself, that he was still very involved with the problem of Adam in their lives. Wasn’t everybody?

  ‘I’m having someone check into his past, Eve,’ Paul told her grimly. ‘I want to know exactly——’

  ‘You’ve done what?’ She gasped disbelievingly, her head suddenly very clear.

  His eyes flashed angrily. ‘Don’t sound so surprised, Eve,’ he dismissed hardily. ‘I realised yesterday, when I told you that you don’t really know the man, just how true that is. I’m interested to know how he acquired his wealth, how——’

  ‘T
hrough sheer hard work!’ She stood up to agitatedly pace the room, all the time looking at Paul as if she had never seen him before as he sat so calmly behind his imposing desk. As, indeed, she was beginning to doubt. ‘You can’t be serious about this.’ She shook her head incredulously.

  ‘Of course I’m serious,’ he said impatiently. ‘Eve, be sensible about this,’ he sighed as she still looked stunned by what he was doing. ‘He could have any number of skeletons in his closet.’

  And Paul was determined to flush them all out. It was unbelievable.

  Her mouth was tight. ‘I wish you had talked this over with me before going ahead with it.’

  ‘You’re infatuated with the man, you were sure to have said “no”,’ Paul dismissed scathingly.

  ‘I would have said “no” because it’s an invasion of his privacy!’ she returned heatedly.

  He shook his head sadly. ‘I can’t bear to see you making a fool of yourself over this man.’

  ‘I’m not.’ She controlled herself with effort, realising she was starting to sound slightly hysterical. But what Paul had done was—well, it was—well, she was at a loss for words! ‘I want you to know here and now that I completely disapprove of what you’re doing,’ she bit out stiltedly. ‘And that no matter what you find out about Adam, I don’t want to know about it. I prefer to make up my own mind about people,’ she added with distaste for his method.

  ‘I was hoping to have had some initial information back by the time you got here this afternoon.’ Paul frowned, seeming not to realise how angry his delving into Adam’s private life had made her.

  ‘I mean it, Paul. I’m not interested in what dirt you manage to dig up,’ she snapped coldly. ‘Now, if you don’t mind,’ she picked up her bag, ‘I’d like to leave.’

  ‘But, Eve——’

  ‘I’m certainly not in the mood now to discuss business,’ she cut in warningly.

  Something in her tone finally got through to him, and he stood up to come around his desk to her, putting his hands lightly on her shoulders as he gazed down at her. ‘Darling, I’m sorry if all this has upset you, but I don’t——’

  ‘Upset me?’ she echoed tautly. ‘You’ve shocked me! Your behaviour is like something out of an old black and white movie! No one looks into another person’s life for dirt in real life.’

  He flushed his displeasure at her criticism. ‘Of course they do, Eve.’

  ‘Not in my world, they don’t,’ she stated firmly, shrugging off his hands. ‘Now, you can go ahead with this ridiculous business if you want to, but leave me out of it. And certainly don’t even attempt to tell me anything of what you find out,’ she repeated with distaste.

  ‘Eve, listen to me——’

  ‘If it’s more of the same nonsense, then I don’t want to hear it,’ she warned him harshly.

  He sighed. ‘All right, I won’t talk about that any more—for now. But when I do find out something underhand about him, I don’t intend——’

  ‘If you do,’ she corrected stiffly, her eyes flashing deeply turquoise.

  She was sure that if there had been anything like that in Adam’s past, then he would have told her about it last night; he had gone into pretty graphic detail about everything else in his life! Certainly, nothing in his manner had given her the impression he was holding anything back from her.

  ‘When I do,’ Paul insisted harshly, his gaze narrowed on her with slight contempt for what he believed to be her gullibility. ‘You really are infatuated with the man, aren’t you?’

  No, she realised sadly, she didn’t believe she was infatuated with Adam at all; in just a few short days she had come to love him. And that knowledge hadn’t helped to solve her dilemma at all. Now she was just aware of loving two men at the same time!

  She had no idea how she had come to fall in love with Adam so quickly, or at all; she had just known last night that it was a fact. Marina had said she was in love with him, and, even as she had been indignantly denying it, she had known like a lightning bolt that it was the truth. If she had needed any further proof of it, she had got it when the jealousy ripped through her at Marina’s request to be left alone with Adam.

  But, as she was very much aware, loving Adam just made the situation even more complicated.

  ‘I just disapprove of you probing into Adam’s private life.’ She evaded having to answer the accusation. ‘And as I don’t believe either of us is in the mood to discuss business …’ She prepared to leave.

  ‘Let’s go out and have afternoon tea somewhere,’ Paul suggested impulsively, the subject of his investigation into Adam forgotten—for now, as he had said. He squeezed her hands affectionately. ‘Like we used to,’ he encouraged huskily.

  Reminding her of how things ‘used to’ be made Eve feel guilty rather than nostalgic. He really didn’t deserve to have this happen to him.

  ‘That would be nice,’ she accepted softly, but without any real enthusiasm for the idea.

  She knew the choice of restaurant had been deliberate—it was one of the places they had visited regularly together during happier times—but she deliberately kept the conversation as impersonal as possible. Which wasn’t all that easy when Paul seemed determined to do the opposite!

  She was feeling rather ragged by the time she drove back to Ashton House, her mood not improved when she learnt Adam hadn’t returned yet.

  He didn’t get back in time for dinner either, although her grandmother did say she had received a telephone call from him to make his excuses and to explain he would be back later that evening. Like her grandmother, Eve was coming to think of him as the strangest house-guest!

  She was too restless to work, too eaten up with curiosity as to Adam’s whereabouts to relax. So much for ‘seeing as much of her as he possibly could’, she thought ruefully as she wandered outside in the late evening light. What was the man doing all this time?

  ‘That face is far too beautiful to wear a frown.’

  She spun around joyfully at the sound of his voice, all her disappointment and frustration at his absence completely disappearing as he stood so suddenly before her, launching herself against him eagerly, too pleased to see him to think of holding back or hiding her pleasure at seeing him.

  ‘Mm,’ Adam murmured appreciatively when he at last raised his head slightly, his lips only fractionally above her. ‘If I’d known I was going to get this sort of reception, I would have come back sooner!’

  Her eyes were glowing like jewels after the kiss they had just shared, her body moulded against the lean length of his. ‘Why didn’t you?’ she gently rebuked, her voice husky.

  A shadow darkened his face, the humour fading from his eyes. ‘I had some important business to take care of, and it took longer than I’d realised.’

  Eve looked up at him searchingly. ‘It was very sudden, wasn’t it?’

  ‘No, I——Yes, it was,’ he amended heavily, moving away to hold her at arm’s length. ‘Eve, we have to talk,’ he told her intently.

  She sighed. ‘Not tonight, surely? Paul has been talking all afternoon, and——’

  ‘Lester was here?’ Adam prompted sharply, and Eve could feel how tense he had become by the increased pressure of his hands on her shoulders.

  ‘No, I went to see him,’ she explained with a puzzled frown. ‘That business we had to discuss,’ she reminded, as Adam suddenly looked bleak.

  The tension about his mouth relaxed a little, but not much. ‘For a minute there, I——But you would hardly have been so pleased to see me if you had decided to work things out with Lester,’ he realised with relief. ‘What business did the two of you have to discuss?’ His eyes were narrowed.

  ‘Adam!’ She was taken aback at his probing; she knew she had shown she had been pleased to see him, but she had certainly never asked for the details of his own business dealings. However, she had the feeling he would have told her if she had shown the slightest curiosity!

  ‘Just tell me whether or not you signed anything—an
ything new, that is,’ he prompted impatiently.

  ‘As it happens, we didn’t actually get around to talking business,’ she told him frowningly. ‘Adam, what on earth is going on?’ His attitude was beginning to alarm her.

  ‘That’s what I have to talk to you about,’ he sighed. ‘I found out some things about Lester that I think you should know.’

  ‘Not you, too!’ she denied incredulously.

  Adam frowned. ‘You mean you already know about Lester?’

  ‘No—and I don’t want to know, either!’ she said exasperatedly. ‘I’ll tell you exactly the same thing I told Paul earlier, when he told me he was having you investigated; I consider it a complete invasion of privacy, and I have no wish to know what either of you found out about the other.’ She glared at him, hurt that he could think he could sway her favour in his direction by finding out something disreputable about Paul; she just wasn’t that shallow.

  ‘So Lester is having me investigated,’ he mused derisively. ‘I wish him luck with it,’ he mocked. ‘I haven’t been an angel, but I haven’t been a devil either.’

  ‘I just told you, I don’t care what Paul finds out; I’m not interested!’ Eve reminded stiltedly.

  ‘Paul didn’t find that out, I just told you,’ Adam said softly, his eyes narrowed.

  She turned away, still reeling from the blow of having him believe, as Paul did, that she could be so fickle as to change her feelings towards either of them because of something that had happened in their past.

  ‘Eve, what I found out——’

  ‘I told you,’ she snapped, her eyes flashing, ‘I don’t want to know.’

  He gave a heavy sigh of acknowledgement of her anger. ‘What I found out doesn’t concern Lester’s past,’ he continued reluctantly but remorsefully, ‘but your future.’

  ‘I don’t want to know!’

  ‘Eve, you aren’t an ostrich, you can’t bury your head in the sand,’ he reasoned impatiently. ‘And this is something you have to know about.’

  ‘In your opinion,’ she bit out tautly.

  He shrugged. ‘Are you interested in learning whether or not this house is still yours?’ he asked hardily.