‘Clothes,’ he said, his voice staccato and flat. ‘Put them on. I’ll run you home.’ His face was drawn and tense and an erratic pulse leapt in his lean cheek.
‘I’ll walk,’ she choked. She didn’t expect him to argue the point, and he didn’t. Relief…regret… Anna wasn’t sure which loomed largest in her heart.
CHAPTER THREE
THE phone woke Anna. Anna who was never ill had caught a cold that turned inexorably into flu. She’d spent the following week confined to the house. Physically she was feeling better, but the listlessness she was experiencing was almost as debilitating as the fever had been.
‘Hi, Anna?’ Anna heard Rosalind’s voice.
‘How are you, Lindy?’
‘That’s what I rang to ask you.’
‘I’ll survive.’ The pause at the other end lengthened and Anna frowned. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Have you seen Adam?’ The casual tone was desperately false.
‘Not if I can help it,’ Anna said, her stomach churning at the mere thought of the man.
The sigh echoed down the line. ‘Of course not. I just wondered whether I should… No, it was a bad idea. I’ll sort things out myself. I just thought he might be able to advise. No, you’re right. I can do this alone. Thanks, Anna.’
‘Any time,’ Anna said, totally at sea. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?’ She’d rarely heard her calm sister sound so confused and distressed. Something was wrong, badly wrong.
‘It’s nothing,’ Rosalind reassured her brightly. ‘I’m just experiencing a few teething problems settling down with the new consultant. Nothing time won’t cure. We were spoilt with Adam; he’s so marvellous.’ There was no mistaking the deep sincerity in her sister’s husky tone. ‘You’ve no idea how much I miss him.’
Anna gasped, her mind in a whirl. How could she have been so blind? She wasn’t the only Lacey to be smitten by Adam Deacon’s charm. Lindy knew him a lot better than she did; she’d worked with him for over a year. A year of being in close proximity to Adam would have sent her crazy!
‘Give my love to Mum and Dad and look after yourself. Speak to you soon.’
Shaken, Anna put the phone down. She cursed herself for being a blind fool. She’d been so busy resisting—or not—the strong sexual attraction she felt for Adam that she’d not given a moment’s thought to how her sister felt about him. He had come to the party with Rosalind, hadn’t he? That should have told her something.
By the time she’d knotted her old housecoat around her waist, pushed her feet into a pair of slippers and glanced at her wan reflection with distaste, she was totally convinced that her sister was hopelessly in love with Adam Deacon. The only questions that remained in her mind were if he had taken advantage of Lindy’s devotion and how far the affair had gone.
Anna made herself a cup of tea and prepared to take it back upstairs with her. She was feeling just the slightest bit neglected. Whilst it had seemed legitimate to grumble about her mother’s fussing, she rather missed it when left to her own devices.
Where was her mum? she wondered, still fretting over her sister’s broken heart. She ought to have been back a good hour ago. The sound of her mother’s voice from the sitting room made her backtrack.
‘I didn’t know you…’ She stopped, mouth open, hand on the half-open door.
‘You’re awake, Anna, dear. My, you really look dreadful. Doesn’t she, Adam?’
‘Yes, indeed,’ he said, seeing no need to soften the truth. There were dark shadows beneath her wide-spaced eyes and her cheekbones seemed more pronounced in the pallor of her small face.
Looking at the vulnerability of her naked face, he found himself experiencing a dismaying surge of protectiveness. He was asking for trouble being here, he’d known that, but he’d still come.
‘That damned car of mine broke down again and Adam very kindly rescued me. Come in and say hello.’
‘Can’t…’ Anna mumbled indistinctly. She was certain those brooding eyes were missing no awful detail of her shabby appearance. She’d planned on looking cool, confident and stunning when she next saw him. She’d been going to redeem her shattered self-respect by showing how easily she could dismiss him from her life.
She’d imagined several scenarios in which he ended up grovelling at her feet. Seeing him in the flesh made her accept that Adam wasn’t a grovelling sort of man!
‘I wouldn’t want to expose Mr Deacon to my virulent bug.’
Actually, she decided spitefully, I’d be rather pleased if his tanned complexion wasn’t glowing so disgustingly with health. Ruining my life obviously agrees with him, she thought resentfully. And not just mine; poor Lindy!
‘Nonsense! You’re not contagious now, just feeling sorry for yourself. I was just showing Adam the—’
Anna darted forward as she saw to her horror what lay open across her mother’s knees.
‘No, don’t!’ She saw the puzzled expression in her mother’s eyes and realised how loud and vehement she’d sounded. ‘I’m sure Mr Deacon doesn’t want to see old scrapbooks.’ She tried to moderate her tone.
Inside she was deeply agitated at the idea of Adam Deacon looking at the old pictures of herself before the knee injury had turned her life in a different direction. ‘We mustn’t bore him.’
‘I’m not bored.’ Anna shot him a murderous look.
‘He didn’t know about your dancing.’
‘Why should he?’ Anna’s hand shook as she placed her cup down on the table.
She felt impatient with herself. Adam Deacon was turning her into one of those silly, fluttery creatures she despised. This wouldn’t do at all! Adam Deacon was bad medicine as far as the Lacey girls were concerned, she concluded dourly. At least Hope was on the other side of the world; she at least was safe.
‘You’ve made a pot of tea. Good. You’ll have one, won’t you, Adam?’ Without waiting for a reply, Beth bustled off.
Aloof lack of interest and cold dismissal were reactions she’d mentally rehearsed. All her meticulous plans counted for nothing now. Finding him here so unexpectedly had chased all these set pieces from her head, especially in light of her recent realisation—poor Lindy!
Her own dishevelled appearance and the fact that he was casually flicking through her life history put Anna immediately on the offensive. She wanted to demand that he explain himself over his callous behaviour towards her sensitive sister. Wasn’t one of them enough? she wondered miserably.
‘What was your injury?’
‘Severed tendon.’ She reached out and closed the heavy book on his fingers. Adam made no comment as she snatched up the collection of newspaper cuttings and held it tightly to her chest.
‘Who operated?’ he persisted, not taking the hint.
‘Sir James Kennedy.’
‘The best.’
‘Isn’t that you?’ she snapped sarcastically. ‘Lindy seems to think so. She was only saying as much to me earlier,’ she said, her voice heavy with meaning. He didn’t even have the decency to look guilty!
‘How is Lindy?’ he asked casually.
‘As if you didn’t know!’ she said scornfully.
‘If I knew I wouldn’t have asked.’ His brows rose at her intensity.
‘She’s missing your godlike presence.’
‘I can understand this antagonism you have towards medicine after your experience, but Jamie Kennedy is the man for knees. Wasn’t the operation successful?’
‘I don’t have any antagonism towards medicine.’ Just you, she thought furiously. ‘What’s this, professional interest?’ She gave a brittle laugh. ‘Actually from your point of view it was successful, and if I’d been almost anything but a ballet dancer it wouldn’t have mattered, but…’
‘Tragic. Wasn’t that what the critics said? “A young and startling talent lost”,’ he quoted accurately from a clipping he’d just read.
‘I’d reserve tragedy for death, disaster and famine,’ she assured him stoically. ‘In the great
design of things I don’t think dancing is that important. Critics are prone to exaggeration.’
‘When they sang your praises?’
‘I was good,’ she said prosaically. ‘But we’ll never know how good now. Lots of people who promise talent don’t deliver. It’s ironic that the more finely trained your body is, the more vulnerable you are.’
‘It hasn’t left you bitter?’ His eyes raked her face as if he couldn’t credit she was as well adjusted to her personal tragedy as she appeared. The newspaper clippings hinted at a glittering future. It would take an exceptional person to come to terms with losing something you’d spent half your life aiming for.
‘It could have,’ she told him, thinking back over her formative years spent with one goal in mind. She’d had a tantalising glimpse of that goal. From solo roles she’d progressed to a senior position in a touring company, and there had been talk of a new star in the ascendant. She ignored the familiar empty feeling of loss and squared her shoulders. She could do without Adam’s forays into amateur psychology.
‘Are you trying to tell me you are philosophical about it? You don’t feel cheated?’
He really couldn’t take a hint! She shrugged her slender shoulders fractionally, looking absurdly small and fragile in the oversized robe. But she wasn’t fragile. Years of discipline had made her body supple and strong; that much she hadn’t lost.
‘I felt my share of anger and self-pity, but that passed. I decided to get on with life. I hate wasting time. I have no intention of being one of those pathetic people who prate on about their golden years when they’ve still most of their life in front of them. The fact is I can never dance professionally, at least not at the level I wanted to. But it doesn’t stop me enjoying music.’
‘I remember.’
The reminiscent gleam in his eyes made her shift uncomfortably and clutch her mementoes tighter to her bosom. ‘You didn’t approve,’ she reminded him stiffly.
‘From a distance I enjoyed it.’ The corners of his mouth lifted in a reluctant smile.
‘Why from a distance?’ She was excited by this confession and fascinated by the smile. For a moment she forgot he’d broken her sister’s heart.
‘You’re too…unsettling close to.’ The husky admission emerged almost against his will.
‘Perhaps you need a challenge.’
She was pleased he found her unsettling. Considering the traumatic effect his intrusion into her life had had it seemed only fair he should suffer some of the discomfort.
Not that she fooled herself he was anything like as confused and miserable as she was. He had his life neatly planned out and there was no place in it for her. He’d made that very plain.
‘What are you trying to goad me into doing?’ His scornful look made her squirm. He must think she was quite shameless. She was quite shameless where he was concerned, it seemed.
‘Just making conversation.’ She produced an unpicturesque handkerchief and lifted it to her reddened nose.
‘Just as well; you’re not dressed for seduction.’
‘Thanks a lot! I really needed reminding that I look like hell.’
‘I can’t fight with you when you’re like this,’ he commented half-regretfully. ‘It feels like kicking a kitten.’
‘Oh, Doctor, you’re all consideration,’ she purred rattily. ‘I’m sure Freud would have had a field day with all your feline references, but don’t worry about me. I’m quite capable of looking after myself.’
‘I never doubted it.’
Beth Lacey bustled in with a good-natured smile on her face. She placed a tray with tea and scones on the coffee table. ‘It’s so nice for Anna to have some company. She’s a very impatient patient.’
Anna simmered as Adam exchanged a sympathetic glance with her mother.
‘He didn’t come to see me,’ she said, correcting the implication that Adam Deacon was out and about visiting the sick and distressed. A saint he was not!
‘All you had to do was ask,’ Adam said with another sympathetic smile.
Anna ground her teeth and glared at the back of his golden head as he turned to speak to her mother. ‘If I wanted company I’ve plenty of friends I’d ask.’ A flush mounted her cheeks as she realised how petulant her retort had sounded.
‘Did Adam tell you about the burglars?’ Beth asked. ‘He caught them red-handed. A gang from out of town.’ Beth gave the impression that no one local would have committed such an uncivilised act. ‘Did they do that to your face?’ With concern she looked at the scrape down the side of his cheek.
‘No, this was a stray cat.’ His eyes tauntingly flickered in Anna’s direction.
His fingers touched the superficial healing scar, and a mental image of herself tracing the angry line with her tongue popped into Anna’s head. She trembled with the effort of dispelling the picture.
Beth clicked her tongue in sympathy. ‘Well, I think you were very brave to tackle the thugs.’
Thugs… Anna swallowed, realising for the first time that he could easily have been hurt. The desire to protect him from injury was bewilderingly strong.
‘Stupid, more like,’ she retorted tartly, however. ‘Wouldn’t it have been more sensible to leave that sort of thing to the police rather than act like some sort of macho vigilante? They know what they’re doing.’ She turned a blind eye to her mother’s glare.
‘Your concern for my welfare is deeply touching.’ Adam deliberately misunderstood her comment, but came ironically close to the truth. ‘It would hardly be realistic to expect an overstretched police force to keep a twenty-four-hour watch on an empty house. I’m no hero, Anna.’
‘How cruel of you to shatter my illusions!’ she moaned with a theatrical gesture.
‘Anna, if you can’t be civil…’ her mother began in a severe tone. ‘I know something that might cheer you up,’ she said, diverted from her scolding. ‘You’ll never guess who I met in town.’
‘Mother is a terrible gossip.’
‘Nonsense. I just take an interest, that’s all,’ Beth observed in a hurt tone. ‘If you’re not interested…’
Anna worked her way closer to the door and resisted the temptation to smooth down her spiky hair, all the time conscious of Adam’s scrutiny.
Did he always look perfect? she thought resentfully. In casual cream trousers and a tan leather jacket he looked distractingly gorgeous.
The sound of Adam’s phone made Anna jump.
‘Excuse me,’ he said, fishing the instrument from his pocket. ‘Hello, Deacon here.’
Anna tried very hard to look as if she wasn’t listening. She abandoned this pretence when, after a short pause, Adam exploded.
‘He—they did what? Why the hell would they do that? What has being three to do with it?’ Adam closed his eyes and groaned.
Anna exchanged a glance with her mother who was just as fascinated by this point as she was.
‘Don’t panic.’ Adam covered the mouthpiece with his hand and looked from Anna to Beth and back again. ‘Nathan and Sam have locked themselves in the bathroom and flooded the place.’
The expression of sheer horror in his eyes made Anna’s lips twitch. Domestic crises were obviously outside Adam’s experience. A small, choked sound escaped her firmly clamped lips. Adam glared at her.
‘I’m glad you find it amusing,’ he snarled sarcastically. ‘Two half-hysterical children are not my idea of a joke.’ He lifted his hand to respond to the person on the other end. ‘Yes, Kate, you did tell me they’re crying.’
‘You need to get them out,’ Anna volunteered helpfully.
‘Thank you for that pearl of wisdom.’
Anna hoped that her mother could now see how unpleasant Adam Deacon was. She threw her parent a look, but that lady was apparently fascinated by the cover of a glossy magazine. As awful as Adam was this was an emergency and Anna was concerned about these children she’d never met.
‘Can they reach the lock?’
Adam conveyed this question
down the line. ‘All right, Kate, there’s no need to yell.’ He winced and moved the instrument several inches from his ear. ‘It appears the leg’s come off the stool.’ He spoke into the phone again. ‘Tell Granny I’ll pay for the Persian rug to be cleaned. I’ll buy her another one!’ he snapped, impatience lapping at the edge of his level tones. He turned back to Anna. ‘They can’t turn the taps off. The plaster is falling off the drawing-room ceiling.’
This time the look he shot Anna was one of pure appeal. Adam in charge, domineering and capable, was a dynamite package, but this hint of vulnerability wrung her heart. Adam wasn’t as self-sufficient as he liked to appear.
‘Tell them to pull the plug out,’ she suggested practically. Simple common sense often eluded intellectuals, in her experience, and here was a perfect example.
Adam hit the heel of his palm to his forehead. ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ He passed the advice down the line. ‘They’ve done it. Now we’ve just got to get them out— Hi, Jake, what sort of lock is it? Then you could actually unscrew the mechanism from the outside. Good man,’ he said with a sigh of relief. After a pause he said, ‘Tell them to calm down. How?’
‘Get them involved.’ Anna made the suggestion tentatively.
Adam’s eyes narrowed as he regarded her. He gave a sudden decisive nod. ‘Here, you tell her.’ He covered the distance between them in two strides and shoved the phone into her hand. Leaning one hand against the wall, he effectively prevented her from obeying her instincts and running.
She glowered at him. How typical of the man to selfishly put her on the spot. ‘Hello, I’m Anna.’ Her anger faded as she heard the panic in the young voice of the girl on the other end of the line.
The youthful voice identified herself as Kate, and Anna replied sympathetically. Her soft tones eventually appeared to have a soothing effect on the overwrought girl.
‘Explain to them that they’ll soon be out and tell them what— Jake, is it? Yes, what Jake is doing. Do they like helping him? Good. Then let them think that’s what they’re doing. Improvise a bit. Let them use their toothbrushes as screwdrivers and they can help Jake. Keep talking to them. Good. I’ll pass you back to your uncle.’ Straightening her elbow, she thrust the instrument hard into his middle.
Wild and Willing! Page 5
