Wild and Willing!

by Lawrence, Kim

  ‘My fault, I’m afraid,’ Adam said, his smile widening as he saw Anna’s blush deepen. ‘I needed nursing.’

  ‘There you are, Adam.’ A voice Anna vaguely recognised averted his attention.

  ‘Mother, what are you doing here?’ Adam’s voice held a note of resignation as he turned to face the tall, elegant woman for whom the crowds parted.

  Anna stared. This couldn’t be the frail old lady she’d spoken to on the phone. Elderly she might be, but this woman looked the picture of health. Her posture was elegant and erect, and her clothes had an unmistakable designer quality.

  ‘I came to see you compete, darling. I always came to see you and Benedict on sports day.’

  ‘I suppose you’re too old to stop listening at keyholes?’

  ‘I’d never resort to anything so vulgar, Adam. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your charming friend? I rather think we’ve spoken before. Anna? I was aching to meet a woman who could make my painfully proper son dress up in a bunny outfit.’

  ‘How did you…?’ Adam began.

  His mother gave him a superior smile. ‘When one has a son who is secretive and uncooperative in the extreme, one has to be resourceful.’

  Anna smiled shyly. ‘Mrs Deacon?’ The elder woman’s eyes were on the hand still firmly enclosed in Adam’s. Anna tried to disentangle her fingers, but Adam resisted her efforts.

  ‘Actually, it’s Arnold, but do call me Sara—or Mother?’ She threw a challenging look in Adam’s direction. ‘Don’t glare so. Can you blame me for being so relieved to see you with someone nice after that harpy? Considering how undemonstrative you can be holding hands is tantamount to a public declaration of love.

  ‘Don’t you find him a little reserved?’ she asked Anna curiously. ‘I was going to say stuffy, but…’ She smiled and Adam gave a philosophical shrug. ‘The boys didn’t want to change their name when I married Gerald,’ she explained to Anna.

  ‘Anna’s looking a little shocked because she was expecting a weak, fragile, grey-haired old lady. I believe you gave an Oscar-winning performance over the telephone.’

  ‘I was very concerned at the time. You can hardly blame me for taking advantage of the circumstances.’

  ‘He’s apt to do that himself,’ Anna commented.

  ‘Precisely,’ Sara Arnold said, bestowing an approving smile on Anna. ‘I do have grey hair, Adam.’ She raised her hand to her perfectly coiffed hair. ‘And I am seventy-five. I was forty when Adam was born, Anna; he was a very troublesome baby. I’ll be so relieved when he settles; I’ve had nothing but worry for thirty-five years.’

  ‘How did you get here, Mother?’ he asked casually. ‘By bus? Or did you decide to wheel out the chauffeur and Rolls today? My mother, Anna, is the widow of Gerald Arnold—the Arnold of Arnold frozen foods.’

  Anna’s brain was whirling; the food chain was a nationwide operation. ‘Does that mean you’re rich?’ she asked with some dismay.

  ‘My stepfather left Ben and me a large chunk of shares in his will,’ he admitted with a shade of embarrassment.

  ‘And Adam and the children will get the rest when I die.’

  ‘As you can see,’ Adam drawled sarcastically, ‘that could be any moment.’ He exchanged a dry smile with his parent. ‘It injures my male pride no end to have to admit that Jessica, it transpired, was more in love with my prospects than me. She had a lot of ideas about how she’d like to spend my fortune. That’s why she was so willing to put up with the inconvenience of children, not to mention the fact that I was in love with someone else.

  ‘You don’t know what a relief it was when I realised she didn’t want me for my body, or even my mind, but my bank balance! Mother, could you give us a few minutes alone?’ He spoke curtly enough to bring a frown of protest to Anna’s smooth brow. ‘I’ll try and persuade Anna to forgive your manipulative machinations; only a truly heartless woman would exploit her grandchildren’s illness.’

  ‘That was rude,’ Anna said, watching the elderly woman move away, leaning slightly on a silver-topped cane.

  ‘When you get to know my mother better you’ll appreciate that subtlety doesn’t work. Trust me on this one,’ he advised her with a wry smile. ‘Come and sit over here.’ He drew her over to one of the benches that lined the finishing area.

  ‘I want you to have no doubts about Jessica,’ he said gravely, his eyes examining her face with so much tenderness that Anna felt as if her heart would explode with pure joy.

  ‘The only reason we lasted as long as we did,’ he continued, ‘was that we never did discover anything about each other. Our relationship was always superficial and selfish—mutually so,’ he confessed. ‘I’d given up on love a long time before. Ben had been the lucky one. I’d come to the conclusion he and Tess were exceptions.

  ‘Then you came along and turned my whole world upside down. I was lost the first time I laid eyes on you, Anna. Every objection I tried to place between me and the way I felt kept disintegrating the more I saw of you, the more I got to know you.

  ‘I thought Jessica genuinely cared about me. I didn’t want to humiliate her. I was confidently expecting her to be ready to throw in the towel when things were obviously going wrong. The weekend was meant to push things in the right direction. Jessica is fond of her creature comforts.’

  ‘That’s despicable!’ Anna told him solemnly. ‘Not to mention devious.’ Happiness was spiralling out of control in her heart.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, outrageously. ‘It was frustrating to find all that forward planning had gone to waste. Then, not long afterwards, I learnt from a few things she let slip that she was very interested in my financial affairs. After that things fell into place.’ He gave a cynical smile. ‘It was easy to say goodbye in the end.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me about the money?’

  ‘I suppose you want me to give everything away to a shelter for three-legged, agoraphobic gerbils from broken homes?’ He teased a smile from her suddenly solemn face. ‘To be honest, Anna, I don’t dwell too much on my great expectations. I may not be in my step-father’s league but I’m financially stable. Gerald was a great guy, but I’ve not got the same taste for ostentation that he had.’

  ‘Were you worried I was a gold-digger too?’

  ‘Is that what’s bothering you?’ He laughed incredulously. ‘Listen here, Anna,’ he said, taking her face between his hands and pressing his nose up to hers. ‘You’ve really got the most amazing eyes I’ve ever… What was I saying?’ he asked vaguely, his eyes sinking to her mouth. ‘Your avaricious soul, wasn’t it? Can we be serious for one moment here, darling? You’re the most unworldly creature ever to draw breath. You’re not going to tell me you’ve got some idealistic objection to marrying a rich man?’

  ‘And if I did?’ she said, catching the tip of her tongue between her teeth. ‘Would you give it all away?’

  He caught the twinkle in her eyes as she relaxed and gave in to the temptation of her slightly parted lips. ‘I can see you’re one of those women who want to change a man.’

  ‘You’re not perfect,’ she told him, ‘but the thing is I sort of like you like that.’ She never had been very good at hiding her feelings, and it was such a relief to be able to let her love shine forth. ‘It’s been the most miserable two weeks of my life, Adam,’ she told him frankly. ‘Can you think of any therapy to help me recover from the trauma?’

  Adam rose to the challenge.

  ‘Wow!’ she said, gasping for air as he lifted his head a few minutes later.

  ‘Wow!’ he teased, running a finger along the curve of her jaw and nuzzling the pulse-point at the base of her throat.

  ‘Did you hire this outfit?’

  He nodded and looked puzzled.

  ‘You’ve lost your mind.’

  ‘That happened weeks ago,’ he explained. ‘I’ve got used to the idea now.’

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-1134-9

  WILD AND WILLING!

  First North American Publication
2000.

  Copyright © 1997 by Kim Lawrence.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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