by Miranda Lee
He reacted as any man would. With a helpless, hopeless fury.
‘What, in God’s name, did that vicious, vindictive cow say to you?’
Her chin came up, as it did sometimes, and she eyed him suddenly with a chilling dislike. ‘I presume you’re speaking about Adele. Dr Adele Harvey, to give her her full name. The woman you lived with for three years. The woman who rang you about your brother on Friday. The same woman you made love to for hours on end this weekend.’
‘No!’ he burst out, and, launching himself into the house, he grabbed her upper arms and kicked the door shut behind him. ‘No, no, no!’ he repeated loudly, shaking her. ‘A thousand times no!’
She glared down at the brutal grip on her arms till he released her.
‘Which part is wrong, Jason?’ she asked coldly. ‘Which one of the many lies you told me isn’t a lie?’
He grimaced at how bad things must look to her. ‘Look, I only lied about who rang me because I was afraid you’d think the wrong things. And I was right, by the look of things. You did. You do! Damn it, Emma, I didn’t sleep with Adele. I saw her briefly at the hospital on Friday night, and, yes, she did make a pass at me, but, no, I didn’t touch her. And, no, I’m not still in love with her. In fact, I said some pretty nasty things, and I knew afterwards that she’d get even. And she has. She’s rung you up and fed you a whole truckful of lies.’
Emma said nothing, just looked at him and started shaking her head.
‘I did not sleep with her!’ he shouted.
‘I don’t believe you. By the way, she didn’t ring, Jason. She came in person. She was here, this afternoon, in this very kitchen.’
‘Oh, God,’ Jason groaned.
‘Seeing her was worth a thousand words. She’s everything I could never be. Strikingly beautiful. Incredibly smart. Stunningly sophisticated. No man would choose me over her if he had a real choice.’
Jason was appalled. Adele must have really put on a show. Toned down the make-up. Dressed more sedately. Acted as though she had feelings.
‘You had to get out of Sydney, didn’t you?’ Emma threw at him, and he gaped. ‘It was your patient who died. It was you who was shamefully neglectful, not Adele. She told me all about it.’
Jason’s mouth finally snapped shut. ‘Really?’ he grated out. ‘Do go on. I’m fascinated to hear the rest of the script of the best performance since Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.’
‘You can scoff all you like, but I know the truth when I hear it. She was crying,’ Emma flung at him with a wealth of emotion. ‘Crying her heart out. She told me she’d never loved any man as much as she’d loved you. But after what happened with the little boy she just couldn’t work with you any more, or be with you any more. She finally told you to leave, and you did, without a backward glance.’
Jason could hardly believe his ears! He might have laughed if he hadn’t been seeing his life go down the tubes at a frightening rate.
‘She knew then that you’d never loved her at all, that all you’d ever wanted was success and sex. She said your greed and ambition knew no bounds. You were eaten up with the idea of money because you’d once been so poor. She said she thought she had no feeling left for you, but when she saw you on Friday night, and you looked so upset about your brother, she felt sorry for you. And, of course, you are a very handsome man, Jason. No one could deny that.’
Well, thank heaven for small mercies, he thought bitterly.
‘She asked you back to her place, just to give you a place to sleep for the night, but when you started making love to her she just couldn’t resist. She said you always were a wonderful lover. Very…skilled. The next morning she wanted to tell you to go, and not come back that night, but she didn’t have the strength of will. She hadn’t had a lover since you left, and she’s been so lonely.’
Jason was shaking his head in disbelief, but Emma just ignored him, determined, it seemed, to relay every lie Adele had fed her.
‘By this morning she felt bitterly ashamed, even more so when you told her you were going to be married, to a simple country girl who would look after you like a king but never question what you did or where you went. She said you told her sex with me would bore you to death, but you aimed to supplement your bland day-to-day diet with more exotic fare from time to time. Women you’d met over on the coast. A widow or two you’d met during your rounds. The occasional trip to Sydney—and her.’
‘Oh, please,’ he groaned, but Emma swept on, regardless.
‘She said after you left for the hospital this morning she kept thinking about me, a fellow woman, about to be used and deceived so cruelly. She drove down to apologise for what she’d done and to warn me to break off my engagement to you. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.’ Her eyes filled and she began to take off her ring.
‘You stop that right there!’ Jason raged.
And she did, wide, tear-filled eyes flying to his.
‘She lied to you, Emma. Can’t you see that? Hell, I can prove that boy wasn’t my patient. There are records. Documents. Death certificates. Besides, don’t you think Doc Brandewilde had me checked out before he took me on as a partner? My reputation as a doctor is second to none. I can also prove where I stayed on Friday and Saturday night. In a hotel in North Sydney. Nowhere near Adele’s place at Palm Beach. The man at the desk would remember me. I had breakfast in the public dining room both mornings. If you like I’ll take you up there personally, so that you can ask around.’
Jason saw he was beginning to get through to her. Her mouth was dropping open and a big dollop of doubt was muddying that shimmering but clear green gaze.
‘Then there’s my calls to you,’ he argued with ruthless logic. ‘All made either from the hospital or the hotel. Phone records would prove that. None were made from Adele’s number. You know how often I rang you. If I was supposed to be in bed with Adele half the weekend I would have had to call you some of the time from her place, wouldn’t I? Think, Emma. Don’t let her do this to us. Don’t let her spoil what we have, which is something very special. Very precious. That’s what’s killing her. That I don’t love her any more and that I’ve found happiness with someone else. She doesn’t really want me, but she doesn’t want you to have me, either. I promised you I would never be unfaithful to you and I haven’t.’
‘But how…how can I be sure of that?’ she cried plaintively. ‘There’s no proof. If it were me who’d been unfaithful to you, at least there’d be proof!’
‘You shouldn’t need proof, Emma, not if you know me at all. You have my word.’
‘Your word…’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Or isn’t that good enough?’
When she didn’t say anything, his shoulders sagged, all his energy suddenly draining out of him.
‘That’s it, then,’ he said wearily. ‘We have no future anyway, if you don’t trust me.’
When he went to walk away she grabbed his shoulder. ‘If what you say is true…then that woman is truly wicked.’
‘She is, Emma. Believe me.’
‘Then how could you ever have loved her?’
‘I thought you said someone being wicked was no barrier to love?’
‘No, I meant doing something wicked. Not being wicked. Truly wicked.’
‘Ahh… So your beloved Dean isn’t truly wicked? He just made one mistake. That’s a joke, Emma, and you know it. He’d been sleeping around in this town for years before he turned his attentions to you. And he didn’t confine himself to single women, either, from what I’ve heard. Nothing’s sacred with him, provided he gets his end in!’
‘Don’t be disgusting!’
‘You have to be disgusting when you’re talking about men like him, and women like Adele. They’re both tarred with the same brush. They’re selfish and amoral and mean. What they want, and can’t have, they try to destroy.’
Her face began to crumple. ‘I…I suppose you’re right…’
He stepped forward and folded her into h
is arms before she could burst into tears, holding her close and stroking her hair. ‘We can’t let them spoil things for us, Emma. We have to stay strong. And stick together.’
He felt her lungs fill on a deep breath, then empty in a series of small, quivering shudders. ‘It’s so hard,’ she said.
‘Life is hard, Emma. But people sometimes make it harder by picking the wrong partners. Dean was as bad for you as Adele was for me.’
She drew back and looked up at him with glistening green eyes. ‘Did…did you still find her attractive, Jason?’
‘No. Not one little bit.’
‘I find that hard to believe. She’s very striking-looking. And so tall and stylish.’
‘I much prefer you, Emma.’
‘Do you still want to wait till our wedding night?’
‘Yes.’
Perversely, she looked put out.
‘Do you?’ he asked gently.
‘Yes. No. Oh, I don’t know.’ She pulled out of his arms and began to pace agitatedly around the kitchen. ‘I don’t know anything any more. All I know is that I can’t stop thinking about it.’
‘It?’
She ground to a halt on the opposite side of the table and threw him a reproachful look. ‘You know very well what I’m talking about, Jason. Don’t be cruel. It’s all very well for you. You’ve been there, done that. You don’t know what it’s like to lie there in bed at night and wonder and worry.’
‘What do you wonder and worry about?’
‘Everything!’
Jason wasn’t about to tell her he was a bit worried himself. He wanted to make their wedding night wonderful for her, but her virginity might prove a problem. From what he’d gleaned, a first-time experience could be pretty painful. Yet he wanted to give her nothing but pleasure. She deserved it. He would have to use every bit of knowledge and skill he had to ensure that she would experience some pleasure at least.
But first he had to allay her fears. Fear caused tension, and tension often caused more pain.
‘It’s going to be fine, Emma,’ he said softly. ‘You’re a very responsive girl. Worrying isn’t going to help things. Making the sex good is my job. Leave it up to me.’
Emma stared at him. ‘She…she said you were a wonderful lover…’
‘How nice of her,’ came his frosty reply. ‘Are you worried she was lying about that as well?’
‘No. I’m worried you’re going to find me a very big disappointment.’
‘I doubt that, Emma.’ Hell, he’d been aching to make her his own for weeks now. He’d enjoy himself, no matter what! ‘Just don’t expect too much too soon. Really good sex can sometimes take a little time.’
She frowned.
‘And talking about it is the kiss of death,’ he added with a wry smile. ‘So shall we stop, and curl up together on the sofa and watch the Sunday movie? It’s going on eight-thirty.’
She looked at him as though he was insane. ‘No, no, I don’t think so, Jason. I’ve had a pretty upsetting day, and my mind is too full to watch a movie.’
‘Oh. Oh, all right.’ He could never get used to the way women liked to wallow in their feelings. Now that she knew Adele had been lying, she should be happy. He was. ‘I’ll drop in for breakfast, shall I?’
‘If you like.’
He frowned at her coolness. ‘You’re not still angry with me, are you, Emma?’
‘You did lie to me, Jason.’
‘But with the best of intentions, darling.’
His using that term of endearment did not go down well at all. ‘Don’t try to soft soap me, Jason. You lied. You didn’t trust me to trust you. I hope you won’t make a habit of that.’
He blinked at her stern tone, and the uncompromising glint in her eyes. She was a lot tougher than he’d realised. And quite stubborn about some things.
But so was he. ‘I repeat, Emma. I did what I did because I didn’t want you to worry. People tell little white lies sometimes.’
‘I understand that. But I won’t be taken for a fool. Or some simple country girl who won’t ask questions.’
Jason sighed. It seemed Adele’s malicious lies could not be wiped away so easily. He would have to win Emma’s trust back with actions, rather than words. He vowed never to go anywhere without her for a long, long time. Not that he should have to. Soon, they would be married, and then they would spend every spare moment together.
His loins leapt at the thought. He could hardly wait!
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘JASON, do stop fidgeting!’ Martha hissed from the front pew. ‘It took me ages to arrange that tie for you and it’s perfect. Leave it alone.’
Jason lowered his hands, which were shaking slightly.
This marriage business wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be. Certainly not this part, with him standing alone at the foot of the altar and a whole churchful of people staring expectantly, first up at him, then down the still empty aisle.
No best man stood by his side to calm him. He didn’t have one, hadn’t thought he needed one. Emma had decided against bridesmaids. She didn’t have any girlfriends her age, she’d explained, her intensive nursing of Ivy preventing her from socialising this past year or so. She didn’t have any close relatives, either. No one she could ask to walk her down the aisle and give her away.
Doc had agreed to do the honours, and he and his wife, Martha, were going to sign the certificate as witnesses. They weren’t having a formal reception, either. Officially it was a quiet little wedding, but they’d issued a general invitation to everyone in town to come to the church, where Jason had organised for drinks and sandwiches to be served outside afterwards, weather permitting. Then, after photos were taken, the wedding cake would be duly cut and small speeches made under the large oak tree near the church steps.
Once tradition was satisfied, Jason was going to whisk Emma straight off on their honeymoon, an unknown destination on the coast where they would spend a week before they had to be back. Jason hadn’t felt he could take any more time off than a week after only being at the practice for so short a time.
A quick glance at his new watch showed him it was twenty-five past three, yet the wedding had been booked for three.
Where in heaven’s name was she? It wasn’t as though she had to go far. The church was right in town, less than a minute’s drive from the sweet shop. You could walk the distance if you had to!
Linking his hands agitatedly behind his back, he moved from foot to foot, and waited. The minutes dragged on. It had to be three thirty by now, and still…no sight of her.
She’s changed her mind, he thought. She isn’t coming.
Jason closed his eyes as the ghastly possibility took shape in his mind. She’d been different since the disaster with Adele. Quieter and more distant. She hadn’t wanted to watch movies with him, hadn’t wanted him to touch her or kiss her. Sometimes he’d caught her looking at him with watchful eyes, as though she didn’t know what he was any more.
He’d done his best to reassure her. But the bottom line was their relationship had been damaged by what he’d done. He should have been honest with her. He could see that now. He was going to pay for his mistake, and pay dearly. She wasn’t going to marry him.
‘She’s here,’ Martha whispered to him, and Jason’s eyes flew open in time to see that the minister was in place in front of the altar and everyone else’s heads had swivelled round to face the back.
He felt sick with relief.
The organ started up with the ‘Bridal March’ and there she was…his bride…his Emma, floating down the aisle towards him in the most gloriously feminine wedding dress he’d ever seen, a fantastic concoction of chiffon and lace which fitted tightly around her bust before flowing right down to the ground in soft folds. The neckline was dangerously low-cut, displaying more of her breasts than he’d ever seen—or even felt—before. Tight lace sleeves encased her arms, in which she carried an elegant sheaf of white lilies. The soft folds of the skirt swirled
around her legs as she walked, clinging to her slender thighs in the most tantalising fashion. A pearl choker adorned her elegant neck. A short lace veil covered most of her pretty face. A long, lace-edged net veil trailed out behind her, completing the truly stunning image.
That she had made her dress and veil awed him. That she would make such a sexy style surprised and aroused him.
He would have liked to see her eyes as she approached, but they were hidden from him by the veil. Only her mouth was visible.
It was totally unmade-up, he noted with some surprise. She usually wore lipstick, if only a pale colour. Had she forgotten to put it on? He could appreciate that nerves could make one forget anything. He’d had to go back for their rings. And arranging a simple tie had been beyond him.
He smiled a little nervously at her, but she didn’t smile back. Neither did Doc.
Jason’s stomach dropped to the floor. Something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what, but something…
He frowned at Doc, but he was already turning away to join Martha in the front pew. When Jason took Emma’s hand, it was trembling uncontrollably.
He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but the minister had already started the simple and traditional ceremony they’d chosen. Soon, Doc was coming forward to say his bit, and they were both vowing, ‘I do.’ Jason tried to sound cool and confident, but Emma’s voice was small and strained.
The exchange of wedding bands was similarly tense, with Emma’s hands shaking so badly he had to help her slide the ring on him.
Nothing, however, had been as fraught with danger as the part where the minister had asked if there was anyone here who knew of any reason why these two should not be declared man and wife. Jason had been holding Emma’s hand at the time, and felt her fingers flinch, then freeze, felt her holding herself so stiffly that he worried she was on the verge of a faint.
And then it came to him. Why she was late. Why she was still in such a state.
She’d been waiting one last time, hoping that Ratchitt would return at the last moment to save her from marrying a man she didn’t love.
