‘No?’ Her husband swung her around. ‘You’ll tell everything, damn you,’ he bit out fiercely. ‘Hawk’s part in this may have all been pretence, but mine certainly wasn’t!’
Geraldine visibly paled at the threat, suddenly looking old. ‘You knew what I was like before you asked me to marry you—’
‘I knew you were promiscuous, not that you were stupid!’ her husband snarled.
‘How dare you?’ Her eyes flashed.
‘Quite easily,’ he assured her contemptuously.
‘Why is it that men are always so quick to pass on the blame for their wife’s infidelity?’ Geraldine snapped. ‘Hawk was the same. He spent all of his time working, and when he wasn’t working he was with that brat every minute of the—’
‘Geraldine!’ Hawk thundered, his arm tightening about Whitney’s shoulders.
Whitney could have told him that he had no need to feel indignant on her behalf; she had always known of Geraldine’s opinion of her. Brat was quite a mild insult compared with some of the things she had called her in the past. Nevertheless, she felt warmed by Hawk’s instantaneous defence of her. Even if she did find all of this conversation still very much a puzzle!
‘Well, you were,’ Geraldine maintained resentfully. ‘And Tom was no better. Before we were married we were together all the time, but as soon as I became his wife I was just another possession he quickly lost interest in.’
‘I’m sure that if you consider marriage the cause of the trouble between us a divorce could easily be arranged,’ her husband told her coldly.
Geraldine gave a ragged sigh. ‘I know I’m selfish and demanding, but I can’t change the way I am.’
‘You know damn well there’s a lot more involved in this than your affair with another man,’ Tom Beresford rasped.
‘I never said I was having an affair,’ she flushed.
Her husband gave a harsh sigh. ‘Do you have any idea of the penalty for drug smuggling?’ His eyes were narrowed.
‘I wish you would stop saying—’
‘Cordell was arrested this morning,’ Tom cut in coldly.
If Geraldine looked stunned by this revelation Whitney knew she didn’t look any better. Alex Cordell, Tom Beresford’s second ‘minder’, had been arrested? She looked up at Hawk questioningly, receiving an encouraging smile from him before he turned back to the other couple.
‘Alex…?’ Geraldine repeated weakly.
‘Your lover,’ her husband taunted hardly. ‘The man who has been sharing your bed every time I didn’t; the man who joined you on your weekends in Switzerland so that the two of you could check on his bank account there; the man you’ve been carrying drugs for!’
CHAPTER NINE
‘THAT’S a lie!’ Geraldine finally managed to gasp in a strangulated cry.
‘Which part of it?’ her husband said disgustedly, suddenly looking old.
Geraldine couldn’t quite seem to meet his gaze. ‘All of it!’
Tom shook his head sadly, no longer the arrogantly confident man Whitney had met for lunch several days ago. ‘I’ve known for months that Cordell was your lover,’ he told Geraldine contemptuously.
Whitney knew there was still a lot to be explained, but the relief of knowing it was Alex Cordell who was Geraldine’s lover was enough for her to give Hawk a blinding smile. Emotion flickered in his eyes before it was quickly brought under control, his attention drawn reluctantly back to the other couple.
‘Then why didn’t you say something?’ Geraldine scorned disbelievingly.
The pale blue eyes became icily cold. ‘Do you think I’ve enjoyed having to stand back and watch you make a fool of me?’ he bit out. ‘I’ve lost count of the amount of times I would have liked to wring your lovely neck for you! But there was so much more involved than my pride,’ he rasped. ‘Did you know that my first wife died because of a drug overdose?’ he challenged.
Geraldine frowned. ‘I knew she died suddenly, but not how. But why do you keep going on about drugs?’ she dismissed. ‘I’ve always despised people who deal in drugs. Tell him, Hawk.’
He shrugged. ‘I told myself for some time, but the evidence doesn’t lie.’
‘What evidence?’ Geraldine snapped.
‘Parcels that you’ve carried to various countries for Cordell,’ Hawk rasped. ‘Whitney unwittingly photographed him handing the parcels over to you several times,’ he added grimly.
Green eyes narrowed venomously on Whitney. ‘You had no right to spy on me,’ Geraldine bit out.
‘Is that why you had Cordell threaten her?’ Hawk challenged.
Geraldine’s mouth tightened. ‘All I wanted was the photographs of Alex and I together; I couldn’t let Tom see them without his realising that I—’
‘Yes?’ her husband prompted softly.
‘That I was having an affair with Alex, damn it!’ she acknowledged resentfully.
Tom’s mouth twisted. ‘Progress indeed,’ he derided bitterly.
‘But that’s all it was,’ she flared. ‘This business about drug smuggling is nonsense.’
‘I never took you for a fool, Geraldine,’ her husband said wearily.
‘I’m not!’ she glared at him. ‘Alex made time for me when you couldn’t—or wouldn’t. He was kind. He—’
‘He was using you,’ Tom said disgustedly. ‘He didn’t want those photographs back from Whitney because they incriminated him in an affair with you; he knew they could damn him in a much more serious crime.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Since you refuse to think those parcels contained drugs, just what did you think you were carrying?’
Once again Geraldine’s gaze avoided meeting his. ‘I don’t have to tell you that.’
‘You either tell me or I’ll let the police have you right now,’ he grated.
Geraldine paled again. ‘Antiques!’ she spat out.
‘Antiques?’ both Tom and Hawk echoed incredulously.
Geraldine’s head went back challengingly. ‘Not just any antiques; specialised items requested by certain clients—’
Her husband’s humourless laugh interrupted her. ‘You can’t really believe that!’
Geraldine flushed at his unmistakable derision. ‘Just because Alex worked as a bodyguard for a living is no reason to suppose he was stupid,’ she flashed. ‘He has a fantastic collection of antique silver himself—’
‘Bought with other peoples’ lives,’ her husband rasped. ‘He dealt in death and destruction—and for the last few months you’ve been helping him!’
‘No, I—Tom?’ Concern replaced Geraldine’s anger as her husband seemed to crumple and fall, going down on her knees beside him as he lay on the floor.
Whitney reached the other man’s side at the same time as Hawk did, alarmed by the grey tinge to his cheeks, pain making his eyes a dark cloudy blue.
‘Tablets,’ he managed to choke.
Geraldine searched frantically through his coat pockets while Hawk loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. ‘Dear God, what have I done?’ Geraldine groaned as she anxiously watched her husband take one of the tablets she had found, his colour returning slightly to normal after only a few minutes.
‘We should get him to bed,’ Whitney told them calmly. ‘Call a doctor—’
‘No doctor,’ Tom managed a wan smile. ‘Although the bed sounds a good idea.’
The coolly confident Geraldine seemed to have fallen to pieces, Stephen Hollister helping Hawk to carry her husband down to his suite.
‘I really think you should see a doctor, Tom.’ Hawk frowned down at the other man as he lay on top of the bedclothes.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Tom assured him, looking better by the minute. ‘I’ve had these attacks before—’
‘When?’ Geraldine demanded to know. ‘You never told me about them!’
His mouth twisted. ‘I didn’t want to worry you.’
‘You didn’t think I had a right to know my husband was ill?’ she frowned.
He gave a rueful smile. ‘At the beg
inning I didn’t want to make it obvious you were marrying a man old enough to be your father; lately—well, I think your affair with Cordell speaks for itself!’
‘Oh, Tom!’ Geraldine groaned, swallowing hard.
‘Tears?’ He frowned his confusion at the watery sheen to her eyes.
‘Of course,’ she choked. ‘I love you!’
His mouth thinned. ‘You have a damned funny way of showing it!’
‘I—’
‘Whitney and I will wait in the lounge for you, Geraldine,’ Hawk cut in briskly. ‘You’re sure about the doctor?’ he asked, frowning his concern for the other man.
‘Sure.’ Tom smiled at him reassuringly, glancing ruefully at Whitney. ‘If I’m not mistaken you have some explaining of your own to do,’ he derided.
‘Oh, he definitely has,’ Whitney nodded determinedly. ‘He let me go on thinking you were an English version of Al Capone!’
Tom Beresford chuckled weakly. ‘I quite enjoyed playing the role.’
‘Hawk isn’t going to think it’s funny in a few minutes,’ she promised.
Tom laughed softly. ‘I do admire your taste in women, Hawk!’
Hawk smiled ruefully. ‘Whitney is her own woman—and I think she’s about to give me hell!’
She did feel a little like kicking his other shin; she also felt like screaming for his lack of confidence in her. Although now that she realised Tom Beresford’s real role perhaps it was as well that Hawk hadn’t confided in her; she always had been lousy at hiding her true feelings, and it wouldn’t have done if she had actually seemed to like Tom.
Not that she intended letting Hawk get away with his deceit of her that easily; he could have been a little more honest with her than he had been. She returned his gaze with steady condemnation once they were back in the lounge.
He sighed. ‘I’ll start at the beginning—’
‘That might be nice!’
He grimaced at her heavily laced sarcasm. ‘I told you what I could, Whitney.’
‘Which wasn’t a whole lot!’ She had felt like a spectator at an Agatha Christie film since he and Tom Beresford had arrived back alone, the guilty person far from the one she had been led to believe! Hawk wasn’t going to get away with treating her like a child, not this time.
‘No,’ he acknowledged heavily. ‘But Cordell is a very dangerous man, and I didn’t want you at risk.’ He shook his head. ‘Geraldine has no idea how dispensable she was becoming to him. I think she really does believe she was only carrying antiques!’
Whitney was sure, much as she disliked the other woman, that her disbelief about the drugs had been genuine.
‘She even gave Cordell your home telephone number believing he just wanted to retrieve the photographs that linked the two of them in an affair,’ Hawk grated. ‘As soon as Martin told me about that call I knew I had to keep you with me until all this was over. I got my face slapped and my shin kicked for my trouble!’
‘How was I to know I’d actually photographed Alex Cordell passing on drugs?’ Whitney shuddered at the realisation of the danger she had been in. It still seemed incredible to her that Alex Cordell was responsible; he had seemed such a nice man the few times they had spoken together.
‘It took quite a while for Glyn and I to realise what it was he wanted from you,’ Hawk grimaced.
‘It all seems so—complicated.’ Whitney frowned.
‘It was all very simple to start with,’ he sighed. ‘Then Geraldine met Tom and fell in love with him, and you refused to give up your story on Tom.’
‘I still don’t understand how you became involved with Glyn in the first place.’ She shook her head.
‘Anyone selling drugs should be prevented from doing it.’ Hawk’s expression was bleak.
‘I agree, but why did you become involved?’ She frowned.
‘Why not?’ he returned distantly.
‘Hawk!’
He sighed. ‘A friend of mine died because someone supplied him with drugs.’
‘A friend of yours…?’ she repeated faintly.
‘Yes,’ he confirmed almost aggressively.
There was a pounding inside her head, her breathing shallow and erratic. ‘My father?’ she choked.
‘I do have other friends beside your father,’ Hawk rasped.
‘Yes, I know. But—’
‘It wasn’t your father, Whitney,’ he cut in firmly. ‘It was just a friend.’
Whitney wasn’t convinced he was telling her the truth, but other than calling him a liar—which wouldn’t encourage him to tell her anything—she had no way of making him confide more to her about this ‘friend’ of his. Besides, she refused to believe her father could have been involved in this in any way.
‘What happened?’ she prompted frowningly.
‘It wasn’t easy, but I found out from other people he was supplying that Alex Cordell was providing the drugs,’ he explained grimly. ‘But he’s an elusive man; he has used his cover as Tom’s bodyguard for years to get him to the places he wanted to go, and I couldn’t even get close to him. That was when Glyn approached me. He and Tom had been working together to try and get evidence on him that would put him away for life, to no avail.’
‘Alex Cordell supplied Tom’s wife, too?’ she realised sadly.
‘Yes.’
‘And I still thought it was Tom you were after,’ she said self-disgustedly.
‘It was better that way,’ Hawk nodded.
‘Not for me,’ she sighed ruefully. ‘I’ve been despising the wrong man!’
‘It’s because Cordell is so unobtrusive that he’s proved so elusive,’ Hawk explained grimly. ‘Poor Tom has been cultivating his “Al Capone” image for years, just waiting for the time Cordell decided to take on a partner in what was becoming a very risky business for him. But when that failed to draw Cordell out—’
‘They decided to use you,’ she realised drily.
‘I’ve been working on him for almost two years,’ he admitted with a sigh, ‘trying to convince him that my frequent trips on Freedom would be a perfect cover for the transfer of drugs. A few weeks ago I finally got him to agree to a trial run.’
‘And I came along and almost ruined it,’ Whitney said ruefully.
‘Things looked a bit shaky for a while,’ he conceded. ‘But in the end it was producing the photographs he wanted that convinced him I was on the level.’
‘I still can’t believe it was him all the time.’ She shook her head dazedly.
‘His very innocuousness has been his best cover. It took Tom years to realise that his own employee was responsible for his wife’s death, that Cordell was using his travels abroad with him to transport the drugs.’ Hawk looked bleak. ‘Tom wanted to kill him, but Glyn convinced him he could achieve more by working alongside him, that it wasn’t just Cordell they had to catch but his contacts, too. It hasn’t been easy for Tom to restrain himself at times, especially when Geraldine became involved with Cordell. It wasn’t until Glyn and I saw those photographs last night that we realised Cordell was using Geraldine to carry the drugs.’
Whitney looked at him searchingly; if Tom Beresford had found it difficult when Geraldine had an affair with Alex Cordell, how had Hawk felt?
‘Hawk, why—?’
He was looking past her now, towards the door. ‘Tom?’ he rasped.
‘He would like to talk to you,’ Geraldine told him gruffly. ‘If you and Whitney have finished, of course,’ she added, with a return of her usual bitchiness.
Hawk’s mouth tightened. ‘I hope you realise that it’s only because of respect for Tom’s feelings that Glyn hasn’t had you arrested already?’
Green eyes flashed. ‘I told Alex that he shouldn’t trust you, that I didn’t believe all that rubbish about excitement and adventure you had been handing him! I knew you were the type that’s kind to animals and children, that helps little old ladies cross the road!’
Hawk looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘Unluckily for him he chose
not to believe you.’
Some of the fight went out of Geraldine. ‘I really didn’t know he was into drugs,’ she told Hawk pleadingly. ‘He did tell me it was antiques I was carrying; you have to believe that, Hawk.’
‘No, I don’t,’ he dismissed coldly. ‘It’s the court you have to convince. Tom may want to believe it because he loves you, but I don’t have to do anything!’
‘Hawk, listen to me—’
‘I don’t think I can right now,’ he rasped disgustedly. ‘Maybe by the time we reach England I might be able to, but not now!’ He strode from the room.
Whitney wished she could leave the lounge, too, but seated as she was she couldn’t make a move without being too obvious about it. As it was, her fidgeting brought Geraldine’s attention to her.
‘Well?’ the other woman challenged resentfully.
She moistened her lips. ‘Well what?’ she prevaricated.
Geraldine’s mouth twisted mockingly. ‘Aren’t you going to tell me what a bitch I am?’
Whitney bristled at the other woman’s scorn. ‘I never believe in stating the obvious,’ she returned coldly.
To her surprise Geraldine gave a shaky laugh. ‘God, how you’ve changed from that timid little creature so eager to please whom Hawk brought to our home seven years ago,’ she said almost admiringly.
‘I was looking for a mother figure,’ she defended.
‘And instead you found a selfish witch,’ Geraldine drawled. ‘I was only twenty-six, I didn’t want to be a surrogate mother to a fifteen-year-old!’
‘You made that perfectly obvious!’ Whitney recalled bitterly.
Green eyes shot flames of anger. ‘I also didn’t want to share my husband with an infatuated child!’
Colour darkened her cheeks. ‘It wasn’t infatuation with Hawk,’ she refuted. ‘It was just that after my father died he seemed to be all I had to cling on to.’
‘You don’t have to pretend with me, Whitney,’ Geraldine derided hardly. ‘I know the signs of loving Hawk only too well.’
‘You?’ she scorned, sure this woman didn’t know the meaning of the emotion.
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