‘He knows you.’
We knew each other very well, Gabriel had said that first morning. Her heart shrank. ‘So do you,’ she said huskily. ‘And you’re my husband.’
His eyes searched hers, and she met them with an effort, willing him to believe that whatever had happened in the past, and whatever he had known or suspected, she meant to be a faithful wife from now on.
Rolfe moved, his hands on the counter trapping her between his strong arms. The perfume of the flowers floated about them. ‘Yes.’
He leaned towards her, and his lips brushed the side of her neck, moving back and forth.
Her hands clutched hard at the wood behind her, and she closed her eyes. He wasn’t touching her except with his mouth, but she could feel the heat of his body, only inches from hers, and the seductive aroma of his skin mingled with the flower scents and the clean smell of soap.
His mouth wandered to her ear, and his teeth nipped the lobe, drawing it between his lips. She choked in a breath, and Rolfe muttered something and moved closer, his hands raking into her hair. She felt the feathering of his breath against her eyelids, her cheek, before his lips parted hers in a devastating, ruthlessly sexual kiss. There was no gentleness there, none of the tender consideration he had shown her before.
Her hands left the counter and she grabbed at his shirt, then slid her arms about his neck, blindly hanging onto him as a tide of heat weakened her body. His warm, muscular thigh nudged hers apart, and she made a muffled sound of confused pleasure and alarm. One of his hands shifted, a thumb massaging the hollow at the base of her throat, increasing her heart’s rhythm And then his hand moved down again, inside the collar of her blouse, impatient with the buttons that impeded him, tearing them asunder so he could touch her, cup her breast in its lacy covering, slide around to release the catch of her bra and then find her breast again, naked and eager with its yearning centre.
His touch was rough but exciting, his mouth ever more demanding as he deepened the kiss to a white-hot intimacy. She was jammed up against the counter behind her, overwhelmed by his physicality, surrounded by him, all sensation suspended except those provided by him, all sound blocked out but his warm breath and her own blood pounding in her ears.
He pressed his thigh against her, and she drew a shuddering breath, the blood thrumming in her temples.
His hand circled her throat, the thumb pressing the shallow hollow, the hammering pulse, and she made a small sound in response, bewildered and not a little frightened by the overpowering sensations that weakened her knees and made her body seem weightless, her head dizzy.
And then suddenly he flung himself back, and her arms fell away from him, her hands grabbing at the counter to keep herself upright.
CHAPTER TEN
‘NO—DAMN!’ Rolfe’s hand slapped on the counter alongside one of hers. His face darkly flushed, he shook his bent head. ‘No,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Not like this.’
Capri felt as if she’d been doused in cold water.
‘I should have known better than to touch you,’ he muttered, lifting his hand and running it over his still damp hair. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes.’ Except for a crying need that he obviously had no intention of satisfying. Automatically she grasped at the edges of her ruined blouse and pulled it across her naked breasts, which still throbbed from his attentions. ‘It’s all right.’
‘It’s not all right! I behaved like an animal. A mindless, territorial animal. I swear it won’t happen again.’
Then he was gone, striding out of the room and closing the door with a snap behind him.
Rolfe was very polite to her for the next couple of days. Capri felt as though he’d built a wall between them over which they exchanged meaningless pleasantries, like good neighbours who wanted to get along although they had little in common.
When he asked at lunchtime on Saturday, ‘What time do you want to be at Thea and Ted’s tonight?’ she thought about making some excuse after all, sure she’d never felt less like socialising. But coping with a crowd might be easier than staying home in this suffocating atmosphere.
‘Any time it suits you,’ she answered.
‘About six-thirty, then?’ He might have noticed the flutter of a nervous pulse in her throat. ‘If you’ve changed your mind we can still cancel.’
‘I have to meet people some time, and…maybe something will happen.’
‘Maybe.’ He cast her an odd, brooding look. Her nervousness must be showing, because he added, ‘I’ll be right there.’
‘Thank you, Rolfe. You’re very good to me.’
He pushed his chair back and stood up, ready to go back to his office. ‘I always wanted to be,’ he said, ‘if only you’d let me.’
The words woke a faint echo in her brain. Something Treena had said…about most people being nice if you just gave them a chance.
She dressed for the barbecue in black jeans and a silky green and black patterned blouse, with black wedge sandals on her feet.
When she walked into the living room where Rolfe, also wearing jeans, with a blue cambric shirt, was just taking a bottle of chilled white wine from the fridge, he turned and stared. ‘I never have got over how lovely you are, Capri. You seem to grow more so every day.’
‘Thank you.’ She’d smudged olive-green eyeshadow over her lids, shaded it into a silver-grey one under her brows, used a kohl pencil and some mascara. And coloured her lips a bright candy-pink. It had occurred to her as she brushed blusher along her cheekbones that she was applying a mask of some sort—camouflage to make her feel more confident. ‘Do we take food? I could make a quick salad.’
‘Thea will have all that in hand. But there’s an unopened round of Brie in here, if you feel you’d like to contribute.’
She took it, and a packet of crackers to go with it, presenting them to their hostess on their arrival while Rolfe handed over the wine.
Thea kissed them both and put the offerings down on a nearby table that had been set up on the lawn near a big gas-fired barbecue. ‘Thanks, though you didn’t need to. I do love your hair short, Capri. I didn’t tell you the other day, did I? Oh, there’s Nic and Sarah arriving. Do you remember them?’
Rolfe said, ‘I do, of course.’ He turned to greet them, sliding an arm about Capri’s waist. ‘Darling, Nic and Sarah Anderson live just down the road from us.’ At their puzzled smiles, he said, ‘Since the accident Capri’s been suffering from amnesia.’
Sarah was a small, bouncy blonde. ‘That must be so difficult.’ Her face showed concern. ‘I expect it will come right, though.’
Another couple joined them, who also expressed their commiseration. Soon there was a small circle around them, and someone asked, ‘What did the doctors say?’
‘That it’s probably temporary,’ Capri answered.
Rolfe cut in. ‘We hope it will clear up naturally.’
Sarah nodded thoughtfully, her eyes curious but sympathetic.
‘Capri—’ Gabriel Blake joined the group, giving Capri an intense, penetrating look before he smiled at her. ‘How are you? And…Rolfe.’
Rolfe said, ‘Good evening, Gabriel. Will you excuse us? I’d like to find my wife somewhere to sit.’
The group parted with murmurs of, ‘Of course,’ and, ‘There are chairs over there…’ And Gabriel stepped aside. Capri could feel his eyes following them as Rolfe led her to a table where two other people already sat holding glasses.
Guests sprawled on the grass, occupied the folding chairs and tables their hosts had set out on the lawn and a wide deck, or stood about chatting, glasses in hand. Thea had said this wasn’t a party, but there were twenty or so people present.
Several of them had commented on her hairstyle. She must have had it cut in Australia. She remembered that Rolfe had touched her hair in the hospital that first day after she’d woken, and said it suited her.
‘Food’s ready!’ Ted called.
When Capri and Rolfe had filled two plates with steak, chops
and salads their seats had been taken.
Rolfe looked about and led her to a rustic seat in the shadow of a spicy-scented pepper tree, away from the circle of light around the barbecue.
‘How is it?’ he asked her quietly after a while.
‘The food, or the party—I mean the get-together?’
Rolfe smiled, the first genuine smile he’d given her since he’d found her with Gabriel days before. ‘Both, I guess. Is it a bit much, meeting all these people again?’
‘Everyone’s very understanding. Although one or two,’ she added wryly, ‘have decided I’m mentally retarded.’
‘Does it bother you?’
‘Not much. I suppose that’s one advantage. I don’t know them any more, so what does their opinion matter?’
Rolfe laughed and touched her arm. ‘Good thinking.’ His hand stayed on her arm, absently roving over her skin. ‘You don’t remember anyone?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
When they’d finished eating he took her plate. ‘There’s fruit salad and marshmallows.’
Capri shook her head. ‘But don’t let me stop you. I’ll have a coffee when you’re ready.’
He went off, slipping under the overhanging branches and making his way to the table.
Surely someone, something here should be familiar? She closed her eyes and listened to the laughter and voices, concentrating hard, trying to remember anything…
A hand gripped her shoulder from behind. She looked round, tipping her head, thinking Rolfe was back already.
‘Gabriel!’ Carefully she freed herself.
Tensely he asked, ‘Are you okay? Rolfe didn’t ..do anything to you the other day?’
He kissed me. But she couldn’t tell Gabriel that. ‘Of course not. He isn’t a monster.’
‘Listen, darling—I don’t know what Rolfe is playing at, but when you left him I could swear you didn’t mean to come back.’
Capri stood up to face him across the bench. ‘I don’t believe that!’
Maybe she didn’t sound too convincing, because even as she spoke she recalled Rolfe saying starkly, And yet you left me. He’d glossed over that afterwards, but an unequivocal denial wasn’t possible as long as her memory remained inaccessible.
Gabriel’s hand curled over the back of the seat. ‘We’d talked about it…I wanted you to come to America with me.’
‘Then why didn’t I go? I must have decided to stay with my husband.’
‘You needed time to think, you said, to plan. You wanted me to wait, only I couldn’t postpone the New York dates. The exhibition had been booked for months. And then, when I got back you’d gone. So you didn’t stay with him, did you?’
Capri put a hand briefly to her forehead. ‘Maybe I left both of you.’ Very possibly she’d needed time alone to sort herself out. Finding her father might have just been an excuse to get away from both husband and lover, to decide who she really loved and what she should do about it.
‘Come and see me,’ Gabriel begged, ‘next time Rolfe goes to the factory.’
‘I can’t,’ she said steadily. ‘I won’t deceive my husband.’
‘Until the next time…’ Gabriel jeered, suddenly straightening, his expression becoming hard. ‘And the next poor sucker who thinks you love him.’
Capri shook her head. ‘There won’t be a next time—’
‘There will,’ he asserted, his eyes shrewd and coldly assessing now. And cruel. ‘I know your sort of woman, Capri. I should have recognised it earlier, only I was so besotted with you I couldn’t see straight. No man can satisfy you—’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’
‘Oh, yes, I do.’ He leaned closer. ‘You’re looking for someone to replace the father who left you when you were a child. A daddy-figure. You’ll go from man to man for the rest of your life and you won’t be happy with any of them.’ He made an angry, disgusted gesture. ‘Because no one can live up to the idealised figure in your poor warped little mind. Not your stepfather, not your husband…and not your lovers. I could almost pity Rolfe—he’ll never be able to hold you, either, not even with a wedding ring. I might have been the first lover you’ve had since you married him, but I won’t be the last.’
‘You’re wrong.’ She felt battered, as if he’d physically assaulted her—and afraid. Could his brutal assessment be correct? Was that why she had turned to him? Because Rolfe had been unable to satisfy some futile subconscious longing for her absent father? ‘It’s not true.’
But she didn’t know if it was true or not. Gabriel liked dissecting people but that didn’t mean he was always right. Although clever he was hardly unbiased.
‘You need help,’ he told her. His angry blue stare raked her. ‘Has it occurred to you that Rolfe would just as soon you never recovered your memory?’
‘Don’t be silly!’
‘It suits him that you’ve forgotten what went on in your marriage before.’
‘Rolfe’s been very supportive. He’ll stand by me.’
Rolfe’s hard voice cut in, making her start. ‘I promise you I will, darling, though I’m not sure in what connection?’ His arm curved about her, his fingers firm on her waist. In his other hand he held a bowl of fruit salad topped with marshmallows and a scoop of ice cream.
Before she could frame an answer Gabriel said rather loudly, ‘I was just saying that if Capri were my wife I’d want to get to the bottom of this amnesia thing as soon as possible.’
Rolfe’s fingers bit into her side. ‘Capri’s not your wife,’ he said evenly, ‘she’s mine.’
‘I heard you earlier tonight,’ Gabriel flung at Rolfe. ‘You hope it will clear up naturally,’ he sneered. ‘Has she seen a specialist since she got home?’
‘I saw a neurologist in the hospital,’ Capri said. ‘And if I want another opinion it isn’t Rolfe’s decision, it’s mine.’
Rolfe added, ‘And she’ll make it without any help from…outsiders.’
‘Capri—’ There was pleading in Gabriel’s voice, and she couldn’t help a wrenching sense of compassion.
But she felt also a sick fear of what he might say. ‘I know you’re trying to help, Gabriel,’ she said quickly. ‘I realise we’ve been…you’ve been my friend in the past. But I don’t remember you. And…what I do with my life is none of your concern.’
‘I think that about sums it up,’ Rolfe said. ‘Come on, Capn, time we went back to the others.’
He turned her and shifted his hand to her shoulder, the fingers gripping.
‘It’s all right,’ she murmured. ‘I’m not going to run away.’
‘What?’ They came into the light and his eyes seemed glazed as he looked down at her.
‘You’re bruising my shoulder.’
He eased his hold, rubbing at the spot instead. ‘I didn’t realise.’ His face was both grim and remote. He still carried the bowl, but as they neared the table he reached over and put it down.
‘Don’t you want it after all?’ Capri enquired.
‘I’m not hungry any more.’ He stopped walking and let his hand slide from her arm. ‘What was that about?’
Her gaze faltered at the dark, almost hostile glint in his eyes. ‘He’s…concerned about me. Lots of people tonight have asked questions, given us advice.’
‘I’m concerned about you too, Capri.’ He faced her and took both her hands in his.
Capri chewed momentarily on her lower lip. ‘I really expected that once I was home everything would come back to me.’
Rolfe was silent for several seconds. When he spoke again his voice was low and rasping. ‘I’ll take you to see someone.’
‘You’d come with me?’
‘Certainly.’ His voice sounded clipped.
‘Can you spare the time from your work?’
She was puzzled by the narrowed, searching look he gave her. ‘I’ll make the time somehow,’ he answered at last. ‘If anything can bring back your memory, I want to be there when it happens.’
<
br /> She smiled at him, and saw his eyes darken further, his gaze slipping to her mouth.
The smile faded from her lips and a pulse started to beat heavily in her throat. Involuntarily she lifted her head further, tipped her face to him.
The bouncy blonde, Sarah, swooped on them, waving a frankfurter in a long bun. ‘Break it up, you two,’ she teased. ‘You’re heating up the air worse than the barby.’ Dramatically she fanned her face with her free hand. ‘I suppose it’s like a second honeymoon.’ She grinned. ‘Seeing you can’t remember the first one, Capri?’
Nic, as tall and gangly as Sarah was small and rounded, came up behind her and laid his hands on his wife’s shoulders. ‘Sarah’s never won any prizes for tact,’ he told Capri. He dropped a kiss on the blonde curls resting against his chest. ‘But I love her anyway.’
Capri could see that he did, and the smile Sarah slanted up at him made it clear the sentiment was returned.
Rolfe released Capri’s hands and hung a casual arm about her shoulders. ‘Jealousy will get you nowhere,’ he drawled, making Sarah laugh.
‘You two must come round to our place one evening,’ she said. ‘There won’t be such a crowd for Capri to cope with.’ Her sympathetic glance told Capri she’d noticed signs of strain. ‘We’ll have a nice quiet dinner.’
‘She can cook,’ Nic told Capri proudly.
‘Yeah, that’s why the brute married me.’
‘Why else?’ Nic grinned. ‘Plus I’ve always been partial to blondes with curves in the right places.’
His hands wandered and Sarah slapped them away. ‘Hey, wait till we get home! I’ve just been telling these two off for that kind of thing.’
Nic leered down at her. ‘Can we go home now?’
‘No, you big oaf! I haven’t had my dessert yet.’ Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Men!’ she said to Capri. ‘You wonder how they even think they can run the world when they have such trouble getting their minds to climb higher than their belt-buckles.’
Wife to a Stranger Page 10
