The Passion Play

by Amelia Hart

  Those things were so hard to walk in, and Dan never understood, just yanked a woman around like her feet were firmly planted. Felicity felt a pang of sympathy for the kid. She was dreadfully young. Felicity could see she must be early twenties at the most, very pretty but heavily made up in a way that took the shine off her youth. Even at this distance that was clear, and it must be much worse close up. Poor girl. She was out of her depth and did not know it.

  Under her open coat she wore a dress that was in poor taste for a family party. It was too sexy, and not in a flirty, light-hearted way. Felicity recognized the type. Dan used to choose things like that for her when they went on shopping trips together in the early days, and she – with no very clear idea of her own style or what suited her – had let him. This new woman-child filled it out rather better than Felicity ever had, but she did not look comfortable.

  Felicity had no desire to meet the girl, but she did feel sorry for her. She recognized herself in that uncertain figure, and it horrified her a little, and made her fiercely glad she never had to be that girl again.

  Dan was talking to her now, saying something firmly, and she expected them to continue on to the house and maybe be turned away. After all she had Tanya's word Dan had his invitation rescinded, and there was no doubt Tanya was very angry with him.

  She was surprised when Dan left his girlfriend alone on the path and cut across the garden toward the external door of the conservatory.

  He was coming to talk to her. Damn, she did not want that at all. She stood, ready to leave, but he had opened the door and was through it in a moment, quick on his feet. His large hand wrapped round her wrist, her forearm, not tight but in a firm grip, his strength superior.

  Revulsion ran through her at the contact, as all of her shrank away from him and what he represented in her life. She felt it so strongly it was a surprise he did not sense it, but he was untroubled.

  "Floss," he said, "good to see you. I was hoping you'd be here."

  "I trusted you wouldn't be."

  "Now don't be like that. There's no need to be rude."

  "I wasn't being rude. That's a fact. Tanya told me she would take back her invitation since she sent it when she didn't know you had left me. Cheated on me then left."

  "I didn't cheat on you-"

  "Don't bother. I know you tell lies. Remember? I lived with you for twelve years."

  "Not to you-"

  "Yes to me. Over and over to me."

  "Now if you're making me out to be the bad guy, Floss, you're doing me an injustice. I've always been kind to you, and you won't find anyone who'll love you the way I did."

  "My love life is none of your business."

  "The way I still do, really. I mean, just because I've gone doesn't mean I don't still care for you. It's possible to love more than one person, you know. I care for you. I've never stopped caring for you."

  "I don't care for you, and it doesn't matter to me if you care for me. Just leave me alone."

  "I know that's the pain talking, Flossie. I know it's just because I broke your heart-"

  "Yes, many years ago, when you turned out not to be the same guy I fell in love with and married. Then I got over it. I've been over you for years, Dan. I look at you and I just feel contempt. So don't bother telling me what I feel because you clearly have no idea."

  "Don't talk like that, Flossie. You'll regret it later. You always do, when you've been mean. You'll feel-"

  "Look, I don't know what you're trying to achieve here but it's not going to happen. I want you to take that hand off me, and then I want you to turn around and go because you are absolutely not welcome here. No one wants you. Now go and get that poor girl out of the cold and take her home before she gets sick. You ought to be ashamed to leave her standing out there like that. It's freezing and she's barely dressed."

  "Listen, Floss-"

  "No, you listen. Don't think you can patronize me, and stop calling me by that stupid name. Go home."

  "I'm not a dog you can just order around-"

  "No, you're lower than a dog."

  "Watch it, Floss. You just watch your mouth-"

  "Or you'll do what?" came a new voice, silky with rage, from the entrance to the house. Luke put down the plate he held on a nearby chair and stalked forward, his eyes glittering, fixed on the hand that still encircled Felicity's wrist.

  Daniel King let go, but he did not step away. They stood too close now, all three of them, and the air between them was charged with danger. From the corner of one eye Felicity saw the girl outside hurry towards them too, probably worried about her lover.

  "Should I consider this provocation?" Luke asked Dan. "I thought we established you don't want to provoke me. I thought I was crystal clear. Don't imagine for a second that anything's changed."

  She heard the huff of Dan's heavy breathing, and wondered what Luke was talking about. Something had happened between the two men. Her gentle Luke sounded cold and hard as steel. She looked at Dan and – knowing him so well – saw the tightening around his eyes that was fear, even desperation; pride at war with higher stakes. His girlfriend opened the conservatory door and came in.

  The higher stakes won, and Dan stepped away, trying to shrug it off.

  "No problem. A man can talk to his wife without the whole world taking an interest, can't he?" and Felicity caught the way his girlfriend's face tightened at the word 'wife', like it hurt her. "Let's go, Mac. I don't think this is a nice place to bring you. Let's go out for lunch. Someplace lovely where we can have champagne." He took the girl's hand and tucked it in the crook of his elbow, suddenly gallant, opened the door and ushered her through then walked away like Felicity and Luke did not even exist.

  Felicity looked at their backs, thought about how easy it would be to just let them disappear and not do anything more, say anything more.

  But she could not do it. She owed something to that younger version of herself. Forgiveness and compassion for the girl she had once been, who had trusted and got things so wrong.

  She ran after them, glad of her sensible flat shoes on the icy winter ground, circled around to confront them head on, hearing Luke jog just behind her, silently present. When she faced them down he stood at her side, supportive and watchful.

  The other couple stopped, but she only had eyes for the girl.

  "I just want you to know," she said without preamble, "That I forgive you. I also want to say – and I don't mean to hurt you but you have to know this too – that Luke and I," she reached out towards him and he took her hand, stood beside her, close enough she could feel the heat of his body pressing into her, "are expecting a baby. So if Dan ever tries to tell you there's something wrong with you because you aren't getting pregnant, don't just believe him. Okay? It's probably him. Other than that, good luck. You'll need it."

  Dan looked very strange, his eyes bulging in an odd expression she did not recognize, and a vein stood out on his forehead.

  The girl did not acknowledge her words, her face hostile, but Felicity had done all she could and she left them to it, turned away and walked back towards the house, Luke still holding her hand. He let her go through the door into the conservatory first, followed her in and shut it behind him. He put his arms around her and she leaned into the welcome warmth of his hug, both of them looking towards the couple retreating on the footpath until they disappeared out of sight behind a tall hedge, and were gone.

  "You're so nice," he told her.

  "I don't know," she muttered darkly. "It didn't feel very nice to me. Giving them that information, hurting them like that. But I thought she needed to know."

  "She did. She has a right to the info."

  "When I think of the campaign of manipulation and misinformation ahead of her I feel so sorry for her."

  "I know."

  "He's going to wreck her."

  "We don't know that. He might make her stronger. She might end up wiser and more compassionate."

  "Hey." She poked him. "Maybe s
he's wise and compassionate enough already."

  He laughed, a quiet rumble against her ear. "Maybe she is. She might have every sort of good trait. She might be perfection itself."

  "I'm not sure I'd go that far . . ."

  "No, that's true. There's only room for so much perfection in the world, and I've got so much of it there really isn't much left over for anyone else."

  "Oh, I don't know," she said, looking up into his soft expression. "I think I've got an awful lot as well."

  "Then we're just the lucky ones, aren't we?"

  "We are." He bent to put a kiss on the tip of her nose. "We are."

  Please Leave a Review

  If you enjoyed this book and would like to help others find it, please leave a review at the following link. Your opinion makes a difference. Thank you. -- Amelia Hart

  http://bit.ly/thepassionplay

  Books by Amelia Hart

  More contemporary romance by Amelia Hart:

  The Passionate Mistake – Kate is undercover in Mike Summers’s company, ready to steal his most valuable data. That is, until she falls for him.

  http://bit.ly/passionatemistake

  The Seduction of Suzanne – Suzanne has sworn off handsome men and passion. Now a gorgeous drifter seeks to lure her into a headlong rush of pleasure.

  http://bit.ly/seducesuzanne

  Historical romance by Amelia Hart:

  The Virgin’s Auction – At an auction for her virgin night, James Carstairs buys Melissa. She enchants him beyond anything he has known, then disappears. Can he find her and win her heart?

  http://bit.ly/virginsauction

  About the Author

  Amelia Hart writes warm, witty romances, primarily historical and contemporary. She has a degree in psychology, a husband and two children, and a healthy dose of reality to accompany a lifelong love of romance.

  http://www.ameliahartromance.com

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Passion Play, Copyright ©2014 by Inspiration Enterprises. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Kite Publishing.