Bestseller Collection 2010

by Carole Mortimer

  She still wasn’t quite sure how that had happened, and had decided in the end that it didn’t matter how it had happened—she just did! And Gideon was about as easy to love as a porcupine; he had so many prickly barbs sticking out of him; it was impossible to get close to him in the ordinary way of things.

  And what had happened between them last night must never be repeated. As it was, the two of them could hardly bear to look at each other—Madison because she loved him, and Gideon because—well, because no matter what Claire might think to the contrary, Gideon could stir himself enough for intense anger. And he’d been furious at her ever since what had happened between them last night!

  ‘Hey.’ Claire came and sat down at the kitchen table with her, looking searchingly at Madison now as she lightly touched her arm. ‘What is it, Madison?’ she prompted with concern. ‘Did something happen between you and Gideon last night?’ she guessed shrewdly.

  She liked Claire, knew she had found a friend in the other woman, but she wasn’t ready to share her feelings for Gideon with anyone. Besides, she half suspected—Well, never mind what she suspected; it was none of her business, anyway…

  She grimaced. ‘Nothing worth talking about,’ she dismissed, not quite able to meet the other woman’s gaze. ‘But you heard him just now; the man is impossible!’ She shook her head with feeling.

  Claire laughed softly. ‘I told you, the trick with Gideon is never let him know he’s getting to you. Because if you do he’ll make your life hell!’

  Madison sighed. ‘I don’t know how you put up with him.’

  ‘Well…there is a second thing about Gideon that perhaps I should have mentioned,’ Claire said. ‘Don’t get emotionally involved with him yourself; you’ll just end up getting hurt.’

  The warning came far too late for Madison. And both women knew it.

  Although as they unpacked in the bedrooms they had chosen for their own—both of them studiously ignoring the bedroom they knew to be Gideon’s—and then prepared lunch together, neither of them mentioned the subject again.

  Madison did find it odd, after having a good look round, that there appeared to be no one else but the three of them staying in this rather large house. All the other bedrooms were obviously empty.

  ‘Gideon likes plenty of room,’ Claire explained when Madison mentioned this fact.

  Madison’s mouth twisted ruefully. ‘And I’m sure it has nothing at all to do with Clause 27 in my contract!’ She quirked knowing brows at the other woman.

  ‘Now, I didn’t say that…’ Claire acknowledged dryly.

  ‘Because we both know our seclusion here has everything to do with that!’ Madison said disgustedly. And she didn’t particularly relish being alone here with Gideon, even with Claire present!

  ‘Stop worrying so much,’ the other woman chided. ‘I can assure you, this is much more comfortable accommodation than the rest of the cast have!’

  She wasn’t concerned with the comfort; it was being virtually alone here with Gideon that bothered her.

  ‘Come on.’ Claire stood up, the two of them having cleared away from lunch. ‘Gideon has left the car here, so I can take you for a drive around the island.’

  Madison hesitated. ‘What if Gideon should come back and find us gone?’ He hadn’t said he would need her at all today, but then he hadn’t said he wouldn’t either…

  Claire shrugged. ‘So what if he does? I really can’t see the point of the two of us just sitting here waiting for him to come back; he could be hours.’

  And Madison didn’t particularly want to be here when he did come back. Besides, it was a lovely day; they might as well go out and enjoy it.

  It was impossible not to enjoy herself as Claire acted as her driver and guide for the afternoon. She was amazed there were so many differing terrains on such a small island, with hills and valleys, plus moorland, the capital town of Douglas, and the city of Peel, with its cathedral.

  ‘It’s like miniature England,’ Madison realised admiringly.

  ‘But better,’ Claire told her firmly. ‘Of course, I’m prejudiced, but I think it’s much nicer than England. I’ve always thought our ways are about twenty-five years behind England. And, of course, because there’s simply nowhere to run, the island doesn’t have the everyday crime that the mainland has, or indeed places like the States,’ she added thoughtfully.

  Madison found it very endearing the way the sophisticated Claire had reverted to defending her Manx origins. And it seemed the other woman’s surname, Christian, was also very Manx—probably the most well-known person in history with that name had been Fletcher Christian, a descendant of a family originally from the Isle of Man. Although Claire seemed to think the connection wasn’t a particularly attractive one, considering the man had been notorious for inciting the mutiny on the ship the Bounty!

  ‘I’ve seen the movie!’ Madison laughed teasingly.

  Claire smiled too. ‘Don’t believe everything you see on the big screen! For one thing, I doubt the real Fletcher Christian was anywhere near as gorgeous as Marlon Brando was when he made that particular film! And if history is to be believed the mutineers made a complete mess of things after throwing Captain Bligh and some of the crew off the ship and “sailing off into the sunset”—so much so that, after burning the Bounty, they eventually destroyed each other on Pitcairn Island. Don’t look so surprised.’ Claire laughed as Madison looked amused by her jaundiced account. ‘As a probable distant relation to the man, I’m fully conversant with the history; I just don’t think it’s anything to be proud of!’

  ‘My father’s origins are in Ireland,’ Madison mused thoughtfully. ‘But we’ve never bothered to look them up.’

  ‘And your mother?’

  Madison turned to look out of the window. ‘Also of Irish descent,’ she murmured dismissively, reminded that she really must telephone her mother. Unless she wanted her mother to come looking for her! ‘Oh, look at the seals in the bay!’ She pointed excitedly as she saw the grey heads bobbing in the water in what had been signposted Port Erin Bay.

  Claire nodded as she parked the car. ‘We sometimes get basking sharks in here too.’

  ‘And to think I had never heard of the Isle of Man until a month ago!’ Madison murmured ruefully.

  ‘We like to keep the beauty and tranquillity of the place to ourselves; if we told everyone how lovely it is here we would be inundated with visitors and people wanting to live here!’ Claire said.

  Madison certainly felt refreshed from their drive out. So much so that when they returned to the house she encouraged Claire in her idea of going out for the evening to see her parents, refusing the other woman’s invitation for her to join her. Gideon wasn’t back yet, and it would give her a few hours to herself to study the script in peace and quiet.

  It was a little after eight, while she was sitting curled up on the sofa with her script, when she heard Gideon’s key in the door, and some of her earlier tension returned at once. But she quickly dampened that down, determined to meet him as normally as possible. The tension that had been between them since last night would have to be ignored if they were to work together. If not forgotten…

  ‘Hi.’ She walked out to the kitchen to greet him, her hair loose about her shoulders, looking very slender in her green silk sweater and fitted denims, with her feet bare. ‘I thought I heard a car.’

  Gideon had his back towards her as he looked in the fridge, his shoulders tensing, before he too seemed to make a concerted effort to relax. He turned slowly to face her. ‘I picked up another hire car in town; there’s no way the three of us can manage with one car between us.’

  But even with two cars, that still left Madison having to drive everywhere with either Gideon or Claire… She would have to see later in the week about getting herself a car of her own to drive.

  ‘I thought with the car gone the two of you must have gone out to eat,’ Gideon added huskily. ‘I was looking to see if there was anything I could get myself for
dinner.’

  Madison looked at him closely, noting the tired shadows under his eyes. He had been hit over the head with a bottle on Saturday evening, spent most of yesterday in hospital, and the majority of today travelling and then working; he looked exhausted.

  ‘Claire has gone out to see her parents,’ she told him briskly. ‘But I haven’t eaten yet, either, and there are some eggs and salad in the fridge. Could make us both an omelette to go with the salad?’ she offered tentatively, aware herself of just how domesticated the suggestion sounded—and Gideon was the least domesticated man she knew!

  His brows rose, as if he too saw the irony of their situation, but he didn’t voice his derision, merely nodded. ‘You make the omelettes, I’ll do the salad and make the dressing.’

  To say she was relieved at the release from his sarcasm, for even a few minutes, was an understatement. Every time they’d spoken to each other today it had ended up in verbal warfare, and quite frankly she found it all a little tiresome—as well as nerve-racking!

  The next fifteen minutes proved they could be relaxed in each other’s company—or, at least, that they could act as if they were!—the two of them preparing the simple meal together in quiet harmony. Something that Madison hadn’t thought would ever happen after last night—

  Forget last night, she ordered herself firmly. Gideon certainly seemed to have done so since his return, and if he could do it so could she.

  ‘This is good,’ Gideon commented after his first mouthful of the fluffy omelette.

  She grinned. ‘Us starving actresses have to be able to make inexpensive food appetising,’ she teased. Although she would be lying if she denied being pleased at his compliment…

  Gideon tilted his head in thought as he looked at her. ‘Somehow, Madison, you don’t come over as a starving actress,’ he finally drawled.

  He was right, of course; her family was far too wealthy for her to ever have to starve in anything she chose to do. She’d always been aware that she had a privileged background. But, even so, she leant on her family for financial support as little as possible, determined to make it on her own.

  ‘I wasn’t being insulting, Madison.’ Gideon sighed heavily at her lack of reply. ‘Damn it, I seem to have lost the art of light, meaningless conversation!’ he put down his knife and fork, scowling at his own inadequacy.

  She smiled. ‘I wasn’t insulted, Gideon,’ she assured him huskily. ‘And, quite frankly, I doubt you ever had it. “The art of light, meaningless conversation!”’ she explained at his impatient glance.

  He gave a self-derisive grimace. ‘You’re probably right,’ he acknowledged.

  ‘And I think it’s probably also a little late in the day for you to begin to learn it,’ Madison teased.

  ‘Eat your food, woman,’ he growled with feigned impatience.

  ‘That’s better.’ She nodded happily. ‘Don’t ever try and change, Gideon; no one would recognise you if you did!’

  ‘You know, you’re making me feel really good about myself!’ he said with self-disgust. ‘Am I really such an unreasonable tyrant?’

  Madison opened her mouth to answer him, and then thought better of it. After all, honesty wasn’t always the best policy!

  ‘I think I’ll take the fifth on that, if you don’t mind,’ she finally answered, tongue-in-cheek.

  Gideon chuckled. ‘No one has ever spoken to me in quite the way you do.’ He shook his head ruefully.

  She quirked blonde brows at him. ‘And?’

  He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t recognise you if you were to try and change, either,’ he acknowledged huskily.

  Somehow the conversation had taken a flirtatious turn, and for the moment Madison didn’t want to call a halt to it…!

  ‘Should I take that as a compliment?’

  He looked at her steadily with those dark grey eyes. ‘What do you think?’ he finally returned softly.

  ‘Oh, no,’ she laughed, shaking her head. ‘You tell me!’

  They were passing the line of what was acceptable in their director/actress relationship. Madison’s rapid pulse rate and shallow breathing told her that. But as this seemed to happen every time they were alone together she had no answer to how to stop it happening.

  ‘The second one in as many minutes?’ he murmured thoughtfully. ‘I’ve already complimented you on your cooking,’ he explained at her puzzled expression.

  She nodded. ‘Perhaps we had better just take it as a statement of fact.’

  Gideon laughed softly. ‘Perhaps we had. Would you like some white wine to go with your food?’ He stood up as he made the offer, moving to the refrigerator. ‘I bought some last week when I realised you and Claire would be here this week.’

  She’d seen the bottles of wine in the fridge earlier, but, being aware of his aversion to alcohol, she hadn’t even thought of getting one of them out to accompany their meal. And she wasn’t sure it was a good idea for her to drink wine while Gideon remained completely sober…!

  ‘A glass of wine would be lovely, thank you,’ she heard herself accept smoothly.

  It seemed her caution was being overridden by her love for this man!

  Well…one glass couldn’t do any harm, could it? she reasoned to herself. Who was she kidding? She instantly rebuked herself; Gideon was intoxicating enough on his own, without the added influence of wine! Well, it was too late to change her mind now. She would just stick to the one glass, and everything should be fine.

  But it was rather a good bottle of Chablis, and as they ate and Madison drank she gave him an account of her drive around the island that afternoon.

  ‘Great place, isn’t it?’ Gideon nodded enthusiastically. ‘Full of atmosphere. And the best thing is that the film industry over here is still quite new, so film crews haven’t become a nuisance to the islanders yet,’ he added. ‘Personally, I hope they never do; I think it’s an excellent location.’

  She nodded. ‘Claire is obviously glad to be home for a couple of months.’

  ‘You can take the woman out of the island, but you can’t take the island out of the woman,’ Gideon dryly misquoted. ‘But she was a hundred per cent right about this place. If it wasn’t for Claire suggesting I look at the Isle of Man, we would be in Ireland filming now,’ he explained.

  The two of them were chatting away like old friends, and considering the way they had parted the evening before, and the tension that had been between them this morning, that was quite refreshing in itself! Although Madison had no doubt that it wouldn’t last; she was like the tinder to Gideon’s flame!

  In fact, she decided as she heard the sound of a car in the driveway, signalling Claire’s return, the relaxed atmosphere between the two of them was probably about to end right now!

  ‘I don’t think Claire took the key,’ Madison murmured as the front doorbell rang in the kitchen where the two of them sat.

  ‘But she knows to come in the back door.’ Gideon frowned in puzzlement as he slowly stood up.

  Madison didn’t move as he went out into the hallway to open the door, frowning as she sipped at her wine. If it was Claire at the front door, then the other woman was deliberately being discreet.

  After the way Madison had become so upset over Gideon’s behaviour earlier, perhaps that wasn’t so surprising. Claire was far from being naive, and even though Madison had denied there was anything between herself and Gideon the other woman was sure to know that there was definitely some feeling on Madison’s side towards Gideon. Why else had the other woman given that obscure warning about it being unwise to become emotionally involved with him?

  But Gideon seemed to be a long time answering the door if it was only Claire, and after several minutes Madison got up to see what was keeping him.

  She knew there was something seriously wrong even as she walked down the hallway; she could hear the soft murmur of voices, voices that were hushed with tension.

  Gideon turned as he sensed Madison’s presence behind him. ‘Claire has been involved
in an accident,’ he told her bluntly, indicating the policeman who stood on the doorsteps. ‘She’s in hospital.’

  Terrible images instantly flashed across her mind, and she looked at the policeman with apprehensive eyes.

  ‘Cuts and bruises and a broken arm, Mrs Byrne,’ he told her lightly. ‘Nothing in the least life-threatening, I can assure you. In fact, I’m sorry to disturb you at this time of night, but Miss Christian’s parents felt we should let the two of you know as she’s actually staying here.’

  Madison felt the hot colour enter her cheeks at being mistaken for Gideon’s wife, looking to him to correct the other man. Which he didn’t do!

  ‘We’ll go to the hospital straight away.’ Gideon nodded tersely. ‘Thank you for letting us know,’ he added as the policeman turned to leave.

  Madison quickly pushed aside the embarrassment of being mistaken for Gideon’s wife, her mind racing. Poor Claire. It seemed that it never rained but it poured; first Gideon ended up in hospital, and now Claire. But what should she do about—?

  ‘Move it, Madison,’ Gideon instructed briskly, scowling darkly, their earlier ease with each other completely forgotten as he pushed past her to go and pick up his jacket.

  Madison ‘moved it’, very worried about Claire herself. She would decide what to do next after she had seen and spoken to Claire…

  What a hell of an end to what had been quite a pleasant evening!

  Gideon hadn’t been too sure of his reception from Madison after this morning, and had been pleasantly surprised when she appeared so warm and agreeable. He had enjoyed preparing the meal with her. And now this.

  He’d grown very fond of Claire over the last five years, felt she was a friend rather than just an employee, and the two of them worked well together.

  Besides, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea for himself and Madison to be alone here at the house…

  The two of them didn’t talk on the drive to the hospital in Douglas. Gideon was worried about Claire, Madison also lost in her own thoughts. Although he couldn’t help wondering what those thoughts might be…