Bestseller Collection 2010

by Carole Mortimer

  But he could guess at what one of them might be! ‘Don’t give the policeman’s remark another thought,’ he told Madison dismissively as the two of them entered the hospital through the automatically opening doors.

  She gave him a startled look. ‘What?’

  He sighed impatiently. ‘I thought it was less embarrassing, for everyone, if I didn’t correct him on his mistake over our marital status—or lack of it,’ he bit out irritably. ‘I’m sure men and women co-habiting is as normal on the island as it is anywhere else; I just didn’t think it appropriate at the time to correct the man.’ And he wished now he had never started this conversation!

  Thank goodness they were almost at the ward where the policeman had told him Claire had been admitted! Why couldn’t he have just left the subject alone? It wasn’t important. It had just occurred to him that Madison herself could be getting worked up about it. Although why the hell should she?

  But, of course, he was forgetting Simon Cauley! The last thing Madison would want—even though Gideon considered the possibility very remote—was for the other man to ever learn she had been passing herself off as Gideon’s wife while the two of them stayed on the Isle of Man, especially as she’d only just renewed her acquaintance with Simon…!

  Somehow that realisation made him feel incredibly angry!

  ‘We can only stay a few minutes,’ he told Madison harshly after speaking to the sister of the ward. ‘Apparently Claire is sedated at the moment, so she won’t be able to talk to us anyway.’

  ‘Fine,’ Madison accepted, seeming slightly dazed by the coldness of his tone.

  Hell, he didn’t seem to do anything right where this woman was concerned. But remembering her relationship with Simon Cauley wasn’t conducive to improving his mood.

  Claire looked awful! There was no other way to describe the ‘cuts and bruises’ the policeman had told them about. She looked as if she had gone straight through the windscreen, smashing the glass as she did so!

  Madison gasped at his side, obviously as shocked as he was by Claire’s condition, staring down at the other woman with tears hovering on the edges of her long, golden lashes.

  Gideon had never been able to remain detached from a woman’s tears. His mother had cried so much after his father had died, and Gideon had been the only one there to dry them from her cheeks.

  He moved to dry Madison’s tears too, taking a tissue from the box on the table beside Claire’s bed. ‘It looks worse than it actually is,’ he assured her softly, hoping he was speaking the truth—because at the moment Claire didn’t look very well at all.

  Madison turned to bury her face in his shoulder. ‘I didn’t think—didn’t expect—Oh, Gideon, poor Claire. And we were sitting at home enjoying our dinner, thinking she was having a lovely evening with her family!’ Her slender shoulders shook as she cried in earnest. ‘She’ll be all right, won’t she, Gideon?’ Her eyes were drenched with tears as she looked up at him.

  Gideon felt the breath catch in his throat. This woman got to him in a way no other woman ever had, touched something inside him he’d thought long dead. If it had ever been alive in him. He’d cared for his mother, had loved her, but there had been no other woman who’d even come close to touching that tender side of him. Until Madison, he realised, with an inward groan.

  And he didn’t want to feel those emotions towards Madison McGuire, either!

  He put her abruptly away from him. ‘She’ll be fine,’ he dismissed harshly. ‘And she won’t want to see you blubbing all over her when she wakes up, so no more tears!’ He deliberately didn’t look at Madison again, although he could feel her outraged glance on him.

  Good. An angry Madison he could deal with, but a tearful one he just couldn’t cope with. Not until he got his own emotions, where Madison was concerned, under control.

  If he ever did…

  But not doing so was a possibility he wouldn’t even allow for—couldn’t allow for. He’d seen what loving someone did to a man. His own father had betrayed his family because he’d fallen in love with another woman, had drunk himself to death because of his love for that woman. Gideon would never allow that to happen to him. Never!

  Love…?

  Why the hell had that word come into his thoughts? He wasn’t in love with Madison. He was attracted to her, wanted her, desired her, but that wasn’t love!

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he grated coldly. ‘We can’t do anything for Claire tonight, and we sure as hell aren’t doing anything for you,’ he added cruelly, his brows raised as he looked pointedly at her tear-stained face.

  He was rewarded for that cruelty by seeing the colour fade from Madison’s cheeks as she put a self-conscious hand up to her blotched face, swallowing hard before she turned away, bending to gently kiss Claire on a spot on her cheek that wasn’t cut or bruised, before walking from the room, her back straight, her head held high.

  Gideon had hurt her, deliberately so. But the alternative—of having her cry on his shoulder once again—would have been unbearable to him at the moment. He couldn’t be responsible for his own reaction. Not that he would ever tell her that. No way!

  He said his own goodnight to Claire, finding Madison waiting outside in the corridor for him, the two of them falling into step as they walked out of the hospital together. But they didn’t talk, Gideon because he had nothing to say, and Madison, he presumed, because she was still angry with him.

  He wanted to keep her that way!

  ‘Drink?’ he offered tersely once they were back at the house. ‘Coffee or something?’

  ‘No, thanks.’ She stood just inside the doorway to the kitchen. ‘If you don’t mind, I think I’ll just go straight to bed.’

  ‘Why the hell should I mind?’ He sat down at the kitchen table, picking up the glass of wine Madison had abandoned earlier, taking a sip from it before he realised what he was doing. Disgusted, he slammed the glass back down on the table as he turned to look at her accusingly. ‘What are you staring at?’ he challenged harshly.

  She looked at the wine glass he had so recently sipped from, and then back at him, obviously having noticed the lapse. And she was drawing her own conclusions from it.

  Well, let her.

  Damn it, he wasn’t answerable to Madison McGuire or any other woman for what he did or didn’t do. He never had been. And he never would be!

  CHAPTER TEN

  MADISON was up early the next morning, but somehow she knew Gideon was up before her; she sensed he was awake somewhere in the house. And she could take a guess at the reason—he hadn’t been able to sleep!

  She was right. He was already in the kitchen drinking strong coffee made in the percolator when she came quietly into the room.

  He glanced across at her before looking away again. ‘Help yourself,’ he said, pointing towards the coffee.

  She poured herself a mug of the strong brew before sitting down opposite him at the kitchen table. Neither of them spoke, and as the minutes passed Madison could feel her tension rising.

  Finally she could stand it no longer. ‘Have you telephoned the hospital this morning?’

  He nodded. ‘Claire’s awake. Which probably means she’s in a lot of pain.’ He scowled darkly. ‘I’m going in to town to see her in a few minutes. Do you want to come?’

  The invitation seemed grudging to Madison. And if what she had suspected last night were true, then she had a feeling Gideon would rather go in and see Claire on his own. Besides, she had somewhere else to go this morning.

  She shook her head, unable to look up and meet his gaze. ‘Give her my love, would you, and tell her I’ll come in and see her later?’

  He stood up abruptly. ‘Sure,’ he accepted tersely. ‘When I get back I’ll take you out to where we’re shooting the film, introduce you to the rest of the crew. Okay?’ he prompted hardly when she made no response.

  ‘Okay,’ she acknowledged dryly; hopefully she would either see him at the hospital or be back here herself before he retur
ned.

  But it was work as usual as far as Gideon was concerned, Madison thought incredulously after he had gone. The woman he loved was lying seriously ill in hospital, but the shooting of the film went on as planned. Because he did love Claire. That much had become obvious to her last night at the hospital.

  He had been visibly shaken as the two of them stood in Claire’s hospital room looking down at her pale face, with its numerous cuts. Possibly he had only just realised himself how he felt about her, which was why he had been unable to hide his feelings. Normally Gideon didn’t like to give away any of his emotions!

  Madison had been devastated by the realisation, had been stunned into silence herself. She had only recently discovered her own love for him, and he was in love with someone else. And, to make matters worse, it was with a woman she was proud to call her friend. It might have been much easier if she disliked the woman Gideon loved!

  But if Gideon thought he was the only one who loved Claire, then he was in for a disappointment, Madison thought sadly as she telephoned for a taxi to take her to the airport.

  The morning flight from Heathrow was on time. Edgar was one of the first to come through from the arrivals lounge, the overnight bag he carried meaning he probably hadn’t had to collect any baggage and had just walked off the plane straight out to where Madison anxiously awaited him.

  But Madison’s anxiety turned to blank disbelief as she saw the two people who followed behind him. It couldn’t be—! How on earth—? When—? How—?

  Her mother and her brother…!

  ‘I’ll explain later,’ Edgar rasped as he reached her and saw her totally stunned expression at the sight of her family. ‘How is she?’

  He looked every one of his sixty-two years at this moment, had obviously spent a sleepless night himself after Madison had telephoned him the previous evening to tell him of Claire’s accident.

  As soon as she’d seen Claire last night, Madison had known that she would have to call Edgar—because if she was right, Claire had been the woman in Edgar’s bedroom when she’d come home unexpectedly on Sunday evening, so Edgar would want to know Claire had been injured in a car crash…

  She’d waited until she heard Gideon go to bed the previous evening before creeping back downstairs again to use the telephone, all the time on edge in case Gideon should hear her. She’d known from Edgar’s distressed reaction to the news, that her suspicion about a relationship between him and Claire had been correct.

  There had been something slightly unnatural about the way Claire had been sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee with Edgar yesterday morning when Madison had got up. Although the two of them had talked as if Claire had only just arrived, somehow it hadn’t rung true to Madison. And then, of course, there had been Claire’s hot date the previous evening…

  Edgar’s response to her call had been instant. He’d said he would book himself on the morning flight to the island, would be here by nine-thirty. He just hadn’t mentioned anything about bringing her mother and Jonny with him!

  But none of that was important at this moment. Edgar was obviously anxious to hear about Claire. ‘Gideon telephoned the hospital earlier, and Claire is awake. He’s at the hospital with her now,’ she added reluctantly.

  The two men didn’t seem to get on at the best of times, but when they both learnt they were in love with the same woman…!

  She turned to her mother and brother, giving them both a hug, although she had to force the welcoming smile to her lips. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pleased to see them, she just wondered what on earth they were doing here. Edgar hadn’t mentioned they were in England, let alone that he would be bringing them to the island with him this morning!

  ‘Madison—’

  ‘Not now, Susan,’ Edgar cut in as her mother would have spoken to her. ‘You can sort out your problems with Madison at some other time. At the moment I’m only interested in seeing with my own eyes that Claire is okay,’ he added grimly, turning towards the exit, and obviously expecting them all to follow him.

  ‘Gideon…?’ her mother bit out sharply as she fell into step beside Madison, Jonny bringing up the rear as they emerged into the late spring sunshine.

  ‘I said not now, Susan,’ Edgar turned to growl aggressively, using a tone of voice with her mother that Madison, for one, had never heard him use to her before. ‘You chose to come here; no one invited you. If the circumstances aren’t to your liking, that’s just too damned bad!’

  She put her hand sympathetically on her mother’s arm as she saw her wince at the attack. ‘He’s very worried at the moment.’ She excused his uncharacteristic harshness.

  Her mother nodded. ‘Claire seems—very important to him.’

  But she was also important to Gideon. And somehow Madison didn’t think Gideon was going to thank her for contacting the older man, let alone having met him at the airport and brought him to the hospital!

  But she couldn’t help that. It was Claire she was thinking of. And, no matter what Gideon might have realised about his own feelings towards a woman he had only previously thought of as his assistant, it was Edgar that Claire was involved with. In those circumstances, it was Edgar the other woman would want to see…

  Edgar sat in the front of the taxi beside the driver, the other three squeezed in the back together, Madison seated next to her brother.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she prompted him in a fierce whisper. Jonny ran the family business with their father, and it must have been something important that had dragged him away from doing that.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders, looking distinctly uncomfortable with his athletically fit bulk squashed between the two women. ‘I have no idea,’ he drawled dryly. ‘Mom grew tired of Edgar putting her off with excuses as to why you couldn’t talk to her on the telephone and decided she was coming to England to see for herself what was going on.’ He shrugged again. ‘Dad couldn’t get away just now, but you know him—he wasn’t prepared to let Mom travel on her own, either. I was nominated to come with her.’ And he didn’t sound particularly happy about it, either.

  She should have made a point of telephoning her mother. Madison inwardly rebuked herself. Then this meeting need never have happened. There just hadn’t been the time since Edgar had told her of her mother’s call on Sunday night…

  Oh, well, there was nothing she could do about it now. She would take Edgar to the hospital, show him to Claire’s room, and then she could deal with her mother and Jonny.

  But as she chanced a brief look at her mother, around her brother’s body, the look on her face wasn’t encouraging!

  Oh, for goodness’ sake; she was twenty-two years old, not a baby any more, and at some stage her mother was going to have to realise that. It looked as if that time had come!

  Madison swallowed hard. Somehow she knew Gideon, with his desire that she keep a very low profile, was not going to be pleased at the arrival on the island of most of her family—one member of it in particular!

  She hadn’t even started work on the movie yet, and after today she perhaps never would, once Gideon had met her mother. Because then he would realise his chances of keeping Madison low-profile for any length of time would probably be nil!

  ‘We’ll come in with you,’ her mother decided as the taxi drew to a halt outside the hospital. She climbed gracefully out of the car on to the pavement, Jonny dutifully following her.

  Madison frowned across at her mother. Her idea had been to take Edgar in herself, and then come back and rejoin her family. Edgar and Gideon could then fight it out between them as to who had the most right to be at Claire’s side. But one look at the determination in her mother’s green eyes, the stubborn set of her mouth, and Madison knew she might as well save her breath in even making that suggestion.

  So much for any desire to delay a confrontation with Gideon; he would take one look at her mother and want to know exactly what the hell was going on! Especially when he realised she was Madison’s mother. Because he
r mother—tiny, blonde, elegant, and still extremely beautiful in her mid-fifties—was instantly recognisable as the movie star Susan Delaney…!

  Gideon believed he had found himself an unknown for his movie, and had chosen Madison as his star for that very reason. But her mother was anything but that, and she didn’t think Gideon was going to be too happy about it. She had hoped that Gideon wouldn’t need to know about her mother until after they had made the movie, when it wouldn’t really matter any more, because—she hoped!—her own talent would have proved enough for him not to give a damn who her mother was. Fate, it seemed—in the guise of her mother’s unexpected arrival now—had decided otherwise.

  She only hoped Gideon wasn’t going to be too annoyed, either with her or with Edgar. Because it was going to be obvious to Gideon that the older man, being Madison’s godfather, had known of her mother’s celebrity status from the outset.

  Annoyed didn’t quite describe the look on Gideon’s face when he turned and saw Edgar enter Claire’s hospital room at Madison’s side; he looked absolutely furious!

  He stood up with a scraping of the chair he had been sitting on next to Claire’s bed. ‘What the hell are you doing—?’ He broke off, having looked past them to the other couple who had entered the room.

  Annoyed didn’t describe the look on his face as he looked at Madison’s mother and brother, either! He gave the latter only a cursory glance, but her mother—!

  His eyes had narrowed to steely slits, his face rigid, a grey tinge to his skin as he continued to stare at Madison’s mother. ‘You!’ he finally spat out harshly. ‘What—?’

  ‘It’s all right, Gideon.’ Madison rushed forward to put her hand on his arm, hoping to stop him before he could do or say anything unforgivable. She’d known he wasn’t going to be pleased at finding out her mother was a famous actress in her own right, but the whole situation would become completely impossible if, in his anger at feeling he had been duped, he also became insulting. ‘You see—’