‘Yes,’ Lindsay nodded.
‘What about Glen?’
‘Malcolm didn’t mention him,’ she shook her head.
‘Then I’d rather not go either,’ Judi said firmly.
‘Why on earth not?’
‘I don’t want to intrude.’
‘You won’t be. Judi, what did you really think of Malcolm?’ Lindsay probed gently.
‘I thought he was—very attractive,’ Judi admitted after several seconds.
Lindsay turned over tiredly. ‘Good,’ she murmured in a pleased voice.
‘What do you mean, good?’ Judi demanded sharply. ‘Lindsay? Lindsay …!’
She continued to pretend to be asleep, having effectively found out that Judi was attracted to Malcolm too, while avoiding the subject of Joel. She didn’t want to talk about him any more tonight, felt drained from talking about him with Malcolm. The fact that he had left early with the clinging Joanne didn’t help the turmoil of her emotions; she was able to imagine the two of them together now, Joel’s dark head resting against Joanne’s ivory skin.
Malcolm arrived early to take them out the next morning, and Lindsay made her excuses as soon as he did. ‘I have a headache,’ she told them both regretfully.
‘Then I’ll stay here with you,’ offered Judi instantly.
‘There’s no point,’ she said gently. ‘Why don’t the two of you go for a nice drive?’
Her sister blushed uncomfortably, very slender and attractive in fitted brown trousers and a vest tee-shirt. ‘I wouldn’t hear of it—I’ll stay and take care of you.’
‘I’ll only be lying down,’ Lindsay insisted, ‘so there won’t be anything to take care of.’
‘But—’
‘Go and get your jacket,’ she ordered. ‘We can’t keep Malcolm waiting all day when he’s been kind enough to offer to take us out.’
Judi shot her a resentful glare before striding angrily into the bedroom and slamming the door behind her.
‘Do you really have a headache?’ Malcolm asked ruefully.
‘As it happens, yes.’ Lindsay pulled a face, not having slept well at all the night before.
‘I don’t think Judi believes you.’
‘Would you?’ she derided.
‘No,’ he still grimaced. ‘She has quite a temper, doesn’t she?’ he said admiringly.
‘We both do. Still want to be alone with her?’ Lindsay mocked softly.
‘I’ll find a way to calm her down,’ he said with anticipation.
From the thunderous expression on Judi’s face when she returned from the bedroom it wasn’t going to be easy! Lindsay watched them leave with amusement, her humour fading as soon as she was alone, her headache the result of not being able to rid herself of the mental image of Joel and Joanne together, her torment agony as she knew it could have been her in his arms.
It was the slamming of the apartment door that woke her from the disturbed sleep she had drifted into as she lay on the sofa, sitting up with a start as Judi stormed through to the bedroom. There was no evidence of Malcolm following her, so Lindsay could only assume the two of them had argued. Not a good start to their relationship.
A glance at her wrist-watch told her that the other couple had only been gone a couple of hours. What on earth had Malcolm done to upset her sister in that short time?
Judi was packing her weekend case when Lindsay went into the bedroom. ‘What’s going on?’ She sat down on the opposite bed to watch her sister’s agitated movements.
‘What does it look like?’ Judi snapped.
‘But you don’t leave for hours yet,’ she frowned, still a little groggy from her nap.
‘I’ve decided to take the earlier train,’ Judi told her tightly. Lindsay’s frown deepened. ‘Why?’
Judi stopped the frantic packing of her case long enough to sit down heavily on the bed. ‘I know you like living here, that you enjoy the pace and excitement of it all. But I don’t understand it or the people!’
‘Judi, you aren’t making sense,’ she prompted softly.
Tears filled the disturbed hazel eyes. ‘It wasn’t even my fault. I did nothing to encourage him. But he just—’
‘Are we talking about Malcolm?’ Lindsay asked in bewilderment.
‘Of course we’re talking about Malcolm,’ Judi confirmed impatiently. ‘I don’t know why you encouraged me to go out with him alone in the first place. I realise that after Mother disapproved so strongly of Joel you probably wanted someone on your side this time, but—’
‘Judi, what are you talking about?’ She was sure it couldn’t just be the last remnants of sleep that were making this conversation impossible to follow; Judi really wasn’t making any sense!
‘You and Malcolm!’
‘Malcolm and—I?’ Lindsay repeated slowly.
‘And I really did like him to begin with,’ her sister continued agitatedly. ‘But I think you should know that he—well, he isn’t quite as charming as he seems,’ she concluded awkwardly.
The amusement of the situation began to dawn on Lindsay. ‘No?’
‘No,’ she seemed reluctant to elucidate on that point.
‘What did he do, make a pass at you?’ Lindsay asked with relish, sure from Judi’s reaction that that was exactly what he had done. His method of ‘calming’ her sister down seemed to have had the opposite effect!
‘It isn’t funny, Lindsay,’ Judi groaned her dismay. ‘Although I’m glad you can see something amusing in the fact that your boy-friend made a pass at your own sister!’ she added disgustedly.
‘Oh, but I wouldn’t find that funny at all,’ Lindsay disagreed.
Judi gave her an impatient glare. ‘Then I suppose I’m imagining that silly smile on your face?’
Her humour deepened. ‘Not at all.’
‘Lindsay—’
‘Darling, Malcolm isn’t my boy-friend,’ Lindsay gently interrupted the angry tirade that had been about to begin. ‘He’s someone who’s turning out to be a very good friend, but I very much think it’s you he’s romantically interested in.’
‘Me …?’ her sister echoed dazedly.
‘Judi, surely it was obvious! Why do you think I tried to find out what you thought of him last night?’ she derided.
‘I thought you wanted my approval—’
‘I do,’ Lindsay confirmed forcefully, amazed that her sister had gained the wrong impression anyway. ‘I like Malcolm very much, and I think you’ll be good for each other.’
‘No,’ Judi shook her head dully.
‘We all cared about Jonathan, love, but you’re only twenty-four, you can’t spend the rest of your life tied to a memory,’ Lindsay pointed out gently.
‘It isn’t that,’ her sister choked. ‘Jonathan would have been the first one to encourage me to find happiness. But I made such an idiot of myself with Malcolm today that I’ll never be able to face him again!’ she groaned.
‘Never is a long time. Tell me exactly what happened,’ Lindsay encouraged.
‘Well, he was very warm and friendly—too much so, I thought, so I was frosty with him—’
‘Very loyal of you,’ Lindsay teased.
‘If you aren’t going to take this seriously—’
‘Oh, I am, I am,’ she soothed her sister. ‘What happened to make you storm in here half an hour ago?’
Judi seemed embarrassed just thinking about it. ‘He—he kissed me,’ she revealed reluctantly.
‘I would have thought that was very natural in the circumstances,’ nodded Lindsay, waiting for the rest.
‘And that’s when I hit him,’ Judi continued gloomily.
‘Oh.’ Lindsay held back her smile with difficulty, wondering what Malcolm’s reaction had been to that. It seemed he hadn’t had time to make one!
‘Then I called him every foul name I knew—and a few more I didn’t even understand!—and demanded that he bring me home immediately. If you don’t stop laughing, Lindsay,’ she warned through gritted teeth, ‘I’m l
ikely to hit you too!’
‘My, you are violent today!’ Lindsay sobered from her uncontrollable laughter as Judi continued to look fierce. ‘The poor man kissed you because he’s attracted to you.’
‘Well, I didn’t know that!’
‘I would have thought it was obvious.’
‘What was obvious was that the two of you spent the whole of yesterday evening together,’ Judi snapped. ‘Even sneaking out on to the balcony so that you could be alone together. I even saw him kiss you once!’
‘He was thanking me for approving and encouraging his interest in you,’ Lindsay derided.
‘Well, I couldn’t be expected to know that!’
‘You do now, so what are you going to do about it?’ she asked curiously.
‘Nothing,’ her sister said stubbornly.
‘Judi—’
‘I mean it,’ she cut in firmly. ‘I’d be too embarrassed to explain the mistake I made.’
‘Malcolm won’t mind,’ Lindsay assured her sister confidently.
‘Well, I do. I made an idiot of myself, and I don’t intend adding to it by seeing him again.’
‘So you’re going to go back home and act as if you had never met him,’ said Lindsay with impatience. ‘You’re just being stubborn, Judi.’
‘I’m being stubborn?’ her sister scorned. ‘And what would you call what you’ve been about Joel?’
She stiffened warily. ‘Joel?’
‘Yes—Joel,’ Judi repeated determinedly.
‘What about him?’ she asked defensively.
‘It’s blatantly obvious that the two of you are still extremely attracted to each other—’
‘Attraction doesn’t make love,’ Lindsay dismissed abruptly.
‘It makes the beginning of love—’
‘After six months I think we know it isn’t love on his side,’ Lindsay scorned harshly.
‘That’s another thing—the way you talked about him I had the impression of a selfish monster only interested in getting you into bed with him and nothing else—’
‘That is all he’s interested in!’
‘Rubbish!’ Judi told her impatiently. ‘He stared at the balcony doors for fifteen solid minutes while you were outside with Malcolm—that doesn’t give me the impression of a man only interested in sex.’
‘You sound as if you’re defending him!’ accused Lindsay.
‘I feel sorry for him.’
‘He doesn’t need your pity,’ she derided. ‘Especially when he has women like Joanne Honeyville around.’
‘She didn’t mean anything to him, he didn’t even notice she was there half the time.’
‘Well, I did! I thought you were on my side, Judi,’
said Lindsay in a hurt voice. ‘You didn’t seem to like him last night,’ she remembered.
‘I admit I had a little natural defence of my sister, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like him. There’s something about him, something that troubles him deeply.’
Lindsay stood up, moving with agitated movements. ‘Why is it that everyone suspects Joel of having a motive for the way he is?’ she demanded to know angrily. ‘Why can’t any of you accept the fact that he’s a selfish bastard and leave it at that?’
‘Because he isn’t, not basically,’ Judi told her gently. ‘And you don’t believe he is either.’
No, but then she knew Joel’s aversion to love was somehow connected with Marilyn Mills, and she hated the other woman for it. ‘Don’t presume to lecture me, Judi, when you’re too stubborn to make your own peace with Malcolm,’ she said waspishly. ‘I don’t want us to fall out about this, but it’s just too painful to keep talking about,’ she added raggedly.
‘I’m sorry, love,’ Judi was instantly contrite. ‘I know I shouldn’t try and interfere. I just don’t like to see you unhappy.’
‘I’ll get over it.’ Lindsay said flatly.
But it was an empty promise, she knew that. Maybe if, like Jonathan, Joel had been taken from her by death, she might have eventually been able to fall in love again. But not when he was so close to her physically and so far away emotionally, then it was impossible to forget him or the love she had for him.
But there was one thing she knew about Judi that her sister didn’t; she was going to find love again whether she wanted it or not! Lindsay thought she knew Malcolm well enough by now to know he wouldn’t be put off by a slap on the cheek and a few abusive words. He was going to be a very welcome member of the family.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘ARE you getting all the excitement you want out of life now?’ Joel rasped as he came into Lindsay’s office first thing Monday morning.
‘Sorry?’ she asked guardedly.
He came to sit on the edge of her desk, his grey fitted trousers taut against his muscled thighs, his black shirt giving him a satanic look. ‘As I remember it, one of the things you said was missing from our relationship was fun and excitement,’ he drawled contemptuously.
She flushed. ‘I didn’t say that exactly—’
‘Your exact words were that I never took you anywhere that was fun or exciting,’ he recalled harshly. ‘Does Malcolm take you to exciting places?’
‘Joel—’
‘Or do you find it exciting enough just to be with him?’ he cut in coldly. ‘I noticed he’s already had the one privilege you never allowed me.’
Lindsay was very pale at this unwarranted attack. ‘What’s that?’ she asked numbly.
‘Staying overnight at your apartment!’
She frowned. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’
‘I saw his car outside your home yesterday morning, Lindsay,’ he insisted accusingly. ‘So don’t attempt to deny it.’
Her apartment was at the opposite end of town to Joel’s, so he couldn’t have driven by it by accident. Unless, of course, Joanne Honeyville’s home was at the same end of town as hers! ‘Don’t judge everyone by your own standards, Joel,’ she snapped. ‘Malcolm’s car may have been parked outside my home, but he certainly hadn’t stayed the night. You taught me well and pleasurably, Joel, but I’m certainly not into the ménage à trots league.’
His eyes narrowed to icy slits. ‘What do you mean?’
‘My sister stayed with me last night,’ she told him bitterly. ‘I think it would have been a little crowded if Malcolm had stayed too!’
Joel looked disconcerted now, her answer obviously surprising him. ‘You can’t imagine what thoughts went through my mind when I saw his car there,’ he said raggedly.
‘Oh, but I can,’ she sighed. ‘Knowing you.’
‘Lindsay—’
She pulled her hand out of his grasp. ‘Don’t touch me!’ she glared at him with glittering eyes.
He looked taken aback by her vehemence. ‘I was only going to say I was sorry,’ he said slowly.
Lindsay flushed awkwardly. ‘Apology accepted,’ she bit out. ‘Now Colette is waiting in your studio for you,’ she said briskly. ‘She’s been waiting some time,’ she added pointedly.
A shutter came down over his arrogant features as he stood up. ‘Maybe now she knows how I feel when she turns up late for a session,’ he dismissed his own lateness this morning.
Lindsay felt the tension leave her once she was alone again, disconcerted by the fact that Joel had seen Malcolm’s car outside her home and misconstrued the reason for it. Although his own reason for being in that part of town at that time of morning was suspect, certainly it gave him no right to judge her morals, even erroneously.
But the fact that he was completely wrong about Malcolm and herself was none of his business, although if he could have heard Malcolm’s worried telephone call to her the previous evening he would be in no doubt where the other man’s interest lay. Malcolm had been frantic with worry that he had alienated Judi irrevocably, not finding it in the least funny when she explained the humour of the situation to him. In the end she just gave him Judi’s telephone number and left them to it. She wasn’t capable of sorting out her own love
life, let alone anyone else’s!
With only three weeks left now until she was unemployed she got down to the serious business of finding herself another job, soon finding that wasn’t very easy. Nevertheless, she did manage to get a couple of interviews for later in the week, knowing that far from assured her of getting one of the jobs. But she couldn’t go home, she just couldn’t.
Her telephone was ringing madly when she got in just after seven that evening, Joel keeping her working late, something she had become used to the last year, although for the last six months those late nights had meant a leisurely dinner together out somewhere. She was going to miss those dinners.
‘Yes?’ Her voice was rather breathless after she had rushed to answer the telephone.
‘Traitor!’ came the instant angry hiss.
It was the first touch of humour she had known all day, and she smiled to herself. ‘Judi, how nice of you to call and thank me for the weekend,’ she taunted her sister. ‘I enjoyed it too.’
‘And you’re enjoying yourself right now too,’ her sister accused heatedly.
‘What do you mean?’ Lindsay pretended an innocence they both knew she was far from feeling.
‘Malcolm Reader is in the lounge at this very moment, charming Mother silly!’
He certainly hadn’t lost any time! ‘In that case I take it you’re using the extension in the kitchen?’ said Lindsay with interest.
‘You know very well I am,’ Judi replied agitatedly. ‘It isn’t enough that he’s been ringing me all day—oh no, he has to be waiting in the house when I get home. He had the gall to tell Mother he’s a friend of mine!’
‘And isn’t he?’
‘No!’
Poor Judi, she wasn’t used to anyone ordering her life in this way, and Lindsay couldn’t resist teasing her some more. ‘If I were you I’d get back in there before they decide what colour the bridesmaids are going to wear and what hymns will be sung at the church!’
‘Well, if you’re expecting to be one of my bridesmaids you can forget it!’ Judi slammed down the receiver.
Lindsay smiled to herself. Judi didn’t know what an admission she had just made with that last statement, or she would never have made it. And she could just see Malcolm charming their mother; he would be exactly the type of son-in-law she would welcome into the family, rich and easygoing, everything that Joel had never been and never would be.
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