He was equally pale. ‘I told you how much Peggy and Don mean to me—’
‘And that excuses what you did? I suppose you’re going to say the ends justified the means!’ she spat furiously. ‘And how proud of you would your parents feel now, knowing that you prostituted yourself with a little slut for nothing?’
His complexion flooded with brilliant colour. ‘I said it occurred to me, that’s all,’ he said roughly. ‘Damn it, Roz, I’m trying to be as honest as I can with you, for both our sakes. I didn’t know you back then. I do now ... probably better than you would like me to. You know damned well I made love to you because it seemed the utterly natural thing to do. There was no ulterior motive, except maybe to build an intimate bond between us that was strong enough to survive whatever truths we had to tell each other.
‘And it is, isn’t it, Rosalind? Yes, we’re angry with each other, and yes, you’re feeling frustrated and hurt, and so am I, and yes, yes, I’m going to use every argument in the book to get you to tell me what I need to know, but whether you do or not this is not over...I won’t let it be...’
Rosalind had had plenty of flamboyant rows in her time, but never one in which she had felt the pain of the attacker as acutely as her own defensive wounds. On the ferry to Singapore the next morning, clutching only her small overnight bag, she shakily congratulated herself for withstanding Luke’s powerful assault on her conscience, on her see-sawing emotions and... finally... on her body. They had made love all night long with a fierce, bruising urgency that should have left her feeling fragile and vulnerable but instead had left her charged with a furious energy. Luke seemed hell-bent on staking a claim to Rosalind’s loyalty, both in bed and out. Well, first she would have to clear the decks of prior claims...
She had left him still sleeping and signed an early checkout, arranging for the rest of her luggage to be packed and sent on to her the next day, hoping that her scattered belongings would fool Luke long enough for her to make a clean getaway. Unfortunately, when she got to the tiny airport there wasn’t a spare seat until an afternoon flight to Kuala Lumpur, so instead she headed for the wharf and gained a last-minute berth on the high-speed catamaran.
As the twin granite peaks of Tioman receded into the glassy South China Sea Rosalind refused to look back. No regrets, she told herself. She had made her decision; now she had to stick to it.
Don’t look back, she told herself half a day later as she boarded a first-class flight from Singapore to Auckland via a couple of long, tiresome stop-overs which had not figured in Jordan’s original flight plans. She sat bolt upright as they chased the daylight all the way down the Pacific rim, rehearsing scenarios over and over in her head until she thought she was prepared for every eventuality.
Nearly twenty-seven hours after she had blown a farewell kiss to the sleeping man on a tumbled bed in a faraway paradise she stumbled into the starkly modern clinical ward in the Wellington hospital where Peggy Staines was listed as not receiving visitors and immediately got into a full-blown argument with a tank commander in nurse’s drag.
‘It’s all right, Sister, I know she looks dangerous, but she’s with me.’
Rosalind gasped at the mirage hovering before her in a faintly rumpled suit, his hair flopping over his tanned forehead, his eyes almost as bloodshot as hers.
‘How did you—?’
‘Because I told you—I know you almost as well as you know yourself, Roz Marlow. This is exactly your extravagant style—the hotheaded decision, the dramatic exit, the flamboyant gesture of self-sacrifice! Did you think I didn’t know the instant you left the bed? Did you think I didn’t immediately pick up the phone and ask Reception to let me know if you checked out? Did you think I couldn’t spin a good enough sob story to touch the heart of the woman on the flight-information desk at Singapore?
‘You taught me well, Roz—you should have stuck with me then you wouldn’t look such a total wreck,’ he said cruelly, his eyes flicking over her jeans and travel-stained T-shirt topped with her denim jacket. ‘I pleaded a family emergency and got priority-bumped all the way from Tioman. I understand you took the scenic route...’
Her blood sugar shot sky-high—quite a feat since she hadn’t eaten for a day and a night. ‘Why, you—!’
The sergeant major harrumphed. ‘Don’t disturb her for too long, Mr James. She needs her rest.’
‘Uh, that’s very kind of you...’ Rosalind was mortified.
How could the woman be so caring about someone who had been so insulting? She flashed her a brilliantly apologetic smile.
‘She’s talking about Peggy, Roz,’ Luke reproved her as the nurse trod heavily away.
‘On.’ Her eyes darted to his. ‘How is she?’ He hadn’t tried to stop her leaving Tioman or entering the hospital, yet he was here lying in wait for her. Was he now going to show her how futile any cunning attempt to see his aunt would be?
He took her elbow and turned her down the long corridor, shortening his stride to match her wobbly steps. ‘Well enough to see you.’
She just stopped herself leaning on him. ‘You told her I was coming?’
‘She’s in no condition to take any shocks. Don’t worry,’ he said wearily. ‘I reassured her that although we know each other we haven’t discussed anything that happened between you two. She seemed pathetically relieved.
‘She told me that she was horribly embarrassed ...that she’s been a closet fan of yours for years and got carried away having recognised you having coffee at the hotel. She said she followed you up to your room and got you to ask her in by pretending to be a hospital employee, and that you kindly let her stay for a drink and a chat while you got ready for your appointment. She said she thought Don would be angry with her for behaving like a teenager and she’s sorry that she put you in such an awkward position by making you promise not to tell anyone of her foolishness when she started having pains.
‘I didn’t mention the extent of the publicity but I did say the press interest had put quite a lot of pressure on your silence, and she said she had no idea that her silliness would get blown so out of proportion or she would never have asked such a thing of you...’
Rosalind’s heart sank at the blow. Peggy was scarcely awake yet she was already frantically covering her tracks. She expected them to continue their charade for ever! The story actually sounded quite plausible but it was obvious from Luke’s toneless delivery that he knew Rosalind too well to believe that so frivolous a reason was behind her unshakeable show of loyalty.
‘That’s what she’s going to tell Don, anyway, and since they both hold that lying is a sin he’ll believe it.’ He wiped a hand across his face. ‘Problem solved for everyone...as long as it’s not going to blow up later in his face...’
Rosalind said nothing. What could she say? She couldn’t guarantee that the truth wouldn’t eventually leak out; she could only remove herself from the situation to ensure that it didn’t come from her. Unless she could persuade Peggy to make a clean breast of it, so that they could all begin again with a clean slate...
‘I hate it that she has to suffer like this,’ he went on savagely. ‘She’s always seemed so strong...and to see her lying there so...so...’
His voice thickened to a halt as they stopped before a plain swing-door with a square panel of reinforced glass, and he placed his palm against it, blocking out her view of the bed within.