Page 45 of The Valentine Child


Font Size:  

'Oh, my God!' Zoe exclaimed.

'Exactly my reaction. But Justin was at a very impressionable age. Embarrassed by his parents' sexuality, he was horrified and disgusted, and blamed Father for Mother's death. I heard him raging at Dad that at his age he should have more control—he should be past such things.' The two women exchanged an ironic glance.

'The naivete of youth,' Jess opined wryly, before continuing. 'Bertie Brown was Dad's lawyer and a family friend, and from then on Justin spent most of his free time with Bertie, supposedly because he was studying hard, but to me it was as if Justin deliberately squashed the Latin side of his temperament. When Dad died three years later Justin had never really forgiven him.'

'So what are you trying to say?' Zoe asked.

'I'm no psychiatrist, but I do know my brother. He had girlfriends over the years—not that many, but every one was an amazon of a woman until you.'

Zoe wriggled uncomfortably on the seat, a snatch of conversation coming back to her. Sara Blacket had insisted that Justin went for large ladies. Could there be anything in what Jess said?

'He wrote to me when he first met you when you were a child, and even then he was obsessed with you, convinced that you needed looking after—a tiny orphan with only an old man for company. When I finally arrived in London after the wedding, hoping to meet my new sister-in-law, I found Justin completely gutted because you had run away.

'He told me that he'd been ultra-careful not to frighten you, either in or out of bed. Until the night you said you were leaving him, and he lost control. At first he blamed himself, sure that he had terrified you the same way he did on your eighteenth birthday.'

'He told you about that?' Zoe asked incredulously, blushing at the memory. 'But I wasn't terrified—well, not of Justin, more of myself; the feelings he aroused in me were all too new,' she explained. 'How could he have thought he was at fault?'

'Quite easily,' Jess offered drily. 'You ran away to London and he barely saw you for two years. He thought he had made the same mistake again and that was why you ran out on the marriage.'

A comment from the terrible night of their argument slipped into Zoe's mind—Justin saying ironically, 'And I thought I was being considerate,' when she had taunted him with Janet's words about his sexual exploits. Could he have been telling the truth? Was Jess's almost too simple explanation the right one? If so she realised that she had made a mistake of mega, mega proportions.

Jess was still talking and she listened with mounting horror, and the growing conviction that Jess was right.

'Until, that is, he followed you to the airport the last day, saw you in the arms of your American friend and realised you had a lover, that you had betrayed him. . .'

'But I never. . .' Zoe cried.

'It's not much good telling me that. It's Justin you have to convince, though to be honest I was under the impression that the pair of you had sorted out your differences.

'He told me last Saturday in London all about the child. He was furious at your hiding Val from him, but I know my brother and I knew he had already forgiven you. You were sharing his bed again, and he was vibrant—fully alive for the first time in years. But if the look on his face tonight was anything to go by you've crushed him again.'

'No—deflated his ego maybe.' And in a few, succinct sentences Zoe explained her attempt to seduce Justin into making her pregnant and how he had discovered the truth. To her amazement Jess started to laugh.

'My God, what a pair.'

'Excuse me if I don't see the joke,' Zoe said sarcastically. 'The man I love is going to divorce me; that's not funny, it's tragic.'

'But don't you see? There is my beloved brother terrified of his own strength, determined to treat you gently, and there you are, a tiny woman, equally determined to get him into bed, never mind that you thought I was his live-in girlfriend.'

One dark brow arched elegantly. 'And look who won! It's hilarious; you're as strong as he is, if not more so. You make a great couple. Or you will if you ever get your act together.'

Jess's chuckle ended in a wide yawn. 'I'm going to bed. If you take my advice, Zoe, I suggest you set about seducing my brother yet again, simply for yourself.' And with that parting shot she got up and left the room.

For a long time Zoe stared sightlessly into the flames of the open fire, rehashing Jess's conversation in her mind. It made a lot of sense, and it explained a good deal of the past. If she believed her. . .

Standing up, she slowly walked upstairs. She hesitated outside Justin's door, then moved on to Val's room. She gazed down at the sleeping child, and said a silent prayer of thanks and hope for his well-being. She kissed his smooth brow, and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, showered, her only covering a fluffy white bathrobe belted loosely around her waist, and with her face scrubbed clean of make-up, her hair brushed to a silken silver sheen falling in soft waves down her back, she quietly closed her son's bedroom door, and tiptoed along the hall to her own room—the room she shared with Justin. . .

Her mind made up, she took a deep breath and, squaring her slender shoulders, pushed open the door and walked in. A single lamp was burning on the bedside table, illuminating the figure reclining on the large bed.

'Justin?' she began unsteadily, her hands curled into fists to stop their trembling. He was propped up against the pillows, a book in his hand. He was bare-chested, the hand-crafted quilt draped across his thighs covering his essential maleness.

'Zoe.' She looked at his face and flinched at the look of cold anger in his dark eyes. 'Why are you here?' he demanded harshly, the hand holding the book lowering to the bed.

'This is my room,' she mumbled defensively.

'Possession is nine tenths of the law,' he drawled sarcastically, 'and last night you made it abundantly clear that you preferred to sleep with our son. If you imagine for a second that I will swap places with you and sleep in that bunk forget it.'

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like