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‘What St Valentine’s thing?’ asked Tania, perking up with interest in something other than the attire
and exciting lifestyle of their glamorous new guest.
‘The ball we went to in Evansdale earlier this year. Honor was one of the organisers,’ Adam said smoothly, turning back to Helen to change the subject. ‘It was certainly good of you to make the effort to call on Honor. She’s fortunate to have such a thoughtful and caring sister—and such an incredibly beautiful one, of course...’
‘Why, thank you,’ murmured Helen, shyly lowering her incredibly long lashes. Helen, who had never been shy in her life! thought Honor resentfully.
‘Since she’s been made so welcome by my family I think it’s only fair that I get a chance to get to know hers a little better, don’t you?’ Adam flicked a sly glance at Honor on his right before propping his chin on his hand, the better to focus his teasing charm on the woman on the other side of him.
Honor’s heart sank as Helen gave her attractive, sexy gurgle. ‘Oh, better than a little, I hope, Adam!’
‘I’m sure we’ll find time in the next few days,’ he murmured.
Honor’s pride was singed, as well as her heart. Was he shutting her out of his attention as a sort of punishment in kind for yesterday? Or was there a more complex reason? Had he suddenly realised the mistake he would have been making if his impulsive seduction had succeeded? Or had it been seeing Helen again that brought him to his senses?
Lying in bed last night, she had been unable to stop the heated little scene between them replaying endlessly in her head. She suffered cold chills of humiliation and hot flushes of excitement every time she remembered Adam’s predatory expression as he had taunted her about the letters. Excitement had dominated. His gloating triumph had not been the reaction of a man who intended to walk away and leave the fruits of victory untasted! And yet he had let her walk away from him, just as he had done earlier in the study. Perhaps he was confident of the sinuously tempting thoughts that he had implanted in her mind...
Honor sighed. It might all be academic, anyway, now that Helen had arrived. Just another unrealistic fantasy dreamed up by a gullible romantic. She had learned very early in her life that there was little point in trying to compete with Helen for attention—in anything. She invariably lost.
Just then, Helen glanced over Adam’s half-turned shoulder at Honor, and lifted her eyebrows and widened her eyes in an instantly recognisable feminine expression that mimed a swooning ‘Oh, wow’ of approval.
Honor blinked, tuning abruptly back into their conversation. Then she blinked again. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing!
She still couldn’t believe it, half an hour later, as she helped Helen unpack dress after dress and hang them in the wardrobe of the spare bedroom next to the one she had been given for her temporary office.
‘Well, sweetie, I could hardly refuse—that would have been awfully rude after his mother so generously offered to put me up...’ Helen was saying, as she sat at the flounced dressing-table carrying out urgent repairs on a chipped nail while Honor trotted back and forth behind her, hanging up dresses.
‘I really did do him an injustice, didn’t I?’ Helen giggled, her finger steady as a rock as she painted. ‘I can’t figure out why I didn’t remember him first time round, he’s such a gorgeous specimen, in a rugged sort of way. Of course, I don’t normally go for rugby-forward types but he’s got a nice city-slick about him, too...’ She looked up from her artistry and saw Honor’s expression reflected in the mirror.
‘Oh, come on, Hon, you can’t really object to me going out with him?’ she pouted. ‘It’s only dinner, for goodness’ sake, and he said you had some silly old deadline you had to work on. I’m only going to be here a couple of days, so where’s the harm...?’
Honor didn’t feel like mentioning the Blake males’ reputation for whirlwind courtships. Nor did she intend telling her sister that there was no work Honor had to do tonight—no deadline that couldn’t wait a few days. Adam had just invented that as an excuse to get Helen off alone—or had it been a sop to Honor’s wounded pride?
‘Anyway, you know how hopeless you are with men. This way I get to check him out for you...’
‘Now that is the feeblest excuse for accepting a date with a man that I’ve ever heard you give,’ said Honor, torn between resigned laughter and the violent desire to shake her sister until her perfect teeth rattled.
Helen laughed shamelessly. ‘OK, so I think he’s a hunk and can’t resist the chance to find out if he’s as charming as he thinks he is. But how charming can he be? Even I have rules about a first date, you know. Now why don’t you pick out something suitably demure for me to wear, so you won’t have to worry about your golden-haired boy being driven mad with requited lust at the mere sight of me?’
‘That’s unrequited, Helen,’ corrected Honor, giving up the unequal battle.
‘Oh, right—keep reminding me of that, won’t you...?’
Secretly, Honor had been hoping that Adam might seek her out with reassurances, but she was disappointed and at lunchtime Sara told her that he had left for an afternoon meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in town. At six he telephoned from Auckland and told Helen that he was running late, and asked her if she would mind meeting him directly at the restaurant, a twenty-minute taxi ride away.
Even draped neck to toe in a simple, straight grey silk sheath that had looked like a nun’s habit on the clothes-hanger, Helen looked like a goddess. Honor watched her get into her taxi at seven o’clock with a panicky feeling that she had made a dreadful mistake. She shouldn’t have let Helen treat this dinner like a joke. She shouldn’t have let Adam get away with dismissing her like yesterday’s news. Oh, what a stupid, spineless coward she was!
Five hours later the fear had solidified into mournful certainty as she paced back and forth in Helen’s empty room, pausing every now and then to peek through the curtains.
Damn it, where could they be at this hour?
Scrub that. She didn’t really want to know. What if they had booked into a hotel? What if they had gone to Kowhai Hill, knowing it was empty?
What if they had turned her home into their private love-nest for the night?
The horrifying thought took root and rapidly grew into a choking vine. When she realised she was actually seriously considering jumping into her newly resuscitated VW and driving over there at breakneck speed to catch them in flagrante delicto Honor decided she was driving herself mad and fled back to the sanctuary of her own room.
Grimly she selected the sexiest piece of lingerie she owned—a sheer black silk teddy with contoured lace cups that made the most of her considerable cleavage and lacing down the front that was a wicked counterpoint to the modest little frill of lace flirting over her hips. If Helen could swan around in silk, then so could her sister!
