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“I see.” Andrew had never before been in the position of making excuses for Marcus Harris. Marcus had always been an unstoppable force, a power to be reckoned with, and everyone he met thought the world of him. Even the people whose companies he took over were caught up in his powerful, impressive personality. Not this woman. “Look, he’s not himself lately. Losing Bryan like that … it really knocked him around.”
“As you’d expect,” she said with a determined shrug of her slender shoulders. She didn’t want to get pulled into feeling sorry for Marcus. She had to hold onto her anger. “He did mention that your wife is pregnant. How far along is she?”
And because Andrew could have talked endlessly about Cecilia and their baby, he did. He talked and talked until Katie thought she was about to fall asleep. Except her body was alive with nervous anticipation. As Andrew waffled on in that diffident American way, she subtly scanned the street.
And so, the second he rounded the corner, head bent, hands thrust in the pockets of his coat, she saw him. And a second later, Katie saw her. A tall, reed-thin woman wearing a skimpy cocktail dress despite the coolness of the night. Her hand was tucked into his arm, her fingers splayed proprietarily around his forearm, her face lifted gushingly up at his.
Katie turned her attention back to Marcus, tuning out Andrew’s ongoing flood of information about morning sickness and back pain. He was still in the distance, but she noticed immediately that he looked different. His face was pinched. He’d lost weight. His hair was longer and worn unstyled around his face.
The moment he saw her, she knew. His eyes flew to her face, and his step faltered. He said something, quietly, to the woman beside him, and then walked onwards, a determined fire in his eyes.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
For some reason she couldn’t fathom, he was furious with her. Katie glared up at him.
“I brought her, Marcus,” Andrew interjected, pushing up from the wall they’d been leaning against and moving to stand between Katie and his brother.
“Jesus Christ. Andrew, what is this about? You’re supposed to be in New York.”
“Have you been drinking all day?” Katie interrupted, appalled at the change a few weeks had brought. The smell of scotch was cloying on his breath and his words were slightly slurred.
“What’s it to you?” He asked fiercely, dragging his eyes back to Katie and regarding her with a disdain so powerful it took her breath away.
“It just doesn’t seem like you. Then again, I don’t really know you at all, do I?”
The compunction he should have felt was noticeably absent. If anything, his expression was strangely without emotion, his eyes blank. “So, you found out anyway.”
“Yes,” she hissed. “I found out.”
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but I think we should take this inside.”
“Cherie?” Marcus turned to the blonde woman, who seemed suddenly less keen.
“On second thoughts, let’s leave it tonight, baby.” Her familiarity was a knife in Katie’s gut, as was the possessive way she climbed onto tiptoes and pressed a wet kiss against Marcus’s mouth. A mouth that Katie had, until a fortnight ago, considered solely hers.
The blonde hailed a cab and disappeared from view, leaving the three of them on the footpath. “Well, come in then,” he said, a little shaky as he pushed through the gate.
“Christ, Marcus, how much have you had to drink?”
Marcus didn’t answer, nor did he look at either of them. And Katie realized that he was furious! As furious as she was, perhaps. Why? What did he have to be angry about?
All of the fight went out of her, but she was drawn forward. Following these two brothers though she suddenly wanted to be anywhere else. She hesitated at the door to the building, and Marcus, leaning for support, she suspected, against the mirrored wall of the lift, shot her a withering glare. “Well?”
Andrew stared at his brother, shocked. “Katie, I’m sorry about Marcus. I don’t know what’s come over him.”
“That’s fine.” She stepped into the lift. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I came here with the lowest opinion of him and he’s just confirming it for me.”
Marcus closed his eyes, swaying a little. The week-long bender had not been his brightest idea. He’d never really drunk heavily, but it had seemed to be the only attractive option available to him at present.
The lift pinged open straight into his apartment and he gestured for them to precede him.
“So, this is where you live.”
Marcus didn’t answer, so Andrew spoke for him. “When he’s in London, yes. Katie, can I get you a drink?”
“No. I won’t be staying long.”
“I’ll take a coffee,” Marcus said, shooting his brother a warning look.
