AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Then, presumably, you also know how to deal with it. Unless, of course, you really are still carrying a torch for that little swine.’
Amanda shuddered. ‘God, no!’ She looked down at her clasped hands. ‘But it’s too late to save my marriage.’
‘So what are you going to do about it—run away for the third time?’ Clare’s tone jeered at her. Her smile was catlike. ‘That would suit me very well. With you out of the way, Malory might turn to me again.’
Amanda’s head lifted sharply, and she stared at the older girl. She said, grittily, ‘I really wouldn’t count on it.’
Clare gave a meditative nod. ‘So, you do love him,’ she said. ‘I admit, I’d wondered.’ Her smile wavered. ‘And he loves you, even if he is bleeding to death at the moment. He gave me a lift from the airport—my idea, not his—and in the car, I—I made it clear I was his for the asking, that I’d console him in any way he wanted.’ She sighed. ‘He was still polite, still charming, and, physically, he didn’t move a muscle. Yet suddenly he was a thousand miles away.’ There was a pause, then briskly she pulled herself together. ‘Well, Mrs Templeton, goodbye, and good luck.’
Amanda watched the door close behind Clare and thought, I’m going to need it.
When Dr Redmond made his rounds, Amanda told him quietly and firmly that she wished to discharge herself and return home. She was aware that Malory had followed him into the room, and she avoided his gaze as Dr Redmond debated her request.
‘Well, why not?’ he said at last. ‘But you must promise me to take things easy for the next few days, spend as much time in bed as possible.’
Malory said, with a ghost of a laugh in his voice, ‘No problem,’ and Amanda looked down at her hands, folded in her lap, forbidding herself to blush.
But did he mean it, she asked herself confusedly as a hired car drove her to Aylesford Green, or was he simply presenting the facade of a happy marriage to the world? Certainly, the remark was the most human he’d made in days.
Mrs Priddy was hovering anxiously on the step, her face splitting with a smile as Amanda was helped out of the car.
‘The master rang with his orders,’ she told Amanda firmly. ‘It’s a nice, warm bath for you, then your dinner on a tray in bed, and no argument.’
When Amanda reached the top of the stairs, she turned automatically towards the west room, but Mrs Priddy halted her, her face pinkening slightly.
‘Mr Malory also gave instructions for your things to be moved to his own room, madam,’ she said. ‘I hope that was right.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Amanda returned rather faintly. ‘Quite—right.’
Bathed, clad in her best nightgown, she sat propped up by pillows and ate her dinner obediently, and waited on tenterhooks for Malory’s return.
It was late when she eventually heard the sound of the car. And it seemed an eternity before the bedroom door opened, and he came in.
He stood for a long moment, staring at her, Then he said quietly, ‘Welcome home.’
‘Thank you.’ She gave him an uncertain smile. He still looked pale, but there was a new air of relaxation about him. She said with sudden insight, ‘Mrs Markham—something’s happened.’
He nodded. ‘She’s going to pull through,’ he said. ‘And we’ve discovered what caused the adverse reaction.’
‘Can it be cured?’ she asked.
‘I doubt it,’ he said, with faint amusement. ‘“It” turns out to be fifty-seven, female, and totally unaware that she’s done anything wrong. Mrs Markham’s sister, Winnie,’ he explained as Amanda stared at him in utter bewilderment. ‘She was so sorry for poor Dorothy, unable to sleep in that big noisy hospital, that she gave her a sleeping tablet she keeps in her handbag.’
Amanda gasped. ‘As simple as that?’
Malory nodded. ‘Things often are.’
She said stiltedly, ‘I’m glad for you. It must be a great weight off your mind. There was a silence, then she said, in a little rush, ‘Malory, what am I doing here?’
He walked forward slowly, shrugging off his jacket, loosening his tie. ‘You’re starting to be a wife to me—in every way there is.’
She shook her head. ‘I—I can’t. Not while you think I’ve been unfaithful to you—while you think our baby…’ Her voice was choked with tears suddenly, and she couldn’t go on.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, not touching her. He said, ‘When I saw you lying in the road that day, a lot of things suddenly became very clear. I’d sworn, years ago, that I’d never let Nigel get to me again. I thought if he saw that his sordid little games didn’t matter to me, then he’d stop. On the whole, I succeeded. But everything changed when I saw you. You were my Achilles’ heel, and Nigel knew it. Even before you were engaged, it gave him sadistic pleasure to tell me what it was like to kiss you—to touch your breasts. How I stopped myself from killing him, I’ll never know.’
