The Tempestuous Flame Read online

  ‘Are you sure an affair was all he was interested in? He seemed to find you—irresistible.’

  ‘It was a mutual attraction. But he more or less told me that if a girl isn’t willing to give her all, he isn’t interested.’

  ‘I can’t believe that.’

  ‘Honestly, Esther, that was exactly what he said,’ Caroline insisted.

  ‘Exactly?’

  ‘Well… almost. Near enough as to make no difference to his meaning. So here I am, back in London, and hating every minute of it,’ she sighed.

  ‘Thanks!’

  ‘You know what I mean,’

  ‘Mm. Well, why don’t you go back to the cottage, talk things over with him?’

  Caroline shrugged. ‘I don’t think we have anything left to say, we’ve already said far too much.’

  ‘Surely anything is better than this misery?’

  She shook her head firmly. ‘I couldn’t stand to become what I despise. And I would. You don’t know how persuasive he can be. Each time he kissed me I just melted against him. He’s just so—so devastating!’

  ‘I believe it,’ said Esther. ‘The few photographs I’ve seen of him have obviously done him justice. I quite fancied him myself.’

  ‘I don’t think John would appreciate that. I—’

  Someone walked unannounced into the room, and Esther’s indignant expression lightened as she saw it was her brother. ‘Nick! What are you doing here?’

  ‘What a nice greeting!’ he mocked, grinning wickedly at the two of them before planting a kiss on each of their cheeks. ‘My two favourite women.’

  Unwillingly Caroline laughed at his spontaneous boyish charm. At twenty-seven, Nick Hall made no secret of the fact that he enjoyed life, and all it had to offer. He was relatively tall, dark-haired, with an olive skin and laughing blue eyes, very good-looking in a youthful way, and he had impeccable taste in clothing. The pin-striped suit and snowy white shirt he wore were evidence of that, and he wore them with a natural elegance that was eye-catching.

  His sister frowned at him. ‘What are you doing here this time of day?’ she repeated.

  ‘What a nag she is, Caroline!’ He looked unperturbed. ‘Brother-in-law John gave me the afternoon off.’

  Esther pursed her lips disapprovingly. ‘That means you asked him for the afternoon off under some pretext or other and he’s too kind-hearted to refuse you. It also means he’ll be late home himself,’ she added darkly. Her husband and brother were in partnership together, although John seemed to deal with far more clients than Nick ever did.

  ‘Calm down, sister dear.’ He caressed one creamy cheek. ‘John told me to tell you he’ll be home at five-thirty as usual.’

  ‘He knew you were coming here?’

  Nick poured himself a cup of coffee, taking a cake off the plate. ‘Of course he did. I’m not too busy at the moment, and I knew Caroline was going to be here this afternoon. I haven’t seen you for ages,’ he grinned at her.

  ‘Don’t exaggerate, Nick. We met at Hazel’s party the other evening,’ she reminded him.

  ‘So we did, but that’s not exactly the way I wanted to see you. How about coming out to dinner with me so that we can have a long chat together?’

  ‘I don’t think—’ she began.

  ‘Oh, that would be nice for you, Caroline,’ interrupted Esther. ‘You could try that restaurant John and I went to the other evening. It’s—’

  ‘Thank you, Esther,’ her brother cut her off dryly. ‘I think Caroline and I can make our own arrangements. I already have a restaurant in mind that I think Caroline would like.’

  ‘No, really,’ she shook her head. ‘I’m not very good company at the moment, and I see no reason to spoil the evening for you too.’

  ‘Oh, you wouldn’t do that,’ he denied. ‘If you’re feeling miserable I’m just the person to cheer you up.’

  He probably was too. The four of them had had some uproarious times together in the past, although as he so rightly said, Nick and she hadn’t seen too much of each other lately. He had always been a good friend to her, although that was no reason to inflict her company on him.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind if I still refuse, Nick. I would accept, but I’m not sure whether I’ll be leaving town again soon.’ Now why had she said that? She had no intention of going away so soon after her last escapade—at least she hadn’t, until a few seconds ago. Her subconscious seemed to have made up her mind for her. And why not? She wanted to see André again, why deny it, and he was at the cottage.

  ‘Does it have to be before we can get together?’ Nick’s frown mirrored his disappointment. ‘I’ve been looking forward to seeing you.’

  She laughed lightly at his flattery. ‘You’re seeing me now, silly. I don’t have to go home just yet.’

  She stayed another couple of hours, refusing Esther’s offer of dinner as her father would be expecting her home. Now that she had made her mind up to return to the cottage and see André she was all eagerness to be on her way. He hadn’t told her to leave, she had decided that alone, and so there was no reason why she shouldn’t go back.

  She had trouble pacifying her own conscience. Would André renew his pursuit of her, and if he did would she be strong enough to hold out against her own desire for him? Doubts began to enter her mind again, doubts for her own control. She had seen Esther’s probing look at her sudden turn-about, after so recently declaring she couldn’t possibly go back to see André to suddenly change her mind again. She had done the same thing constantly during the last few days, never knowing from one minute to the next what she wanted to do.

  By the time her father returned home for dinner she had changed her mind half a dozen times. She saw his sharp look in her direction, and gave him a bright smile that only seemed to deepen his frown.

  He paused over the eating of his meal, taking a sip of his wine. ‘What’s wrong, Caroline?’

  She made an effort to look surprised by his question. ‘Wrong?’ she repeated. ‘What could possibly be wrong?’

  He sighed. ‘That’s what I’m asking you. And don’t try to fob me off with any excuses, I want a straight answer.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she evaded. ‘I’m feeling fine.’

  ‘Oh, yes?’ He gave a knowing nod of his head. ‘That’s why you don’t eat any more and appear to have no further need of sleep, I suppose?’

  ‘I’m sleeping and eating well.’ Her cheeks filled with colour at her lie.

  ‘Oh sure, you always eat like a bird and manage on two or three hours’ sleep a night. Now come on, Caroline, this is your father you’re talking to, not someone like Maggie or Esther who’ll be put off by your feeble excuses. I’m not blind and I know you very well, no matter how much you may doubt that. And you aren’t normal, you haven’t been for some days now, ever since you returned from the cottage in fart.’

  She evaded his eyes. ‘Don’t be silly. It’s just the dull weather that’s making me miserable, it’s so depressing.’

  ‘Ordinarily I would have believed you, but not this time. It’s to do with Greg, isn’t it? Something happened at the cottage that I should know about, something you’re afraid to tell me.’

  ‘It most certainly did not! I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of, nothing at all!’ Her eyes glittered angrily. ‘I left as soon as I found out who he is.’

  ‘Who or what he is has nothing to do with the way you feel about him. How do you feel about him, Caroline, tell me that?’

  She pushed the food around on her plate. ‘How can I feel about him? He’s Greg Fortnum, a rake, and totally immoral.’

  Matt laughed. ‘So? That doesn’t stop women falling for him.’

  ‘It does this one.’

  ‘You aren’t deceiving me, and you aren’t deceiving yourself either, you fell for him in a big way,’ he insisted.

  ‘I did not!’

  ‘Yes, you did, Caroline. I just hope you were sensible enough not to—’

  ‘
I was,’ she said firmly.

  ‘Good. I like Greg, but I will not have him taking advantage of my daughter. I wouldn’t mind him as a son-in-law, but anything else is out of the question.’

  ‘So is marriage.’ This whole conversation was getting embarrassing. ‘How would you feel about my going back to the cottage for a couple of days?’ She waited breathlessly for his answer.

  He shrugged. ‘The same as I did last time. It’s too damned cold there this time of year for a hot-house plant like you. Other than that I have no objections.’

  ‘And André?’

  Matt frowned. ‘What about him?’

  ‘Won’t you mind my staying with him?’

  ‘But you won’t be, he isn’t there any longer. He left a couple of days ago for Europe and then on to the States. He called me on his way to the airport to thank me for the use of the cottage and its amenities—I think you came under the latter,’ he added darkly. ‘I remember I was quite annoyed about it at the time.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HER evening out with Nick was not a success, as she had known it wouldn’t be. How could she laugh and have fun when the man she loved believed her to be no more than an ‘amenity’? It had come as something of a shock to her to realise that André was no longer even in the same country as herself. While he had still been at the cottage she had known she could change her mind and return to him, but now he had gone to Europe she knew she had no chance of seeing him.

  She followed Nick back to their seats after their dance together, brushing back her long hair. ‘Phew, there’s a crowd in here tonight!’

  Nick looked around at the bustle of people in the nightclub. ‘Mm,’ he wrinkled his nose with distaste. ‘It’s become so fashionable here it’s quite vulgar. If I’d known I would never have brought you.’

  ‘Never mind.’ She touched his hand. ‘I loved the restaurant.’ It had been Italian, and very exclusive.

  He took a sip of the champagne he had insisted on ordering. ‘You’re very quiet tonight, Caroline.’

  ‘No, really, I’m fine.’ And she was slightly better than she had been during the week following her father’s revelation.

  ‘Now come on, Caro, I know you and—’

  ‘Don’t call me that!’ Her voice had risen shrilly and her eyes darkened with anger. ‘Don’t call me that, Nick,’ she said more calmly. ‘You never have before and I—I don’t like it.’

  ‘Really?’ He was watching her closely. ‘It looked the opposite to me.’

  ‘You aren’t in court now,’ she told him sharply. ‘Don’t cross-question me.’

  Nick laughed lightly. ‘Now I know there’s something wrong with you! And don’t deny it again. We’ve never argued before, that’s telling enough. Who else calls you Caro?’ he asked shrewdly.

  ‘No one.’ She averted her head.

  ‘All right, who used to call you Caro?’

  ‘Please, Nick,’ she put a hand to her temple. ‘I have a headache, would you mind if we left?’

  ‘If I promise not to pursue the subject will you stay a little longer?’

  She shook her head, her excuse a reality as she felt a throbbing at her temples. ‘No. I really don’t feel well.’

  He stood up, signalling the waiter for Caroline’s wrap. ‘Okay, let’s go.’

  ‘I’m sorry to have ruined your evening,’ she said once they were outside in the car. ‘But I did warn you.’

  ‘So you did,’ he grinned. ‘So, who’s the man?’

  She frowned. ‘You said you wouldn’t pursue the subject,’ she reminded him.

  ‘Only if you stayed a little longer—and you didn’t. Now don’t evade the subject any more. This is Nick, your almost-brother, you can tell me what’s troubling you.’

  She gave a wan smile. ‘Several people seem to have used similar arguments lately.’

  ‘My dear little sister for one,’ he guessed correctly. ‘I gather I interrupted your little těte-à-těte with her last week? From the looks she was giving me I would say I’d come in at altogether the wrong moment.’

  ‘Possibly,’ she admitted.

  ‘I gather Esther got it out of you who this mystery man is? Although I doubt she’ll tell me.’

  ‘There’s no mystery about Greg Fortnum, everyone seems to have heard of him.’

  Nick gave a low whistle. ‘Greg Fortnum, eh? So he’s the man! But I thought he was involved with Lisa Young at the moment?’

  Caroline stiffened. ‘He may be,’ she said jerkily. ‘I really wouldn’t know.’

  ‘Oh damn!’ Nick swore. ‘That was a bit tactless of me. Of course you wouldn’t know who his—who his—er—friend—’ he stumbled over the words.

  ‘If you mean lover, Nick, then say it. I’m well aware that Greg is a grown man and has an expertise in love-making that comes from actual physical experience and nothing else,’ she told him tight-lipped.

  ‘Oh—oh, I see. Well, that’s all right, then.’ He breathed a sigh of relief that his blunder had passed with relative ease. ‘I didn’t know you knew him. I’ve met him a couple of times—formidable sort of chap.’

  ‘I lived with him for five days,’ Caroline stated calmly, laughing at his surprised face. ‘Not in sin, I might add,’ she said merrily, going on to explain the real circumstances behind her stay with André.

  ‘You make it all sound very innocent,’ Nick probed. ‘Was it?’

  She blushed at his direct question. ‘More or less,’ she answered evasively.

  ‘How much was more and how much was less?’

  ‘Quite a lot of the more and not too much of the less,’ Caroline admitted honestly. ‘But I came away unscathed.’

  ‘But not with your heart intact. At a guess I would say you lost quite a big chunk to him.’

  ‘At a guess you would be right.’

  ‘So where is he now? I can’t imagine why he let a beauty like you escape him.’

  ‘He’s somewhere in Europe.’

  ‘And you’re seeing him when he gets back?’ He stopped the car in the forecourt of her apartment block, switching off the engine before turning to look at her.

  ‘Not as far as I know, in fact I would say a definite no. We parted—badly.’

  He leant forward and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘Never mind, love, you still have me. God, that’s enough to depress any girl!’

  Caroline laughed. ‘Thank you for the evening, Nick, and the shoulder to cry on.’

  ‘You didn’t cry.’

  ‘No, but no doubt I will when I get in. I seem to have done little else lately. I’ll see you again soon,’ and she kissed him on the cheek.

  After her disastrous evening with Nick she thought it better not to inflict her company on her other friends until she had herself under control again. What had happened to the self-assured Caroline Rayner who a couple of weeks ago wouldn’t have been affected by any man? What had happened to the cool, composed Caroline who had always faced trouble head on? She had retreated into a lovelorn shell of herself, that was what had happened to her! But she would fight this emotion, fight the power it had over her. She groaned inwardly every time she thought of André. She had fallen in love for the first time in her life, and she had fallen hard. It wouldn’t be so easy to dismiss it.

  She spent hours in her studio at the apartment, working on the portrait of André. This was more out of necessity than actually wanting to do it. It had been the same at the cottage; no matter what she started she ended up going to the half-finished canvas of André that she tried to ignore.

  It was a good portrait, even she could see that, definitely her best work to date. Her memory hadn’t forgotten the deep mahogany of his skin, or the deep drowning green of his eyes. Every strong character of his face was there to taunt her, every mockingly handsome line. Somehow his arrogance came out in the portrait; it was unintentional, and yet it was there.

  Once again Caroline turned her back on those taunting green eyes that seemed to watch her so intently, throwing a cloth o
ver it so that she couldn’t feel him looking at her any longer. Damn the man! She would get him out of her system if it took a lifetime—and at the rate she was progressing that was exactly how long it was going to take.

  She was sitting in the lounge when her father came home. He was later than usual, but she made no comment, continuing to watch the television programme although it wasn’t really interesting enough to hold her attention.

  ‘Good evening, Caroline,’ he said pointedly. ‘Or don’t you even bother with polite greetings any more?’

  ‘Good evening, Daddy,’ she answered obediently, not even bothering to look up, her chin resting on her bent knees as she sat in the chair.

  He slammed the door behind him and she looked up with a start. His face was grim as he looked down at her. ‘At last I have your attention, even if I did have to nearly break the door down in the process! Don’t you think it’s about time you rejoined the land of the living? Personally I’m getting sick and tired of looking at your woebegone face.’

  Caroline took her feet off the chair and stood up. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said dully. ‘I’ll go to my room.’

  ‘You’ll damn well sit down and listen to me!’ her father exploded. He watched with satisfaction as she did as she was told, frowning at the way her denims hung loosely on her hips. ‘Have you eaten dinner?’

  ‘I wasn’t hungry.’

  ‘You never are nowadays. Now you’ll have to snap out of this mood, Caroline. Pull yourself together. You’ve been walking around like a ghost for long enough. You don’t go anywhere, you don’t see anyone, you’ve dropped out of the social world altogether. It’s just not good enough, and I mean to see it doesn’t continue.’

  ‘Oh, yes?’ There wasn’t a spark of interest in her voice. Her hair hung limp and lifeless and there was none of the normal glow to her blue eyes.

  ‘Yes,’ he told her firmly. ‘Now you’re going to sit and eat dinner with me and then we’re going out.’