Phantom Lover Read online

  A loud buzzing invaded Honor’s skull. Adam was married? Adam was married to this glamorous woman! And he had a daughter...a girl who, by the way she was clinging tightly to her father’s hand, adored him.

  The swine! The lying, hypocritical, faithless devil! No wonder he had been so frantic to get those compromising letters back!

  Honor marched into the room giving him a searing look that she was pleased to see wiped the tentative half-smile off his face to be replaced with a tiny, nervous, downward twitch. Good, he was worried. He deserved to be! She had the ammunition to blow this little game of happy families wide apart!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE dinner was every bit as delicious as Joy Blake had promised it would be, but in spite of her best intentions Honor had difficulty enjoying a single bite.

  For one thing Adam’s weird daughter watched her like a hawk from across the table, following the progress of every mouthful with a kind of horrified fascination, as if expecting at any moment that Honor was going to transmogrify from an ordinary woman into a hideous monster.

  Every time Honor tried to address a friendly remark to her, the dark brown gaze would skitter away and the girl would give a very good impression of being both deaf and dumb. Honor didn’t have a lot of experience with children, but Adam had mentioned that Sara was twelve and Honor thought that was plenty old enough to have acquired a few social graces.

  The blatantly hostile vibes emanating from the foot of the table were another keen appetite-suppressant.

  Under her cold and haughty exterior Tania Blake was seething with tension. Honor had recognised the type on sight—her sister’s milieu was crowded with them—women dedicated to the pursuit of personal ambition, social piranhas who cruised conversations in search of a kill that would enhance their own standing. Their lethal use of witticism and innuendo to vanquish rivals had always reminded her of an eighteenth-century poet’s cynical reference to society gossip: ‘At ev’ry word a reputation dies.’

  Eyeing the electric-blue Thai silk dress and heavy gold jewellery that created such a vibrant impression in the serene dining-room, Honor felt miserably at a disadvantage, physical as well as psychological. Her anger at Adam re-ignited, burning away her embarrassment at the invidious position in which his flagrant literary—if not literal—unfaithfulness had placed her. If Tania was a piranha then Adam had exactly the kind of wife he deserved!

  Unfortunately Honor’s haste to dissociate herself with his perfidity only plunged her into deeper embarrassment.

  If only she had waited for Joy to finish her rambling introduction instead of rushing into speech, but when the beautiful woman at Adam’s side had greeted her with icy distaste Honor had felt compelled to try and explain.

  ‘Mrs Blake—’ there had been no friendly ‘call me Tania’ and, from the looks of things, was not likely to be! ‘—I assure you that I wouldn’t have invaded your home like this if...if the police hadn’t insisted—’

  To her horror Adam interrupted curtly.

  ‘You mean if I hadn’t insisted. There’s no need to make excuses for me, Honor. I didn’t ask for your protection and I don’t need it.’

  Honor turned on him fiercely, holding her head so that her mouth couldn’t be seen by his family as she whispered fiercely at him in an undertone, ‘No, but your wife and child might!’

  Adam didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. ‘My wife?’

  ‘My God, you really don’t have a single shred of conscience, do you?’

  ‘Honor—’

  ‘You faithless pig, don’t you Honor me—!’

  To her intense fury his despicably attractive mouth quirked, as if he suddenly found the horrible situation amusing. ‘All right, I won’t honour you, but don’t blame me if you don’t like the consequences.’

  Her chest puffed up in rage, an effect that he then had the gall to study openly. It was very difficult to cut a man down with a glare when all his attention was fixed on her breasts. No doubt he thought them too large. Helen had actually suggested a breast-reduction operation, but then Helen considered anything larger than thirty-four A to be grossly inflated! Suddenly realising where her thoughts were leading—as if she cared what a married man thought of her breasts—Honor whipped herself up to fresh fury.

  She wished there were some physical flaw of his that she could stare rudely at, but unfortunately even the slight crookedness of his nose was singularly attractive and the rest of his body was shrouded in a sports jacket and trousers of casual but impeccable cut. She checked his feet. To her frustration his socks matched and his dark shoes gleamed. Her chin went up as she resorted to verbal insult to cut him down to size.

  ‘How dare you treat your wife with so little consideration? Have you no shame, you...you roué?’

  It was an absurdly old-fashioned word, but one that fitted him perfectly. Unfortunately she had forgotten to keep her voice down.

  ‘Wife?’ Tania caught his arm, her voice rising from cultured haughtiness to a strident shrill, her blue eyes glittering with distaste. ‘My God, Adam, you haven’t gone and got yourself married to this...this person?’

  Honor blanched. If Tania thought he was married to Honor, then that must mean...

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Tania,’ said Adam, shaking off her clutching hand. ‘Do you really think I’d get married again without asking Sara’s permission?’ He looked down at his daughter’s anxiously upturned face and his voice softened. ‘You know I wouldn’t do that, don’t you, honey?’

  His daughter nodded jerkily, her glance swivelling back in wide-eyed curiosity to Honor.

  ‘Well, what did she say about a wife, then?’ Tania said sharply, her manicured fingers curling into his sleeve again. ‘Something is going on and I demand to know what it is!’

  ‘You can ask all you want, but you won’t necessarily get a reply. As Zachary’s widow you deserve respect and consideration, not chapter and verse on my business and private affairs.’

  Adam plucked her fingers from his arm for a second time as he pointedly emphasised their relationship, not taking his eyes off Honor’s face as she realised what he was telling her.

  Her complexion went from pale anger to fiery embarrassment in the space of a single heartbeat. Tania was his sister-in-law. Oh, no!

  ‘Perhaps you’d care to rephrase some of your remarks now, Honor?’ said Adam silkily, enjoying her obvious mortification so much that her pride rebelled against the necessity of apologising.

  ‘I...it was a natural mistake to make in the circumstances,’ she mumbled defensively.

  Tania didn’t give the impression of being a grieving widow. Not that Honor would expect her still to be wearing black or walking around with red-rimmed eyes months after her husband’s death, but feminine intuition told her that that electric-blue dress was designed—and worn—to achieve maximum male impact. And the only male around here within impacting distance was Adam.

  ‘Was it?’ He was unrelenting. Hadn’t she faced enough tough questions and moral dilemmas already today?

  ‘Well, I...you...’

  He nodded and said sardonically, ‘I’m a roué, a conscienceless bully and a kidnapper...so it follows therefore that I’m also completely amoral.’

  ‘Kidnapper?’ Tania’s beautiful face hardened with frustrated curiosity at the increasingly cryptic nature of the conversation. ‘Whom have you kidnapped? What’s going on?’

  ‘Where did you get that scratch on your face, Daddy?’

  The Adam who so effortlessly ignored his beautiful sister-in-law gave instant attention to his daughter.

  ‘A wildcat got me,’ he smiled, touching the dark golden strands which almost hid the mark on his forehead. Even Honor, who knew it was there, had to look for it. His daughter was obviously extremely observant.

  ‘A wildcat!’ Sara’s freckled forehead wrinkled. ‘You mean, like a tiger or something?’

  ‘Well, not quite that kind of a wildcat,’ her father told her. He turned his amused gaze
to Honor who unaccountably blushed. Joy looked amused, too, while Tania’s mouth twisted with haughty distaste. Oh, no, surely they didn’t think that she...?

  Adam put his arm around Sara, pulling her close into his side. Two sets of brown eyes regarded Honor’s vivid embarrassment. Two against one. ‘Why don’t we ask our guest to explain? She works for the local free newspaper. Words are her stock-in-trade.’

  God, he was really determined to rub it in!

  ‘A journalist,’ Tania burst out stridently. ‘I thought you told me you didn’t want anyone from the Press here. Even if she only works for a hick weekly she’s still a reporter—’

  ‘Bi-weekly, actually,’ Adam interrupted pedantically, ‘but as it happens Honor isn’t here in a professional capacity and she would never dream of betraying the confidence of a friend for the sake of a quick buck, would you, sweetheart?’

  Sweetheart?

  The steely-tender endearment was as loaded a threat as she had ever heard. Honor gulped and summoned a weak smile.

  ‘Er—yes—I mean, no...’ Even to her own ears she sounded disgustingly feeble. She drew herself up and glared at Adam. ‘Not unless the friend had proved to be unworthy of the name. After all, trust works both ways, doesn’t it...darling?’

  She was sorry that she had used the taunting appellation when she saw Sara Blake bite her lip hard and look down at her feet, her hand tightening on her father’s.

  In her pin-tucked white blouse and tartan pleated skirt the girl suddenly looked younger than her years. It wasn’t fair that she should be made to suffer for Adam’s infuriating behaviour. Honor looked away, right into the spotlight of Tania’s hostile stare, and felt even more guilty. In the circumstances the family had every right to fear Press involvement.

  Everyone except Joy, it seemed, who alleviated the suddenly sizzling silence by clapping her hands. ‘So you’re a writer, how delightful! Do you know, Adam used to be a bit of a wordsmith himself when he was younger? He always used to get top marks for his essays at school. He had such a marvellous imagination...’ She sighed. ‘I thought that he might be a famous author one day...’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Joy.’ Tania gave a dismissive little laugh. ‘Adam’s always been a man of action. He wouldn’t be satisfied sitting down at a desk scribbling all day. He likes being in the thick of the action. That’s why the farm couldn’t hold him—it wasn’t enough of a challenge. He had to go out and create his own.’

  Joy Blake subsided like a pricked balloon and Honor felt a surge of sympathy. Her involvement with old people through the Talking Books scheme had taught her that of all the sins committed against the aged the most frequent and most damaging to their pride was the casual impatience with which their views and opinions were often brushed aside.

  ‘Adam’s imagination’s been put to far better use than it would have been as a mere purveyor of information to the masses,’ Tania continued to press her point in the same condescending tone. ‘If it weren’t for his ideas and urging, Zach never would have embarked on a diversification programme and the Blake companies wouldn’t be as profitable as they are today. Adam has achieved the kind of success that most people only dream of.’ The condescension deepened as Tania turned her critical attention back to Honor, her smile anything but kind. ‘Judging from the outfit Miss Sheldon’s wearing, I don’t suppose that writing is a very lucrative career...’

  Ouch! Honor’s estimation of the woman went down another notch.

  ‘Actually this dress is a Paris original,’ she drawled with a fairly good imitation of Tania’s own haughty speech, and name-dropped the prestigious French designer that Helen had been wild about a few years ago when she had bought the dress. No need to mention that the cardigan was from the bargain-bin of a chain store!

  Unfortunately her remark had the effect of drawing all eyes to her rounded figure and she stiffened uncomfortably, resisting the urge to pull the edges of the cardigan across her breasts like a self-conscious adolescent ill at ease with her body. But that was how she felt. Adam’s eyes were gleaming with a faintly lecherous malice as they drifted down past her hips and crawled slowly back up to her breasts. Her fingers twitched with the effort of restraint. He was doing it deliberately, damn it, and if he kept it up she was going to slap his face and to hell with what his family thought!

  As if he knew what was going through her mind he stepped back out of range and politely suggested it was time they sat down, shepherding them all to their seats at the table. His harem, thought Honor darkly as dinner was served by yet another female—a cheerful, middle-aged woman whom Adam addressed as Rhonda. After transferring the dishes from the trolley to the table, Rhonda said goodnight and withdrew with a frankly curious glance at Honor, whom Adam had insisted on seating beside him.

  Honor had expected that Joy would ease the tension over dinner with more of her delightfully artless chatter, but the older woman was subdued as her daughter-in-law effortlessly dominated the conversation. In very short order she chiselled out of Honor where she lived, whom she worked for and how old she was. When Honor fended off other enquiries with polite generalities, furious with Adam for abandoning her to the intrusive questioning, Tania talked about herself, painting a picture of domestic contentment that Honor found difficult to believe, given the woman’s air of restless discontent.

  As she doggedly moved the chicken from side to side on her plate, Honor listened to how Tania had spent the last few days staying at Adam’s North Shore home while she shopped and attended several social events in the city.

  ‘Did the sales finish early, or are you off back to town again tomorrow?’ Adam finally put in drily. ‘We didn’t expect you back until the weekend.’

  ‘Perhaps I missed your scintillating company,’ Tania laughed back, not at all put out by his cynical implication. ‘Since I had to drop Sara off I decided it was silly to turn around and go all that way back for just another day or two. You know I love your house but it’s very lonely rattling around there by myself. I much prefer it when you’re there to keep me company.’

  Honor didn’t need to be told that she was the target of the coyly pouting remark, rather than the man at whom it was ostensibly aimed.

  ‘Do you know Adam’s house?’ Tania’s eyes were cool with not-so-innocent enquiry. ‘Did he tell you he designed it himself? It really surprised everyone. Those sinful bathrooms. Why, you could get lost in them for a week!’

  Having established her intimate familiarity with Adam’s life, Tania allowed herself a smug pause.

  Honor was being warned off. It should have been amusing but for some reason it stung.

  ‘I wasn’t in the least surprised,’ she purred, casting Adam a melting look that halted him in mid-chew. He had described some of his home’s peculiarities in one of his letters. ‘I always knew that Adam was a man with hidden depths. I think his house is a reflection of his character—full of imaginative angles and impulsive fantasies.’

  ‘Adam is the least impulsive man I know,’ Tania corrected testily.

  ‘As I said, a man with hidden depths,’ Honor murmured with a shrug that was intended to annoy. She lowered her normally husky voice even further. ‘You and I obviously see very different sides to him.’

  ‘You obviously don’t know him as well as you think you do.’ Politeness no longer sheathed Tania’s curiosity. Her suspicion broke cover into open interrogation. ‘If this is the first time you’ve met Sara then you and Adam can’t have been seeing each other for very long, because we all know how he likes to show her off. Just when did you and Adam meet each other?’

  Honor’s mouth was open to fend off the query when she felt a large warm hand close firmly on her knee.

  ‘It seems like aeons ago but it was actually only a few months,’ Adam interposed smoothly with the literal truth. ‘I’m afraid I’ve been totally selfish in wanting to keep Honor to myself, but thanks to Sara’s unexpected lapse in conduct I’ve now rectified the omission.’ He turned to address his wary
daughter. ‘On which subject I’ll only say I find it very strange that a straight-A student who has always been praised for her mature attitudes should suddenly be sent home in disgrace. You begged me to let you stay at the same school while we were living here, even though it meant making special travel arrangements for the extra distance. I hope this incident doesn’t indicate that I made a bad mistake...’

  Honor realised that the tension she had encountered in the dining-room hadn’t been purely a result of her own arrival. It was something of a relief to find someone else on the receiving end of Adam’s disapprobation.

  ‘You’ve been expelled?’ Honor couldn’t help exclaiming. Adam had revealed himself to be so erudite in his letters that she was surprised he hadn’t instilled the same respect for learning in his offspring. The restraining hand slid away from her knee, leaving her with an unexpected feeling of abandonment.

  ‘Suspended,’ the girl corrected, shooting an uneasy look at her father’s thoughtful face.

  ‘Wow...what did you do?’ In spite of her best attempt to hide it, Honor heard a sly trace of admiration leak into her voice. Having been a ‘goody-goody’ all through school, victim of her respect for authority and fear of getting caught, she had always had a sneaking envy for those reckless souls who had flouted the rules.

  The girl evidently heard it, too, because suddenly the brown eyes fixed directly on Honor’s for the first time. ‘I was caught with a packet of cigarettes.’

  ‘On three separate occasions in one week,’ added her father evenly, stressing the ongoing nature of her offending.

  ‘Help!’ Glad that the crime was of a relatively minor nature, although she hoped the girl was experimenting rather than seriously smoking, Honor composed her expression into what she thought was a suitably shocked look. It evidently didn’t quite make the grade because it brought forth a cheeky grin from the miscreant.

  ‘That’s what Miss Runcie said I needed. She said I should visit the medical school and have a look at the cancer-riddled lungs they have in jars. Gross! I don’t know what she was so het up about. I only managed a few puffs before I was caught.’