Married to Deceive by Kay Gregory

Author:Kay Gregory
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2017-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The interior of the Bentley was warm, almost steamy, as it purred up the M4 towards London. Yet its preoccupied occupants were as cool and remote as if they were on their way to a funeral. Only Caroline, in solitary possession of the back seat, showed any sign of animation.

Phaedra had tried to insist she should sit in the back, but Caroline had said firmly, "No. After sitting beside Mr. Trebanian all the way down from London, it's only fair you should get him on the way back."

This ambiguous comment had earned her a black look from Iain and a harried one from Phaedra. But as Caroline was the passenger closest to the disputed back door at the time she had gained custody without further opposition.

Iain switched lanes and overtook a procession of Volvos and Range Rovers wriggling with children and dogs.

He meant to waste no time getting into London. Once there, he looked forward to unloading his unwanted cargo and returning to the peace and solitude of his flat.

He glanced at Phaedra, seated motionless beside him in her trim navy blue trouser suit. What in hell had possessed Caroline to include her in what would otherwise have been a relaxed and uneventful drive? Pendy's scheming had caused more than enough trouble as it was. He could have done without the company of her silent and sour-faced daughter on the drive back to town.

Yet, in spite of himself, when Phaedra had first arrived he couldn’t deny he'd been glad to see her.

She hadn't been glad to see him. And she'd been so prickly with Caroline that he'd let her go on imagining his secretary was his lover. He wasn't proud of himself for that. No one liked being made to look a fool, and he knew Phaedra was more sensitive than most in that department—had been since her schooldays, although most of the time she hid it well. He'd felt sorry for her then. She didn't make it nearly as easy for anyone to feel sorry for her now.

When he'd followed her upstairs after she departed from the kitchen, he had found her standing at her bedroom window with her long fingers gripped around the sill.

"Phaedra?" he'd said. "Phaedra, don't sulk. It's not like you."

"I'm not sulking."

"No? Then why the vanishing act?”

"Are you laughing at me?" she asked. "Not that I could blame you if you were."

Ah, so it was just as he'd thought, and it wasn’t her fault. She'd suffered too much from unkind laughter as a child.

"I'm not laughing," he assured her. "Not anymore."

"You were though."

"Perhaps, I was. But I wouldn't have if you’d been nicer to poor Caroline." When she didn't answer, he moved across the room to place a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't pull away. "I know you jumped to the conclusion we were lovers. But even if that were true, we're both adults. Who I sleep with is my business surely?"

"Of course it is. And I don't care who you sleep with.

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