Snowfire by Anne Mather

Author:Anne Mather [Mather, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472099396
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 1993-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

TO OLIVIA’S relief, she didn’t see Stephen again until breakfast.

Conor had let her phone for a taxi to bring her back to the hotel, and she had managed to hurry upstairs to her room without anyone noticing her. And she had made sure her light was out before Stephen came up to bed. She was half convinced he had stopped outside her door, but, to her relief, he hadn’t attempted to disturb her.

Not that she’d have opened the door anyway, she assured herself tautly. The evening had been quite disastrous enough, without her ex-husband adding his contribution to it. Indeed, she couldn’t even remember feeling as shattered as she had done when she arrived back at the inn. And, although she had crawled straight into bed, it was hours before she had got to sleep.

The trouble was that, as soon as she closed her eyes, the events of the evening had replayed themselves endlessly behind her lids, and, no matter how she tried, she couldn’t displace the image of Conor’s face as she had last seen him.

God, would she ever forget how he had looked when she told him Stephen was waiting for her at the inn? He had tried to deny it, of course, but the fact was she wouldn’t have said it, if it couldn’t be proved, and he knew it. The bleakness that had descended on his features when he realised she wasn’t lying had been positively frightening. And, watching him, what she had desperately wanted to do was retract her words and comfort him. Only the knowledge that it was probably the kindest way to let him down had kept her silent. After all, when she left Paget, she would never see him again. Aside from the fact that she would probably be a cripple for the rest of her life, she was too old for him. He needed someone young, and vital. Like Sharon, she admitted, somewhat ruefully. Someone who could take what he had to give, without expecting anything in return. And something told her—in that regard—she had more to lose than he had …

In consequence, although she would have liked to ask if she could have breakfast in her room, she squared her shoulders and went down to the dining-room. If she wanted to convince the Drakes—and indirectly Conor—that she and Stephen were still on good terms, she had to behave as normally as possible. But that didn’t stop her wondering whether she wouldn’t be wiser to leave right away. Stephen knew where she was now, she reminded herself defensively, and, although she didn’t think she was ready to go back to town yet, an alternative base might be a good idea. She had the uneasy feeling it would take her a little time to reconcile herself to the feelings Conor had so effortlessly aroused.

Stephen was already sitting at the window table—reading her newspaper, she saw indignantly—when she went downstairs, and it was not without some misgivings that she made her way towards him.

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