The Accidental Bride (Black Lace) Page 17

  ‘Mmm … your most precious jewel,’ he murmured, blowing on her clit, ‘a pearl beyond price. More lustrous even than those rocks in your ears.’ He looked up and winked, nodding at her diamond earrings.

  ‘Oh, don’t talk bollocks, John, just get on with it! We haven’t much time.’

  He laughed out loud. ‘Such a lady.’

  A thought passed through her mind: maybe … one day? Then his mouth met her pussy and thoughts didn’t stand a chance.

  He went in wildly. Licking. Sucking. Playing and toying and teasing and taunting with his tongue. Long, drawn-out finesse was notably absent for the moment. His goal was to get her off and do it quickly.

  But John was still an artist. Still divine. Float like a butterfly; sting with pleasure – like Lucifer incarnate. Within moments, Lizzie was hissing obscenities at him through clenched teeth, coming like a train, just as she’d described to him in her text, the other day. Keeping quiet was the devil’s own struggle, but if she didn’t at least try, she’d end up letting out a scream that would be heard the length and breadth of the garden outside … and around the poolside. Pulling hard on John’s golden hair, she punished him for his greed, for his provocative mouth and for being irresistible and untameable, despite everything. Every goddamn thing.

  But when he looked up at her, his eyes were the jewels beyond price, brighter than her diamonds with happy, playful triumph. She grabbed him by the ear and tweaked it.

  ‘You wicked, fucking devil,’ she said, unable to keep the love out of her low, shaking voice. ‘I expect you want me to service you now.’ She glanced downwards. He was huge in his trousers.

  ‘Actually no,’ said John, springing up as if he were totally unaware of his erection. ‘I only wanted to remind you that I care for you now, love, and to let you know that the past is just the past, no matter how torrid.’ He gave her a slow smile, and shrugged. ‘And it is my punishment for crimes past and present to go without. As you so rightly point out, sweetheart, we don’t have much time, and I’m sure you want to nip away to the bathroom and “freshen up” now, as they say.’

  ‘I certainly do,’ she replied as he drew her to her feet. ‘I could do with a shower, but there’s no time. Your ex-wife, and your ex-girlfriend’s mother, will be here any moment!’

  ‘Why not put your swimsuit on and dive into the pool instead? That’d freshen you up.’ He kissed her cheek, with a kind of salacious chasteness that made her want his mouth on her pussy again, and a lot more besides.

  ‘No, I’m not greeting Caroline in a bathing costume. She’ll be judging me enough without me having flesh on show.’ She tried to pull away from him, to stalk off towards her bathroom, but he held on tight.

  ‘Ah, but your flesh is lovely, beautiful girl. Just the right amount, all in the most perfect of proportions.’ Though his eyes still twinkled, he looked more serious. ‘Caroline won’t be judging you, Lizzie. She’s not like that. She’s a good woman. One of the nicest people I know. And you and she will get on like a house on fire. Because you’re basically the same. Intelligent, level-headed and warm-hearted.’

  Not like her daughter …

  Lizzie shuddered. John frowned as he let her go, and she knew he’d felt it.

  ‘Now, don’t worry, go and do what you have to do.’ He gently urged her with a pat on the backside. ‘And I’ll do what I have to do.’

  Lizzie arched her brows at him.

  ‘Yes, that,’ said John, arching his own brows back at her. ‘I will if I have to. But it’ll probably go down of its own accord, with a bit of the old biofeedback. Now, hustle, gorgeous! We don’t have much time.’

  ‘Whose fault is that?’ called Lizzie as she paused at the door, then scooted along the corridor towards the staircase. It was her fault as much as his, really. If she’d really and truly wanted to stop, John would have done so. He’d only given her what she wanted and needed; pleasure as a panacea, a reassurance.

  Ten minutes later, as spruce as she could make herself and in a fresh pair of knickers, Lizzie dashed through the house, heading for the front door. A glance out of the window had revealed a beautiful blue vintage Rolls-Royce already drawing up, and John standing on the gravel waiting to open the door.

  Calm down, Lizzie. Cool it. She’s just a human being, even if she is John’s ex-wife and Clara’s mother. No need to get in a flap.

  Slowing her pace, she walked out of the front door, in time to see John embracing a tall, stately woman with short, softly styled pepper and salt hair. She had her eyes closed and she was hugging him back, her affection obvious.

  So this was Caroline. Mother of the dreaded Clara and also John’s former wife. A well-preserved woman of seventy, wearing a gorgeously tailored lightweight trouser suit in a soft shade of antique rose. Lizzie almost laughed as she observed them. Caroline reminded her a little of a favourite actress of hers, from the television. Someone who played a character as warm and cheerful and generally all-round good-hearted as John claimed his ex-wife was.

  Were appearances deceptive? Lizzie sincerely hoped not.

  As John released her, Caroline looked over his shoulder and smiled. Instantly and unguardedly. Her eyes were kind. Just like the actress’s.

  ‘And you must be Lizzie. How lovely to meet you.’ The older woman surged forward, her movements light and swift and energetic. Before she knew it, Lizzie found herself being hugged with not inconsiderable strength. It was the easiest thing in the world to hug back. And to mean it.

  ‘I’m so grateful to you for letting me intrude on your Saturday afternoon. Especially when you’re entertaining,’ said Caroline as she let Lizzie go. Instantly she slipped her hand through Lizzie’s arm, clearly a person who gave physical contact easily.

  ‘I’m glad you could come. You’re very welcome,’ said Lizzie, realising that within the space of a few moments, she meant that too.

  They walked through the house together, arm in arm, Caroline remarking on the airy elegance and beauty of the rooms they passed through. Lizzie caught John’s eye, and he nodded as if to say, I told you so, I told you you’d get on.

  On the poolside, Tom got a ferocious hug too, and the others a warm smile and an easy handshake. Lizzie could see Brent and Shelley watching her closely, as well they might on discovering Caroline’s identity. But Lizzie beamed back at them to let them know that despite the oddness of the situation, all was well.

  Caroline settled down on a lounger, and within minutes it was as if she’d been with them all afternoon. She chatted with John about business while watching the resumption of the tag-water-polo-murderball match. Lizzie brought her some food and wine, and as she settled on a lounger beside the older woman, they fell into conversation.

  ‘That’s a beautiful dress, so fresh and summery. Did you make it yourself? I chatted with John on the phone a week or so ago, and he told me about your designing and dressmaking, and the boutique you work in.’ Caroline smiled. ‘He’s so very proud of your achievements, Lizzie.’

  Still a little on edge, Lizzie instinctively went ‘shields up’. Her own mother still had a tendency to patronise, when it came to her sewing. But almost as quickly, she realised Caroline’s remarks were genuine, completely without side. Even on so short an acquaintance, Lizzie was drawn to the older woman, warming to the honesty and candour in her.

  ‘Yes, I’m quite proud of myself too. For a while, I was a bit aimless in life, but I really feel I’ve got purpose now. I’ve always loved clothes and sewing, so it’s good to be using my talents properly at last.’ She smoothed her fingers over the bright cotton of her skirt. ‘John’s helped. A lot. With the dress agency and everything, but with encouragement too. I think he’s given me a lot of extra confidence.’

  ‘He’s a very shrewd man, and a kind one too.’ For a moment, Caroline looked far away, a bit dreamy; perhaps a little troubled too. Was she thinking of her daughter? ‘And it’s obvious he cares for you, my dear. A very great deal.’

  ‘Um … Yes … I think he
does.’

  ‘Of course he does.’ Caroline set aside her glass and got to her feet, straightening up with ease, not at all like a seventy-year-old woman. ‘How about you showing me around the house a little, my dear? It’s very beautiful and I’d love to see more of it –’ she glanced across to where John had just emerged from the cabana in his trunks ‘– and John seems about to hurl himself into this game, whatever it is.’ She paused. ‘That is, unless you’re planning to join in too?’

  ‘I had a good long swim this morning. A proper one, not all this farting about and splashing like big kids.’

  Caroline laughed, and offered Lizzie her hand to help her up. ‘Good. Let’s look around, shall we?’

  Uh oh, are we heading for some sort of heart to heart? Perhaps a kindly warning?

  At first it seemed not, and as they walked through the ground floor of the house, Caroline’s praise of the rooms, especially the orangery and Lizzie’s workroom, only reinforced to her how very wonderful it was to live there. But when they reached the upper floors, and her bedroom, Lizzie sensed that now was the time.

  ‘This is an exquisite room,’ said Caroline, and then took her time as she wandered from dressing table, to bed, and from window to window. ‘What a lovely view. Shall we sit a while, so I can catch my breath?’

  Oh dear.

  Lizzie took her place beside the older woman, repetitively rearranging the folds and fullness of her skirts. She knew now that she liked John’s ex-wife – in fact, she liked her very much – but the moment was still nerve-wracking.

  Caroline looked a bit tentative too. She glanced towards the bed. ‘Perhaps I’m prying too much, my dear, but do you and John actually sleep together? I only ask, because he simply couldn’t get to sleep with anyone else in the room when we were married. We maintained separate bedrooms … Even though …’ The older woman’s cheeks were a little bit pink. ‘Even though we did have a normal married life in other respects. At least at first … We were always more friends than lovers, although I must admit I was very deeply infatuated with his beauty.’

  ‘Me too.’

  Caroline laughed and reached out to squeeze her hand.

  ‘But it’s not just that. Not just that he’s so handsome and rich and all that,’ Lizzie went on quickly. ‘I love him. He’s a wonderful man. Funny … a bit of a challenge sometimes, I must admit. But he’s everything I ever dreamed of. I know that sounds a bit drippy, and a bit melodramatic and OTT, but when I sit down and work out how I feel about him, well, that’s it.’ She hesitated, aware that she was babbling like a fool and that her cheeks were hot. ‘And yes, he does sleep here, some of the time. I’m not sure he’s slept a full night with me, but I think he gets a few hours’ sleep, most nights. So, that’s progress, isn’t it?’

  Caroline beamed. ‘It’s wonderful! I’m so happy to hear that. I mean, it’s obvious to me that he loves you very deeply, my dear. And he deserves that love. He’s waited for it a long, long time.’

  Lizzie blinked furiously, and the older woman slipped a hand in the pocket of her rosy jacket and pulled out a crisp, laundered handkerchief trimmed with lace, and passed it to her.

  ‘I feel such a fool.’ Lizzie sniffed and blotted her eyes, feeling terrible that she was putting mascara splodges on a very expensive handkerchief.

  ‘No, you’re not.’ Caroline hugged her. ‘You’re a lovely girl in love with a lovely man.’

  ‘I know … I know … It’s just I’m … well, the future, you know? I think I want it all, but “it all” comes with a lot of other stuff. A very different life. I’m not sure I’m fitted for it, and I’m not sure John even wants that anyway. He’s never said as much, but I get the feeling he doesn’t plan to marry again.’

  The older woman nodded. ‘Yes, marrying John brings responsibilities, but you love each other, and you’ll be able to support each other through whatever you’re faced with.’ She squeezed Lizzie’s hand again. ‘And really, his family are quite a decent bunch, apart from his father … who more or less banned me from Montcalm after John and I married. He actually waved his shotgun at John.’ She shrugged expressively. Lizzie knew the tale. ‘But his mother is still one of my oldest friends, and I know she’d welcome you ecstatically. You wouldn’t be able to do any wrong in her eyes, for finally taming her most difficult son. Well, as much as is possible … And as for Welbeck, well, the old bastard doesn’t really like anybody, and least of all me. But he’d probably embrace you happily because you’re young enough to produce an heir. Which I so obviously wasn’t.’

  It was Lizzie’s turn to laugh, but it came out a little high and shrill. Caroline gave her a shrewd look.

  ‘But I think I know what worries you more, my dear. Apart from his family and dynastic implications.’

  How could she tell this lovely woman about that deepest fear? The fear of Caroline’s own daughter.

  ‘John was over Clara long, long ago, sweetheart. And they were never really right for each other anyway, even though I know John loved her at the time.’ She looked away for a second, her lips pursed. ‘But she treated him abominably, and that’s why I … I made my own play for him. To punish her. And to give him a chance to punish her too.’

  For a few long moments, Caroline seemed to be thinking, drawing in deep breaths. ‘You must think it’s a very strange state of affairs. John being with Clara, and then marrying me … and then, afterwards, going back to her.’

  ‘It is a bit weird,’ admitted Lizzie, and Caroline turned back to her with a smile.

  ‘She behaved appallingly. Betrayed him in the most hateful way, when he’d sacrificed so much for her. She didn’t deserve him.’

  Good grief, did Caroline know the true story of the accident too? The secret knowledge, told to Lizzie by Rose, the only other living witness, that Clara had been driving the car that fatal night?

  ‘Ah … Yes … John has never told me the full story of the night of the accident. He’s too chivalrous. But I have my suspicions.’ She looked into Lizzie’s eyes, her own bright and perceptive, and suddenly very sad. ‘I see that I was right. I might have known.’ Tears glistened in her eyes, and silently Lizzie handed back the crumpled handkerchief so Caroline could dab too. ‘I won’t ever say anything, though, sweetheart. I won’t let him know that I know, and Clara would never admit it, of course. She’s probably convinced herself that it happened the way everybody else believes, anyway.’

  How torn she must be. Clara is her own daughter, and yet she knows all her child’s faults, and suffers for them.

  ‘I do love Clara,’ Caroline went on. ‘Despite how it might seem. I still feel guilty, because she’s my daughter and in some ways I quite deliberately tried to hurt her by marrying John. But I know how selfish she can be, and at that time I hated her too, for what she’d done to him.’ She smiled at Lizzie anew. ‘John is much better off with you, my dear. With you he can be happy, and that’s what I want. I only wish Clara could find a man who’s right for her too. There was one … A man I think would put up with her skittishness and with whom she’d have a good life …’ Caroline shrugged. ‘But she’s too stubborn to see him in that light.’

  Curious, Lizzie asked, ‘But what about her husband? Isn’t she happy with him? John says she lives in South America now.’ Disquiet stirred. As long as her Nemesis was far away on another continent, she could put her out of sight, out of mind. But if Clara was on the loose, well, that was troubling to say the least.

  Caroline let out a sigh. ‘No, I think that’s probably over. He was too old for her, really. Both her husbands have been … And she had affairs.’ The older woman stared out of the window again, frowning. The day was beautiful, and golden, but somehow there were also shadows now.

  ‘Oh …’ was all Lizzie could manage, trying to quash her qualms.

  Suddenly, Caroline grasped her hands very hard. ‘Lizzie, I do fear that Clara might be setting her cap at John again. I could see it, a little while ago, when John visited me in New York. Clara was th
ere too, complaining to me about her husband, and I could see by the way she looked at John, and the way she acted … I know her. I saw her plying her wiles.’ Her hands tightened around Lizzie’s. ‘You must believe me, dear, he wasn’t interested. Not in the slightest little bit. But still, I fear my daughter could make trouble for you. She’s planning to return to England, with my grandson. She might already be on her way.’

  I must not be cowed by this. I must not go ballistic. John does love me and I love him. She can’t touch us.

  ‘Oh … right. I didn’t know Clara had children.’

  ‘Yes, a boy. Charlie,’ replied Caroline, with a wry smile. ‘He’s a sweetie. Bright as a button. And for all her faults, my daughter does love him dearly, even though she’s not the world’s best mother.’

  But even as she wondered vaguely which of Clara’s husbands Charlie belonged to, Lizzie knew what she had to do herself, in order to combat the threat of her lover’s powerfully determined ex. She shuddered. It would be the best thing … The most unequivocal. To be as sure as it was possible to be of their relationship. But, would John ever be ready for that step, or even want to take it? She wasn’t even sure of it herself …

  ‘I think you know what you should do, don’t you, Lizzie dear?’ said Caroline softly.

  Did John’s ex-wife have the same mind-reading powers he did? It almost seemed so.

  ‘I’m sure it’s in his mind,’ the older woman went on. ‘It would only take a word, a hint from you, that you want it too … And that way, Clara would know that her fantasies of getting him back were hopeless and empty.’

  Lizzie nodded, but her thoughts were whirling.

  It was the next step … but was it a step too far for John?

  13

  The Next Step

  As John watched the Rolls-Royce pulling away, and waved to Caroline, his thoughts whirled.

  Get a grip, man. How old are you? Fifteen?