‘I got along with her just fine,’ Cyn contradicted heatedly. ‘She just didn’t like me.’
‘Was that any reason—? Never mind,’ he rasped at Cyn’s stubbornly unresponsive expression. ‘It would upset my mother to see me like this,’ he stated firmly.
From what she remembered of Claudia Thornton the other woman would enjoy nothing better than having Wolf in her manipulative clutches virtually immobile, and, as such, powerless to stop her machinations. Unless Claudia had changed—which Cyn very much doubted!
‘She never really recovered from the stroke she had after Alex’s death,’ Wolf continued grimly at Cyn’s sceptical expression. ‘She’s had several minor ones since then. Another major one might kill her. And her initial response to seeing me like this might just cause one,’ he added decisively.
Cyn hadn’t even known of the first one. She couldn’t imagine Claudia as being anything else but completely in command, of herself, and of her family. Short, her figure petite to say the least, Claudia gave the impression of delicacy—a totally misleading impression, as Cyn had found to her cost.
Claudia hadn’t approved of Cyn for Wolf, although she had always been careful not to show that disapproval too strongly in front of him, making Cyn’s own wariness of the older woman all the more noticeable, a fact that Wolf had commented on more than once when they were alone. But she hadn’t been able to control the way she felt about his mother, just as she was sure Claudia hadn’t been able to change the way she felt about her either!
‘I’m sorry,’ Cyn said abruptly. ‘I didn’t realise.’
‘Why should you?’ Wolf dismissed coldly. ‘You just wanted out of my life. The absolute bloody hell I was going through didn’t— Forget it,’ he bit out abruptly, shaking his head. ‘As you’ve said, the past is the past, and raking it up isn’t going to solve anything now.’
But it was evident to Cyn just how much it still disturbed him, because Wolf only swore when he was upset about something. Perhaps now wasn’t the time either to point out that he could always go to Barbara...!
But the other woman wasn’t the past; from what Cyn had seen the other night, Barbara was still very much in the present tense for Wolf. Cyn straightened defensively; she couldn’t help it, just thinking of Barbara Thornton, and the part she had played in her past unhappiness, was enough to make her hackles rise, even now.
‘Barbara, then,’ she said sharply. ‘I’m sure she would be pleased to have you stay with her.’ Her mouth twisted scornfully as she thought of just how much the other woman would like that.
‘Barbara moved into Thornton House with my mother after Alex’s death, and she’s stayed there ever since,’ Wolf bit out curtly, straightening in his seat. ‘But as it’s obvious you would rather I went anywhere else but with you, perhaps you’d better drive me back to my flat. I’ll manage somehow.’
Cyn looked across at him in dismay; even in profile his face looked starkly unrelenting. God, what choice did she have—had she ever had? ‘Of course you must come home with me,’ she told him briskly, turning in her seat to restart the van. ‘After all, it was my fault the accident happened at all, so I’m responsible for you until you’re mobile again,’ she accepted heavily, turning her attention to driving back to the cottage now; anything but dwelling on just how difficult it was going to be for her having Wolf invade the privacy of her home in this way.
‘How graciously put,’ Wolf drawled derisively.
Cyn gave him a sharp glance, hurriedly looking away again at the mocking humour in the wry twist of his mouth. Damn him, he had to know how much she dreaded the thought of being in such close proximity with him for the next—how long had the nurse said he had to rest? A couple of days, wasn’t it? Cyn had never realised how long a couple of days could seem until that moment! And it was the weekend too, with no wedding to be involved in the organisation of, so there would be no respite for her by being able to go off to work either. God...!
She wasn’t sure at that moment whether she was cursing—or praying!
* * *
‘I’ll need some things from my flat,’ Wolf told her with a frown. ‘Clothes, things like that. And my briefcase, of course,’ he sighed heavily.
They had managed to get him into the cottage at last, and it hadn’t been without a struggle. Everything had gone fine when they were outside, Wolf already seeming to have mastered the crutches quite competently. It had only been once they got inside the cottage that the problems presented themselves; there was too much furniture for him to be able to manoeuvre himself properly, and the low ceilings didn’t help either. The only way he could get himself into the sitting-room at all was by Cyn actually moving half the furniture back against the walls, and so clearing a space for him in the middle of the room. All of which made it look very barren.
But Cyn had finally got him settled in an armchair beside the unlit fireplace, his foot resting up on a stool, the crutches conveniently placed in the nook beside the fireplace so that he could reach them easily. Having him here was going to be more than just disruptive to her peace of mind!
And now he was suggesting she go to his flat and collect some things for him! ‘Do you still live in the same place?’ She hoped not! The thought of going back there—
‘Of course,’ he replied smoothly, watching her with narrowed eyes as she visibly stiffened. ‘Is there some problem with that?’ he asked softly.
Not for him, obviously. But for her...! She and Wolf had first made love in that flat, had spent all their good times together there, making love, cooking together, laughing together, Wolf painting while she—
‘No,’ she told him thoughtfully. ‘No, there’s no problem with that at all.’ She would finally be able to know what had happened to his paintings, whether he still had his studio there or if he had given all that up with all the other things that now seemed to be missing from his life. Things like laughter... And fun... Things like Wolf himself...! ‘I’ll go now, shall I?’ She stood up ready to leave.
‘That anxious to escape my company for a few hours, are you?’ he rasped harshly. ‘Oh, for God’s sake...! Just take my keys and go.’ He took the keys out of his pocket and thrust them at her before resting his head back against the chair once she had taken them, closing his eyes wearily.
Cyn continued to look down at him for several long minutes, her fingers closing about the cold keys, not knowing whether she should go or stay. He looked tired, very tired, but she didn’t know whether that was from the pain of his ankle or something else; after all, no matter how disparaging she might have been about his reaction to Rebecca calling off the wedding, his fiancée had walked out on him today too.
‘Wolf—’
‘If you’re going, just go!’ His eyes were open now and he glared up at her. ‘I don’t need you to baby-sit me every minute of the day!’
Baby-sitting was the last thing she had in mind, but it was only just beginning to dawn on her exactly how incapacitated he was. For one thing, her downstairs loo was through the kitchen and out of the back door... It should be no problem with her here to help him, but on his own—!
‘Er—Wolf...?’ She chewed awkwardly on her bottom lip.
His impatience deepened. ‘Just give me the newspaper, a pen so I can do the crossword, a glass of fruit juice or something so that I don’t dehydrate while you make this mammoth trek into town.’ His mouth twisted with his sarcasm. ‘And—’
‘The fruit juice might not be a good idea—not when the toilet is actually outside,’ she explained with a grimace.
He drew in an irritated breath. ‘OK, don’t give me the