Knowing if he didn’t leave fairly rapidly he was going to say or do something he’d be sorry for, Forde turned on his heel and walked back to the house without another word. His mother was waiting for him in the hall, just inside the open front door.
‘I heard you shout.’ Isabelle’s voice was gently accusing.
He loved his mother. She was a strong-minded, generous soul with the faintly old-world charm and dignity of her generation, and for that reason he bit back the profanities hovering on his tongue and said curtly, ‘It was that or strangle her, so be thankful for the shouting.’
Isabelle’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something and then clearly thought better of it.
‘I’m going.’ Forde bent and kissed her forehead. ‘I’ll ring you later.’
When he left the house again Melanie and James were nowhere to be seen, although he could hear voices beyond the stone wall that separated the drive and the front of the house from the gardens at the rear. He glanced at the side gate for a moment and then decided there was nothing to be gained from saying goodbye. Striding over to the Aston Martin, he opened the door and slid inside, starting the car immediately and swinging it round so fast the tyres screeched.
That hadn’t gone at all as he’d intended, he thought, gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles showed white. He hadn’t expected her assistant to look like a young George Clooney with muscles for one thing, or for Melanie to be so… He couldn’t find a word that satisfactorily described her mix of cool hauteur and wariness and gave up trying.
Once he’d reached home he prowled round the house like a restless animal instead of showering and getting changed for the office. Everywhere he looked there were reminders of Melanie; she’d so enjoyed having the team of interior designers in when they’d first got married and stamping her mark on the house. And he loved her taste. In fact he loved everything about her, damn it, although there had been moments after she had left him when the pain had got so bad he’d wished he’d never met her.
He had never imagined there would be a problem in life where he couldn’t reach her, that was the thing. He’d been confident whatever befell them he’d be able to protect and nurture her, see her through, that they would face it together. But he had been wrong. And it had cost him his marriage. He walked through to the massive kitchen-cum-breakfast-room at the back of the house and slumped down at the kitchen table.
He was still deep in black thoughts when Janet let herself into the house at gone ten.
‘Mr Masterson, what are you doing here at this time in the morning?’ She had always insisted on giving him his full title even though he’d told her to call him Forde a hundred times. ‘Are you ill?’
He lifted bleak eyes to the round, robin-like ones of the little woman who was a friend and confidante as much as his cook and cleaner. Janet’s life was far from easy but you’d never have guessed it from her bright and cheery manner, and in the ten years she’d worked for him since he had first bought the house they’d grown close. She was a motherly soul, and he looked on her as the older sister he’d never had. For her part, he knew she regarded him like one of her sons and she had never been backward in admonishing him, should the situation call for it. He could tell Janet anything, unlike his mother. Not that Isabelle wouldn’t have understood or given good advice, but since his father’s death he’d always felt he had to shield his mother from problems and worry.
‘I saw Melanie this morning,’ he said flatly. ‘It wasn’t an… amicable exchange.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Janet bustled over to the coffee maker and put it on. ‘Have you eaten yet?’
He shook his head.
Once he had a mug of steaming coffee and a plateful of egg and bacon inside him, he felt a little better. Pouring him a second cup and one for herself, Janet plonked herself opposite him at the kitchen table. ‘So,’ she said companionably. ‘What happened?’
He told her the gist of the conversation and Janet listened quietly. After a moment, she said, ‘So you think Mrs Masterson is having an affair with her assistant?’
Forde straightened as suddenly as though he’d had an electric shock. ‘Of course not.’
‘But you’re going to give up on her, nonetheless?’
‘Of course not,’ he said again, getting angry. ‘You know me better than that, Janet.’
‘Then why are you sitting here moping?’ Janet said, giving him one of her straight looks.
The penny dropped and Forde smiled sheepishly. ‘Right.’
‘I told you when she left like that it was going to be a long job and you needed to be patient as well as persistent, now didn’t I?’ Janet poured them both more coffee. ‘The way she was that day before the ambulance came, it was more than the normal shock and despair someone would feel in the same circumstances. Mrs Masterson really believes there’s some sort of jinx on her that touches those close to her.’
Forde stared at her. Janet had mentioned this before but he hadn’t given it much credence, thinking that Melanie was too sensible to really believe such nonsense. ‘But that’s rubbish.’
‘You know that and I know it,’ Janet said stoutly, ‘but as for Mrs Masterson …’
Forde leant back in his chair, his eyes narrowed. ‘She’s an intelligent, enlightened, astute young woman, for goodness’ sake. I don’t think—’
‘She’s a young wife who lost her first baby in a terrible accident and she blames herself totally. Add that to what I’ve just said, bearing in mind the facts about her parents, grandmother and even a friend at school she mentioned to me, all of whom were taken away from her, and reconsider, Mr Masterson. Melanie had a miserable childhood and became accustomed to keeping everything deep inside her and presenting a façade to the rest of the world. It doesn’t come natural for her to speak about her feelings, not even to you. And, begging your pardon, don’t forget you’re a man. Your sex work on logic and common sense.’
Forde looked down at the gold band on the third finger of his left hand. ‘Let me get this right. You’re saying she thinks if she’d stayed with me something would happen to me?’
‘Mrs Masterson probably wouldn’t be able to put it into words but, yes, that is what I think. And there’s an element of punishing herself too, the why-should-I-be-happy-after-what-I’ve-done syndrome.’ Janet shrugged. ‘In its own way, it’s perfectly understandable.’
Forde stared at her. ‘Hell,’ he said.
‘Quite.’ Janet nodded briskly. ‘So you save her from herself.’
‘How?’ he said a trifle desperately. ‘Exactly how, Janet?’
Janet stood up and began to clear the table. ‘Now that I don’t know, but you’ll find a way, loving her like you do.’
Forde smiled wryly. ‘And here was I thinking you had all the answers.’
‘She loves you very much, Mr Masterson, that’s what you have to remember. It’s her Achilles’ heel.’
‘You really think that? That she still loves me?’
Janet smiled at the man she had come to think of as one of her own brood. As big and as tough as he was, Mr Masterson had a real soft centre and that was what she liked best about him. Some men with his wealth and looks would think they were God’s gift to womankind, but not Mr Masterson. She didn’t think he wasn’t ruthless when it was necessary, mind, but then he wouldn’t have got to where he was now without a bit of steel in his make-up. ‘Sure she loves