‘That and other reasons.’
‘It’s also why you married me.’
‘Let’s draw a line under that.’
‘Some lines aren’t so easily drawn.’ For some reason there was real anger in his voice.
‘You stop that,’ she said swiftly. ‘You messed up my life once before, but I escaped and you’re not going to do it again.’
‘Is that all our marriage was to you? Messing up your life? And our divorce—an escape?’
‘As much for you as for me,’ she said, recovering herself. ‘Think how you’ll enjoy your freedom now when the luscious ladies crowd around.’
‘But I always came home to you,’ he observed quietly.
‘Eventually—yes. And I was supposed to be grateful.’
‘That’s not—’
He broke off, exasperated as some new arrivals interrupted them. A young woman threw her arms around Kelly and pressed a gift on her.
‘This is from Harry. He’s terribly sorry he couldn’t get back in time, but he sends you this, and says he’ll call in a few days. He misses you terribly.’
‘I miss him,’ Kelly said, unwrapping the gift which turned out to be a small alabaster figure, exquisite and costly. ‘This is so lovely.’
More arrivals. A man said, ‘Miss Harmon—’
‘Kelly, please.’
‘Kelly, I’m sorry to be so late—’
She said the right things and took charge of the newcomers. Jake drained his glass and the next Kelly saw he was dancing smoochily with Marianne. She gave him only the briefest glance. The days when she sat on the sideline watching Jake work the room were over.
In the early hours the party began to break up. Carl was collecting plates and glasses, taking them to the kitchen, where Frank was busily stacking the sink.
‘Push off!’ Carl told him. ‘I’ve appointed myself to washing-up duty.’
‘Nobody needs you,’ Frank objected. ‘Go home, there’s a good fellow, and leave everything to me.’
‘Leave Kelly alone with a predator like you?’ Carl demanded.
‘So who isn’t a predator?’ Kelly challenged, much entertained. ‘You?’
At once he slipped an arm around her waist. ‘I can be anything you want me to be,’ he said throatily.
‘Well, right now I need a kitchen maid.’
‘Great. You’ve got me. Tell him to go. We’ll do the most ecstatic washing-up the world has ever known, and afterwards—’
As he spoke he was gently pushing her backwards over his arm in a theatrical simulation of passion. He was about to drop his lips on her throat when Frank seized him by the back of the neck, howling, ‘Git outta here. She’s mine!’
‘Don’t stop him,’ Kelly begged. ‘I can’t wait to hear about afterwards.’
But Frank grasped her by the waist, pulling her free so firmly that she staggered and had to be saved from falling by both of them.
‘My afterwards is more interesting than his afterwards,’ he said.
‘Don’t listen to him,’ Carl demanded.
‘You pair of maniacs,’ she said, chuckling.
They stood holding her, one on each side, exchanging glares.
‘I wouldn’t trust either of them with your crockery,’ came a voice, and Kelly looked up to see Jake lounging in the doorway, grinning. ‘Clear off, both of you.’
‘I can give my own orders, thank you,’ Kelly said, ruffled.
‘Go on, then, tell them to go.’
‘When I’m ready.’
The movement of Jake’s head was barely perceptible, but Carl and Frank saw it and it was enough to make them shuffle their feet and cough.
‘Hey, hold on,’ Kelly cried as they edged to the door. ‘Ignore him. He’s had no rights since ten-thirty this morning.’
‘You don’t need them; you’ve got me,’ Jake said.
‘Thanks, but no thanks.’
‘’Bye, fellers,’ Jake said remorselessly.
Speechless with indignation, Kelly watched as her two admirers picked up their jackets and departed, for all the world as though Jake were the master of the house. At the door Carl turned to blow her a kiss and shrug helplessly, as if to say, What could you do?
Then she was alone with Jake.
‘You’ve got a nerve,’ she seethed. ‘Ordering people out of my home. Just who do you think you are?’
‘A few days ago I’d have known how to answer that, but when I arrive on our wedding anniversary and find my wife putting out the flags because the anniversary’s cancelled—’
‘Don’t talk as though the divorce came as a surprise to you.’
‘Let’s say it came as a surprise that you went through with it.’
‘Oh, I see. You didn’t think I had the guts.’
‘I didn’t think you had the stupidity,’ he yelled. ‘Or the pig-headedness, or the short-sightedness. Where would you like me to stop?’
‘Right there. You’re talking nonsense. Our divorce was inevitable from the moment you slept with Olympia Statton.’
Goaded, Jake roared to heaven. ‘How many times does it have to be said? I did not sleep with Olympia.’
‘Oh, sure, you just did a little detour via her hotel room in Paris, at three in the morning, and left an hour later.’
‘I’ve never denied I went to her hotel room—’
‘Or why!’
‘All right! I went in for reasons I shouldn’t have done, but I changed my mind almost at once. I didn’t want to turn and run like a kid who’d lost his nerve, so I hung around drinking and making excuses to talk. Then I told her I wasn’t feeling well, and left. How was I to know that it was a set-up and the entire damned crew was out there timing me?’
‘Luckily for me.’
‘Unluckily for both of us. I didn’t sleep with Olympia, but they think I did, and you listened to them, not me. Dammit, even Olympia denied it, and you as good as called her a liar to her face.’
Which was what she wanted, Kelly thought. Oh, yes, Olympia had denied it all right, but she’d done it in a way that was half an admission, shaking her head earnestly so that her blonde hair swung around her delicate features, as if to say, You don’t really think a man could resist this, do you?
And Kelly hadn’t thought anything of the kind, any more than she’d thought Jake could be alone in a bedroom with that seductive, half-clad body, and not take matters to an inevitable conclusion.
‘Olympia said what you wanted,’ she told Jake now. ‘And later you admitted it, have you forgotten?’
‘I never admitted sleeping with Olympia,’ Jake said swiftly. ‘In the divorce papers I admitted “adultery with an unknown woman”—’
‘So that Olympia’s fair name shouldn’t be sullied. You’re a real knight in shining armour, Jake, you know that?’
‘I didn’t do it for her, I did it for you—’