‘I’ve been at the cottage a few days now. You’re going to love it here, really.’
‘Well—actually, I wanted to talk about that—I mean, the way things have been recently—’
He let his voice die away awkwardly, and in the silence Evie heard a sound that froze her blood.
A giggle.
It was definitely a giggle, not a laugh, or even a chuckle, but the giggle of a young woman who had been put in a very good mood by something or other.
‘Come on, darling,’ she cooed from close to Andrew. ‘Don’t stay on that phone for ever.’
Andrew spoke in a low, hurried voice.
‘Evie, are you still there?’
‘Oh, yes. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.’
‘I hope you’re not going to be unreasonable. After all, it’s usually you apologising to me—’
‘Not for being caught out in bed with someone else.’
‘Well—things haven’t been going well for us, and I don’t really think you mind about this—’
‘Don’t tell me what I mind and don’t mind,’ she said tensely.
‘I’m sorry, but it’s just a nice change to be with someone who puts me first. You never did that, and if you think over why you didn’t, you’ll realise that this isn’t really such a big deal.’
She opened her mouth to put him right on this point, then closed it again. While she was choosing her words the line went dead. He’d hung up on her.
‘Andrew? Andrew!’
She hung up, dazed by shock. Justin, coming out of the kitchen, where he’d retired to give her some privacy, saw her staring into space.
‘No?’ he asked gently.
‘No.’
‘He can’t help you?’
‘I didn’t even ask him. It’s over. He isn’t coming here.’ She gave a jerky laugh. ‘I suppose he never really was, was he?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Justin agreed gently.
‘I’m a fool. I should have seen it all before. He was in bed with someone else.’
He came beside her. ‘You really never suspected?’
‘No,’ she said with self-mockery. ‘I’ve been so full of myself. I just saw it from my own point of view. We were going to have an idyllic time here, and I was going to tell him that I really did love him, and everything was going to be all right. But things don’t work like that, do they?’
‘No, I guess they don’t.’
He touched her face, brushing her untidy hair back. ‘Come on, Evie, you’re not broken-hearted. You’re not madly in love with him. You never were.’
‘You’re as bad as he is,’ she said, incensed. ‘Telling me how I feel.’
He made a wry face. ‘When a woman’s really in love it’s pretty obvious. She never forgets the man for an instant. Can you honestly say that you never forgot Andrew? Be honest, Evie. You hardly remembered him.’
Now he’d gone too far. She made a move to free herself but his arms tightened. She gasped with outrage that he was daring to keep her prisoner.
‘He didn’t remember you either,’ Justin continued remorselessly, ‘because when a man loves a woman she’s there with him, in his mind and his heart, every moment of the day.’
‘Let me go—’
‘Could you feel his body against you even when you were miles apart? Did the thought of him excite you? I don’t think so.’
‘How dare you—?’
She tried to struggle free again but it was useless. His face was close and she could feel his warm breath whispering past her cheeks, against her mouth. To her intense annoyance the sensation seemed to go right through her body, making her aware of him in a way that she would rather not have been at this moment.
‘Did his kiss drive you wild, Evie, or don’t you even remember that?’
She barely heard the last words, murmured as his mouth descended. She’d known what he meant to do but refused to believe it until his lips touched hers.
Even then she wouldn’t face it. It wasn’t possible that this awkward, arrogant, manipulative man should send shivers of excitement through her. It wasn’t possible, it wasn’t possible! She must hang on to that thought.
She tried to shut herself down and not be aware of her own feelings, but her body wouldn’t let her off the hook. It insisted on responding to every sensation as his lips moved over hers again and again.
Her heart was a traitor too, pounding as it had never done before, almost as though it were in league with Justin. And while her mind seethed with indignation, her flesh ached for him to touch her more deeply, more intimately.
At last he loosened his grip enough for her to draw back. She was breathing heavily with rage and something else.
‘I’m warning you,’ she gasped, ‘if you don’t let me go this minute, I’ll do something that will make your ears ring for a week.’
Now he would lose his temper and she would have the satisfaction of a real knock down, drag ‘em out fight. She was looking forward to it, every inch of her vibrating in anticipation, in a way that was new, violent and shocking.
But Justin disappointed her. There was no rage, no outburst. He just stood there looking dazed and confused.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what—I just wanted you to understand that this man—that you don’t—’
‘And I’m supposed to fall at your feet, am I?’
‘No, that’s—’
‘You have the most unspeakable nerve. You think I have no feelings because that’s what it suits you to believe. I’ve just lost the man I loved. I suppose the idea that I might be broken-hearted never occurred to you.’
‘It might have done if you’d been a different woman,’ he retorted.
‘You have no idea what kind of woman I am.’
‘I know you’ve got a lot of common sense—’
‘Thanks a lot!’ she snapped, insulted.
He threw up his hands. ‘Now what have I said wrong?’
Since she couldn’t have told him in a million years, she changed tack. But to be accused of common sense was a slur not to be forgiven.
‘You seem to think you know everything about everybody, but this is my life. I decide how I feel—’
‘You could if you were thinking straight,’ he said. ‘As it is, I’ll spell it out for you. You’re well rid of him. He was a waste of space.’
‘You never even met him.’
‘That’s right, I haven’t. And why? Because he isn’t here when you need him. You were worried sick about losing your home, and what was he doing? Screwing around, that’s what. He didn’t do one single thing to help you.’
‘It’s not his problem—’
‘Then it damned well ought to be.’
‘Well, I confused him by sending out the wrong signals.’
‘Give me patience!’ Justin said in deep disgust. ‘What happened to the independent woman I thought I knew?’
‘She