Tall, Dark... Collection

Laura bent to pick up her evening bag from the table she had placed it on when she arrived. Such a short time ago. But a lot had happened in that half an hour or so. Primarily, Liam was once again going out of her life.

She should be glad. Should feel nothing but relief at having the pressure of his presence removed from her life once and for all.

She paused beside the door. ‘What do you intend doing about the book, Liam?’ She looked at him with inquisitive eyes.

He shrugged. ‘You’ve assured me Perry is an excellent editor; I have no reason to doubt you.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You’re agreeable to his being your editor now? To Shipley publishing your book?’ She couldn’t quite believe this easy acquiescence. It wasn’t like the Liam she knew at all!

His mouth twisted into a humourless smile. ‘I’m not as completely unreasonable as you seem to think I am.’

No, but he had gone to so much trouble to try and achieve his own way, had even involved the newspapers—something he had told her he didn’t want under any circumstances. There was definitely something not quite right about this!

‘Liam—’

‘Laura?’ he came back smoothly.

Her feelings of unease increased. He was too smooth, too calm, too everything! ‘You’ll come in to see Perry on Monday?’

‘I will,’ he agreed, sounding very Irish. ‘After which I have to return to Ireland.’

Not only was he agreeing to accept Perry as his editor, but he was removing himself from London—and her life—as well. There had to be a catch in this somewhere!

‘I wish you had looked this pleased to see me again!’ Liam chuckled self-derisively at her obvious relief at his going. ‘I will be back, Laura. There are still things to do concerning the book.’

Yes, but she didn’t have to be involved in them now…

Why didn’t she leave? She had said she was going to, and yet she had made no effort yet to open the door and go.

Possibly because she felt that once she left here tonight she would never see this particular Liam again. The professional writer Liam O’Reilly, yes, but not this man who had pursued her so relentlessly the last few days.

Oh, she didn’t know what she wanted any more! She had been telling Liam for those same few days that she wasn’t interested in renewing their past relationship, yet now that he had accepted her decision she hesitated about leaving him.

She set her shoulders determinedly. ‘Goodbye, Liam,’ she told him firmly.

‘Goodbye, Laura.’ His expression was still unreadable.

Her feet felt as if they were weighted down by lead, her movements slow and sluggish. But finally she managed to open the door and walk out into the hotel corridor, closing the door firmly behind her.

And closing the door to that compartment of her heart that contained her repressed feelings for Liam—the door he had been trying so hard to prise open…!

CHAPTER TEN

‘I CAN’T believe I slept until this time!’ Laura exclaimed self-disgustedly as she entered the kitchen at ten o’clock the next morning to find Amy already preparing the vegetables for lunch.

Amy turned to give her a warm smile. ‘You obviously needed the rest,’ she volunteered.

No, it hadn’t been that at all. When Laura had arrived home shortly after nine o’clock last night she had gone straight to her bedroom. But not to sleep. Not that she hadn’t tried to sleep, to push everything but Bobby and her work from her mind. But memories of Liam, both from the past and the present, had kept intruding, making it impossible for her to relax enough to go to sleep. Consequently it had been the early hours of the morning before she’d fallen into a fitful slumber, resulting in her completely oversleeping this morning.

‘Where’s Bobby?’ She had checked his bedroom before coming downstairs, and the morning room on her way past, expecting him to be in there watching television. The only other place she could think of him being was the kitchen, with Amy, but he wasn’t in here either…

‘Mr O’Reilly called in at nine o’clock—’

‘Liam did?’ Laura questioned sharply, a terrible sinking feeling developing in the pit of her stomach.

‘He brought a kite with him,’ Amy went on, frowning at Laura’s obvious shock. ‘He thought Bobby might like to go with him—’

‘You’ve let Liam take Bobby out?’ Laura gasped, paling.

‘Into the garden to fly it,’ Amy finished. ‘I would never let anyone take Bobby out without your permission,’ she added with gentle rebuke.

Laura sank down into one of the kitchen chairs, some of the colour returning to her cheeks. ‘Of course you wouldn’t,’ she realised self-disgustedly, her colour receding again as the full import of Amy’s words sank in. ‘Liam is out in the garden—this garden!—flying a kite with Bobby?’

The housekeeper nodded. ‘As Mr O’Reilly said, it’s a nice windy day for it.’

It certainly was—but what was Liam doing here at all? Hadn’t they decided last night that the less they saw of each other the better?

Not exactly, she realised slowly. She had told Liam she didn’t want to become personally involved with him again. A statement, she remembered thinking at the time, that he had seemed to accept too readily…A statement he had taken to its literal limit; she hadn’t included Bobby’s name!

She stood up hurriedly. ‘I think I’ll just go and check on the two of them.’

‘They were having a great time when I looked out at them a couple of minutes ago,’ Amy assured her. ‘Have a cup of coffee before you go out; you always say you need a couple of cups to be able to start the day properly.’

What Laura had actually said was that she needed a couple of cups of coffee in the morning to help her feel human!

She raised dark brows at Amy, her mouth quirking self-derisively. ‘You think I’m overreacting?’

The housekeeper hesitated. ‘That depends on what you’re reacting to…’

Laura swallowed hard, sitting down abruptly as Amy placed the cup of strong coffee on the table in front of her. ‘How long have you known?’

The housekeeper smiled. ‘I’m not sure that I do know. Not really. Of course I’ve always known that Mr Robert wasn’t Bobby’s father. We both know that was never even a possibility. But as to who Bobby’s biological father really is…’ She shrugged. ‘In every other sense of the word Mr Robert was his father.’

‘But…?’ Laura prompted warily.

‘I was struck by the resemblance between Bobby and Mr O’Reilly from the moment I first opened the door to Mr O’Reilly earlier in the week.’ Amy admitted gently. ‘That’s the reason I was unsure about whether or not to let him wait to see you.’

Laura had thought that unusual at the time…

‘What must you think of me, Amy?’ She buried her face in her hands.

The older woman’s arm came about her shoulders. ‘I think you, and Bobby, helped to make the last five years of Mr Robert’s life the happiest he had ever known,’ she told her emotionally.

Laura looked up through a haze of tears. ‘Did we? Did we really?’ She so much hoped so, after all that Robert had done for her.

‘Don’t ever doubt it,’ Amy said with certainty. ‘A family, a child of his own to love and care for, were things Mr Robert had long ago accepted he would never have. I know that he looked on both of you as a gift,’ she said. ‘A gift he wasn’t sure he deserved, but one that he cherished above everything else.’

Laura swallowed hard. ‘If anyone deserved a loving family, Robert did.’