The Mistress Scandal

‘Don’t say things like that to me!’ she ordered fiercely.

‘Why? Afraid your husband will arrive home unexpectedly? I’d have thought you thrived on the danger.’ He looked into her miserable panic-stricken eyes and then looked away, as though what he’d seen there he’d not been expecting. ‘Don’t panic. I’m not the kiss and tell type.’

Alice tried to retrieve the shattered threads of her dignity. ‘I think you’ve lost track of why you came here.’

‘I think I’ve lost interest,’ he replied outrageously.

‘My sister’s future is not a subject I feel like joking about,’ she told him repressively.

‘I wasn’t joking,’ he muttered, following her into the big kitchen with its farmhouse table and obligatory Aga. ‘If it’s any comfort,’ he remarked, picking up a fluffy teddy bear Alice had missed from the floor and twitching a chewed brown ear, ‘I’ve told Greg he’s been criminally irresponsible. It’s bad enough the girl’s only a kid, but to not take precautions!’ His lips curled scornfully. ‘Have I said something funny?’ he enquired icily.

‘No,’ she managed, with only the faintest quiver of hysteria in her voice. Hopefully Gabriel MacAllister would never appreciate the irony of his scathing assessment.

‘Is she anything like you?’ he suddenly enquired.

‘Who?’

‘The sister.’

‘No, nothing like me at all. Sophie is very clever and sweet.’

‘Trusting and a bit dim if she fell for Greg,’ he announced with callous objectivity.

Alice inhaled sharply. Even though she suspected he was baiting her she couldn’t help responding defensively.

‘Do they hand out Oxford scholarships to dimwits?’ she enquired acidly. How dare he criticise her sister? ‘If my sister fell for your slimy brother’s dubious charms you can put it down to lack of experience, not her IQ—she is, after all, eighteen. You know what I think of a … Heavens, he’s nearly my age, for God’s sake!’ she exclaimed in disgust.

‘Surely not that old?’ he returned, straight-faced. With no make-up and her simply cut hair emphasising the soft contours of her face and long, lovely neck she could have passed for a teenager herself.

‘I have to tell you once more I don’t find anything humorous in this situation. Also, I’ve not the faintest idea why you came here. It’s nothing to do with us what they decide to do.’

‘On the contrary, it’s got everything to do with me. My … our mother considers me responsible for everything Greg does.’ He was only half joking. Greg had been born with a heart defect, and despite the fact that surgery had corrected the situation years ago protective old habits died hard.

‘And you’re scared of your mother, I suppose?’

‘I’ve a healthy respect,’ he told her drily. ‘And I think you underestimate your influence. According to Greg, your sister listens to what you say, and as the lady herself is nowhere to be seen at the moment … This is a situation that needs sorting out sooner rather than later.’

‘What exactly do you mean by sorting out?’ she asked distrustfully.

Gabriel’s expression made it clear he understood the nature of her suspicions. ‘Not what you think.’ His wry tone made Alice flush.

‘I think you misunderstand my relationship with my sister, Mr MacAllister … Granted, we’re close, but that doesn’t mean …’

‘Under the circumstances I think you’d better make it Gabe, don’t you …?’ A slow, intimate smile curved his beautifully cut lips. ‘Or do you prefer Gabriel? I’m easy.’

So was I … The words sprang unbidden into Alice’s mind.

The heat of humiliation surged once more in her cheeks. If he acted like this in front of other people he might just as well shout from the rooftops that they’d slept together. People weren’t stupid. Someone, some time was bound to put two and two together and come up with Will! She struggled to keep the panic steadily building up inside under control.

‘Just because your brother is happy—or maybe unhappy—to let you tell him what he thinks, don’t think it works that way in other less dysfunctional families. Sophie has a mind of her own!’ she choked.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Gabriel remarked drily. ‘It’s always useful if one person in a partnership has guts.’

‘Do you always pull your brother to shreds like that?’ Alice enquired critically.

‘Only to his face, as a rule. Generally I lie through my teeth on his behalf, but as we’re the next best thing to family I feel I can speak freely to you.’

Alice found herself wishing passionately he wouldn’t.

‘Family …? How do you make that out?’ she asked, deeply alarmed at this theory.

‘Greg is my half-brother; the mum-to-be is your sister. We’re going to share a nephew-stroke-niece. In my book that makes us family.’

‘They might not decide to marry.’

His impatient shrug suggested she was missing the obvious. ‘There’ll still be a baby. Being a father carries with it responsibilities. Greg will want to support them, both financially and practically. He’s not the one carrying the baby but no man wants to be a stranger to his own child.’

Alice had heard of one or two who wouldn’t have minded at all. She was surprised and disturbed by the vehemence in Gabriel’s voice as he expressed these sentiments—ones he obviously meant. She found herself experiencing an inconvenient pang of guilt and ruthlessly suppressed it … The circumstances were not comparable.

‘Does Greg know this? Or haven’t you told him yet?’

‘Listen, I know you don’t like Greg—’

‘Do you?’ she interrupted sharply.

‘Not always,’ he admitted. His slow, reflective smile held a rueful affection that softened his features. ‘But I do love the kid, and despite being spoilt from the day he drew breath he’s basically a good guy. Sure, he panicked when he found out about the baby. But he wouldn’t be the first. Personally, I think marriage with the right sort of girl is just what he needs …’

‘You mean if he’s got a wife she might keep him out of trouble and save you a lot of hassle?’ she accused scornfully.

‘That thought had occurred to me.’

‘If you were trying to sell me Greg as a brother-in-law you haven’t done much of a job so far!’

‘Why would I want to sell you anything, Alice? I thought you were all for leaving the young people to sort it out for themselves.’

Alice gave an exasperated snort. ‘I’d think I’d have preferred it if you’d thought Sophie was a gold-digger!’ she exclaimed.

‘That was always one possibility,’ Gabriel admitted readily, ‘but, having heard Greg’s version of events, I think there’s only one victim here, and it isn’t my brother.’ His voice carried a grimness that made Alice appreciate just why Greg might be afraid of his brother.

There had been nothing grudging in his candid admission, and she felt confused and simultaneously suspicious of his apparent forthrightness.

‘In Greg’s defence I have to say I’ve never seen him this smitten by a girl, and he doesn’t usually go for teenagers.’ His expression suggested that personally he found this attraction impossible to understand. ‘If your sister loves him I think the responsibility might well be the making of him … Does she?’

One dark brow quirked at a quizzical angle, he gave her a direct look that Alice found impossible to wriggle away from. Actually, she felt as if his eyes were pinning her to the wall. He’d pinned her to the wall that night, only not with his eyes …

The sudden freeze-frame image in her head filled her with intense shame—the silhouette of two bodies as close to being one as it was possible to get … How did I behave like that? She pulled at the neckline of her tee-shirt fretfully.

‘I don’t know.’ Her voice had a hoarse, strained quality as she struggled to put the past where it belonged. ‘Sophie has gone away to think.’