Betrayal

Fin thought about that. About the real possibility that Nick might take Brenna to court for full custody of their daughter instead of joint custody and he wished he’d quizzed his friend more about his intentions before agreeing to divert his vacation plans to go straight to London and travel out into the English countryside to meet up with Brenna on his behalf.

But it was too late now and, like it or not, Fin appeared to be colluding with Nick to do whatever he saw fit regarding Brenna and Nancy. Feeling an unwelcome prickle of unease unravel down his spine, he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and bit back a softly uttered curse.

After replacing the receiver, Brenna lifted it again to call her mother.

‘Mum, how are you? How’s Nancy?’

‘Brenna! We’re both fine, pet. The little darling has just helped me finish doing the dishes. How’s everything going? Have you spoken to Nicholas?’

At the underlying thread of anxiety in her mother’s voice, Brenna quickly rallied to inflect optimism in hers.

‘Everything’s just fine, Mum. Nick hasn’t arrived yet because he’s been delayed but I’m hoping he’ll get here very soon.’

‘If he offers to help financially, don’t you dare even think of turning him down!’ Elsa Stewart warned sternly.

Brenna’s stomach lurched. She wouldn’t take a penny of that man’s money even if her life depended on it. She’d already done her best to explain as much to her mother, but Elsa had seen how her daughter was working herself into the ground with two jobs to keep everything together and she didn’t want the same relentless struggle that she’d endured for her daughter or granddaughter. Brenna understood, but the mere idea of accepting Nick’s financial help made her feel distinctly uneasy. The last thing she wanted was for the man to have some kind of ‘hold’ over her, no matter how tenuous. Besides, it was five years too late and that was a fact.

‘We haven’t even talked yet, Mum, so I’ve no idea what he wants to do.’

‘He said in his letter that he wanted shared custody of Nancy. I don’t think you’ll be able to talk him out of that idea if he wants it and you’ll be a fool if you do, pet. Don’t you think it’s about time you accepted some help? I won’t be here for ever, you know.’

Brenna bit down on her lip. ‘I know that, Mum. But at the end of the day I’ll do whatever I think is best for Nancy. She’s the priority here, not me. And I’m nowhere near convinced that having Nick in her life is the best thing.’

‘You’ve let what happened make you bitter. Let it go, love. Promise me you’ll work something out between the two of you that will benefit you all? You deserve a break, Brenna. A rest, at least.’

‘Mum, I’m fit and strong and not about to collapse any time soon. Look at you, you’ve worked all your life from the age of sixteen and you’re still fighting fit.’

‘Don’t use me as an example, pet. It’s taken its toll and that’s the truth. Don’t end up like me – alone and disappointed – when you could easily have so much more.’

‘Can I talk to Nancy now?’ Her breath escaping on a sigh, Brenna stared doggedly down at her ring-less fingers. Her mother had had her late in life and came from a different era, she mused – an era where for some women marriage was still ultimately the goal. More than ever nowadays, single parents were common. Brenna was just one of many. Besides … she didn’t intend to compromise her independence by being a drain on anyone … least of all Nick Balcon, even if he could easily afford it. She’d always believed in paying her own way and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

‘Mummy, when are you coming home? I miss you lots.’

At the sound of her daughter’s softly childish tones, Brenna melted. How she wished her little girl was with her now. What she wouldn’t give for the chance to just bury her face in her daughter’s silken dark curls and smell that sweet baby smell that even now as a four-year-old seemed to grow sweeter day by day.

‘Baby, I’ll be home soon … Just one more day, sweetheart, I promise. One more day and I’ll be driving home to you and Nana. Have you been a good girl? Nana says you’ve been helping her wash the dishes?’

‘We’ve been very busy doing housework and Nana says she couldn’t manage without me. I’m glad you’re coming home tomorrow. Will you bring me the comic I asked you for?’

‘Of course I will, sweetheart. I’ll pick one up at a service station on the way home. Take care now, darling. Mummy will see you tomorrow.’

There was the sound of a heartfelt kiss being blown into the receiver and Nancy’s dulcet little voice saying ‘I love you, Mummy’.

‘I love you too, sweetheart.’

The line clicked and returned to the dial tone. Brenna felt like crying. But she wouldn’t give into the need when she was meeting Fin Malone in the bar in a very short while. There was no way she was going to let him see her emotions laid bare again. How did she know he wasn’t going to feed it back to Nick to use against her in some way? No. She’d have a glass of wine for Dutch courage, she mused, then try to enjoy her meal and keep calm. In any case, she had to keep up her strength if she was going to be a match for Nancy’s father when he finally deigned to show up …

She slipped into the intimately lit bar, fervently hoping to pass relatively unnoticed. But even as she hovered briefly in the doorway, several male heads swivelled towards her with speculative regard. Fin Malone was one of them. He’d been chatting with the young uniformed barman but when he saw the man stop drying the glass in his hand to stare transfixed over his shoulder, the American turned slowly to see what had suddenly captured his attention. Heat – hot, hard and sensual – slammed into his gut when he did. In those few highly charged seconds, he honestly believed he’d never seen a woman more alluring than Brenna Stewart and he’d seen a lot of lovely women in his time. She had little adornment to complement the slinky black dress she wore that floated elegantly down to her ankles, but then what adornment did she need with that eye-catching cleavage and silky waist-length black hair? When she spotted him and started to move across the room towards him, Fin sensed a very satisfying male pride swell in his chest. She moved like a dream, too. Maybe it had something to do with her dance training? Whatever it was, the woman was possessed of the kind of grace that couldn’t be bought or learnt. Nick had told him that she was a real beauty, but nothing could have prepared Fin for the sensual, spine-tingling reality that was Brenna.

‘Am I late?’ She blushed as she drew up beside him and Fin reached up to loosen the collar of his shirt slightly beneath his tuxedo. Suddenly the formal clothing was too warm for comfort.

‘It’s a lady’s prerogative. What would you like to drink?’

‘A glass of dry white wine please.’

After getting their drinks, by mutual consent they moved to a secluded corner table away from the too interested glances of some of the bar’s other inhabitants. When they finally sat down, Brenna expelled a long shaky breath of grateful relief. Could everyone tell she felt like a fish out of water in this scenario? she wondered. Self-consciousness descended like a heavily lined cloak and she almost jumped out of her skin when Fin leant across the table to speak to her. He looked very handsome in his tuxedo. Too handsome for words, Brenna thought wildly, as appreciation and desire set her heart pounding. She almost didn’t know where to rest her gaze.

‘You look stunning.’ Crystal-blue eyes drifted lazily downwards to her cleavage, to the shadowy cleft between her full breasts, highlighted by the balconette bodice of her dress. Brenna hadn’t meant to be provocative but the dress was the only one she possessed that had seemed to fit the bill for the occasion. Fin’s appreciative male glance, however, now made her question the wisdom of wearing it. The little flare of heat in his eyes that he hadn’t been able to hide scorched her skin as though he had caressed her body in the most intimate way. How was she supposed to keep her cool when inside she was blazing like a furnace?

‘It’s an old dress.’ Her fingers clutched the stem of her wineglass as if using it to anchor her senses. ‘I don’t often have reason to wear it.’

‘That’s a shame.’

‘That’s a matter of opinion. I’m not interested in decking myself up to go out, to be honest. I’d rather be home with Nancy any day than enduring some fancy occasion with people I have nothing in common with.’ Realizing her implication as soon as the words were out, Brenna was immediately contrite. It was one thing to speak your mind, quite another to cause offence.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—’

‘I’ve been sitting here wondering what you’re like when you’re not so angry or defensive,’ Fin calmly cut in. Though right now, being the full-blooded male that he was, he couldn’t deny the provocative appeal of breasts heaving in a low-cut dress because their lovely owner was irate.

‘You’ll probably never find that out.’

‘Can I ask why?’

‘Look, I have every right to be angry and defensive! My life was perfectly fine until I got that damned letter from Nick a few days ago. How would you like someone to put you in the position he’s put me in, to have power over you in some way just because he provided the necessary chromosome to make a baby? An event he was singularly uninterested in at the time, I hasten to add, and has been uninterested in for the past five years? Now he thinks he can summon me just like that because he has the brass nerve to decide he wants joint custody of my daughter.’ At the arresting sight of a muscle flexing in the side of the American’s lean sculpted cheek, she paused, her breathing harried.

‘His daughter too, Brenna,’ he quietly reminded her. ‘Look … I don’t think for one second that Nick wants to make trouble. He only wants access to his child … to see her sometimes. Is that really so terrible? He’s a very wealthy man. He can provide things for her that will undoubtedly enhance her life: a good education, opportunities to travel and meet new people. He’s not trying to take her away from you.’ But even as Fin mouthed the words he had a horrible feeling that he was uttering them with very little belief in their content.

‘And do you think the things I provide, like love, care and attention, food and a roof over her head, don’t enhance her life?’

‘Did I say that?’ Fin’s expression suggested such cool implacability that it made Brenna even madder.

‘If Nick gets shared custody, then Nancy will probably have to spend part of the year in America. It will completely disrupt our lives. It’s an impossible situation and he has no right to—’

‘Whether you like it or not, he is her father. You’re both adults. You’ll work something out. Nancy won’t suffer if the two of you are absolutely committed to her welfare. I’m sure Nick would want nothing less.’

‘You really are his buddy, aren’t you?’ Her voice as scathing as she could make it, Brenna levered herself to her feet, eyes blazing. ‘If he isn’t here by midday tomorrow, I’m packing my bags and going home. End of story. You can tell him from me that if he can’t be bothered to turn up when he arranges a date and time for a meeting then he can forget the whole thing! I have a life, responsibilities. I don’t have the luxury of being able to sit here and wait until he deigns to honour me with his presence. You tell him that from me, Mr Malone!’

‘Brenna?’

But she was disappearing through the door of the bar before Fin had even got to his feet, before he even had a chance to defend himself and the stance he was taking on Nick’s behalf.

Drumming his fingers on the smooth polished surface of the table, he murmured a colourful expletive. When Nick had asked him to do him this favour he’d had his reservations considering the delicacy of the situation, but Lord knows he hadn’t expected a woman with so much fire in her veins that she threatened to ignite them both into an inferno whenever they were together. Intensely frustrated and annoyed, he picked up his glass and downed the contents in one hit. A few minutes later, he got up and went to the bar. The young barman threw him a sympathetic glance. Stony-faced, Fin took out his wallet.

‘Give me another bourbon,’ he irritably ground out.

Brenna’s eyes flew open at the insistent-sounding knock at the door. She’d been dozing in one of the armchairs, her body and mind exhausted with the sheer intensity of emotion she’d expended during the day. She was hungry too … ravenous, in fact. The growl in her stomach as she moved reminded her that wounded pride had cost her her dinner.

‘Damn.’ She speared her fingers through her hair, her mind racing with indecision. If Fin Malone was mad at her then he had every right. She’d acted appallingly downstairs in the bar. If she were him, she’d definitely be giving her a wide berth from now on. Suddenly the knock had a voice to accompany it.