Chase (23 page)

Aaron looks taken aback.

Darnley puts a hand on his father’s shoulder. ‘She’s right, Dad. We won’t leave her. You look all in.’

The older man’s lip trembles. ‘I guess I could do with a shave. Here, you’d better come in.’

Lydia is stretched out in her hospital bed, absolutely still, just a low shape under the covers. She looks wan and frail amid all the medical machinery. Her eyes are closed. The only sign of life in the room is her soft breathing and the flicker of the heartbeat monitor.

Aaron stiffens. I place my hand on his arm and his eyes brim with tears.

‘She was in her dressing room. She went up early. I thought she’d fainted. She was laid out on the rug –’ He shivers suddenly.

I put my arm round him and guide him to a chair. ‘Here. You must be exhausted.’

The successful-Southern-politician image is taking a hit, but I shudder at the effect all this may have on Darnley. He’s under enough strain as it is. Already he’s ashen-faced at his father’s rejection. Like me, he must be shocked at the sight of Lydia. Hearing about a loved one’s collapse is one thing, but seeing it for real …

‘Darnley?’ I keep a hand on Aaron’s shoulder and gaze up at my lover. For the first time I see that Aaron and Darnley are still poles apart. This may be a deal-breaker. If Darnley walks away from this, he may never reach his father’s heart again.

At that moment there’s a voice from the bed. ‘
Where am I?
’

We all jump. Lydia’s eyelids have flickered open.

Darnley’s closest. He leans over and takes her hand in his. ‘Hey. How are you, Mom? We got here as soon as we could.’

She peers up at him, her eyes full of pain. ‘Darnley? I’m so, so sorry. All those years. I’d no idea what you were going through. It’s all my fault.’

Darnley stares down at her aghast as tears squeeze out from under her eyelids and drip into the pillow.

Aaron springs forward and seizes his arm. ‘That’s enough, son. Can’t you see the damage you’re doing?’ He leans out of the door. ‘Nurse? Get down here. She’s coming round.’

He glares at Darnley. ‘Now you get out of here before she gets any worse.’

‘Ella? Are you there too?’ The thin, reedy voice from the bed stops him mid-flow.

Both men step aside to let me closer to the bed. In the distance we can hear a commotion as the nurses head our way.

Lydia’s looking anxiously up at me, her lips white as she tries to whisper something. I have to lean down to make out the words.

‘Is my hair all right? I must look such a mess. All these tubes. Is Aaron here too?’

I take her hand in mine and grip it warmly. ‘Sure he is. And your hair’s just fine.’ I smooth a few strands away from her face and then rummage in my purse for a mirror and some lipstick. ‘Here. Let’s tidy you up.’

I dab at her face a few times and show her the results.

She peers at her reflection and then gives me a grateful look. ‘Thank you so much, dear. Men don’t understand these things.’ She finds my hand for a moment and gives it a grateful squeeze.

I move away so Aaron can take my place and transfer Lydia’s cold, pale fingers from my hand to his. He seizes them gratefully and sits down on the chair beside the bed just as the nurses bustle in and shoo Darnley and me away. After a moment Aaron joins us, still shaky.

Behind us we can hear Lydia complaining about the scent on the pillows. Aaron grins. ‘Sounds like she’s on the mend.’

We stay for a couple of hours. When Aaron comes back, freshly shaved and rested, we leave him on watch and slip away.

In our suite Darnley’s stream of quiet instructions, phoned from the back of our cab, has everything prepared. Lamps are lit, fresh flowers procured and a light lunch laid out on a trolley near the door.

‘Hungry?’ Darnley’s looking at me strangely, still troubled.

‘How about coffee?’ I say gently. ‘Or maybe a drink?’ I tail off at the flicker of pain that crosses his face. ‘She’ll be fine,’ I say quietly. ‘She’s in good hands.’

‘It’s happened before. It’s all because of Kraik. Every time something crops up we go through this. But this time it’s different. And I’ve never seen Dad lose it like that.’

I swallow. ‘Maybe it was because I was there. He’s not used to strangers knowing …’

‘
Strangers?
Fuck that. You’re as much a part of this family as anybody. It’s about time they knew.’

I touch his arm. Under the fine fabric his muscles feel rigid. His eyes slowly lock on mine and all at once I’m in his arms, pressing against him, and he’s breathing into my hair.

‘Help me, Ella. I can’t deal with them as well. It’s bad enough knowing Lydia’s done this, but to think it’s all my fault –’

‘How can it be your fault?’ I take his face in my hands and kiss him on the line of his jaw, and then do it again. ‘All you’ve done is try to make things better.’

I kiss him again and this time I keep on doing it, working my way slowly along to his beautiful mouth. For a few seconds he stands very still and then he reacts. His mouth fastens on mine and now he’s pressing me to him, his hands finding all my curves and mapping my shape. His light, firm touch sends small shockwaves through me as I realise how tense he is, how tense I am, and how much we’ve missed each other since last night.

Being torn from sleep and plunged into family crisis is bad news for anyone, but for Darnley this is dreadful. I can feel it in his rigid body, sense it in his angry breathing, taste it in his urgent, needy tongue.

As he releases my mouth I smile up at him, my fingers fluttering down his cheek, my other hand wound up into his hair, my fingers busy, desperate to make contact, trying to tell him by touch if not in words that I’m here for him, that however bad this has been for him I’ll do all I can to help.

‘Come and sit down,’ I murmur. ‘Before we fall over.’

His faint grin gives me hope. ‘I was looking forward to that part. How the heck did you pour yourself into that dress so fast this morning? You look good enough to eat.’

‘Eat, then,’ I tease, touching the tip of my tongue to his lip and pressing in a little so he has to open his mouth to let me in. ‘That’s why I’m here.’

He collapses into an easy chair and pulls me on top of him, pushing up my skirt, his hand warm and firm on my thigh. ‘You permit?’

I grin, surprised by his sudden courtesy, but sensing his urgency with a flare of arousal so explicit I’m glad my skirt is well clear. I fasten my hands on his shoulders and start to massage, kneading him rhythmically, willing him to relax. For a few long moments he lies back, closes his eyes with a half-smile and lets me work him.

His eyelids quiver when I shift to align myself fully on his lap. The thought of the riches just a fabric-width away from my own glowing arousal is making me twitchy. In seconds his fingers discover this and now I’m in trouble – he knows I’m as urgent as he is. With trembling fingers I reach down and free him, dreading a rebuff. I’m not used to this family thing, I’ve no idea how deep this goes or if he’ll think this inappropriate.

To my relief his smile widens as I fondle him, my fingertips keen to explore, my belly already clenching in anticipation. He feels so good …

‘All in one?’ His quiet request touches my soul, the plea in his eyes is so heartfelt.

Obediently I surge up a little in his arms and bear down, my belly filling with his sudden warmth, my thighs spread wide over his lap as I ride him, gently at first and then faster, as his eyes glaze over and his hands reach deep down to speed me to a similar – and merciful – release.

As we close in at the peak he touches his lips to mine, his insistent, mine softer, still trembling with indecision. And as we flow into the full, unstoppable blaze of orgasm his mouth claims me fully and we conjoin in a violent spasm of pleasure, all the sweeter for being snatched from a day packed with tension.

We laugh a little, we cling a little, sinking back into our normal selves as our tensions peel away. Minutes later, his phone signals and he listens in silence, his hand still caressing the underside of my thigh with soft, gentle movements, his fingers prolonging the contact, keeping in touch.

‘OK, I’ll ask her. Let me know if you need anything else. And Dad?’

There’s a pause as his caller waits.

‘Thanks for asking us along. I really appreciate it.’

It seems Lydia’s asking for me, and Darnley’s back on track with his father.

Back in the hospital Aaron goes off for another a rest and I sit with Lydia.

Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she talks. I learn all about her early days, how she flitted from lover to lover until she met Aaron and was blown away by his plans and his drive. I even learn a little about Kraik, but when we get to his effect on the family she still clams up, unwilling to face the past.

I hold her hand some of the time, hoping my touch will mean something, even in her sleep. Every time she wakes up she smiles.

Sometimes Aaron takes over, sometimes Darnley, so I get breaks.

Darnley hovers nearby, pacing the corridor, making calls, trying to make peace with his father.

By the time Eldon arrives some hours later, panicky and laden with bunches of flowers, Lydia’s well on the way to recovery. She welcomes him warmly and seems serene.

After a precious half-hour with his mother he leaves reassured. ‘Jeez. Good to know it’s nothing serious. Could she have done it by mistake, you guys?’

I see the others exchange a look. Eldon still knows very little about the Kraik thing. This is no time to tell him.

Later he brings Billy, the pair holding hands. I sense their break-up is on hold.

Much later, in the small hours before dawn, Lydia wakes again and starts to talk low. ‘We’d no idea he’d get like that. Fletch was always such good fun. But it was weird. He got to everybody in different ways.

‘Aaron suffered the most. The money he had to pay out to get those pictures back.’ She shudders. ‘But I’d no idea all that was happening to Darnley. If only I’d known – I thought it was just me. I’m so ashamed’. She stares at me in horror, as a new thought strikes her. ‘And what about Eldon? Did he …?’

‘No,’ I say gently. ‘Darnley made sure of that. That’s why he kept quiet. Don’t distress yourself. It’s all over now.’

In the short breaks when she sleeps I sit with Aaron. He seems to accept my company. And at last I see him soften too. I even hold his hand as the memories come back, bitter hints of an ambitious young lawyer caught in a dreadful trap by a figure from his new wife’s past.

‘He was evil, that guy. Thing was, he brought us a lot of work. But he knew where our weak spots lay and he played on them. All the time. All his high-power friends made use of the firm, brought in a bunch of money. So I always kind of owed him. But however much I paid him, he wanted more. Every time he looked at Lydia I knew he’d run to the papers, ruin everything I’d built up, if I tried to get rid of him. The family never seemed to notice. But I’d no idea he’d gotten to the kids too.’

It’s a family with secrets.
But I see now that each one has his or her own secret. Kraik must have tormented each of them in a different way, playing them all like a puppet-master.

‘I think you’ve all been very strong,’ I say gently. ‘You took all that and you’re still together. That takes a special kind of strength.’

Aaron snorts. ‘
Together?
Until Darnley broke free, we were. This could mean the end. We’ll be ruined.’

I feel his hand tremble in mine. ‘No, no, it’ll be fine. He knows what he’s doing.’

Darnley comes in to fetch me long after sunrise. I’m exhausted but content. I’m no nearer the mystery of his tormentor’s death, but I know a lot more about his family.

‘I’m so glad to see you,’ I whimper, as he folds me in his arms, ignoring the bustling nurses as they call in to check on their patient and cheerfully reassure Aaron that Lydia may be well enough to leave after the doctor’s next visit.

Darnley breathes deep into my hair. ‘Me too. Let’s get out of here.’

In the evening he wants some fun. We’re going out on the town big-time. As he snaps the bracelets in place I feel a shimmer of excitement. The nightspots of New York are a world away from stately Boston. And we may even run into Eldon and Billy and make a party of it.

I submit willingly to our first ritual, my eager mouth making short work of his haughty manner. At the very last moment I pull away, laughing, and will him to scold me. He eyes me with fury for a second and then I dab at him with my tongue, daring him to hold off or to come.

‘Ella? What the …’ He tails off as I take pity on his agony and plunge back over him, my eager mouth tipping him into an ecstasy of release. When I rise to my feet and readjust I’m still laughing, but touched at his consternation.

‘
Christ
, Ella. For a moment there I thought –’

‘You thought what?’ I press against him, high on him, pleased with my ruse and proud of my tease.

He grins, relaxing slowly as the glow of orgasm steals through him. ‘Nothing. You’re a witch.’

I glance up through my lashes. ‘I’m from New England. What did you expect?’

He has business across town and I have some calls to make, so we arrange for him to go on ahead. He’ll send Bullen back for me.

While he’s gone I repair my make-up, rearrange my sleek cocktail dress and reach for my jacket, and then I pause. I feel like lead this evening. I know why – the date crept up on me this week but I’ve been so busy I ignored it. Now I scrabble in my purse for a painkiller, check for tampons and curse. I’m right out.

No matter. On the way across town I’ll get Bullen to pull over so I can slip into a drugstore.

Slipping into a drugstore from the back of a limo is no mean feat. First Bullen wants to know why. When I refuse to say he turns stonily back to the wheel and we cruise downtown looking for an all-nighter.

When we find one I wrench open the door, tell him gaily to wait a second and dash across the street through the traffic without looking behind me. Bullen’s stolid disapproval hovers behind me like a storm-cloud.

The drugstore is harshly lit and shabby. I prowl the shelves, find what I need and wait in line. A woman and three men in joggers and hoods hover near the counter. It seems they’re buddies with the guy serving.