His Australian Heiress (24 page)

“An illusion I've managed to create.”

“We all create illusions. I do get how you feel.”

She raised her face to his, not bothering to hide her agitation. “How do you get it? Selma didn't run off from your wedding, so be grateful for that. Jason was an assassin. He stabbed me in the back, right on the eve of our wedding, remember? You should, you were there. You're
always
there, letting me know what a fool I am. Will you ever forget how the news of Kathy Burch's pregnancy spread like wildfire around the town? The disgrace. The humiliation. The shame. To make it worse, Uncle Robert had spent a fortune ensuring a fairy-tale wedding for me.”

“I did warn you.”

She felt the screws tighten. “Yeah, prescient old you! You must get great satisfaction out of knowing everything you said about Jason came true.”

“He wasn't the most desirable candidate for your hand. Certainly not the husband of choice.”

“Not your choice for me.”

“Not Robb's choice either, even if he avoided saying so, which is a great pity, but seriously not worth getting into now. It didn't make me
happy
to say what I said then.”

“I don't believe that for one moment. You relished the breakup. I was under so much stress, but you, superior old you, had to punch my stupidity home.”

An answering heat of anger was rising in him. A certain amount of conflict with Mallory was par for the course. “How unfair can you get? If I'd told you I thought Jason Cartwright was absolutely
perfect
, you might have broken off the engagement.”

She stared at him, wondering in consternation if he had spoken a truth. “There's always friction between us, isn't there?” she said, angrily puffing at a stray lock of her hair. “Bottled up forces.”

“That's what
you
want, Mallory. Not me.” Blaine stared down at her. Radiance had a way of playing around Mallory. The hot sun was picking out the gold strands in her hair and at her temples. The delicate bones of her face he found not only endearing but intensely erotic.

“Jason was kicked out of his home and the thriving family real estate business for reasons unknown. Was it money?” Mallory pondered. “Money causes big problems. Were the twins robbing their father on the side? Surely Uncle Robert pressed Jason for some explanation?”

“None forthcoming to this day.” Blaine fixed a glance on her narrow, tapping foot.

She stopped the tapping. “You've always been able to get to the bottom of things.”

“Wasn't my place, Mallory, as I said.”

“Well, I can't accept you don't have
some
idea as to what the breakup was all about. You have your little network. All the businessmen in town want to hook up with you. They all know Harry. What about the grapevine?”

“Oddly, the breakup hasn't become the talk of the town. It's a mystery, destined to remain so.”

She gave another dismissive wave of her hand. “I don't like mysteries, especially when they impact on my life. His parents doted on Jason. Could the fallout have been because of
me
? That would make me very uncomfortable indeed.”

“I think not.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know that much, Mallory.”

She felt another quick surge of anger. “Of course you do, and a whole lot more you're not telling. Jason married Kathy Burch. They have a little girl.”

“Her name is Ivy, a cute little kid. Kathy, however, is a very subdued young woman these days. Marriage and motherhood have—”

“Taken their toll?”

“The short answer is yes. Kathy is very much under Jessica's thumb.”

She took a deep breath. Counted to ten. “A bigger bombshell is coming? Jessica is still on the scene?”

“Try to pry her away from her brother,” Blaine said, his tone bone dry.

“Can no one kill her off? Or at least start looking into it?”

“No way of doing it without landing in jail,” Blaine said laconically. “Those two were always joined at the hip. Jason and Kathy live in the old manager's bungalow, by the way. Robert remodeled it for them.”

Mallory put her fingertips to her aching temples. “I didn't come prepared for these disclosures, Blaine. To think of all the phone calls, the e-mails, the visits, and never a word.”

“Not so surprising, is it?”

She shook her head. “Not really. We both know Uncle Robert avoids unpleasantness. It's his problem area. As for
you
! You too left me completely in the dark.”

“Mallory, I couldn't go over Robb's head.”

“I had rights, didn't I?”

“You left, Mallory, telling us you were never coming back.”

“Who would blame me? You're not the most compassionate man in the world, are you?”

“Compassion wasn't, still isn't, what you wanted,” he said testily.

Mallory gave up. She would never win with Blaine. “I can't believe the Cartwrights would turn their backs on their only grandchild. Kathy might remain the outsider, but cutting off the little girl, the innocent victim, their own flesh and blood? The Marge Cartwright I remember was a nurturing woman.”

“Maybe Jason is hitting back at his parents by not allowing them to see the child. She has a few problems apparently.”

“Problems
?
What sort of problems?” Immediately Mallory started ticking off childhood disorders in her head.

“Health problems, and I believe she's a little wild. The whole town knows. Kathy is always at the hospital with her.”

“How very worrying.” Mallory's stance had softened considerably. “Is the child on medication? There are so many underlying reasons for behavioural problems. Sometimes it can be hard for a GP to differentiate. Kids are hyper for a wide range of reasons.”

“I'm sure you're right, Doctor James.”

Ah, the suavity of his tone! “Helping problematic children is my area, Blaine,” she reminded him sharply. “I'd like to point out, while we're on the subject, I didn't allow bitterness over what happened to me and Jason to eat me away. What's past is past.”

“Faulkner didn't see it that way.”

“Okay, the past is never past. That way of yours of constantly having the last word drives me crazy.”

“As I've suggested, it could be your bad case of ‘sibling' rivalry. You were lucky you didn't marry Jason. He didn't break your heart.”

“Did Selma break yours?”

He only shrugged. “Forget Selma. Look, I'm not in the mood for this, Mallory.”

“Then you're welcome to go on your way. I'm not stopping you.” She tilted her chin.

“Take a chill pill, why don't you.”

She flared up. “Chill pill? I don't pop pills.” She had been on antidepressants for some years. Occasionally she had panic attacks, but she worked to contain them without medication.

“Oh, for God's sake, Mallory! Why do you work so hard to misunderstand me? You're a psychologist. You know all about chill pills to control moods. I know this is difficult. If it helps, Cartwright is working hard.
Jessica
too.”

For a split second she allowed her shoulders to droop. Then she straightened. No way was Blaine going to see her crumple. She'd do that when she was alone.

“Jessica Cartwright mightn't be a bucket of fun, but she's extremely competent,” he went on. “She's far better than Jason at getting the best out of the staff.”

“That's her big rap, is it? Jessica Cartwright gets the best out of the staff. Does she do it with a whip? Jessica was the nastiest kid in the school. She tormented the life out of Kathy Burch, when Kathy had suffered enough with that appalling father. Dare I ask how she wrangled the job?”

“Good question.”

“With no good answer. Uncle Robert never liked her. He once called her a little monster.”

“Tell me who did like her? Being pleasant never caught up with Jessica. She needed a job. The prospect of her finding work in town was uncertain at best.”

“Most people had had kids in school with Jessica,” Mallory said tartly.

“She mightn't have a winning personality, but Jason's life doesn't seem to be complete without her.”

“Repressed development. Jessica is the alpha twin. She's always been in charge. But Jason is a married man now. If Jessica is around she probably spends her time ensuring every day is a real
bad
day for her sister-in-law. It's cruel for Jason to subject his wife to Jessica's TLC. God forbid he does it on purpose.” Mallory felt up to her neck in unwelcome disclosures. “She's not his identical twin. They don't share identical genetic material. Jason was as pleasant as Jessica was downright nasty. Having said that, twinship is a deeply symbiotic relationship. I hope it's not too rude to ask, but what now? Is there a way out?”

“Not at the moment. Jessica lives in an apartment in town.”

“I expect you own the complex?”

“I expect I do,” he said.

“Modesty doesn't come in your size, does it?”

“If you say so,
dear
Mallory,” he drawled. “To try to balance the good with the bad, Jessica has stuck by her brother.”

“She'd stick with him if he were a total nutter. I really liked the Cartwrights.”

“And they
loved
you.” He went heavy on the
loved.

“It was what it was,” she said soberly. “So you got me here knowing all this?”

“I got you here for
Robert.
You owe him.”

Memory after memory was sidling up. All of them full of angst. “I do so love you when you're righteous!”

“Me, righteous?” He spread his shapely hands.

“That's one of your big problems, Blaine. You're most righteous when you're in the wrong. And this is wrong.”

“Would you have come back had you known?” He pinned her with his luminous eyes.

“So you deliberately kept me in the dark?”

“What would you have done had I told you the truth?”

She averted her gaze. “You don't know the workings of my mind, Blaine.”

“You don't know mine, either.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You're smart. You'll figure it out. One piece of advice. Take it slowly.”

She searched his face. Blaine was a central part of her life, but hunkering down inside her bolt hole had become a habit. “You make that sound like I could be steering into dangerous waters.”

“And so you could be.”

“They know I'm coming?”

Blaine nodded. “I expect they're feeling their own brand of trepidation. But life has moved on.
You
have moved on, Mallory. You're Doctor James now, a highly regarded professional in your field. You could even be of help to the child.”

The thought took the edge off her upset. “Only I'm certain Jason and his wife wouldn't want any help from me. Jessica was
never
my friend.”

“I did tell you that as well.”

“You did indeed.” Between the heat and her sizzling emotions, she felt compelled to get away from him. “You know I've always thought you a complete—”

He cut her off, opening her car door. “No need to say it, Mallory. I can fill in the dots. And it wasn't
always
. Once we were good pals, until puberty got in the way.”

“Puberty? Whose puberty?” she demanded, incensed.

“Why, yours, of course. I'm not a fool, Mallory. I know you hate it, but I know you too well.”

“You'll need to do a lot of catch-up.” With practised grace, she swivelled her long, elegant legs as she settled into the driver's seat. “You find this funny?” She caught the glint in his eyes.

“Not at all. I just hope you're relatively okay with it.”

“Like I'm relatively okay with a Category Five cyclone. What time tomorrow?”

“Say eleven o'clock. Robert has a new housekeeper. Mrs. Rawlings. She lost her husband, Jeff, to cancer.”

She nodded. “Uncle Robert did manage to tell me. I'm sorry. He told me plenty about your goings-on as well. We do so know he thinks of you as the son he never had. What did go wrong between you and Selma, anyway?” Her voice was edged with malice, when malice didn't come naturally to her. “I would have thought she was madly in love with you.”

“You've managed to make that sound like one would have to wonder why.”

“Just trying to spin your wheels. Besides, I didn't think you cared all that much what I thought.”

“I'll let that one go as well. It was Selma who decided against an engagement,” he offered with no loss of his iron-clad composure.

“It was the other way around, I fancy. She loved you, but you found you didn't love her, or not enough to get married. Had you a new conquest in mind?”

He made to close her door. “Let's swap stories at another time, shall we, Mallory?”

“Nothing in it for you, Blaine. I'm a closed book.”

“Unknowable to everyone but
me
.”

She could have cheerfully slapped him. Instead she found herself tightening her body against the odd tumbling inside her. “I assume that's your arrogance talking?”

“Not entirely. See you tomorrow.”

He shut her door.

He walked away.

He didn't look back.