In the Market for Love (18 page)

He stroked her arm and imagined what it would like next time. When she was ready.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”
she asked.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he replied.

Having overcome so much together, Jake was so close to what he desired. From here on, nothing could possibly get in his way.

Bianca flicked open the brushed silver latches on Jake’s brief case. She knew he took his diary with him to all of his business appointments. He said himself he relied on it so much he was useless without it.

No, it wasn’t in his brief case. She carefully closed the case, leaving it perched on one of the black leather and chrome chairs in his office.

Where was his diary? Surely he must keep it in a prominent position for easy access. She didn’t want to shuffle through his whole desk, leaving an obvious mess in her wake. And she had to make this quick.

A wave of anxiety washed over
her with the sudden thought that perhaps Jake had taken his diary with him. The agency receptionist had told her he was in the boardroom and Bianca assumed he’d left his dairy in the office.

“It has to be here,” she
muttered.

Glancing across at hi
s computer, she knew that would be no help. The staff used online diaries but Bianca had no idea how to access the system, what passwords Jake might use or if, in fact, he would put details of private dalliances onto a communal system.

It was lucky for her that he preferred an old fashioned hard copy diary. The arti
st in him liked to doodle and that suited her fine.

Then she caught a glimpse of the diary’s black leather binding under a
stack of files. She slid it out and flicked to the current date.

“Rachel, Rachel,” she whispered as she ran her index finger down the page.

Then she saw it. 1pm today. Lunch at Level 41.

He w
asn’t sparing any expense. Did he send her flowers as well? Buy her jewellery?

S
omething about seeing that woman’s name in Jake’s diary in his handwriting sent a bolt of anger shooting deep inside.

How could he do this to her?

She wasn’t giving up without a fight. If this Rachel person was out of Jake’s life, he’d reconsider and return to his original decision about staying together as a family.

Bianca
slammed the diary shut and replaced it under the stack of files so he’d never know she’d rummaged through his desk.

Tha
t insipid Rachel woman. She’d teach her a lesson. This was too easy, especially since Jake had had left his mobile phone on the desk.

She
picked it up, found the woman’s name in the address book, then typed in the message.

Lunch changed to R
uby’s. C U at 12.30. Busy with meetings until then. Mr Porsche.

She
smiled at her own cleverness. She liked the idea of using his own words and their precious pet names against him. Jake always used the two letter abbreviation for ‘see you’ so she was particularly pleased with this authentic touch.

“Bianca, is that you?” A woman’s voice called out from
behind her.

Her back still to the door,
Bianca placed the phone down gently and turned. “Oh, hello Emma.”

“I didn’t know you were coming,” the PA said. “W
as Jake expecting you?”

“Just passing
on my way to the hairdresser. I wanted to catch him but it doesn’t matter. I’ll see him tonight anyway.”

“Bianca
, I don’t think Jake would want you in his office like this.”

“Like what? Don’t be
ridiculous, girl.”

Emma’s gaze dropped to the phone on the desk, then back up again. She couldn’t know. She was merely guessing.

What was it with these nasty little women Jake chose? Did this pipsqueak red head who was nothing more than a glorified secretary think she could get one over her?

Bianca glanced
down. “He’s got the cutest picture of Connor as his background screensaver on the phone.”

“Yeah, he does,” Emma
said. “He’s a gorgeous kid. Looks exactly like his father.”

Bianca pushed past
the girl and left. That silly backhanded compliment was a pathetic last ditch effort. Not that it mattered.

She’d sent the text.

*          *          *

Rachel couldn’t help herself. Walking along George Street past the historic buildings of The Rocks at the foot of the Harbour Bridge, her excitement
increased as she neared Ruby’s. She’d seen their chefs on television and had even tried to recreate their dishes but she’d never been anywhere like this.

Jake had asked her to a premier restaurant where he was likely to see clients, business associates and others who moved in his circle. It didn’t matter if it were Level 41 or
Ruby’s, Jake wanted her to be part of his world.

She’d not long been seated at the restaurant and was still admiring its sleek modern interior
when a flash of brash blond hair caught her eye.

Rachel had seen her before. Bianca Austin.

The woman tossed her bleached locks behind her shoulders. Each step she took as she strode closer was a dagger in Rachel’s stomach. Pain seared through her body but she couldn’t look away.

As Bianca neared the
table, a waiter approached her.

S
he pushed away the menus in his hand. “We won’t be needing those. Bring us two glasses of white wine. Something good. And bring them quickly please.”

Bianca
lowered her eyelashes and brushed her chest against the waiter as she edged past. She slid into the chair opposite Rachel, and reached over to place her Louis Vuitton bag by the foot of her chair.

Still, Rachel couldn’t move.

What was going on? Why was this woman here?

“Hello,
Rachel,” Bianca said.

Her voice
stuck in her throat. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

“No.” Bianca raised her finely arched eyebrows. “Jake doesn’t usually introduce me to his other women.”

“What?”

“In case you h
aven’t worked it out, darling, Jake’s not coming. It’s just me and you.”

Obeying Bianca’s instruction to be quick, the waiter placed two glasses of wine on the table as the women sat in silence. Rachel stared at the cutlery
. She felt the woman’s eyes searing through her and couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
she asked.

Bianca took a long, slow sip of wine. “Maybe you should tell me. I’m not the one fooling around with someone else’s husband.”

“I beg your pardon. Not so loud. I don’t want the whole world to hear. I am not fooling around.”

“Oh yes you are, honey. You might think it’s serious but I guarantee what you’re doing is fooling around. I could use more explicit words to describe it but I’m too much of a lady.”

“Why are you here?”

Bianca’s eyes narrowed as she leaned across the table. “To tell you, in no uncertain terms, to keep your dirty little hands off my husband.”

“Your husband?”

Fear flooded Rachel with that word. Husband. After everything they’d been through, the misunderstandings, the arguments, could it be possible that he was still her husband in every sense of the word?

“Yes, my husband. We’re married so there’s no other name for him. Not one I can use at the table anyway.”

“He said you were separated.”

“Did he now? Well, he’s used that one before but look at this.” Bianca raised her left hand, a thick gold band and an enormous solitaire diamond sitting on her ring finger. “That’s a wedding ring. He might not wear one but I do. Every day.”

“
Really?”

“
Did he tell you we’ve got a child?”

“Yes,” Rachel
said. “Connor.”

“Don’t you
dare say my child’s name again. Our son is the most important thing in the world to Jake. Much more important than you. He’d never do anything to jeopardise that relationship.”

She was right.
Jake had hung in there this long for Connor’s sake and that wasn’t about to change. He had his priorities straight and would choose his son over anyone and anything.

“
I’ve been to your house,” Rachel said. “He told me you lived under the same roof but separately. Not as man and wife. I saw the part of the house where he lived. I can’t believe he would…”

“
Lie to you,” Bianca finished. “Because that’s one heck of a lie. And you believed that story?”

“He said it was for his son, to keep t
he family under one roof for the child.”

Hot tears burned at the back of Rachel’s eyes. Her world was falling apart and she didn’t know what to believe.

As she looked at Bianca, Rachel saw a woman who was desperate to protect her marriage and her family. She could think of no other explanation for her behaviour.

Bianca took another sip of wine. “I’m sick of his affairs and I don’t want you going near him again. Do you understand?”

“Affairs?”

“Yes, affairs. Plural. Did you really think you were the fir
st? Get in line, honey. You’re probably about number twelve. You weren’t the first and you won’t be the last. There’ll be some other floozy after you and I’ll deal with that when it happens but right now, you’re the one I’m talking to.”

Rachel opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a pathetic splutter. Was she so naïve
to have believed she was something special to Jake?

The air was
sucked out her lungs. Each short, futile breath she took drew more oxygen than she could breathe in. Her chest became a vacuum, her ribs barely able to resist the force of the outside world pressing upon her.

“Do you really want him after all this?” Bianca
asked. “Are you really that desperate that you’d break up a family, ruin the life of a small child? Because I’m telling you, stay away from my family.”

Rachel couldn’t do this to the little boy in racing car pyjamas. Jake wouldn’t do
it to him either. That was the one issue on which he wouldn’t compromise. Nothing she could say would change that.

Glass
in hand, Bianca leaned back. “Face it, honey. It’s over. Believe me, you don’t want to take me on. You don’t stand a chance.”

Her
legs trembling, Rachel stood. She placed her hands on the edge of the table for balance. There was nothing left.

She’d been alone before.

But not like this.

*          *          *

The ring of Rachel’s mobile phone was like an alarm clock waking her from a dream. But it wasn’t a dream. She was walking along George Street away the restaurant, away from Bianca and away from Jake.

She blinked against the sunshine, raised her eyes, and
noticed how bright it was. Strange, she hadn’t noticed before but now it was very clear.

Rachel dug her phone
out of her bag as she’d done countless times before, only to see Jake’s name flashing on it.

How dare he? She held the phone as it rang two more times, then stopped as the call was forwarded to message bank.
Let him leave a message. It was the least she expected of him.

She shoved her phone back into her bag and headed for the office.

There was nothing left for him to say.

*          *         *

Later that day, Marcus phoned Rachel’s office.

“Is Samantha really at meetings for the rest of the day?”
he asked. “Or does she just not want to talk to me?”

“T
he reason I picked up her phone is because she’s away from her desk,” Rachel said into the receiver. “She’s not here.”

“Can you tell her I called?”

She pursed her lips to stop herself from saying something she’d regret. Marcus had slept with Samantha, then refused her phone calls, yet now he wanted to contact her. This didn’t make sense. It also wasn’t her problem.

“She told you wh
at happened, didn’t she?” he asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “I
t’s really none of my business.”

What was it with these men that they treated the women in their lives so badly only to decide later to make amends?

“I may have upset her,” Marcus said.

Rachel felt increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. “I’m not the person you should be talking to.”

“I don’t think Samantha wants to talk to me after what I did. I was horrible to her.”

“That’s between the two of you.”

“I need to make it up to her.”

“
Well, you’d better make it good.” The words shot from her mouth before she could stop herself.