Topspin (10 page)

He wanted something from her and knew precisely how to go about softening her up in order to get it. But she’d changed in the years they’d been apart and had no intention of playing into his hands.

“All right,” she said. “What are we waiting for?”

“Don’t you want to change first, Mum?” Sheba offered her a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-the-mouth smile. “You never go straight out from work without changing.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” She swung her bag back over her shoulder and headed for the door.

“Your mum always looks gorgeous.” Rod smiled directly at Angela, appearing not to notice when she narrowed her eyes at him.

Whatever had happened to make him break their agreement and intrude upon the life she was struggling to make for herself and the kids, it couldn’t be good news. It wasn’t anything as basic as wanting to see them again, as Sheba appeared to think. With Rod there always had to be an angle. Not for the first time, he’d probably backed himself into a corner and needed to lay low for a while. If he thought she’d stand by and let him bring trouble knocking at her door, when she’d sacrificed so much to make a new start, then he had another think coming. She’d turn him in herself before she’d let that happen, and bugger the consequences.

“Come on then, kids. Let’s get this over with.”

“Wow, Dad, is that your car?” Sheba asked, incredulity in her voice as she nodded toward the flash Mercedes parked in the street. “Cool!”

Angela rolled her eyes at Malik. The twins had obviously been driven home in Rod’s car, and Sheba’s clumsy way of drawing it to her mother’s attention was really quite touching. The thought of being impressed by something so obviously designed to make an impression almost made her smile. If she hadn’t been so angry with Rod perhaps she would have, but smiling was definitely not on her agenda right now.

Angela couldn’t remember much about the meal and didn’t know how she’d managed to get through it without throttling Rod, who was going out of his way to be charming to them all. Or Sheba, for that matter. She was hanging on her father’s every word and playing the part of the obedient daughter like the consummate little actress she was.

Angela expelled a long sigh of relief when the meal finally came to an end, until it became clear that Rod expected not just to drop them at home but to be invited in as well. Sheba obliged him in that respect.

“Come on in, Dad,” she said sweetly. “Malik and I have homework, but I expect you and Mum have a lot of catching up to do.” She spoiled her adult-sounding comment by nudging Malik hard and bursting into a fit of giggles.

Angela could only stare disbelievingly as Sheba collected up her schoolbooks, kissed and cuddled her father, and even managed a brief smile for Angela before voluntarily disappearing in the direction of her room. Sheba
never
did her own homework if she could help it, and certainly didn’t go off to bed of her own volition. Malik hung back, asking a question of her with his eyes. Angela’s heart went out to her sensitive son, but she smiled her reassurance and sent him on his way too.

She’d much rather avoid this confrontation, but Rod was here and he owed her an explanation. Sheba was smitten with romantic notions of reuniting the family, and she knew Rod wouldn’t hesitate to use that situation to his advantage. She could forgive this man a lot, and had done so on many occasions, but manipulating their spiky daughter to get what he wanted was going one step too far. It was all right for
him
. He’d be off again when it suited him, leaving Angela to pick up the pieces.

Allowing the anger she’d been attempting to keep under wraps for the sake of the children full rein, Angela indicated the tiny patio with her eyes. Rod obediently opened the door, snatching a bottle of brandy and two glasses from the sideboard. He sank into one of the cane chairs and poured them both a hefty measure, offering Angela a somnolent smile. She fought valiantly to overcome the fact that it still turned her insides to mush when he looked at her like that.

“What are you doing here, Rod?” she asked. “What do you want this time?”

“What sort of way is that to greet your husband?”

“Don’t play games with me! We had an agreement. You promised to keep away from us, and we moved to this island to make it easier for you. So I’ll ask you again: why are you here?”

“I’m working over here for a while.” He grew calmer in the face of her increasing anger. “The island’s a small place and I couldn’t risk the kids seeing me by accident, so I thought I ought to let you know.”

“Bullshit!”

“Pardon, love?”

“You heard me. You’re talking to
me
, and I don’t believe a word. Your sort of
work
can be done anywhere in the world. There has to be a reason why you’ve chosen the place where the kids and I live.”

“Straight up, Angie.” He spread his hands, his face a study in sincerity that would have fooled almost anyone else. “It’s a coincidence, I promise you. I’ve kept our agreement up until now, haven’t I, even though it hasn’t been easy for me. Despite whatever else I’ve done, I really love my kids and it’s tough not having any contact with them.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

Angela could feel herself weakening. He did love his kids. Perhaps a little too well. She fiddled with the tassel on the cushion beside her, conscious of his eyes burning into her face, struggling with the torrent of emotions her husband’s unexpected appearance had stirred up inside her. His presence compelled her to remember that which was best forgotten, just as it forced her to privately acknowledge how much she had—and still did—love the bloody man. Cutting him out of her life had been the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but she was a mother first and foremost, and she’d done it for the sake of the kids.

“Look, Rod, I’ve had to struggle to get us settled here but I’m getting on my feet at last, making a life for us, and I have no intention of allowing you to mess things up.”

“And how will seeing my children occasionally do that?” he asked, his voice infuriatingly calm.

Agitation replaced Angela’s earlier distress. She took a long swig of her drink to avoid looking directly at him. She’d forgotten that it was brandy and choked as the fiery liquid hit the back of her throat. Rod sprang to his feet and patted her back, his eyes softening as they locked with hers. His fingers gently stroked her shoulders with practiced feather-light sweeps that made her quiver with longing. Encouraged by her reaction, he transferred his attention to the tops of her arms, her…

Enough!

She shook him off, furious that she’d almost fallen victim to such an obvious seduction routine.

“Are you all right, love?”

“I will be when you clear off again.”

“Don’t be like that, Angie. Can’t we at least be civil for the sake of the kids?”

“What do you think I was doing this evening? You know damn well that if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t have given you the time of day.”

“Yeah, I do know, and I realize my turning up out of the blue like that must have been a bit of a shock.”

“A
shock?
” Angela stood up and paced out her agitation, determined not to let him touch her again, not trusting herself to remain immune to his noxious form of charm. “That’s one way of putting it.”

He drew a deep breath. “Look, Angie. I don’t want to argue with you but, like it or not, I’m gonna be here a while, so we need to get a few things sorted out between us for the kids’ sake. Paul’s investing in a building project here, see, and I’m his right-hand man.”

Angela snorted. Any vague idea she might have been harboring about his sincerity disappeared into the ether. “Paul,” she said derisively. “I might have known he’d be behind all this.”

“He’s changed, Angie. We both have. Just give me a chance to prove it.”

“I might have listened to you if you’d contacted me first instead of getting to me through the kids.” She glowered at him from the safety of the opposite end of the patio. “That was a cheap stunt to pull, Rod.”

“Yeah, I know, but I really wanted to see them and didn’t think you’d agree if I asked you first.” He spread his hands. “I was a coward, okay? I’d been watching them coming and going from school but didn’t think I could carry on lurking around them indefinitely without being labeled a pervert.”

She scowled. “If the cloth fits.”

“Those days are behind me, Angie. I promise you.”

“If you’re still hanging out with Paul, then I seriously doubt it.”

“I don’t expect you to take my word.”

Rod’s languorous statement snapped her out of her inertia. “Good!”

“Just have a look at the building project overlooking Gurnard Bay, and you’ll see for yourself. It’s all legit. His name’s all over the promotional material.”

“You don’t know anything about building.”

“You’d be surprised what I know nowadays.” He winked at her in a manner that immediately tested her determination to remain detached. She hadn’t been with a man that could really satisfy her for months, and Rod was an expert at pressing all the right buttons in that respect. She turned away from him before he could interpret her expression. “And I’m not averse to swinging a pick-axe now and again, either. Have to keep in shape somehow. But enough about me, love. Tell me what you do with yourself nowadays. Is there a man in your life?”

“None of your bloody business.” She struggled to recover her composure as she walked briskly toward the door. “It’s late and I’ve got an early start tomorrow. Call me in a couple of days when I’ve had a chance to think about things, and we’ll work out a way for you to see the kids.” She waved a beautifully manicured finger beneath his nose. “But you’re not going to see them alone, and if you even think about using Sheba’s infatuation to try to wheedle your way back in, then I’ll stop you seeing them altogether.”

“You wouldn’t go that far.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I? You don’t know me anymore. If you defy me, then I’ll tell them
why
I don’t want you in our lives, regardless of what it does to your daughter’s hero worship. They’re old enough to understand now and wouldn’t give you the time of day after that. Have we got that straight?”

Not pleased that she’d established the upper hand, Rod grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him. “No, love, that not how it’s going to be.” His face was mere inches from hers, his eyes flat and hard as they bored into hers, all flirtatiousness gone from his expression. “I wanted to do this the nice way, but if you’re not prepared to meet me half way then I’ll just have to get heavy. I want to see the kids, and I want to see you as well while I’m on the Island. And if you put obstacles in my way, I’ll simply ask the twins who they’d rather live with.”

Angela gasped, bursting with hostility as she struggled with his abrupt change of mood. “You can’t!”

“I can if you force me. I’ve seen how things are between you and Sheba, and if she had to choose between us, which way do you think she’d swing?”

“You bastard!”

She slapped his face hard with the hand he wasn’t restraining. Rod shook his head and grinned at her, using his superior strength to pin her to the wall. With nowhere to escape, Angela was acutely aware of his body pressing hard against her own. She could feel his erection nudging against her stomach and cursed her treacherous body when it started to respond. Furious with herself, she tamped down her desire by recalling all the occasions upon which he’d bent her to his will, only to break his promises afterward.

“Naughty, naughty!” He pulled her toward him again by placing a hand on her buttocks. “Malik would stay with his sister, but then you already know that, don’t you, darling? He might be a mummy’s boy at heart but he loves his sister more. He can’t help himself. It’s something to do with the special bond between them, I suppose.”

“I’ll tell them what you are.” The words came out in uneven gasps as she fought the almost overwhelming physical alchemy between them. Rod laughed.

“You’ve got no evidence.” His lips grazed the erogenous zone beneath her ear. “Besides, I’ve got just as much dirt on you.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it? I doubt whether the kids would see it that way.”

Angela’s anger at this latest reminder of her husband’s ruthlessness lent her superhuman strength. She wrenched herself out of his grasp and put several feet of paving stones between them. Folding her arms across her breasts, she let the silence between them lengthen as she struggled to regain her composure, all the time regarding him with a hostile expression.

“I don’t understand why you’ve turned up here all of a sudden, breaking our agreement and making demands.” She swirled round to face him, tears brimming, her voice rising. “Why?”

“Look, Angie, don’t get upset.”

She glowered at him. “Sheba’s not exactly the easiest child to get along with, but I was doing okay until you turned up and wrecked everything in one afternoon. Well, come on, I’m waiting.” She was yelling, too wound up to care whether the kids heard her. “What makes you think you have the right?” Tears were streaming down her face and she dashed at them impatiently with the back of her hand. “Why are you tormenting me like this?”