him thoughtfully. ‘No, there’s no problem with that at all.’ She would finally be able to know what had happened to his paintings, whether he still had his studio there or if he had given all that up with all the other things that now seemed to be missing from his life. Things like laughter... And fun... Things like Wolf himself...! ‘I’ll go now, shall I?’ She stood up ready to leave.
‘That anxious to escape my company for a few hours, are you?’ he rasped harshly. ‘Oh, for God’s sake...! Just take my keys and go.’ He took the keys out of his pocket and thrust them at her before resting his head back against the chair once she had taken them, closing his eyes wearily.
Cyn continued to look down at him for several long minutes, her fingers closing about the cold keys, not knowing whether she should go or stay. He looked tired, very tired, but she didn’t know whether that was from the pain of his ankle or something else; after all, no matter how disparaging she might have been about his reaction to Rebecca calling off the wedding, his fiancée had walked out on him today too.
‘Wolf—’
‘If you’re going, just go!’ His eyes were open now and he glared up at her. ‘I don’t need you to baby-sit me every minute of the day!’
Baby-sitting was the last thing she had in mind, but it was only just beginning to dawn on her exactly how incapacitated he was. For one thing, her downstairs loo was through the kitchen and out of the back door... It should be no problem with her here to help him, but on his own—!
‘Er—Wolf...?’ She chewed awkwardly on her bottom lip.
His impatience deepened. ‘Just give me the newspaper, a pen so I can do the crossword, a glass of fruit juice or something so that I don’t dehydrate while you make this mammoth trek into town.’ His mouth twisted with his sarcasm. ‘And—’
‘The fruit juice might not be a good idea—not when the toilet is actually outside,’ she explained with a grimace.
He drew in an irritated breath. ‘OK, don’t give me the newspaper or a pen to do the crossword, or the damned fruit juice; I’ll just sit in the chair here and go to sleep till you get back! Will that do?’ he challenged harshly, his hands clenched at his sides.
‘I was only—’
‘I know what you “were only”, Cyn,’ he sighed impatiently. ‘I’m just not in any frame of mind to want to be bothered with it at the moment. Understand?’ He looked up at her grimly.
Yes, she understood only too well. She was as quickly coming to learn the moods of this new Wolf as she had thought she knew the old one; he just wanted to be left alone, didn’t want anything, especially not her fussing around him.
Nevertheless, she did pause in the kitchen long enough to get him a sandwich and some fruit; he hadn’t had anything to eat for some time either. She placed them on the table next to him—with the requested fruit juice. Knowing Wolf, he would manage somehow, if he was desperate enough.
He had fallen asleep, she discovered when she turned to tell him about the food, his face completely relaxed now, the lines of pain and tiredness completely erased. He looked younger now, more like the Wolf she had once known— No! This wasn’t the Wolf she had known, or even thought she had known. This man was a hardened businessman, cut-throat, if the success of Thornton Industries was any indication. Besides, this Wolf had just had a second fiancée walk out on him, and for very similar reasons, if Barbara’s appearance in his office yesterday was anything to go by. Why didn’t he just marry the other woman and stop involving other people in their emotionally painful triangle?
For years after she had given Wolf his ring back Cyn had looked in the newspapers for just such an announcement. She had realised the two wouldn’t be able to marry immediately, not when Barbara had only recently been widowed by Wolf’s brother’s death. But surely after a socially acceptable interval the two of them could have married? It didn’t make sense to Cyn that they hadn’t. But then nothing about Wolf’s feelings for Barbara had ever made sense to her!
Cyn turned away abruptly without waking him, leaving the food and drink beside him; when he woke up he would see them there if he wanted them. She just needed to get out for a while, away from all those painful memories of her disillusionment with Wolf.
Not that going to his flat was going to do that, she accepted, feeling herself becoming more and more tense as she parked outside the building and crossed the pavement to press the security button. She and Wolf had forgotten all about that; she might have driven all this way to be literally turned away at the door. The flats in this prestigious block were such that a security guard screened everyone entering or leaving.
It was the same security man from seven years ago!
Cyn could hardly believe it, but she instantly recognised the slightly balding man as George Crossley from the time she had been such a regular visitor to Wolf’s apartment that she had even had her own key. He was older now, of course—weren’t they all!—and was slightly plumper than she remembered, slightly balder too, but it was definitely George.
‘Miss Smith!’ he greeted her with genuine pleasure as he unlocked the door to her, smiling broadly. ‘It is Miss Smith, isn’t it?’ He seemed less certain now that he had had time to remember the fact that he hadn’t seen her for several years.
‘It certainly is, George,’ she returned warmly, stepping inside. Just because he had recognised her it didn’t mean he was going to calmly accept her going up to Wolf’s penthouse flat, but if she was actually inside the building he might feel less inclined to throw her out again. ‘Mr Thornton has had a slight accident, I’m afraid, and—’
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