‘And what?’
‘Don’t take me for a total fool, Max. Something happened between you two. I felt it.’
He sighed. ‘You feel too much sometimes. OK, so I was in a vengeful mood that night. When Alicia started coming on to me, I played along with it. When I suggested leaving the party we were attending she jumped at the chance, even though she’d come with someone else. I took her to a club, where we drank and danced.’
Danced! Tara’s stomach crunched down hard at the mere thought of another woman in her Max’s arms. She knew it was before they’d met, but still…
‘I waited for her to make her excuses about Stevie,’ Max continued as he twisted his champagne glass round and round. ‘I knew she would. But what she said really floored me. She told me that she’d only dated Stevie to be near me. She told me that she’d never really loved my brother. It was me she’d loved all along. She claimed she only married that other man because she thought she had no chance with me. I told her what I thought of her and her so-called love and walked out.’
Tara never said a word, because she suspected that what the woman had said might be true. She’d seen a photograph of Stevie and whilst he had been a nice-looking boy, his face had lacked Max’s strength and charisma.
‘Love is just a weapon to such women,’ Max added testily. ‘My own mother pretends she still loves my father, despite his having been a neglectful husband, as well as a neglectful father. Why? Because it would probably cost too much money to divorce him. I overheard her tell a lady friend once that she knew about Dad’s womanising ways, but turned a blind eye. Even now that he’s in a wheelchair, a wretched wreck of a man, she stays with him, catering to his every need. They’re as bad as each other, bound together by their greed and their lack of moral fibre. That’s why I have as little as possible to do with them these days. Both of them make me sick.’
Tara was stunned by his outburst, and the depth of his bitterness. Bitterness was never good for anyone’s soul. Neither was revenge. It was very self-destructive.
‘But you could be wrong, Max,’ she ventured quietly. ‘Your mother might very well love your father. There might be things you don’t know. We rarely know what goes on inside a marriage. I found that out last weekend. I always thought my sister was unhappy in her marriage. She fell pregnant, you see, during her last year at school. Dale wasn’t much older, and still doing his plumbing apprenticeship. They got married, with Jen thinking she could finish her schooling. But she was too sick during her pregnancy to study. Then, when her first baby was barely six months old, she fell pregnant again. She’s always complaining about her life, and her husband. She says he spends too much time and money drinking with his mates. But when I asked her why she didn’t leave him and get a divorce, she looked at me as though I was mad. Told me she was very happy with Dale and would never dream of getting a divorce. So maybe you’re wrong, Max. It is possible, you know,’ she added with a wry little smile.
He smiled back. ‘Possible. But not probable. Look, let’s not spoil tonight with such talk. Let’s just eat some wonderful food together and drink this wonderful champagne. I want to get you delightfully tipsy so that I can take you back upstairs and have my truly wicked way with you.’
Although Tara’s stomach flipped at the prospect, she stayed calm on the surface, suspecting that Max was watching her for her reaction. As much as she was curious, she wasn’t sure if the reality would be as exciting as the fantasy. And even if it was, what about the consequences? Did she really want Max thinking she would do anything he asked? What next?
‘You think that’s the answer to my co-operation?’ she asked coolly. ‘Getting me drunk?’
‘Is it?’
‘I hope not.’
‘Then how about this?’ And he extracted a small gold velvet box from his pocket.
Tara stared at the ring-sized box.
An engagement ring. He’d bought her an engagement ring. He was going to ask her to marry him!
The shot of adrenalin which instantly charged through her bloodstream made a mockery of her denial to her mother that marriage to Max was not what she wanted at this moment in her life.
Clearly, her body knew things which her brain did not.
‘Go on,’ he said, and reached over to put the gold box on the white tablecloth in front of her. ‘Open it.’
Something about the scenario suddenly didn’t fit Tara’s image of how a man like Max would ask her to marry him. It was all far too casual. He was far too casual.
She sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, gathering herself before opening the box. When she did, and her eyes fell upon a huge topaz dress ring, she was ready to react as she was sure Max expected her to react, with seeming pleasure and gratitude.
‘Oh, Max, it’s lovely! Thank you so much.’
‘I knew it would match that dress. That’s why I wanted you to wear it tonight. Go on,’ he said eagerly. ‘Put it on. See if it fits.’
She slipped it on the middle finger of her right hand.
‘Perfect,’ she said, and held it out to show him. The diamond-cut stone sparkled under the candlelight. ‘But you really shouldn’t have, Max. You make me feel guilty that I didn’t buy you anything. I had no idea you were such a romantic.’
‘I think I’m catching the disease from you.’
‘I don’t know why you keep calling me a romantic.’
‘When a girl of your looks reaches twenty-four still a virgin then I know she’s a romantic.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. I consider myself more of an idealist. I didn’t want to have sex till I really wanted it. I wasn’t waiting for love to strike so much as passion. Which it did. With you. I didn’t realise I was in love with you till the following morning. How long did it take till you realised you loved me?’
‘The moment you smiled at me in that shop I was a goner.’
‘Oh, Max, now who’s being the romantic?’
He smiled. ‘Aah, here comes Jarod to take our order. Let me order for you tonight, darling. Now that you’re breaking out in other ways, I think it’s time you tried some different foods.’
‘If you insist.’
He grinned. ‘I insist.’
Tara sat back and sipped her champagne whilst Max went to town with their meal order. He’d always liked ordering the rarest and most exotic foods on the menu for himself.
Clearly, Max was happier now with her than ever. Tara glanced down at the topaz ring and told herself it had been silly of her to want it to be an engagement ring.
Max was right. She was a romantic.
‘You don’t like it,’ Max said.
Tara glanced up to see that Jarod had departed and Max was looking at her with a worried frown.
‘Of course I do,’ she said with
