have told you before this.’
‘You shouldn’t have done it at all!’
‘Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.’
‘Bianca, saying sorry is not always enough.’
Bianca could feel mutiny brewing inside her heart. Why was he being so damned difficult about this? Was she asking so much? Two miserable weeks of pretending to be her husband and then he was off the hook to marry this...this Sophie creature.
‘You always said I could count on you,’ she pointed out rather sulkily.
‘You can. In things that count.’
She pouted her displeasure. ‘I would do it for you.’
‘Do what?’
‘Pretend to be your wife.’
‘Really? That’s an interesting thought. But I don’t need a pretend wife. I’m going to have a real one.’
Bianca still hadn’t come to terms with that. Still, there was a many a slip twixt the engagement and the altar. If this Sophie was anything like his previous girlfriends he’d soon be bored to death with her. None of those bimbos had had enough brains to boil water.
‘So what do you expect me to tell Mum?’ she asked defiantly.
He shrugged. ‘That’s your problem.’
‘I’m not going to tell her I lied, Adam.’
‘Heaven forbid. Tell you what, though. I’ll stay away the whole fortnight. You tell your mum we’re having a trial separation. Then, later, you can write and say that it didn’t work out and we’re divorced.’
‘She’ll be very upset.’
‘Only if you are. Tell her that it was an amicable parting and that we’re still good friends. That’s the best I can do.’
Bianca pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself from saying what she thought of him and his so-called friendship. When the chips were down, it had proved about as strong as his so-called love! ‘Is that your final word on the matter?’
‘It is.’
‘Then to hell with you, Adam Marsden. You’re not the man I thought you were. As soon as Mum goes home to Scotland, I’ll be finding somewhere else to live.’
His sudden stillness raised one last grain of hope in her breast. She could have sworn regret flashed momentarily in his eyes. But then they cooled perceptively and her heart sank.
‘I think that would be best for all concerned, Bianca,’ he said, with casual indifference.
All of a sudden she wanted to cry. Or to scream. Or both. Instead, she gave him an icy glare. ‘I will never ask you for another thing. Not as long as I live. I will have trouble even speaking to you!’
His face hardened. ‘Good.’
‘I had no idea you were such a bastard! To think I once believed you loved me!’
The cruellest little smile pulled at his mouth. ‘The things we have to live with,’ came his sarcastic remark.
Bianca could only stare at him. ‘I don’t know you at all, do I? You’ve become a stranger!’
‘A stranger?’ he repeated idly. ‘Yes, you could be right.’
And, with that devil’s smile still playing on his lips, he picked up his car keys from where he always left them in the ashtray on the coffee-table and walked out on her.
CHAPTER FOUR
BIANCA was as good as her word. She didn’t ask Adam for another thing all week. Neither did she speak to him.
Hard to, when he wasn’t these.
He’d come back briefly on the Sunday evening, collected some clothes, told her curtly he’d be staying elsewhere for the following three weeks and departed again.
It turned out to be the loneliest, most wretched week Bianca had ever spent in her life. She missed Adam terribly. OK, so they hadn’t been living in each other’s pockets lately, but he was usually there a few nights a week, and always on a Sunday afternoon. She liked having him around to talk to and cook for. He gave her life purpose, especially now she’d given Derek the flick.
Truly, she didn’t know what she’d ever seen in that big lug. He had a great body to look at and touch, but this time—amazingly—she’d wanted more. She’d wanted a boyfriend with brains as well as brawn.
Adam had been so right about dear Derek’s lack of grey matter. This had come home to her during their drive up to Foster last Saturday. Four hours had never seemed so long. She’d been bored to tears before they’d even arrived at the beachside town.
Derek had not been pleased when she’d told him she wanted separate rooms. She hadn’t actually been to bed with him as yet, and he’d no doubt been expecting a real orgy that weekend. Still, it hadn’t been long before he’d started talking about some other girl he’d met down at the gym that week. Clearly, his girlfriends were just interchangeable sex objects.
A bit like your boyfriends, darling, came that horrid voice which had seemed to keep popping into her head ever since her fight with Adam. It told her all sorts of things she didn’t want to hear about herself. Like how shallow she was. And how selfish.
Which she obviously was! Otherwise she would have been happy that Adam had fallen in love and was going to get married. Instead, she resented the thought. She certainly resented this Sophie. More than resented her. She hated her. And she didn’t even know the girl.
Depression began to set in as each day dragged by. November was a fairly slow month in the section of the accountancy firm where she was currently employed. Her job description as ‘taxation consultant’ sounded far grander than the actual work she did—giving tax advice to clients and preparing their tax returns.
She’d have to find herself a new job soon. This one paid well, but it was as boring as anything. She’d only stuck at it because she owed Adam money. There were far too many moments during each day when her mind was not occupied, and then she would begin thinking of what she was going to tell her mother about her supposed marriage to Adam.
Night-times were worse. It took her ages to fall asleep, her thoughts going round and round. She started taking extra aerobics classes at the gym every evening, working herself so hard she should have slept like a log every night.
Instead, she tossed and turned, guilt warring with irritation.
Irritation was definitely winning by Wednesday night.
If only Adam had been co-operative, she started thinking furiously. If only he hadn’t fallen in love with that stupid Sophie. If only he was still in love with me!
By Thursday night her conscience took over again. She was being shallow and selfish, thinking of no one but herself. She should never have lied to her mother in the first place. Lying was never a
