then you are engaged to him?’ He darted a glance at her left hand, unperturbed by her angry tone.
‘I’m thinking about it,’ she muttered in a low voice. ‘If you must know, he asked me a few days ago, just before the…accident.’
As she was talking she was wondering why she was telling him this; it was far too personal. She cursed herself for allowing him to get under her skin so easily.
‘Why play games? It’s inevitable that you will marry the guy,’ Greg grated drily.
She shot him an angry look. ‘Nothing is inevitable.’
One eyebrow rose mockingly as he pulled into an underground car-park and a reserved space. ‘The Abigail I know would never turn down the likes of Charles Marsden.’
Greg really hadn’t changed a bit, she thought furiously. He could still bring her to boiling-point with the mere lift of one eyebrow. The man was totally insufferable. How she could ever have imagined herself in love with him was a complete mystery.
‘I can assure you that you don’t know me at all,’ she told him aridly.
Greg’s hard eyes flicked over her beautiful face. ‘On the contrary, I think I know you very well,’ he drawled smoothly, and then his eyes moved down over the soft curves of her body in a blatant appraisal. ‘As well as a man can know a woman.’
Colour rose in her cheeks at the deliberately provocative statement.
He shrugged and reached for the door-handle. ‘Anyway, I hope you find happiness,’ he concluded briskly. ‘My main concern is the happiness of two little girls under my care.’
‘Well, at least we are in agreement about something.’ She got out of the car and their eyes met across its roof.
‘Are we?’ he asked stonily, a dark brooding expression on his lean features.
What was that supposed to mean? she wondered angrily as she waited for him to get her luggage from the trunk of the car. Did he think she didn’t care about her own sister’s children?
She restrained herself from demanding to know what he was implying. The less she spoke to Greg the better, she decided firmly. She was going to have to tread very warily around him and it didn’t help to descend to personal levels.
She followed him towards the elevator and they travelled upwards in silence for a moment. ‘Will the children be awake?’ she asked at last, as curiosity overtook her.
‘They shouldn’t be.’ Greg glanced at his watch. ‘They are usually in bed by seven in the evening, but then again, neither has been sleeping well and they are excited about your arrival.’
When the doors of the elevator opened Greg led her into the type of penthouse apartment that she had only ever seen in top, glossy magazines. Its opulence and its beauty took her breath away.
The lounge was decorated in shades of gold and white; it was modern in design and very large, with a black wrought-iron spiral staircase curving down into one corner. The views from the windows were spectacular.
New York was spread in front of her in glittering array. It was just starting to get dark; the sky had turned to a dusky lilac colour and the skyscrapers were dotted with lights like huge Christmas trees illuminated against the sky.
‘Make yourself at home.’ Greg waved her towards a white leather settee. ‘I’ll just go and find out where everyone is.’
He didn’t have to move far. He had only taken a step towards a door at the far end of the room when it burst open, and two little five-year-olds flung themselves into Abigail’s arms.
‘Aunty Abbie, it’s been awful,’ Rachel sobbed as she was held tightly against Abbie. ‘Mummy and Daddy aren’t coming home any more.’
Abbie met Greg’s eyes across the room, and she was glad of the semi-darkness of the room so that he couldn’t see the sudden tears that shimmered in her eyes.
She crouched lower down and held the girls as if she would never let them go. ‘It’s going to be all right,’ she whispered as she kissed both of them. ‘Everything is going to be all right.’
It was a moment before she noticed that Greg’s mother was standing in the doorway watching them. ‘Hello, Margaret.’ Slowly she straightened.
‘Abbie.’ The older woman came forward and Abbie was shocked to see how she had aged since she had last seen her. Her brown hair was peppered with grey, and her face seemed hollow somehow, her eyes filled with a deep sadness that just tore at Abigail’s heart.
‘I’m so sorry, Margaret.’ Impulsively Abigail moved to embrace the other woman and for a while they just clung to each other in silent grief.
‘Come on, you two.’ Greg’s voice cut into the atmosphere. ‘Let’s lighten things up a bit.’ He strolled across and picked up the twins, one in each arm, as effortlessly as if they were mere babies instead of two sturdy children. ‘For a start-off, you should be in bed. Maybe if you ask Aunty Abbie very nicely, she will come and tuck you in.’
Abbie nodded as the two children looked over at her expectantly.
‘Good—now kiss Grandma goodnight and let’s go.’
He carried them across and they dutifully kissed their grandmother and wished her goodnight.
‘Poor little things,’ Margaret whispered in a broken voice as Greg carried them out. ‘I still can’t believe it.’
Abigail swallowed hard. ‘Greg tells me the funeral is tomorrow?’
Margaret nodded and led the way over to sit down on the settee. ‘I think we will all feel better when that is over with.’
‘Yes. I suppose so.’ Privately Abigail wondered if she would ever feel all right again. Although it was a year since she had last seen her sister, she had always been in close contact with her. Her death would leave a terrible void in her life.
Margaret sighed. ‘Well, it’s good to see you again, Abigail,’ she said warmly. ‘Even if it is in such terrible circumstances.’
‘I just wish I had come over sooner,’ Abigail murmured. ‘What happened, Margaret? I didn’t even know Jenny and Mike were planning a holiday.’
‘It was a spur of the moment thing.’ Margaret seemed to pull herself together with a tremendous effort. ‘It was a weekend break put on by Mike’s boss. They weren’t going to go only…I offered to look after the girls for them.’ For a moment the woman’s voice cracked. ‘To be honest, Abbie, I can’t help blaming myself. If I hadn’t insisted…If only I—’
‘Come on, Mother.’ Greg’s deep voice interrupted the conversation as he came back into the room. ‘We’ve been over and over this. You are not to blame. How on earth could you possibly have known that there would be such a terrible car accident?’
He squeezed his mother’s shoulder on the way past towards the drinks cabinet. ‘Now, how about a stiff drink?’ he asked, as he pulled down the cabinet at the other side of the room.
‘Not for me.’
