for staying on.
But for tonight at least she had to make the best of the situation. The suite, which comprised this room, a small sitting area, a dressing room and bathroom, was very comfortable. Okay, maybe the rather heavy and ornate furniture was not to her taste, but so what? It suited the house.
Nevertheless, she decided not to take everything out of the case the maid had deposited on the carved chest at the foot of the bed. Fortunately, she’d packed a couple of dresses near the top of the case that she’d hoped would be suitable for both day and evening wear, and that was all she’d need. Oh, and a pair of heels, of course. She couldn’t wait to get out of the khaki pants and into something cool and feminine.
Say what?
Abby’s lips twisted. What was she thinking of? Just because Lauren and her mother chose to wear extremely feminine clothes that was no reason for her to feel she had to do the same. For heaven’s sake, she’d always been more at home in jeans and sweaters, or in warmer weather shorts and tees. She was no fashion plate. She never had been. She’d never get away with the kind of fussy flowing outfits Edward’s in-laws favoured.
She heaved a sigh. This whole trip was going to be a disaster. She just knew it. She could willingly strangle Edward for getting her into this situation.
A knock at her door brought a momentary halt to her soul-searching. Throwing the two dresses she’d taken from the suitcase onto the bed, she walked resignedly across the sitting area to the door.
Edward was waiting outside. He could evidently get around with the help of the crutches he had propped beneath his arms. He looked a little shamefaced, however, and Abby only hesitated a second before stepping back to let him in.
Closing the door, she leant back against it for a moment. Then, still without saying anything, she walked past him and into the bedroom, returning to the examination of her clothes she’d been making before he’d interrupted her. But her heart wasn’t in it, and when her brother limped to stand in the archway, watching her, she was forced to meet his pleading gaze.
‘Are you mad at me?’ he asked, giving her an appealing look, and she took a calming breath before replying.
‘Can you blame me?’ she demanded. Then, after a pause, ‘You let me think you were seriously injured, Eddie. I was really worried about you. And now I find there’s nothing wrong with you that a few weeks’ rest won’t cure.’
Edward looked injured. ‘I wouldn’t say that.’
Abby gave him a forbearing look. ‘Comparatively speaking,’ she retorted shortly. ‘What have you got? A fractured femur? Cuts and bruises? Life-threatening? I don’t think so.’
Edward limped to the armchair by the open balcony doors and eased himself into it. ‘So what are you saying?’ he asked. ‘That I have to be at death’s door before you’d make the effort to come and see me?’
Abby sighed. ‘That’s not what I meant and you know it.’
‘Do I?’ Edward was on the offensive now. ‘It sounds suspiciously like it to me.’
‘Well, that’s because you’re choosing to take it that way,’ replied Abby, catching on fast. ‘And you’re not going to make me feel guilty, Eddie. I know you too well. What’s really going on here? You might as well tell me. I haven’t got the time to waste trying to second-guess you.’
Edward’s mouth took on a resentful curve. ‘It sounds as if you don’t care what happens to me any more.’
‘Oh, Eddie!’ Abby flopped down onto the side of the bed, feeling as if she wanted to scream. It was bad enough that he’d got her out here in the first place. She could do without his self-pity now she was here. ‘Stop twisting my words. I’m pleased to see you again. Of course I am. But you have to understand, this is not a holiday for me.’
‘It’s not a holiday for me either,’ muttered Edward peevishly, and Abby shook her head.
‘You know what I mean. I’ve had to take leave of absence from school, and now that Ross and I are—’
‘Oh, I wondered when Kenyon would come into it,’ Edward interrupted her harshly, and Abby remembered belatedly that he didn’t care for Ross any more than her fiancé cared for him.
They’d all met last year, when Edward had brought Lauren to see where he’d used to live in England, and Abby recalled how she’d hoped that the two men would hit it off. Her relationship with Ross had still been in its initial stages at that time, and it had seemed a good idea to get the two men together.
It hadn’t worked. Ross had considered Edward selfish and immature, and her brother had resented the occasionally patronising attitude Ross had adopted. She’d tried to explain that Ross was used to dealing with recalcitrant teenagers, but that had only exacerbated the situation. Edward had accused her of implying that he was no better than one of Ross’s students, and in her efforts to placate him she’d inadvertently offended Ross, too. The whole affair had been a nightmare, and she should have known better than to mention her fiancé now.
However, before she could think of some way of defusing the situation, Edward spoke again. Scuffing the toe of his canvas shoe against the polished floor, he lifted one shoulder in a conciliatory gesture.
‘Anyway,’ he mumbled, barely audibly, ‘you’re right. I didn’t ask you to come out here just because of the accident.’
Abby’s brows, which were considerably darker than her hair, drew rather warily together. ‘You didn’t?’ she asked carefully, as if she hadn’t been implying as much for the past few minutes. ‘So why did you ask me to come?’
Edward blew out a breath. ‘I—well, I needed to talk to you about Lauren. I think she’s having an affair.’
ABBY was stunned. ‘You’re not serious!’
‘Why not?’ Edward, who had been staring moodily at the rug he had displaced with his toe, now looked up. ‘Don’t you think any man would want to have an affair with her?’
‘Don’t be silly.’ Sometimes Abby was inclined to agree with Ross’s assessment of the younger man. ‘That has nothing to do with it.’ She hesitated. ‘What I mean is, I can’t imagine why you would think such a thing.’
Or could she? Unwillingly Abby remembered how Lauren had behaved towards Alejandro Varga. Even if their relationship allowed for some familiarity, Abby had noticed that she’d been inordinately pleased to see him.
Edward scowled now, his next words shocking her out of any lingering sense of complacency. ‘What am I supposed to think when she takes every chance she gets to spend time with Varga?’ he demanded. ‘And now that I’m half crippled with this leg, I don’t even know where she is half the time.’
Abby’s jaw had dropped as he spoke, but now she hurriedly rescued it. ‘You’re not implying she’s having an affair with—with Alejandro?’ she exclaimed disbelievingly.
‘Why not?’ Edward’s pale eyes challenged hers.
‘Well, because—because
