Man Without a Heart (14 page)

But even when he advanced purposefully toward her, she was unable to move. Instead, she started to cry, so overwrought were her nerves. 'Why have you ... have you come?' she faltered as he drew closer to her. 'If it's
—
'

'I've come to take my wife home.' He thumbed toward the open door. 'Inside,' he ordered roughly. 'What the devil do you mean by trying to run away again?'

'I th-thought you were a ... burglar,' she quavered, lifting a trembling hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. 'How did you get in?'

'You left the back door unlocked.' He paused, staring at her. 'I was standing by the window. I thought you'd seen me.' Feebly she shook her head. 'No,' was all she managed as she walked beside him along the path, her nerves really playing her up now, and no sooner had she entered the house and the door closed behind her than she put her face in, her hands and wept bitterly into them. But they were pulled away and held within the warm strength of his, and when at length she was sufficiently composed to look up, a little gasp of disbelief escaped her at the miraculous change in his expression.

'Adam,' she faltered, her body feeling drained and numbed by the relief that swept over her, for she had been sure he would do her a physical injury. 'Adam,' she whispered again, 'aren't you angry with me?' To her surprise, he made no answer, and she said, repeating the question she had already asked, 'Why have you come?'

'I've just told you, to take my wife home.'

You can't
—
you don't understand,' she cried frantically. 'Your
mother-she's ill because of me, but
—
'

'Mother,' he broke in softly, 'is dead and buried.' The words came slowly, and the last remnants of his anger were erased by pain, his lips actually moving convulsively, out of control, as was the rapid pulsation of a nerve in his throat. Jill's eyes dilated.

'Dead....' She pulled her hands from his, then had to hold onto a chair for support. 'Oh, no, I killed her, and yet what could I do-?'

'Mother never knew you'd left me,' broke in her husband gently. 'She had a heart attack and died instantly, at the home of her friends.'

'She never knew ...
?' Relief battled with several other emotions, and then suddenly her brain refused to function because she was over-taxing it with too many questions at once. But she did eventually manage to say, her tones husky with emotion and regret,

'I'm so sorry, Adam. She was such a wonderful person, and I'm grateful that she liked me.' Her eyes were lifted to his, glistening with tears, all else forgotten except the sad fact that Mrs. Doxaros was dead.

'It was for the best, under the circumstances,' he returned, and now a harsh note had entered his voice. 'Had she lived, and known you had left me. ..' He broke off, frowning, as if impatient with himself for mentioning that which no longer mattered. 'Jill, why didn't you come to me, dear, instead of running away like that?'

'I couldn't-you don't understand. . . .' Her voice trailed off to a bewildered silence because it had suddenly occurred to her that there was something here that she did not understand. 'You j-just called me 'dear. .'' She stopped, feeling foolish. Faintly, he smiled, and reached for her hand. 'I love you, darling; that's the first and most important thing I have to say-No, dearest, please don't interrupt, even though a dozen questions are on your tongue. Let me go on, and you'll soon understand everything.'

For a silent moment he held her close to his heart, but then he led her to the sofa and they sat close together while he talked. Listening as carefully as her chaotic thoughts would allow, Jill learned that Adam had scarcely finished reading her note; when the phone rang and he was told that his mother was dead. She had collapsed and died within a few seconds, suffering no pain at all. Adam then said that if he had known Jill was at the villa he would certainly have come to retrieve her immediately, before anything, but as she had mentioned Gilbert in her note, his natural conclusion was that she had taken a ferry back to Corina. His mother had asked to be buried on the island, and while he dealt with the problems of transportation and the funeral, he also had men out looking for Jill, but none of them could find her. Then, almost immediately after the funeral, Gilbert had arrived at the villa asking for Jill.

'You can imagine my astonishment,' Adam went on, looking at his wife now as if he would like to give her a sound shaking. 'It was obvious that you weren't on the island, that Gilbert had nothing to do with your going away and that the note you left me was a lie to cover up something else altogether. I sent Gilbert off with the information that you were my wife and would stay my wife.'

He stopped for a moment, giving Jill the chance to speak, but all she said was, 'Please go on, Adam. What did you do then?'

'I phoned Charon to ask if anything unusual had happened on the morning of your departure, and he said no, but he did mention that you'd had a visitor the previous day.' Adam stopped, and Jill shivered at the change in his expression. 'I came to Athens, arriving very late last night, and saw Julia this morning.' His voice had sharpened, his eyes taken on a metallic glint. 'I very soon got it all out of her,' he gritted savagely. 'I could have killed her! She'd already had a hint from me that I was no longer sure about the merger
—
'

'She had?' Jill looked interrogatingly at him. 'She never mentioned anything like that.'

'She wouldn't, naturally, because she still hoped it would go
through eventually.'

'You told her the engagement was off?'

'She broke it off said she knew she had done wrong and that I'd never forgive her if I found out. She saw it was hopeless at that point anyway. She knew what I barely knew myself, that I love you.'

'I feel sorry for her,' murmured Jill, but she could not let herself dwell for long on Julia, who, with a dowry like that, would soon find a husband. Besides, Adam was speaking again, saying that he had known for some time that Jill was affecting him more than any other woman he had ever known. 'I was falling in love with you, obviously,' he went on, and now his voice was edged with a tender quality that made Jill forget everything except the fact that he cared, that he was hers for always. 'I had felt for some time that you were beginning to feel something for me, too, and on the yacht I came very near to telling you of my feelings. Then you shattered me by saying you'd rather be with Gilbert
—
'

'I lied,' she broke in regretfully, 'but of course you know that now. You see, darling, I was afraid you might guess at my feelings for you, and as I never thought you'd ever return my love, I had to do something to help my pride, and so when you asked if I'd rather be with Gilbert, I said yes.' She looked at him through a mist of tears, and he kissed her then and dried her eyes.

'It was all my fault right from the start,' he offered freely. 'I was unwilling to admit to what seemed at that time to be a weakness. I had been set on the merger for a long time; I was engaged to Julia, and you don't need me to tell you just how binding a betrothal is in Greece. There seemed so much against my falling in love with you that I was determined to fight it. After all,' he added with a wry smile, 'I've had affectionate feelings for women before, many times, but this. ..' He broke off, shaking his head. 'It was too strong for me, dearest. I really don't know why I didn't realise it sooner.' He paused in thought. 'I knew it for certain that evening when we came from the wedding and had the meal at the taverna on the beach.'

'I remember that evening so well,' she murmured reflectively, then went on to mention the impression she had had earlier, when they were strolling along the lanes in the village. 'I had a strange feeling that you were fighting something that was difficult to fight,' she ended, and sent him a sidelong glance and saw him nod his head.

'I was fighting my love for you at that time, too,' he confessed with a wry expression on his handsome face. 'So when you asked if anything was wrong, I snapped at you, didn't I?' Jill let that pass, because it was no longer of the slightest importance to her. 'But it was becoming too strong for me,' he admitted wryly again. 'Yet I managed to maintain an attitude of indifference, if you remember?' Again Jill let his words pass, and Adam added with a smile, 'But when the heart dictates, the head doesn't really stand much chance, does it?' Jill was silent a moment, digesting all he had told her. 'How could you have been so very sure I'd want to come back to you?' she asked curiously at length, and again her husband smiled, this time a little crookedly and most attractively. 'A man usually knows if his wife's in love with him or not. And I finally saw what I should have seen before, that you did love me, and that I had made you afraid to say so.'

'But I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you,' she broke in, without quite knowing why.

'Shall we leave any arguments for a later date?' he suggested. 'For the present, love, all I want to do is kiss you and hold you close to my heart.' And suiting the action to the words, he held her quivering body to him, enfolding it lovingly with hands that were infinitely gentle. His eyes on her face were filled with tender emotion, and Jill, her arms sliding into his coat to encircle his waist, lifted her face willingly, all the love and adoration she felt for him shining in her eyes. 'Is it true?' she was asking a long while later, when, flushed and dishevelled, she was being held at arm's length, her husband's dark face registering faint amusement at her appearance.

'It's true, my beloved,' he answered in tones vibrant with meaning. 'I adore you and I always will.' Jill tried to speak, but as emotion blocked her throat, she merely nestled close in her husband's arms, finding a resting place for her head against his wildly beating heart.

The end

First Edition

©
Anne Hampson
,
1981

Silhouette Romance # 52

ISBN
:
9780340267417

Hodder & Stoughton

Anne Hampson started writing for Mills and Boon in the late 1960's. Her Harlequin Romance and Harlequin Presents books were very popular. Anne Hampson was actually the person who came up with the books series title Harlequin Presents and she did some of her best writing for that line. But in 1980 Anne Hampson stopped writing for her old publisher and became the star author for Silhouette Romances. She wrote over 25 titles from Silhouette.