Act of Possession Read online

  Antonia shivered. ‘I didn’t ask you to—’

  ‘Goddammit, I know that!’ he grated heavily, his fingers sliding into her hair. ‘But you have to know the way it is!’ He expelled an unsteady breath. ‘Now—do I take you back to the flat?’

  Antonia moved her head helplessly from side to side. ‘Oh, Reed! What can I say?’

  ‘You can tell the truth,’ he declared huskily, tipping her face up to his. ‘You don’t want to leave me, any more than I want to leave you. Am I right?’

  Antonia closed her eyes against the possessive passion in his and then, slowly, nodded her head. ‘I’ll phone my mother,’ she agreed unevenly, and the searching pressure of his mouth on her parted lips sealed her guilty submission.

  Mrs Lord was very surprised to hear that her daughter was phoning from a motorway service area. ‘But, who is this man you’re bringing home for the weekend?’ she protested blankly. ‘You’ve never mentioned him before. Have you known him long? Does he work at the institute?’

  ‘I suppose I’ve known him nearly a month,’ replied Antonia uncomfortably. ‘And no—he doesn’t work at the institute.’

  ‘Well, what does he do then? And where did you meet him?’ Mrs Lord sounded a little impatient now. ‘Antonia, you have to be a little more forthcoming. I mean, what do you know about him? Are you sure you want to bring him here? What about Susie?’

  ‘He’s quite respectable, Mum,’ exclaimed Antonia, half-humorously. ‘Honestly, you’ll like him.’

  ‘But what does he do?’

  Antonia hesitated. ‘He—he’s a businessman. He owns a company.’

  ‘Owns?’ Mrs Lord sounded impressed. ‘Well, I must say, he sounds an improvement on Simon Sheldon!’

  ‘It’s nothing like that, Mum.’ Antonia’s tone sharpened. ‘We’re just—friends. That’s all.’

  ‘So why are you bringing him here?’ demanded Mrs Lord impatiently.

  ‘To—to meet Susie,’ replied Antonia swiftly. ‘I must go, Mum. My coins are running out.’

  ‘Wait a minute!’ Her mother was not quite finished, and reluctantly, Antonia pushed another coin into the meter. ‘Have you forgotten it’s my bridge night? I mean, I put it off the night you came home, but you haven’t given me any warning this time.’

  ‘That’s okay, Mum.’ Antonia was quite relieved that Mrs Lord would not be there when they first arrived. ‘Lucy’s baby-sitting, isn’t she? Just tell her we should arrive about ten o’clock.’

  Reed was waiting for her in the restaurant, a lean attractive figure in his dark corded trousers and black leather jerkin. ‘Did you get through?’ he enquired, reseating himself after she had taken her place opposite, and Antonia swallowed a mouthful of the wine he had ordered for her before nodding vigorously.

  ‘It’s her bridge night,’ she said, glancing nervously about her. ‘Aren’t you afraid someone might recognise you? You’re not exactly unremarkable!’

  ‘Thank you.’ Reed’s tone was sardonic. ‘But right now, I don’t particularly care.’ He covered her hand with his and slid his thumb into her palm. ‘What are you going to eat?’

  Antonia’s pulses raced. ‘Wh-what are you?’ she asked a little breathily, and for a few moments they were absorbed with a consultation over the menu.

  But when the waitress had taken their order, and they were alone again, Reed said quietly: ‘Tell me about Sheldon: your ex-husband. I want to know about him.’

  Antonia lifted her shoulders. ‘There’s nothing to tell.’

  ‘Don’t give me that.’ Reed regarded her intently across the lamplit table. ‘Why did you marry him? Did you love him? Where is he now? I want to know.’

  Antonia bent her head. ‘I married him because I was pregnant,’ she admitted softly, her cheeks flaming as she felt his gaze upon her. ‘I was nineteen. He was twenty-one.’

  ‘Go on.’

  She quivered, and drew her hands together in her lap. ‘What more is there to say? I had been at university for a year, and I was still a virgin.’ She grimaced. ‘All my friends thought that I was an anathema. Then, in the summer holidays, Simon started taking me out. He was very popular, and I was very naive. Does that answer your question?’

  Reed sighed. ‘Did you love him?’

  ‘I thought I did. But—well, after—after it happened, I didn’t want to see him again.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Oh, Reed!’ She shook her head. ‘Don’t make me have to spell it out.’

  ‘Okay.’ Reed’s tone was gentle. ‘So when you discovered you were going to have a baby, you panicked.’

  ‘My mother did,’ conceded Antonia ruefully. ‘And—and my father was sick, and I didn’t want to hurt anyone ...’ She shrugged. ‘It was a long time ago.’

  ‘So you got married.’ Reed was implacable, and she sighed.

  ‘Yes, yes. We got married. My parents gave us enough to put down a deposit on a small house and Simon’s job at the electronic’s factory gave him plenty of scope for overtime.’

  ‘So, what went wrong?’

  Antonia turned her head away. ‘We—weren’t—compatible.’

  ‘You mean he met someone else.’

  ‘Several someones,’ admitted Antonia unhappily. ‘It was my fault, I suppose. I never did measure up to his expectations of me.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Reed, stop it! I can’t talk to you about these things.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because they’re personal.’

  Reed regarded her averted face for several seconds, and then he said softly: ‘I guess he accused you of being frigid, hmm?’

  Antonia’s lips parted and her eyes turned bewilderedly to his. ‘How did you know? Am I?’

  Reed’s laughter was reassuringly intimate. ‘Oh, love, you know the answer to that, without me having to tell you,’ he answered huskily.

  ‘Then—?’

  ‘It’s the usual excuse for a man’s inadequacy,’ he responded, meeting her anxious gaze. ‘Okay, okay. Just one more question. Where is he now?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ Antonia looked doubtful. ‘After—after we split up, he left Newcastle. I heard he had joined the Navy, but I’m not sure. He never writes. He never kept in touch at all. I doubt if Susie even remembers him.’

  Reed inclined his head. ‘I can’t say I’m sorry.’

  ‘No.’ Antonia allowed a small smile to touch her lips. ‘Nor am I.’

  When dinner was over, Antonia went into the service shop and bought herself a toothbrush. At least her mother would not be around to observe she had brought no luggage, she reflected thankfully. And she had some old clothes at home she could wear instead of the navy suit.

  Sliding into the Lamborghini again, Antonia felt a momentary pang for the ease with which she had accepted this arrangement. The trouble was, she always felt at ease with Reed, and it was this, more than anything else, that warned her to fight his dark attraction. It would be too easy to give in, to be grateful for whatever crumbs of his time he might throw in her direction. She had to always remember he was going to marry someone else, and that no matter how attracted he might be to her, it was Celia Lytton-Smythe who was going to become Mrs Reed Gallagher.

  To her relief, Reed didn’t ask her any more questions, and pretty soon the mesmeric sameness of the motorway uncoiling ahead of them caused her eyelids to droop. She tried to keep awake, chivvying herself with the guilty awareness that Reed, and not she, should be tired. But it was no use. The unhappy week she had spent, worrying over her feelings for the man beside her, had caused many restless nights, and almost without her being aware of it, she drowsed the journey away.

  Reed aroused her as they were driving through the outskirts of the city, his rueful smile mirroring his regret at having to do so. ‘Which way?’ he asked, as they crossed the massive arch of the Tyne Bridge, and Antonia struggled up in her seat to give him hasty directions.

  It was only a quarter-to-ten when the Lamborghini
turned into the cul-de-sac and Antonia’s nerves tightened as Reed drove the short distance to her mother’s comfortable semi-detached. Now that she was here, she was intensely conscious of how he might react to his surroundings, and like the first time he came to the flat, she was painfully defensive of her home.

  ‘Do you want me to leave the car on the road?’ he asked surveying the short drive to the garage, and Antonia frowned.

  ‘Well—perhaps for the present,’ she conceded, wondering who else had observed their arrival. ‘My mother’s out this evening, and she’ll want to put her car away when she gets home. After that, you could park it on the drive.’

  ‘All right.’ Reed gave her a wry smile and thrust open his door. ‘You think she’ll let me stay then?’

  Antonia avoided his eyes. ‘You’re here, aren’t you?’ she responded, following his example and opening her door. ‘Come on. Susie’s baby-sitter is expecting us.’

  Reed had removed his jacket for driving, but now he looped it over one shoulder to follow her up the path. With his tie pulled a couple of inches away from his collar, and the top two buttons of his dark green shirt unfastened, he looked devastatingly attractive, and Antonia couldn’t altogether blame Lucy Telfer for the wide-eyed admiration that followed her opening of the door.

  ‘Hello Antonia,’ she said, stepping back to allow them to enter the hall. At sixteen, Lucy was far more experienced than Antonia had been at that age, and she was making no secret of the fact that she found Reed absolutely fascinating. ‘Your mother told me you were coming. Did you have a good journey?’

  All this was said with her eyes firmly glued to Reed’s vaguely amused face, and Antonia found her patience growing increasingly thin. ‘It was a very pleasant journey, thank you,’ she said, annoyed to hear the edge in her voice. ‘I—Reed, this is Lucy. She lives next door.’

  ‘Hello Lucy.’ As usual, Reed was completely at ease with his surroundings. ‘Is it okay if I hang this here?’

  As if he was a regular visitor to the house, Reed draped his jacket over the banister before following the two girls into a comfortable living room. An open fire was burning in the grate, for although the house was centrally heated, Mrs Lord liked the living flame, and a television was playing in one corner. Evidence of Lucy’s occupation was there in the glossy magazines residing on the couch, and the remains of the supper Mrs Lord had left for her rested on a tray.

  ‘I’ll clear up,’ said Antonia shortly, as Lucy would have picked up her tray, and the younger girl grimaced.

  ‘If you’re sure,’ she murmured, her eyes on Reed again as he stood gazing at the television, and Antonia took off her jacket and dropped it on to a chair.

  ‘I’m sure,’ she said, waiting impatiently for Lucy to collect her belongings. ‘And—thanks. For baby-sitting, I mean.’

  ‘That’s all right.’ Lucy was offhand, sensing the older woman’s desire to be rid of her and resenting it. She turned to Reed and smiled. ‘I might see you again tomorrow—er—Reed,’ she murmured, tilting her head provocatively, and Reed dragged his attention from the television to make a polite assention.

  Antonia saw her to the door and then came tensely back to the living room. In her absence, Reed had not moved his position, but as she came through the door, he came towards her.

  ‘You don’t have to be, you know,’ he said roughly, his hands sliding possessively over her shoulders, and she gazed uncomprehendingly up at him. ‘Jealous,’ he added flatly, resisting her attempts to break away from him. ‘You were, weren’t you? Dear God, what do you take me for?’

  Antonia shook her head, and then with a little moan, she allowed him to pull her closer. Pressing her face against the taut expanse of his chest, warm beneath the fine material of his shirt, she breathed deeply of his clean male smell, filling her nostrils with the scent of him, as his muscled body filled her mind to the exclusion of all else.

  ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ he demanded, against her mouth, his hands at her hips making her overwhelmingly aware of his arousal, and with a supreme effort, she broke free of him.

  ‘I—I must tidy up,’ she said unsteadily, going towards the tray, and with a groan of impatience, Reed went after her.

  It was as well they had their backs to the door, Antonia thought later, remembering the sensuous feel of Reed’s palms against her nipples. He was in the process of unbuttoning her blouse to facilitate the invasion of his hands when Antonia heard her daughter’s voice, but he released her almost immediately when Susie sidled into the room.

  ‘Mummy?’ she said doubtfully, coming round the couch towards them, and Antonia just had time to straighten her clothes before the little girl saw her. ‘Oh, Mummy!’ she exclaimed, abandoning her uncertainty and rushing into Antonia’s arms. ‘Nanna didn’t tell me you were coming!’

  ‘Nanna didn’t know,’ Antonia assured her gently, smoothing the silky dark hair out of Susie’s eyes and giving her a breathtaking hug. ‘I didn’t know myself until this afternoon. I—Mr Gallagher very kindly offered me a lift.’

  Susie drew away from her mother sufficiently to look up at Reed, standing silently beside them, and her small face grew serious. ‘Are you Mr Galla—Gallagher?’ she asked, stumbling a little over the word, and Reed came down on his haunches so that she could better see his face.

  ‘Reed,’ he amended gently, his lean face creasing into a smile. ‘So long as I can call you Susie, of course, and not Miss Sheldon.’

  Susie’s chin dimpled. ‘Nobody calls me Miss Sheldon,’ she exclaimed, glancing at her mother for support. ‘Can I really call you Reed?’

  ‘Do you want to?’

  Susie nodded.

  ‘Reed it is, then,’ he assured her equably, and Antonia realised he had disarmed the child without her even being aware of it.

  ‘Do you have a car?’ Susie asked now, as her mother straightened, and Antonia endeavoured to recover her composure.

  ‘Not tonight, Susie,’ she said, pointing firmly at the clock. ‘You should be in bed and asleep, not creeping down the stairs and asking questions.’

  ‘Oh, but—Reed won’t be here tomorrow,’ protested the little girl disappointedly, and Antonia drew a breath.

  ‘Yes, he will,’ she said levelly. ‘He’s going to spend the weekend with us. And—’ She paused and glanced at Reed, who had now got to his feet again. ‘He’ll tell you all about his car tomorrow.’

  ‘And give you a ride, too, if you’d like one,’ agreed Reed irrepressibly. ‘You and your Mummy both. How about that?’

  ‘Really? Tomorrow?’ Susie was excited. ‘You’re sleeping at my house?’

  ‘If your Mummy can find me a bed,’ remarked Reed drily, causing Antonia’s colour to rise once again. ‘Is that all right?’

  Susie clasped her hands together. ‘I’ll never sleep, you know. I don’t; not when something exciting’s going to happen.

  ‘Then you’ll have to lie awake,’ declared Antonia, reasonably, putting a teasing finger on her daughter’s nose. ‘Now—say good night to—to Reed. You’ll see him again in the morning.’

  Susie was loathe to settle down, but the anticipation of the promised outing the following day eventually persuaded her to behave herself. ‘He’s nice, isn’t he, Mummy?’ she murmured, as Antonia tucked the covers around her. ‘Reed, I mean. Are you going to marry him?’ ‘Marry him?’ Antonia was appalled. ‘Don’t be silly, Sue!’

  ‘I’m not being silly.’ Susie pouted. ‘Auntie Sylvia said it was time you thought about getting married again. She said it isn’t fair to—to expect Nanna to look after me all the time.’

  ‘Well, there’s no chance of me marrying Mr Gallagher,’ declared Antonia brusquely, resenting her sister-in-law’s careless tongue. ‘Go to sleep, darling. We can talk again tomorrow. And don’t get up when Nanna comes home, or she won’t be very pleased.’

  Downstairs again, Antonia found that Reed had discovered the whereabouts of the kitchen for himself, and was presently disposing of Lucy’s
leftovers into the waste bin. ‘You see, I’m quite domesticated,’ he remarked, grinning at her surprised face. ‘It’s what comes of an Irish upbringing. Sure, and didn’t I milk the cows and collect the eggs before I was old enough to go to school!’

  ‘You’re incorrigible,’ she exclaimed, shaking her head, and he dried his hands and came to meet her.

  ‘And you’re beautiful,’ he told her, burying his face in the hollow at her nape. ‘How soon will your mother be back? Or is that a leading question?’

  ‘Any minute now,’ said Antonia unsteadily, her bones melting at the sensuous brush of his tongue, and as if to confirm the truth of her statement, she heard the distinctive sound of her mother’s key in the lock.

  By the time her mother had come into the hall, Antonia and Reed were standing in the doorway to the living room, and Mrs Lord met her daughter’s gaze only briefly before transferring her attention to her companion.

  ‘Mr—Gallagher, isn’t it?’ she observed, not waiting for Antonia’s introduction, but coming forward with her hand outstretched. ‘I’m Antonia’s mother, Mrs Lord. I hope she’s made you welcome to our home.’

  ‘I’m delighted to be here, and to meet you, Mrs Lord,’ replied Reed gallantly, as Antonia caught her breath. ‘And please—my name’s Reed. When I’m called Mr Gallagher, I always feel as though my father should be here.’

  Mrs Lord smiled, evidently liking his easy courtesy. ‘Have you been here long?’ she enquired, as Antonia came to bestow a warm kiss on her cheek. ‘Where’s Lucy? I hope you’ve sent her home.’

  ‘We have,’ said Antonia, taking her mother’s coat and hanging it away in the cloakroom. ‘Did you have a nice evening?’

  ‘I lost, if that’s what you mean,’ remarked Mrs Lord drily, passing them to enter the living room. ‘Make some coffee, will you, Antonia? I’m sure—Reed could drink a cup.’

  Antonia was reluctant to leave Reed alone with her mother, but she had little choice. She guessed Mrs Lord had engineered this to speak with him without her daughter’s presence, and stifling her unease, Antonia hurried back into the kitchen.