Stay Through the Night Page 14

  She didn’t know where the other woman came in, of course. All she could think was that she must be very tolerant if she didn’t object to him indulging in a quickie on his way to meet her. Anyway, at least the woman had given her an address to send the phone to. Despite its being slightly chipped, she’d mailed the phone to Liam via the Moriarty Hotel the following day.

  It didn’t help that when she came out of school on Friday evening she found Colin Vincent waiting for her. He was standing beside her car, and judging by his pinched expression he’d been waiting in the cold for some time.

  ‘What do you want?’ Rosa asked, not in the mood to be charitable. She felt tired—drained, actually—and was looking forward to the weekend and a chance to catch up on her sleep.

  ‘You’re not very friendly,’ said Colin resentfully, as she tossed the bags containing the work she would have to do at home onto the back seat. ‘I thought you might have cooled off by now.’

  ‘Cooled off?’ Rosa stared at him.

  ‘Calmed down, then,’ amended Colin impatiently. ‘Look, can we go somewhere to talk?’

  Rosa gasped. ‘We don’t have anything to talk about, Colin,’ she said. ‘I thought I made my position perfectly clear. I don’t want to see you again.’

  Colin’s jaw jutted. ‘But you don’t mean that.’

  ‘Don’t I?’

  ‘No.’ He was obviously searching for the right words. ‘Look—I know who that bloke was, okay? The one who ran out on you. Sophie told me.’

  ‘Sophie?’ Rosa was stunned.

  ‘Yeah.’ Colin shifted a little uneasily. ‘I mean, after you threw me out the other night I knew there had to be some explanation. So earlier on today I gave Sophie a ring.’

  Rosa stared at him. ‘You know where she works?’

  ‘Oh, sure.’ Colin grimaced. ‘One of the guys at the garage told me. Terry Hadley. Do you remember him? He works in—’

  ‘I don’t give a damn where some guy at the garage works,’ Rosa interrupted him angrily. ‘But I would like to know how he knows Sophie.’

  Colin looked down at his feet. ‘Well, she’s been seeing him, hasn’t she?’

  ‘Seeing him?’

  ‘Going out with him, then,’ muttered Colin tersely. ‘For heaven’s sake, Rosa, don’t you know anything?’

  ‘Obviously not.’ Rosa shook her head. The last she’d heard, Sophie was still involved with Mark Campion. ‘How long has this been going on?’

  Colin looked sulky now. ‘Does it matter? Since she got back from university, I suppose. She’s big girl, Rosa. She doesn’t need your permission.’

  ‘No.’

  Rosa’s lips tightened, but she said nothing more, simply pulled open her door and slid into the driving seat.

  ‘Hey!’ Colin caught the door when she would have closed it. ‘What about me?’

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘Come on, Rosa. When am I going to see you again?’

  Rosa started the car. ‘Never, I hope.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’ Colin refused to let go of the door. ‘I mean, come on. This guy you met in Scotland—Liam Jameson—you don’t seriously expect to see him again?’

  ‘No.’ It hurt, but Rosa had to be honest. With herself as much as him.

  ‘There you are, then. Hell,’ he snorted, ‘the guy’s a bloody millionaire! I dare say he could have any woman he wanted. You’re attractive, Rosa, I know that, but you’re not in the same league as the women he mixes with. Have you ever seen a picture of that model he was engaged to?’ He rolled his eyes. ‘She is one hot cookie!’

  ‘Oh, go away, Colin,’ said Rosa wearily, amazed that his words should upset her as much as they did. He was like a petulant child, she thought, and he was almost thirty-seven. ‘I’ve told you. I don’t want to see you again. What more do you want me to say?’

  ‘Yeah, what more do you want her to say, Colin?’ asked a low, harsh voice she’d never expected to hear again. ‘Get lost, why don’t you? While you still can.’

  Rosa turned off the engine and sprang disbelievingly out of the car. But before she could speak, Colin muscled forward.

  ‘Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?’ he demanded, his face turning an unpleasant shade of red. ‘This is a private conversation. Why don’t you get lost before I stick my fist in your face?’

  ‘In your dreams,’ said Liam mildly, his eyes moving briefly to Rosa before returning to the other man. ‘On your way, Colin. I’m afraid I don’t know your surname, but I guess I can live with that.’

  Rosa was horrified. She knew only too well that Colin had an ugly temper. And, looking at Liam, leaning casually against the rear door of the small saloon, she could only think how vulnerable he was.

  But that didn’t stop her from drinking in the sight of him like a dying woman in the desert. He was wearing his long overcoat again, open now, to allow him to tuck his fingers under his arms. His feet were crossed at the ankle, and in spite of the anxiety she was feeling he looked the picture of complacency. Too complacent to be facing a man who was used to using his fists to get his way.

  Colin seemed not to know how to take Liam. But his attitude had turned truculent and he moved aggressively towards the other man. ‘Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?’ he snarled. ‘I’ll go when I feel like it, and not before.’

  ‘Your call,’ said Liam carelessly, his green eyes moving back to Rosa with seeming indifference to any threat Colin posed. ‘Hi,’ he said, addressing her for the first time, and all Rosa’s insides turned fluid. ‘You look tired,’ he added huskily. ‘Has this joker been getting you down?’

  Rosa’s lips parted, but before she could speak Colin lunged forward and grabbed the lapels of the other man’s coat. ‘Who are you calling a joker?’ he growled, pushing his face into Liam’s, using every move, every gesture, to intimidate. ‘Come on, talk to me, Mr Big-Time! You’re not so mouthy now, are you?’

  ‘Colin—’

  ‘You think?’ Rosa’s cry of protest went unheard as Liam turned his gaze back to Colin’s, with no trace of fear in the mocking smile he gave him. ‘We’re not all morons, you low-life. We don’t all have to threaten violence to prove our masculinity.’

  Rosa groaned. Liam was being deliberately provoking, and she knew exactly what her ex-husband would do.

  ‘Why, you—’

  Colin’s arm drew back, but before he could deliver the punch he obviously intended, Liam’s fist connected with his midriff. Rosa heard the sickening sound of bone against yielding flesh, and then Colin had to let go of Liam’s coat to bend double, gasping for breath.

  ‘You—you bastard,’ he choked, when he could speak again, but Liam looked unperturbed.

  ‘I’ve been called worse,’ he remarked, straightening away from the car. ‘Do you want to try again?’

  ‘God, no!’ Rosa cried, putting herself between them. ‘This is a school, for heaven’s sake. What kind of an example are you setting the kids?’

  ‘The kids are long gone,’ said Liam flatly, turning to her. ‘Or are you saying you feel sorry for this—?’

  He refrained from using the word that trembled on his tongue, but Rosa quickly shook her head. ‘You know I’m not,’ she exclaimed, her tongue running helplessly over her dry lips. ‘But—but what are you doing here? I sent your phone to the hotel. Didn’t you get it?’

  ‘Screw the phone,’ said Liam, putting his arm across her shoulders and pulling her towards him. ‘Come here,’ he muttered thickly, and, uncaring that Colin was staring at them now, with bitter, impotent eyes, he kissed her.

  ‘For God’s sake, Rosa,’ Colin exclaimed angrily, but she hardly heard him.

  ‘Get lost, Colin,’ she whispered dreamily, when Liam lifted his head. ‘Can’t you see you’re wasting your time here?’

  Colin glared at her. ‘You’ll regret this, Rosa.’

  ‘Oh, I hope not,’ said Liam, walking her round the car and putting her into the passenger seat before taking h
is own seat behind the wheel. He looked up at the other man. ‘Why don’t you go and cry on Sophie’s shoulder? She sounds just your—bag, hmm?’

  Colin hadn’t expected that, and he turned scandalised eyes in Rosa’s direction ‘Did you hear that?’ he demanded, grabbing the door again. ‘Rosa, did you hear what he called your sister?’

  Rosa looked up at him. ‘I think he was talking about you, Colin,’ she said with a giggle as Liam gave an uncontrollable snort of laughter. ‘Bye.’

  Yet, despite what had happened, they were both oddly quiet as Liam drove the small car off the school’s premises. It was as if Colin had provided a conduit between them, and now that he was gone neither of them could think of what to say.

  Liam broke the silence. ‘Which way?’ he asked. They’d reached the main road, which was busy at this hour of the afternoon. ‘I haven’t got the first idea of how to get to your place from here.’

  Rosa glanced at him. ‘Don’t you remember?’ she asked tentatively, and Liam grimaced.

  ‘If you mean the other night, I walked from the market square,’ he told her, taking his chance and turning into the stream of traffic. ‘So—this way, right?’

  ‘Right,’ she agreed, wishing she’d known he’d had no transport on Tuesday evening. Maybe if she’d got dressed straight away and gone after him, she could have—

  Could have what? she wondered, arresting the thought almost as soon as it was formed. Just because he was here it didn’t mean he hadn’t lied to her in the past. He’d let her think he’d come all the way from Kilfoil to see her, when in fact he’d been on his way to London to see someone else. Another woman. How did she know he wasn’t on his way to Scotland now, and had decided to call in for another quickie on the way back?

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  Liam had sensed her sudden withdrawal, the moment when her mood had changed from being pleased to see him to one of wary distrust. In the excitement of seeing him again she’d obviously forgotten how they’d parted. What was she thinking at this moment? he wondered. That they’d been together before and he’d let her down?

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked at that moment, her gaze fixed on the lights of the cars ahead of them. ‘And where’s your car? Don’t tell me you’ve left it in the market place again?’

  ‘I didn’t use a car,’ Liam told her, trying to keep his mind on his driving. ‘My pilot has a pal who owns a farm near Ripley. He dropped me off there, and his pal ferried me into town.’

  Rosa couldn’t help turning to stare at him then. ‘Are we talking about your helicopter?’ At Liam’s nod, she went on, ‘I thought you preferred your car.’

  ‘I do, usually,’ he conceded. ‘But this way was easier and quicker. I’ve got to go back to London again tomorrow.’

  Rosa swallowed her chagrin. ‘Tomorrow,’ she echoed blankly. And then, because she couldn’t help herself, ‘I don’t know why you bothered coming here at all.’

  Liam swore under his breath. This wasn’t the sort of conversation he wanted to have when he was in control of an automobile. Dammit, it was a lethal weapon, and he had hoped they could get back to her place before starting a post mortem on his shortcomings. He knew he’d let her down. He’d let himself down. And he only had a limited number of hours to convince her he wouldn’t do it again.

  ‘You know why I came,’ he said between his teeth. ‘Haven’t I proved it?’

  ‘How?’ Rosa was scornful. ‘By punching Colin before he could punch you?’

  ‘I won’t dignify that with an answer,’ he retorted, reaching another junction and glancing frustratedly up and down the busy road. ‘Which way?’ he asked again, and Rosa told him. ‘Just save it, will you?’ he added, as he took a chance and had a horn blown at him for his pains. He raised a finger in salute and put his foot on the accelerator. ‘This is awfully bad for my image. I’m usually such a considerate driver.’

  ‘Why do I find that hard to believe?’ she asked provokingly, but Liam had got over his spurt of anger.

  ‘Because you don’t know me very well yet,’ he said, taking one hand off the wheel to lay it on her thigh. And although she flinched away, he gripped the firm flesh above her knee with hard fingers. ‘Don’t worry,’ he added huskily. ‘You soon will.’

  ‘Like the woman who was waiting for you at your hotel in London?’ exclaimed Rosa painfully, and Liam was obliged to take his eyes off the road to give her a searing look.

  ‘How do you—? Rosa, that was my sister,’ he muttered incredulously. ‘Surely you didn’t think—?’ He broke off again, forced to turn his attention back to the road. He gripped the wheel like a lifeline, and she saw his knuckles whiten in the light from the dash. ‘Lucy is my sister,’ he said again, harshly. ‘Don’t say another word until we get to your apartment.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  LIAM HAD TO PARK the car farther down Richmond Road, there being no vacant space in front of number 24. While he was getting out and locking the vehicle, Rosa hurried back to her gate.

  She’d already opened the door and run up the stairs to her apartment before she heard Liam slogging up the stairs behind her. Obviously he was still having trouble with his leg, and it was an effort not to turn and offer him her help.

  He wouldn’t have wanted it, she assured herself, switching on the lights and turning up the thermostat on the wall. But all the time she was accomplishing these mundane tasks, the words my sister kept buzzing around in her head. Was that really who she’d heard? His sister? She wanted to believe it, she really did, but could she bear it if he was lying and hurt her again?

  Liam entered the apartment with some relief, allowing the door to swing closed behind him and sagging back against it. Then, when he caught Rosa watching him from the kitchen doorway, he said, with an attempt at self-mockery, ‘Getting old, hmm?’

  Rosa pressed her lips together, but although she looked as if she didn’t believe him, she didn’t contradict him. Instead, she slipped her leather coat off her shoulders and said stiffly, ‘Why don’t you sit down?’

  ‘Yeah, why don’t I?’ he agreed, limping to the sofa and dropping down gratefully onto it. He looked up at her enquiringly, ‘Why don’t you join me?’

  Rosa hesitated, but then she shook her head. ‘Wouldn’t you like a drink?’ she asked, in that same unnatural voice. ‘You must be cold.’

  ‘Believe me, cold is something I’m not,’ he assured her flatly. ‘Come on, Rosa. Come and sit down. You know you want to.’

  ‘Do I?’

  For a moment her temper flared, and Liam’s eyes darkened with sudden impatience. ‘If the way you kissed me earlier is anything to go by, then I’d say yes,’ he said harshly. ‘Look, I know you’re suspicious of me. Well, I don’t blame you after the way I’ve behaved. But we’re not going to resolve anything if you persist in behaving like an outraged virgin!’

  Rosa was indignant. ‘Is that supposed to make me want to forgive you?’ she asked scornfully. ‘Because I have to tell you, it’s not working.’

  ‘Oh, Rosa!’ Liam sighed. ‘Don’t make me have to come after you.’

  Still she didn’t move. ‘It’s not my fault if your leg’s painful,’ she retorted unsympathetically, and Liam wanted to grab her and make her admit that she was just as glad to see him as he was to see her.

  Instead, he said, ‘It is, actually.’

  Rosa gasped. ‘I didn’t ask you to drive from one end of the country to the other.’

  ‘No.’ Liam conceded the point. ‘But that’s not why I’ve had to check in to the clinic in London again.’

  Rosa stared at him now. ‘What?’

  ‘I said—’

  ‘I know what you said.’ She took a couple of tentative steps towards the sofa. ‘What clinic? What are you talking about?’

  Liam sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. ‘Do we have to talk about this now?’

  ‘Yes.’ Rosa nodded. ‘Tell me.’

  Liam opened his eyes again. ‘Come and sit down, then.�
��

  ‘Not until tell me what you mean. About it being my fault.’

  ‘Oh, God!’ Liam groaned. ‘Well, I guess, strictly speaking, it was my own fault that I got caught in the storm.’

  Rosa frowned. ‘You mean, before I left the island?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Liam patted the seat beside him. ‘Come on, Rosa. I promise I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to.’

  Rosa stayed where she was. ‘Tell me about the clinic first,’ she said. ‘What kind of clinic is it?’

  Liam shrugged. ‘The kind that deals with people who’ve been physically disabled in some way.’ He paused, and when she still made no move to join him, he went on, ‘When I was—attacked…’ He paused again, and then added wearily, ‘Do you know about that?’

  ‘Only that some crazy guy tried to kill you.’

  ‘Well, that about sums it up, actually.’ Liam gave a short, mirthless laugh. ‘This guy—his name was Craig Kennedy, by the way—he apparently confused me with one of my characters—’

  ‘Luther Killian?’ Rosa looked surprised.

  ‘No. Not Killian. A rogue vampire called Jonas Wilder, who’d made a lot of money out of horror fiction.’ He pulled a wry face. ‘I guess you get the connection.’

  ‘And he thought you were this Jonas Wilder?’

  ‘In the flesh,’ agreed Liam drily. ‘The anti-Christ personified.’ But, although he was trying to make light of it, Rosa could see the dark shadows that still lingered in his eyes when he spoke of it. ‘Happily, he was less successful at achieving his ends than Luther.’

  ‘Oh, Liam.’ Rosa came towards him now, dropping down onto the sofa beside him and taking one of his hands in both of hers. ‘You must have been terrified!’

  Liam grimaced. ‘I guess I was too shocked at the time to feel anything but disbelief. The medics said I must have put up a fight because of the defensive injuries I sustained. I remember him lashing out at me, screaming that he was going to rid the world of another monster.’ He forced a smile. ‘Ironically, he was using a steel blade. Any vampire freak could have told him that you need a wooden stake, driven through the heart, to destroy a vampire.’