He just stared at her. "Are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious! Why would I lie about something as embarrassing as that?"
His eyes softened on her. "I don't think that's an embarrassing admission at all. I think it's sweet. You're sweet."
"I'm a silly, naïve little fool!" she snapped.
"No. Not at all. You just haven't had the right lovers. I'm flattered that I gave you such pleasure. But why not have more where that came from?"
"I knew you'd say something like that. I should never have told you. I am a fool."
"Would all women be such fools, then," he muttered. "Okay, I'll take you home, if that's what you want. But I'll be over to visit you tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow's one of my gym nights."
"Then cancel it."
"No."
"There's a gym in my apartment block," he pointed out. "A private one for the owners and their guests."
"You're not going to leave me alone now, are you?"
He smiled. "I just want to give you more pleasure."
"You just want me to marry you."
"That, too."
Holly groaned. "You're a wicked man, Richard Crawford."
"Not really," he returned. "Just a very determined one."
CHAPTER TWELVE
RICHARD sat in his office at the bank the following morning, thinking about Holly.
As determined as he was to marry her, she was just as determined to marry only for love.
Love, Richard thought scornfully. If only she knew what kind of hell love could create. He'd been in hell ever since he'd read that coroner's report.
Thinking about that reminded Richard of his thoughts after running into Kim yesterday. Maybe if he knew the truth, he might be able to find closure on the subject of Joanna once and for all.
Richard pressed the button that connected him with his PA.
Five minutes later he had what he wanted. Kim's phone number. It seemed she was still living in the Kirribilli apartment she'd lived in with her husband. No doubt it had been part of her lucrative divorce settlement.
He rang straight away, experience telling him women like Kim didn't go to work. They did charity work occasionally. Other than that, they had their hair done, went to health spas, shopped at Double Bay and lunched at Doyles. Oh, and they seduced other women's husbands.
"Hello, Kim," he said when she picked up on the seventh ring. Clearly not an early riser by the sound of her groggy greeting. "It's Richard. Richard Crawford."
"Richard! My God. Fancy you calling me. I got the impression yesterday you weren't too pleased to see me."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" he returned drily.
"Sarcasm, Richard?"
"I won't lie, Kim. I wasn't pleased to see you. I don't like you. I never did. Not after the way you tried to come on to me that night."
"You really are pompous, Richard. Most men would have been flattered. But not you. You wanted to keep yourself for your one true love. Your beautiful Joanna. If only you knew the truth about your darling wife," she sneered down the line.
"The truth is why I'm ringing, Kim. You and Joanna were always as thick as thieves. After seeing you yesterday, I began to wonder if you knew the name of Joanna's lover, the one who fathered the child she was carrying when she died."
"Well, well. Looks like I kept mum for nothing. You knew all along."
"Not till after the autopsy."
"Ri … ght. I see."
"Was this man her first affair?"
"You want to know the absolute truth?"
Richard's hand tightened on the phone. "That's why I'm ringing you."
"No. It wasn't her first affair."
Richard closed his eyes for a long moment.
"Which didn't mean that she didn't love you, Richard. She actually did, as much as Joanna could ever love anyone. She used to say you were the best she'd ever had. I guess that's why I did what I did that night. I wanted to see what she was always raving about. Joanna knew I was going to try to get you into bed. She said I wouldn't succeed and she was right."
Richard could hardly believe what he was hearing. What kind of woman had he married?
Perhaps he would have come to realise her true nature in time. The clues had been there, he supposed, with the type of people she'd hung around. At the time, however, he'd been blinded by her beauty. And her obsessive need for him in bed. His male ego had made a fool of him.
In hindsight, however, he should have seen that her sexual greediness had reflected a greediness in her whole character, an inability to ever do without anything she'd enjoyed.
"The trouble was you weren't around enough," Kim flung at him almost accusingly. "You worked such long hours. And you were always going away. She was lonely, and bored. Her job didn't involve her twenty-four seven, like yours did. She used to brag about her long lunches, most of them taken at a hotel room in town. I couldn't count the number of aspiring young writers she had a fling with."
Richard wanted to be sick.
"But really, Richard," Kim raved on, "you shouldn't feel short-changed. She was good to you, wasn't she? She was always there when you wanted her. And like I said, she loved you in her own way. Why should it worry you now if she slept around on the side? That was just sex, not love. Trust me, she wasn't having some torrid affair with the bloke who got her pregnant. She didn't even know who it was. You were away on business and she threw this party, which developed into a bit of an orgy. She was usually very careful about using protection but things got out of hand that night. When she found out she was pregnant, she was so angry at herself. No way was she going to have a baby. She was on her way to the abortion clinic when the accident happened."
Richard had to get off that phone before he did something incredibly humiliating, like cry.
"I have to go now, Kim."
"Look, I'm sorry, Richard. But you did ask. She wasn't a bad person. Just very needy. And she did love you. Truly."
"Yeah, right. Bye, Kim."
He hung up, then just sat there, trying to make sense of it all, trying to find himself again through the wall of bitterness that had cloaked his soul for far too long.
But it was no use. He wasn't there any longer.
He stood up and walked across to the window of his office, staring down at the city below, not really seeing anything. What was the point of going on when the world was full of such wickedness?
And then he thought of Holly.
Nothing wicked about her. Even when she thought she was being wicked, she wasn't really.
If he had her in his life, he might find himself again. His spirits lifted when he thought of her being there, waiting for him, when he came home from work.
He couldn't let her run away from him. Which was what she was trying to do. She was afraid of him, because she liked being with him too much. Liked the sex too much. If only she would agree to move in with him, he could use the sex to bind her to him, to break her down and make her need him as much as he needed her.
He had to get her to move in with him. Sooner rather than later.
Whirling round, he strode over to his desk, picked up his phone and pressed Reece's number.
"Reece Diamond," Reece answered promptly.
"Reece, it's Richard. I have something I want you to do for me."
"Anything, Richard. You know that."
"I want you to act as my agent in buying a flower shop."
"A flower shop? That's not your usual style. Aah … I get the picture. This is for Holly, isn't it?"
"In a roundabout fashion."
"So where is this flower shop?"
"In Strathfield. It's called A Flower A Day. It's on the market with L.J. Hooker. Offer the full price they're asking, but with conditions attached to the sale."
"What conditions?"
"A very fast settlement date. This Friday."
"Can't be done that soon, mate, not if you want the books checked and proper searches done."
"I don't. Put down a substantial deposit today. I want vacant possession of the place, contracts to be exchanged this coming Friday."
"The owner might not go for that."
"If she doesn't, offer her more. Just make sure she doesn't know either your name or mine. Use my investment company name to do the deal."
"She? Holly owns this shop, is that it?"
"Nope. Her stepmother does."
"I don't get it."
"Holly manages the shop and lives above it."
"Now I get it," Reece said ruefully. "My God, Richard, this is not like you. You've become obsessed with this girl."
Obsessed. Yes. Obsessed just about described his condition at the moment.