There was such an air of constraint about him that even a complete stranger must have been aware of it, Sophy thought miserably as she watched his taxi drive away. What was causing it? Her? Their relationship?
She had some work to do for Jon—bills to send out and correspondence to attend to, but although her fingers moved deftly enough over the keys of her typewriter, her mind was not really on what she was doing.
When the doorbell rang she started up in surprise, her heart thudding nervously. She was not expecting anyone and after Chris’s visit yesterday she felt acutely nervous, her mouth dry and her palms sticky. The bell rang again and she forced herself to get to her feet and walk to the front door.
Keeping the safety catch on, she opened it fractionally.
A tall, dark-haired woman stood there, her back to the door, one high-heeled, sandalled foot tapping imperiously, scarlet nails drumming impatiently against a cream leather shoulder bag.
Water-straight black hair fell to her shoulders in a satin sheet, her arms and legs were deeply tanned and the perfection of her slim body was provocatively revealed in a vibrant red cotton sheath dress that clung to her curves.
As Sophy opened the door she turned her head, slanting faintly almond-shaped, brown eyes surveying Sophy with arrogant disdain. Her face was as beautifully tanned as her body, her mouth painted the same rich scarlet as her dress. The car she had arrived in was parked across the drive, as though it had been stopped in a hurry.
‘You are Jon’s wife?’
Sophy felt her heart sink as she caught the challenging ring in the American-accented voice.
‘Yes. Yes, I am.’
‘Good. We have to talk.’ She stepped closer to the door, and Sophy automatically released the chain, stepping back.
‘I’m afraid I don’t know you...’ she began, fascinated as well as slightly repelled by the sneering curl of the full mouth as the other woman mocked.
‘I cannot believe that. I’m sure Jon must have mentioned me to you. I am Lillian Banks. Jon and I are lovers.’
Sophy recognised the name immediately but distantly, all her powers of concentration focused on her visitor’s final statement.
This was the woman whose pool Jon had used when he was in Nassau. The woman Mary-Beth had described to her as rather unbalanced...as almost obsessive about Jon.
‘Lovers?’ Her tongue felt thick and clumsy, making it difficult for her to form the words. ‘I...’
‘You are shocked. I can see.’ Slim shoulders shrugged. ‘I knew how it would be, but I told Jon it was better that you knew. He is a gentle man and would not wish to cause anyone pain.’ She shrugged again. ‘He has married you because of his responsibilities of course but from the moment we met both of us knew—’
‘You’re lying.’
The scarlet mouth smiled.
‘Why don’t we sit down comfortably and discuss this as adults?’
Sophy could not understand how Mary-Beth could ever have thought of this woman as being anything other than completely self-possessed and in control. Like a robot she found herself leading the way to the sitting room, doing what she was instructed to do.
‘I know this must be a shock to you but these things do happen. Jon and I knew the moment we met. We have so much in common. His work...our feelings about so many things. You may not believe this—’ she looked sideways at Sophy and then smiled secretively, the almond eyes veiled by thick dark lashes as though she were gloating over something very special and private ‘—but it was several days before Jon and I even went to bed together. We had so much to talk about.’ She laughed, and then looked at Sophy again, adding softly, ‘Of course when we did go to bed, I knew immediately how it would be.’ She moistened her lips with her tongue, and Sophy felt acutely sick, imagining that full mouth clinging to Jon’s, touching his body.
‘But I love him.’ She hadn’t realised she had said the painful words out loud until she realised that Lillian was looking directly at her, the almond eyes narrowed and almost feral in their hatred.
‘Maybe,’ Lillian said flatly, ‘but Jon does not love you. He loves me. Oh, yes, it is true,’ she continued before Sophy could interrupt. ‘Why else would he invite me to come to England? Why else would he meet my plane...book us both into the same hotel?’ She smiled again, the cold cruelty in her smile making Sophy feel as though those scarlet nails had just been raked across her heart, inflicting wounds that would never heal.
‘Oh, it is quite true,’ Lillian said softly. ‘You may check if you wish. We were booked into separate rooms of course. Here, I have the number of the hotel.’ She opened her bag and gave Sophy a brochure.
‘Well...are you going to ring them?’
What was the point? Sophy knew she couldn’t be lying. Everything was so clear now. No wonder Jon had been so off-hand with her...so strained before he went to London. But he had come back. He had made love to her...
‘Unfortunately we had a quarrel while we were there.’ She shrugged again. ‘Jon wanted me to come back here with him but I told him he must tell you about us first. We argued and he left. This morning though he telephoned me and we made up...’
Suddenly the reason Jon had made love to her was sickeningly clear to Sophy. He had quarrelled with Lillian and had made love to her out of nothing more than sheer physical frustration. She felt sick to her soul when she thought of how she had responded to him, how she had felt in his arms...but it had not been her he was loving, it had been this woman sitting so triumphantly opposite her, watching her now with hard, cold eyes.
‘Why have you come here?’ Sophy asked tonelessly.
‘Surely that is obvious? To see Jon and to tell you that you no longer have any place in his life. You must understand that Jon and I love one another, that I am the one he wants at his side.’
‘But I am the one he married,’ Sophy persisted, not really knowing why she was fighting or what for; she had already lost it all.
‘A piece of paper that means nothing...Jon will divorce you.’
What could she say? Part of her could not believe that any of this was really happening. The Jon that Lillian was talking about was not the Jon she knew...but then what did she really know about the man she had married? She had thought him sexless, remote, totally engrossed in his work and she had discovered for herself that none of those things were true.
‘Of course you will be provided for financially.’
Sophy glanced up at that, her mouth hardening, but before she could speak her tormentor continued coolly. ‘You will stay here in this house with the children. Jon will come back to Nassau with me.’
She would stay with the children? She blinked and stared at Lillian. ‘The children are Jon’s responsibility,’ she said coldly. ‘They are the son and daughter of his dead brother.’
For the first time since Lillian’s arrival she felt she was the one with the advantage. Lillian blinked and frowned, her superb composure deserting her briefly, her mouth twisting petulantly.
‘Jon does not want them,’ she said positively at last. ‘All he wants is me.’
Now it was Sophy’s turn to frown. That did not sound like the Jon she knew...or at least thought she knew but then she remembered that before they had married Jon had mentioned putting the children in a home. He seemed to love them so much, though. Just as he seemed to want you so much, a bitter little voice mocked her, and look how real that was.
Through the sitting-room window she saw a taxi come down the drive and stop. Motionlessly she watched Jon get out, and pause to pay the driver. He looked tired, she noticed, immediately checking the pain and anguish that welled up inside her.
From her chair Lillian could not see the window. Smiling tightly at her Sophy got up.
‘Please excuse me a second,’ she muttered moving to open the door. She really could not endure anymore, and certainly not the sight of Jon being reunited with the woman he loved.
She reached the front door at the same time as Jon, opening it for him. He started to smile at her, the smile freezing suddenly, as he demanded, ‘What’s wrong?’
Sophy was shaking now with a mixture of anger and agony. How could he stand there and pretend a concern for her they both knew he could not possibly feel?
In a voice tight with pain she told him. ‘You’ve got a visitor—in the sitting room. Lillian Banks!’ She almost spat the name at him, half of her knowing that she was reacting like someone in a soap melodrama, the other half acknowledging that like any other human being she was conditioned to react to pain so instinctively that her responses were bound to appear trite and theatrical. ‘She’s just been telling me about your plans for the future—plans which it seems don’t include either me or the children... Well, that’s fine by me,’ she rushed on bitterly. ‘In fact it’s probably the very best thing that could have happened.’ It wasn’t what she had intended to say at all, but hurt pride compelled her to make some attempt at self-defence; to at least try to hide from Jon the hurt he was causing her.
His hand shot out gripping her wrist, making her cry out sharply in physical pain.
She had never seen him look so hard or so angry before, and she could not understand why he was doing so now. ‘Are you trying to tell me you want our marriage to end, Sophy?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’