One Night with Morelli(71)

                Self-respect and simple common sense had told her that this was a crunch point in their relationship. When Draco returned she owed it to both of them to be honest with him and if he couldn’t give her what she needed it was time to move on. She understood now, if her mother really did love Charles Latimer as she loved Draco, why she had stayed with him. Eve could see herself slipping too easily into the same sort of arrangement, but dying a little more each day as her self-respect was eroded.

                The thought filled her with utter horror but so did the prospect of never seeing Draco again and that was what it would involve. There were no half measures.

                Mark lifted a hand and blotted the tear with his thumb, smiling down into her tearful face. ‘You’re unhappy. I’m sorry.’ His handsome face tightened with anger as he added softly, ‘Whoever he is, he’s a fool.’

                ‘Don’t be nice…’ she sniffed ‘…or I’ll cry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me just lately.’ Only yesterday she had had to leave a meeting because she’d started to cry when someone had shown her a picture of a litter of kittens her friend had rescued after someone had tied them in a sack and thrown them into a rubbish skip.

                ‘Don’t worry, I’m used to tears. Since she’s been pregnant Amy cries at anything and everything.’

                Her mother, Hannah and now this Amy were all pregnant. Sometimes it felt as though she were the only person in the world who wasn’t!

                She went still, and her legs began to tremble as a coldness crept over her body, invading every cell with a terrible dread as the feelings swirling through her coalesced into one question!

                ‘Oh, God!’

                ‘What is it?’ Mark watched in alarm as the last vestiges of colour left her face.

                His concerned voice shook Eve out of her daze. She struggled to act normally, forcing a smile and shaking her head. ‘Just a thought, that’s all. Something I should have considered but I didn’t… Silly, really.’

                Silly was perhaps not the most appropriate word to describe a potentially life-changing event, and the more she thought about it, the more… No, she thought, closing that door. She would not and could not think about it now. She needed to know for sure first and that couldn’t happen until tomorrow unless…?

                She scrunched her brow, trying to remember if the supermarket on the corner stayed open twenty-four seven and, if they did, did they stock pregnancy-test kits?

                ‘Look, I’d invite you in for coffee but I’m a bit tired.’

                Mark nodded, kissed her cheek, then hugged her. Eve planted a reciprocal kiss on his clean-shaven cheek and hugged him back.

                ‘You will come to Charlford to visit, won’t you? Amy is longing to meet you. The place is upside down as she’s ripping out and tearing down everything that reminds her of Dad—she always said he made her skin crawl. But after I found out about you… She says the best way we can punish him is by having good lives.’

                ‘Amy sounds…I’d love…’ Her voice trailed away.

                Mark, his hand on her shoulder, turned to follow the direction of her wide-eyed, shocked stare. He turned just in time to see the fist that a moment later connected with his jaw and sent him sprawling.

                With a cry Eve was on her knees beside her brother. ‘Mark, are you all right?’

                Holding his jaw, Mark shook his head. ‘Fine. He took me by surprise, that’s all.’ The glazed expression in his green eyes was replaced by one of anger as he looked up at the tall man who stood over them. It was mixed with a healthy helping of fear as the man was big in a lean, athletic way, a real tough customer.