To Make a Marriage(28)

Andie tensed beside him. 'Most men would be.'

'I'm not most men, Andie,' he returned. 'You should know that by now.'

Two steps forward, and one step back, he inwardly acknowledged. He hoped it wasn't always going to be like this between them.                       
       
           



       

But Andie hadn't mentioned that earlier meeting with Glenda so far this  evening, and Adam was loath to do so earlier. Except that he knew that  was what was putting this particular barrier between them.

He drew in some air. 'About Glenda-'

'I don't want to know, Adam,' Andie rebuked him.

'No?' He blinked his surprise.

She gave a decisive shake of her head. 'She's obviously someone from a  different part of your life, a life I have no part of, which makes her  none of my business, either.' But that slightly emotional quiver to  Andie's voice implied she didn't really believe that.

Adam was stunned for a few seconds after this announcement. Andie  believed-she thought-Andie believed he had been involved with Glenda!

Why should she have thought otherwise? Came the immediate question. To  look at, Glenda was a beautiful woman-even if that wasn't true inside!  He hadn't offered any explanation about his relationship with Glenda, so  what else was Andie to think?

Involved with Glenda?

He would rather be involved with a snake; it would probably be less deadly!

But without telling Andie the truth, he couldn't very well contradict that impression …

'You won't be seeing her again,' he told Andie.

'I don't think that's the point here, Adam-do you?' Andie insisted.

'Then what is the point?'

'Whether or not you'll be seeing Glenda Howarth again, of course!'

His breath caught, and held, in his throat. Could he make Andie that particular promise, and keep it?





CHAPTER TWELVE




WITHOUT Adam having to say anything, Andie knew she was asking him something he couldn't, in truth, agree to!

Which left the two of them precisely where?

They had agreed there would be no one else in either of their lives,  that they were going to give their marriage every chance of success.  Adam had agreed to that. In fact, he had insisted on it.

But not where Glenda Howarth was concerned, obviously.

What hold did the other woman have on him? There had to be something.  Because there certainly wasn't any love between them; there was no way  Andie could forget the contemptuous way Adam had looked at the other  woman earlier today.

So why couldn't he agree not to see the other woman again?

If Adam wasn't prepared to tell her that-and by the stubborn set to his  mouth, he obviously wasn't!-then she would have to ask someone else.

Glenda Howarth … ?

Andie quivered with distaste just at the thought of having to see the other woman again.

Not Glenda Howarth, then.

But someone else. Because there was no way they could have the spectre  of Glenda Howarth standing between them when they were married in just  over two weeks' time.

'Never mind, Adam,' Andie said sharply. 'You obviously need to give that suggestion some thought.'

'It isn't that-'

'Do you want to come up for a cup of coffee?' she invited as they  arrived outside her apartment block, not particularly wanting this  evening to end with obvious strain between them. One evening like that  had been enough as far as she was concerned.

Adam turned to look at her in the dark confines of the car. 'I would love to-if you're sure you aren't too tired?'

'I had a nap this afternoon,' she explained as she got out of the car.  She knew it wasn't a very gracious invitation, but it was the best she  could do for the moment.

Adam seemed happy enough with it, anyway, accompanying her up to her  apartment, helping her to prepare the coffee in the kitchen before  carrying the tray into the sitting-room.

However, that awkward silence fell between them again as they sipped their coffee.

Finally, Adam drew in a heavy breath. 'Andie, I know you don't want to hear about Glenda-'

'I don't,' she agreed.

'Any more than I want to talk about her,' he continued, his expression  grim. 'However, I do have one thing to say on the subject … '

Andie briefly closed her eyes, a vision instantly coming to mind of  Adam's face this afternoon, as they'd looked at the screen that had  shown them their two babies. It had been a face full of love.

She had known Adam most of her life, knew that he was an honourable man.  Whatever he chose to tell her about Glenda Howarth, she would believe  him.

She opened her eyes, looking across at him. 'Yes?' she pressed gently.

Adam put his coffee-cup down before standing up, coming over to crouch  down next to her chair, reaching out to grasp both her hands in one of  his. 'I want you to know that Glenda Howarth means nothing to me. Is  nothing to me.'                       
       
           



       

Andie looked at him, could see the worry in his silver gaze, the dark  frown to his brow. It was very important to him that she believe him …

She swallowed hard. 'All right, Adam.' She nodded.

'Is it?' His frown was pained now. 'Is it really all right?'

Her expression softened as she saw the raw uncertainty in his face,  reaching out a slightly trembling hand to lightly caress the hard curve  of his jaw. 'Yes, Adam, it's all right,' she told him, feeling relieved  herself at a partial return to the closeness they had known earlier  today; she loved Adam too much to be able to stand the desolation of  that distance between them!

'God, Andie … !' He reached forward and pulled her into his arms, his face  buried in the perfumed silkiness of her hair. 'This evening has  been-awful!' he groaned achingly.

She reached up and touched his silver-blond hair. 'I won't tell Danie and Jonas you said so!'

He pulled back slightly to look at her. 'It had nothing to do with Danie and Jonas, and you know it.'

Yes, she knew it. It had been as if there were an invisible barrier  between them most of the evening. Even though Andie had known she was  responsible for most of it, that she'd flinched away from Adam every  time he'd touched her, she hadn't seemed to be able to do anything about  it. But she had hated that distance between them as much as Adam  obviously had.

Adam's hands cradled either side of her face. 'I will never do anything  that might put my relationship with you and our children at risk,' he  promised her.

Tears suddenly glistened in her eyes. Their children …

It all still seemed somehow like a dream. A wonderful dream, but a dream nevertheless.

Adam bent his head, kissing her gently on the lips, sipping and tasting  their sweetness, until Andie gave a low groan in her throat and deepened  the kiss, her arms moving up about his shoulders as she pressed herself  against him.

She loved this man, loved him so deeply, that she knew in her heart that she would forgive him anything.

'Andie … ?' Adam raised his head to look down at her with needy grey eyes.

She wanted him, needed him, loved him. There was nothing else.

'Adam!' she breathed, heated colour in her cheeks as she knew she wanted him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.

He looked at her searchingly for several long seconds before standing up to bend down and sweep her up into his arms.

'I'm too heavy for you,' she protested, at the same time clinging tightly around his neck.

He grinned down at her. 'Maybe in a couple of months or so, you might  be!' he conceded. 'At the moment you're still as light as air.'

'Where are we going?' she asked as he strode across the room.

'Wonderful as it might have been the first time, I don't think we should  make love on the floor a second time!' He softly kicked open the door  that led to her bedroom, pulling back the bedclothes to gently lay her  down on top of the bed, before joining her there.

Andie turned into his arms, a bedside lamp their only illumination as  they gazed hungrily at each other. She would never have believed, at the  beginning of this evening, that the two of them would be here together  like this!

She reached up to curl her fingers into the thick blondness of his hair,  loving the silky feel of it, suddenly feeling slightly shy. What if  that one time together had been a fluke? What if this time it all went-?

Adam laughed softly as he gazed indulgently down at her. 'Have a little faith, Andie,' he chided affectionately.

As he began to kiss her, her body suddenly alive with a hundred senses,  her mind went completely blank, and there was only feeling left,  vein-tingling, spine-thrilling sensation.

Adam's hands roamed restlessly down the length of her body, even as his  lips trailed an erotic pattern down the creamy column of her throat to  the hollows below, the curve of her breasts visible above the rounded  neckline of the black dress she wore.

'You are so beautiful, Andie.' The warmth of his breath caressed her  heated skin as he slid the zip down the back of her dress. 'So  incredibly beautiful.'

It was impossible to feel in the least self-conscious in the face of  such warm admiration, her dress completely discarded now, only black  lace bra and matching panties covering her nakedness.