His After-Hours Mistress

‘Hello?’

‘It’s Roarke,’ his disembodied voice informed her.

‘Top floor, on the right,’ she directed him, pressing the door release. She just had time to catch him muttering, ‘It would be, wouldn’t it!’

Ginny went to the door to meet him. To her eyes he didn’t look the least bit out of breath when he reached her.

‘Hasn’t anyone ever thought of installing a lift?’ he complained, and she shook her head at him.

‘It’s only three floors.’

‘But six flights,’ he was quick to point out.

‘Quit complaining. You’re the fittest man I know,’ Ginny responded dryly. She knew for a fact that he worked out regularly, and though she had never seen it, she suspected there wasn’t a spare ounce of flesh on the whole of his body.

‘Remind me never to come to you for sympathy,’ Roarke muttered as he glanced around. ‘Is this it?’ he asked, pointing to her single case.

Ginny nodded. ‘It’s all I shall need for a few days,’ she confirmed, though she was well aware she had packed too much.

Roarke hefted her case and laughed. ‘My mother never travels with less than thirty pieces of luggage.’

Ginny couldn’t imagine having the clothes to fill them. ‘Think about the excess she must have to pay!’ she exclaimed in amazement.

‘Think of the pandemonium that arises every time she thinks a piece is missing!’ Roarke countered sardonically, and Ginny winced.

‘Ouch. Does that happen often?’

‘Nearly every time. You see, life has to be a drama for her. She’s the prima donna to end all prima donnas. It wouldn’t surprise me if my sister is marrying this man just to get away from our mother,’ he declared outrageously.

‘Oh, but surely she loves him,’ Ginny protested, uneasy at the idea that any woman would do such a thing.

Roarke shrugged indifferently. ‘She probably thinks she does.’

‘Thinks she does?’ Ginny challenged as she pulled the door closed behind her and checked it was securely shut.

Roarke started down the stairs. ‘Caroline is very much like our mother. She can convince herself of anything. If she wants to get away from Mother’s influence, she could well have convinced herself she loves this guy.’ He took time out to shoot her a mocking glance over his shoulder. ‘You might have gathered that relationships aren’t our thing. Caro’s a brilliant flautist, but emotionally she’s caught in the fallout of our parents’ broken relationships like the rest of us. I give this marriage a fifty-fifty chance at best.’

Having reached the ground, Roarke held the door open for her. ‘You don’t expect it to last?’ Ginny asked as she walked outside.

Taking her arm, Roarke guided her to where he had parked his car. ‘None of the others have, so the odds are against it.’

‘Which is why you aren’t even going to attempt a proper marriage,’ she pronounced, and Roarke grinned at her over the boot before closing it with a solid thunk.

‘Got it in one.’

He helped her into the car, but there was very little time for talking as the traffic that evening was heavier than usual. In fact, they only just made it to the airport in time, and their flight had already been called. Ginny didn’t have time to catch a breath until they were in the air and the seat belt sign went out.

‘There’s nothing like a frantic last-minute dash to set you up for the weekend,’ Roarke drawled sardonically as he made himself comfortable in the spacious first class seats.

‘I look at it this way, things can only get better,’ Ginny responded lightly.

He laughed. ‘Don’t you believe it. You haven’t spent any time with my family before.’

Ginny frowned at him. ‘Nobody can be as bad as the picture you’re painting,’ she argued, though she knew full well that they could be as cold and unforgiving as an arctic winter. ‘Your grandfather is always a gentleman.’

‘True,’ Roarke agreed easily. ‘He’s one member of the family I’d do anything for. Unfortunately, he won’t be there. Pressure of work, he told me, but I think he just doesn’t want to run into my mother. They don’t see eye to eye on anything.’

The affection in his voice when he spoke of his grandfather caused Ginny to look at him curiously. ‘So there’s one human being you do care about. You aren’t quite the lost cause you like to make out. Why do you hide it?’

Roarke glanced round at her, a mocking smile back on his lips. ‘Wait till you meet the family. Then, if you’re half as smart as I think you are, you’ll understand.’

Ginny looked away, fixing her attention on the view from the window. She wasn’t sure she wanted to meet any of his family. Then a small smile tweaked at her lips. Well, they were the Adams family, so what else could she expect?

‘What’s so funny?’ Roarke enquired, and Ginny, who hadn’t realised she was smiling, hastily composed her features.

‘Private joke,’ she murmured with a shrug, hoping to put him off asking further, which it did, but only set him off in another unexpected direction.

After giving her a doubtful look, as if he had guessed what she was thinking, he said, ‘So what about your family? They can’t be as gruesome as mine.’

It was an automatic response for Ginny to tense, though she had battled hard to feel nothing over the years. She tensed because the memories were as painful as they had ever been. Try as she might not to care, she knew in her heart of hearts that she always would.

‘I have no family,’ she told him shortly, knowing she sounded far too abrupt, which would only pique his irritating interest.

There was a second of surprise while he assimilated this, then he frowned as he made the logical assumption. ‘I’m sorry. I had no idea your parents were dead. You must miss them.’

Ginny had no intention of explaining anything to him, but, on the other hand, he was offering sympathy, and she couldn’t take that under false pretences either. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she felt compelled to put him straight. ‘They’re not dead,’ she corrected bluntly.

Beside her, Roarke’s eyebrows rose, then drew together in another frown. ‘You’re saying you don’t know who they are? That would explain the lack of photographs in your flat.’

Gritting her teeth, Ginny swivelled her head to give him a darkling look. ‘I’m not saying that at all. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d rather we changed the subject.’ She couldn’t be more pointed than that, but, as she had expected, Roarke ignored the heavy hint.

‘Hey, you can’t leave it there. You’ve got my mind buzzing with off-the-wall scenarios here. Besides, I told you about the skeletons in my family closet, so it’s only fair you should do the same,’ he cajoled her.

‘You volunteered the information,’ she was quick to point out. ‘I could have done with knowing less.’

Roarke grinned. ‘Come on now, sweetheart. You know you found it fascinating in a sort of perverse way.’

‘I did not!’ she denied, though she knew that wasn’t totally true.

‘Did too!’ he quipped back, making them sound like two children sniping at each other. It made her want to laugh, and she hated that he could do that to her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘OK, so I didn’t find it completely uninteresting,’ she admitted, and held up her hand as he started to speak. ‘But that doesn’t mean I have to tell you anything about my family.’

‘So you do have one. I was beginning to think you sprang into this world fully formed,’ he mocked her, and Ginny sighed. He wasn’t going to give up unless she said something.

There was no way she could keep the reluctance from her expression, and she wasn’t laughing when she spoke. ‘I’ll tell you one thing, but only if you promise not to ask any more questions.’

The laughter faded from his grey eyes. ‘You make it sound like the end of the world.’