Rachel's Child

‘I... No...no! You’re wrong, Stephen.’ Rachel forced a laugh but it sounded empty of conviction even to her. ‘I don’t know where you got that idea from...’

‘The boy has my eyes, Rachel. I looked at him and saw the same reflection I see each day in the mirror. My eyes, your features...our child! Now all I want to know is why you didn’t tell me. Why for all these years you have kept my child, my son, a secret from me.’

Stephen’s fingers tightened on her chin, his eyes glittering wildly. Rachel felt a jolt of real fear. Stephen was almost out of control. Who knew what he was capable of right then, what he might be capable of later?

Stephen Hunter was a powerful man now, with a reputation of always getting what he wanted. What if he decided that he wanted Jamie? What if his anger turned into a desire to take back what she had held from him all these years? That she had done so only to ensure that Stephen might achieve the success he had wanted so desperately would mean nothing to him now.

Losing Jamie was a risk she wouldn’t take!

‘No! You’re wrong. Jamie isn’t...isn’t yours.’ Rachel swallowed hard, aching for the lie she must tell. ‘Jamie just has the Hunter eyes not...not your eyes, Stephen.’

Her voice was low but she felt Stephen tense. She winced from the pressure of his fingers yet he seemed not to notice. He stared back at her, his face set, his eyes so dark that they appeared almost black. ‘Meaning?’

‘Ja—Jamie is Robert’s son, not yours. We...we slept together while you were away in London that time. I never wanted you to know, Stephen. That’s why I left after Robert died and I discovered I was pregnant.’

Rachel stared back at him, willing herself not to betray the agony she felt as she denied everything she and Stephen had once been to each other. ‘Jamie isn’t your child but your cousin’s, and you...you have no claim on him.’

For a moment Stephen didn’t move, his fingers still gripping her chin, his eyes still staring into hers. Rachel could feel the ugliness of the lie spreading. She wanted to scream that it wasn’t true, that she had loved him to the exclusion of anyone else, but the words were held back by the fear of what she could be facing until in the end it was too late.

‘Damn you, Rachel! Damn you to hell!’

Stephen let her go, his eyes blazing down at her for one long moment before he turned and strode to his car.

‘Stephen!’ Rachel’s voice held a desperate plea, but if Stephen heard it he gave no sign. He got into the car and drove off without looking back, leaving Rachel as once she had left him—but her reasons for doing so then had been ones of love; Stephen’s now were born out of hatred.

‘Mum, what’s the matter? Why are you crying? What did that man say to upset you?’

Jamie touched her arm, shades of uncertainty in his voice. Rachel ran a hand over her face, unaware until that moment that she was crying. She glanced down at her son, her heart breaking as she recalled what she had seen just now in another pair of grey eyes...

‘Well, I don’t like him! I hope we never see him again.’

Rachel fought free of her own pain when she saw the mutinous pout of Jamie’s lower lip as he glared after the car. Suddenly she knew that she couldn’t let this happen. She might have denied Stephen his son, but she couldn’t live with herself if she allowed Jamie to hate his father.

‘I haven’t seen Stephen for a long time and I...I told him something he didn’t know which upset him. Stephen didn’t make my cry, Jamie. It’s just the wind making my eyes water. How about if we go straight to the park now? And when we get back we can make some toast by the fire for tea?’

Jamie’s face brightened. ‘Brill! Can I make it, Mummy? I’ll be really careful—promise.’

‘We’ll see.’ Rachel smiled shakily. Taking Jamie’s hand, she closed the front door and started back down the road. She paused when they reached the corner to look back, but the street was empty, Stephen gone. But the memory of their meeting was going to haunt her, she knew, like that lie she had told. That Stephen should have believed jt so readily was something else she was going to have to learn to live with.

If Stephen had ever really loved her then surely he should have known she could never betray him like that? ‘So there you are. Dammit, Stephen, you could have said that you were going out! The whole place has been in an uproar for the past hour since you couldn’t be found.’

Stephen turned from the window, his brows arching cynically. ‘I thought I gave you permission to negotiate the deal, David. Why did you need me there to hold your hand?’

Colour ran up the younger man’s face. ‘I know what you told me but it isn’t that simple. Rogerson refuses to deal with anyone but you.’ David laughed wryly. ‘Can’t say I blame him. It does seem hard to believe that The Shark has lost his bite!’

Stephen acknowledged the statement with a thin smile, well aware of the nickname he had acquired since some wit of a journalist had used it in one of the financial papers. He had been likened to a shark, eating up and spitting out anything which got in his path.

Maybe it had been true once, but recently he had lost his taste for the sharp end of business—which was why this take-over bid had arisen. Now, after what had just happened, Stephen was less inclined than ever to worry about what became of the damned company!

His hands clenched as he swung round to stare out of the window again. ‘Then it’s your job to convince him, David. That is what I pay you for and I shall continue to do so until Rogerson takes over. After that, well...’

Stephen shrugged indifferently, wishing that David would leave, knowing that he would have to tell him to go soon. He wanted to be by himself, to let what Rachel had told him sink in so that he could start to understand it!

‘You’re a fool, Stephen! God knows why you’re throwing away everything you’ve worked for. But I do know that you’re making a big mistake. The pity of it is that you will only realise that when it’s too late!’

It was a measure of how deeply David felt that he should speak that way, and it was that which curbed Stephen’s response. ‘Then I shall only have myself to blame. Maybe it’s hard for you to understand but I just don’t give a damn any longer. If it goes it goes; so be it. Now if that’s all...?’

‘Yes, it is! But if I were in your shoes I would be out there fighting. I wouldn’t let anyone take all this away. I would want to pass it on to my children, as something they could be proud of!’

David left, missing the expression which crossed Stephen’s face. Stephen stared out of the window, trying to control the flood of emotions he felt. It felt as though someone had ripped a hole in his chest, torn out what had once been his heart...

He had loved Rachel so much! Maybe it had been simply the intensity of youth which had heightened his feelings for her, the sweetness of first love, but nothing since had ever touched him so deeply, not even his marriage to Shelley. Shelley had been beautiful and cultured and had fit perfectly into the life he had built for himself—but had he ever loved her?

Stephen knew the answer to that without thinking about it, knew that was why Shelley had divorced him in the end. And all he had felt was a fleeting regret that he had failed, little else. Yet learning what Rachel had done all those years ago hurt so bitterly that he could hardly believe the pain and anger he felt.

He slammed his fist against the wall then turned and stared around the luxurious office. Everything he had achieved had been based on that long hot summer. He might have tried to blank thoughts of Rachel from his mind but she had never really left his spirit. He had striven to achieve his dreams because they were the dreams he had discussed with her, the ambitions he had spoken of only to Rachel.

Rachel had been like a shining beacon, her beauty and sweetness unmatched, their relationship something he had measured every succeeding one against—to their detriment. And it had all been a sham, a mockery. Everything he had done so far in his life had been done for the wrong reasons. He felt cheated!

Stephen glanced at his watch and his eyes narrowed. He might not be able to change the past but he could shape his future. He hadn’t known what he wanted for a long time. Now suddenly it was crystal-clear—fresh ambitions, a whole new set of dreams. And Rachel had played her part in it, just as she had played such a vital role before!

CHAPTER TWO

IT WAS almost ten before Jamie finally settled for the night. Rachel had hoped that the distraction of making toast by the fire would take his mind off what had happened, but Jamie had refused to let the incident drop.

Rachel didn’t feel happy about the lies she had been forced to tell but they couldn’t be helped. Jamie knew little about his father, apart from the fact that Rachel had loved him very much. Now Jamie rarely mentioned him. Single-parent families were quite common where they lived, so Jamie found nothing strange about his situation—although that didn’t make it easier for Rachel.

She had lost her own parents in a tragic road accident in her teens and, although Aunt Edith had been kind, Rachel had missed them dreadfully, still valued the years they’d had together as a family. She hated the idea that Jamie would never have the security of two loving parents as she’d had. Had she done the right thing today in telling Stephen what she had?

Rachel sat down on the sofa, recalling their meeting. It had taken on a certain unreality now, yet she didn’t need to try hard to recall how Stephen had looked at her, his eyes so cold and condemning...

A shiver ran through and she got up abruptly to add more coal to the fire. Outside in the street a car door slammed, followed by the sound of footsteps crossing the pavement. Rachel held her breath, her heart racing, but then the door to the adjoining house banged and voices came clearly through the thin dividing wall.

Rachel gave a gasping little sob as she sat down again. What had she imagined? That Stephen had come to see her again? Stephen had believed her story. He had nothing to come for! Anything she and Stephen Hunter had once shared was well and truly dead. Her heart ached at the thought.

The sudden ringing of the doorbell made Rachel jump. She hurried to the window but there was only the car parked next door. Obviously her neighbours had visitors and probably wanted to borrow some milk or something. It was that sort of community, and after the impersonality of the big estate where she and Jamie lived, Rachel found it a pleasant change.

Rachel didn’t bother to slip on the chain before she opened the door, and she felt the smile die on her lips. For a moment she couldn’t find her voice, and then it came out as a husky croak which betrayed only too clearly the shock she felt.

‘What... what do you want?’

Stephen arched both brows, the cool smile doing little to soften his austerely handsome face. ‘I thought I should drop round again. I realised that there were a lot of things we never got around to talking about before.’

‘Th—there’s nothing we need to talk about! Now if you don’t mind...’

Rachel started to close the door, but she was no match for Stephen as he calmly pushed it open and stepped inside. He glanced round, dwarfing the small, shabby hall with his powerful frame. He was wearing a black cashmere coat over a dinner suit and the thick wool added to the impression of bulk, emphasised the solid width of his shoulders, the power of his body.

Rachel had a sudden vivid mental flash of Stephen as he had been all those years before—his lean frame dressed in jeans and shirt, his dark hair falling across his forehead—and then the picture faded as abruptly as it had come and there seemed to be little left of the boy in the elegant figure of the man. Yet when Stephen turned to look at her there was just something in the depths of his eyes which made her heart catch...