Ice In His Veins

‘Enough to marry me?’ he cut in eagerly.

‘I—I’m not sure.’

He stood up. ‘Then how much do you like me?’

‘A lot. But marriage—well, that’s something different. I have things I want to do before I settle down. I want to travel.’

‘We could travel together.’

Eden shook her head. ‘Not that sort of travel. I want to just take off for a couple of years, work my way round from place to place. Secretaries are always in demand.’

Tim frowned. ‘You’ve never talked about this before.’

She shrugged. ‘It wasn’t something that came up for discussion.’

‘And your parents, how do they feel about it?’

She smiled. ‘They’re of the opinion that travel broadens the mind.’

‘I see.’ He bit his lip, for once not the confident young man she was used to. ‘And just when do you propose to “take off”?’

He was angry, she knew he was angry. ‘I haven’t decided yet,’ she told him awkwardly.

‘But marriage is definitely not part of your plans?’

‘Well, not yet. I didn’t know you had marriage in mind, Tim,’ she added almost pleadingly.

His cheeks had an angry flush to them. ‘What the hell do you think the last six weeks have been about?’

‘Well, certainly not marriage.’

He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Believe me, if I didn’t have marriage in mind we would have finished long ago.’

‘Meaning?’ she challenged, aware that they were having their first argument—and probably their last, by the sound of it. And it had all started from a proposal of marriage!

‘Meaning I don’t go in for these “no touching” relationships,’ he snapped.

‘Oh, I see.’ She was angry too now. ‘Well, don’t let me keep you. I wouldn’t want to stop you being with someone who feels the way you do about sex.’ She turned away.

Tim grasped her shoulders, spinning her round to face him, ‘Hey, come on, Eden! That wasn’t what I meant and you know it. I was just trying to show you that you’re special to me.’

The tension left her body. ‘I know—and I’m sorry. But I’m tired, and your proposal was rather a surprise.’ That was an understatement if ever she heard one. ‘I need time to think about it.’

‘How much time?’ Tim demanded, the harshness back in his voice.

‘I don’t know. It’s not something you can decide on overnight.’

‘Most people can decide on it straight away,’ he snapped, her good-humoured companion of the last few weeks not in evidence at all.

‘Well, I can’t. Or perhaps I can. If my needing time to be sure can make you this bad-tempered I hate to think what you would have done if I’d said a straight no!’

He moved to pull on the jacket to his suit. ‘If I were you I would start your travelling right away. Go to London with Jason to visit your grandfather, see how you like being alone in a country where you know no one—but don’t expect me to be waiting for you when you get back!’

‘I won’t!’ Her eyes flashed her anger.

‘Good, because I won’t be!’ Tim slammed the door on his way out.

She couldn’t believe the scene she had just been through. Tim had always seemed so sweet, so mild-tempered. He hadn’t been mild-tempered just now, he had been absolutely furious. He had obviously been upset by her indecision, but she didn’t think her reluctance to give him a definite answer should have resulted in that display of outraged anger.

Eden looked up as the door opened again, forcing a smile to her lips as she saw her parents had returned home. For a moment she had thought Tim had come back.

‘Have a nice evening?’ she asked them.

‘Very pleasant,’ her mother replied, throwing her evening bag down into a chair. ‘We saw Tim outside. He wasn’t his usual composed self.’

‘Oh,’ she said lamely. She had hoped she needn’t tell her parents of Tim’s proposal.

‘Have you upset him in some way?’ her mother probed.

‘I may have done,’ she evaded. Her mother wholly approved of Tim and wouldn’t be pleased at her refusing to marry him.

‘Either you have or you haven’t!’ Her mother’s voice was brittle.

‘Surely that’s their business, Angela,’ Drew cut in smoothly.

‘Don’t interfere,’ his wife ordered. She looked back at Eden. ‘Have you upset him?’

Drew sighed. ‘I think I’ll go to bed if this is going to turn into one of those long girlish discussions. Don’t be too long, darling,’ he advised his wife.

‘Goodnight, Daddy.’ Eden kissed him warmly on the cheek.

‘Angela?’ he queried.

‘I’ll be up in a moment,’ she told him vaguely. ‘Now,’ she pressed her daughter once they were alone, ‘what happened?’

‘I agree with Daddy,’ she frowned. ‘What happens between Tim and me is nobody’s affair but our own.’ She sighed as she saw her mother’s agitation rise. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you. I turned down his proposal of marriage and he didn’t like it.’

Her mother gasped. ‘You turned him down?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you mad?’ her mother demanded.

Eden shook her head. ‘I don’t love him.’

Her mother gave a harsh laugh. ‘What does that have to do with it?’

‘Quite a lot, I would have thought.’