Married For Real

‘All the same, you have the use of it guaranteed until you remarry, Arizona,’ he said coolly, ‘and the means so that you can continue to use it in the manner to which you’ve become accustomed.’ His eyes lingered on the smooth skin of her bare arms then drifted down the exquisitely tailored black dress.

‘I didn’t want that, I didn’t know it was in his will,’ she said steadily. ‘Nor have I done anything in the manner to which I had become accustomed, quote unquote, since Pete died, other than look after his children and—’

‘How are they?’ he broke in.

‘Fine,’ Arizona said briskly. ‘Why don’t you ask them how I rate as a stepmother, incidentally?’

‘I’ve never accused you of not being a good stepmother, Arizona,’ he returned mildly.

‘Only a fortune huntress,’ she said with soft mockery.

‘Well, why did you do it?’ he countered.

‘Marry Pete?’ she said with hauteur. ‘That’s my business, Declan, and I’m afraid you’re, destined to remain in ignorance.’

‘Even when you’re married to me?’

She took this without a blink and said thoughtfully, ‘Tell me something—considering what good friends you were, didn’t you think it was in incredibly bad taste to be eyeing your friend’s wife across the fence, as you put it yourself, Declan, if nothing else?’

‘Unfortunately one can’t help one’s—instinctive reactions. And as I did nothing but look on the odd occasion, no, I don’t.’

‘And what would have happened if Pete hadn’t died?’ she asked caustically.

He shrugged wryly. ‘Who knows? I might have got tired of looking, although I’m not sure about that. Or you might have got tired of Pete.’ He grimaced.

Arizona ignored this and said, ‘But, and this does puzzle me, you now want to marry me, despite the fact that you think I only married Pete with an eye to the main chance. That doesn’t altogether make sense, if you’ll forgive me.’

‘I think it makes perfect sense,’ he responded. ‘I have a much larger fortune than Peter ever had, which makes me an excellent candidate for your hand—provided, of course, you reserve that lovely, sexy—’ he looked her up and down ‘—body for my exclusive use,’ he finished, looking into her eyes with a gleam of pure insolence in his.

‘That’s incredbly—that’s diabolical,’ Arizona said with an effort, an effort to stay calm. ‘You’re talking about trade, nothing else—’

‘I rather thought you understood about trade all too well, Arizona,’ he broke in.

‘Contrary to what you think, Declan, I was extremely fond of Pete,’ she said, and stood up restlessly.

‘But you weren’t in love with him?’ he said after a moment as he sat with his arm along the back of the settee and watched her thoughtfully.

‘I...’ She stopped then looked directly into his blue eyes. ‘It wasn’t a grand passion, if they exist.’ She shrugged. ‘But yes, I loved him in a way. A warm, committed way that I can’t imagine ever loving you.’ And her grey eyes were suddenly challenging.

‘Would it surprise you to find yourself loving me in a different way?’

‘Are you talking about love or lust?’ she asked with an insolent glint of her own.

‘They’re not always easy to separate, Arizona,’ he drawled.

‘Oh, I think they would be in this case.’

A faint smile twisted his lips, then he sat forward, picked up his drink and regarded its depths for a moment before he said, ‘Well, my dear, this may be the moment to talk turkey then. Pete’s rather complicated estate has finally cleared probate, and unfortunately, the outlook is not good at all.’

Arizona frowned at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You may not have realized this, but Scawfell is heavily mortgaged and was, to an extent, mortgaged against Peter’s future income, which should have payed it off—he was one of the most famous, soughtafter architects in the country. What he neglected to do, however, was take out any insurance against, well, the unknown happening such as did happen.’

Arizona sat down rather suddenly. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m saying,’ he said levelly, ‘that although he was the finest architect, he wasn’t much of a businessman. He was also very secretive so that not even I knew how complicated his affairs were or how unwise some of his investments. What it boils down to is that Scawfell will have to be sold to save anything of his estate for his children, let alone the provisions he made for you, but in the real estate climate of the moment, it’s debatable if there will be anything left for any of you.’

‘But I don’t understand,’ Arizona whispered, paling as his words sank in. ‘He never said a word to me about all this, not—’ she stopped then continued ‘—not that I ever asked him. But he didn’t seem to have any worries about finances.’

‘He wouldn’t have had if he hadn’t died so unexpectedly.’

‘But...’ She stood up again, uncaring that he was watching her like a hawk now. ‘This is terrible! It was bad enough for them to lose their father like that, in a car accident, after losing their mother to an incurable disease and with no living relatives—’

‘Which was why as their trustee I agreed to them staying with you, Arizona,’ he said with a significant little look. ‘They don’t have anyone else, no grandparents left alive, aunts or uncles et cetera because both their parents were single children.’

‘I know that. And to lose Scawfell as well,’ she said hollowly. ‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m sorry to have to say I’m all too sure.’

‘So... what will we do?’ She stared at him dazedly. ‘Ben is enough of a handful at the moment as it is.’ She stopped abruptly and bit her lip.

‘So they’re not all fine—what about the others?’

Arizona closed her eyes briefly then said a little bitterly, ‘I’m sure fifteen-year-old boys can be a handful without the trauma he’s gone through—’

‘Oh, I’m sure they can,’ Declan Holmes replied dryly. ‘Especially without a father. What about ten-year-old twins—and Daisy?’

‘How did you find them on the last of your monthly visits?’ Arizona countered.

He looked amused. ‘My monthly visits that you so pointedly went out of your way to avoid whenever you could? Daisy was—Daisy,’ he said. ‘The twins were extremely taken up with the model I brought down, and Ben was out, too.’

Arizona sighed. ‘Sarah and Richard do seem to have bounced back, but then they have each other,’ she said of Peter Adams’s ten-year-old twins. ‘As for Daisy, it took her months to understand he was never coming back, then she got weepy for a while, but I think she’s forgetting now, although she tends to cling, but I’m always here so—Ben is the only real problem.’

‘How so?’

‘He’s moody, he seems to have given up on schoolhe seems to hate the whole world, other than his horse and riding, at times.’

‘I see.’

‘That’s a great help,’ Arizona remarked after a pause.

‘I didn’t think you wanted my help.’

‘I don’t, but you insisted on knowing. Look,’ she said impatiently, ‘this is getting us nowhere. How come no-one has seen fit to let me know about all this before today?’

‘A lot of it wasn’t known for a time. There were offshore ventures that took quite some time and patience to unravel.’

‘But I don’t understand,’ she said, perplexed. ‘How have we been going along in the meantime?’