Married For Real

‘And I disagreed with you, Arizona, but we won’t pursue it at the moment—’

‘You’re going to find it hard to pursue at any moment,’ she said impatiently and stood up. ‘I think I’ll go to bed, if you don’t mind.’

‘Yes, I do mind,’ he said simply.

She looked at him incredulously. ‘You don’t imagine you can dictate what time I go to bed, surely?’

‘Do you usually go to bed at this time?’ he countered.

‘No,’ she said unwisely, ‘but—’

‘Then you’re only being childish,’ he said mildly. ‘Sit down and finish your coffee.’

Sheer frustration caused her to sit down. ‘I’m not a child—how dare you treat me like one?’

‘All right.’ He laid his head back and regarded her with a wicked glint in his eyes. ‘Would you rather I said you were being tiresomely female?’

‘No, I would not,’ she replied shortly. ‘Because, if anything, you’re being tiresomely male. If you want me to stay we’ll need to talk about something else.’

‘Such as?’

‘Scawfell, the kids, the weather—we have a huge range at our disposal.’ She regarded him with a tinge of malice.

He laughed. ‘Why don’t we try something a bit more interesting. How you grew up and where, for example.’

‘Wherever it was the whim of my mother to be at the time,’ Arizona said briefly.

‘What about your father?’

‘I never knew him. He...deserted my mother upon discovering she was pregnant.’

‘Ah,’ Declan Holmes said.

‘What does that mean?’ she enquired tartly.

‘Why you’re anti-men—’

‘I’m not. I would never have marrried one if that was the case.’

‘Perhaps you married Pete for other reasons. Such as security, all this.’ He overrode her as she opened her mouth. ‘And perhaps,’ he continued, ‘it wasn’t only the security of his supposed wealth you sought, Arizona, but protection from other men.’

Arizona set her teeth and gazed at him angrily. ‘Such as you, Declan? You could be right.’

‘Am I?’ he murmured, unperturbed.

‘That’s something you’ll have to work out for yourself,’ she returned. ‘I’m amazed the thought occurred to you,’ she added candidly. ‘I assumed you thought I was all bad.’

‘Not at all. I’ve told you you’re a good stepmother, a good manager et cetera.’

‘You’ve also offered me, by way of marriage, the inducement of your wealth, Declan. If that’s not the ultimate insult, I don’t know what is.’

‘You forget that I also offered you the means to keep together a family that means a lot to you. But principally, you’re forgetting the kind of...pleasure we could bring to each other.’ He looked at her blandly.

‘Yes, well, I only have your word for that—it didn’t take long to get back to that subject, did it? I am really going to bed now, Declan.’ She stood up with an air of finality written all over her.

He laughed at her softly and wickedly but stood up. ‘Very well, my dear. Good night.’

‘Is that all?’ Arizona said unguardedly and feeling as if she’d had the wind taken out of her sails.

‘What more would you like?’ he asked with a hatefully raised eyebrow. ‘I thought you were dead set against any demonstrations of... affection.’

She turned away abruptly and with a slight flush staining her cheeks. ‘I am.’

‘Although we could always shake hands,’ he murmured from right behind her. ‘Would that be in keeping with your view of our relationship, Arizona? A purely business affair.’

‘Yes,’ she said through her teeth, swinging back. ‘You’ve got one thing right at last, Declan.’

But he still looked only wickedly amused, and she was suddenly acutely conscious of his height and physique, the way his clothes sat on his well-built frame and how wide his shoulders looked beneath the white-knit sports shirt, how lean his torso and long his legs in his khaki trousers...

She realized suddenly and too late that she’d unwittingly fallen prey to that curl of interest Declan Holmes had been able, always able, she thought with a pang, to arouse in her, but not only that, make her hate herself for. All right, she thought then and tossed her head, you’ve always dealt with it before, do so again, Arizona!

She held out her hand. ‘A businesslike handshake, Declan? Why not.’

He took her hand but didn’t shake it. Instead, he examined it thoughtfully and said finally, ‘An elegant hand, Arizona. But I’m glad you don’t go in for long, talon-like nails.’

She looked at her short, oval, unvarnished nails and grimaced, taken a bit by surprise. ‘They’re not exactly practical, long nails, are they?’

‘Many women have them, however.’

‘I would have thought...’ She stopped.

‘Go on,’ he prompted.

‘I would have thought you liked your women ultra-sophisticated, Declan,’ she said deliberately.

He smiled enigmatically. ‘Which just goes to show you shouldn’t have too many preconceived ideas about me, Arizona. Mind you, I’ve seen you looking pretty sophisticated at times.’

She grimaced. ‘Sophisticated clothes, perhaps. But since I’m happiest when I’m gardening or making plans for this place or with the kids, I don’t think I’m particularly sophisticated at all.’ She stopped rather suddenly and looked defiant first then weary.

‘What?’ he said softly.

‘Didn’t I give myself away—making plans for this place,’ she repeated ironically.

‘A little,’ he said reflectively, ‘but I’d always rather you were honest with me, Arizona, so don’t worry about it too much.’ And so saying; he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Arizona was frozen for a long, strange moment during which she was assaulted by the oddest sensations. She seemed to tingle all the way up her arm. If she’d thought she was conscious of Declan Holmes before, she was doubly so now, and she got the unnerving impression that if he chose to draw her into his arms, she’d be unable to resist.

What did happen was that the door opened and Ben stood there, damp, windblown and breathless, and he took one look at the frozen little scene before his eyes and said in a voice quite unlike his own, ‘Let her go, damn you, Declan! I knew that’s what you were here for, but she was my father’s wife.’