While he was away Kelly felt able to relax slightly, meeting Maggie a couple of afternoons too. Her friend had signed the contract with the boutique and Maggie’s boy-friend had duly moved in with her.
‘When do I get to meet him?’ Kelly teased one afternoon, the male articles lying about the flat evidence of his habitation.
‘Meet him?’ Maggie echoed sharply.
‘Yes. Or aren’t any of your friends going to have that privilege?’
Maggie grinned. ‘I’d lock him up and throw away the key if I could.’
‘You are in love.’
‘Very much so. I’d do anything for him. As far as my parents are concerned I’ve already done just that—letting him move in with me. They’re so old-fashioned,’ she dismissed.
Then Kelly felt she must be too. Much as she loved Jordan she didn’t think she could have faced the insecurity of just living with him.
When Jordan returned from his business trip he was even more cold and reserved than usual. And in the five weeks they had all been living together her father hadn’t remembered a thing. He still spent a lot of time at the hospital, and had even been into the office once or twice, and yet nothing seemed to have jogged his memory.
Jordan’s coldness was even harder to bear when he returned, and Kelly had no doubt he was still seeing Anne Fellows; his absence the evening of his return was evidence of that.
Kelly was in the garden when he returned from work the next evening; her father was spending the afternoon at his office.
‘Do you have any plans for this evening?’ Jordan came out to ask her, his business suit impeccably tailored, his shirt snowy white, his tie meticulously knotted. The strain of the last few weeks of living a dual life were beginning to show on him, the hair at his temples even greyer than before, his face much thinner too.
She had little sympathy for him, knowing she didn’t look the picture of health herself. She hated sleeping alone, spent the majority of every night fighting down the urge to go to Jordan’s room and beg to be taken in his arms, while he, she felt sure, spent most of his time thinking of Anne Fellows.
‘Why?’ she looked up to ask him.
‘Because Ian Smythe has been calling me all day urging us to go to them for dinner tonight. Laura doesn’t have long to go now, and she’s determined to have this dinner party before she goes into hospital.’
Kelly frowned. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Neither do I,’ Jordan sighed. ‘It’s one thing putting on a show for your father, another putting one on for other people.’
‘That wasn’t the reason I didn’t think it would be a good idea,’ she said scathingly. ‘I was thinking of Laura.’
‘She’s one determined lady. Ian’s never been able to master her.’
Kelly stiffened. ‘Maybe he doesn’t need to. They love each other, that’s enough for most people. Not all men need to assert themselves over women.’
‘Meaning I do,’ he said grimly.
‘Always,’ she agreed unhesitatingly.
‘It didn’t work very well with you, did it?’ he snapped.
‘Not at all, I would have said.’
‘You could be right.’
‘And you don’t have to put on a show in front of anyone,’ Kelly told him confidently. ‘Laura is well aware of the fact that this marriage is a sham. I presume she’ll have told Ian as much, they don’t appear to have secrets from each other.’
‘You told Laura the truth?’ Jordan ignored her jibe.
‘I didn’t need to, she guessed.’
‘How the hell many more of your cronies know about this arrangement?’ He sounded angry now.
‘Laura is not a crony,’ Kelly said indignantly. ‘She’s a friend. I like her very much.’