"Please, Ava, I don"t want you to protect me from the awful truth. Someone told me today that Nathan and Irene were once lovers. I was hoping you might be able to tell me if it"s true or not. Please tell me if you do. It. . .it"s important."
"Good lord, Gemma, I. . .I"m speechless! Nathan and Irene. . .lovers! Whoever said such a scandalous thing to you?"
"Never mind who said it. Is it true ? You once told me that Nathan had bewitched every woman at Belleview at one time or another. Just who were you referring to?"
"Heavens. I was exaggerating! I didn"t mean literally even one. A few of our cleaners over the years have gone ga-ga over him. I myself developed a schoolgirl crush at one time. And so did Jade."
"I know about Jade."
Do you? Ava wondered, her very good memory providing a picture of a half-naked Jade in Nathan"s arms by the pool less than a year ago. Still, that was before Nathan had met Gemma. To give the man credit, he did seem to be crazy about his young wife, as she was crazy about him.
"It"s Nathan"s relationship with Irene that concerns me," Gemma added tautly.
"Then let me a.s.sure you it was a very cool one. Irene and Nathan barely tolerated each other at best. Irene barely tolerate d most people."
"I see. . . Then you have no evidence or suspicions that anything of a s.e.xual nature happened between Nathan and Irene? I"m talking about not long after Nathan came to live with you all at Belleview, when he was quite young."
"I"ve never heard of anything so disgusting!" Not that Nathan wasn"t capable of having an affair with an older woman, Ava conceded with a silent ruefulness. She"d long known about his being the live-in lover of some actress in her forties when he"d been barely seventeen.
But he hadn"t had an affair with Irene. She was sure of it. Irene had, if anything, always been a little afraid of Nathan, who had a way of looking at you back then that was quite frightening. Byron used to excuse his protege"s remote coldness as perfectly normal for a lad of his background. And maybe he had been right. But Ava herself had often felt uneasy in his presence. There were dark layers to Nathan"s character that she believed no one had ever seen, which was perhaps just as well.
But nothing would be served by telling Gemma that.
Gemma had asked if she had any hard evidence of Ir ene and Nathan being lovers and that was the question she was answering.
"It"s a lie," she said convincingly. "Truly, Gemma, I"m shocked that anyone would even suggest such a thing. Who is making such a scurrilous claim?"
"I. . .I can"t tell you that."
"Why not?"
"I just can"t," the girl said in such a wretched voice that Ava became very worried. Who could it be?
An inspiration struck. Could Irene have told this vicious lie to someone at some stage in order to make trouble? Irene had hated seeing anyone happy. Had she perhaps told Lenore while she was still married to Nathan, thereby putting the nail into the coffin of that already rocky relationship? But if that was so, what on earth was Lenore doing telling Gemma? Surely she wasn"t trying to get Nathan back, was she? She didn"t love him. No, that couldn"t be it. Who, then?
Anger at this malicious snake in the gra.s.s fuelled Ava to speak sternly.
"Don"t believe anything Irene might have told anyone, Gemma. That woman couldn"t lie straight in bed at night. She was evil . Evil , I tell you!"
"I see," Gemma said, still sounding upset. "But just say it did happen. I mean. . .if Nathan did go to bed with her, it probably wasn"t his fault. He. . .he was very young at the time, with Irene the older party. If the situation was reversed, and it was a man with a much younger adopted daughter, then people would blame him, wouldn"t they? They wouldn"t blame the girl. . ."
Ava"s heart went out to Gemma. Oh, how that girl loved that man. Why, she was prepared to forgive him anything ! But she shouldn"t have to forgive something that hadn"t happened.
"Gemma," Ava advised firmly, "you have to forget what this person has told you. I can a.s.sure you that it is not true! I can only think that he or she is trying to make trouble between you and Nathan, for whatever reason. And I certainly wouldn"t be bringing this matter up with Nathan. He"ll only deny it, and rightly so. But where would that leave you? He"d be furious to think you"d been discussing him behind his back. You know what he"s like."
"Yes," Gemma sighed. "I do. . ."
Ava frowned. "Aren"t you happy with him, dear?"
She found Gemma"s reluctance to answer very telling. So that was how the land was lying, was it? Well she couldn"t say she was surprised. Good husband material Nathan wasn"t. It just showed you that all the good looks and s.e.x appeal in the world couldn"t make up for other things.
Ava stiffened slightly when her mind unexpectedly filled with an image of Vince. Now why, she asked herself, would thinking about Nathan make her think of Vince? They were not at all alike. Vince wasn"t just a good-looking hunk. He was a genuinely warm-hearted and decent man. He and Nathan were as different as chalk and cheese.
"Marriage is never easy, Gemma," she said, not from experience but from observation.
Gemma laughed. "Oh, I know that, Ava. Now . Yet I thought when I married Nathan that all my dreams had come true."
"And it"s more like a nightmare?"
"I wouldn"t go that far. . ."
Much as I"m not your husband"s biggest fan, Gemma, I think there"s much in his past to explain the man he is today. That mother of his was a shocker, from what I"ve heard."
"Yes, I realise that," the girl sighed, "I just wish he"d tell me about his past himself. . ."
Ava didn"t think Nathan was ever going to do that.
"I. . .I love my husband very much," Gemma went on, a catch in her voice, "but I think he has a lot of problems he has never faced."
Ava had to agree. "Men have great difficulty facing their shortcomings, my dear. Be patient. Nathan is not all bad. If anyone can teach Nathan to love, it"s you."
"I hope so, Ava. Anyway, thank you for giving me what I think is some very good advice. I"ll try to be more patient and understanding."
"Thank you for asking me. Not too many people ask silly old Ava for anything."
"You"re not silly or old at all!"
Ava smiled at how surprised Gemma sounded at her own words.
"Er -how are things going with the housekeeping?"
"I have my ups and downs. Literally," she added drily.
Gemma laughed. "Oh, you are funny."
"Funny? Me?"
"Yes. You have a delightfully dry sense of humour. I must go Nathan"s just come in. Look after yourself, and thank you again."
Gemma replaced the receiver and looked up, staring straight into a pair of beautiful but cool grey eyes.
"Who were you talking to?"
Gemma tried not to bristle, but did Nathan have to sound so suspicious?
"Ava." came her succinct reply.
"Ava? And you think she has a delightfully dry sense of humour? Come on, now. Who were you really talking to?"
Gemma clenched her teeth hard in her jaw. It was one thing to promise patience, another to practise it.
"I was talking to Ava. If you don"t believe me, call Belleview and ask her yourself."
He kept surveying her in that same cool fashion, his face not betraying any of the frustration she knew must be bubbling over in hers. But she did so wish he wouldn"t do things like this. All her earlier sympathy and understanding was vanishing in the face of his unjust suspicion.
"I believe you, darling. Is there any reason I shouldn"t?" He turned away and strode across the foyer into the living-room. "It"s just that it"s not like Ava to ring," he threw back over his shoulder as he continued on over to the bar. "Is there anything wrong at Belleview?"
"She had a fall today."
"G.o.d, not another one. Is she hurt?"
Gemma hovered in the open doorway, anxious now to escape Nathan and any further inquisition. "She pretended she wasn"t. Look, I must -"
"Did she want you to go over?" Nathan cut in.
"No."
Then why did she ring?"
Gemma sighed. "Just to talk."
Nathan"s glance was sardonic. "Ava never does. She spends her whole life in that fantasy world of hers."
The family"s att.i.tude to Ava had long irked Gemma.
"Well, if she does, then who could blame her?" she snapped. "Byron puts her down all the time and you"re not much better. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Ava"s a nice lady, and not at all as stupid as you make her out to be. Byron is particularly patronising. Look at the way he made her feel small about that mistake over the catering at Jade"s wedding. It wasn"t all Ava"s fault yet she got the total blame. One day, she"ll rebel and shock the life out of all you Whitmores, you wait and see!"
"You"re a Whitmore too," Nathan said wryly. Or had you forgotten?"
She glared at him across the room. "Am I supposed to read some hidden meaning in that remark?"
"Not at all." His face was bland as he picked up his drink. "Can I get you something to drink? You look like you could do with one." "No, thanks. I was just about to run myself a bath." "What a good idea. You certainly need something to relax you. You"re very uptight. Ava"s little chat doesn"t seem to have put you in a very good mood."
Gemma swung away before she made another revealing retort. She hurried into her bedroom where she stripped off her jacket and dress, muttering while she hung them up in her wardrobe. Why did he have to make that sort of double-meaning remark all the time? Why did he have to make it obvious he didn"t trust her any more? What had she ever done to inspire a lack of trust in her love?
The memory of her meeting with Damian Campbell at lunch today slid into her mind and she bit her bottom lip. Nathan would not believe that she"d run into him by accident. Even if he did, he would still be furious with her for having stayed and listened to what Damian had to say.
G.o.d, she wished she hadn"t. She"d been terribly upset for the rest of the day, finding it hard to concentrate at work. Her phone call to Ava had been made out of desperation to find someone who could deny Damian"s appalling claim about Nathan and Irene. To be honest, Ava had surprised her with her firmness and sound advice. The woman was not at all the absent-minded eccentric she"d imagined her to be.
But despite Ava"s rea.s.surances, there still lurked within Gemma"s mind the slim possibility that Nathan might have been seduced by Irene. As for his having openly lived with some woman old enough to be his mother. . . Gemma found that thought both repulsive and disturbing.
"Mmm. Nice slip, that."
Gemma whirled to find Nathan leaning against the doorjamb, lazily surveying her body in its ivory satin petticoat. He lifted his drink to his lips, his narrowed gaze continuing to take in the curves of her womanly body as he emptied the gla.s.s.
Gemma swallowed, not wanting Nathan to start anything with her right now. She was still having #.
trouble dealing with what she"d found out about him today.
"You"ve lost weight lately," he remarked as he continued his slow appraisal of her body. "Aren"t you eating properly during the day?"
She flushed guiltily at the reminder that she"d had no lunch at all that day. "I. . .I thought I could do with losing a few pounds."
"Don"t."
"Don"t what?" she countered sharply. "Don"t think?"
"No, don"t lose any more weight. In fact, I want y ou to put some back on. I liked you the way you were."
"Yes, sir. I"ll get to it right away."
She could feel his eyes upon her a? she kicked off her shoes and started to roll down her tights.
"Are you spoiling for a fight, Gemma?"
"No, of course not," she muttered, recalling how their arguing always ended the same way lately, with Nathan intent on proving that there was one area where she never argued with him. That was the last thing she wanted. "It"s. . .it"s been a long day," she went on, not looking up. "We"re short-staffed at the shop and every man and his dog seemed to want to not only buy opals today but to see everything we had in the place."
"Poor darling. . . Maybe you"ll need someone to wash your back for you, if you"re that tired. . .and a gla.s.s of your favourite wine. I"ll go and get you some."
Gemma"s head jerked up, her mouth opening to protest, but Nathan was gone. Groaning, she went into the bathroom, put in the plug, turned on the water and poured in a whole stack of bubble-bath. If she had to endure Nathan coming in while she was naked in the bath, she was going to make sure he couldn"t see a thing. Stripping off, she lowered herself carefully into the rising water and was well covered by rapidly, multiplying bubbles when Nathan showed up with a tall gla.s.s of chilled Riesling.
"Thank you." she said as he handed it over. "Don"t worry about my back. I"m going to soak."
"So I see." He leant back on the corner vanity, arms crossed. "Are you all set for your trip back to Lightning Ridge?"
Gemma found herself growing tenser by the second. "I"ve booked the flights. And I"ve written to Ma."
"You haven"t got you hopes up, have you? You do realise you probably won"t find out anything."
"Yes, but I have to try. And I"m going to keep trying," she insisted.
"You"re wasting your-time," he muttered. "Just as I"m also wasting mine in here. I think I"ll go order us some food from our favourite Thai restaurant. Clearly you"re too tired for anything tonight, even cooking." And he stalked from the room.
Gemma didn"t know whether to feel relieved, or perturbed. Nathan was like a pendulum. Push him and he invariably came back to knock one off one"s feet. Gemma had a feeling that she might have just pushed a little too hard.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
AVA said not a single word to Byron that Wednesday nig ht about either her fall or Vince, knowing both subjects would inspire critical and condescending comments that she just didn"t want to hear. When she combed her hair with a fringe, it completely covered the cut, so there was nothing to notice. Not that her brother ever really looked at her. He did say grudgingly in pa.s.sing that the new man seemed to have done a good job with the lawns, then was unflatteringly surprised to find that his suit had been collected from the dry cleaners.
AV was content to spend the evening quietly with her memories of the most remarkable day she had ever spent. Not to mention the most remarkable man.
If it hadn"t been for Vince"s promise to bring his art- teacher friend by in a couple of days, Ava would have swiftly slotted Vince into the section of her mind reserved for fantasy men. But his impending visit on the following Friday night kept him right in the realms of real live men.