Double Fault (20 page)

They all looked at the famous gossip columnist with startled surprise, partly because his presence at the table was so unexpected, and partly because his columns were flamboyant, witty and frequently vitriolic and yet he was such an unobtrusive man. He was someone who would never be noticed in a crowd. He gave them a wide smile without a trace of apology.

“Sorry to butt in folks but I’m just doing my job. All I want are a few quotes and then I’ll leave you in peace. Celebrating something are you?”

“My birthday,” Pierce’s eyes sparkled when he saw Charles Farrow’s fury. He knew that the older man suspected a set up but also knew he was in no position to prove it.

The journalist pulled a notebook out of an inner pocket as he directed his first question. “No chance of you returning to the tennis circuit then?”

“None! It’s a young man’s sport.” Pierce’s fingers tightened on Kerry’s although he didn’t look at her.

“And you think you’re over the hill at thirty-four?” Richard Jennings had obviously done his homework.

This time it was Pierce’s turn to smile with what appeared to be genuine amusement. “Not exactly over the hill…just setting out on a different journey. The tennis circuit is great for the young and single and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It’s given me everything I have. Without it I wouldn’t be in the position I am today where I can pick and choose what I do.”

“But?” With the unerring instinct of a seasoned journalist, the older man sensed a scoop.

“But it’s no place for a married man with children.” Pierce shrugged, apparently bored by the question.

Richard Jennings glanced quickly at Marissa before he looked back at Pierce. “Do I take it you’re about to announce a date?”

“For what?” Pierce gave him the sort of long, cool gaze that would have thrown someone less thick skinned.

“Your engagement of course.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” Pierce threw back his head and laughed. “For once in your life you’ve been out-gunned Richard. Let me introduce you to my wife Kerry, and to her father, Charles Farrow of
Farrow Holdings
.”

The journalist was momentarily speechless, capable only of gazing at Kerry in open mouthed disbelief. Marissa flushed as red as her vivid dress and gave a tight little gasp of fury as her gaze slid past Pierce to where Kerry was sitting, still holding tightly onto his hand. When she had first arrived at the table she had been so intent on the photographer she had dismissed her as someone of no consequence, not even checking to see who she was. Now, however, she recognized her and her claws came out.

“Why Kerry, how lovely to see you,” her smile was totally insincere. “I didn’t know it was you because it’s been so long, and you look very different without that yard of hair hanging down your back.”

Kerry smiled. She knew what she had to do. “The children made it impractical,” she explained, joining in with Pierce’s game. “You know what they’re like when they’re tiny…all that grabbing onto everything and pulling hard.”

Marissa’s blank expression said that not only did she not know what small children were like but she didn’t have the faintest clue what Kerry was talking about either. It was left to Richard Jennings to clear everything up.

“Are you telling me you’re married and you have a child?” He directed his question at Pierce although his eyes rested on Kerry with considerable admiration, taking in the detail of her clinging pink dress and the sheen of her urchin curls.

“Children,” corrected Pierce. “We have twins, Ben and Lauren. They’re two years old.” The pride in his voice was genuine despite the game he was having at everyone’s expense.

With an exclamation of disgust the journalist threw his notebook down amongst the debris of the meal. “I must be in the wrong job. Pierce Simon married with two children and I haven’t reported it. For god’s sake I’m a gossip columnist. News like this is meant to reach me as it happens.”

“Your problem not mine. I didn’t ask other people to hit the ball for me when I played tennis,” Pierce chuckled as he slipped his arm around Kerry’s shoulders and pulled her closer.

He forestalled any more questions by waving over the waiter and asking for extra glasses and a fresh bottle of wine. Then he carried on with the conversation. “Publicity is as bad for a marriage and children as a life on the tennis circuit, so Kerry and I choose to keep a low profile. I guess we’ve done well to keep it quiet for this long.”

If Richard Jennings recognized he’d been maneuvered away from asking about dates and details, he didn’t comment. Instead he turned to Charles Farrow.

“And what about you Sir? What do you think about your grandchildren and the elaborate security screen that has kept them out of the public eye for two years? As owner of
Farrow Holdings
surely you would have liked to acknowledge them in public occasionally, tell the world your daughter and son-in-law are building a Farrow dynasty.”

Charles Farrow gave the reporter a long, cold look. “I honored their request for privacy,” he said. Not by so much as the flicker of an eyelid did he give away his real feelings.

Richard Jennings probed a little deeper, too old a hand to be put off by a glacial stare. “Then there’s no truth in the story that’s been circulating for years now, that you and your daughter are estranged?”

“Surely the fact that we’re sitting at the same table answers your question.”

Because there was no reply to this, the journalist turned, somewhat desperately, to Marissa. “And what about you Miss Reynolds? You must have been party to this clever ploy to keep reporters at bay. After all you’re pretty high profile yourself, so did you do a deal? Those occasional pictures of you and Pierce together, were they a part of it? Were they all about boosting your career while Pierce kept us all looking in totally the wrong direction?”

Marissa managed something fairly close to a smile as she grabbed what little credit she could. “Pierce and I have been friends for years.”

Richard Jennings nodded, satisfied he’d put the right two and two together and completely unaware he’d made five. Then a though struck him. He turned again to Pierce.

“Why now? If you’ve managed to keep the paparazzi fooled all this time, why broadcast now?”

“Who’s broadcasting?” Pierce shook his head. “I’m just here for a quiet meal.”

“You didn’t telephone the paper then?”

“And hand you my privacy on a plate. I’m not mad you know!”

“I’m beginning to think I might be,” the journalist gave up on Pierce with a disgruntled frown and turned to David. “You’re not planning to retire or anything are you because this seems to be a night for big news?”

David chuckled. “I intend to be sports fodder for a few years yet.”

“No wedding bells sounding in your direction then?” He looked at Mel as he spoke but David shook his head.

“None! And before you resort to fantasy let me introduce you to Mel Parker. She manages the Spa Bistro at
Greenleas
and she is also Mrs Simon’s business partner.”

Chapter Eleven

Kerry was very quiet on the journey back to
Greenleas
. She sat well away from Pierce in a tight little world of her own. He didn’t speak to her as they covered the few miles between the restaurant and the sports club but she was aware of an enormous tension building between them, a tension that could only be resolved in one way.

He pulled into the car park and killed the engine so they were alone in a pool of darkness. “Are you sure you didn’t want to go on to the nightclub with David and Mel?”

“Quite sure,” her voice was little more than a whisper as she aimed for humor. “It’s all right for them, they don’t get woken up at six o’clock every morning.”

Sensing his smile, she could picture his rueful expression. Their lives had become so interwoven in the past few weeks that she now knew what to expect from him on most occasions. They were no longer two people linked by an unplanned fusion of genes. Instead they were two people with mutual aims who might learn to be friends. She put out a hand and touched his arm. He was no more than a dark shadow sitting beside her.

“I want to thank you…for tonight,” her words were halting as she searched for a way to explain how she felt. She needed him to know that by making her face her father he had exorcised a demon. It no longer mattered that Charles Farrow had let her down at the most crucial moment of her life. After tonight she would be able to view everything more objectively, maybe even see her father’s side of the story. Perhaps they could even talk about it at sometime in the future although they hadn’t made any plans to meet. She tried to explain all this to Pierce, to talk to him for the first time about the trauma of her early pregnancy.

He listened in silence while she told him how her father had tried to make her have an abortion and how he’d thrown her out of the house when she refused. “And the way he talked about it made everything that had happened between you and me seem dirty somehow…I…I can’t really explain…but it was…”

With an exclamation of disgust Pierce pulled her into his arms. “Stop it!” That’s nonsense and you know it.” His mouth was very close to hers.

She could sense the anger surging through him and for a moment she wasn’t sure whether it was directed at her because of what she had just told him about her feelings or whether it was directed at her father. His next action left her in no doubt and when they finally drew apart they were both trembling with the intensity of their need for one another. With a muttered curse Pierce threw open the driver’s door. The interior light clicked on, illuminating Kerry’s flushed cheeks and the moist redness of her lips.

“We’ve still got to get rid of George and Mary,” he groaned, his eyes blue pools of turbulence that spoke a language of their own as they caressed every inch of her face.

She put out a finger and touched his mouth, tracing the familiar lines of his lips until he gave an anguished moan. “For god’s sake Kerry, I can’t take much more of this. Three years is a long time to be celibate.”

She drew back from him then, a tiny frown of unease on her face. Surely he wasn’t going to start lying now, not when everything was beginning to make sense.

“What about Marissa?”

“What about Marissa?” He caught her fingers and kissed each one before turning her hand over and pressing his lips against her palm.

Angrily she curled it into a fist. “Stop playing with me Pierce. You know exactly what I mean and if we’re to make anything of our marriage we must at least be truthful with one another.”

“You mean there is some chance of success after all?” He was teasing her now, totally confident until he saw the expression in her eyes. He stopped laughing then and shook his head.

“Ah…forgive me sweetheart, and believe me too. You’ve no reason to be jealous of Marissa.”

“Despite the fact I saw you kissing her?”

“Despite the fact you saw
her
kissing
me
, as I told you at the time.”

“There’s a difference?”

“There is most decidedly a difference,” he gave a soft chuckle as he lowered his head to the scooped neck of her pink dress. “Would you like me to demonstrate?”

“Not yet,” the breathlessness returned to her voice as his lips brushed her throat. “Not until you’ve explained about Marissa.”

He gave a sigh of frustration. “All right, you win. Marissa has been seeing your father on and off for years, ever since she first met him in fact. I think he’s her security blanket in case she doesn’t land someone closer to her own age.”

“Like Pierce Simon?”

“You said it,” he gave a twisted grin. “I’ve had to work hard at keeping her at arm’s length these past few years without frightening her off altogether.”

When he saw her puzzlement his expression softened. “Strange as it might sound, she was the only contact I had with you. Because of her relationship with your father I kept hoping that if I strung her along she would eventually let something drop, pass on the information I was sure your father was keeping from me. Don’t forget I only found out the real truth a few weeks ago. Until then I thought your father was acting on your instructions. I had absolutely no idea he’d thrown you out, still less that you were pregnant. To be fair I don’t think Marissa knew either. I’d hazard a guess you weren’t one of their regular topics of conversation!”

He paused and dropped a gentle kiss on her upturned face. “Don’t look like that Kerry. It’s all over now. When you saw me with Marissa I had just told her I was too busy to keep on meeting up with her and she was trying to salvage a little pride by attempting to turn me on.”

“Did she succeed?” The corners of Kerry’s mouth started to curl upwards.

“What do you think?”

“I’d like you to tell me.”

“Well considering I’d just spent a very frustrating night holding you in my arms, I think I was very controlled, especially when Marissa made it clear she was available.”

“I was available too,” Kerry lowered her head and spoke into his shoulder. “That first night when you carried me into your bed showed me exactly how I felt about you. I was ready to agree to anything until I saw you with Marissa.”