Double Fault (7 page)

For the first time she felt a faint surge of triumph, the shadowy return of some of her old spirit. “If you mean the children, then no. They’re staying with George and Mary for a few days.”

“Because you don’t want them to see me or because you’re too busy to look after them yourself?” His anger was ready to erupt again but this time she didn’t flinch.

“Both. You already know I have to cover for my partner for a couple of days until she recovers from her sickness bug. If I try to look after Ben and Lauren at the same time then they’ll suffer, so I’ve agreed they should stay with George and Mary. Also I’m not about to let
my
children get caught up in any arguments between us,” she challenged him with her possessiveness.

“Is that so?” The bleakness in his eyes was replaced by a cold calculation, “Well I’m not prepared to have
my
children farmed out to just anyone because their mother doesn’t have time to look after them.”

“It has nothing whatsoever to do with you. Besides George and Mary aren’t just anyone. They’ve known Ben and Lauren since they were babies. They’re like grandparents to them.”

“If that’s supposed to make me feel better then you need to think again, because I’m not disposed to feel kindly towards people who have spent two years enjoying what was mine by right, to say nothing of the fact that I could have supplied them with real grandparents.” He tightened his grip on her arm as he steered her down the front path to the darkened recess of the porch.

“If you cared about them at all then you’d be pleased they’re being well looked after,” Kerry went on the defensive so she didn’t have to listen to the truth behind his accusation.

“I’ve only your word for that, and frankly I have very little faith in your word, or even in your suitability to bring up
my
children.” Pierce took her keys and opened the front door. He clicked the light switch in her hallway, flooding them both with the orange glow that shone through the cheap plastic shade.

* * *

Kerry stared up at him in disbelief.  He couldn’t mean it. It was anger talking. How could he possibly doubt her? He’d seen the twins, seen how happy and healthy they were. Surely she was just imagining the threat behind his words.

He returned her startled gaze implacably. “You don’t have any choice Kerry. Either you marry me so they have two parents, or I’ll fight you through the courts for them.”

She felt her legs begin to give way beneath her as she stumbled through to the sitting room. His words whirled round and round in her head. Marry him! The thought was total madness. The shock of discovering he was a father must have temporarily deranged him.

She sank down onto the lumpy couch and put her head in her hands. She felt sick. Pierce sat down beside her and watched the changing expressions on her face as fear and disbelief mingled with incredulity and horror. When he was sure she was capable of listening he spoke again, but this time slowly and calmly as if he was dealing with a particularly recalcitrant child.

“I meant what I said Kerry. I won’t have my children living like this when I can offer them so much more. Nor will I expose them to the sort of media gossip that will ensue if the story of their first two years gets out. They are my children and they will bear my name, as will their mother. We will be married by special license at the end of the week.”

She raised her head and stared at him. “You can’t make me.”

“True. But I can drag you through the courts if you refuse…and believe me I will.”

“So my wishes don’t come into it?” She felt herself rallying as a rising anger gave her the strength to fight back.

“Why should they? You didn’t take my wishes into account when Ben and Lauren were born.”

“That was different and you know it,” she flared back at him, pulling herself as far away from him as she could on the sagging couch. “Children were the last thing you wanted on the tennis circuit. You were always going on about it. They came slightly below a wife if I remember correctly, and that was pretty well at the bottom of the list. If I’d stayed with you and had the children it wouldn’t have been long before they…we…started to cramp your style. Being a father would have ruined the image of the great Pierce Simon love machine.”

Their eyes caught and held, anger fizzing between them in great bursts of tension while Pierce assimilated the ferocity of her challenge. Then his eyes darkened. “We can discuss the past later. This is about what happens now. You can forget your childish accusations as well because the tennis circuit is two years behind me. I’m living in an apartment at
Greenleas
at the moment while I wait for my house to be completed. I also have a stable lifestyle and enough money to ensure Ben and Lauren are properly cared for if you want to cavort about town playing at a career instead of looking after them.”

“That’s not fair! You can see I have to work to keep a roof over their heads.”

“No I can’t. As far as I’m concerned you have never needed to work. There was always enough money to care for all three of you.  It was entirely your decision to turn your back on it at a considerable cost to our children, and without giving me any choice along the way.”

He stood up and looked around the room as he finished speaking, his gaze taking in the shabby furniture, obviously second or even third hand, the threadbare carpet and the cheap curtains. Kerry knew it was all scrupulously clean. Her worn fingers bore plenty of evidence of late night housekeeping but despite that, and her attempts to brighten it up with cheerful cushions, it still looked poor; poor and bare, with few ornaments and only one picture, a snapshot of the twins at a few months old.

Pierce saw it and with a muttered exclamation he walked across to the mantelpiece and picked it up. The corners were curled and there was a fingerprint smudge where Ben had once seized it with sticky hands. He studied it for a long time and when he finally turned around he was still holding it, his eyes unreadable.

“Take it or leave it Kerry. Either marry me or fight me for the children in court.”

* * *

Kerry groaned as her alarm clock dragged her out of a fitful sleep. She had tossed and turned for most of the night, too inhibited by the fact that Pierce had taken over her couch to even get up to make a hot drink. Exhaustion had finally won out as the familiar street noises began outside the window and now, less than two hours later, it was time to get up. She put out an anxious hand and stopped the alarm before it could disturb Pierce. Then she pushed back the duvet and sat on the edge of the bed.

In blue cotton pajamas and with rumpled hair and her cheeks still flushed with sleep she looked like a child herself; far too young to be responsible for two-year-old twins; but inside she felt a hundred years old as she reflected on her future. Although Pierce had said little more the previous evening she knew he meant what he said. If she wanted to keep the twins and avoid the sort of heartbreak a court case might bring, then she had to marry him.

He had made it very plain that any reluctance on her part would drive him to instant legal action, and she knew she couldn’t compete.  With his money and contacts he would win hands down. After all what court would give exclusive custody to an single mother who had quite deliberately hidden her children’s existence from their father, subjecting them to a life of near poverty when she knew he was capable of providing for their every need? Her reasons for leaving him would be dismissed as childish whims, and the fact that her own father had disowned her would also be seen as further evidence of her unsuitability to care for the children on her own. Worse, even though Pierce had left the tennis world behind him, his public profile would still win him the sympathy of all his fans while she would be publicly castigated as the woman who had deprived him of his right to be a father.

She had no choice. She had to marry him if she wanted Ben and Lauren. She rested her head in her hands as she contemplated the bleakness of such a loveless union. What did he expect to gain from marrying her? Why not just fight for the children anyway? She gave a dry sob.

“Kerry,” Pierce pushed open the bedroom door and walked across to where she was sitting. He was carrying a mug of coffee. He was barefoot and his chin was dark with stubble. He looked awful, as if he, too, had been lying awake all night contemplating a miserable future.

“What do you want?” She made a grab for her robe and pulled it around her shoulders as she stared at his bare chest and the golden hair that tapered to a V where his waist narrowed into unbelted slacks.

“I heard your alarm and thought this might help,” he held out the mug with an expression that had lost some of the previous night’s animosity. “Come on, drink it up, it’ll make you feel better.”

“Nothing will make me feel better except to be left in peace in my own home,” she ignored the mug as she concentrated on buttoning her robe right up to the neck.

“We’ve already discussed that, so you may as well reconcile yourself to the fact that I’m not letting you out of my sight until we’re married,” he was patient rather than irritated as he placed the mug of coffee on the corner of the bedside table.

“Not even if I promise to bring the children to see you every day?” She tried bribery without much hope of success.

“Not even then. Your track record on staying around isn’t good enough.” His wry smile acknowledged her ploy as he left the room.

She summoned up her few remaining dregs of courage and pulled a face at his retreating back. Then she reached for the coffee and drank it reluctantly, trying not to feel grateful as it eased her parched throat.

Chapter Four

It didn’t take Kerry long to shower and pull on a pair of faded denims and a warm sweater, but by the time she padded downstairs the breakfast was ready.

“I’m not entirely clueless so you can stop looking so dumbfounded,” Pierce said when he saw her surprise. He was fully dressed now and apart from needing a shave looked far too presentable, the weariness she had noticed earlier banished by cold water and strong coffee. A familiar surge of annoyance washed over her as she sat opposite him at the table. He had always been the same, had always been able to look fresh and ready for anything however hard he’d been living the night before. And from the glimpse of neatly folded blankets through the half open doorway, she saw he had even found the time to tidy up the couch as well.

He placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her with an attempt at humor. “You can forget the tennis circuit king now. This is the real Pierce Simon, egg-scrambler deluxe!”

She eyed her breakfast distastefully, refusing to respond with the smile he was looking for. “Aren’t I to be allowed any choices at all now? You know I don’t eat a cooked breakfast, or maybe you’ve forgotten that too just like you seem to have forgotten all the things you said in the past.”

“I told you we’re not going there, Kerry,” he warned as he poured her a fresh mug of coffee. “Besides that was when you weren’t all skin and bone with dark circles under your eyes. You don’t look as if you’ve fed yourself properly for months and as your future husband I intend to do something about it.”

“I thought Ben and Lauren were your only concern,” she pushed the egg moodily around her plate until he put out his hand and stopped her.

“You are their mother. I owe it to them to make sure you’re fit enough to look after them,” his voice was unexpectedly gentle as he trapped her cold fingers beneath his own, stopping her restless movements.

“Last night you wrote me off as a hopeless case, not to be trusted with them,” she raised her eyes to his, her expression mutinous until he started chafing her hands between his own to rub some warmth into them. Instantly her pulse slowed and she felt the traitorous leap of her heart. Hastily she snatched them away before all her old feelings returned and overwhelmed her.

He sighed as he picked up his knife and fork. “Yesterday I was too angry to think straight but thanks to your very inhospitable couch, I’ve spent most of the night awake going over everything you told me. I know you’ve done a fine job. Ben and Lauren are lovely children and I’m going to be proud of them but that doesn’t mean I can ignore the fact you appear to be systematically wearing your fingers down to the bone.  There’s no need for that now Kerry. I can look after all three of you and give you all the time you need to rest and regain your bloom.”

She gave a bitter laugh.  “For what? For a marriage that’s being forced on me! Is that my part of the bargain Pierce? Do I have to work hard at becoming an attractive accessory again?”

His expression hardened. “I might have known better than to expect you to meet me half way. All right, let’s set out our terms while you’re in such a picky frame of mind but while we’re doing so, don’t forget this marriage has been forced on both of us. I would never have chosen to start married life with a ready made family.”

She pushed away her half eaten breakfast and stared at him. “What do you mean, terms?”

He shrugged. “Well we can’t rely on good old-fashioned love can we, so the sooner we agree on a set of rules the better. We need to agree how best to keep Ben and Lauren safe and happy while we work through our own problems.”