Double Fault (9 page)

* * *

At first Mel thought he was joking but a second look at Kerry made her think again. She stared at both of them with a bewildered expression on her face.

“You don’t mean
this coming
Saturday!”

Kerry nodded her head miserably. She’d been so full of the opportunity Pierce was offering them, so glad she could begin to repay Mel for her friendship, that she’d pushed the thought of her forthcoming wedding to the back of her mind. Now, faced with Mel’s bewilderment, the sheer impossibility of it all washed over her again and left her speechless. Pierce stepped into the silence.

“We knew one another years ago. We’re just picking up where we left off.”

“But this Saturday…it’s all so sudden. Why the hurry? And what about Ben and Lauren? Surely they need more time to adjust.”

“I…they like Pierce,” Kerry felt tears choke in her throat. How was she going to explain to Mel she’d been living a lie? How was she going to tell her and Mary and George she was a single mother by choice, not because the father of her children had abandoned her? It made her feel cheap and mean in the face of their generous support. She searched desperately for the right words, her eyes pleading instinctively with Pierce. He gave a slight smile.

“Children are very adaptable and I’ll let them get used to me gradually.”

“Ben can be a handful!”

His smile widened. “An obstacle I’ll deal with when I come to it. Now are you ready to hear about my offer or are you going to keep us on the doorstep for the rest of the afternoon?”

* * *

They drove to
Greenleas
in silence, Kerry because she was emotionally exhausted and Pierce because he seemed to be lost in a world of his own. Neither of them spoke until he’d parked Mel’s van next to his Mercedes at the far end of the car park.

“Why didn’t you tell Mel you are the children’s father?” Kerry twisted her hands together in her lap, her voice little more than a whisper as she ventured the question that had been haunting her for the past two hours.

Pierce paused in the act of opening the driver’s door and glanced across at her. “Because she’s your friend so I assumed you’d tell her if you wanted her to know.”

Her expression was troubled. Why wasn’t he angry when she’d not only taken away his fundamental right to parenthood but also denied it to him now?

“I didn’t know how to tell her,” she admitted, staring down at her tightly clasped fingers so she didn’t have to look at him.

“It isn’t important. As long as Ben and Lauren are under my legal protection I can wait for the rest.” His hand was warm as it covered hers and she only gave a token resistance as he slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.

His unexpected generosity, combined with the warmth of his body through his sweater, tipped Kerry over the brink and the tears she’d been holding back since the previous day welled up in her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had held her like that. For too long she had had to be the strong one, coping with the children’s baby illnesses and upsets alone, so suddenly the temptation to hand everything over to this new, caring Pierce, was very strong. He seemed to sense it because he held her even tighter as he tilted her face towards him.

“Let go Kerry. You’re not on your own anymore.”

It was dark now so she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. She could feel his lips though, as they brushed her forehead and then feathered their way down the soft curve of her cheek to claim her lips in a kiss that was neither demanding nor threatening. It was all that was needed to make the tears spill over. They trickled down her face and into their joined mouths. Immediately Pierce stopped kissing her and with an odd little groan pulled her head into the angle of his shoulder, making no attempt to talk to her until the worst of her tears were over. Then he opened the driver’s door.

“Come on. Let’s go and find something to eat. Everything always looks better from the outside of a hot meal.”

Her attempted smile ended in a half sob as she climbed down from the passenger seat and followed him round to a side entrance that led straight into his private suite of rooms. 

“Sit down and make yourself comfortable while I order some food. You look all in.”

Obediently she did as he said, and then tried to hide the tears that were still trickling down her face by blowing her nose. He smiled at her.

“You’ll soon feel better. Now what would you like to drink?”

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

“Come on Kerry. It’s not that bad. You’ll get used to me again, I promise. And so will Ben and Lauren.” He’d seen her fresh outburst of tears and he sat down beside her and pulled her round to face him.

But she couldn’t answer him. Instead she scrubbed at her streaming eyes with a damp tissue and hoped that one day he would understand why she had behaved as she did, and forgive her. She also hoped she wouldn’t get used to him too easily because if she did then she was going to have to face up to the fact she had never stopped loving him and wanting him, while all he wanted was Ben and Lauren.

Chapter Five

The next day passed in a whirl of organization as, ignoring Kerry’s protests, Pierce took over
Melanie’s Kitchen
, barking out instructions to his kitchen staff while they worked their way through Mel’s list and menus.

By late morning, however, his patience finally gave way. “For goodness sake stop following me around Kerry. I know it’s your company but with Mel sick and you too emotionally exhausted to cope, this is the only way it’s going to work. Besides, it’s keeping my kitchen staff occupied. Until the hotel and conference centre open up at the end of the month they’ve too much spare time on their hands. They are also perfectly capable of preparing and serving all the lunches you have booked for the rest of the week, so you don’t need to worry.”

“But there’s nothing for me to do,” Kerry continued to trail after him dejectedly as he strode around
Greenleas
issuing orders and checking on the almost completed building work. She wasn’t used to having time on her hands and with the twins away and his staff taking over her workload, she felt unnecessary and unwanted. It was all very well for Pierce and Mel to agree it would be better if she rested until after the wedding; they didn’t have her thoughts churning around inside their heads; thoughts she could only ignore if she was too busy to think.

Her obvious misery eventually got through to Pierce. With a long-suffering sigh he took her hand and marched her past the squash courts and the gym to the double wooden doors marked
Spa
. He thrust them open and ushered her through with a brief smile that barely hid his irritation.

“Maggie, I’ve a new customer for you,” he addressed an attractive girl wearing a spotless white tabard and trousers. She was checking some figures at the reception desk but when the doors opened she looked up with a smile.

“Sauna, massage, manicure, pedicure, facial?”

“The works,” he relaxed slightly and grinned.  “Whatever it takes to unwind her. In fact don’t let her out of here until you’re sure she’ll sleep for twenty-four hours straight.”

“That bad hmm! Well you’ve picked a good time. As you can see, lunchtime on a Wednesday is not exactly our most busy period at the moment. You’ve the whole spa to yourself.”

“But I don’t want a sauna or a massage…or…or any of those other things,” Kerry turned furiously to Pierce. She wished he would stop ordering her around like this when she was only tense and emotional because of him and his stupid ideas? What she actually needed was to talk to him, to try to find a way out of this ridiculous arrangement. The last thing she needed was a sauna or a massage. She began to tell him so but Pierce had already gone, leaving the doors swinging gently behind him.

“Well I knew he was anxious to improve business but I didn’t realize he’d resorted to dragging unwilling customers in off the street! Come on, it isn’t that bad,” Maggie put her hands on her hips and grinned at Kerry.

Her smile was wide and friendly, inviting intimacy at Pierce’s expense, and after a moment Kerry found herself responding with a resigned shrug. “Why not? I haven’t anything else to do. Pierce has made sure of that.”

“He must be suffering from withdrawal symptoms again,” Maggie picked up a pile of fluffy white towels and indicated that Kerry should follow her.

“Withdrawal symptoms?” Kerry moved forward reluctantly.

The other girl laughed. “It happens quite regularly, usually when there’s a crisis. We call it the
‘I wish I was a tennis star again syndrome’
and bow and scrape accordingly!”

When she saw Kerry’s look of incomprehension she paused outside a door marked
Treatment Room 1
and explained. “When he was the world’s favorite tennis star everybody jumped to do his bidding. His coach kept problems to a minimum, especially just before a match, and he was cosseted and protected. He was allowed to be temperamental. It was even seen as a good thing if it fired him up to win. That all stopped when he retired though, and here at
Greenleas
the problems are all his.  He’s learned the hard way that being temperamental only makes them worse, so he copes by playing god whenever it gets too much for him. I don’t know what you did, but you were obviously getting too much for him!”

“But that’s not going to solve anything,” Kerry was intrigued enough by this new insight into Pierce’s behavior to stop thinking about her own problems for a brief moment.

“Oh it does. It prevents argument,” Maggie held the door open with an inviting smile. “After all, you gave in about the spa didn’t you?”

Kerry gave a wry smile as she accepted the cotton towel the other girl handed to her. “Does anybody ever stand up to him?”

“Not so you’d notice, except for Marissa Reynolds. When she’s around and things don’t go her way it’s like the clash of the titans.”

She didn’t need to elaborate. Kerry’s stomach turned a complete cartwheel when she heard Marissa’s name. A willowy red head with endless legs and perfect American teeth, she had been a ranked player in the days when Kerry knew her. She had also been the darling of the media who couldn’t get enough of her stunning figure, her wide green eyes, and the fact that the camera loved her. Despite never quite making the grade on the tennis circuit, she had rarely been out of the news as she posed beside the biggest stars, including Pierce, or modeled the new season’s kit, or gave an interview about whatever was happening in her life. Kerry guessed nothing had changed except that she’d probably built a celebrity career for herself by now.

“Does she visit
Greenleas
often?” She concentrated on wrapping herself in the warm, scented towel while she waited for Maggie to answer.

“All the time when she’s in
England
. In fact we’re all taking bets she’ll be Mrs Pierce Simon before long. If she doesn’t wear him down it won’t be for want of trying that’s for sure…there’s nothing subtle about Marissa.”

Kerry stretched out on the massage table, loosened her towel and gave herself up to Maggie’s ministrations as she thought about what she had just been told. If she was honest none of it was very surprising. It was inevitable Pierce would miss the applause and adulation of his fans just as much as he would miss the actual physical achievement of defeating opponent after opponent across the world. Nor should she be surprised Marissa Reynolds was back in his life because their names had been linked romantically long before Kerry met him.

She let her mind travel back to the heady days when she’d first met Pierce. Even then he’d had Marissa in tow. She remembered their first meeting. Pierce and Marissa had been attending a reception together as representatives of the competitors who were to take part in a tournament sponsored by her father’s company. Kerry was there on sufferance. Although she was a keen amateur tennis player her father hadn’t thought to include her and she’d had to beg for an invitation when she heard about the reception. Eventually, realizing her knowledge of tennis might be useful, he’d given in and she had dressed for the occasion with excited anticipation, taking more care than usual with her appearance because she was going to meet Pierce Simon.

He’d been everything the television screen had shown him to be, and more. Tall, slim, muscular, with flashing blue eyes and wild sun streaked hair, he had looked almost piratical. His teeth had gleamed in a sardonic smile as he bowed over her hand. He could pick out a fan at twenty paces.

She’d blushed, knowing he’d seen through her thin veneer of sophistication to the excited teenager beneath. Embarrassed at being found out, she’d concentrated on talking to his companion instead. Marissa, however, had little time for other women, especially young, pretty ones, so she had cold-shouldered Kerry in favor of her father. At fifty, he was almost twice Marissa’s age but she didn’t consider that a failing as he was still male and very attractive. Only Kerry knew his youthful looks and smooth skin were down to a discreet cosmetic surgeon. She also knew it was something she must never, ever allude to.