Wild and Willing! (21 page)

At least the time alone house-sitting for Simon would give her time to think. She didn’t have to put on a bright face for her parents. Her mother had already noticed something was amiss and all she would need was tender
concern and she would crumble. I don’t want to crumble, she thought angrily.

It was six in the morning when a loud hammering downstairs on the post-office door awoke her. She’d only drifted off into an uneasy slumber an hour earlier. Her fatigue-fogged brain tried to concentrate. The noise would wake half the street if she didn’t do something about it.

Tying the belt of her robe, she ran down the staircase into the shop. Even through the frosted glass she knew who stood on the other side.

‘Go away, Adam!’ she yelled as he applied his fist afresh to the wooden panel. ‘I’m not going to open this door.’

‘Fine, I don’t mind conducting this conversation at high volume. I can see net curtains twitching already. I’m sure the neighbours will find it illuminating.’

He would too! ‘With any luck someone’s already called the police,’ she hissed spitefully as she wrestled with the deadlock.

‘It’s true, then!’

She blinked, taking a step back as he surged into the room, his face livid with rage. ‘I could confirm or deny it if you told me
what
is true.’

He gave her a contemptuous look. ‘When your father told me where you were I could hardly believe it.’ His lips pulled back over tightly clenched teeth.

‘My father rarely lies.’ She was still trying to make some sense of the outrage he was exuding from every pore. How had she ever thought him unemotional and cool?

Her comment seemed to inflame him further. ‘You aren’t even going to try and deny it. God, what a fool I’ve been. A blind idiot. I thought—’ He broke off and looked at her with loathing. ‘Where is he, then? Hiding under the bed?’

Light dawned—he thought she was here with Simon! He actually imagined… She shook her head incredulously. He wasn’t just angry, he was insane.

‘Adam, Simon isn’t… Will you listen to me and stop pacing about like that? You’ll knock something over.’ She winced as he narrowly avoided collision with a stack of tinned peaches.

‘Listen to you!’ he snarled scornfully.

‘Unless you want to make a complete fool of yourself that is.’ Anger was beginning to stir in her veins, sending the blood surging through her tired brain. The initial satisfaction she’d felt when she knew she was capable of making him jealous was rapidly dissipating. The inconsistency of his feelings bordered on the farcical. He was here, all sweeping condemnation over her supposed liaison with Simon when he had Jessica waiting for him at home.

‘It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?’ he grated. ‘To think I actually imagined for one instant that the other night meant something to you. Does he know he’s got me to thank for this new, sexually liberated Anna? Shall I tell him? Did you say the same things to him you did to me? Good God, I never thought you could be so cheap! I should have guessed when I saw you in that clinch in the garden.’

Cheap, was she? She felt a dizzying surge of white-hot anger. ‘How dare you spy on me? You’re so smug, aren’t you? It must be nice to be able to look down on us mere mortals from such an Olympian height. How dare you
preach
at me? At least I’m not marrying someone else. You’re the only cheat here, Adam.’

‘Oh, but I’m not,’ he countered. ‘That’s shocked you, hasn’t it? What’s wrong, sweetheart? Would you have answered my calls if you’d known I was on the market like your precious Simon? And a much better prospect, if I say so myself. If you’d waited five minutes I’d have told you that morning.’

‘It couldn’t be that a cheap tart like me made you break off a match made in heaven, could it?’ she mocked, swallowing his shocking announcement. Questions crowded into her brain.

‘Let’s just say I took too much for granted,’ he said grimly. A white line of rage outlined his compressed lips as he regarded her with cold disdain. ‘To think I thought…’ A sound of self-disgust erupted from his chest.

‘You thought I might be worthy of you? Am I supposed to be consumed with remorse now?’ she asked coldly. ‘I’ve lost my shot at the greatest catch of the century! It might interest you to know that I’m not sharing the bed upstairs with Simon or anyone else. Simon is in Canada patching up his marriage and I am house-sitting. I did try and tell you,’ she said as he went deathly pale. ‘But you were so eager to rip my character to shreds I couldn’t get a word in edgeways.

‘No, Adam!’ She forestalled his interruption with a raised hand. ‘It’s my turn now. You’ve had your say, and it was most instructive. For your information I wouldn’t take Jessica’s place if you were the only man on the planet! I think you’re a narrow-minded, arrogant bore!’ The rage burnt itself out abruptly and she suddenly wanted to weep. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and bawl like a baby. She didn’t, of course. She stiffened her spine and tilted her chin defiantly.

‘I think it only remains for me to say goodbye. You’ve covered about everything else,’ he said austerely. If he felt anything at all it didn’t show on his face as he retreated silently out of the door. One flicker of emotion would have been enough to make her break down.

Good riddance, she thought, locking the door firmly. I’m better off without you. Then, despite this self-congratulatory thought, she burst into inconsolable tears.

CHAPTER TEN

‘H
ELP
me pin this on, Mum.’ Anna took the number she held in her teeth and passed it to her mother along with the pins she held in her fist.

‘Turn around, then.’ Beth took the large ‘66’ and pinned it to the pink material of the tutu her daughter wore. ‘That’s it.’ She pushed her daughter away to get the full effect of the pink tutu and pale tights offset by football boots and orange stripy socks. ‘Very eye-catching, but not exactly aerodynamic, dear.’

‘I’m not in this to win, Mum, just to raise lots of lovely money.’ Anna pointed to the logo emblazed on her front.

‘It’s so sad when hospitals need charity to keep them afloat,’ Beth sighed.

‘I’d argue politics, Mum, but while I’m talking there are probably dozens of kids out there who would benefit from this scanner. The appeal has almost reached the target.’

‘Everyone has worked very hard,’ Beth agreed.

‘Looking out this old outfit made me think of that video Jason made for me,’ Anna said casually. ‘I couldn’t find it anywhere; I don’t suppose you…?’

‘It must be around somewhere. Goodness me, I do believe you should go and line up now, dear.’

‘Mother…’ Anna said warningly.

‘Well, I lent it to Adam. He seemed so interested in your dancing. I thought he might like to see it,’ she rushed on defensively.

‘It didn’t occur to you I might
not
like him to see it?’

‘As a matter of fact, no,’ Beth said defiantly. ‘I think he could be very good for you. He’s quite charming.’

‘He’d be the first to agree with you,’ Anna called over her shoulder as she jogged to the starting line. She was very proud that it had only taken her two weeks to forget the man completely. He was the past, she thought airily, and a past she had no intention of reliving.

The serious runners had already begun. Anna was squashed between a spry octogenarian and a middleaged man dressed in a giant nappy and nothing else. The atmosphere of the occasion was enough to lift even the most morose of spirits—not that she needed cheering up.

‘First mile’s the worst,’ a large Easter bunny commented as she topped the first incline.

‘That’s what you need—limitless optimism,’ Anna laughed breathlessly. ‘Can you breathe in that thing?’ she asked, when half a mile further along the rabbit was still keeping pace with her. She eyed the heavy costume and wondered how the poor idiot in it could see. It must be stifling under all those layers of fur and padding.

‘I might need resuscitation,’ the muffled voice observed.

‘You could take the head off,’ Anna suggested. A stitch knifed into her side; laughing and running didn’t make for comfort.

‘Later.’

Anna shrugged and offered her collection tin to the spectators lining the route. She accepted the juice offered around the next bend and once more found the rabbit at her elbow.

‘Have you done one of these before?’ she yelled. He really did appear to be having trouble.

‘No, you?’

‘Two other half marathons and one marathon, but I’m not fit enough to do one of those right now.’

‘Fit! You mean you train for these things?’

Anna was beginning to feel concerned about the rabbit.
Enthusiasm was all very well, but in this heat, in that outfit, if he wasn’t super-fit he was in real trouble.

‘Didn’t you train?’

‘Spur-of-the-moment thing.’ He was panting pretty badly.

‘You should take some fluids.’

‘Can’t drink in this thing.’

‘Anna!’ Two nuns with beards ran past and playfully slapped her behind. ‘Great outfit, love!’

‘Friends?’ the rabbit enquired.

‘Rugby players; one of them comes to me for massage.’

‘I might need some of that before this is over.’

‘You can always drop out.’

‘And lose my sponsorship money? I’m running for the scanner appeal too. Don’t wait for me,’ the muffled voice added heroically as Anna adapted her pace to her lumbering running partner’s. ‘I’ll get there eventually. Remember the tortoise and the hare.’

‘I think you’re in the wrong outfit for that analogy.’

The next several miles passed in relative silence if you didn’t count the gasps and groans coming from the large figure beside Anna. She’d just decided that he couldn’t be that unfit to keep up this pace when the Easter bunny staggered in front of her and fell dramatically at her feet.

‘Oh, no!’ she groaned, coming to a halt in front of the prone figure. She dropped to her knees. ‘I’ll get you out of this in a minute. Get the first-aid people,’ she yelled to the small group which had gathered around. ‘I think this thing is stuck,’ she gasped, struggling with the rabbit head. I hope the poor man is breathing in there, she thought, panting.

The thick fur fabric made it impossible for her to find a pulse. The head shot off suddenly, throwing her back on her heels. ‘Are you al…?’ she began. ‘You rat!’ she spat venomously, much to the amazement of several
people who’d stopped to assist. She stiffened with a fierce sense of outrage. Was this some twisted joke?

‘Rabbit, Anna, rabbit,’ Adam Deacon corrected her firmly.

He wasn’t even breathing hard. He actually looked in a much better condition than she did. ‘That was quite an act,’ she yelled wrathfully. ‘It’s some comfort that you look a total fool.’ So much for his much revered dignity.

‘I was hoping you’d notice that. Hold on, Anna, wait for me!’ he cried as she sped off.

She was fit, but he was obviously fitter. No matter how hard she tried to shake him off he stuck firmly to her side.

‘That’s right, take some fluids,’ he said approvingly when she raised a beaker to her lips.

With a squeak of frustration she flung her half-full cup at his head. ‘Can’t you take a hint? I don’t want you.’

‘Yes, you do, and I’m not going to go away until you admit it.’

‘Are you mad?’ Red-faced, she shot him an incredulous look.

‘Just
desperate
. This was the only way I could be sure of getting you to talk to me. I knew you’d never quit once you’d started.’

‘I’m so predictable, am I?’

What the hell was he doing here? Was this some bizarre joke? He couldn’t mean what his words suggested. Anna couldn’t permit herself the luxury of hope. The memory of the fall from optimism to despair was still painfully fresh in her mind.

‘You’ve got something that belongs to me.’ She threw him a hard-eyed scowl. ‘Mum had no right to let you have it; it’s private.’

I’m over him, I’m coping—that’s hysterically funny! she thought confusedly. Who am I fooling? Anna almost stumbled and Adam’s hand shot out. She ignored it and his injured expression. Now wasn’t the time to start
holding hands; just seeing him was a specialised form of torture!

‘Beth told you?’

‘Jessica told me.’ ‘Jessica!’ That had surprised him; she could tell from his voice.

‘Girlish confidences,’ she continued in a soft, taunting voice. ‘You know how it is.’

‘I’m happy to say I don’t.’

‘I’d be interested to hear what you thought of my performance,’ she gasped as her oxygen-hungry lungs greedily absorbed all she could supply.

‘That makes a nice change,’ he growled sarcastically. ‘You’ve assiduously avoided hearing anything I’ve had to say till now. When was the last time you answered a phone? Your poor mother is running out of excuses to cover your reluctance to talk to me.’

‘You and my mother have a regular mutual appreciation society.’

‘I hadn’t realised just how much you’d lost until I saw that tape,’ he said abruptly. ‘Someone with less guts and determination would have been permanently maimed emotionally. You haven’t wasted your time wailing about the hand fate dealt you, you’ve got on with your life. The fact you can wear that thing—’ he reached out and touched the skirt of her tutu ‘—as a joke impresses me more than I can say. It says it all—you’re quite a woman, Anna.’

She couldn’t mistake the sincerity in his deep tone, and tears stung her eyelids. ‘Did Mum tell you about today?’

She couldn’t risk looking at him. She might see what she wanted to in his eyes, not what was really there. One foot in front of the other; that was what she had to concentrate on.

‘I’m not going to reveal my sources. I knew you wouldn’t speak to me voluntarily. Surely you didn’t
think the moody silence would make me go meekly away?’ He sounded incredulous at the notion.

He was so unbearably sure of himself, it made her want to scream. But all her breath was needed to keep up the killing pace which was fast reducing her to a wreck. At least the pain was distracting enough to enable her to stay relatively sane in his company.

‘Why the pantomime?’ she snapped.

‘I thought you’d be glad I’m prepared to make a complete fool of myself for you, not to mention a good cause.’