Ruthless Contract. Kathryn Ross
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href="#ulink_4211372d-cd83-56a5-bede-fe727d41d960">CHAPTER TWO
SOMEHOW Abigail got through the funeral. She felt as if she had been through the worst day of her life as she stood in the lounge of a hotel passing pleasantries with friends of Jenny and Mike.
‘You must be Jenny’s sister.’ The glamorous young brunette who had been standing by Greg’s side throughout the service stopped to talk to her on her way across to the buffet-table.
‘That’s right, Abigail Weston.’ Politely Abbie held her hand out.
‘Jayne Carr—I’m Greg’s girlfriend.’
For a moment Abigail was taken aback. So Connie was a thing of the past! In retrospect she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised; no doubt Greg had cheated on the beautiful Connie, just as he had cheated on her, once too often.
With determination Abbie pulled her mind away from the past and from Connie and concentrated on the woman who stood before her. She was heavily made-up, Abbie noticed, with dark kohl pencil around sparkling almond-shaped eyes. Her hair was very short and sophisticated, her body slender to the point of boyishness. ‘Jenny and Mike were dear friends,’ she continued sadly. ‘We are all going to miss them dreadfully.’
‘Yes.’ Abbie nodded and tried to rack her brain to think if Jenny had ever mentioned this woman’s name to her.
Come to think of it Jenny had never mentioned anything about Greg’s social life. The subject of Greg Prescott had been delicately handled after Abbie had made it clear to her sister that she was not interested in him—that she was in love with Charles.
As she thought about that little white lie now, she felt guilty. Her sister had been clearly disappointed. ‘Darling,’ she had said, with that note of deep irritation in her voice, ‘you can’t possibly prefer Charles…Look, why don’t you come over for a holiday and…?’
Swiftly Abbie switched her mind away from that conversation. Jenny had asked her on numerous occasions over the last year to come over to the States, and she had deliberately put the trip off because she didn’t want to see Greg. That fact hurt now. She should have come, and to hell with Greg Prescott.
She glanced across the room and met the subject of her thoughts head on, eye to eye.
Greg looked more attractive than ever today. His dark suit sat easily on his broad-shouldered frame. His hair gleamed raven-black in the late afternoon sunlight.
They had hardly spoken a word since that argument last night. In fact, his manner had been downright abrasive. She glanced sharply away from him, but much to her annoyance she could see him making his way across to her out of the corner of her eye. Desperately she tried to ignore him and concentrate on what the woman beside her was saying, but she broke off in midsentence as Greg reached her side.
‘I see you’ve met Jayne,’ he murmured, putting a rather possessive arm on the woman’s shoulder.
‘Yes,’ Abbie nodded.
‘I was just telling her how close I was to Jenny, darling.’ The woman smiled up at him. ‘I think the poor girl felt a bit lost when she first moved over here with Mike.’
Greg nodded. ‘Well, it was very different for her, but she adapted well. I think she was happy in the States.’
‘Yes…she told me that she loved it,’ Abbie sipped her wine. ‘But then again, I think she was determined to fit in because it meant so much to Mike being back at home.’ It was strange standing here analysing her sister’s life. Dear God, the girl had only been twenty-three. Five years younger than she was. She turned and put her glass of wine on the table beside her. ‘Just excuse me a moment,’ she said hurriedly, as she turned away and headed towards the ladies’ room.
Her heart was pounding and she felt literally nauseous as she splashed some cold water on her face. It took a while for the panic-stricken feelings of grief to subside. She took a couple of deep breaths and then forced herself to repair the damage to her face.
She looked deathly pale and at this precise moment the dark purple of her dress did nothing for her. With a sigh she flicked a brush through her long hair. Jenny and Mike wouldn’t want her to feel like this, she told herself briskly. She was going to have to pull herself together and get on with life. She had the children to think of.
When she went back outside a lot of the people who had packed the room were starting to leave. She made her way across to where Margaret was standing by the door, thanking people for coming.
She turned to Abbie as there was a lull in the proceedings. ‘I don’t know about you, but I will be glad when this is over.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I just feel exhausted.’
‘I know.’ Abigail put her hand over the other woman’s. ‘You were right about not bringing the children. It would have been too much for them.’
Margaret nodded. ‘They are better to be with their friends. I don’t think Mike would have wanted them to go through this.’
They were interrupted by some more people giving their condolences and Abbie, after exchanging a few words, let her gaze wander over towards Greg again.
He was still standing with Jayne, apparently deep in conversation with her. The woman was very beautiful, Abbie thought idly. She wondered how serious Greg was about her?
He looked up at that moment and caught her watching him. ‘You’ve left your wine here,’ he said, picking up the glass from beside him and holding it out towards her.
Abigail had very little choice but to walk over and take it from him.
‘Feeling better?’ he asked, his dark eyes raking over her pale countenance as she stood beside him.
‘I’m fine,’ she said lightly.
‘How long are you planning to stay in New York, Abbie?’ Jayne asked, as she sipped her wine and eyed her over the crystal rim of her glass.
‘My return ticket is for three weeks’ time, then I should really be getting back to my work.’
‘What do you do?’ Jayne asked curiously.
‘I’m a commercial artist. I work mostly from home,’ she finished, meeting Greg’s eye as she spoke. Hopefully he would take the point. She would be much more suited to looking after the girls than he was.
Greg said nothing, nor was there a flicker of any emotion in his deep eyes. It was impossible to tell whether her dig had hit its mark or not.
‘How interesting,’ Jayne murmured. Then somebody came past who claimed her attention and Abigail found herself momentarily alone with Greg.
‘Your girlfriend seems very nice,’ she said, more to cover the awkward silence that Jayne’s absence had left than anything else.
‘She’s a fellow-attorney. I work quite closely with her on a lot of cases,’ Greg remarked casually.
‘Brains as well as beauty,’ Abigail remarked lightly.
He ignored that. ‘So you have booked your return flight,’ he said instead. ‘You’ll have to tell me the exact date so that I can make the necessary arrangements to drive you to the airport.’
Abigail bit down on the softness of her lower lip. ‘Please don’t concern yourself about me,’ she said stiffly. ‘I can easily get a taxi to take us to the airport.’
Obviously that dig did hit its mark because he shook his head and his eyes glittered dangerously. ‘Don’t push your luck, Abbie,’ he muttered under his breath, ‘because you will live to regret it.’
A shiver raced down her spine at those words, but she met his eyes with a look of defiance.
‘There is no way you are taking the children anywhere,’ he assured her in a low growl of a voice. ‘For one thing I have their passports, and for another, if you so much as take them down the road without my