To Make A Marriage. Carole Mortimer

to admit she had never thought of Audrey in that particular way before, had always assumed the older woman was happy with her life and career. Or maybe Adam was right, and they had all just selfishly taken Audrey’s presence here for granted all these years…!

      But Audrey was quite right, too; at only forty-two, there was still time for her to have a family and home of her own.

      From the warmly appreciative way Adam was looking at Audrey now, he was more than aware of the other woman’s attraction. And why shouldn’t he be? There were only just over two years’ difference in their ages…

      ‘Thank you for that kind remark, Adam,’ Audrey told him warmly as she stood up to kiss him on the cheek.

      ‘I’m not being kind, Audrey.’ He looked down at her intensely. ‘I’m stating a fact.’

      ‘I thank you, anyway.’ Audrey smiled up at him as she squeezed his arm. ‘I’ll just go and get another cup and you can join us for a coffee,’ she said before disappearing out of the room.

      The silence that followed her departure was stilted to say the least, Andie decided as she glanced across at Adam beneath long lashes.

      He was dressed casually today, in a black silk shirt teamed with fitted black denims, having thrown his silver-grey jacket into one of the wicker chairs as he’d entered the sun-lounge a few minutes ago. He was looking tall and lithe, his slightly overlong silver-blonde hair brushing the collar of his shirt, a slender gold watch nestling in the golden hair of his right wrist.

      Adam looked exactly what he was, Andie realised: a highly successful businessman, and a very eligible bachelor!

      His expression was guarded as he looked across at her. ‘You decided to come down, after all,’ he murmured distantly.

      He was still angry, Andie realised. But by what right? Okay, so they had all been a bit unthinking where Audrey’s resignation was concerned, but Adam had no idea of the circumstances of the last few weeks—and he would remain in ignorance as far as she was concerned! He had no right to judge what he didn’t understand. Besides, she still stuck by her position that it wasn’t for any of them to stand in the way of what Audrey had decided she wanted to do.

      ‘Yes, as you can see,’ she replied, sitting forward in her seat as she prepared to stand up. ‘You’ll have to excuse me, I’m afraid; I was just about to go over to the hothouse to check on Mummy’s roses.’

      Adam gave her a derisive glance. ‘I’m sure they can continue to grow for the next ten minutes or so without your checking on them! Long enough for you to sit with me while I drink my coffee, at least.’

      She drew in a sharp breath at his undoubted mockery. She and Adam seemed to have been at odds with each other just recently—and she couldn’t say it was something she was very comfortable with.

      ‘I’m sure they can,’ she acknowledged softly as she remained seated. She was feeling slightly vulnerable since her leave-taking of the magazine yesterday, and certainly didn’t feel up to another confrontation with Adam. ‘Did you know that it was Jonas presenting Danie with a bunch of yellow roses, just like the ones Mummy loved to grow, that confirmed for Danie that she was in love with him?’ she continued conversationally.

      ‘No.’ Adam smiled as he stretched his long length in the chair opposite hers. ‘Although that sounds like the unpredictable Danie we all know and love,’ he went on affectionately. ‘How do you feel about having a doctor in the family?’

      Her aversion to anyone in the medical profession, since going into hospital at the age of five to have her tonsils out, had become a family joke. And as Adam had been almost part of that family for the last twenty years…

      She retained her casual demeanour. ‘He could come in useful, I suppose,’ she answered flippantly.

      Adam chuckled. ‘I’m sure Jonas would be pleased to hear it!’

      ‘He’s an obstetrician, did you know?’ Andie said.

      ‘I think Rome did mention it.’ Adam nodded. ‘I wonder how on earth Danie ever met him?’ he asked thoughtfully.

      Andie knew exactly how her impulsively madcap sister had met the gorgeous Jonas Noble. But that was something else that wasn’t for public knowledge. And in this particular case, Adam was definitely part of the public…

      ‘Rome is out on the estate somewhere,’ she very firmly changed the subject. ‘But he shouldn’t be too much longer.’

      ‘I’m not complaining,’ Adam drawled, smiling warmly as Audrey returned with the promised cup and saucer.

      ‘What man would complain about having coffee with two beautiful women?’

      ‘One beautiful woman, I’m afraid,’ Audrey announced.

      ‘The post has just arrived, so I’ll have to leave the two of you for a while,’ she told them regretfully.

      ‘Shall I pour, or would you like to be Mother?’ Adam invited sardonically, once he and Andie were alone once more.

      Andie gave him a sharp glance, her hands clenched tightly on the arms of her chair as she felt her cheeks lose all their colour, breathing shallowly in her shock.

      Did Adam know? Had her father, despite her request for privacy, confided her condition to this man, his best friend?

      Because she was going to be ‘Mother’—in six months, she was going to have a baby!

      The realisation of her pregnancy nine weeks ago had come as a tremendous shock to her, one that she hadn’t taken to too readily initially. After all, without the baby’s father in her life, it was something that she would have to go through alone.

      But four weeks ago there had been the scare that she could lose the baby, and from feeling in the depths of despair, not knowing quite what to do, she had suddenly realised how much she really wanted her child. So much so that she wasn’t willing to do anything that might jeopardise the pregnancy going full-term. Which was why, on Jonas’s advice, she had taken a nine-month leave of absence from her high-powered, time-demanding job…

      Her family knew of her pregnancy, of course, as did Audrey, but they had all been sworn to secrecy. Had her father now broken that promise and confided in Adam…?

      Andie looked at him searchingly, seeing only lighthearted enquiry in his expression as he didn’t wait for her answer but poured the two cups of coffee himself, and started sipping the strong, milky brew unconcernedly.

      No, he didn’t know, Andie realised with a thankful sigh. There would be plenty of time for that later, once her pregnancy began to show.

      Strangely, she had lost weight at the beginning of her term, but Jonas had assured her that was only because of the worry and strain she had initially put herself under, because of her uncertainties, and that eventually she would start to put that weight back on. If the tightness of her clothing about her waist was anything to go by, that was starting to happen now!

      But not enough, she was relieved to realise, for Adam to be in the least suspicious that his sardonic remark was actually fact! She was glad about that; Adam was the very last person she wanted to know about her pregnancy.

      Because although she knew Adam had always been in love with her mother, Andie—for her sins!—had always loved Adam. Oh, she had always known it was a pointless love, that her feelings would never be returned, but she couldn’t help that, she loved Adam anyway. So his pity—or even worse, his scorn!—concerning her pregnancy, were not things she felt able to cope with on top of everything else…

      Adam sipped the coffee without tasting it, his thoughts broodingly introspective. He had been pleased on his arrival to see Andie had come down this weekend after all—damn it, he was more than pleased! But it had become glaringly obvious during the last few minutes that the strain which he had sensed between them on Monday was still there. In fact, it was worse!

      Hell!

      He