Burning Obsession. Carole Mortimer

only to be expected,’ Jordan dismissed, sitting down beside her in the waiting-room.

      ‘I suppose so,’ Kelly agreed slowly. ‘But he seems to think I’ve been on holiday.’

      ‘Well, you did just get back from France.’

      Kelly didn’t ask how he knew that, no doubt he had his sources. ‘That wasn’t a holiday, Daddy was working the whole of the time we were there.’

      Jordan shrugged. ‘Confusion, as you said.’

      ‘I’m not so sure——’ She broke off to look anxiously at the doctor as he emerged from her father’s room.

      Jordan stood up. ‘Doctor,’ he politely shook hands with the other man.

      ‘Mr Lord,’ Michael Jones nodded.

      Kelly joined then. ‘How is he?’ she asked eagerly.

      ‘Would you both like to come along to my office?’ the doctor invited. ‘We can talk more freely there.’

      She could barely control her impatience as they all became seated in the ward office. Was there something wrong? Was her father more ill than they had first thought?

      The doctor took his time, fiddling idly with the paperweight on his desk. ‘I realise this may seem a strange question,’ he said finally. ‘But could you tell me how long the two of you have been married?’ he spoke to Jordan.

      Jordan looked as puzzled at Kelly. ‘Five years. Why?’

      ‘Mm, just as I thought,’ the doctor nodded, his expression grave.

      ‘What is it?’ Kelly’s voice was shrill. ‘What’s wrong?’

      ‘Nothing too serious,’ Dr Jones instantly assured her. ‘But serious enough. It seems that the bump on your father’s head caused slightly more damage than we first suspected.’

      ‘But you said there was no fracture——’

      ‘There isn’t, Mrs Lord,’ the doctor soothed her. ‘You see,’ he took a deep breath, ‘your father, he—well, he—A few minutes ago he apologised for interrupting your holiday, remember?’ he quirked one eyebrow at her.

      ‘Yes,’ she nodded frowningly.

      He sighed. ‘The holiday he referred to was your honeymoon. I’m afraid this bump on his head has caused your father to have a slight lapse of memory.’

      ‘Which means?’ Jordan prompted impatiently.

      ‘Which means Mr Darrow has, temporarily we hope, lost five years of his life. As far as he’s concerned the two of you have just returned from your honeymoon.’

       CHAPTER THREE

      KELLY was stunned, speechless. Her father had lost his memory! Well, not all of it, just the relevant part that would tell him she and Jordan were no longer together.

      ‘He has to be told,’ she said unthinkingly, looking up at the doctor. ‘He’ll have to be told that Jordan and I——’

      ‘I doubt it’s wise to tell him anything?’ Jordan interrupted coldly. ‘Am I right, Dr Jones?’

      ‘Quite right, Mr Lord,’ the other man nodded gravely. ‘At the moment he simply couldn’t cope with the knowledge that five years of his life are total blackness to him. His heart condition——’

      ‘Heart condition?’ Kelly repeated dazedly. ‘I don’t know of any——’

      ‘I know,’ Jordan acknowledged. ‘David told me about it years ago.’

      ‘How many years ago?’ she demanded to know.

      ‘About four.’ he replied calmly.

      Dr Jones nodded. ‘That would be about the time he first found out about it.’

      ‘But I wasn’t told,’ Kelly said dully. ‘My father said nothing to me.’

      ‘He probably didn’t want to worry you,’ the doctor excused. ‘After all, he’s still a young man, he wouldn’t see any necessity for telling you of something that may never happen, to worry you unnecessarily.’

      ‘Now that he’s lost his memory he probably doesn’t even know about it himself,’ she pointed out bitterly.

      ‘I would say it’s a certainty that he doesn’t, which is all the more reason why he must receive no undue shocks. Normally he knows to avoid any unnecessary stress or strain, without the knowledge of his condition he won’t take the necessary precautions, so we must try to protect him all we can.’

      ‘But how long will he be like that?’ Kelly sat forward in her seat. ‘How long before he remembers?’

      The doctor shrugged. ‘It could be hours, days, even weeks. I have no way of telling.’

      ‘Weeks?’ she echoed. ‘But he—In the meantime what do we do?’

      ‘The safest thing is to act as if it really were five years ago. His memory will come back of its own accord, if we try to force the issue it would in all probability make things worse.’

      ‘But we can’t—Jordan and I—we don’t——’

      ‘What my wife is trying to say,’ Jordan cut in dryly, ‘is that she and I are separated.’

      A ruddy hue coloured the other man’s cheeks. ‘I see,’ he said slowly. ‘That makes things a little difficult.’

      ‘In what way?’ Jordan’s eyes were narrowed.

      ‘Mr Darrow has no other injuries other than the cut on the head. Medically he’ll be able to leave hospital in a few days’ time. Normally he would go home to you, I wouldn’t recommend that he be alone at the moment. But if you’re divorced——’

      ‘We aren’t divorced,’ Jordan put in smoothly. ‘Just separated, as I said.’

      ‘I see. Then perhaps it would be possible after all.’ He stood up in preparation of ending the meeting. ‘I strongly recommend that you seriously consider a temporary reconciliation for Mr Darrow’s benefit. Obviously I can only advise you …’

      ‘Obviously,’ Jordan accepted dryly. ‘We’ll discuss the problem and let you know what we decide.’

      ‘I’m not going back to living with you,’ Kelly told him as soon as they were alone.

      ‘I knew you’d say that,’ Jordan said disgustedly, standing up to pace the room. ‘As usual you’re only thinking of yourself.’

      ‘I’m——’

      ‘You’re a selfish little bitch!’ he dismissed. ‘You always were. You aren’t thinking of your father at all, are you? Think what will happen if he suddenly finds out that far from being an ecstatic couple just back from our honeymoon we’ve in fact lived apart for the past five years.’

      An angry flush coloured her cheeks when he called her a selfish bitch, but the rest of what he said basically made sense. ‘We can’t turn the clock back,’ she said desperately, knowing that she couldn’t live with him, especially after responding to that kiss yesterday. She would be leaving herself open to further attacks of that sort.

      Jordan’s expression was cold and removed. ‘I’m not proposing we turn the clock back, I wouldn’t want that either. Marrying you at all was sheer madness, I should have had more sense. No, we won’t be returning to that, Kelly, but I’m willing to make a show of things for the sake of my friendship with your father. Of course, the ultimate decision lies with you.’

      ‘I—I can’t think! I don’t want to be with you any more than I have to, and