Lifelong Affair. Carole Mortimer

he corrected. ‘I even have a bottle in case he wants feeding.’

      ‘Too clever by half,’ she mumbled, feeling too elated from holding Courtney in her arms to feel any real anger with Alex. Holding the tiny baby gave her a sense of well-being, as if she held a tiny part of Glenna to her.

      Glenna would have loved Courtney, she had been looking forward to his birth so much. No wonder she had clung to life long enough to give birth to him. If only her strange decision to make Alex Hammond and herself Courtney’s guardians could be explained that easily!

      Although Alex seemed more approachable today, less inclined to be the austere stranger she was used to. Perhaps Courtney’s innocence had got to him too. Although she wouldn’t count on it! No doubt he would revert to type soon enough.

      ‘Damn, damn, damn!’ he muttered as they entered the long driveway to the house, and slowed the car down.

      ‘What is it?’ Morgan sat forward concernedly, Courtney still—thank goodness!—fast asleep in her arms.

      ‘I hope you feel up to facing the press again,’ he ground out. ‘Why the hell didn’t my mother ring the police and have them thrown off my land!’ he bit out grimly as he halted the car and was instantly surrounded by obvious members of the press, tape-recorders and cameras at the ready. ‘There’s going to be no keeping Courtney’s existence a secret now,’ he turned to mutter. ‘Just stay at my side, Morgan, and don’t say a word!’

      What did he take her for! He treated her as if she was some sort of brainless idiot, not a woman of twenty-six. Who did—–

      ‘And calm down,’ he taunted at the flash in her green eyes. ‘You don’t want them to think you hate me, do you?’ he mocked before swinging out of the car to walk round and open the door for her, ignoring the questions being thrown at him as if he didn’t hear them.

      ‘Is this your nephew, Mr Hammond?’ The jostling became more intense as Morgan stepped out of the car with Courtney in her arms.

      ‘The son of Glenna McKay and your brother Mark?’ they persisted as Alex guided her towards the house.

      ‘Is this Morgan McKay, sir?’ another tried politeness.

      ‘Of course it is,’ another man said eagerly. ‘Don’t you watch her in Power Trap?’ His tone implied appreciation of the character she played. ‘It’s been rumoured that you and Miss McKay are the baby’s guardians,’ the man followed them as they walked up the steps to the house. ‘Do you have any comment to make about that, Mr Hammond?’

      Again Alex ignored the question, although Morgan could see by the tightening of his mouth that he was angry such information had become public knowledge.

      ‘Does this mean that, in the best tradition of romances, the two of you will be marrying?’ the man persisted.

      Morgan knew she had blanched, and she could see that Alex had stiffened at such a suggestion. She and Alex marry? Never!

       CHAPTER THREE

      HER arm felt bruised from the way Alex thrust her inside the house, closing the door in the young man’s face as he would have continued his questioning.

      Morgan had never been so shocked in her life. Where did people get these ideas from? She and Alex hardly knew each other, and what they did know they disliked. They would certainly never consider marrying each other, not even for Courtney’s sake.

      Alex was scowling heavily as his mother came out of the lounge, throwing his car keys down carelessly on the hall table. ‘Have you called the police, Mother?’ he rasped.

      ‘Police?’ Rita Hammond looked puzzled. ‘Oh, you mean the press,’ she dismissed.

      ‘Of course I mean—–’

      ‘Alex, you had no right to take that woman with you to collect my grandson!’ Her icy blue eyes spat venom at Morgan.

      He frowned. ‘Are you saying you told the media?’ he asked softly.

      ‘No, of course not,’ the elderly woman snapped, striding over to stand in front of Morgan. ‘Give him to me,’ she ordered, holding out her arms for the baby.

      Morgan’s arms tightened about the tiny shawl-wrapped form. She didn’t like the almost hysterical gleam in Rita Hammond’s eyes. She had been wrong about this woman’s lack of emotion concerning Glenna and Mark’s death; Rita Hammond was slowly cracking up, her emotions held on too tight a rein.

      Morgan looked appealingly at Alex, and was relieved when he stepped forward to take control of the situation.

      ‘It’s time for your medication, Mother—–’

      ‘I don’t want it,’ his mother refused imperiously, shaking off his hand on her arm. ‘It just makes me sleepy. If I hadn’t been sleeping this morning I could have come with you to collect Courtney. She has no right to him!’

      ‘Mother—–’

      ‘She’s a slut, Alex, just like her sister was. I will not permit her into my grandson’s life!’ Rita Hammond’s voice was beginning to rise shrilly. ‘You should know that no member of that family is capable of bringing up a child decently!’ Her eyes glittered with hatred.

      Morgan was very pale. ‘Mrs Hammond—–’

      ‘Give the baby to me!’ The other woman reached out for Courtney, and Morgan stepped back out of her reach. There was no way she was going to relinquish the baby to this hysterical woman!

      ‘Mother—–’

      ‘Give him to me!’ Rita Hammond began pulling at her arms, waking the baby, who instantly gave a heartrending wail of hunger. ‘You see?’ she turned triumphantly to her son. ‘Courtney doesn’t like her either. He’s frightened of her. Alex, I forbid this woman to come near my grandson.’

      ‘Let’s go to your room, Mother,’ Alex controlled her, firmly propelling her out of the room, not sparing a second glance for the shocked and pale Morgan.

      What did Rita Hammond mean by calling Glenna a slut? How dared she talk about Glenna like that, and imply that she was the same! The woman might be bordering on collapse, but her insults to Glenna were unforgivable.

      ‘Shall I take the baby for his feed, Miss McKay?’

      She turned at the softly spoken words, her eyes widening as she took in the neat nurse’s uniform and kindly face of the middle-aged woman standing in front of her, her arms held out for Courtney.

      ‘I believe he’s hungry, Miss McKay,’ the woman added pointedly as the baby continued to scream.

      Anger warred with practicality, and finally it was the latter that won. Courtney was hungry, extremely so by the sound of him, and as she had no idea what Alex had done with his bottle Morgan had no choice but to hand the baby over to the capable-looking woman.

      ‘Mr Hammond engaged you?’ she asked casually as the woman held Courtney confidently in her arms.

      ‘Of course,’ the woman nodded. ‘I’ve prepared the nursery in your absence. If you’ll excuse me …’

      Morgan nodded abruptly; Courtney’s lungs sounded as if he were going to burst if someone didn’t feed him soon! But Alex’s decision to engage a nurse for him without even consulting her was unforgivable, especially when she had already made her feelings about such an idea clear.

      He hadn’t returned from his mother’s room after ten minutes’ wait, and with an angry sigh Morgan went up to her room to shower and change for lunch. What she had to say to him couldn’t wait much longer. Glenna might have been treated like an outcast in this family; Rita Hammond’s words more than showed that!—but Morgan McKay wasn’t