Tall, Dark & Gorgeous: To Marry McKenzie. Carole Mortimer

back of the taxi, he had had a chance to look at his leg; a purple bruise was already forming there.

      ‘Can I have a lo—No, perhaps not,’ Fergus amended as he saw Logan’s mutinous look. ‘I think I like the sound of your Darcy,’ he murmured appreciatively.

      ‘She isn’t my Darcy,’ Logan rasped, not even sure she would ever talk to him ever again.

      Which was a pity. He could still remember how good she had felt in his arms when he’d kissed her the evening before—

      Forget it, Logan, he instructed himself sternly. There were too many complications attached to being attracted to Darcy Simon. Complications he intended dealing with at the earliest opportunity.

      ‘So what happens now?’ Fergus seemed to guess at least some of his thoughts.

      Logan pondered awhile. ‘A meeting with my mother,’ he bit out with obvious reluctance.

      His cousin looked surprised. ‘Will that do any good?’

      ‘Probably not,’ Logan conceded. ‘But it might make me feel better. These are good people she’s playing around with.’ He paused, then went on, ‘Daniel Simon was recently widowed; he doesn’t need someone like my mother messing up his life.’

      ‘Hmm.’ Fergus looked thoughtful. ‘I wonder—’ He broke off as the door opened after the briefest of knocks.

      Talk of the devil—!

      Logan’s gaze narrowed as his mother walked unannounced into the room, as beautiful as ever in a fitted black suit and vibrant red blouse.

      ‘Karen told me you were closeted in here with Fergus,’ she said, closing the door behind her.

      Fergus had stood up at his aunt’s entrance, glancing across frowningly at Logan’s set expression as he made no effort to do likewise. ‘I was just on my way to see Brice.’ He moved to kiss Logan’s mother lightly on the cheek. ‘Bye, Aunt Meg. Logan,’ he added evenly.

      Logan ignored the warning note in his cousin’s voice; he had no intention of pulling any verbal punches where his mother was concerned.

      ‘Do stop scowling, Logan,’ his mother snapped impatiently once they were alone, a frown marring the creaminess of her brow. ‘I know I don’t usually call on you here, but I’ve come to ask you for advice—’

      ‘Ask me for advice?’ he said incredulously; this wasn’t what he had been expecting at all.

      Not that he had expected to see his mother here in the first place; if the two of them ever did meet, it was usually by accident and not design. As in the restaurant yesterday evening…

      She gave him an irritated look as she sat down in the chair Fergus had so recently vacated, crossing one shapely knee over the other. ‘You seem to be on friendly terms with Darcy—’

      ‘Correction, Mother, I was on friendly terms with Darcy,’ Logan cut in coldly, having physical evidence to prove that friendship was a thing of the past! ‘Before she realised I was your son. Or do I mean before she realised you were my mother? Same thing, I suppose,’ he ruminated. ‘The end result is that Darcy no longer sees me as a friend.’ Or anything else. And it was amazing how much more that pained him than the bruise on his leg!

      ‘I see,’ his mother said. ‘What am I going to do, Logan?’ She gave a confused sigh.

      Logan couldn’t hide his surprise. This was something new; his mother had never asked for his opinion—on anything!—before…

      ‘About what?’ he prompted harshly.

      ‘Darcy, of course,’ she returned. ‘Do try not to be obtuse, Logan,’ she admonished. ‘I’m sure you are well aware by now of my engagement to Daniel Simon. Darcy’s father.’

      ‘I believe someone did mention it to me, yes,’ he drawled.

      His mother’s eyes flashed deeply blue, two wings of angry colour in her cheeks. ‘If you ever showed an interest in me or my life, Logan, then I would have told you myself! But as you don’t…’ She drew in a ragged breath.

      ‘Last night you gave the impression you had no idea who Darcy was,’ Logan said questioningly.

      ‘Well, of course the two of us have never met, but I guessed who she was last night,’ his mother retorted. ‘I was merely trying to avoid a scene in the restaurant. You see, Darcy doesn’t like the idea of her father marrying me—’

      ‘I wonder why.’ He couldn’t resist his taunting reply.

      His mother gave him a considering look. ‘You know, Logan, you were a lovely little boy, so loving and caring. What happened to change that?’

      Logan could see, by the genuine puzzlement on her face, that she really wanted to know. Incredible!

      ‘Life, Mother,’ he bit out economically. ‘Yours,’ he added hardly as she would have spoken.

      She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe that after all these years—Logan, I know I’ve made mistakes in the past—’

      ‘Mistakes!’ Now he did stand up, moving impatiently to the coffee machine that stood on a sidetable, pouring himself a cup of the dark steaming brew. ‘Your life has had all the stability of a helter-skelter! And during the early years, after my father died, when I wasn’t old enough to have a say in things, you took me along for the ride!’ he concluded disgustedly.

      His mother’s eyes, as she looked up at him, flooded with sudden tears, and she suddenly looked very tiny, and slightly vulnerable. Strange, he had never seen her in quite that light before…

      No! His mother was a consummate actress—she had made a living the last thirty years, both on and off screen, with that acting! He must not be taken in and manipulated by the role she apparently saw herself in now.

      ‘I know I was far from the perfect mother to you, Logan, after your father died,’ she began huskily. ‘But I just missed him so much—’

      ‘I missed him too,’ Logan told her coldly.

      ‘I know,’ she acknowledged shakily. ‘I do know, Logan,’ she insisted as he would have protested. ‘But it isn’t the same. I had lost the man I loved. I was lost, seemed to lose all direction in my life. I—I made a mistake when I married again, I know that,’ she admitted. ‘But I was lonely, and—There’s nothing I can do or say now that will take away the past. It’s the future we have to look to now.’

      Logan looked down at her. This really was a different role for her. His mother had never spoken to him in this way before, never confided in him in this way. And he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it.

      ‘Whose future are we talking about, Mother?’ he queried. ‘Yours or mine?’

      She looked back up at him, her gaze unwavering. ‘I love Daniel Simon,’ she told him quietly. ‘He’s the first and only man I have loved since I lost your father. And I would like to marry him.’

      Logan shrugged. ‘The last I heard, that’s exactly what you intend doing!’

      She shook her head. ‘Not without Darcy’s approval.’

      His mouth quirked. ‘Again, the last I heard—and she didn’t exactly use these words, you understand?—there was about as much chance of Darcy giving her blessing to her father marrying you as there is of hell freezing over!’

      ‘I know,’ his mother agreed dully.

      Logan gave her a probing look, still unsure of her in this mood. Usually his mother gave the impression she was totally in control of her world, and the people in it. Perhaps that was the trouble this time…?

      ‘Dear, dear, Mother, don’t tell me that you aren’t more than capable of talking Daniel Simon round to your way of thinking?’ he taunted. Goodness knew there were very few men who could