Borrowed Wife (23 page)

‘Have you
been here before?’ she asked, and her father nodded solemnly.

‘Straight
away, that first night. You were unconscious. I thought...’ His voice trilled
away and Abigail was astonished at the emotion showing on his face. He had
never seemed to care for her but now he seemed to be almost struggling with
tears.

‘Well,
I’m all right now,’ she said as briskly as possible, and Logan came forward as
if he could not bear to be away from her for any longer.

‘And
you’re going to stay all right,’ he told her firmly. ‘Next week I’ll have you
at home.’ He smiled into her eyes. ‘This time I might just lock you in.’

‘I won’t
be going anywhere,’ Abigail said softly, and for a second there was nobody else
in their world as they looked into each other’s eyes.

‘I want
to give up the firm,’ her father informed her in an emotional voice. ‘He won’t
let me.’

‘No, I
won’t,’ Logan agreed stubbornly, his forehead creased in a frown. ‘What the
hell would you do with your time? It’s no use appealing to Abbie either because
I’m not having her bothered by petty details.’

‘Not
exactly petty—’ her father began, but Logan stopped him at once.

‘This is
a new beginning. We have agreed on that already. That firm is the Madden
Corporation and you’ll run it. I’ll help all I can but ultimately it’s your responsibility.
One day it will be Abigail’s; you always intended that.’

‘I did.’
Kent Madden nodded his head and looked regretful. ‘It’s all I have to leave
her. I always meant to train her but it all fell apart.’

‘I tore
it apart,’ Logan stated with ruthless self-criticism. ‘You can build it again
and, as to Abigail, she needs no training if things are back to normal. According
to Joe Saville, she knows exactly what she’s doing.’

‘I may
not want to go back,’ Abigail said quietly, and they both turned to her with
slightly anxious eyes. ‘It’s all right,’ she assured them. ‘I’m not hanging
onto the past and I’m not being bitter. It’s just that I may want to simply be Logan’s wife, have a family.’

‘Then
it’s a legacy for your grandchildren,’ Logan reminded Kent, his smile warm and tender as he looked a t Abigail.

‘It’s
something to work for,’ her father said, and there was a little light in his
eyes that gave Abigail hope for the future.

Two weeks later Logan came to take her home and he gave her a choice.

 ‘The
house or the flat?’ he asked as he settled her carefully into the car and sat
beside her.

‘The
flat,’ she said with no hesitation. ‘It all began there. It can start there all
over again.’

‘It never
ended,’ Logan said deeply, his eyes moving over her still pale face. ‘When you
left me, I stayed at the flat all the time. I couldn’t bear to go to the house.
We had so many plans for the place. I more or less hid in the flat, grimly
hanging onto every memory of you.’ He suddenly leaned across and pulled her
into his arms, holding her tightly. ‘God, I love you, Abbie!’ he muttered
thickly. ‘You’re the centre of my life. You have been since I first saw you.’

She
looked up, her hand gently tracing his face as she saw every question answered
by the look in his eyes.

‘There
never was Fenella, was there?’ she asked softly, and he shook his head, his
lips twisting ruefully.

‘No, my darling.
There was you from the moment I met you and there has never been anyone else.’

‘Nor for
me,’ Abigail declared, and he smiled into her eyes, his warm looks melting her
last anxieties.

‘I know,
sweet Abbie,’ he assured her softly. ‘In my heart I’ve always known. There was
only ever you and me together, just as it was meant to be.’

Later, in
the warmth of the bedroom, Abigail lay curled against him, her head on his
shoulder, her eyes dreamily looking around the place where she had first
belonged to him.

‘You made
a miracle for me,’ she whispered, and Logan bent his head to trail his lips
across her cheek.

‘I can’t
make miracles, Abbie,’ he said softly. ‘I can only hang onto the one miracle
I’ve got—a miracle I almost lost because of my bitterness.’

‘I couldn’t
blame you,’ she told him quietly. ‘When Fenella told me, I was sure you could
never have loved me at all. She told me about your father’s suicide and—’

‘It was
an accident, Abigail,’ he assured her firmly. ‘There was something wrong with
the car and he lost control. He would never have left my mother behind like
that. They loved each other. I’ve known always that it was an accident but the
rumours continued and I did nothing to stop them. It gave me even more reason
to hate. I thought I could have everything. I thought I could keep you with me,
locked away from the truth, and still continue my destruction. Kent is your father but I had no pity, no mercy.’

‘Don’t,’
Abigail urged softly. ‘It’s over. He’s back at work and he looks so different.’

‘He’s putting
a good mind to straightforward action,’ Logan grunted with a slightly irritated
air, and Abigail wound her arms around him.

‘Don’t be
angry,’ she begged, and he relaxed immediately, turning towards her, his eyes
roaming over her face.

‘I’m not
angry. I’ll never be angry again. It’s ironic to think though, that if your
father had run his business before as he’s running it now I would never have
been able to crush him.’

‘Not even
you?’ Abigail teased, her wide green eyes mockingly innocent.

‘Not even
me,’ he growled, tightening his hands on her. ‘And don’t look at me like that,
not until you’re quite well.’

‘I am!’
she protested, and he gave her a rueful smile.

‘You’re
not well enough to soar off to the place you go to when I love you,’ he said
seductively. ‘There are no half-measures with you, my love, and this baby can
wait a little longer.’

 ‘Will there be one?’ she
asked breathlessly, and he pulled her back to his shoulder, his smiling lips
against her skin.

‘Oh,
there’ll be one,’ he murmured. ‘Your desperation to have my children takes my
breath away; besides  you made a sort of promise to your father and anyone
called Steele lives by their word.’

‘Why
didn’t we have one before?’ she sighed, and Logan wrapped his arms round her,
holding her close.

‘I
thought you might get tired of me,’ he confessed softly. ‘You were too young
and I knew it. I couldn’t burden you with a child.’

‘So it
was my youth and your stupidity,’ Abigail taunted and he laughed delightedly.

‘A fairly
accurate summing-up,’ he agreed. ‘However, don’t get too accustomed to turning
that sharp little tongue on me. You won’t always be too brittle to touch.’

Abigail looked out of the
window, watching for the sight of Logan’s car. They had been back at the house
for two months now and it was wonderful to be in the place they had planned
together so long ago. Outside, the snow was gently falling—big, fat flakes that
had already coated the garden and fields with a thick carpet of brilliant
white. It settled on the trees and hedges, softening an already beautiful
landscape. It was almost Christmas— the first Christmas she had spent with Logan for four years—and today the Steele Group closed down for the holiday. She would
have him to herself for a whole week.

She went
back to the tall tree that stood beside the glowing fire. Her daily cleaner had
already left and she had the quiet house to herself. She knelt down, carefully
putting the finishing touches to the decorations, her mind drifting into the
happy state she lived in now. Logan had made things right as he had promised.
Her father was back at work, a changed man, and although there was still a
slight hint of stiffness between Logan and Kent Madden they both tried hard to
be normal.

Abigail
knew it was for her sake but she had no worries. All of them had learned their
lesson and that included her. She would never again doubt Logan’s love. She
heard him come into the hall and turned in surprise as he stood at the door of
the drawing room, his eyes intently on her.

‘I didn’t
hear the car!’ she exclaimed, and he shook his head, his eyes never leaving her
face.

‘I parked
round the back. It can stay there for the week because we’re not going
anywhere. I hope we get snowed in.’

He was so
intense that Abigail blushed and it was only as his crystal-clear glance began
to roam over her that she realised what was wrong.

‘I found
this when I was clearing the last of my things out to bring here,’ she
explained. ‘It still fits. I thought it might surprise you.’

She
looked down at the black skirt with red flowers that spread around her as she
knelt, the red sweater that hug to her figure and made the blue-black shine of
her hair more noticeable.

‘You
little devil,’ Logan breathed. ‘You knew exactly what it would do to me. It’s
like seeing you for the first time.’ He dropped his briefcase on the floor and
came across to her and Abigail laughed up at him as he towered over her. ‘I
hope this is not my Christmas present,’ he said huskily, ‘because I’m going to
want a lot more than just the sight of you.’

He pulled
her to her feet, his eyes searching her smiling lace before his arms enclosed
her gently.

‘It’s
like going back with no unhappiness in between,’ he whispered, his face against
her hair. ‘If I lost you now, darling, I don’t think I could live through it.’

‘You’re
never going to lose me,’ Abigail said, winding her arms around his neck. ‘I’ve
learned to play my ace card. I know you love me. Nothing is going to make me
feel insecure again.’

‘You
learn slowly but you learn well,’ Logan complimented her as his smiling lips
covered her own. He lifted her into his arms and walked out of the room,
climbing the stair to their bedroom, teasing her with kisses all the way.

‘You’re
not too delicate to touch now,’ he reminded her as they finally lay locked
together. ‘We can just stay here. I don’t need food.’

They
looked into each other’s eyes, so enthralled by their love that when Logan possessed her Abigail sped on swift, unearthly wings to her far-away place, only the
dark sound of his voice holding her to earth.

He
hovered over her when she came back, his grey eyes glittering, and she lifted
her hand to touch his face.

‘I love
you,’ she whispered in a trembling voice, and he turned his head to kiss her
fingertips.

‘I know.
I never doubt it. I could stay here with you like this and never move for the
rest of my life.’

‘Martha
and my father are coming to dinner,’ she reminded him, smiling up at him with
happy green eyes, and he rolled to his side, pulling her with him.

‘I
remember,’ he growled. ‘Is this when you tell them that you’re pregnant?’ He
shot her an amused glance and Abigail sat up, staring at him in astonishment.

‘I was
just about to tell you! How did you know?’

‘I was
not born yesterday,’ Logan assured her with mocking dignity. ‘Sometimes I make
the odd miracle just for myself.’ He turned and pulled her down to him,
grinning at her as she still watched him in awe. ‘As a matter of fact,’ he
confessed, ‘Dr Collingham stopped me as I was driving through the village. He
offered his hearty congratulations.’

‘He had
no right!’ Abigail pouted. ‘I wanted to tell you myself.’

‘So tell
me,’ Logan suggested huskily, and she threw her arms round him, her face alight
with happiness.

‘I’m
having your baby! It will take me another seven months but I can wait if you
can.’

‘Oh,
Abbie, my love,’ Logan whispered, ‘whatever you want, I want, but most of all I
want you. Nothing should ever have parted us and nothing will ever part us
again.’

‘I should
never have doubted you,’ Abigail sighed. ‘You were right, though. I was too young.
I just dared not step into the battle between you and my father and when the
rumours started about you and Fenella I believed them. Even when she was
telling me about your father and mother she still insisted that you were—’

‘My
solicitor and nothing more,’ Logan interrupted quietly. ‘I gave her a choice
when you were in hospital. She could leave or she could work in America. She chose America.’

‘But you
need her—don’t you?’ Abigail asked quietly, and he smiled down at her as he
tucked her close.

‘I need
you. That’s where it begins and that’s where it ends. Nothing else matters.’

Nothing
else would ever matter. Whatever went wrong they would put it right and they
would do it together. I he future had seemed empty but now it was filled with
joy—the same joy they had fell in each other from the moment they had met.