Velvet Promise. Carole Mortimer

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      The warmth of love faded from Willow’s eyes as she turned back to Jordan. ‘It was kind of you take the morning off work to spend time with Dani.’ There was dismissal in her voice, and she knew by the flash of anger in the velvet eyes that Jordan had heard it—and didn’t like it!

      He thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers, heated anger emanating from his body. ‘How was the shop?’ he bit out.

      ‘It seems to be doing well,’ she answered, as coolly as he, narrowing her eyes against the sun to watch Dani cavorting in the shallow water.

      Jordan nodded. ‘I have several friends who said they’ve shopped there.’

      She turned to him with widened eyes; it was the first time she had ever heard him admit there were women friends in his life. ‘At the moment most of them are still curious to see the little toy Russell Stewart’s wife found to amuse herself with after the divorce,’ she derided. ‘Let’s hope they’ll still come in to buy once that curiosity wears off!’

      He frowned at her self-derision. ‘I’m sure you’re wrong about their motives. Your designs are considered to be very fresh and feminine.’

      ‘They are,’ she said without conceit; every one of her designs, but especially the evening gowns she specialised in, was aimed at the softer more feminine side of woman that had been lacking in fashions of recent years. ‘But I met several of Simone’s set there this morning, and they were not just interested in the clothes!’

      ‘You always did have this strange idea that Simone’s friends disliked you,’ he dismissed with ill-disguised impatience.

      ‘Despised me,’ she corrected hardly. ‘The daughter of one of Russell’s own employees daring to marry a Stewart!’ She shook her head mockingly. ‘They all expected some little country bumpkin; and I certainly didn’t disappoint them!’

      It wasn’t true about the ‘country bumpkin’ image; she had never lived outside the hub of London. But at seventeen, still a college student, and so obviously pregnant, she had felt gauche and unsophisticated when Russell had brought her to his parents’ home to live and introduced her to the people who were his friends, and who would be her friends too, now that she was his wife.

      There had been little chance of that! She was the daughter of a salesman, her clothes were obviously made from inexpensive materials, even though they were original designs she had made herself. And she had known nothing of the privileged life those people led, with their sophisticated parties and designer-label clothes. Their morals could never be called sophisticated, only alley-cat, and she had wanted no part of that either. Although that was one thing Russell didn’t subject her to, making it obvious from the first that she was his exclusive property. Everyone thought it very amusing that Russell actually seemed in love with his pregnant child-bride, although it couldn’t be said he had set a fashion, as his friends continued their bedroom games.

      ‘You were the one who despised us,’ Jordan rasped grimly, also seeming to remember that time well. ‘Looking down that turned up nose of yours at the spoilt and privileged rich! How does it feel to be one of us?’ he taunted.

      Her eyes flashed deeply green. ‘I’m far from being spoilt. And I’m certainly not privileged either. I had to work, and work hard, for what I have today.’

      ‘That isn’t what Russell’s lawyer said after the divorce,’ he scorned. ‘Russell gave you everything you asked for, and more. The poor fool was still in love with you then, wasn’t he?’

      Willow could feel her face pale. ‘That’s none of your business,’ she told him shakily. ‘I don’t believe we’ve ever known each other well enough to talk this intimately about our private lives.’

      Jordan moved to stand in front of her, ominously close, his gaze moving over her contemptuously. ‘Your marriage to Russell was never private,’ he scoffed. ‘A couple of dates with your father’s boss and you decided you liked the idea of a rich husband,’ he sneered.

      ‘Getting myself pregnant to make sure he had to marry me!’ she returned heatedly.

      ‘Exactly. Russell had never met anyone like you before,’ he grated. ‘A sweet innocent—little viper!’

      She bit back the fiery retort that sprang to her lips. The things she could say in her defence she had no intention of telling anyone. Ever. Least of all this cold harsh man who was more like Russell’s brother than his cousin.

      ‘Your parents must have been delighted you managed to catch such a rich prize,’ Jordan continued remorselessly. ‘I heard your father is in charge of sales now rather than just another salesman.’

      These were two accusations she could never deny. Her ambitious mother had been ecstatic when told Willow was pregnant by Russell Stewart and was going to marry him. And her father hadn’t been able to believe his good fortune when Russell quickly promoted him until he reached the executive position he now held. Russell had bought them a new house too, in a more fashionable part of London, and even though he and Willow were now divorced her mother still called him their ‘wonderful son-in-law’.

      Jordan was quite right in his assumption of her parents’ joy in her marriage, but she considered those things and the money awarded her at the divorce small remuneration for the price she had had to pay.

      ‘You would have to talk to Russell about that,’ she told him coldly. ‘I see very little of my parents nowadays.’

      ‘Slightly upset with you for divorcing the golden goose, are they?’ he taunted.

      The fact that he was right still hurt more than she wanted to admit. Her parents had never been interested in hearing the reasons she had finally divorced Russell; they were just furious about the fact that she had. She had wished then that she could have seen their greedy ambition when she was seventeen, that the years in between had never happened. But then she had thought of Dani, and realised that something good had come out of the marriage after all.

      She shrugged. ‘They still have the house Russell bought them, and my father still has his job.’

      ‘That’s because at the time of the divorce Russell still loved you!’

      ‘I didn’t want him to,’ she told Jordan flatly.

      Brown velvet eyes moved disparagingly over her face. ‘I wonder what it was about you that so captivated Russell all that time?’

      She had often wondered that herself—and wanted to destroy whatever it was! But she couldn’t even be called beautiful, with her gamine features and fine hair; she possesed none of the flirtatious artifice that was supposed to keep a man enthralled and guessing. But Jordan was right, Russell had agreed to the divorce, while still loving her. She had hoped his absence from her life the last year meant that was no longer true.

      ‘I have no idea,’ she dismissed carelessly. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us, Dani has to have her lunch before we go to see your aunt and uncle.’

      ‘You always were so indifferent to the fact that Russell loved you,’ Jordan said disgustedly. ‘I’ve known Russell all his life, watched as women chased after him while he treated them with bored tolerance. And then at twenty-eight he met you, a girl of no more than seventeen, who treated him with contempt most of the time, with bored indifference СКАЧАТЬ