‘Yes,’ Gideon acknowledged heavily. ‘But something happened over the weekend—something that seems to have sent her completely over the edge.’ He frowned grimly. ‘The police have been looking for her ever since.’

  Those charges the policeman had mentioned…

  ‘What?’ Molly breathed intently. ‘What happened over the weekend?’

  ‘Molly, she’s dead.’

  ‘What happened?’ she demanded through gritted teeth.

  Gideon drew in a deeply controlling breath. ‘She killed someone. The man she was living with,’ he continued firmly at Molly’s shocked gasp. ‘She discovered him with another woman and—she killed him.’ He frowned darkly.

  Molly swallowed hard. ‘How?’

  ‘Molly, you don’t need to know—’

  ‘Tell me,’ she demanded harshly.

  ‘She stabbed him,’ he said flatly. ‘The woman he was with managed to escape, but unfortunately the man had died from his wounds before the police got there.’

  Molly felt sick, waves of nausea washing over her as she realised that it could have been Sam—that if he hadn’t broken their engagement twelve years ago Rachel could have…

  ‘Bend down and put your head between your knees,’ Gideon encouraged gently, taking the glass from her hand as she did exactly that.

  It took several minutes for the waves of nausea to stop, the light-headedness to dissipate. But they were minutes when her brain once again seemed capable of functioning without any help from her.

  She straightened. ‘You knew about all of this,’ she said accusingly. ‘All this time you’ve known—’

  ‘I’ve known for precisely one day,’ Gideon corrected her firmly. ‘Since I mentioned my misgivings to Sam after you went to bed that night and he came clean on the subject. One of those telephone calls he had to return on Monday morning was to the police,’ he explained, as Molly would once again have spoken accusingly. ‘Rachel Gibson had been reported as being seen in the area, and, following investigations, they discovered that she and Sam had once been engaged…’ He shrugged. ‘The police wanted to inform Sam of the—incident, only as a matter of courtesy, because of their past connection. I don’t believe they really thought she would come after him here.’

  ‘Then they were wrong, weren’t they?’ Molly rasped. ‘Finally knowing where Sam was, seeing that photograph, seeing his happiness with Crys and Peter. My God, did Crys know about all this, too?’ She frowned as the thought suddenly occurred to her. She’d have a deeper respect for Crys if she had known; to all intents and purposes, apart from that scare with Peter, Crys had seemed caught up in the gaiety of Christmas.

  Gideon smiled without humour. ‘Sam doesn’t have any secrets from Crys.’

  ‘Unlike you with regard to me,’ Molly snapped, picking up the whisky glass and downing the contents. ‘I suppose now you’re going to accuse me of being a lush again?’ she challenged, two fiery spots of angry colour in her cheeks.

  It wasn’t logical, and she knew that it wasn’t, but nonetheless she couldn’t help her feelings of anger towards Gideon for treating her as if she were a child who couldn’t handle the truth. She felt the same anger towards Sam, too. But Gideon was the one here in front of her, and as such he was the one who would bear the brunt of her anger.

  ‘Molly—’

  ‘Don’t touch me!’ she told him fiercely, brushing past him to stand up.

  Gideon eyed her warily and slowly stood up. ‘Molly, there was no point in worrying you, too—’

  ‘Don’t tell me whether or not I should worry!’ she snapped furiously, her eyes glittering brightly. ‘I’ll worry if I want to—not when someone else decided that I should!’ she continued illogically. ‘God, you’re an arrogant—’

  ‘I advise you to stop right there,’ he warned coldly.

  ‘—pig,’ she concluded challengingly. ‘A chauvinist pig to boot,’ she continued wildly. ‘You were the one who stopped Sam from telling me the truth.’ She realised what had happened now, what it was Sam had wanted to talk to her about. But he had been stopped from doing so by Gideon’s warnings of caution. ‘I can hear it all now. “Don’t tell the little woman”,’ she mimicked. “‘It will only worry her”.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that—’

  ‘Yes, it was,’ she snapped hardly. ‘It was exactly like that! Well, do you know something, Gideon Webber? You can go to hell,’ she continued, without giving him an opportunity to answer.

  She turned sharply on her heel and ran from the room, taking the stairs two at a time until she reached the sanctuary of her bedroom, where she threw herself down on the bed, her anger quickly turning to tears.

  She cried for poor, sick Rachel, and the obsession for Sam that had never completely left her. She cried for the mess that was Gideon and her, for all the misunderstandings between them. But most of all she cried because in spite of everything she knew she still loved him.

  ‘Hey,’ Crys chided gently as she moved to sit beside Molly on the bed a few minutes later. Molly had been crying so deeply she hadn’t heard her friend enter the room. ‘Molly,’ she said firmly, ‘it’s over now. Come on.’ She pulled Molly into her arms, hugging her tightly as the tears finally began to stop. ‘Who are you crying for, Molly? Poor Rachel? Or Gideon?’ she added astutely.

  Molly moved back to look at her friend. ‘Is it so obvious that I’m in love with him?’

  Crys gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Only to me. Gideon doesn’t have a clue, I can assure you,’ she added ruefully. ‘In fact, from what he said to me just now, he seems utterly convinced that you hate him.’ She looked questioningly at Molly.

  She swallowed hard, wiping the tears from her cheeks. ‘It’s him who hates me,’ she contradicted. ‘And all because—because… Crys, there’s something I should have told you long ago,’ she said huskily. ‘Something about James. And…and me.’

  Crys frowned. ‘Yes?’

  Molly closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath before she began talking, knowing it all had to come out now, and that Crys should have been told long ago. ‘Do you remember my disastrous love affair with Derek? Of course you do.’ She answered her own question with obvious self-derision. ‘You tried to warn me at the time about the dangers of falling in love with a man so recently separated from his wife—that very often they patched up their differences and were reconciled. I didn’t listen, as you know.’ She sighed heavily. ‘And I ended up getting very hurt when Derek did exactly that.’

  Crys looked confused. ‘You don’t still love him, do you?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Molly dismissed instantly. ‘I’m not sure I ever did,’ she added huskily. The way she now felt about Gideon made that other love pale into insignificance. ‘Maybe I was just flattered.’ She sighed again. ‘He was an internationally known actor, very good-looking, and it was me he wanted to be with! At least I thought it was at the time…’ She shook her head. ‘I was devastated when he returned to his wife.’

  ‘I know that.’ Crys nodded, still looking puzzled.

  ‘Yes,’ Molly said firmly. ‘But what you don’t know—what I’ve never told you—is that the night Derek went back to his wife I got very drunk—’

  ‘You were entitled,’ Crys replied. ‘He wasn’t exactly gentle about it, if I remember—just arrived at a party with her one night. A party where he was supposed to be meeting you,’ she recalled disapprovingly.

  Molly winced at the memory. ‘The night I got dr—’

  ‘Alcoholically challenged,’ Crys corrected decisively. ‘You drank a little more than you would usually, that’s all. James assured me that you certainly were not drunk.’

  Molly blinked, her mouth feeling very dry. ‘James did…?’

  ‘Of course,’ her friend dismissed. ‘I was glad that you went to him. Sorry I wasn’t there to help, of course, but James assured me he had done a good job of taking care of you.’

  ‘He did,’ Molly confirmed numbly. ‘But—I—you knew about that night?’

  ‘Well, of course I did,’ Crys assured her lightly.

  She frowned dazedly. ‘But I… All this time…’ she shook her head ‘…and you’ve never said.’

  Crys gave a rueful smile. ‘What could I have said? Derek was a very selfish man, and he hurt you very badly; there was no point in my bringing up the subject again when you obviously didn’t want to talk about him.’

  ‘But the night I stayed at your apartment—’

  ‘What of it?’ Crys asked. ‘Look, Molly, you’re my best friend and I trust you implicitly, just as I trusted James, so what was there for me to say about that night? Without reminding you of Derek’s duplicity, that is,’ she added grimly.

  Molly shook her head dazedly. ‘I can’t believe you’ve known all this time that I stayed at your apartment with James when you were away…’

  Crys smiled. ‘I’ve known and never for a moment thought there was anything wrong with it. Why should I have done?’ she said unconcernedly.

  ‘Well, Gideon certainly thought there was something wrong with it!’ Molly snapped disgustedly.

  ‘Gideon did?’ Crys looked more puzzled than ever, and then her brow cleared in understanding. ‘Oh, you mean because he called in to see James that morning and saw you there? Molly, Gideon didn’t think that you and James were having an affair, did he?’ She gasped as the idea suddenly occurred to her. ‘No! He can’t have done. Can he?’ She frowned dazedly. ‘He did, didn’t he?’ she realized incredulously. And then she began to laugh.

  ‘Crys, it really isn’t funny,’ Molly told her disgruntledly. She was relieved that Crys had known the truth all along, but utterly bemused by her friend’s reaction to knowing what conclusion Gideon had come to concerning Molly’s presence in Crys and James’s apartment that morning.

  ‘No, it really isn’t,’ Crys agreed, sobering slightly. ‘You and Gideon are incredible, do you know that?’ She stood up. ‘You think he’s in love with me—which he most definitely is not,’ she added firmly as Molly would have spoken. ‘And Gideon thinks you had an affair with James—which you most definitely did not. You know, for two very intelligent people, you’ve both been incredibly stupid.’

  ‘Thanks!’ Molly grimaced, not sure she agreed with Crys’s summing up of the situation at all.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Crys assured her dryly. ‘Not completely stupid, of course,’ she continued conversationally. ‘Somewhere amongst all this confusion the two of you have managed to fall in love with each other anyway, so I suppose I can forgive you.’

  ‘Gideon isn’t in love with me,’ she cut in dismissively.

  ‘Oh, yes—he is,’ Crys said with certainty. ‘Who do you think sent me up here because you were so upset? Who do you think is even now pacing up and down my kitchen wearing out the flagstones as he waits for me to go back downstairs and reassure him that you’re okay?’

  Molly swallowed hard, suddenly still, a slight hope beginning to burn somewhere deep inside her. ‘Gideon…?’ she said hopefully.

  ‘The one and only.’ Crys nodded, pulling her to her feet. ‘Come downstairs with me—’

  ‘I can’t!’ Molly resisted, jerkily shaking her head. ‘I really can’t, Crys,’ she added, as her friend gave her a look of reproof. ‘What if you’re wrong?’

  ‘I’m not,’ Crys assured her.

  ‘But if you are?’

  ‘I’m not,’ her friend repeated firmly. ‘Although maybe the kitchen isn’t quite the place for…’ She paused, obviously thinking. ‘Okay.’ She nodded as she came to a decision. ‘You stay here and I’ll send Gideon up—’

  ‘He won’t come,’ Molly told her with certainty.

  ‘We’ll see,’ Crys murmured speculatively. ‘Just don’t stay up here together all afternoon—otherwise, knowing Sam, he’s likely to come looking for the two of you and demand that Gideon make an honest woman of you!’ She grinned.

  Molly frowned. ‘I wish you would stop making a joke out of all this, Crys.’

  ‘Can I be chief bridesmaid?’ Crys asked conversationally. ‘I’ve never been a bridesmaid, you know, and—’

  ‘Oh, go away!’ Molly told her irritably.

  ‘I’m going,’ her friend assured her. ‘But no attempting to climb down the drainpipe after I’ve gone,’ she warned on her way out of the room. ‘You won’t look a very elegant bride with your leg in plaster!’ She grinned again as she made her parting shot.

  Molly gave an exasperated shake of her head once she was alone, thinking that Crys was turning into as much of a tease as Sam.

  Although that didn’t change the fact that even now Crys was probably down in the kitchen talking to Gideon.

  Was Crys right? Would Gideon come up here to see her once he had spoken to Crys?

  She would have the answer to that question in the next few minutes.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ‘CRYS said that you’re feeling a little better…?’

  Molly’s heart leapt as she turned to see Gideon standing hesitantly in the bedroom doorway, his face guarded, the expression in his deep blue eyes wary.

  She swallowed hard before speaking. ‘Er—yes, I’m feeling better.’ She nodded. ‘I—I’m sorry I shouted at you. Before.’

  Wonderful, Molly, she inwardly chided herself; she sounded like a tongue-tied idiot.

  But that was probably because she felt like a tongue-tied idiot!

  Just because Gideon was here, as Crys had said he would be, that did not mean anything more than that he wanted to apologize for upsetting her concerning not telling her earlier about Rachel Gibson.

  ‘Perfectly understandable in the circumstances,’ he allowed abruptly. ‘It was arrogant of me to ask Sam not to tell you.’

  Arrogant, yes—but it could also have another interpretation… ‘Why did you do it, Gideon?’ she prompted.

  He drew in a harsh breath. ‘I—do you think I could come in?’ He grimaced. ‘It’s a little—public, standing out here in the hallway.’

  Considering that besides themselves only David had a bedroom on this floor of the house, and he was probably still in conversation with the others downstairs, she wouldn’t exactly have called it ‘public’. But if Gideon wanted to come into her bedroom…

  ‘Please do,’ she invited, standing awkwardly in front of the window as he entered the room and closed the door quietly behind him, her hands twisting tightly together as she eyed him warily.

  Gideon gave a strained smile obviously as uncomfortable as she was.

  ‘I—’ Molly hesitated, shaking her head, not really sure where to begin. Or what she was actually beginning!

  Gideon drew in a harsh breath. ‘Will it help the—the situation if I tell you that I’m not in love with Crys?’ he bit out abruptly. ‘That I never have been.’

  Molly felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. Okay, so he wasn’t in love with Crys, but that didn’t mean he was in love with her.

  She bit her lip painfully to stop it trembling. ‘I was never in love with James, either,’ she told him huskily. ‘And I certainly didn’t have an affair with him,’ she added firmly.

  ‘I know that.’

  She nodded. ‘Crys will have told you—’

  ‘No,’ Gideon cut in determinedly. ‘Crys didn’t tell me anything.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘But—’

  ‘She didn’t have to,’ he continued evenly. ‘Molly, I know that I owe you an apology for—for the things I’ve said to you over the last few days.’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head, thrusting his hands into his pockets. ‘I saw you in James’s apartment that morning and I—’

  ‘Drew your own conclusions?’ she finished heavily.

  Gideon shook his head. ‘No, that isn’t what happened at all.’ He gave another strained smile. ‘I looked at you that morning, your hair all tousled, your face sleepy, your long legs bare beneath that ridiculous shirt, and I—’ He drew in a harsh breath. ‘You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen!’ he told her gruffly.

  Molly’s eyes widened incredulously. ‘I looked awful! My hair was a mess, my face all puffy, and James’s shirt was the only thing I could find to pull on when I needed to go to the bathroom. You can’t possibly have… Did you really think me beautiful?’ She looked at him dazedly.

  ‘Really.’ Gideon nodded self-derisively. ‘But it appeared you belonged to my brother,’ he added hardly.

  ‘But I didn’t,’ Molly told him exasperatedly. ‘I never did. How many times do I have to tell you that?’

  ‘You don’t,’ he assured her heavily. ‘You see, it made no difference; I fell in love with you anyway that morning—’

  ‘You couldn’t have done!’ Molly gasped disbelievingly.

  ‘Oh, yes, I could.’ Gideon nodded. ‘And I spent the next few months telling myself what a fool I was—that just being attracted to you was dangerous, that falling in love with you was an act of madness, that it would be better for everyone if I just forgot I had ever seen you. I almost succeeded in believing that, too.’ His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘Until I saw you again the morning of the christening…’

  ‘You were so horrible to me,’ Molly reminded him breathlessly, that faint glow of hope she had known when talking to Crys now starting to explode inside her.

  Had Gideon really just told her that he had fallen in love with her more than three years ago?

  ‘I know,’ he accepted flatly. ‘Deliberately so. I simply couldn’t believe that I still felt the same way about you, that those years might just as well not have been. Your relationship with James, what the knowledge of it might do to Crys—’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head. ‘In spite of all that I was still in love with you.’

  Molly gave a pained frown. ‘But you said just now that you believed me when I said I didn’t have an affair with James…?’

  ‘No.’ He sighed. ‘What I actually said was that I know you didn’t have an affair with him. And I know that because over the last few days I’ve come to know you, Molly. You’re not only the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, you are also the kindest, most compassionate woman I’ve ever known. Your loyalty to Crys and Sam is unmistakable, your love for them, too. Your compassion for David is only to be admired. And as for your gentle caring for Peter… Molly, you would never have allowed yourself to have an affair with James even if you had been in love with him!’