Unknown Read Online Free Page A

dramatic? Just because I refused your dinner invitation,' she finished in a little sharp utterance.
    Still he continued to study her, his eyes reaching the depths of her being, disturbingly, passionately and half accusingly, as he retorted, 'You know it goes far deeper than that. If my accusation hadn't been true, you would have been able to dismiss it without question, but your whole attitude is tentative. I'm not deceived.'
    She flared, 'And it's for this that you got me to come here!' She looked around the room, but not noticing the oak panelling, the instrument cabinet on which several photographs were displayed. He had in fact stamped his personality upon it, and it was a welcoming sympathetic room which had seen great sorrow, tragedy and happiness. At that moment the atmosphere was tense and warring.
    He asked abruptly, as she remained silent, 'You don't, I imagine, take many cases these days? Your work. . .'
    She bristled.
    'I take such cases as are necessary and which fit in with my plans.' She added, with what she realised was a little starchiness, 'Our parents left us comfortably provided for, so we have no problems.'
    Adam thought that was both a blessing and a pity. Necessity would have forced Emma to divorce herself in some measure from Irene's demands and thus, inevitably, Irene would have been thrown back on her own resources.
    Emma noticed the time at that juncture and said hastily, 'I must be going. I've shopping to do.' Then, as though aware of Adam's concerned gaze, she said in a conciliatory manner, 'If I have seemed ungracious, forgive me.'
    Just then, he thought, she looked defeated and he wanted to draw her into his arms, make her understand his fears for her, as well as his concern for his patient. He hadn't expected this immediate response to her needs, or the fact that he could not argue with her further.
    'You do not need to be my patient for me to have your welfare at heart,' he assured her. 'I'm afraid I haven't accomplished very much.' He looked at her with intensity. 'I shall keep inviting you out to dinner until you say yes,' he warned her.
    She lowered her gaze. Her heart quickened its beat. She was both flattered and annoyed. She didn't want him intruding into her life.
    'That is as much your privilege as it is mine to say no,' she flashed back at him.
    His steady scrutiny unnerved her and she got up from her chair. He didn't step back and they stood perilously close, their bodies almost touching, their eyes meeting and betraying an awareness of each other that reduced them to silence. A pulse seemed to throb in the room that made the silence dangerous. Adam was aware of a faint warm fragrance stealing from her body which stirred his senses and aroused a fierce desire to take her in his arms. He stepped back abruptly.
    'I'll remind you of those words at a future date.' His voice was low and, despite herself, she tensed. Her mouth was dry.
    The intercom went and Adam said, 'Edmund. . . yes; she's about to leave. Do.
    'Dr Bryant,' he said. 'Looking in to see you.'
    Edmund Bryant joined them a matter of seconds later, flashing his gaze from face to face and, knowing Emma intimately after years of family friendship and patient care, he sensed the atmosphere between her and Adam with surprise and a degree of intrigue.
    'Good to see you,' he said in greeting. 'It's a long while since you were here.'
    Edmund Bryant was a man of sixty who had the face and figure of a man ten years younger. It was an interesting face, with clear direct eyes, smiling, yet solemn and tender in turn. His voice was firm, but had a gentle note in it as he added, 'I meant to look in on you last week.' He paused, and added, 'I'll make up for it. . . I've had news of you both from Adam.' There was no formality in his attitude; his long association with the Sinclair family made it unnecessary, and he had deliberately introduced Adam into the circle feeling that his presence, both as a doctor and as a man, would prove