Page 7 of One Night in My Rival's Bed

‘Ryan didn’t understand my commitment to my sister. That she was always going to be a part of my life, especially after our mother died. Niamh needs me to watch out for her, to protect her from being exploited. We’re a package deal. Buy one, get one for free.’

He lifted a dark eyebrow. ‘Buy?’

‘Bad choice of word but you know what I mean.’

Grayson let out a long sigh. ‘Yes, I do indeed.’

There was another immeasurable silence. A silence in which I was conscious of only one thing—Grayson’s blue eyes holding mine.

I licked my suddenly dry lips and he tracked the movement of my tongue with his hooded gaze. Something fizzed and tingled at the backs of my knees like a cocktail of sherbet and champagne had been injected into my bloodstream. I could feel it working its way through my body, sending tingling sensations to my core. Not the core I concentrate on during Pilates but thatothercore. The feminine core that most of the time I ignore.

But then the spell was broken when Grayson’s phone began to ring. He grimaced and slid his hand into his jacket pocket, glancing at the screen before saying to me, ‘Excuse me.’ He turned slightly away to answer it. ‘Mum?’

Okay, I admit it, I’m a terrible eavesdropper. Good manners aside, I just can’t help myself. I do it all the time. Coffee shops, restaurants, the supermarket, museums, the gym, even walking along the street, I listen in on other people’s conversations. I find them fascinating and revealing, sometimes even inspiring. Of course, I’ve perfected the art of eavesdropping, like now, for instance. I moved a short distance away—my hearing is good but not superhuman—and picked up a book that was on the coffee table, pretending an avid interest in robots.

‘Youknewabout this?’ Grayson’s voice was loud enough to hear from outer space. Only joking. He didn’t seem the type to shout at anyone, much less his mother. But his tone was certainly stern and disapproving. ‘How can you encourage them? They’ve only known each other six weeks.’

It seems I underestimated the superhuman powers of my hearing because I could clearly hear Grayson’s mother’s response. ‘How could you deny Ethan this chance to have a life with someone? He’s in love and he wants to get married.’

‘Have you met her? Niamh?’ Grayson barked back, frowning like he was auditioning for a role as Chief Frowner.

‘Yes, I have, as a matter of fact. I met them for lunch a few days ago. Niamh was charming and sweet and is obviously very much in love, and so is Ethan,’ his mother said. ‘Don’t ruin it for him, Grayson. He deserves to be happy. He’s been miserable for so long but now he’s got his old spark back, and it warms my heart to see it.’

I saw a flicker of emotions pass over Grayson’s face. His jaw worked, his eyes flinched as if the light was suddenly too bright and his broad shoulders tensed, as if the invisible weight he was carrying was finally wearing him down. He lifted a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, his shoulders now hunched forward.

‘Look, I understand you want him to be happy. So do I. But he’s rushing into this without doing due diligence. I think he should slow down a bit. Spend a bit of time getting to know Niamh and her circumstances a little better.’

‘Niamh is nothing like Donna,’ his mother said.

‘And you’ve made that assessment after only one lunch meeting?’ Grayson shot back.

‘I’m a good judge of character.’

He gave a cynical sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. ‘Your track record on choosing husbands isn’t great.’

There was a tight silence.

‘I loved your father and he loved me. The accident changed everything. Your father couldn’t cope with seeing both of you so badly injured.’

‘I only broke my leg.’

‘Everything that was you before that night was broken in that accident, Grayson.’ His mother’s voice had softened but I could still hear it. ‘And of course, Ethan changed irreparably too. Your father couldn’t handle it. He still can’t. It’s why he limits his contact with both of you.’

‘How can you excuse his behaviour after all this time?’ Grayson’s voice was so bitter I could almost taste it in the air. ‘He cheated on you, repeatedly, while Ethan’s life was hanging in the balance.’

‘Because somewhere underneath all that pain and anguish is the man I fell in love with.’

‘Yes, well, that man is now shacked up with a new wife and family,’ Grayson said through lips pulled so tight I could see the white tips at the corners of his mouth. ‘Hisperfectfamily.’

See what I mean about eavesdropping? You find out so much information about people. I was intrigued by Grayson’s backstory, not just about the accident and how it impacted his family but the comment about his father’s new family. The way Grayson leaned on the word ‘perfect’ in such a scathing way. I know from experience that a lot of people find a disability in someone else confronting. Even small children stop and stare and ask questions that are hard at times to answer. Of course, adults should love their children no matter what. Had Grayson’s father found the changes to his son Ethan all too difficult and sought comfort elsewhere?

It is a challenging time when the full extent of a patient’s disability is made clear by the medical professionals. It can be devastating to find out your child can no longer do the things you dreamed and hoped they would do. Even as a sibling I found it nothing short of heartbreaking to see how Niamh’s injuries permanently changed her, especially when it was my negligence that had caused them.

It sounded like Grayson’s mother had a far more forgiving and accommodating nature than Grayson. How could she still have feelings for the man who had deserted her and her sons at their most vulnerable? To be perfectly honest, I lean a bit more towards Grayson’s camp of unforgiving hard-nosed cynicism.

Forgiveness is definitely not my second name. It’s Florence.

CHAPTER THREE

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