The picture that he had drawn of Kirsty tore at Karen's heart, but her sister was dead and Karen was fighting for her own life. 'But you're prepared to destroy me!' she shot at Hal.
He lifted his head proudly, shrugging off the grim mantle of the past with ruthless ease. His voice dropped to a silky caress. 'Destroy you, Karen? Not at all. I'm offering you an easy life of luxury with the son you love.' He strolled back to her and forcibly held her against him with one vicelike arm as he stroked her cheek and ran the long silk of her hair through his fingers. His eyes held a feverish glitter that mesmerised Karen into passivity. 'And any other children we have will have their rightful father and mother.'
'I haven't .. .' Her mouth was completely dry. She swallowed hard. 'I haven't said I'll marry you.'
'But you will, Karen, you will. You know as Kirsty lay dying in my arms, she talked of you, Karen. Not about my being with her, not about what she and I had together, it was all about you! She took from me and she gave to you. So I figure it's about time I did some taking.'
And he kissed her with a devastating deliberation that left Karen feeling more helpless than ever, be cause she wanted to respond. Whether it was his very male physical magnetism, or the softening effect of the emotional support he had given Kirsty, or the fact that she was too drained to resist, Karen did not know. But she was quivering inside when the kiss ended.
'Dinner will be in ten minutes,' Hal said calmly. 'Don't be late down.'
He left her--just like that. With all the arrogant carelessness of a man who had seen to business and knew that everything was in hand.
Karen wrapped her arms around her body and helplessly, hopelessly; tried to fight off the strands of circumstance which seemed to be binding her to a man she didn't love, and who certainly did not love her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
IT WAS almost over. The two nights and two days at the Chissolm home had strained Karen's nerves to the limit, and even now, back in her own home, she could not relax until Hal left. David had pleaded for 'Daddy' to stay and help put him to bed. Karen had given in to the plea, just as she had been giving in all weekend, but with David finally settled for the night, she could not get Hal out of the house fast enough. As he silently followed her to the front door, she felt strained by the pressure his very presence exerted.
She had evaded being alone with him since that kiss on Friday night. In front of David or Owen, Hal had treated her with charm and the utmost courtesy, but there had been a few private moments when that mask had slipped and ruthless calculation had stared herin the face. They were alone now, and as Karen held the door open she used it as a half-shield between her and Hal.
He paused beside her, a sardonic little smile telling her tlJat the manoeuvre had not gone unnoticed. Karen stiffened, determined to repel. any move he made towards her. Despite a physical attraction which she could not deny, his touch was too disturbing for her to take any pleasure from it. Hal did not like her or want her, but she was all too aware that he was intent on taking her.
'You have until Thursday night, Karen. You either say yes to marriage or you'll lose David.'
'Can't you see he needs both of us?' she fired back hotly.
There was no melting in those ice-cold grey eyes. 'Yes,' he replied, totally unperturbed. 'There really isn't any other answer but marriage, is there?'
He walked away and Karen shut the door, but she could not shut his exit line out of her mind. She fought against it, railed against it, but there was a terrible inevitability about it which made her determined opposition seem futile.
And the sense of inevitability grew, weighing even more heavily on her heart on Monday morning as her solicitor droned through his view of the case. Mr Grimball was a big man with many chins, a balding head and bright brown eyes. The last time Karen had visited him he had been bluff and hearty and comfortably reassuring. His eyes had twinkled with kindly indulgence. Today the eyes seemed shifty, and his manner was decidedly shifty.
'There are two things worse than your ex-husband's evidence, Mrs Aylward. Ex-husbands .. .' he wriggled his fingers, ' ... well, they can have reasons for giving evidence against ex-wives.'
'And what are the two things worse?' Karen prompted. Mr Grimball was doing a lot of shifting off the point.
'Yes. Well, they might put you in the witness box, Mrs Aylward. There's your reply to the question did your sister tell you that Hal Chissolm was David's father? Can you deny it?"
'No.'
He pushed his bottom lip forward and lowered his eyebrows. Then with suggestive deliberation he asked,'Will you deny it?'
'No.'
His shrug was all too eloquent. 'And one can't get around your sister's evidence, dead though she may be. I don't know whether people do or do not lie when they are dying, but no court is going to believe that Kirsty Balfour was lying when she told Mr Chissolm he was David's father only a few minutes before she died. These cases are not based on reasonable doubt, but on the balance of probabilities. Even with reasonable doubt we would have problems. In this case .. .' he threw up his hands.
'So there's no hope,' Karen concluded for him.
'There's always hope, Mrs Aylward, but on balance, I think we should do what we can to settle this matter out of court. Get whatever we can, and the sooner the better. Nothing is certain with the law, and I've won worse cases than the one they have, Mrs Aylward.'
No hope! And no hope of settling out of court either. She had four days to decide on the future marriage or a legal fight that would make David the bone between two dogs, with herself the probable loser. Although they would all lose, Karen thought grimly. She heaved a sigh and rose to her feet.
'Thank you, Mr Grimball. I'll give you my decision shortly.'
He billowed out of his chair and fussed over her to the door, mouthing platitudes and warnings. She nodded and nodded, but her mind was already leaping ahead. A judge would grant her access to David, there was no doubt about. that. But she knew that Hal would fight to make it as limited an access as possible. And as Mr Grimball said, nothing was certain with the law. The only certainty which would keep David in her life in any meaningful way was marriage to Hal.
Her thoughts drifted over the marriage she had experienced with Barry as she headed towards the closest shopping centre. She had been a bride at nineteen, even before she had completed her teacher's training course. Barry had been twenty-five, handsome, exciting, very sure of himself and her. She had thought herself in love with him and he had swept her into marriage while she had still been dazzled by his image.
Barry had always been a man's man, although Karen hadn't realised what that meant until they were married. His ego was bound up in male competitiveness, being a better squash player than his mates, owning a sportier car, having a prettier, smarter wife. It was pride in his masculinity that had been shattered with the news that he could not father a family. That was why he had gone out after other women. Karen had forgiven him that, and although she had felt disappointed in their relationship, she would have stuck by him if he had accepted David. His failure to do so had completed her disillusionment in their marriage.