Comparative Strangers by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online

mercifully free of felines, alive or dead, as she arrived downstairs, tightening the sash of her robe. Mrs Conroy seemed to be confronted by nothing more startling than the Sunday papers.
    ‘What in the world…?’ Amanda began wearily, then stopped as her mother turned horrified eyes on her.
    ‘Amanda,’ she said emotionally. ‘Oh, dear God—the scandal—the disgrace! I can’t believe it.’
    ‘What can’t you believe?’ Amanda was totally bewildered.
    Mrs Conroy thrust a paper at her with a trembling hand. ‘Read it,’ she said with a sob. ‘See what you’ve done.’
    The tabloid headlines were quite unequivocal. ‘Rally-driver’s heartbreak!’ screamed one. And ‘Jilted Nigel says, “I forgive her,” another proclaimed.’ 
    Nausea rose in Amanda’s throat. She whispered, ‘He couldn’t have done this. Oh, God, he couldn’t…’
    She began to scan the first story with feverish concentration. ‘While rally-driver Nigel Templeton was celebrating a personal best at Calthorpe this week, he was unaware that heartache awaited in his love-life’ the opening paragraph ran emotively. ‘For his fiance, lovely twenty-year-old Amanda Conroy, was enjoying a secret love-tryst with Nigel’s own brother, Malory Templeton, millionaire owner of Templeton Laboratories. And yesterday, a stunned Nigel revealed that the couple intend to wed.’
    ‘Oh, my God!’ Amanda couldn’t read any more.
    Mrs Conroy was weeping openly. ‘Poor Nigel, poor boy. No wonder you didn’t want to apologise to him. You were too ashamed. Meeting his brother in “a hideaway love-nest”.’ She invested the words with horrified scorn, then struck the paper she was reading with her fist.
    ‘Oh, you wicked girl,’ she sobbed. ‘Where did you go with him? Where was this dreadful place?’
    Amanda said grimly, ‘I presume they mean this house.’
    Mrs Conroy clutched at her throat. ‘You mean, you brought your—paramour here? You actually used my home for your sordid—your disgusting…’
    ‘There’s nothing disgusting or sordid about it.’ Amanda gently shook her mother’s arm. ‘Mother— these stories are lies.’
    ‘You mean you never met this man?’
    ‘No.’ Amanda swallowed. ‘I did see him on Thursday. In fact, he spent the night here, but…’
    ‘Then it’s all true.’ Her mother looked at her with tragic eyes. ‘You brought him here. You...’ She nerved herself. ‘You—slept with him.’
    Amanda groaned. ‘Not in the way you think. I’d had a terrible day. I’d quarrelled with Nigel, and Malory knew it. He just came to—keep me company. Then someone started ringing up, practising his heavy breathing, and my window got broken, so Malory and I finished up sharing the spare room, because I was too frightened to be on my own. But he never touched me. He just looked after me,‘ she added feebly.
    Mrs Conroy snorted. ‘A likely story! If it was all so innocent, why didn’t you give Nigel a full explanation?’
    Amanda flushed. ‘Because I didn’t think he deserved one,’ she said in a constricted voice. She bit her lip. ‘But Malory does. I’ll have to talk to him before he sees these stories.’
    Her mother laughed harshly. ‘Are you quite mad? He’s seen them already.’ She read from her paper, “‘At his Aylesford Green luxury residence, yesterday, Malory Templeton, thirty-two, said ’No comment‘.’”
    She glared at Amanda. ‘That’s what guilty people say. Why didn’t he deny these stories if they aren’t true? Oh, just listen to this. “Nigel, white and shaken, said, ’I couldn’t believe I’d lost her until she told me with her own lips that she was going to marry my brother. She was always against my rallying, and I can’t blame her for choosing comfort and security with Malory. He’s much richer than I can ever hope to be. I pray they’ll both be happy together‘.”
    She shook her head. ‘Poor boy. Poor, darling Nigel. So brave, wishing you well.’
    ‘Is that