Page 19 of Betrayal

“There’s a difference.A philanderer doesn’t necessarily lie to his partners.Both parties might agree to a casual sexual relationship.A cheat acts dishonestly or unfairly to gain an advantage.”Although both were betrayal, and Anna didn’t give second chances.

“Did your father cheat on your mother?”

“All of my father’s partners knew exactly who he was.That was part of the charm.My mother was also aware of what was happening.She described that period as one of ‘creative differences.’”Anna tasted again the bitter disillusion of that discovery.

“What did you call it?he asked gently.

“Hell.”

* * *

“My father is a philanderingcheat.”

And where the hell had that confession come from?

Hunter was scrupulous in not commenting on Nick.In trying to pretend Nick Richardson wasn’t his father.Because then he wouldn’t have any of the evil bastard in him.

She unlinked her arm from his.Guess he’d killed the moment.Moving closer, she took his hand, her fingers warm where they threaded with his.

“Like I said, hell.Brian Ferguson’s my father.”

“The playwright?”Had she changed her name?

“An Australian national treasure, but we digress.”She patted Hunter on the chest.

“He’s the philanderer?”

“A simple search of the World Wide Web will detail his sins.”

I believe you.

“Tell me.I wasn’t watching much theatre as a teenager.”Hunter had been breaking his back working for his uncle and trying to figure out how to be a man.

“I call it his my-ego-needs-stroking period—the early heady years of his critical success when he couldn’t say no to any fangirl, actress, model, passerby.”

She’d meant it when she’d said “hell.”

“How did your mother feel?”Hunter’s mother had been devastated and determined to win her husband back.

“My mother, Rosamunde Turner, a novelist, gave him an ultimatum on her fortieth birthday: monogamy with her or divorce.”She sighed.“His period of disbelief was short, but dramatic, and from there, we moved to the doting-family-man stage.”

“Is that why you’re called Turner?”

“My surname is almost an accident.”She leaned closer, giving him a whiff of her spicy scent.Close was better than abandoning him on the beach.“My parents agreed thatagirl would be named after my mother andaboy after my father.I use the indefinite article deliberately.One child was the plan.Instead, they produced the Turner twins.”

“Do you see them?”He’d seen too little of his mother at the end, still angry at how easily she’d danced to Nick Richardson’s tune.

“Whenever I’m in Melbourne, or they’re in Sydney.We talk regularly.We don’t agree on many things, but we’ve made peace.Do you see yours?”

“Seeing Nick wasn’t an issue when I was a kid.He worked seven days a week, long hours, establishing his own real estate business.Empire—he always planned to have an empire.”The power of that one word “hell” kept Hunter talking.Lots of people couldn’t compute its endless, depthless darkness.“I’ve often thought part of Mum’s appeal was her brother, Ben.He was a builder.Nick met him first.‘Found him,’ he used to claim.”Hunter had to give it to Nick.He recognised skill, and Ben had been a genius on a building site.

“Your uncle did the rehab on properties your father sold.”

“Smart girl.”He should have expected her to join the dots.“Nick got the loan for the property, paid Ben for labour, materials, and twenty percent of the profit on resale.He kept the rest.”

The theft from his uncle still turned Hunter’s stomach.Ben had refused every compensation offer Hunter had made, until Hunter had had the idea about the charity.

“Does Ben still work for your father?”

---