Forbidden Surrender (15 page)

‘No,’ Dominic denied abruptly.

‘Then why do I feel as if I should?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Dominic?’ she gave him a searching look. ‘Dominic, what are you hiding from me?’

His expression lightened. ‘I’m not hiding anything,’ he smiled. ‘Simon is a friend of your father’s, there’s nothing to add to that.’

‘Isn’t there?’ she persisted.

‘Not a thing.’

Sara didn’t know why, but she didn’t believe him. He was being deliberately casual, and in the light of their meeting this morning she knew he had to be acting. Simon Forrester was a friend of her father; could that possibly make him a doctor, was that the reason Dominic was being so close-mouthed about him? It seemed to be the logical explanation, so she knew it was no good pursuing the subject of Simon Forrester; everyone, including Dominic, clammed up whenever she tried to approach the subject of her father’s illness.

Dominic’s apartment covered the whole of the top floor of a huge block of flats, the luxurious fittings of the reception area alone showing her that his apartment was going to be quite something.

When they stepped out of the lift it was to be confronted by the man Sara knew to be Danny, the man who had been kissing Marie the last time she saw him.

He pushed away from his leaning position against the wall, his expression one of aggression as he approached Dominic. ‘How dare you keep something like that from me?’ he attacked. ‘You had no right, Nick. No right—–’

‘Danny!’ The use of the other man’s name was a warning. ‘I’m not alone,’ Dominic reminded him.

‘I know that.’ The other man’s mouth twisted as he looked at Sara. ‘You’re Marie’s sister Sara, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she acknowledged quietly.

Dominic unlocked his apartment door. ‘Wait for me inside, Sara,’ he instructed abruptly. ‘I won’t be long,’ he added as she hesitated.

‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ Danny snarled.

‘You have five minutes, Danny,’ Dominic told him firmly. ‘After that I’ll have you thrown out.’

‘Typical! What I have to say could take longer than five minutes,’ the other man snapped. ‘Telling you what I think of you could take all damned night.’

‘All night you don’t have, five minutes you do,’ Dominic told him grimly.

‘I—–’

‘Sara.’ Dominic pointedly held the door open for her.

She took his hint, and heard the door firmly close behind her. She could hear their raised voices outside, Dominic’s controlled, Danny’s very heated, and she wondered what on earth Dominic could have done to have so angered the younger man.

Not that she was particularly worried about Dominic’s welfare; he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, both verbally and physically. But Danny had been angry, extremely so. Dominic might have been just as angry if he had known the other man was in the habit of kissing his fiancée.

The apartment was as she had imagined it to be, luxurious, expensive and totally male. It was a typical
bachelor home, clean, uncluttered, and obviously kept that way by a daily woman or housekeeper. It turned out to be the latter, a small bustly woman setting the table in the dining-room.

Sara ducked back into the lounge before the woman saw her. Marie would obviously have visited Dominic here, and she didn’t feel up to explaining to the housekeeper that she wasn’t Marie.

She was sitting in one of the armchairs when Dominic entered the apartment, and instantly stood to her feet to look him over for damage. He didn’t appear to be hurt, as he moved to the array of drinks displayed on the side-table and poured himself out a large shot of brandy.

He turned to her after swallowing most of the fiery liquid. ‘Would you like anything to drink?’ he asked grimly.

‘No, thanks. Has he gone?’

‘Yes.’ Dominic’s eyes were narrowed, his expression stern. ‘Yes,’ he sighed, finishing the brandy in his glass, ‘he’s gone.’

Sara frowned. ‘What did he want?’

He seemed to withdraw from her. ‘Nothing important.’

‘Nothing important!’ she scorned. ‘I thought he was going to kill you!’

His mouth twisted. ‘Nothing so melodramatic. I’ll admit Danny was a little annoyed with me—–’

‘Annoyed? He was furious!’ she persisted.

Dominic shrugged. ‘My brother is always furious about something, he always has been.’

Sara paled. ‘Your—your brother?’

‘Yes,’ he bit out grimly. ‘Danny is my younger brother, didn’t you know that?’

No, she hadn’t known that. What she did know was that Dominic’s own brother was in love with Marie.

‘I—
ER
—I didn’t know.’ She licked her lips. ‘We didn’t get to meet at your mother’s the other evening.’

‘You didn’t miss much,’ Dominic dismissed scathingly.

‘I’m sure that when he isn’t angry he can be very nice,’ she said primly.

His eyes blazed. ‘Yes, Danny can be charming when he wants to be. Were you attracted to him?’ he demanded tautly.

Sara gasped. ‘Of course not!’

‘Why not?’ He slammed his empty glass down on the table-top. ‘He’s young, presentable—and free!’

‘Ah yes, he’s free,’ she taunted him, seeing the rigid anger in his body. ‘Perhaps you could introduce me to him some time, when he isn’t quite so angry. Hmm?’

Dominic went white. ‘No, I damn well can’t!’ he exploded, pulling her towards him. ‘You aren’t going out with Danny, Sara. Over my dead body will you go out with him!’

Once again she had woken the sleeping tiger; Dominic was now shaking with fury. He didn’t like the idea that she might date his brother, and his jealousy gave her a warm glow.

‘Only joking, Dominic,’ she murmured huskily. ‘I was only joking,’ she smiled, gently touching his rigid cheek.

He clasped her hand in his, taking it to his mouth to feverishly kiss her palm. ‘Don’t tease, Sara,’ he groaned. ‘Not about something like that. As far as you’re concerned I have a very low pain level.’ The doorbell rang. ‘Hell!’ Dominic muttered. ‘That will be Jim and Martha.’

Sara moved deftly away from him as she heard the
housekeeper coming to answer the door. ‘I’m not interested in your brother, Dominic,’ she assured him softly. ‘Although I’m willing to like him simply because he is your brother.’

His tension started to ease. ‘Not too much,’ he advised huskily. ‘He had a thing for Marie last year, he might consider you’re a suitable replacement.’

She flinched away from him. ‘Like you do?’ she said bitterly.

‘Sara—–’

‘Your guests, Dominic.’ She turned as the middle-aged couple were shown into the room.

On the whole the evening was a success, although Dominic’s brooding attention on her wasn’t conducive to helping business along. She eventually suggested showing Martha Jarvis the view from the balcony as a means of leaving Dominic alone with Jim.

It was a magnificent view, the whole of London spread before them like a huge lighted carpet, beautiful and dreamlike.

‘It always looks so different like this,’ Martha smiled, a still attractive woman of about fifty. She and her husband came from the North of England, and they obviously missed their daughter and grandson whenever they travelled on business, talking of them constantly.

‘Even likeable?’ Sara teased, knowing that the other couple believed there was nowhere as nice as their beloved North.

Martha goodnaturedly accepted her teasing. ‘I like the shops, but that’s about all I can say in London’s favour.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s a big, dirty place, where people don’t have time for each other.’

Considering that Sara had heard that Northerners were among the most dour people of England she found this comment amazing. Still, who was she to question its validity, having lived in America most of her life?

‘I like it,’ she shrugged.

Martha touched her arm. ‘You’ll have to get Dominic to bring you up to visit us some time. You’ll see, the North’s best.’

‘You forget,’ Sara said stiffly, ‘it’s my sister who is marrying Dominic.’

‘So it is,’ the other woman tutted at her stupidity. ‘Still, that’s no reason why you shouldn’t come with them. I have a son who would be just right for you,’ she added conspiratorially.

Sara opened the balcony doors for them to go back inside, laughing at Martha’s matchmaking. ‘Maybe,’ she grinned. ‘But would I be right for him?’

‘For who?’ Dominic asked sharply as they entered the lounge.

‘For my son,’ Martha told him as she sat down. ‘I’ve been trying to persuade Sara to come and visit us and meet my son John,’ she explained lightly.

Sara held her breath at Dominic’s darkening expression. ‘I doubt I’ll have the time,’ she put in hastily. ‘Although I thank you for the offer,’ she smiled at the other couple.

Jim looked at his watch. ‘Time we were going, Mother.’ He stood up, holding out his hand to a now standing Dominic. ‘We’ve had a grand time, lad. I’ll be in touch with you about that contract.’

Sara stood beside Dominic as they made their goodbyes, smiling to herself as she turned back into his apartment.

Dominic followed her, scowling heavily. ‘What’s so funny?’

She was laughing openly now. ‘I just wondered how long it is since you were called ‘‘lad”.’

He returned her smile ruefully. ‘At thirty-five I’m a little old for that, hmm?’

She sat down, curling her legs up beneath her on the sofa. ‘Not to a man of fifty-five,’ she grinned.

Dominic joined her on the sofa, his long legs stretched out in front of him. ‘We got the contract, by the way.’

‘I gathered.’

‘What was that about the Jarvises’ son?’

‘Just a mother’s usual interest in her son’s love-life,’ she dismissed. ‘No threat to you, Dominic, I can assure you.’

His eyes were deeply blue as he looked at her. ‘What does that mean, Sara?’ he asked softly.

She drew a ragged breath. ‘What do you think it means?’

He swallowed hard, a pulse beating rapidly at his jawline, his hands clenched into fists. ‘I—I’m afraid to think,’ he groaned.

‘Try,’ she encouraged throatily.

‘God, I love you!’ he burst out, straining her to him.

Sara froze. ‘Wh—what did you say?’ she gulped, not believing her own hearing, wanting to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating—could you get high on one glass of wine?

‘I love you,’ his lips were at her earlobe, nibbling along the sensitive cord in her throat. ‘God, how I love you!’ He claimed her lips in a fiery kiss.

Love—Dominic
loved
her! She kissed him back with all the love there was inside her, losing herself in the sensation of loving and being loved in return. Her mouth opened to his, their lips moving over each other’s as if starved.

‘Tell me,’ he groaned feverishly. ‘Tell me you love me!’

How could she deny the truth? ‘I love you,’ she breathed against his mouth. ‘I love you very much.’

‘Then that’s all that matters, all that can matter.’ He stood up to gather her in his arms and stride through to his bedroom. ‘I want you, Sara,’ he told her deeply.

Her head rested on his shoulder. ‘Yes.’

‘Yes—what? He seemed almost afraid to breathe.

‘Thank you?’ she quirked one eyebrow, trembling.

The tension between them didn’t lessen at her levity, more it seemed to deepen, as Dominic gently laid her down on the bed to look down at her almost reverently.
‘What do you want, Sara?’ The pulse at his jaw was beating even more rapidly as he waited for her answer.

‘You,’ she told him simply.

He closed his eyes, shuddering as he fought for control. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked almost inaudibly.

She raised her hand to smooth the hair at his temple, saddened at the extra grey hair she found there. ‘I’m very sure, Dominic.’ She met his gaze unflinchingly.

‘Then so be it!’ He sank down on the bed beside her, ravishing her mouth with his, probing her lips farther apart with the sensuous tip of his tonge, running it along the sensitive area of her inner lip.

Sara was trembling with excitement, her hands tangled in the dark length of his hair, massaging his scalp when she found he liked it, groaned with the pleasure of it. Over the next heated few minutes she discovered several other places of pleasure that excited him, her teeth nibbling his neck and causing him to shake.

‘Undress me, Sara.’ He lay back invitingly.

She needed no second bidding, and knelt beside him to slowly unbutton his shirt, having already discarded his jacket. His chest was tautly muscled, liberally sprinkled with dark hair, soft and silky to her touch.

She gasped as she felt Dominic’s lips on her thigh, the slit up the side of her dress giving him easy access to her silky skin. Her hands travelled over the tautness of his back, her nails digging painfully into his muscled flesh as his hands caressed her inner thigh.

‘I can’t do anything when you do that,’ she collapsed on his chest.

Dominic pulled her on top of him, a hand either side of her face as he gazed deeply into her eyes. ‘I go wild just looking at you,’ he told her huskily. ‘I want to take this slowly, love you as you deserve to be loved, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to control this,’ he admitted shakily.

Sara knew what this admission cost him, and it only made her love him all the more. She hugged him, her
face buried in his throat as she cried for joy. ‘Let’s get undressed sensibly,’ she murmured against his warm skin, ‘or else I’m likely to rip your clothes off you.’

Her teasing eased the heated tension between them, and Dominic shook with laughter. He gently moved her up from him. ‘Okay—you first,’ he requested, his eyes warm on her flushed cheeks.

‘I meant together!’ she gasped her dismay.

‘I know what you meant, but it’s more fun this way.’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ she said in a stilted voice, and moved to unzip her dress, all the time wondering how many other women had stripped for him in this very same way. Hundreds, no doubt. And how many of them had he told that he loved them? a traitorous voice asked. None of them, she told herself firmly, as she stepped out of her dress, wearing only a pair of minute briefs, ironically with ‘LOVE’ embroidered across them! She hadn’t dreamt when she had dressed this evening that Dominic would see her like this.

‘Sara?’ He knelt on the bed in front of her, bare to the waist himself, his chest strong and muscled, his stomach taut and flat, his silky hair growing down his chest, over his navel, and provocatively lower. ‘Sara, will this be the first time for you?’ He held her firmly in front of him.

She licked her lips nervously. No man liked inexperience in this day and age. She gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. ‘Of course not,’ she lied lightly.

‘Sara!’ He shook her gently. ‘I’ll be able to tell, you know.’

Not if she stopped herself from crying out he wouldn’t! ‘I’m sorry if you’re disappointed, Dominic,’ she was deliberately nonchalant, ‘but you’ll be far from the first.’

‘I’m glad,’ he gathered her into his arms. ‘Loving you is one thing, taking your innocence from you is something I just couldn’t do.’

Thank God she had lied! She couldn’t be denied
knowing his full possession now, as she removed her last article of clothing to stand before him naked. She was well above average height, her breasts proudly erect, her nipples a deep rose pink, her waist slender, her hips perfectly shaped, her legs long and supple. She watched Dominic shyly from beneath lowered lashes, doing her best to gauge his reaction, wondering if she compared favourably with the other women he had made love to.

He said nothing for several long painful minutes. ‘You’re the most beautiful, desirable woman I’ve ever seen in my life,’ he told her in awe.

She began to breathe again, throwing herself into his arms. ‘That was exactly the right thing to say,’ she told him tearfully.

He smoothed her tears away with his thumb-tips. ‘The truth often is,’ he said huskily. ‘You are beautiful, all of you.’

‘So are you,’ she told him shyly.

‘You haven’t seen all of me yet.’ He firmly sat her down on the bed, his hand going to his belted waist. ‘But you will.’

Sara felt that she stopped breathing as he stepped out of his trousers, a pair of navy blue briefs now his only clothing, his thighs powerfully muscled. At the last moment her courage deserted her and she turned away to climb beneath the covering of the sheets, their coolness soothing against her heated flesh.

‘Do you want the light on or off?’

She looked up, then quickly looked away again, her face fiery red, that one brief glimpse of Dominic’s naked flesh showing her what a truly magnificent body he had, strong and powerful, clearly wanting her as badly as she wanted him. ‘Off, please,’ she croaked, hoping she wouldn’t prove a disappointment to him.

The room was instantly put into darkness, temporarily blinding Sara, and making Dominic a mere shadow. The bedclothes were thrown back as he joined her on the bed, his mouth instantly claiming hers. She
relaxed against the hard demand of him, gasping as his hand moved to claim her breast, caressing the nipple to hardness with the tip of his thumb, moving slowly down her body to claim her other breast with his pleasure-giving lips and tongue.

Excitement such as Sara had never known existed coursed through her body, as Dominic’s leg moved over hers to trap her to the bed as she would have struggled against that pleasure. It was too much, driving her into ecstasies, making her gasp, cry out as it became unbearable.

Dominic raised his head, his expression one of puzzlement. ‘It’s all right, darling,’ he soothed, sweeping her hair back from her face. ‘Calm down, sweetheart.’

She swallowed hard, the tension easing as he gently caressed her. ‘I—I’m sorry, Dominic,’ she bit her lip. ‘I’m just—It’s—–’

‘You’re a virgin, aren’t you!’ he realised tautly.

‘It’s obvious, is it?’ she asked with dread.

His answer was to get off the bed, pulling on a towelling robe before switching on the light. ‘Yes, it’s obvious,’ he confirmed abruptly.

‘It matters, doesn’t it?’ She held the sheet up over her breasts, still throbbing from the touch of his lips.

‘Of course it matters!’ The lover of minutes ago was completely erased.

‘But why?’ she cried out her puzzlement. ‘When we’re married—–’

‘Married!’ he repeated harshly. ‘We aren’t getting married, Sara.’

‘We—we aren’t?’

‘I’m engaged to Marie!’

‘Yes, but—–’

‘And I’m going to stay that way,’ he told her coldly.

‘But you said you loved me!’

‘And I do,’ he groaned.

She blinked dazedly, as she felt her world collapsing about her. ‘But you’re still going to marry Marie?’

‘Yes!’ he hissed. ‘I wish I could make you understand—–’

‘You can’t,’ she choked, getting out of bed to dress hurriedly. ‘I’ve been a fool. I thought loving me meant you wanted to be with me, for all time. But I guess Eddie was right about you from the first,’ she added bitterly, leaving her hair loose in her hurry to leave.