Forbidden Surrender (16 page)

Dominic’s eyes were glacial. ‘Eddie?’ he echoed sharply.

‘Yes,’ her head went back challengingly. ‘That first evening we met, when you thought I was Marie, I asked Eddie about you. He told me then exactly what sort of man you are.’

‘Considering he’s never met me that’s quite something!’

Her look was contemptuous. ‘People like you don’t need to be known. He told me then that one day you intended owning all the business, and that by marrying Marie you would have it. And now you’ve proved that. You say you love me—–if you even know what that word means—and yet you still intend to marry Marie, my father’s heiress.’

Dominic had gone white beneath his tan, his eyes blazing. ‘You’re forgetting something,’ he snapped harshly. ‘Your father now has two daughters.’

‘And you’ve been trying to bed both of them! You’re a bastard, Dominic Thorne, and you can forget what I ever said about loving you! Right now I loathe and despise you, and I doubt that opinion will ever change!’ She flounced out of the bedroom, and continued on out of the apartment, hiring a taxi to take her home.

The drive to her father’s house seemed never-ending as she sat in hunched-up misery on the back seat of the taxi, her love and belief in Dominic in ruins about her feet. He had been using her, making her a pawn in his ugly game—and how easily she had fallen for it!

But never again, never again would she listen to his words of love or passion. If he could betray her father
and Marie after having known them for the past ten years, then he would have no compunction about exploiting her own attraction to him. It must have been obvious to him from the first, and how useful it could have been to him. But she had ruined his plan, hadn’t been besotted enough with him to still want to sleep with him after she had found out he still intended marrying Marie. Admittedly he hadn’t been corrupt enough to pursue his seduction once he realised her innocence, but she had no doubt he would have overcome those
scruples
given time. He had wanted her completely and utterly in love with him, agreeable to his every whim. What a pity for him that he had failed!

It made her wonder what he could have done to Danny, his own brother, to make him want to attack him in that way. Danny had accused him of something; could it possibly be that he had finally found the courage to stand up to his brother about his engagement to Marie, to tell Dominic of his own love for her? To think that Dominic had gone that far, dazzled and captured Marie from his own brother merely for his own mercenary ends. The thought disgusted her. And what disgusted her more was that she had almost been a victim of his lethal charm herself.

To her dismay she wasn’t to be allowed to escape to the privacy of her bedroom to wallow in her misery. Marie’s bedroom light was on, and she called Sara in to speak to her.

‘You should be asleep,’ Sara scolded, sitting down on the side of the bed.

‘Ssh!’ Marie smiled mischievously. ‘Daddy doesn’t know I’m still awake.’

‘You’re feeling better?’

‘I was feeling better this afternoon,’ her sister admitted with a grin, ‘but I hate these business dinners of Dominic’s.’

‘I wish I’d known earlier,’ Sara groaned. ‘Headache or no headache, you would have gone.’

‘Was it ghastly?’

‘Yes! No.’ She shrugged. ‘Not really.’ Only the latter part of it!

‘I promise I won’t land you in it again,’ Marie giggled. ‘I just didn’t feel like being entertaining this evening.’

‘I’ll let you off this time.’ Sara frowned, remembering something that had been troubling her. ‘Marie, tonight when—when Dominic and I were leaving a man was just arriving. I think Dominic said his name was Simon Forrester.’

‘Simon?’ Marie’s voice sharp.

‘Yes,’ Sara watched her closely. ‘Dominic said he was a friend of Dad’s.’

‘That’s right, he is,’ her sister answered with obvious relief.

Sara bit her lip, deciding to take a shot in the dark and see if it paid off. ‘He also said he was a doctor.’ She watched Marie’s reaction, seeing her blanch.

‘Yes, he is,’ Marie’s tone was brittle. ‘Does it matter?’

‘Not really,’ Sara replied casually. ‘I just wondered whether he was here professionally or socially.’

Marie began to pleat the sheet between nervous fingers. ‘Why on earth should he be here professionally?’

‘I thought perhaps because of your headaches …’ She had thought no such thing. If Simon Forrester had been here professionally then it had been to see her father, and conveniently when she was out of the house.

‘No,’ Marie denied instantly. ‘I’m feeling rather tired, Sara, perhaps I should go to sleep now.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She stood up. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ She bent to kiss her sister goodnight.

But she didn’t sleep once she reached her bedroom, too disturbed by the evening’s events to be able to relax enough for that. She had been stupid tonight, more stupid than she had ever been before in her life. She was ashamed of herself for being taken in so easily. But the reason she had been taken in still existed—she still loved Dominic!

How could she love such a despicable man, a man who was marrying her own sister for mercenary reasons? Maybe he did love Marie, maybe he loved her too, but it made no difference to his plans to be the sole owner of the business he and her father now ran jointly.

And tomorrow, or the day after, she was going to have to face Dominic again, put on a show so that he wouldn’t guess how much he had hurt her. After what she had said to him she doubted she would have to fight any attempts on his part to kiss or touch her.

She didn’t give him the chance the next day, spending the whole day with her aunt, telephoning Eddie and going out with him that evening. He was the uncomplicated companion she needed at the moment.

There was no sign of Dominic when she finally arrived home, so she entered the house with a light heart. After crying herself to sleep the night before she had spent the day pushing Dominic firmly to the back of her mind, and the last thing she wanted was to run into him now. Eddie had given her her confidence back in herself with his lighthearted flirting, receiving a casual kiss goodnight to his surprise. Purely sisterly, she had assured him with a laugh.

The butler came to remove her coat once she got in. ‘Mr Thorne has been calling you all day, Miss Sara,’ he informed her.

She stiffened, frowning. ‘Did he leave a message?’ She did her best to remain calm.

‘No, Miss Sara, although I think he wanted to talk to you quite urgently. He’s gone away on business for several days, but he said he would call you again as soon as he could.’

‘I didn’t realise he was going away. Wasn’t he here this evening, Granger?’

For a moment he looked puzzled. ‘I think you may have misunderstood me, Miss Sara. I didn’t mean Mr Dominic Thorne, I meant Mr Daniel Thorne.’

‘Danny?’ she echoed sharply. What on earth could Danny want with her?

‘That’s right,’ the butler nodded.

‘Are you sure he wanted me, Granger?’

‘Very sure, Miss Sara.’

‘Did he mention where he was going?’

‘Germany,’ he supplied. ‘And he wasn’t sure when he would be returning.’

‘Thank you,’ she said absently. ‘I—If he calls again, let me know immediately, won’t you?’

‘Of course, Miss Sara.’

Why could Danny want to see her? They had met briefly last night for the first time, very briefly, and he hadn’t seemed that desperate to talk to her then.

He didn’t call again, his business in Germany was probably keeping him fully occupied. And she didn’t see or hear from Dominic either, although she knew he and Marie met most evenings. Perhaps her message had gone home, whatever the reason he left her alone.

‘We’re going shopping,’ Marie announced on Saturday morning as the two of them breakfasted together.

‘We are?’ Sara asked tolerantly.

‘Yes,’ her sister nodded. ‘Well, it isn’t shopping exactly,’ she added a little guiltily. ‘I know where we’re going, and I’ve already bought the—whatever it is we want. We just have to pick them—it up.’

‘Marie …?’ Sara eyed her suspiciously. ‘What have you been up to?’

‘Nothing. It’s a surprise. For you!’ She could hardly contain her excitement. ‘Have you finished?’ she tried to hurry Sara’s breakfast along.

‘No, I haven’t.’ Sara refused to be rushed, slowly sipping her coffee.

‘Yes, you have.’ Marie took the cup out of her hand, standing up expectantly.

Sara didn’t move. ‘What about the party tonight? Shouldn’t we be doing something towards that this morning?’

‘It’s all arranged. Everything will be arriving this afternoon. Anyway, Granger is perfectly capable of dealing with any hitches that may arise.’

‘He wasn’t yesterday when you couldn’t be spared to help me tidy Dad’s study,’ Sara reminded her ruefully.

Marie grinned. ‘I’ve been doing it for years, simply because Daddy won’t let the staff go in there. I thought it was time you took a turn.’

‘And you were very conveniently busy with other things,’ Sara said dryly.

‘Very conveniently,’ Marie grinned.

The dress salon wasn’t exactly a surprise to Sara, she had half expected it. Marie hadn’t been out and bought a new dress for the party yet, so it followed that today she was going to get one. Only she had gone one step further, she had had identical dresses designed!

‘Aren’t they lovely!’ she cried ecstatically as they were brought out for their approval.

They were indeed lovely, but
identical
!

‘At the time you ordered two dresses the same,’ the saleswoman gushed. ‘I admit to being rather puzzled. But now …’ she waved her arms in their direction pointedly, ‘now I understand.’

Sara wished she did. ‘No one will be able to tell us apart,’ she complained.

‘That’s the whole idea!’ Marie was flushed with pleasure at her idea. ‘Let’s fit them on.’

‘Marie—’

‘Come on, Sara!’ She dragged her towards the changing rooms.

The dress fitted her as if it had been made for her, but then it should, it had been modelled on Marie! It was black chiffon, a colour she didn’t usually wear, very simple in design, its very simplicity its main attraction, strapless, held above the breasts only by their pertness, fitted over the bust to be caught in at the waist, flowing out in several layers of chiffon to her feet. It was beautiful,
gave her added maturity and sophistication, and she could see it did the same for Marie when they met minutes later.

‘My goodness!’ the saleswoman gasped. ‘You look like mirror images!’

‘Don’t we! Don’t we, Sara?’ Marie pleaded for her approval.

Sara sighed. ‘Yes, we do. But we’re going to cause a lot of confusion at this party tonight.’

Marie smiled her glee. ‘That’s the whole idea.’

The first person to fall foul of their little trick was their father, who stared at them in utter confusion when they joined him in the lounge before their guests arrived.

‘Clever,’ he smiled, putting an arm around each of them and holding them to his sides. ‘Sara,’ he turned to kiss her. ‘Marie,’ he turned to kiss her.

Marie pouted her disappointment. ‘You guessed!’

He laughed. ‘I cheated. I can tell by the perfumes you wear,’ he explained.

Marie brightened. ‘You couldn’t tell otherwise.’

‘No,’ he answered solemnly.

‘Sure?’

‘Sure,’ he nodded.

Dominic was the first to arrive, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at them both. ‘I seem to have played this scene before,’ he murmured. ‘I’m supposed to guess which one to kiss. Right?’

Marie nodded, having extreme difficulty not speaking and so giving away her identity.

It was the first time Sara had seen him since the night at his apartment, and she noticed that he looked drawn and tired, despite his forced smile. Perhaps his conscience had been bothering him; she hoped so.

This time he didn’t even hesitate, but walked straight over to Marie and kissed her confidently on the lips.

This didn’t please her at all, and she glared up at him. ‘You weren’t supposed to guess!’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘You would rather I kissed Sara?’

‘Yes—I mean no.’ She sighed. ‘How did you know which one was me?’

‘Shouldn’t I know the girl I’m going to marry?’

‘I suppose so,’ she accepted ruefully. ‘But I bet Sara’s disappointed that you guessed right.’

Sara gasped, turning fiery red. Could Marie possibly have guessed that she had been kissed by Dominic many times before?

Dominic turned glacial blue eyes on her. ‘Are you?’ he asked coldly.

Her head went back, her mouth tight. ‘Not at all. I have my own boy-friend arriving shortly. I’m sure he’ll be only too pleased to supply as many kisses as I want.’

‘Eddie?’ he rasped tautly.

‘Of course.’ She made her tone appear light, aware of her father and Marie even if Dominic wasn’t.

His mouth twisted. ‘Of course.’ He turned away.

Once the guests began to arrive, exclaiming over how alike the two girls were—as if they wouldn’t be when they were identical twins!—she was able to push Dominic to the back of her subconscious, vaguely aware of his being in the room, even feeling his gaze on her on occasion, but making no effort to return it.

Eddie was enjoying himself immensely, his arm loosely about her waist in casual possession. ‘Is he rising to the bait yet?’ he bent to whisper in her ear.

Sara frowned up at him. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Not what, who. And it’s Dominic Thorne,’ he grinned. ‘He’s been glaring at me for the last ten minutes.’

An involuntary movement had her facing in Dominic’s direction, to find herself looking straight into his narrowed blue eyes. Yes, he was staring at them, not just looking, but staring straight at them, and making no effort to look as if he were doing anything else. Her
answer was to stand on tiptoe and kiss Eddie firmly on the mouth. When she glanced back at Dominic he was no longer looking their way, although he was slightly pale under his tan, his mouth set in a rigid line.

‘I liked that,’ Eddie murmured. ‘But not the reason behind it.’ He gave her a reproachful look.

Sara blinked hard. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’