Mistaken Identity (17 page)

He was completely enchanted. ‘Oh, yes, it will. I’m going to kiss every inch of your delectable body, know every part of you intimately. See, touch, taste…’

His hands moved through her hair, over the beautiful smooth skin of her shoulders and down to her breasts. He concentrated his attentions there and delighted in her response. He stroked her nipples with his tongue, suckled them, drew them deep into his mouth. The little noise of protest she uttered as he withdrew his mouth from her breast was reassuring.

‘Shh,’ he said. ‘I’m going to take you over the edge again and again.’ He allowed his hands to trace the softness of her body, and his mouth soon followed. His lips trailed a path of worship over her abdomen. Around her navel. Lower.

He stilled as he reached his intended destination.

It couldn’t be true!

His body was shocked rigid by the telltale show of blood which stained her inner thighs. He stared at it, then his eyes flew up to hers.

‘Alex?’

‘No,’ he declared. He shook his head, trying to make some sense out of the situation. His blood chilled as he recalled the slight sensation of resistance as he’d plunged into her, the momentary look of vulnerability that passed across her face before she’d buried her face against his shoulder. Looking back down at her thighs, he knew now that he hadn’t been imagining it.

Wriggling underneath him, she raised her upper body. He looked up. Saw her recognise the evidence on her thighs. Heard her sharp intake of breath.

‘You can’t have been a virgin, Susan,’ he denied. ‘How can this be possible?’

Chapter 9

Leah closed her eyes to block out the incredulous look on Alex’s face. Her flesh screamed out in protest as he moved away from her, right off the bed. This was her moment of truth. There was no escaping telling Alex the whole story right now.

‘I…I tried to tell you,’ she began.

Dark and threatening, he loomed over her. She could see him grappling with the evidence of her virginity and trying to reason with what he saw.

‘How is this possible?’

‘Alex, I wanted you to know before —’

‘You’re telling me this
was
the first time for you?’

She nodded.

‘But, the photos of you with those men —’

‘It wasn’t me in those photos —’

‘The photographer who sold me the photos assured me…’ He broke off and turned toward the door.

She heard footsteps in the corridor outside. Someone was approaching the room. She let out a pent-up breath, part of her relieved to have Alex’s attention temporarily diverted away from her.

He uttered something in Greek. Whatever it was, it sounded like a curse. ‘Cover yourself!’ His words were sharp. He reached for his shorts and threw her the white t-shirt he’d been wearing.

Was he expecting someone to burst in on them?

Grabbing for the t-shirt, she pulled it over her head, then scanned the floor for her shorts. The footsteps were closer. Almost at the door.

‘Alex!’

She stilled as she recognised the voice calling Alex’s name. A leaden weight of dread settled in her stomach.

Spiros was here.

No. Not now!
Her eyes flew to the door in panic.

‘Stay put! I’ll deal with Spiros,’ Alex commanded, pulling up the zipper on his shorts.

It’s too late.

She sank back down and wished the bed would swallow her up.

Alex moved toward the door. Before he could reach for the handle, it was flung open.

Still naked from the waist down, she cringed under the bed sheets. She was ashamed by her deception. Now Alex would know her true identity, and he was finding out in the worst possible way.

She watched the scene play out in front of her like the scene from a horror movie. Spiros was shorter than his brother and of a heavier build, but there was a definite familial resemblance. Right now that was enhanced by the fact that the brothers stood head to head, anger firing off both of them like sparks from a welder.

‘You knew I was arriving. I expected you to have the courtesy to stay up,’ Spiros said in a belligerent tone.

Alex knew?

‘Get out, Spiros!’ Alex ordered, moving toward him. ‘Wait for me downstairs!’

Was her sister downstairs?

She shifted in the bed. Her movement alerted Alex’s brother to her presence.

‘Susie?’ Spiros’s confusion was etched into his features He stepped around Alex and into the room. ‘But… What the hell is going on? You told me you were returning to London.’

Alex turned, and moved between them. ‘What are you talking about? She’s been here with me the whole time. That’s why she didn’t meet you in London so you two could elope.’

‘No,’ his brother shook his head.

‘She decided she wanted me instead.’ He paused, then emphasised, ‘She never loved you.’

Leah’s heart compressed as she realised Alex was using the situation to his advantage. He was thrusting a verbal knife into Spiros, twisting it hard. She heard his words cut and felt pained by his brutality.

How could he be so callous?

Spiros looked at Alex as though he was mad. Slowly, comprehension spread across his features.

‘Leah!’ he acknowledged. He turned to Alex. ‘What in God’s name have you done to Leah?’

Alex inhaled a sharp breath and turned to Susan. Her eyes were huge in her pale face, and she was biting her lower lip.

Leah?

He looked back at his brother, whose shock was evident on his features. Spiros was looking at Susan and calling her Leah.

Leah Bristow?

This wasn’t Leah Bristow. It couldn’t be. She was nothing like the woman whose photo was emailed to him. Then his breath caught. He remembered thinking that Susan’s friend looked familiar. The hair colouring was different, and Leah’s eyes were green but…

‘Well, Alex?’ his brother demanded. ‘Why is Leah here? What’s she doing in your bed?’

He staggered as if he’d been king-hit. The differences in appearance between Susan and Leah were nothing that couldn’t be changed by a bottle of hair dye, a pair of scissors, and some coloured contact lenses. Taking the difference in colour away, he could see the similarities. Tension spread very slowly throughout his body as realisation dawned.

He knew Leah Bristow was a teacher. Was she a history teacher?

The woman in his bed had read
Homer
, had known about consulting the oracle at Delphi – Susan wouldn’t have known those things. All the anomalies of Susan’s behaviour that had plagued his subconscious were finally, painfully, and shockingly resolved. The woman in his bed wasn’t Susan. That explained why the pathology tests had found no trace of drugs in her system.

And why she had been a virgin.

‘Leah Bristow.’ The name tasted sour in his mouth.

Why hadn’t it occurred to him? He’d been blinded because Leah was Susan’s double.

‘Leah Hamlin,’ she told him in a quiet, shaky voice.

‘Susie’s identical twin sister,’ Spiros supplied.

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place, making him reel. He saw the whole picture with clarity and his gut churned. She’d been deceiving him so that Susan could be with Spiros. So that Susan could marry Spiros! He swallowed down on the bile rising up his throat.

‘Alex —’ she started.

She’d lied to him. All this time, she’d been lying. He’d been falling for her, and she’d been deceiving him, playing him for a fool.

‘What’s Leah doing here?’ Spiros demanded again.

‘Perhaps you’d like to explain,
Leah
.’ He glared at her.

Although the look that she sent him was full of remorse, not a single sound escaped her mouth when she opened it.

Then again, there was nothing she could say. No way she could explain the magnitude of her deceit.

Spiros made an impatient gesture with his hands. Alex’s attention shifted away from Leah.

‘Alex, what’s she doing in your bed?’

His tone was bitter as he answered. ‘Trying to succeed where her sister failed.’

‘Alex,’ she begged, ‘I was going to tell you the truth. I —’

‘I doubt you’d be able to tell the truth,’ he bit out. ‘You’ve proven to be quite the accomplished liar.’

The woman in his bed flinched as if he’d slapped her, then paled to the colour of parchment. His hands became fists at his sides, and he hardened his heart against the pain. The lie she’d perpetrated…she’d brought this on herself, and there was no talking her way out of it. Now that he understood her duplicity, he would never trust her again.

‘Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?’ his brother demanded.

‘Get out, Spiros!’ Alex roared.

Even though his brother drew back, he stayed put, glancing between Leah and Alex in bewilderment.

‘Please, Alex, let me explain it to you,’ Leah pleaded.

‘You don’t have to explain. You pretended to be your sister so she could be with Spiros.’

‘What else could I do? Susie and Spiros love each other, they —’

‘No, we don’t,’ Spiros cut in.

‘What?’ she asked. The sheer disbelief in that single syllable echoed around the room.

Alex cursed. His pulse throbbed at the vein at his temple. ‘Please, God, don’t tell me you married Susan.’

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Leah wanted to cover her ears. The clock on Alex’s dresser seemed horrendously loud in the ensuing silence, like a timer on a bomb waiting to detonate. Every second that passed was bringing them all closer to a dangerous explosion, threatening to blow them apart, the devastation catastrophic.

She held her breath as she waited for Spiros’s reply. Appearing guilty and somewhat abashed, he shifted from foot to foot again, his eyes fixed on the carpet. Then he lifted his head up and looked straight at Alex.

‘We’re not married.’

Alex exhaled in relief.

‘We won’t be getting married, either,’ he added.

‘What do you mean?’ she demanded. ‘What about the baby?’

Spiros looked at her and shook his head. ‘There isn’t any baby.’

All her blood rushed away from her extremities, and she felt herself swoon. Her heart contracted in pain. ‘Susie suffered a miscarriage?’

‘No, Leah.’ Spiros moved toward her. ‘Susie was lying. There was never a baby.’

‘No!’ she denied.

How could Susie lie about something like that?

Her eyes flew to Alex. He’d been right.

A strangled sob escaped her tight throat at the knowledge that she’d been acting to protect a sister who’d deceived them all. What had happened to the sister she thought she’d known? The sister she loved and idolised?

‘I didn’t know,’ she began. ‘If I’d realised, I would’ve told you earlier —’

‘I doubt it,’ Alex disagreed. ‘You may have lied to me initially at your sister’s bidding, but it wasn’t long before your motivation became self-serving.’

‘Wha…what do you mean?’

‘You’ve been hoping you’d get into my bed.’ His voice was flat. ‘Did you hope I’d fall for you? Did you think I’d set you up as my mistress?’

The heat of shame and humiliation flooded through her. She did want to be in his bed, there was no denying that. But not as his mistress — as his wife.

‘You saw the dollar signs,’ Alex continued.

How could he think that? How could he sell himself so short?

Christina! He’s comparing me to his wife.

‘I see you don’t deny it,’ he ground out. ‘You’re no better than your sister.’

‘No!’ she cried out.

‘Hang on, Alex,’ Spiros protested. ‘That’s not fair. Leah’s not like —’

‘Your deception’s over.’ Alex’s fury was blistering. ‘You played a dangerous game and you lost. Get dressed, and get downstairs. Spiros, see her to the helicopter. Make sure she leaves the island.’

‘But —’ she started.

‘I’ll make arrangements for you to leave Greece. You can use Susan’s passport, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you. Lying obviously comes as naturally to both you and your sister as breathing.’

Tears pricked her eyes. ‘Alex, please —’

‘I’ll be waiting for you in my study as soon as she’s gone, Spiros.’ Alex turned, and walked out of the room without so much as a backward glance at her.

It’s over.

Alex knew the truth, and he’d walked away without giving her a chance to explain.

She was alive. Her heart was broken, but somehow it was still beating and managing to pump the blood around her body. Perhaps the cruellest punishment of all for her deceit was that she would go on living, knowing that she’d lost any chance of being with Alex.

If only she’d told him earlier.

‘Leah, what’s going on?’ Spiros sat down next to her on the bed. ‘How did you get here?’

‘Alex brought me here.’

‘He kidnapped you?’

‘It didn’t happen exactly like that.’ Strange, now it was over, how she could see everything through Alex’s eyes. She no longer thought of him as her kidnapper.

‘He thought you were Susie.’

She nodded, but didn’t want to keep talking about things that had happened between her and Alex. The pain was too fresh. Too raw. ‘Where’s Susie?’

‘She went back to London.’

‘I thought you were married. You were in Paris together.’

‘We couldn’t marry. You were carrying all Susie’s identification.’

‘But, she got to Paris. Didn’t she get a new passport?’

‘She used yours.’

She shook her head. Was there no rule that Susie wouldn’t break? ‘I thought…It doesn’t matter. You said you don’t love each other?’

‘No. Alex was right, Leah. Susie was using me to get at him. She’s obsessed with him.’

‘She lied to you about being pregnant to get you to elope with her?’

He nodded. ‘She was off her face last night with drugs. I couldn’t get her to stop using. I was angry with her and worried about what it’d do to the baby. She told me there was no baby.’

‘Was that the only reason you agreed to marry her?’

He nodded slowly. ‘I’d tried to break up with her the day before you went to see Alex.’

Leah closed her eyes tight, unable to believe the extent of Susie’s manipulation. They’d all been pawns in her game. But had Spiros been equally guilty of playing games?

‘Did you ever care for her, or was Alex right in saying you were more interested once he warned you not to get involved?’