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www.millsandboon.co.uk
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER ONE
AUDREY stood on the pavement outside the coffee-lounge, frowning as she glanced up and down the street. Russell was late. As usual.
She took a deep steadying breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to stay calm, not to become agitated.
You won’t have to worry about his being late again after today, she told herself sternly. Russell will no longer be a part of your personal life.
But nothing could stop the pain deep down in her heart. Or the self-accusations.
Why did I get mixed up with such an obvious womaniser in the first place? she agonised. Why did I believe all his protestations of love? And why, oh, why did I let him talk me into going to bed with him?
Audrey suspected why as soon as she saw him striding down the street towards her, looking elegantly suave in a grey business suit. Russell had all the seductive trappings of a romantic charmer with his blond good looks and bedroom blue eyes, not forgetting his smooth line of patter which made him an excellent salesman.
When he’d started work with Modern Office Supplies as a representative a few months ago he’d been quite a hit with the office girls, yet within days he’d singled her out for his attentions.
Initially, she had been sceptical. After all, there were many more attractive girls at work. But he’d been so persistent, so seemingly sincere. And of course she’d been hopelessly flattered. What a naïve fool she’d been!
Audrey flicked an unhappy sideways glance at herself in the window glass next to her, almost flinching away from her reflection. She’d only had to take a good look in the mirror to realise that Russell couldn’t have fallen in love so quickly with a girl as plain as herself.
Lord, how she hated her looks! Her white, white skin, her big doe-like brown eyes, her bow-shaped little girl mouth. As for her hair... It had always been a disaster. She had been born with fine mousy brown locks, but it was at present a burgundy shade, and permed into a bush of tight curls. Lavinia said it suited her. Audrey wasn’t so sure. Neither did she feel comfortable wearing the red woollen dress her stepmother had given her, insisting red was one of her colours. No colour seemed to be her colour!
With a shudder, she returned her attention to Russell, who had put a wide apologetic smile on his face at his last stride.
‘Sorry I’m late, darling,’ he said silkily, and bent to give her a kiss on the cheek.
Audrey’s whole insides twisted with dismay. How happy she had been the first time he’d called her that! Now, the word was like a dagger in her heart, a dagger dipped in treachery.
‘Oh-oh.’ Russell tried laughing on seeing her tight pale face. ‘Methinks I’ve done something to put myself in your bad books. Is that why you asked me to meet you here for coffee this afternoon, to rap my knuckles over something? Or is the hang-dog face just because I’m a wee bit late?’ he added, a caustic edge creeping into his voice.
How strange, Audrey thought. All of a sudden I don’t find him that handsome, or charming. ‘Half an hour late, Russell,’ she said coldly, ‘is hardly a wee bit. I asked you to meet me at three. It’s now nearly three-thirty.’
His shrug was dismissive, his smile trying in vain to melt the ice that was gathering around her heart. ‘Yes, but I’m worth waiting for, aren’t I?’
Audrey cringed. Had there been a time she’d actually liked lines like that? She could hardly believe herself capable of being such a mug. But she supposed unattractive girls were very vulnerable when it came to attentions from members of the opposite sex. Desperation, she decided bitterly.
‘Do you think we could go inside and sit down?’ she said sharply.
‘Sure. I’ll order us both cappuccino on the way in.’
The coffee-lounge was typical of a thousand others one would find in main streets in suburban Sydney—a long thin rectangle with booths along one side and a shiny counter stretching along the other. Audrey had thought that at this time on a Friday afternoon it would be practically empty and would give them some privacy. But this wasn’t the case, with nearly every booth occupied. Only the back two were empty.
Audrey headed for the furthest, aware that her nervous tension was increasing with each second. The time for confrontation had finally come.
The second last booth was occupied after all, by a man bent over a newspaper. He glanced up briefly as she passed, but didn’t take a second look.
Audrey sat down in the last booth with a weary sigh, then watched unhappily while Russell flirted with the girl behind the counter. The girl’s eyes followed him hungrily when he turned and swaggered towards the back booth, a cocky grin on his face. More wool fell from Audrey’s eyes. Was that how he got his kicks out of life? Making as many female conquests as he could? What number had she been? Ten? Twenty? A hundred?
He slid into the green vinyl seat opposite and shot her an expectant look. ‘Well? Are you going to satisfy my curiosity and tell me what’s up?’
‘Yes,’ she said stiffly, and dragged in a rasping breath. Her heart started hammering away in her chest, and when the words came out they were high-pitched and shaking. ‘Diane told me today you took her out last Saturday night—the night you said you had a business dinner. She also said that you...you slept with her.’
Russell’s instant scowl wiped every shred of good looks from his face. His top lip curled nastily and his eyes took on a narrowed, mean expression. ‘So this is why I’m here! To answer a whole lot of stupid bloody accusations. I would have thought you’d have more sense than to listen to a silly bitch like Diane!’
‘She wasn’t lying,’ Audrey said brokenly, upset by this further glimpse of the real Russell. He’d never used coarse words in front of her before. He’d always played the role of gentleman.
‘Of course she was,’ he sneered. ‘She’s jealous of you. If you had any brains you’d know that by now.’
Audrey sucked in a hurt breath at this further insult. But her pain only fired her with more resolution to be done with this man, once and for all. ‘She had the motel receipt for last Saturday night,’ she stated shakily but with determination. ‘It’s signed by you, and I...I know your signature.’
There was a short sharp silence, followed by an irritable sigh from Russell. ‘Audrey...’ he began in an impatient tone.
She lifted her chin and tried to still her quavering voice. ‘There’s no point in lying to me, Russell. We’re finished, anyway.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘I...I do. I believe Diane and I’ll keep on believing her no matter what you say.’
‘Is that so?’ he muttered nastily. ‘Well, in that case you might as well know. I did screw her. So what?’
Audrey could not contain the gasp of shock at this newly crude and callous Russell. Or the dismay that she’d actually allowed him to...to...
‘You said you loved me,’ she said in a dazed wretched voice. ‘Wanted to marry me...’
‘Yes, well, of course I did,’ Russell retorted caustically. ‘You’re the big boss’s daughter, aren’t you? His only daughter. His only child, in fact. Do I have to spell it out any further?’
A groaning, whimpering sound escaped Audrey’s lips before she could snatch it back. God, why hadn’t she thought of that herself? There she’d been, assuming he was just a compulsive womaniser...
‘You didn’t mean any of it?’ she said in a strangled tone. ‘It was all just...for my money?’
His laugh was cruel. ‘What’s the problem, honey? Did you really think I was bowled over by your beauty and sex appeal? Oh, you’re not that bad-looking once you take off those ghastly clothes you wear. But God, you’ve got no idea how to please a man in bed. Audrey, dear, you’re a bore! I was doing you a big favour even taking you out, let alone giving you a bit, but I suppose you won’t see it that way. I suppose you’re going to run home and tell darling Daddy that one of his big bad reps seduced his prissy little virginal daughter.’
Revulsion had crept over her skin as she listened to the ugly words spew forth. ‘Don’t worry,’ she choked out, and shuddered. ‘I won’t tell Father.’ God, she did have some pride left. Not much. But enough to cling to and stop herself from falling into the despair she could feel hovering at the edges of her mind.
‘Just as bloody well, because if you do and I get the sack I’ll make sure every man in the company and the whole of damned Sydney knows just what a vicious, vindictive bitch you are. And don’t go telling people in the office you broke up with me, sweetheart. Not that they’d believe it. Hell, I can have any bird I want. I just felt sorry for you, that’s all, thought I’d bring you out of your shell a little. You should be grateful for small mercies instead of...’
Russell raved on, but Audrey’s mind was blocked to his cruel and arrogant blusterings. She was thinking bleakly about what happened to girls like herself, girls who were unutterable failures where men and sex were concerned, but who had the lure of money. Girls like her own mother...
She closed her eyes against the agony of truth that blasted into her brain. But along with the agony came fury at a fate which would perversely make a girl wealthy but plain, a girl who more than anything else wanted a family of her own to love and cherish, who had dreamt of it for such a long long time.
Her fingers tightened around her handbag and she was about to sweep sideways out of the booth when someone moved abruptly into her path.
Startled, she glanced up a long long way to encounter a man of about thirty looming over her, an apologetic smile on his extremely attractive mouth. Dazzling white teeth gleamed in a deeply tanned face, intelligent grey eyes flashing beneath thick wavy hair as black as night.
But if she’d been startled by this man’s sudden and very striking appearance, she was more than startled by the words he spoke.
‘Audrey, honey,’ he said in a rich male voice, ‘I just couldn’t wait outside in the car any longer. I know you said you’d handle things but it didn’t feel right to me.’
As he spoke, those expressive grey eyes easily held her own astonished ones, an underlying steeliness compelling her to keep looking at him and say nothing to reveal that he was a perfect stranger to her.
Or was he?
There was something vaguely familiar about him, yet she couldn’t place him. She frowned her confusion. Who on earth was he? How did he know her name? And why was he saying such extraordinary things?
Once he’d finished speaking directly to her, he released her eyes, swinging his gaze over to Russell, who was sitting there with his mouth gaping open in a most unattractive fashion.
‘It’s Russell, isn’t it?’ the stranger went on blithely, shocking Audrey further with his knowledge of Russell’s name. Her lips parted on a gasp, bringing a hard darting glance from the stranger which had them snapping shut again.
‘Sorry about this, old chap,’ came more of his amazing speech, ‘but these things happen. Audrey and I only met last Saturday night but it was love at first sight for both of us. I never believed in such romantic rubbish before, but I’ve had to revise my ideas on the subject, haven’t I, Audrey, my sweet?’
Audrey, my sweet, was now so stunned she just sat there in numbed silence, doe eyes wide, bow-shaped lips pressed tightly shut to stop herself from totally resembling a flapping flounder.
Russell was similarly stunned, but not into silence. ‘Audrey! Who is this man?’ he demanded to know. ‘God, don’t tell me you’ve been seeing someone behind my back!’ His eyes narrowed furiously. ‘Why, you little hypocrite, I’ll—’
‘Audrey, you naughty girl,’ the man cut in in a firm but drily amused voice, ‘you haven’t told him yet, have you?’ His shrug was one of eloquent elegance, drawing Audrey’s eyes to his unconventional but dashing clothes. Loosely fitting black trousers teamed with a black crew-necked jumper, tucked in, a fawn leather belt emphasising his trim hipline.
‘Now isn’t that just like her, Russell?’ he was saying. ‘She does so hate hurting anyone. Look, perhaps you and I should step outside while you say what you have to say. We both know how sensitive Audrey is and perhaps it’s best we have this out man-to-man.’
Russell jumped to his feet, all fluster and bluster. Next to the stranger, he looked puny, which surprised Audrey since Russell was five feet eleven inches tall with quite a good build. But the man next to him must have been at least six-three or -four, his broad-shouldered, stronger frame dwarfing Russell’s shorter, lighter body.
‘There’s no need for that.’ Russell was clearly unhappy with his odds in a fight. ‘I get the picture. Anyway, you’re welcome to her. All the money in the world isn’t worth having to scr—’
The stranger’s left hand shot out and closed over Russell’s left wrist, drawing Audrey’s gaze to the long, strong fingers. Russell winced visibly as they closed tightly.
‘I wouldn’t say another word if I were you,’ their owner warned in a quiet voice that was even more threatening than the loudest roar. ‘I also suggest you take yourself far away from here very quickly, before I forget I’m a gentleman in the presence of a lady.’
Russell began to open his mouth, thought better of it, then snapped it shut. Giving Audrey a savage glance, he extricated himself from the booth and stormed out.
The stranger watched him go, a hard though satisfied smile pulling at his mouth.
‘Who...who are you?’ Audrey blurted out, relieved to at last be able to voice her inner turmoil and confusion. Only satisfaction at seeing Russell so rattled had kept her silent.
His smile softened as he slid into the U-shaped booth opposite her. ‘A friend.’
She leant back against the green leather seat and stared at him. Had they met before? Could he be some business acquaintance of her father’s? No, no, she dismissed immediately. She would never have forgotten this man. ‘I don’t know you,’ she stated firmly, though there was a slight tremor in her voice.
‘Ah, yes. Perfectly true.’ He frowned and stroked his chin for a few seconds, before his face cleared to an expression of dry amusement. ‘Would you believe it if I said I was your guardian angel come to life to save you from a dastardly villain?’
‘You...don’t look at all like an angel,’ she said, smiling at the thought that, dressed all in black, her rescuer looked more like a visitor from the opposite region.
His answering smile was devastatingly attractive and Audrey’s stomach actually fluttered. ‘What about a knight rescuing a fair damsel in distress?’ he suggested, then chuckled.
‘Why is that so funny?’ she asked ingenuously before the penny dropped. Her smile faded immediately. ‘Oh, I see...it’s because I’m hardly a fair damsel...’
‘Good God, Audrey,’ he sighed, clearly exasperated with her. ‘That’s not it at all! It was because my name is Knight. Elliot Knight. Why wouldn’t you qualify as a fair damsel? Hell, you have the most exquisite fair skin, the loveliest big brown eyes and an extremely kissable mouth.’
A startled shock sent her fingers fluttering up to cover her mouth. What did this man want from her, to make him use blatant flattery? Her confusion became total, and it brought bewilderment and panic. ‘I...I don’t know who or what you are, or how you came to know my name and everything, but I...I think I should be getting back to work!’ Audrey picked up her bag and went to stand up.
‘Don’t be such a silly little fool!’ he snapped, his harsh words making her slump back down on the seat, staring at him with wounded eyes.
His sigh was weary. ‘I’m sorry...I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. But damn it all, why go back to that office to a sniggering Diane? It’s nearly four on a Friday afternoon. You’re the boss’s daughter. Give it a miss for the rest of the day. By Monday, your and Russell’s break-up will be last week’s news. Come back to my place for a drink and a sit by the fire, then later I’ll drive you home. Come on, what do you say?’
She blinked over at him. ‘How do you know all those things about me? About Russell? And Diane?’
Quite a few emotions flickered through those fine grey eyes. Frustration. Irritation. Then finally...a weary resignation.
‘I was sitting in the next booth a while back,’ he confessed with reluctance. ‘I overheard your—er—conversation with your boyfriend. He infuriated me so much I decided to teach him a lesson.’
So that was why he’d seemed familiar! Audrey was almost relieved to find a logical explanation for the man’s extraordinary knowledge. But then she realised all he had overheard, and an embarrassed heat flooded her cheeks. ‘Oh, God,’ she cried, and shook her head in shame.
‘You didn’t do anything to be ashamed of, Audrey,’ he said softly. ‘Clearly, you were in love with the man and thought he loved you back. The blame is all his, not yours.’
‘Perhaps,’ she murmured, thinking that such naïveté in a girl who would be twenty-one next week was inexcusable. Hadn’t she long known she was unattractive to men? Why hadn’t she stopped to wonder why Russell would single her out?
‘You’re well rid of him, Audrey,’ her companion continued in the same gentle tone.
‘I dare say,’ she murmured, ‘but it still hurts.’
‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘I know...’
The essence of real understanding in her rescuer’s voice drew her thoughts away from Russell to consider exactly what Elliot Knight had just done for her. And she was deeply moved. Most men would have silently borne witness to her shame and even sniggered in contempt at her gullibility. But compassion had stirred this stranger to come to her aid. And oh, how gallantly he had done that, routing the enemy without her losing face and even trying to make her feel better with his flattery about her looks.
‘You really are a knight in shining armour, aren’t you?’ she said, a tender light shining in her eyes as she gazed at him.
The compliment clearly rattled him for a moment.
‘But you don’t have to keep on rescuing me, Mr Knight,’ she went on shakily. ‘You’ve already done enough. I’m...very grateful to you.’ She bit her bottom lip when tears suddenly pricked at her eyes.
‘Come on...’ He took her hand and slid out of the booth, pulling her with him. ‘You’re coming home with me for a while and that’s final. I don’t live far.’
‘Oh, but I can’t, Mr Knight. I...I...’
‘Don’t argue with me, Audrey. This is for your own good. And for pity’s sake, call me Elliot! And before you ask, no, I’m not married. Neither do I have a girlfriend who might get the wrong idea. Does that settle all your doubts?’
Audrey might have resisted but in all truth she didn’t want to go back to the office. Neither did she think Elliot had any dark sexual motive for taking her home. Not with her!
It wasn’t till she was led over to the black Saab Cabriolet parked outside that she ground to a halt, wrenching her hand away from Elliot’s solid grasp. ‘This is your car?’ she asked, an instant quavering in her voice.
He frowned first at her, then at the car. ‘Yes? Something wrong with it?’
‘No...no, I suppose not,’ she agreed stiffly, and with grim determination climbed into the sporty car. Nevertheless, an automatic tension took hold of her once the car started round the narrow winding cliff road that led from Newport to Avalon Beach, and Audrey wondered grimly if she’d ever get over this phobia.
She thought she managed to hide it quite well for the short trip, though she felt real relief when Elliot directed the car from the main road up a steep driveway. When he zoomed into an electronically operated garage underneath an impressively large ocean-view home and finally turned off the engine she let out a ragged, long-held breath.
He shot her a curious look and turned to pick up a newspaper that was lying on the back seat. ‘You’re a very nervous passenger.’
‘Yes, I...speed makes me nervous,’ she admitted. ‘Men who own sports cars usually drive fast. You don’t, though. But then...you’re different from most men.’
‘Really?’ He laughed drily. ‘I doubt that, Audrey. I doubt that very much.’ And lanced her with the oddest look before abruptly turning away from her to alight.
Her forehead puckered into a puzzled frown as he guided her up the internal spiral staircase to emerge on the lowest level of the split-level dwelling. What had he meant by that remark, and that look? That he was no better than Russell? That he might consider seducing an heiress, even if she wasn’t all that attractive?
Even though she couldn’t believe her shining knight would do such a thing, Audrey’s newly cynical self still went on the alert.
But the sight of the huge living-room with its high raked ceilings and wood-panelled walls reassured her again, as did the furniture and rugs—all valuable antiques. People didn’t rent homes full of such treasures, she decided logically. They owned them.
‘You must be very well off, Elliot,’ she said, relieved eyes sweeping around in a full circle. Goodness, if she wasn’t mistaken that was a Renoir on the wall. And a Gauguin! They didn’t look like prints, either.
‘Very,’ he agreed, striding across the room to throw the newspaper on an ornate Edwardian coffee table. ‘Make yourself at home.’ He waved towards the brown leather studded sofa that faced the fireplace.
‘What exactly do you do?’ she asked as she sat down.
Elliot had moved over to the cold hearth of the marble fireplace when she threw this question at him. He sent her a wry glance over his shoulder then bent to put a firestarter into the dead ashes before arranging some kindling and firewood in a criss-cross pattern. ‘What do I do?’ he drawled as he struck a match. ‘Let’s see, now...’
He stood up and turned to face her, a sardonic smile on his face. ‘Actually I haven’t been doing much at all lately. I went skiing a fortnight back. Yesterday, I read a fairly good book. Tomorrow I’m going to try my hand at betting on the races.’
‘Don’t you work?’
‘Shall we say, I have no need to unless I want to? And I haven’t been wanting to this year.’
‘Goodness,’ she exclaimed, totally intrigued by him now. ‘Were you born rich?’
‘Not at all.’ Elliot proceeded over to his built-in bar. ‘What do you fancy? Gin? Vodka? A glass of white wine?’
‘Oh—er—yes, white wine.’
He turned and extracted a bottle of Riesling from a wall fridge, opening it like a man who’d had a lot of practice. Pouring a glass each, he carried them over to the sofa.
Fascinated, her eyes followed his every move. He was so unconsciously graceful, yet so...masculine.
‘The truth is,’ he said as he handed over her glass and sat down in front of the crackling fire, ‘I was once married to a rich woman.’
Shock sent her wine glass trembling, and wide eyes flashing to his. ‘You mean you married a woman for her money?’
His self-irritation was obvious by the expression on his face. ‘No, of course not. Please don’t think that. I was merely explaining where a lot of my money came from. Moira died, you see. Late last year. Viral pneumonia,’ he finished tersely before she could ask.