Mistress For Hire (Harlequin Presents)
Page 17
‘Yet you did trust yourself to me a few weeks later,’ he reminded her.
She nodded miserably and felt her eyes prickle with sudden tears.
‘More fool me!’ she said savagely.
‘Why did you?’ demanded Matt, gripping her shoulders. ‘Why did you, Lisa? Was it just to get your revenge?’
‘No!’ she cried, twisting away from him. ‘Don’t be a fool, Matt! I did it because I loved you, because I trusted you, in spite of what you’d done to Andrea.’
‘I’ve never done anything to Andrea!’ he snapped.
She stared at him in disbelief. ‘But Justin—’
‘Justin is not my child! I’ve never made love to Andrea in my life.’
A wild surge of elation swept over her, followed by immediate uneasiness. ‘Everybody says—’
‘I know what they say! It isn’t true. Justin is not my child.’
‘Then whose—’
‘My cousin Graham’s.’ He saw her baffled frown, and his grip on her shoulders suddenly grew gentler, almost caressing. ‘Sit down, Lisa, and I’ll explain.’
Wonderingly she sank into a chair and watched as he paced across to the huge picture window.
‘Graham and I were only a year apart,’ he said. ‘And we were really close to each other, more like brothers than cousins. We also looked very much alike. He married young, but the marriage wasn’t happy, and eventually he started having an affair with a schoolteacher.’
‘Andrea?’ whispered Lisa.
‘Yes. Andrea. When Graham was lost at sea, Andrea was already pregnant, and she was absolutely distraught to hear the news. I did my best to help her, and a lot of people leapt to the conclusion that Justin was my child. Under the circumstances, it seemed cruel to Graham’s widow to reveal the truth. So I let them go on thinking it. The trouble was that, as time passed, Andrea convinced herself that she was in love with me, but I’m sure it’s not true. It’s just an infatuation, based on the fact that I look like Graham. One of these days she’ll meet someone else and snap out of it.’
‘Now I understand,’ murmured Lisa, half to herself. ‘Oh, Matt. And you’re not in love with her?’
He turned with his back against the window like an animal at bay and faced her.
‘How could I be?’ he asked. ‘When I’m totally and absolutely in love with you?’
There was such a driven look in his eyes, so much need and longing and resentment and hope that Lisa gave a stifled cry, jumped to her feet and ran to him. His arms closed around her and he crushed her against him so hard that she could feel the violent beating of his heart against her cheek.
‘Truly?’ she faltered.
‘Truly,’ he said thickly. ‘Lisa, I’ve got a few suggestions to make.’
‘Mm?’
‘Why don’t you finish your packing and come back to Tasmania with me? I’ll buy the farm from Tim and we can go and visit him in Paris on our honeymoon.’
A radiant burst of happiness spread through her limbs like a sunrise.
‘That sounds fine to me,’ she whispered.
An equal flare of triumph and joy blazed in Matt’s eyes. He hugged her hard, then reached up and tugged sharply at the cord beside the window so that the Austrian blinds dropped down, shutting out the light. After that he began calmly unbuttoning Lisa’s blouse.
‘We’ve been apart for too long,’ he murmured into her ear. ‘Why don’t we celebrate our reunion by making violent love all over the flat? Starting with the dining room?’
She swayed against him, purring like a cat. A slow, delicious smile curved her lips.
‘Yes, why not?’ she agreed.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0684-7
MISTRESS FOR HIRE
First North American Publication 2003.
Copyright © 1995 by Angela Devine.
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