The Mistress Deception

by Susan Napier

  ‘And then Armstrong lucked out with those snaps. It seemed like the hand of fate. I wasn’t looking to do anything illegal, just create enough embarrassment to give me an excuse to demand you resign. And when Stiller agreed to play along, keeping our future prospects looking rocky, that seemed like the icing on the cake…’

  ‘And you couldn’t resist decorating the frosting,’ Matt crunched out. ‘The nudity wasn’t enough; you had to add the whip?’

  ‘Yeah, that was purely stupid. I guess I got carried away with my own cleverness. And sending out that second set of photos was even dumber. I mean, I woke up afterwards and thought, What am I doing?’ He rubbed a hand across his unshaven face. ‘I was jeopardising everything I’d worked for—and for what? So I destroyed the negs and prints and hoped the hell it would all go away if I ignored it.

  ‘I even went to see the psychologist I used to work with when I was in the police. I’ve spent the past week working out that I’m the one who’s the problem. Hell…the fact is that Dave is dead and I do need another partner to share the load. I’ve just been resenting it so long I couldn’t see the wood for the trees…And the stupidest part of it is—Rachel’s proved to have far more guts and go than some of the competitors I let get the jump on us…’

  ‘The question is, what happens now?’ said Matt, when Frank’s well of remorse had run dry. ‘Or rather what does Rachel want to happen?—since I think it’s her call.’

  She struggled with conflicting feelings. ‘Maybe I haven’t been at it as long, but I’ve worked hard for Westons, too—I don’t want to throw all that away. But after what you’ve done, I don’t know if I could ever trust working with you again,’ she told Frank slowly.

  ‘In that case we either dissolve the partnership or I buy you out, I suppose,’ he said tiredly, showing no elation at either prospect. ‘I guess if you’re going to be a rich man’s wife you won’t even have to work…’

  Rachel ignored the dig. ‘But that would mean you win,’ she instantly objected. ‘I don’t see why you should get away scot-free.’

  ‘I won’t—seeing that we have the KR contract in our pockets, the value of your shares has just shot up.’

  ‘What’s the matter with Rachel buying you out?’ suggested Matt, causing both their jaws to drop. ‘I think she’s proved capable, don’t you? And I’d be happy to help her put up the capital. There’s no reason why she couldn’t run the business herself…’

  ‘Westons without a Weston?’ Frank came back to furious life. ‘Look, Rachel, don’t rush into anything—think things over for a few days. I’m sure we can work something out…OK, I did some bad things, but nothing I can’t make up for, and nothing illegal except maybe when I used Dave’s old key to get into your place and pinch those photos back…and maybe that redirection thing with your mail…’

  ‘I don’t believe the gall of that man!’ stormed Rachel as she and Matt walked out onto the footpath a few minutes later. ‘Saying that maybe we should be thanking him!’

  ‘He’s right, though, isn’t he? But for him we wouldn’t have gone public with an engagement. And unbeknownst to him, by mailing those photos he did bring us together. So I guess we could regard him as our unlikely cupid.’

  Cupid. As in the god of love.

  Rachel halted under a street-lamp, placing a staying hand on his arm. ‘Matt,’ she said earnestly, as he turned towards her. ‘I—I want you to know I admire you more than any man I’ve ever known!’

  This reckless accolade brought an indulgent smile to his lips. ‘That sounds extremely promising. Would you care to take that statement one step further…?’

  The overhead light threw his eyes under the shadow of his brow, but she knew they were fixed on her flushed face. She didn’t blame him for mocking her. ‘I know you probably won’t believe I love you—’

  ‘Any more than you dare believe that I love you?’

  ‘After the way I failed my first test of faith.’ She faltered under his tenderly caressing tone. ‘Everything was so right and then I let it all go wrong.’

  ‘Some very wise and wonderful woman once told me that what goes wrong in one’s life doesn’t always turn out to be all for the worst.’ He reminded her of her own words as he picked up both her hands and carried them separately to his warm lips. ‘In fact, sometimes it can force us to be at our best. You were right to be angry with me. I should have been as open with you as you were with me. I don’t want to have any more secrets from you.’

  Her hands tightened on his, her eyes shining with tears. ‘I told you, I don’t need you to explain.’

  ‘But I need to say the things I should have said before. I need you to know that your faith in me is justified.’ His voice became rougher, more choppy, as he told her about the alleged rape that had ended his boyhood and blunted his burgeoning sexual curiosity.

  ‘It was nothing dramatic—just a silly girl lying to cover up the fact she’d been having sex. Her boyfriend got rough one night after a dance, and when her parents caught her sneaking home she panicked and claimed she’d been attacked. When her parents called the police she didn’t want to get her boyfriend into trouble so she pointed the finger at me, because I’d been at the dance and she’d seen me leaving on my own about the time she and her boyfriend took off on his motorcycle. She swore black and blue that she’d been a virgin and I’d threatened to kill her if she told anyone what I’d done.’

  Now it was Matt clinging to Rachel’s strong fingers as he sketched out the rest of the ugly story. ‘I didn’t have an alibi and I was remanded to prison because there were no beds available in the juvenile facilities.’ His eyes briefly reflected a glimpse of the shattered boy he had been. ‘I was in there for three days.

  ‘I was pinning my hopes on getting out when the forensic testing came through, but—’ here he offered her an ironic smile ‘—all the charges were dropped when a private detective hired by Dad caught the girl and her the boyfriend together, and she confessed. Thank God Mum and Dad stood by me, but it was rough being treated like a sex-fiend when I was only just getting interested in sex. It certainly curbed any urge to experiment. For a while I was scared that any girl who showed she liked me was going to accuse me of rape. Maybe that’s partly why I fell so hard for Leigh…her apparent unattainability made her seem safe…

  ‘I had to wait for you to come along to discover the full potential of love between a man and a woman…’

  There, in the warmth of the summer night, Rachel fell in love with him all over again. She drew their joined hands against her breast, letting him feel the beat of her steady heart. ‘I can’t take away the hurt you’ve already suffered, but I’m glad to be the woman you waited for. I’m just sorry to have given you such a bad time.’

  ‘But with you, even the bad times are good,’ he said, not entirely teasing. ‘My life has certainly been a lot more exciting since you entered into it.’

  ‘I don’t know if I can supply quite this level of excitement on a permanent basis,’ she said shakily, and then realised she was being presumptuous.

  ‘So…where do we go from here?’ she asked, freeing her hands and looking from her car to his. But he knew she wasn’t talking about mere transport.

  ‘Where do you want us to go?’

  ‘I don’t care,’ she said recklessly, ‘as long as we’re together. I’d happily spend the rest of my life proving my love to you.’

  ‘Then you’ll probably be needing this,’ he said, reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket and producing the brazen engagement ring which she had left behind.

  ‘I didn’t throw your roses away, you know,’ she blurted. ‘The yellow ones you sent after the party. I kept changing the water and they lasted for a week…’

  ‘And you kept that prissy note they came with,’ he said huskily. ‘That gave me the courage to hope. Courage is like love. It has to have hope for nourishment. I couldn’t stop thinking of you after that party. I kept hoping that we would run into one another again soon,
wondering if I could invent some excuse for calling you…’

  He held out the ring. ‘Take it. It’s yours.’

  ‘But…I don’t want to pretend any more…’ she whispered.

  ‘Nor do I.’ He slid the ring onto her finger. ‘So let’s do it all over again, this time for real…’

  EPILOGUE

  WAKING up next to the man you loved was, Rachel decided, one of life’s most joyous delights.

  ‘Good morning, husband,’ she murmured to the dark-haired man gazing at her with clearly lecherous intent.

  ‘Happy anniversary, wife,’ he purred.

  Feeling deliciously wicked, she eased on top of him, enjoying the feel of skin on skin…his naked body adjusting to her flagrantly voluptuous contours.

  ‘Six years and you’re still as insatiable as ever,’ she accused him laughingly.

  ‘Who’s on top of whom?’ he pointed out, wrapping his arms around her and luxuriating in her eager kisses.

  A blinding flash from the doorway had them both freezing in shock. With a squeak Rachel squirmed off her husband, pulling up the sheets.

  ‘A pitcha, a pitcha—, Kevin taked a pitcha!’ the dark-headed four-year-old shrieked excitedly, dancing on chubby legs across the bedroom carpet, the expensive instant camera waving precariously in his stubby fist.

  He flung himself against the side of the mattress, giggling as a strong, masculine arm reached down to hook him up onto the bed to join his parents.

  He bounced up and down in glee as his mother detached the camera from his dimpled fingers and peeled off the film.

  ‘Oh, God!’ Rachel blushed as she watched it develop in full, eye-catching colour. ‘My son,’ she moaned, ‘the budding blackmailer!’

  ‘Let me see.’ Matt plucked it from her hands and studied it in amusement. ‘Mmm, this brings back some very interesting memories. I’ll have to add it to my private collection,’ he leered.

  ‘Matt, you don’t still have those wretched photos?’ she gasped laughingly.

  ‘Of course. They have great sentimental value to me,’ he said with a pious look, and then spoiled it by adding slyly, ‘I used to sleep with them under my pillow whenever you were away.’

  ‘Well, you won’t need them from now on!’

  Rachel and Frank had made their difficult peace, going on to build a new, more equal relationship out of the ruins of the old one. Weston Security Services had gone from strength to strength in the past few years, but since Kevin had been born Rachel had cut back her office hours and done an increasing amount of her work from home. Now WSS had merged with another company and acquired two new partners, and she intended to take a complete break for a while, eager to spend more time with her family.

  ‘Mr Mischief,’ she scolded Kevin lovingly, as he crawled between them for a hug and a tickle on his pyjama-clad stomach. ‘Stick to your own toys from now on!’

  ‘Tickle Mummy’s tummy. Mummy’s fat!’ Kevin chortled at his rude joke as he clumsily patted her swollen abdomen.

  ‘That’s not fat, that’s your little baby sister,’ Matt corrected him, gentling his hand.

  ‘Sister?’ Rachel’s eyebrows rose. ‘Do you know something I don’t?’

  ‘Well, you’ve always given me everything I wanted.’ He grinned. ‘Why stop now? Besides, isn’t that what Dad’s ordered this time round? “Got to keep the dynasty balanced!”’ He mimicked his father’s bark.

  ‘It could be twins,’ she teased.

  His eyes met hers in blissful unconcern. ‘Double the love? I should be so lucky…’

  And, much to Rachel’s delighted consternation—he was!

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-4582-6

  THE MISTRESS DECEPTION

  First North American Publication 2000.

  Copyright © 1999 by Susan Napier.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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