by Carole Mortimer - Bachelor Cousins 03 - To Marry McAllister
‘Sixty-six,’ Sabina confirmed, giving a self-conscious grimace. ‘I’m being selfish, aren’t I? I’ve just never thought of my mother in that way.’ She shook her head.
‘Obviously this man has,’ he said without thinking—and then wished he hadn’t when he saw the disconcerted look on Sabina’s face. ‘I’m sorry, Sabina,’ he at once apologised. ‘It’s just—’
‘I know, I know,’ she cut in self-derisively, taking a sip of the white wine Brice had chosen for them to enjoy before their meal. ‘I really don’t know why I’m even bothering to tell you this.’ She gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘I’m sure you can’t be in the least interested.’
Now there she was completely wrong; as Brice was only too aware, everything about this woman interested him! In fact, he couldn’t remember being this interested in a woman for years…
‘But I am,’ he assured her softly.
She shook her head. ‘Please forget I ever mentioned it. I’m being silly.’
And Brice knew she was also unhappy with herself for having spoken to him about it!
‘What is it you find strange about the situation?’ he persisted lightly. ‘The fact that your mother may have found a man she obviously enjoys spending time with? Or the fact that it isn’t your father?’ he added gently, already knowing it was probably the latter.
‘Stupid, isn’t it?’ Sabina murmured self-disgustedly.
‘Not in the least,’ Brice instantly assured her. ‘I don’t think you’ve met my cousin Logan and his wife Darcy…?’
Sabina shook her head, her puzzled expression showing she had no idea where this conversation could possibly be going. ‘I believe they were at the Hamilton party the night we first met, but I wasn’t introduced to them, no.’
‘Well, the two of them fell in love with each other while they were trying to prevent a relationship between Darcy’s father and Logan’s mother.’ And a merry old tangle it had been at the time, as Brice easily recalled.
But he could see he definitely had Sabina’s attention now.
‘What happened to the father and mother?’ she prompted curiously.
Perhaps, he realised too late, making that particular comparison hadn’t been such a good idea, after all! ‘They were married about a month before Logan and Darcy,’ he revealed reluctantly as he realised that was probably the last thing Sabina wanted to hear.
‘Oh,’ she concluded flatly.
But Brice could see her thoughts were still preoccupied as they ordered their meal. She really didn’t diet to keep that wonderful figure, ordering asparagus smothered in butter as a starter, followed by steak in Stilton sauce accompanied by Lyonnaise potatoes as her main course.
‘I’ll probably have something gooily chocolate as dessert too,’ she apologised as she saw him watching her indulgently once the waiter had departed with their order.
Brice wasn’t complaining; after years of having dinner with women who chose the items on the menu with the least calories, and then proceeded to only pick at even those when they arrived, it was a refreshing change to be with a woman who obviously enjoyed her food.
‘Be my guest,’ he invited warmly. ‘You’re just the sort of customer Daniel loves to cook for,’ he assured her.
‘You know the chef here?’ She took another sip of her white wine.
Brice gave a rueful grimace as he realised he had done it again. ‘Would you believe Chef Simon is Darcy’s father?’
Sabina laughed huskily. ‘I’d believe it.’ She smiled. ‘He’s married to the actress Margaret Fraser, isn’t he?’
‘My Aunt Meg.’ Brice nodded. ‘They’re very happy together.’
‘I said I believe you!’ Sabina laughed again, visibly relaxing. ‘I wonder who this “friend” of my mother’s is?’ she mused curiously. Obviously having now spoken about it, she was slowly coming to terms with the fact that her mother was involved with someone.
‘Why don’t you ask her next time you talk to her?’ he prompted lightly. ‘She would probably appreciate that.’
‘Maybe,’ Sabina acknowledged noncommittally, not sure she actually wanted to go that far. ‘Tell me, when and where do you intend holding your next exhibition?’ she abruptly changed the subject, obviously having decided she had told him enough about her private life for one evening.
Well, not in Brice’s eyes she hadn’t; there were still dozens of things he wanted to know about Sabina Smith! Even if he did accept that some of them would have to wait…
‘Richard told me that he attended the exhibition you had two years ago,’ she added coolly. ‘He said it was very successful.’
Brice didn’t doubt that the other man had said that; he just knew that Sabina had really mentioned Richard as a reminder—just in case Brice might have forgotten—that she had a fiancé in her life…
As if he could forget with that damn great rock glittering on her left hand. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t like to forget all about Richard Latham. In fact, the more he got to know Sabina, the more he wished the other man would just evaporate into thin air!
This evening wasn’t going too badly, Sabina decided with inward relief. Brice McAllister was certainly easy enough to talk to. Too much so, on occasion.
‘Mmm, this looks wonderful,’ she enthused as her asparagus and Brice’s escargot were brought to the table.
‘I have no doubt that it will taste as good as it looks.’ Brice nodded indulgently. ‘Do you—? Oh, no…!’ he groaned impatiently.
Sabina looked across at him curiously, only to find he was looking towards the doorway at a couple who had just entered the restaurant. Sabina vaguely recognised the woman as Chloe Fox, the fashion designer ‘Foxy’, having met her a couple of times, but she had no idea who the man was with her.
Although he looked enough like Brice, very tall, dark, with an arrogant handsomeness, for Sabina to question the likeness.
‘My cousin Fergus, and his wife Chloe,’ Brice provided with obvious irritation, his displeasure with the other couple’s arrival also obvious, at least, to Sabina. She hoped the other couple, having now seen Brice and walking purposefully towards their table, couldn’t see it too!
Brice stood up politely. ‘Fergus. Chloe,’ he greeted tightly before moving to kiss Chloe lightly on the cheek. ‘May I introduce Sabina?’ he added with obvious reluctance.
‘You certainly may. Although I’m sure we would both have recognised you without the introduction.’ Fergus shook Sabina’s hand warmly before turning back to this cousin. ‘We’re not interrupting anything, I hope?’ Eyes of chocolate-brown tauntingly met Brice’s frosty green ones.
Sabina found she liked the teasing affection Fergus showed towards his cousin. It made Brice McAllister seem much less arrogantly self-assured. Altogether less dangerous…
‘Would the two of you care to join us?’ she invited the other couple softly, keeping her expression deadpan as she saw the unmistakable look of warning irritation Brice shot in his cousin’s direction.
‘I’m sure you and Brice would much rather be alone,’ Chloe was the one to answer her, but her dark brows were raised over speculative blue eyes as she looked across at Brice.
‘Of course we wouldn’t,’ Sabina replied smoothly. ‘It will be much more fun if there are four of us. Brice has very kindly taken pity on me while my fiancé is away on business and brought me out to dinner,’ she added pointedly.
‘Oh, Brice is well known for his kindness,’ Fergus mocked even as he pulled back a chair for his wife to sit down before sitting down himself.
‘Well known,’ Brice muttered disagreeably as he resumed his own seat at the table.
‘Have some wine, Fergus. Don’t mind if I do, Brice,’ his cousin carried out a conversation with himself as Brice now sat in stony silence, Fergus signalling the waiter to bring over a couple of wineglasses so that he and Chloe might join them in sipping the white wine.
Sabina smiled at his obvious mockery of his cousin, becoming more sure by the second that invit
ing the other couple to join them had been a good move on her part; Brice didn’t seem half as daunting in the company of his cousin and his wife!
‘Please don’t let your food get cold,’ Chloe advised lightly as a waiter discreetly set two more places at the table. ‘Fergus and I can look at the menus while the two of you eat,’ she added happily.
Sabina watched Brice beneath lowered lashes as she resumed eating her asparagus; anyone looking at him as he hooked the snails out of their shells, before grinding them between those even white teeth, would have thought each and every one of them had done him some personal disservice.
For the first time in their acquaintance Sabina had the feeling that Brice was at something of a disadvantage. It was a pleasant feeling!
Despite the fact that Brice added little to the conversation as the meal progressed, Sabina found she was enjoying herself. Chloe and Fergus were lively conversationalists, with a teasing sense of humour, and their love for each other was in every glance they exchanged. The fact that Brice glowered at the two of them for the next two hours seemed to bother them not one bit.
‘I believe we’re going to be distantly related,’ Chloe observed much later in the evening as the four of them lingered over coffee.
Sabina saw the sharp look of surprise Brice shot his cousin-in-law. And she had to admit, she was a little puzzled herself. ‘I’m sorry…?’ she prompted frowningly.
Chloe smiled. ‘My older sister is married to your fiancé’s nephew,’ she explained. ‘I’m sure once you’re married that must give us some sort of family connection—although for the life of me I can’t work out what it is!’ she added laughingly.
Neither could Sabina. Especially as there would never be a wedding! But what shocked her the most was that she hadn’t given her ‘fiancé’ a thought for the last two hours. Not one…
‘It does sound rather complicated,’ she dismissed vaguely before turning to Brice. ‘I’m sorry to break up the evening, but I believe it’s time I went home.’
His mouth tightened with displeasure; obviously he hadn’t liked the fact that they had shared their evening with Fergus and Chloe, but he disliked the idea of her ending the evening even more.
Which was all the more reason to end it!
She had been unwise to come out with him at all this evening, knew he was not a man she could easily spend time with. It had been pure luck—on her part—that his cousin and his wife happened to be here too.
‘Maybe we’ll get a chance to work together some time soon,’ Chloe told Sabina warmly as she and Fergus prepared to leave, the two men in some quiet dispute over who was paying the bill.
‘Maybe,’ Sabina answered noncommittally, knowing her appointment book was completely full for the next six months. Thank goodness! She already knew that the less she had to do with this dynamic family, the better.
‘I was so sorry we didn’t get to work together last year, after all,’ Chloe added softly. ‘But I believe you were ill at the time?’
Sabina gave the other woman a sharp look. What—?
‘Harper Manor in November,’ Chloe enlarged lightly. ‘I was showing a line of evening dresses that weekend.’
Sabina stared at the other woman, clearly remembering now—too late—that she had been scheduled to wear a couple of those dresses at that particular show.
‘I hope it was nothing too serious?’ Chloe continued concernedly.
Sabina, never particularly big on small talk anyway, found herself completely struck dumb.
This was just too much. First that letter earlier today, and now a reminder of her absence from the catwalk last November. It was just—
‘What wasn’t too serious?’ Brice frowned at the two women, obviously having now come to some sort of agreement with his cousin concerning the bill—as he had insisted initially, he was paying it!
Chloe turned to smile at him. ‘I was just reminding Sabina that the two of us should have worked together last year, but she wasn’t well.’
Brice looked at Sabina with narrowed eyes. ‘What was wrong with you?’
So blunt. So straightforward. So unanswerable!
‘Really, Brice,’ Chloe spluttered affectionately. ‘You can’t just demand to know about someone’s illness in that way!’
‘Why can’t I?’ He frowned. ‘You mentioned Sabina was ill last year. I merely want to know what was wrong with her.’ He shrugged, as if he couldn’t see what the problem was.
Whereas Sabina could see what it was all too clearly! She simply didn’t talk about her absence from modelling at the end of the previous year. And she had no intention of doing so now.
Chloe gave Brice a reproving look, obviously now regretting having mentioned the subject at all. ‘Really, Brice, we women have to have some secrets,’ she rebuked lightly.
‘It was really nothing of great importance,’ Sabina dismissed coolly; the last thing she wanted was for Brice to think there was something mysterious about her absence from modelling the previous year! ‘Just a touch of flu,’ she excused. ‘It’s been lovely meeting both of you,’ she told the other couple sincerely—if nothing else, they had been a very welcome diversion from spending the evening alone with Brice.
Although that was probably being unfair to Chloe and Fergus; the other couple were interesting people in their own right, Chloe a fashion designer of some repute, Fergus an internationally successful author. And at any other time Sabina would have enjoyed talking to them. Just not this evening.
And not now. Now she just wanted to get away from here, back to the house where she felt safe. Away from Brice McAllister.
‘Maybe we can do this again some time?’ Fergus was the one to answer her smoothly.
‘I doubt it—my fiancé arrives back from New York tomorrow.’ Her smile was politely apologetic. ‘As I told you earlier, Brice was just taking pity on me by taking me out to dinner this evening,’ she added firmly.
‘That wasn’t true, you know,’ Brice told her once they were seated in the back of the taxi on their way to the home she shared with Richard. ‘What you said back there, about my taking pity on you,’ he added hardly. ‘Inviting you out to dinner had nothing to do with pity—I wanted to spend the evening with you.’
Sabina suddenly found the confines of the taxi claustrophobic, her breath constricting in her throat. And Brice’s closeness to her on the leather seat, his trouser-clad thigh brushing lightly against hers, his arm draped casually across the seat behind her shoulders, did nothing to help alleviate the situation.
He was just too close to her. Too forcefully male. Too magnetically attractive. Just too everything!
She turned to him in the semi-darkness, feeling compelled to say something, anything. ‘Brice—’
‘Sabina!’ he murmured raggedly before his head lowered and his mouth claimed hers.
This shouldn’t be happening! She was engaged to Richard. And maybe it was only a business arrangement, an ‘understanding’, but she still owed him her loyalty. Her gratitude.
As Brice continued to kiss her her body was suffused with a weightless lethargy, like a soaring bird, lifted high by the heated air beneath its wings, all sound stopped, everything but Brice ceasing to exist, only the feel of Brice’s lips against hers important.
She couldn’t have broken away from him if she had tried.
Not that she did try, pleasure such as she had never known existed coursing through her body, every part of her electrically alive now, her arms moving up about Brice’s shoulders, their bodies fused together from chest to thigh as she began to kiss him back.
‘That will be eight pounds fifty, guv.’
Sabina felt as if she had had a glass of cold water thrown over her, so instant was the shocked recognition of exactly what she was doing; instead of coolly repulsing Brice McAllister’s kisses she had been returning them with equal passion!
She pulled back from the close proximity of him, blue eyes huge in the semi-darkness of the taxi.
Brice star
ed back at her, his expression unreadable, eyes remote and unfathomable, only the tell-tale passion-induced flush to the rigid hardness of his cheeks to show for the minutes they had just spent lost in each other’s arms.
‘Sorry to interrupt, love.’ The taxi driver turned to speak apologetically to Sabina. ‘But we’ve been parked outside the house for about five minutes now.’
Outside Richard’s house. Her fiancé’s house. The house Sabina shared with him.
She drew in a deeply controlling breath. ‘That’s perfectly all right,’ she told the driver smoothly before turning to open the door. ‘No, Brice, please don’t bother to get out.’ To her chagrin her voice was much less controlled as she spoke to him; she was completely unable to look at him, either.
And she might as well have spoken to the door for all the notice Brice took of her!
She had hardly straightened from getting out of the taxi than he was standing beside her, having got out the other side.
‘Sabina—’
‘Please don’t say anything, Brice,’ she interrupted much more firmly than she actually felt, her head back proudly now in the darkness as she forced herself to meet his narrowed gaze. ‘I very much enjoyed meeting Fergus and Chloe this evening. And thank you for dinner,’ she added with a politeness she was far from feeling.
‘You don’t have to tell me that it will never happen again,’ he cut in harshly.
‘None of this evening will ever happen again,’ she told him in a steely voice. ‘Goodnight.’ She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him to get back in the taxi, or not, whatever his choice might be. As long as she escaped his overwhelming presence, she didn’t care what he did!
Oh, God…!
Sabina leant weakly back against the solid oak front door once she was safely on the other side of it.
What had she just done?