Deceptive Love

by Anne N. Reisser

  She found bread, sausages, and eggs and laid them on the countertop while she searched through the orderly ranks of pans for a skillet and the toaster. She had just found both items when she heard a sound from the direction of the living room. With a smile tilting the corners of her mouth she pulled the robe together again and walked into the living room, expecting to see Dain.

  He wasn't there. She looked around in bewilderment. She was sure ... she heard the sound again. Someone was rattling the doorknob and then she heard a key turning in the lock. The door started to open.

  "Now, now you'll see!" There was a strident, vicious bite to the tones of the woman's voice.

  Keri stood frozen, filled with a sense of horrible premonition as she automatically clutched the lapels of the robe together at the neck and stared toward the front door. Denise stepped out of the entry hall, into the living room, followed by . . . Schyler.

  Denise caught sight of Keri at once and she said, jeeringly triumphant, throwing out an accusing hand toward Keri, "There, didn't I tell you? There she is, your precious Miss Dalton. She's my brother's mistress! I told him about her, and he came back from Europe especially, just to make sure she wouldn't be interested in marrying you, Schyler." She clutched at his arm possessively. "You're mine and Dain always gives me what I want." She laughed shrilly and said crudely, "Though this time it looks as though Brother Dear has gotten something for himself out of the deal as well. Play your cards right, Miss Dalton, and you might get some nice pieces of jewelry for yourself. Dain is very generous to his women. Something for everyone . . ."

  Schyler's face was gray. He looked at Keri with anguished eyes and said painfully, "Oh, Keri, how could you? I wanted to marry you! You knew that. How could you do this?"

  His face twisted into a mask of rage as he looked to the right of Keri. "Damn you, Randolph. She was my woman. I’ll kill you for this." In spite of Denise's frantic clutch at his arm, Schyler lunged at Dain, who had come into the living room, unnoticed by Keri.

  Dain was dressed only in slacks and there was a towel still draped around his neck. Traces of lather at the angle of his jaw indicated that he had heard the commotion as he finished shaving and had come to investigate.

  When Schyler launched himself at Dain, Keri saw the whole sequence of events through a slow-motion haze of pain. Dain just had time to brace himself to take the shock of Schyler's assault. He slowed Schyler's charge with his left hand and drew back a strongly muscled right arm, cocked it behind his ear and unleashed the driving fist directly on the point of Schyler's jaw. Schyler dropped like a poleaxed steer. Dain sucked his knuckles and then shook his hand to resettle the bones into place.

  "Now, would someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on?" he growled fiercely. "Denise," he said dangerously to his sister as she knelt by the prostrate Schyler, who was groggily rubbing his jaw, "just what the devil are you doing here in my apartment?" He nudged the recumbent Schyler with a disdainful toe. "And why did you bring him along?"

  "I brought him to prove to him that Keri Dalton had no further use for him so that he'd agree to go ahead with our marriage." Her mouth quivered. "I think I'm pregnant and Schyler said he didn't care, that he was going to marry her anyway." Denise glared viciously at a white- faced Keri. "I told Schyler that she was your mistress, but he wouldn't believe me, so I had to prove it to him. And I did!" she finished triumphantly.

  Dain took a step toward Keri but stopped when she backed away from him, horror in her eyes. A muscle twitched and jumped along his jaw line and his mouth set in a cruel, hard slash.

  Keri felt sick to her stomach, nausea rising in a bitter tide up her throat. She swallowed desperately. It was all horribly clear now. She had been conditioned by her godfather's expressed disbelief in her ability to carry off her masquerade of unattractiveness for any length of time, and by Schyler's easy recognition of her, so that Dain's seeming ability to pierce her absurd facade hadn't seemed suspicious.

  Vanity had played its part as well. Because she had been so violently attracted to Dain from the beginning, she had been all too willing to accept the possibility that he could be attracted to her, despite her initial unprepossessing exterior and manner.

  Keri clamped her teeth shut over bitter laughter. She was well served for any vanity now. Dain hadn't seen beneath her makeup and her frosty manner. He had known beforehand that she was not what she seemed. He had pursued her in a deliberate campaign because he saw her as a threat to Denise's happiness. The black irony must have all the old gods laughing now. Hubris in the best dramatic tradition, and her fall was going to be long and very, very painful. Something for everyone, indeed. The bill for her lessons in life was now due and payable and she was finding herself bankrupt.

  She wasn't guarding her expression and Dain could read every painful thought. "Keri." He didn't appeal. He ordered and held out his hand toward her to enforce the order.

  She looked at him and his demanding hand. Her face twisted, mirroring her bewilderment and sense of betrayal, her green eyes glittering with brimming tears. Keri was bleeding to death internally, lacerated by the glass-sharp words Denise had hurled at her unprotected heart.

  "Dain?" she questioned him wretchedly, still hoping for a miraculous denial. "Is it true? You . . . you made me your secretary because of Schyler?"

  'I’ll explain later, Keri," he responded, neither affirming nor denying anything. His face was shuttered and she could read nothing except a proud demand that she trust him.

  Dain's hand remained extended to her, rock steady, insistent, somehow pulling her toward his side with invisible ropes. He expected her to disregard Denise's words, to trust him before any explanation was made.

  She had given him the gift of her body. Did that mean, on a cellular, bone, and blood-deep level, that she had also given him unwavering trust? She acted on instinct alone, because logic gave her no guidance. Almost beyond her conscious volition, she took an unsteady step toward him, impelled by the irresistible demand in his green eyes and by some faint, gasping hope she could not put a name to.

  When Keri took that first step toward him, some invisible tension relaxed in Dain. The bunched muscle in his jaw smoothed. He watched her take two more hesitant steps and then he moved the rest of the way.to her side. He lifted up her left hand, turned it over and laid a kiss in the palm.

  He tilted up her chin and said softly, "Thank you, sweetheart. It will be all right. I promise you."

  Schyler had climbed unsteadily to his feet and stood swaying, a dark bruise already puffing his jaw. Denise tried to slip his arm over her shoulders but he shrugged her aside. "Keri," he said hoarsely, though it was obviously painful for him to form words, "Keri, I'll marry you still. I won't care about him. Don't you understand? You're my woman."

  "Shut up, Van Metre," Dain snarled savagely. "She's not your woman. She was never your woman." He lifted Keri's hand and the blazing diamond scintillated with a life of its own. "She is my woman and she'll be my wife as soon as her parents arrive, or before then if she doesn't want to wait for them. If I ever catch you anywhere near Keri again, I'll break your neck. Now get out of here and take my bitch of a sister with you. What you do with her afterward is your business, but I want you both out of my apartment. Now!"

  "But, Dain ..." Denise wailed, no longer the haughty, beautiful woman. She was a scared, haggard woman whose spite had rebounded violently upon her own head. Dain watched her with implacable eyes, no mercy or liking visible on the closed mask of his face.

  "Get out, Denise. I'll deal with you later." His voice was hard and unforgiving. He slid his arm around Keri's shaking shoulders, pulling her warmly against the strength of his body. He could feel her trembling violently, constant shudders rippling over her skin.

  He turned her fully into his arms and bent protectively above her, holding her sheltered from sight of the other two as they departed. When they heard the sound of the door closing violently, Keri sagged limply against Dain. He caught her behind the shoulde
rs and knees and lifted her into his arms. Her hand came up to touch the side of his neck as he walked over to the couch, where he sat down.

  Keri cried. She couldn't help herself. Deep gasping sobs convulsed her and she gulped helplessly. Dain could feel her tears running down the side of his neck and onto his chest.

  "Oh, honey, please don't cry. You tear me up inside when you do that," he pleaded softly, stroking the disheveled waves of her hair. He rocked her in his arms, murmuring soothing words. "Please, baby, please stop. You'll make yourself sick. I love you, Keri, honey. Please believe me."

  Gradually Keri's sobs diminished to gasping hiccups and she snuffled wearily. "I don't have a handkerchief, honey. Sit here and I'll get you a washcloth," Dain said softly as he deposited her carefully on the couch. He came back moments later and began to wipe her tear-swollen face with a cold, damp washcloth. He also had brought a wad of tissues which he handed her. She blew her nose strongly and felt marginally better.

  Dain took back the tissues and the washcloth, tossing them all on a counter in the kitchen. He came back into the living room, sat down by Keri, and put his arms around her, pulling her tightly against his side. She tried to stiffen, but he wouldn't allow it.

  "All right, love," he said resignedly. "Let's get it over with, but before we start, I want you to remember this: I love you. I am going to marry you: Keep that in mind while we get over the heavy ground."

  He looked savage again as he said, "I came in on the tail end of Denise's speech, where she offered you jewelry on my behalf. I can guess what came before, but maybe you'd better tell me what she said so that I don't miss any salient points."

  Keri drew in a shudderingly deep breath and replied obediently in a toneless voice. "She said that you came home from Europe to take me away from Schyler so that he would marry her instead of me. She said that you made me your mistress for the same reason. She said that you always give her what she wants, but that this time you got a little something for yourself as well. The rest you heard."

  Dain's voice hissed sharply between his teeth and the curse he muttered not very inaudibly should have shocked her profoundly, but she was too numb to care. "It's mostly my fault, darling," he admitted heavily. "My father and I let her become the spoiled and spiteful bitch she is. I am guilty of that. I am guilty of coming back to the States early because of her call, but only because I was worried about her. She was hysterical the night she called me and she's unstable at times. I thought I'd better come home to be on hand. My father's not well and he's in no shape to deal with her in one of her moods." Keri didn't think anyone was capable of dealing with Denise in one of her moods if they were anything like what she'd already seen this morning.

  "I also admit that I took you away from Simonds because I wanted to see you up close," Dain continued. "Any woman who could lure one of Denise's men away was bound to be worth seeing! Imagine my surprise when Miss Prim walked through the door and stood before me, judging me for daring to disrupt her well-ordered routine." He shook his head slightly. "Well, for your information, my routine hasn't been worth a damn since I first set eyes on you. First you were a mystery I had to solve and then you were the woman I wanted for my wife, even when I thought you'd belonged to Schyler first."

  Keri jerked indignantly in his arms but he easily quelled her rebellion. "He told me you were his mistress, Keri," Dain explained hurriedly. "When he was explaining why he wanted to break his engagement to Denise he said definitely that you had been his mistress, that you'd quarreled and afterward you had left Van Metre's for parts unknown. He also said that now that he'd found you again, he wanted to marry you as he should have done before."

  Dain continued. "The first night I called you at your home, before the conference, he was at your apartment. I heard you speaking to him. And then, when I came to pick you up before the reception, he called you on the phone. I had no reason to doubt what he'd said, Keri, but it didn't matter, or rather," he said with painful honesty, "it mattered, but I loved you too much to let you go. I'm not lily white myself'—here Keri choked slightly—"and I told myself that I had no right to expect more of you than I could offer." For the first time he forced her to look at him directly. "We start fresh from last night, darling. There's been no one since I met you. There'll be no one else for either of us from now on."

  She didn't say anything—she couldn't. When the silence had stretched painfully long he ordered desperately, "Talk to me, Keri. Believe me!"

  Keri didn't answer him directly. "I left Van Metre's because of Schyler," she told him quietly. "He hounded me at work and at home. He wouldn't take no for an answer, so I went to my aunt's for a while. Then I got Charles to arrange the job at RanCo so I wouldn't have to ask Van Metre's for a reference. I was afraid it would enable Schyler to track me down again. Then he saw me at RanCo. He started coming around and calling, just like before. I couldn't get him to believe that I didn't love him, wouldn't marry him. He just kept on and on. I didn't want him!" Her voice took on a perilous wobble.

  Dain folded her tightly to himself and said bitterly, "If I'd known what a nuisance he's been making of himself, I'd have broken him into little pieces instead of just decking him."

  Keri still hadn't commented on his recital, but she wasn't fighting his hold anymore. He had one more thing to say to her and then he would rest his case. "As for Denise and her aspirations, in the future she can fight her own battles, my darling. I fight only yours. I wanted you for myself and that's why I pursued you so relentlessly. Not for any other reason."

  He waited calmly for her judgment. It wasn't long in coming.

  "You once asked me for time, time in which to learn to trust you. I gave you that time, Dain. I learned to trust you. I still trust you. I love you too. Keri entwined her arms around his neck and lifted her mouth for his kiss.

  His mouth swooped down on hers in a kiss of total possession. As he carried her back into the bedroom they had so recently vacated, he said huskily, "If your parents can't get back here within the next few days, Charles can give you away. You're not going back to that apartment either, except to pick up some clothes, and I defy the phone to ring while we're there."

  "Yes, Mr. Randolph," she said submissively as he spread open the robe which was her only covering. His hands covered her breasts as she drew his head down to hers.

  Keri didn't go back to her apartment, except to pick up some of her clothes, and Dain didn't go to work. Long distance phone calls established that Keri's parents couldn't be at the wedding if it were to be held in less than two weeks' time. Charles was pressed into service to give the bride away. Mary cried at the wedding, standing in, she tearfully announced, for the mother of the bride, who would have wept for joy had she been present. Dain's father attended and was patently pleased with the new addition to the family. Denise was not present. Keri didn't ask whether she had been invited.

  Mrs. Babcock had duly tendered her congratulations, laid the table for the wedding dinner a deux, iced the champagne, and left. Dain said whimsically, "Dare I say, 'Alone at last'?"

  Keri chuckled. "You might dare. I certainly wouldn't. We've been alone, mostly, for the past three days. Are you sure we need a honeymoon?" She blushed violently as he whispered in her ear exactly why they needed a honeymoon.

  He grinned odiously and kissed her hot cheek. "I didn't realize that you could still do that."

  "Of course I can"—she glared at him—"if you say things like that to me!" A mischievous smile curled over her mouth. "Can we really do something like that? Marriage is going to be a lot more interesting than I had thought!"

  Dain shouted with laughter.

  Keri sobered suddenly. She leaned back against him and his hands came up to clasp loosely around her waist. She tilted her head sideways and looked up at him, her eyes serious and troubled. She really didn't want to talk about it, but she had to know.

  "Darling," she began uncertainly, "what about Denise and Schyler?" She felt him stiffen and his hands tightened at h
er waist. She laid her own hands over his and hurried on. "Is she pregnant? And if she is, what are they going to do about it?"

  He didn't answer her at once. She could feel the reluctance to discuss it in every hard line of his lithe body. He still hadn't forgiven Denise for her attack on Keri, but Keri knew that eventually he must. Denise was his sister and he felt responsible for her. If she were in trouble, they would have to be ready to help her as best they could.

  Keri hadn't forgiven Denise either yet, but she had been responsible for bringing Keri and Dain together. Had it not been for Denise's machinations, Keri might still have been anonymously ensconced in Mr. Simonds's office. Keri was much happier where she was now, held closely against Dain's strong body. So she persisted.

  "What are they going to do?" she repeated.

  "She's pregnant," Dain answered heavily. "I talked to Schyler while you were at the beauty parlor this morning. He'll marry her, because his father wants an heir and because Schyler has no hope of getting you. It's a hell of a basis for a marriage, but at least the child will have a legal father. More than that can't be said for it."

  His hands slid up from her waist to cup her breasts. He didn't want to talk or think about Denise and Schyler anymore!

  "Don't you want some of Mrs. Babcock's dinner? She worked very hard." Keri was slightly breathless. Dain's hand had slipped inside of her dress and bra and was tracing circles around a nipple, rubbing lightly and tantalizingly.

  "No."

  "Do you want any . . . ohh . . . champagne?"

  His other hand was undoing the buttons down the front of her dress. "No."

  The dress slid off her shoulders and dropped in a pool "of frothy white at her feet. Dain unsnapped the catch of her bra and it followed her dress to the floor. He had finally mastered the intricacy of the slide fastening.

  "No champagne?" she whispered as he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

  'I’ll drink it from your navel. Later." His mouth closed firmly over hers, silencing her questions. His hands were busy. He had learned how to take off clothes very quickly in the past three days. Sometimes he wondered why they'd been invented.