Stand-In Bride's Seduction

by Yvonne Lindsay

  “Rey, you have to believe me. I could never do what you’re suggesting. I love you!”

  The anger that had been simmering low in his gut exploded into a red haze of fury. It wasn’t enough for her that she’d seduced his body and his mind—now she thought she could play with his heart, as well? He pushed himself up, dragging the top sheet off the bed and wrapping it around his hips. His forgotten coffee mug crashed to the floor and splintered into a dozen pieces, dark liquid spilling across the tiles.

  “Love? You dare to tell me you love me?”

  “It’s true, I do love you. I didn’t expect to—I certainly didn’t want to. You’re engaged to my sister.”

  “Was engaged to your sister.”

  “But we weren’t…we didn’t… Please at least hear her out.”

  “I’ll hear her out, all right, before I send you both packing off the island. You are no longer welcome here. I think you’ll find your visa rescinded by this afternoon.”

  Rey dropped the sheet and stepped into his trousers, eschewing the rest of his clothing which he bunched into a bundle and tucked under his arm.

  “Rey, please don’t go. Please don’t leave like this. I know I should have told you everything from the beginning but there was no right time.”

  She thrust out her left hand in an attempt to stop him as he stalked past. The diamond ring he’d given Sara still glinted on her finger, caught in the rays of the rising sun as they filtered through the window. Already the heat of the day was streaming in, but inside him he’d never in his life felt so cold. He looked pointedly at the ring on her finger.

  “That is not yours to wear.”

  “I know, I’m sorry.” She bent her head and pulled the ring off her finger before dropping it into his outstretched hand.

  Reynard shoved the ring in his pocket. If he never saw it again it would be too soon.

  “I will make the arrangements for you to leave Isla Sagrado at once. One of my staff will call you with the details,” he said as he covered the short distance to the bedroom door. He stopped inside the doorway and hesitated a moment, then turned to deliver his parting shot in scathing tones.

  “Oh, and thanks for last night. That definitely made it all worthwhile.”

  Fifteen

  It was well into the morning before Rina could bring herself to move from the bed. She’d curled into a fetal position of silent suffering in the face of Rey’s bitter anger. Finally, the worst of the anguish passed, leaving her blessedly numb. Like an automaton, she gathered the sheets and bedcover off the bed and staggered through to the washing machine, set in an alcove in the bathroom. She shoved the linens into the machine, added soap and turned it on.

  Continuing to go through the motions, she took a shower and washed herself thoroughly—washed away every last touch or caress that Reynard had given her.

  A while later, back in the bedroom, when she reached for the first thing at hand, she remembered she was no longer wearing her sister’s clothes. She was no longer Sara Woodville, but Sarina. She bent and dragged her suitcase from the bottom of the small cupboard, put it on the bare bed and wrestled the zip open. She grabbed the outfit on top—a pair of white capri pants and a mint green T-shirt. It was little comfort but it felt good to be in her own clothes again.

  Since she’d been here, aside from her lingerie, she’d hardly worn her own clothing. She turned back to the wardrobe and fingered the fabric of the blue dress she’d worn on the night they’d almost made love for the first time. She should have told him then, she thought.

  She’d felt so beautiful that night. So desired, even if it was all wrong. It occurred to her that he’d known even then that she wasn’t Sara. And knowing she wasn’t, he’d still wined and dined her, had performed intimacies on her that had tested her resilience beyond her expectations. A resilience that had broken under his kiss last night.

  He’d meant to make love to her all along. A bubble of anger started to bloom in the pit of her stomach. What kind of man made love to one sister while still engaged to the other? Was he so calculated and so removed from genuine emotion? And Sara still expected to marry him.

  She sank to her knees on the cold tile floor. Oh God, Sara. She was returning today. How on earth was she going to tell her what she’d done?

  Reynard paced back and forth in his office, his mind tumbling with anger and confusion. His behavior toward Sarina was justified. More than justified, he told himself for the hundredth time since he’d gotten into his Ferrari and raced back to the city. But try as he might, he couldn’t ignore the sharp tearing pain in the region of his heart as he considered the woman he’d made love with last night.

  He’d been harsh in the face of her confession. Cruel, also, as he’d left. Neither state came naturally to him but, considering what had happened with Estella and then the discovery of the twins’ deception, what else was he to do?

  He dropped into his leather executive chair behind his desk, put his head against the high back and closed his eyes. Sarina’s image was branded across his mind. The look on her face last night when she’d decided not to send him on his way. The passion when he’d entered her body for the first time. The hurt, the shock as he’d let loose his venom this morning—each word an individual blow calculated to hurt her.

  He’d known all along about the lies, and yet, when she’d admitted it to him, it had roused in him a new fury. Why? He’d known, even when he’d asked to stay the night with her, that this choice was bound to be exactly what she needed for her plan. He should have expected her to tell him the truth when morning rolled around. Why had he been surprised? Had he fooled himself into believing that their lovemaking meant something to her? That she had not embarked upon a course of treachery and deceit for mercenary gain, but had, instead, shared her bed with him for no reason other than her own desire?

  His head began to throb.

  He forced his eyes open and reached for his telephone. Whatever his reasons, whatever hers, he needed to follow through and see her leave Isla Sagrado. There was no room in his life for her kind, nor his own brand of foolishness in wishing their time together to be any different.

  Before he could lift the receiver, however, his intercom buzzed.

  “Señor del Castillo, Miss Woodville is here to see you.”

  Words momentarily failed him. She had the unmitigated gall to come to him at his office, even after he’d told her that he never wanted to see her again?

  “Señor? Should I tell her you are otherwise engaged?”

  His lips quirked at Vivienne’s unintentional pun. “No, it’s okay. Send her in.”

  The instant the door opened, he knew it was Sara Woodville who crossed the threshold. The two women might be identical, he acknowledged as he rose and walked around his desk to receive her—but to him, Sara was a pale facsimile of the woman he’d come to love. He misstepped on the carpet. Love? No. It couldn’t be. The very thought was ridiculous.

  “Rey, I have to tell you something.” Sara cut through any preliminary greetings and got straight to the point.

  “This should be interesting,” he answered under his breath.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I’m aware of the deception you and your sister have pulled. You can consider our engagement officially ended.”

  “Oh, thank goodness!”

  Her answer was anything but what he’d expected. She was relieved? What manner of con artist was relieved to have the game ended before payout had been achieved?

  “I didn’t want Rina to tell you the truth, but obviously she has. Rey, what we did was wrong. What I did was wrong. I should never have accepted your proposal. Not when I loved another man.”

  Rey’s head reeled. “You love another man?”

  “I do. I met him during the endurance trials near Maureillas. We fell in love so fast that I didn’t want to believe it was real. Couldn’t believe it was real, to be honest. It was all too much for me. I wasn’t looking for anything serious, you know th
at. But he swept me off my feet. It scared me enough to push him away. I said some terrible things to him and hurt him badly before the tournament here. He was supposed to come and compete for France but he withdrew from the team and remained in Perpignan.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Rey asked, still thoroughly confused. Had the sisters been setting up yet another mark?

  “Because you deserve the truth, and you deserve far better than me. When I arrived here, and we met, I decided you were the perfect man for me. Uncommitted, fun, not looking for forever. And then you asked me to marry you. I was flattered, who wouldn’t be? But I said ‘yes’ for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I’d fallen in love with Paul, but then I began to suspect I might be pregnant.”

  “You stopped drinking coffee and alcohol.”

  “Yes, I’m surprised you noticed.”

  “What I noticed was that your sister had not. It was one of the first things that drew the truth to my attention, although I was distracted at the time with Benedict’s accident.”

  Sara’s hands fluttered to her face, “I can’t believe I’d forgotten to ask you about that. How is he?”

  “Recovering at the castillo for now.”

  “I’m so glad. I never meant to leave you in the lurch at such a rough time—I had no idea anything had happened to Benedict until Rina told me. But by then, I was already in France. It wasn’t long before I started to question my acceptance of your proposal and I knew that before I could do anything, I needed to talk to Paul again. Things with us were still so new—I couldn’t tell you I had to run off to France to talk with an old lover, but how could I explain leaving?

  “Then Rina called to tell me about her broken engagement, and the timing was just too good to pass up. She needed to get away, and so did I. I asked her to visit, and arranged my flight from France to get in at the same time as hers. We barely had a chance to say hello before I shoved the letter at her, asking her to take my place.”

  The envelope with the ring, Reynard realized. The one that had had him worried that Sara planned to break their engagement. The one that had triggered their first kiss—and with it, the realization that Sara was not the woman who had been taking over his senses. It hadn’t been addressed to him at all, but to her sister—asking her to play along with the charade.

  “I know it wasn’t fair—to you or to Rina—but I also knew that she wouldn’t tell me no. I flew straight back to France. At first, Paul wouldn’t see me, but eventually we got together and we’ve sorted things out. He still loves me and I know I love him also.”

  “And if he had not wanted you? Were you going to foist his child upon me?” Rey was rocked by her revelations, but his wits weren’t so completely scattered to keep him from asking the obvious question. Sarina might not have been using him with financial motives, but Sara still could have been.

  “I’ll be honest. When I first went to Perpignan, the thought had crossed my mind, but in the end, I know I would never have done that to you. Reynard, I’m so sorry I used you. Sorry I used Rina, too. I should have been honest with you from the start and explained why I had to go away instead of expecting my sister to pick up the pieces.”

  “I can’t accept your apology, Sara. What the two of you have done—it has made me feel very manipulated and very angry.”

  “I understand. Look, I haven’t seen Rina yet, and I need to tell her what has happened. Can I ask you not to say anything to her until then?”

  Say anything to her? He’d ordered her from the island—from his life. He doubted that not speaking to her would be a problem. In response to Sara’s question he nodded.

  “Rina is leaving the island later today. I suggest that you go with her.”

  “I’m only here to clear things up with you, collect Rina and get my things. You won’t need to worry about us again.”

  After Sara had gone, Reynard’s head began to pound. How could he have been so incredibly wrong about Rina? Had his earlier experience with Estella so poisoned him that he’d been incapable of viewing any woman without suspicion? She’d admitted she pretended to be her sister. Admitted everything, including her love for him. And he’d called her a liar and crushed her with his anger.

  Yes, she had deceived him, but wouldn’t he have done the same thing for either of his brothers? Of course he would, if asked. In fact, his perpetuation of his engagement to Sara was no less a counterfeit than what the sisters had done to him. He’d done it to put Abuelo’s mind at rest, but the fact he had done it at all made him no different from Sarina and her twin.

  He loved her. The truth of it pounded at his temples, insisting he acknowledge it. More, that he accept it as the core of his being. As hard as he’d fought it, she’d inveigled her way into his heart with her gentle ways, her quick intelligence and her unreserved passion. And he had sent her away. A deep-seated ache penetrated his chest.

  He reached for the phone on his desk once more.

  Somehow he had to right the wrongs he’d done her. Somehow, he had to find a way to make her stay.

  “Reeny-bean, are you there?”

  Rina straightened from the dryer where she was untangling the clean sheets and bedcover in readiness to remake the bed. She dropped everything and ran to the front door of the cottage. Apprehension over what her sister was going to say to her confession flew in the face of her initial joy at seeing her twin again.

  Tears flowed freely down her face as they hugged one another tight. It felt far longer than a month had passed since Rina had last seen her sister at Isla Sagrado’s airport. So much had happened.

  “I’ve got so much to tell you!” they both blurted at the same time, then laughed through their tears.

  “You first,” said Sara. “Is everything okay?”

  They walked, hand in hand, into the sitting-room area and sat together on the sofa there. Rina swallowed against the fear in her throat. Sara would understand why she’d done what she’d done. She had to.

  “I did the worst thing, Sara. I fell in love with him. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to. I fought it all the way, but—”

  “You fell in love with Rey?” Sara interrupted, her voice pitched high in disbelief. “How? Why?”

  “I don’t know. It just happened. But he worked out who I was a couple of weeks ago. He’s been playing me along ever since.” She drew back from her sister and squared her shoulders before meeting concerned gray eyes the mirror of her own. “I slept with him, Sara. I’m so sorry. I broke every promise we ever made to one another. I just…” She shook her head and began to sob anew. “He doesn’t want me—he’s basically banished me from Isla Sagrado.”

  “It’s okay.” Sara pulled Rina into her arms and hugged her tight, stroking her hair like she had when they were younger and Rina had borne the brunt of their parents’ anger for one thing or another. “Really, it’s okay. I broke our promises first by making you do what I did. I don’t love Rey, I never did. I accepted his proposal for all the wrong reasons and I should never have done it. And I never should have asked you to step in for me, to keep a relationship alive that I wasn’t even sure I wanted. It wasn’t fair to him, to me or to you. I should have been honest with him from the start. You were so right, Reeny-bean. I wish I’d been truthful with you when you arrived here, even if it would only have saved you from being so hurt.”

  They sat and rocked together until Rina’s sobs quieted.

  “He’s so angry.” Rina said when she could speak again.

  “I know, I’ve never seen him so distant before.”

  “You’ve seen him?” Rina pulled away from her sister’s arms. “When?”

  “Before I came here. I owed him the truth about why I went away. I owe it to you, too. The truth is, I met someone a few months ago, during a tournament in France. We fell in love and he wanted to marry me, but I couldn’t. It was just all so fast, so intense, you know? And we were already competing against one another in the tournaments. All I could
think about was how fierce Mum and Dad were about beating one another at everything they did, how horrid they made themselves feel when one or the other won. I didn’t want that to happen to me. So when I got here and met Rey and he was so different, it was a relief to just let myself think we could make a go of things. When he asked me to get engaged, of course I said yes. I figured that when we married, life would just be more of the same. There was no spark, no fierce need, no impatience to be better than him.

  “But then I found out I was expecting Paul’s baby, and I knew I couldn’t avoid the truth any longer. I love Paul, and I realized what an idiot I’d been. Of course I’d hurt him so badly when I left him that I had some serious roads and bridges to rebuild. But he’s accepted my apology. He still loves me and wants me to be his wife.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about him.” Rina placed her hand gently against her sister’s lower stomach. “Or about the baby.”

  “I didn’t want to believe it was true. You know what it was like growing up.”

  “Yes, I accepted Jacob’s proposal for the very same reasons. He was safe. I didn’t want to run the risk of—” she flung her hands in the air “—feeling like this.”

  “You poor baby. But don’t worry. We’ll pack all our stuff and be out of here as soon as we can. There’s a flight to Perpignan later this afternoon. We can be on it and you can meet Paul and everything will be okay, you’ll see.”

  Rina wished she could believe in her sister’s optimistic point of view, but even knowing her sister had finally found her happiness, Rina knew she would never recover from the searing pain that filled her mind and her heart.

  While they cleared their things and finished packing, made up the bed and emptied out the refrigerator, they discussed Sara’s pregnancy, which had been a breeze so far. By the time the taxi arrived outside the cottage, Rina knew that at least she’d have something to look forward to. A niece or nephew to spoil and love—and to distract her from the empty sense of loss she carried deep inside her.