Her shiver had been one of anticipation, not fear. But she couldn’t allow Daniel to believe he could intimidate her at will. She moved pointedly out of his arms. ‘Pull another stunt like this,’ she told him softly, ‘and you’ll find yourself in more trouble than you can handle.’ She stepped back as his eyes widened appreciatively. ‘Now, if you could force yourself to be civilised for a short while longer, I believe our guests are waiting for us to begin the dancing.’
His mouth quirked. ‘I hope you relax yourself enough in bed to forget for a while that you’re supposed to be a lady!’
‘Why?’ she taunted, arching dark brows. ‘Have you never made love to one before?’
His lips thinned. ‘Very funny,’ he rasped. ‘Let’s get this dance over with so I can get myself a whisky!’
It was only the second time he had ever danced with her, and this time was worse than the first, Daniel’s anger a tangible thing between them, the music seeming to go on for ever.
‘Why did you never ask me to dance at any of my father’s parties?’ Heather asked suddenly, aware of a sea of avidly curious faces watching their every move.
He glanced down at her. ‘I rarely dance; surely you’ve noticed that,’ he finally bit out.
‘Yes, but—’
‘And never with little girls who have a crush on me,’ he added harshly.
All the colour drained from Heather’s cheeks as she stared at him in horror. ‘You—’ She began again, her voice gruff. ‘You knew?’
He shrugged. ‘You weren’t exactly subtle. And having some little teenager touch me for the sake of it didn’t appeal to me.’
Oh, God, she thought, not just her father had guessed at her feelings for this man, but the man himself had known, too! And she had thought she had hidden her feelings so well. ‘I’ll always be thirteen years younger than you.’
Daniel shook his head. ‘I doubt it will matter when I’m fifty and you’re thirty-seven. As for now, you’re two years older—and a hell of a lot wiser, I hope!’
But she wasn’t as far as loving this man was concerned, for she still loved him. And it devastated her to know that he had realised how she had felt about him two years ago. Although not now, now he seemed in complete ignorance of the fact that what he had assumed was a ‘crush’ had developed into a deep, abiding love. Maybe that was because he refused to recognise love.
But she knew when he said ‘wiser’ he didn’t mean that he hoped she had more sense than to love him now, he meant she had to be more experienced, knew that love wasn’t at all necessary to a relationship. If she felt that way she would be as hardened as he was and, even though it hurt to love him, she knew it would hurt more not to love him. Daniel had been alone for so long, hadn’t allowed love into his life, but he wasn’t alone any longer, and while she wasn’t about to let him totally dominate her, surely her love would eventually reach inside him and spark a response. It was all she had to cling on to.
‘Am I?’ she said lightly, her expression deliberately candid as he looked at her sharply.
‘Heather—’
‘Don’t look so worried, Daniel,’ she mocked as he suddenly looked very uncertain. ‘I’m not about to bore you with protestations of love.’
‘I wouldn’t be bored,’ he said harshly. ‘I would be rather incredulous that you had managed to fall in love with the husband you’ve had forced upon you!’
He wouldn’t be incredulous at all, he would be sceptical and disbelieving! ‘That would be a little difficult to accept, wouldn’t it?’ she agreed drily—because if Daniel hadn’t been that man she would have forfeited everything rather than marry a man her father chose for her.
‘Impossible,’ he nodded curtly, his mouth curled scornfully.
Her eyes glowed deep purple. ‘But that doesn’t mean we can’t take what we can from this marriage,’ she invited softly.
‘Each other?’ he taunted.
‘Why not?’ she shrugged.
‘We’ll know after tonight, won’t we?’ he drawled, stepping away from her as the music came to an end, nodding acknowledgement of their guests’ polite clapping at the end of their solo dance together. ‘I wonder who will be applauding then?’ he mocked before her uncle took his place.
The strain of returning Daniel’s barbs, and giving a few of her own, was beginning to tell on Heather, and she trembled slightly from the respite as she stepped gratefully into her uncle’s arms. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take!
Her uncle chuckled softly, completely misunderstanding the reason for her strained appearance. ‘I should have told the two of you to go off and get married quietly somewhere; it’s less of a strain on the emotions—and the nerves!’
She had thought Daniel would prefer a quiet wedding, had suggested as much to him, only to have him come back with the comment—she didn’t want all her snobby friends to witness her marriage to one of the lower classes! After that, nothing would have deterred her from having the biggest and grandest wedding she could organise in so short a time, the guest list numbering in the five hundreds, and none of them Daniel’s relatives or friends. When she had asked him for his guest list he had told her he didn’t have any family he would want to invite, and he very much doubted she would welcome the ‘friend’ he could have invited! Guessing who that ‘friend’ was, Heather hadn’t pressed him any more.
‘Never mind,’ her uncle sympathised. ‘The two of you can make your escape soon.’
‘There’s no rush.’ Her bravado with Daniel had been exactly that, her fear of the wedding night as strong now as it had been in the church earlier, so that she had missed most of the marriage service. Stronger, because she was now frightened that, once in Daniel’s arms, she might unconsciously reveal the love she felt for a man who could only view the emotion with contempt. ‘We aren’t going anywhere but home, so why shouldn’t we enjoy our own wedding reception?’
‘True,’ her uncle nodded. ‘And it isn’t as if you can’t wait to be alone together.’
Uncle Lionel believed this would be a marriage of pure convenience, she could read that unspoken statement in what he had said! ‘I—we were discussing children earlier.’ Her voice was husky as she told him in the only way she could, without embarrassing them both, that it wasn’t going to be that way. ‘Daniel would like several.’
‘Heather—’
‘It’s all right, Uncle Lionel,’ she soothed his distressed protest. ‘I really would like that, too. So if Stella asks again,’ she added lightly, ‘you can tell her that Daniel and I will be sharing a bed.’
‘She’s only concerned for you, as I am,’ he defended, frowning. ‘Even more so now. Heather, it isn’t too late to have the marriage annulled.’
They said love was blind, and where Stella was concerned it certainly made Uncle Lionel so; Stella had never been concerned for anyone else but herself in the whole of her life! ‘I don’t want the marriage annulled,’ she assured him.
‘Daniel is a hard man—’
‘He’s only what his life so far has made him,’ she defended. ‘I could so easily have turned out the same way.’
‘Is that why you—?’
‘No,’ she cut in quickly. ‘You know why I married him.’ Not even to her beloved uncle could she admit her love for Daniel.
‘Is the airline worth a lifetime of misery?’ he frowned. ‘The way Max’s will is worded only death could give either of you full control of AI now.’
Heather shivered, glancing quickly across the room to where Daniel was dancing with Stella. She would want to die, too, if anything ever happened to him!
As if sensing her gaze on him he raised his head and turned to look at her, frowning at how pale she was. Afraid that her love—a love he rejected without knowing of its existence—might be revealed in her eyes, she quickly turned away. ‘Our marriage will work,’ she vowed vehemently to her uncle. ‘You’ll see.’
‘I hope so,’ he returned without conviction.
It was
a glittering social evening, the number of guests meaning that the bride and groom were rarely together, and never alone. But, as midnight neared, Daniel invited her to dance again. Heather went willingly into his arms, the champagne she had drunk most of the evening relaxing her.
‘Unless you want a scene I think you’d better deal with that situation,’ Daniel rasped as soon as they were on the dance-floor.
Heather blinked up into his disapproving face. ‘I’ve only had a few glasses of champagne—’
‘You can drink yourself unconscious for all I care,’ he interrupted harshly. ‘I’m talking about him!’
She followed his gaze to the bar, suddenly completely sober as she saw Phillip hadn’t moved from the spot he had taken up as soon as he arrived. Penny, his secretary, was obviously trying to persuade him to leave, while he was intent on seeing the bottom of the bottle of whisky he had ordered to be left beside him.
‘Quite,’ Daniel bit out impatiently as Heather’s stricken gaze returned to him. ‘You must be good if the thought of you spending the night in another man’s arms reduces Wingate to that!’
Even now, when their marriage was a fact, he couldn’t stop insulting her! ‘Why don’t you sort that little problem out and we’ll go home and find out—?’
He grasped her arm as she would have turned away. ‘From the look of Wingate it’s far from a “little” problem, and it certainly isn’t mine! You should have made the position clear to Wingate weeks ago,’ he added grimly.
Her eyes flashed. ‘As you did with Cassandra?’
‘Yes!’
‘Maybe I don’t have as much experience at hurting people as you do,’ she scorned.
Daniel’s eyes were steely slits. ‘Get over there and tell Wingate he’d better leave here quietly or he’s out of a job. And then meet me outside; maybe it is time I found out how good you are!’
CHAPTER FIVE
HEATHER burned with resentment as Daniel strode across the room to talk to her uncle, sparing valuable seconds to glare after her husband before going determinedly towards Phillip.
He seemed to blanch as he saw the fury in her eyes. ‘Heather, I—’
‘Daniel believes it’s time you left,’ she declared fiercely, all her sympathy for this man gone when it put her at the mercy of Daniel’s cutting tongue. ‘And so do I!’ she added as Phillip seemed about to argue.
‘You know why I—’
‘It doesn’t matter why you’re choosing to make an idiot of yourself,’ she cut in angrily. ‘You are doing it, and it has to stop. Let Penny take you home.’
‘But I—’
‘Do it, Wingate,’ a harsh voice instructed coldly. ‘Or start looking for another job first thing Monday morning.’
After the way he had spoken to her minutes earlier, Daniel was the last person Heather had expected to help her, although she admitted she needed help; Penny seemed as much at a loss as to how to deal with Phillip as she was, looking very distressed.
Phillip put down his empty glass. ‘You don’t deserve her, Taggart,’ he ground out.
‘But I’ve got her—’ Grey eyes were flinty, ‘—and what’s mine I keep!’
‘Until you tire of it, or it outlives its usefulness.’ Phillip threw all caution to the winds. ‘And when you tire of Heather I’ll be around to pick up the pieces!’
‘You like other men’s leftovers, do you?’ taunted Daniel, voice dangerously soft.
Phillip’s face was flushed. ‘You aren’t good enough to be in the same room as Heather.’
‘I’m good enough to pay your wages,’ Daniel returned icily. ‘Although I’m dangerously close to reconsidering that!’
Phillip’s mouth twisted into a sneer. ‘Go ahead, fire me. With my qualifications I can get a job anywhere.’
‘Phillip—’
Daniel grasped hold of Heather’s arm, painfully cutting off her protest. ‘Why don’t you think about doing that? And soon!’
‘Come on, Penny,’ Phillip scorned. ‘Our host thinks we’ve outstayed our welcome.’
‘Not Penny, just you, Wingate,’ Daniel corrected gratingly.
Penny threw him a grateful look for his assurances before helping Phillip from the room, the latter slightly unsteady on his feet.
Heather was shaken from the encounter, leaning weakly into Daniel as his arm came supportively about her waist.
‘You really will have to learn how to tell a man “no” convincingly,’ he softly derided.
She stiffened, regretting lowering her guard with him in even a moment’s weakness. ‘Maybe I should practise on you,’ she snapped, moving away from him.
He looked amused by the challenge. ‘From the way you’ve behaved with me so far, I would say you might find that a little difficult to do!’ He arched mocking brows.
Heather paled at the taunt. ‘There are hundreds—thousands!—of men with as much experience—more!—than you have!’
He gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘And after the next two months have elapsed no doubt you’ll feel free to get to know every single one of them personally!’
Why did she love this man? Was it really possible to love someone who was incapable of feeling love himself? Why was she torturing herself with these questions? she silently admonished herself; she couldn’t talk herself out of loving him!
‘Is Cassandra willing to wait the two months for you?’ She attacked rather than defended.
Daniel instantly looked bored. ‘Cassandra’s—charms had already begun to pall; our marriage was as good a reason as any to end things.’
‘Do you usually need a reason?’ Heather scorned.
‘No,’ he admitted abruptly. ‘I’ve never seen any necessity to pretend an interest I no longer feel.’
‘I’m sure the woman involved gets the customary trinket at the end of the affair,’ she derided.
Daniel’s expression darkened. ‘The only woman I’ve ever offered jewellery to is you, and you turned down an engagement ring. If a woman wants to enjoy a relationship with me then that’s fine by me, but I’ve never asked any woman to whore herself for me!’
Heather frowned at his vehemence in return to her mild barb. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘If you want to know more about women who sell themselves, ask me about my mother some time,’ he cut in glacially. ‘But not now!’
Heather felt a physical ache in her chest for the pain his words uncovered. He had told her he had never known his father, had claimed his mother was stupid and naïve, and now he had revealed that it had been these two things that made him sceptical of love and marriage. It didn’t matter that his mother had cared enough to bring him into the world and love him, what she was had been unmistakable to someone as astute as Daniel.
‘I told you before, don’t pity me!’ he rasped as he saw the compassion in her eyes. ‘It wasn’t such a bad life; until my stepfather came along I had plenty of “uncles” to buy me presents!’
This time she kept her compassion hidden, although it wasn’t easy. If only Daniel knew it, they had so much to give each other, had both known only a mother’s love, both needed to give the excess of love that had built up inside them over the years to someone, and it should be to each other.
‘What’s the matter, little rich girl?’ he suddenly taunted. ‘The son of a woman who slept around so that she could support us not good enough to be your husband?’
The pain, oh, God! the pain their mothers had both subjected them to, whether willingly or not. ‘Is your mother still alive?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘She died a couple of years ago.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why, would she have been guest of honour at our wedding?’ he scorned.
After Heather’s conception the only man in her mother’s life had been Max Danvers, but was she any less guilty of selling herself, and her child, than Daniel’s mother had been? Heather didn’t think so. ‘I would have liked to have met her,’ she said softly.<
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‘I don’t think so,’ he muttered. ‘Heather Danvers and Julia Taggart would have had little in common!’
‘My name is Taggart too now,’ she reminded him quietly, not upset by his derision, understanding more than he knew his need to hit out. How many times had she inwardly stormed at her mother for marrying Max Danvers!
‘It isn’t a name to be proud of,’ he snapped. ‘The stepfather who gave it to me was a lazy drunkard!’
She put a hand on Daniel’s arm. ‘I’m very proud to call myself your wife,’ she told him huskily.
‘I’m sure,’ he drawled in an amused voice. ‘Let’s get out of here and make it fact rather than just a title.’
Heather was filled with a quiet calm at his effort to shock her once again, she knew so much more about this man, understood him so much better than she had this morning. He didn’t want love but he needed it, and she was going to give it to him.
Their goodbyes were made laughingly, Daniel easily returning some of the more personal comments that were being made, and the only moment of awkwardness was introduced by Stella.
‘I saw poor Phillip being led out of here drunk,’ she snapped accusingly. ‘The poor man is devastated.’
Daniel’s mouth twisted as Heather gasped. ‘Why don’t you go and offer to console him, Stella?’ he drawled.
Blue eyes flashed with fury. ‘Maybe I will,’ Stella finally challenged, glancing at her husband across the room from them. ‘Someone should show him that she isn’t worth ruining his life over.’ She glared at Heather.
‘And I’m sure you’re the woman to do it,’ Daniel mocked.
‘Why you—’
‘We really do have to go now,’ Heather cut in firmly. ‘Interesting as this conversation is.’ And it was interesting, more so than she had at first realised. She knew Stella better than to believe her only concern was Phillip, knew that anything the other woman did or said had a selfish reasoning behind it. Stella had mentioned Phillip to antagonise, and from the way she kept reminding Daniel of Heather’s past relationship with the other man, she didn’t think it was her the other woman was trying to antagonise.
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