Dangerous Masquerade

by Janet Dailey

  “That description might fit LaRaine, but not me," Laurie replied with more calm than she considered possible with the taut state of her nerves.

  “You underestimate your power to attract,” Rian remarked, walking over to tower above her. The nakedness of his body clad in gold swimming trunks with a black stripe down the sides disturbed her more than she cared to admit. She certainly didn't underestimate his power, fighting the overwhelming desire to run her fingers through the black cloud of hairs on his chest.

  “Perhaps,” Laurie shrugged, closing her eyes to shut out the intoxicating sight of Rian.

  Before she realized what was happening, Rian had reached down and removed her smoke-coloured sunglasses. “I don't like looking at my own reflection when I'm talking to someone,” he declared with infuriating complacency.

  The sun's glare momentarily blinded her as she attempted to shield its rays with her hand. “The sun's in my eyes," Laurie protested.

  Her glasses were placed out of reach on the chair that held his towel. Then Rian sat down on a narrow edge of Laurie's chaise-lounge, a hand on each side of the back where her head rested, his lean body effectively blocking out the glare of the sun after he had sent her hat sailing across the sun-deck.

  “Is that better?” he taunted.

  “Give me back my glasses,” Laurie gulped as Rian came dangerously close. A primitive ache for his touch throbbed through her body.

  “Do you know there are times when your eyes grow so big and round that a man feels like he could drown in them?” Rian murmured, ignoring her request.

  “S-stop teasing me,” she stammered, catching at her breath he was slowly stealing.

  “I didn't realize that was what I was doing,” he chuckled.

  “You know you're just saying those things to get a rise out of me,” Laurie declared hotly.

  “Why? I've told you before that I thought you were beautiful.” A bland expression was on his face while his eyes moved slowly over her bare skin, sending flaming colour to her cheeks. “In that outfit, you look doubly alluring."

  This conversation was unnerving Laurie. “I think I'll take a last swim before it gets too cool."

  She started to lean forward, expecting Rian to move back and allow her to get to her feet, but he remained where he was. She succeeded only in drawing closer to him, finding the sensual curve of his mouth had a hypnotic effect.

  “Please let me up, Rian.” The trembling in her voice betrayed her inner awareness of him.

  “Every time I start to make love to you, you run away. Why is that?” His voice was a caressing whisper. “Are you afraid you might like it?"

  As Rian moved closer, Laurie sank further back against the cushions. Her breathing became constricted as the outcome of their meeting began to seem inevitable.

  “Why are you doing this?” she murmured, the agony of wanting him becoming almost more than she could bear. “I mean nothing to you."

  “On the contrary, you're my fiancée.” The suggestion of a jeer in his tone.

  “Must you keep bringing that up?” Laurie protested weakly, her shimmering blue eyes taking in the rugged, firm lines of his arrogant features. “Our engagement is a farce."

  “I assure you the ring on your finger didn't come from Woolworth's, and you yourself placed it there.” A wicked gleam lit his dark eyes.

  “It was put there and it's stayed there for only one reason—your aunt, Vera Manning. It doesn't give you any privileges to amuse yourself with me,” Laurie declared, firmly controlling her senses that cried for his touch.

  “When I touch you, Laurie,” Rian said quietly, “it's not in fun. I'm completely serious."

  “You're twisting what I say for your own purposes!” Despair rang in her voice as she tore her gaze away from his face to study the tanned arm by her head with its darkly curling hair.

  “You act as though I have some sinister designs on your virtue.” Impatience lent a knife-sharp edge to his words. “I've offered you marriage."

  “A marriage without love,” Laurie reminded him bitterly.

  “Is that so bad? Arranged marriages are still a custom in many parts of the world. They work very well. A man and a woman walk into their marriage with their eyes open and not blinded by love.” The last came out as a sneer.

  “But this is America!” Her gaze unwillingly returned to his face.

  “May I finish it for you?” Plan mocked. “And you're not a ‘Pelican girl’ marrying to serve her King."

  “Exactly,” she breathed.

  “Why? I somehow don't think my caress would be repulsive to you.” The look in his eyes sent her heart hammering, occasionally skipping beats at the burning fire in their blackness.

  “I don't want you to make love to me, Rian.” Her statement was true because she was too afraid she might reveal the way she cared for him.

  “Your lips tell me one thing, but your eyes tell me something different."

  “What do my eyes tell you?” Laurie bluffed bravely. “That I think you're an arrogant and autocratic man. That you're coldly callous when it comes to the emotions of other people, ignoring the question of how deep LaRaine's affection might have been, you pursued her, gave her expensive presents, asked her to be your wife, then tossed her off like an old shoe when an obstacle came along and cold-bloodedly replaced her with me. I pity any woman who would be foolish enough to fall in love with you. You have no compassion."

  Rian emitted a low laugh, mused by her barbs that could find no mark. “Is that what you are afraid of? That you'll fall in love with me?” Laurie already had and the self-pity was beginning to well up inside her. “But you've already told me that I don't possess any of the qualities you're looking for in a husband. Is that why you continue to resist me when you know you're as attracted to me as I am to you? Because you want me to be warm and tender and kind? That's a young girl's dream. You're a woman. Would you be content with a man who would cater to every whim? Do you truly want to be cuddled by a father image? Or be made love to by a man?"

  His questions bombarded her and Laurie knew the answer to them all. Yes, she was in love with him. Yes, that was why she resisted him. No, she didn't want Rian to be gentle and kind, because she wanted him the way he was. She didn't want to be treated like a fragile china doll. She wanted her lips bruised by a thousand violent kisses. But she could say none of that.

  “Please—” A broken sob rose in her throat, choking off any further protest.

  “It's time you made up your mind, Laurie.” Rian's head moved closer to hers, his mouth stopping a hair's breadth away from her own. “Tell me you don't want to feel my lips against yours, or for me to nuzzle your ear and whisper love words for you alone. Shall I explore that vein on your neck that throbs so delectably rapidly when I arouse you? And your golden shoulders? The irresistible hollow of your throat and the tantalizing curve of your breasts? Tell me you don't want me to do any of those things?” he demanded in a low, husky voice raw with desire that fanned an answering flame in Laurie.

  With a little moan of surrender, Laurie curled her fingers around his neck, bringing his mouth on to hers as she revelled in the searing fire of his embrace. There was a complete abandonment of her carefully erected defences, her lips parting in compliance to the demand of his. The full weight of his lean body spread over her, but she could only glory in the nakedness of their touching skin. Exploding shivers of ecstasy trembled over her until she lost all awareness of anything except Rian. The rough caress of his expert hands was ever constant—seeking, arousing, molding her soft body to the muscular contours of his.

  His mouth explored her neck, first nuzzling, then nibbling at the sensitive areas until Laurie moaned from the agony of her hunger. The offending strap of her bikini was pushed aside as he caressed her shoulders, then moved to the hollow of her breasts. Rian's breathing was as ragged as hers when he returned to devour her mouth, her fingers raking the black thickness of his hair. His rising desire to possess her was becoming increasing
ly apparent and Laurie had long ago lost the inclination to resist.

  “Rian!” E. J. Denton's voice was a blast of cold air in the blistering heat of their desire.

  The imprecations that Rian muttered underneath his breath as he straightened silently thrilled Laurie, still filled with the stirring knowledge of power that she was able to arouse Rian as much as he aroused her.

  “What is it?” he snapped.

  E. J. stood hesitantly on the opposite side of the pool. “There's a telephone call for a Miss LaRaine Evans."

  Irritation at the interruption was replaced by clinical aloofness as Rian turned his piercing dark gaze to Laurie. She hadn't missed the emphasis on her cousin's name, but she could think of no one who would be calling LaRaine. She moved her head in a negative response, her blue eyes darkening in apprehension that someone else would learn of her masquerade. Rian rose abruptly from the chaise-lounge, gathering up his towelling robe with a quick sweep of his hand.

  “I'll handle this,” he told Laurie. “You wait here."

  Nearly a quarter of an hour later, Rian returned, dressed in white slacks and an unbuttoned coral shirt that intensified the blackness of his hair and the darkness of his tan. Laurie leaned anxiously forward in her lounge chair as he walked around the pool to her side, her pulse leaping in a hoped-for wish to be in his arms again.

  “Who was it?” she asked calmly while her senses clamoured at his presence.

  “False alarm,” Rian answered indifferently, picking up the wrap-around skirt that matched Laurie's bikini and tossing it to her. “It was Colin calling about the Mardi Gras Ball tonight."

  “It completely slipped my mind,” Laurie murmured, finding the mask of reserve on Rian's face difficult to penetrate. “I was supposed to ask you—"

  “If I was attending,” he finished for her, a cynical curl to his mouth.

  “I'm sorry,” she said hesitantly.

  “Don't apologize. Colin explained that the arrangements were tentative, made before I arrived in Mobile, then magnanimously adjusted to include me. It was very thoughtful."

  Laurie flinched at the sarcasm in his tone. “Colin has been thoughtful, escorting me to the various Mardi Gras festivities and inviting both of us to the final ball.” Her awkward defence amused Rian. “He was only being kind."

  “And warm and tender,” he jeered.

  “Will you stop bringing that up!” she snapped angrily, wrapping the skirt around her waist and securing the tie. If only she knew what had brought about the change in Rian from ardent lover to taunting stranger! “I certainly hope you had the decency to decline his invitation politely."

  “Who said I declined?” An eyebrow arched contemptuously.

  “Are you going?” A quick frown knitted her forehead, as she stared up at him in bewilderment.

  “Have no fear, I'm not going. I told Colin that I had business to attend to."

  “I don't understand, then?” she faltered.

  “You and Colin are going alone. I certainly wouldn't want you to miss the social event of the year,” he said scornfully. “I know you'll be the belle of the ball."

  “You're allowing me to go with Colin?” Her eyes rounded in disbelief.

  “Isn't that what I just said?"

  “Yes, but—” Laurie stopped in hopeless confusion. “But you've repeatedly warned me to stay away from Colin.” She wanted to say that she didn't want to go without Rian, but his coolness made such an admission impossible.

  “Have I?” he asked with rhetorical indifference.

  “You know you have,” she retorted sharply.

  “If you don't want to go, Laurie, simply call the man back and tell him,” Rian snapped impatiently, his brows gathering into a threatening black cloud. “It doesn't matter to me one way or the other. Go or stay—it's up to you."

  If Laurie had any question whether his attraction to her was more than physical, his freezing words answered it. “I'm going to the ball with Colin,” she said quietly, salvaging a bit of her pride and independence.

  “He'll pick you up at nine-thirty this evening.” There was a patronizing nod of his head. “I have some telephone calls to make.” And he pivoted on his heel and was gone.

  Utter torment racked through her slender body at his rejection of her as anything more than a member of the opposite sex. Shivers rippled over her skin in reaction to the fluctuation of her inner body temperature that was one time hot and the other cold. Had what little attraction she held for him died when he learned she was his any time he wanted her? Had those tempestuous moments revealed her aching need for his possession? Rian was ruthless, autocratic, completely lacking in human compassion, her mind cried.

  But with a broken sob, Laurie knew she still loved him—a hopeless, futile emotion that would only bring her heartbreak and misery. She saw that when it was too late. If Rian only returned one-tenth of the love she felt for him, she would marry him. Half an hour ago, in his arms, she would have agreed without hesitation. Now a yawning void stretched ahead of her. Did its blackness hold an empty marriage to Rian or the infinity of misery and loneliness of a life without him? In her agony of loving him, Laurie couldn't decide.

  Her ingrained sense of pride and self-respect prevented her from collapsing under the weight of her writhing anguish. With dogged determination, she took special interest in her appearance, resolving that Rian would never guess how much he had hurt her by palming her off on Colin for the evening.

  Long preparation was taken to make herself look as stunning as possible. Laurie spent an hour in a bath full of bubbles to relax her jangled nerves. Then another hour in front of the mirror painstakingly applying her make-up. Then more time arranging her thick black hair in different styles before choosing a Grecian look with trailing white ribbonettes that added to her femininity while accentuating the pureness of her features.

  Lastly she donned her evening gown, the only one she possessed, but it suited her perfectly. Gleaming white satin hung straight to the floor with the effect of a mock train at the back. Sleeveless, the neckline dipped demurely in the front and plunged in behind, complementing the golden tan of her skin. The classically simple line of the gown was highlighted by hand-sewn seed pearls artfully scrolled under the bodice to her slim waist. The final touch was elegant, long white gloves that extended beyond her elbows.

  There was a satisfied sparkle in her sapphire eyes as she studied her reflection in the mirror. No jewellery adorned the exquisite perfection of the appearance. Without vanity, Laurie acknowledged the beauty she saw, finding self-assurance that would be an effective armour.

  There was a light rap on the door. “Colin is here, Laurie,” Vera told her after Laurie had bade her enter. “My dear, you look lovely! You'll be the envy of every woman there. It's a pity Rian isn't free tonight. I know he would be so proud to show you off. Still, it was considerate of him to allow you to go with Colin so you wouldn't miss the festivities."

  A sharp constriction in her chest at the truth that Rian couldn't care less whether she took part in the Mardi Gras celebration made it impossible for Laurie to speak. She smiled her agreement at his aunt's words and reached for her beaded evening bag. She turned for one last look in the mirror.

  “I'll tell Colin you'll be right down,” Vera smiled.

  Laurie waited a few minutes, for the first time knowing a desire to make an entrance. She had seen LaRaine do it so often that her actions were almost instinctive as she walked quietly in the thickly carpeted hall, glided silently down the stairs to the landing. There she stopped, spying Colin at the base of the stairs looking extraordinarily handsome in his evening suit while he exchanged a few words with Vera. Rian was deep in discussion with E. J. Denton several feet away near the front door. One gloved hand rested lightly on the banister post as her gaze compelled Rian to look at her. But it was Colin who noticed her first, the white of her gown catching his eyes against the background of gold flocked paper.

  “My God!” Colin breathed, his hazel eyes
drinking in her beauty.

  “Am I very late?” Laurie smiled, noticing the way Rian's head jerked up at the sound of her voice, feeling his gaze narrow on her as she glided down the steps to Colin.

  “You look absolutely ravishing!” Colin exclaimed when he had recovered from his speechlessness. “Exactly like a Greek goddess."

  He captured a gloved hand and held it gently with both of his while Laurie basked in the glow of his admiration. It was the boost her ego needed. He raised her hand to his mouth, turning the palm upward to receive his kiss. She allowed her hand to linger a bit longer than was necessary before she gently withdrew it, sending a sidelong glance at Rian from beneath her lashes, but his expression was aloof and untouched by the liberties Colin had taken with his fiancée.

  “Vera had told me it was a formal affair,” returning her attention to Colin. “I had hoped the gown would be suitable,” deliberately insinuating that she could be out of place, the way Laurie had heard her cousin do it many times before.

  “Suitable!” Colin laughed, unable to take his eyes off of her. “I shall be lucky to have one dance with you."

  “What do you think, Rian?” Laurie purred, whirling to face him, then floating gracefully to his side. Her sapphire-bright eyes sparkled up at his aquiline face. “Do I look all right?"

  “The gown is very becoming,” he commented blandly, dismissing E. J. with a nod of his head.

  “Is that all?” Laurie tilted her head back in a coquettish challenge, wanting him to be so moved by her radiance as to refuse to allow her to go to the ball without him.

  “What do you want me to do?” His sneering voice was lowered so his words could be heard by her only. “Kiss your hand like Hartford did?"

  Hurt anger flared immediately in her eyes. “Yes!” she challenged.

  As her arm began to raise to force Rian into replacing Colin's caress with his own, his hand snaked out, halting her wrist after it had only moved a few inches. The pressure of his grip turned her towards Colin.