Emerald Mistress

by Lynne Graham

  Una heaved a sigh. ‘That means I’ll have to learn how to be a swot.’

  Harriet blinked, all at sea. ‘Sorry?’

  ‘You have to know how to handle Rafael. He’s always telling me about the rewards of hard work, so if I swot like mad he’ll have to take me to the races if I ask. He can’t say no if that’s all I want.’ Watching Harriet’s face reflect sudden comprehension, Una sighed. ‘When you want some hints on how to nail Rafael to the church door, and you’re ripe for Father Frank’s famous talk on the trials of marriage, just ask.’

  Harriet knew how truly low she could sink when she found herself tempted.

  ‘I mean, Rafael’s a sitting duck right now.’

  *

  Rafael was waiting in a limo at Charles de Gaulle airport for Harriet.

  Her dress was the colour of blueberries, and a neat fit over her bosom and her hips for she had rounded up a little in Italy, but the rich shade flattered her copper hair and fair skin. When she met Rafael’s stunning dark eyes her heart literally jumped inside her chest, but he made no move towards her. As they drove through the busy, atmospheric streets of Paris he seemed preoccupied. He listened carefully to the story which Tolly had shared, and even smiled.

  ‘I should have guessed there might be a link between you and Tolly,’ he murmured.

  She waited, but he added nothing more, and she thought that perhaps he was not that interested. She felt rather cut-off for imagining that he might be. Having been assured that she was not his half-sister, she reckoned that he probably couldn’t care less who her father was.

  ‘I should warn you that my mother can be hot-tempered.’ Harriet felt she had to speak up before they entered Eva and Gustav’s apartment. ‘And Gustav is very protective of her.’

  ‘Let me handle this.’

  Eva’s bored expression evaporated when she caught a glimpse of the tall handsome male behind her daughter.

  ‘My name is Rafael Flynn,’ Rafael murmured softly. ‘Rafael…Cavaliere…Flynn.’

  Eva’s jaw dropped inelegantly wide. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  Gustav did a doubletake at their visitor. ‘Cavaliere? Valente Cavaliere’s son?’

  ‘You can’t be his son!’ Eva protested.

  Without further ado Rafael settled a document on the gilt and marble coffee table. ‘The results of DNA tests. Harriet is not my father’s child!’

  ‘That’s impossible,’ Gustav announced. ‘I’ve known he was Harriet’s father for several years—’

  ‘But it’s simply not true,’ Harriet stated. ‘Valente Cavaliere wasn’t my father!’

  ‘Why don’t you tell your daughter the truth?’ Rafael asked her mother.

  ‘I’m feeling faint…’ Eva gasped.

  ‘Faking a faint won’t get me off your case,’ Rafael drawled icily.

  ‘How dare you speak to my wife like that?’ Gustav snapped furiously.

  ‘I dare because after making Harriet live in ignorance for years your wife then chose to tell a disgusting and very irresponsible lie. At the time that lie was told, Harriet and I were lovers…’

  Gustav was so aghast at that announcement that he stared speechless, first at Rafael and then with questioning force at his wife. ‘Eva…is it possible that you were mistaken?’

  ‘It’s more than possible,’ Rafael continued. ‘My father didn’t set foot in Ireland within five years of Harriet’s conception. I very much doubt that he ever even met your wife.’

  Eva burst into tears.

  ‘Was it a lie?’ Gustav pressed heavily.

  Eva spun away from him and sobbed even harder. Gustav turned a mottled pink shade and walked out of the room.

  ‘Mum…’The scene distressed Harriet. She hated to see her mother’s frailty exposed in front of Rafael. ‘Please tell me if Robert Tolly is my father.’

  Eva’s head flew up in dismay. ‘How did you—?’

  ‘So he is,’ Harriet gathered tightly.

  ‘You’ve got no future as an interrogator, Harriet,’ Rafael said, very drily.

  ‘Why did you lie to me?’ Harriet demanded of the older woman.

  ‘Because I told that lie to Gustav before we married and I could hardly change my story! You’re right—I never met Valente Cavaliere. But I heard all about him in Ballyflynn. He was the most exciting thing that ever hit that dreary village,’ Eva declared defiantly. ‘I said he was Harriet’s father because he was rich and important, and Gustav was impressed by that.’

  ‘Why couldn’t you just tell Gustav the truth?’

  ‘Do you really think I was about to tell my future husband that I’d once fallen pregnant by the man married to my best friend?’

  ‘I can see that that might have made him think twice,’ Rafael murmured, without any expression at all.

  An unexpected laugh fell from Eva’s lips. ‘My respect for Harriet is rising steadily. Are you as rich as legend reports?’

  ‘Mother, please…’ Harriet begged, squirming at the avid look in the older woman’s gaze. ‘Can I ask what happened between you and Robert Tolly?’

  ‘Nothing much worth talking about. I did think I loved him.’ The older woman gave her a bitter look. ‘But he strung me along. He never had any intention of leaving Sheila. Her family had money. I had nothing to offer. When I got pregnant he panicked. Who do you think helped me get on that ferry and paid my fare? Your precious father. He also gave me the cash to go for a termination. But I met Will Carmichael and decided I’d rather get married.’

  Harriet had turned very pale. Rafael curved an arm round her, mentioned a pressing appointment and whisked her out of there faster than the speed of light.

  ‘Do you think Gustav will forgive Eva for lying to him?’ Harriet asked worriedly as they boarded the jet for their flight back to Ireland.

  ‘I would say that your mother is more than equal to the task of convincing him that he should. Are you planning to approach Robert Tolly?’

  ‘I don’t think so. But I bet his father will let him know that I know. Tolly would like a DNA test done for his own satisfaction, and no doubt he’ll pass on that as well. I can live with my father’s uninterest, though, and his wife’s feelings ought to be considered. Maybe in time she’ll come round to accepting my existence.’ Harriet screened a yawn behind her hand. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so tired in my life.’

  She had to be shaken awake when they landed in Kerry. A soft fine rain was falling, and lying like mist over the hills as Rafael drove them back to Ballyflynn.

  ‘I’m taking you to the Court. We have one or two things to sort out,’ he drawled softly.

  Nervous tension infiltrated her. For some reason she felt she had to fill the silence, and she was chattering inanely about her plans for the vegetable patch as the Range Rover drew up outside the Georgian mansion.

  ‘You must be bored out of your mind,’ she muttered hot-cheeked as he led her indoors.

  ‘You never bore me. But it is definitely my turn to talk.’

  Before he could speak, Peanut and Samson rushed out to greet them.

  ‘My goodness—what are they doing here? They are making themselves at home,’ Harriet muttered in some mortification. ‘I hope you don’t mind.’

  ‘Of course I don’t. I see Albert every day after all.’ Intent dark eyes rested on her anxious face and softened. ‘I want to sign over my half of the livery yard to you. You deserve it—’

  ‘No, I don’t…don’t be ridiculous. If we’re not partners any more I’ll not even have an excuse to see you!’ Belatedly registering what she had let drop, Harriet went bright pink and clamped a hand to her mouth. ‘Whoops…’

  ‘Since when did you think you needed an excuse?’

  ‘I don’t know where I stand with you any more.’

  ‘Are you still in love with Luke?’

  ‘My goodness—how can you ask me that? I sent him packing!’ Harriet reminded him with pride.

  ‘That doesn’t mean you don’t still love him. L
uke has haunted me ever since I met you.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘When I met you, again were still in love with him, and all you wanted with me was a fling…you shameless hussy, you!’

  Her face flamed. ‘I just thought about it. I didn’t actually intend to do it…’

  ‘And you didn’t want to be photographed with me at Leopardstown,’ Rafael enumerated.

  ‘I explained why not—’

  ‘But I wasn’t convinced. And when you lay in my arms and called me Luke, any sense of security I had in our relationship was destroyed.’

  Harriet was wincing double-time now. ‘That was the most awful mistake. I know it was dreadful, and I still don’t know how it happened—’

  ‘But it did, and I believed you were on the rebound. Then in Italy you told me that I wasn’t marriage material, which again led me into making unhappy comparisons.’

  ‘Oh, that serves you right.’ Her blue eyes sparkled. ‘You went to great trouble to make it clear that you weren’t up for marriage, so what did you expect?’

  Rafael groaned out loud. ‘You still haven’t told me how you feel about Luke.’

  Harriet collided with spectacular dark golden eyes that were distinctly anxious. ‘I haven’t loved Luke since I fell much more in love with you.’

  Rafael looked stunned. ‘Do you mean that?’

  ‘I think it started the night of the bonfire…though of course I fancied the socks off you before that…’

  ‘You love me?’ His charismatic smile flashed out and he pulled her close and held her so tight she could hardly breathe. ‘I was planning to propose on the flight home. I had the champagne all ready, and the ring, and you fell asleep…how could you?’

  ‘You were going to propose? My goodness, Rafael, you should’ve woken me up!’ she told him in reproach.

  He laughed with rich appreciation. ‘I am crazily in love with you, a mhilis.’

  ‘But you said you didn’t do love…’

  ‘Then you ran across the lawn in those funky pyjamas and I went into hot pursuit. I’ve never felt like that in my life before. Everything with you was special…and Italy was magical. I didn’t want to leave.’ He looked down at her with tender intensity. ‘But I didn’t understand that I was in love with you until I thought I couldn’t have you any more.’

  ‘Eva’s lie…the brother-sister thing…’

  ‘I thought I would go insane. I never felt emptiness like that. I couldn’t even trust myself near you at first. That’s when I realised I loved you.’

  ‘So you hit the brandy. Don’t you ever do that again.’

  ‘Is there anything you don’t know about my flaws?’

  ‘I know you love me, and I know I love you, and…show me that ring!’

  It was a glorious diamond. While she was admiring it on her finger from all angles, Rafael suggested a wedding at Flynn Court.

  ‘Before the point-to-point season kicks off? Good timing,’ she agreed approvingly. ‘Una will be over the moon. By the way, if she does start attending a local school, her sister might find it hard having a teenager around that small house twenty-four-seven.’

  ‘I was concerned about that aspect.’

  ‘Do you think Una might like to come and live with us instead?’ Harriet asked.

  His lean, strong face taut, Rafael gazed down at her. ‘Wouldn’t you mind?’

  ‘No, I’m very attached to her.’

  ‘How can I land you with a teenager when we’re just married?’

  ‘My choice.’

  ‘I picked you good.’ Rafael studied her with intense appreciation and a wicked smile curved his mouth. ‘I picked you very good. Does this mean that I’m going to be getting my shirts picked up on a regular basis?’

  She stretched up to him, bright blue eyes full of mischief, and whispered, ‘Don’t hold your breath!’

  *

  Feeling like a princess in her wedding gown, Harriet twirled in front of the full length mirror. Her strapless dress had a flattering basque waist, and the silk was overlaid with tulle embroidered with delicate crystal beadwork that caught the light. The emerald and diamond horseshoe brooch was clasped to the gold circlet that held her flirty short veil back, where it looked wonderfully appropriate.

  ‘I’m so proud of you I’m walking on air,’ Tolly confided as he escorted his granddaughter into the flower-bedecked church.

  Her bridesmaids, Alice and Una, and her little flower girl, Will and Nicola Carmichael’s daughter Emily, swarmed round her. Harriet skimmed an anxious glance over the rather tight expression on Alice’s lovely face and gave her sister’s hand a bracing squeeze. She did appreciate the effort it had taken for Alice to rise above her broken heart and act as her bridesmaid.

  ‘You’ve really put my nose out of joint by bagging a billionaire,’ Alice had admitted with a tearful giggle when the wedding was being arranged. ‘No wonder you said you didn’t want Luke back.’

  Warm affection in her satisfied gaze, Una carefully removed a piece of straw from the train of Harriet’s dress and twitched it straight with a proprietary hand. Clearly aware of Alice’s sulky mood, she had taken charge. Little Emily stood by, sucking her thumb and clutching Harriet’s hand.

  On Harriet’s passage down the aisle on Tolly’s arm, Will and Nicola smiled at the bride and Boyce gave her an outrageous wink. Eva, her slim hand resting on Gustav’s sleeve, watched her daughter with brimming satisfaction. For no less an event than the wedding of her daughter to the billionaire owner of Flynn Court her mother had been prepared to make a return visit to Ballyflynn. Harriet, however, only had eyes for the male awaiting her at the altar. An exquisite shrine to St Jude, patron saint of impossible causes, now embellished the chapel.

  ‘You look like every dream I ever had,’ Rafael swore huskily, and her heart sang.

  By the time the photographs were being taken outside the church, Alice could be seen to have made a startling recovery from her earlier low spirits. Rafael’s best man, Stephanos, the handsome heir to a Greek shipping empire, was making a great effort to make himself agreeable to her sister. Never had a broken heart been ditched with more sparkle, Harriet reflected with amusement. And Boyce, who was in the process of renovating his house at Slieveross, was talking to Fergal.

  Two white horses pulled the fancy carriage that was whisking Rafael and Harriet from the church to the estate. A host of cameras clicked and whirred to record the event. The reception, to be held at Flynn Court, promised to be the biggest party Ballyflynn had ever known. The following day the bridal couple would depart for a honeymoon in the Caribbean. Harriet returned her emerald and diamond engagement ring to its position next to her new wedding ring and remembered when she had absently thought of imprisoning Rafael in a locked room in chains. She had never dreamt that it would not be chains but rings that bound him to her, of his own free will, and tender amusement filled her.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Harriet had finally noticed that the carriage had deviated from the direct route back to the house.

  ‘You’ll see.’

  The driver brought the horses to a halt where the rough track narrowed down into the bridle path that led through the oak woods. Rafael sprang out and scooped Harriet from the carriage. She stared in amazement at the rich red carpet that had been laid to cover the trail.

  ‘Am I dreaming?’

  Smiling, Rafael drew her into the heart of the wood, where the oak, the ash and the hawthorn trees all grew together. Her fingers were secure in the firm hold of his. It was a moment when happiness took over and overflowed inside her, for the very beauty of their surroundings made her eyes prickle with tears.

  ‘This is the place where I always remember being with you,’ Rafael confessed. ‘It’s special…’

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed a little gruffly. ‘Very special.’

  Dark eyes held hers with gravity, and her heart started beating very fast. ‘I brought you here to tell you that I love you as I never believed I could love any woman, a
mhilis. That I intend to be a great husband, and the best father I can be…’

  ‘Father?’ Harriet repeated in surprise.

  The faintest colour demarcated his proud cheekbones. ‘Eventually—I hope.’

  Harriet looked up at him, her face alight with unalloyed happiness. ‘I didn’t think you were ready for the pitter-patter of tiny feet yet.’

  ‘Neither did I.’ Rafael sighed, pulling her close. ‘The fairies have had the last laugh. You’re killing my womanising image.’

  The teasing light in his beautiful eyes made her believe in magic. ‘I love you to bits,’ she told him softly, and then he kissed her. There was silence—until they recalled the vast number of guests awaiting their arrival at their future home…

  Get ready for Lynne Graham’s explosive tale of flaring passions in Emerald Mistress!

  When Harriet Carmichael’s world comes crashing down she’s determined to start afresh. But her new neighbour is Rafael Cavaliere, the very man who cost Harriet her job! When passion ensnares them both, deep secrets are revealed that could change their lives forever.

  Tensions soar when husband and wife are reunited in Lynne Graham’s The Veranchetti Marriage!

  It’s taken four years for Kerry to harden her heart against her arrogant, absent husband, Alex Veranchetti. But when he returns demanding marriage, again, she knows she has little choice. Will Kerry finally be able to prove her innocence…or risk her heart once more?

  A convenient marriage becomes anything but in Lynne Graham’s An Arabian Courtship!

  Polly Barrington must uncover the true nature of her new husband because Prince Raschid is breaking through the barriers around her heart. Passion-filled nights leave Polly wondering if she should resist the intense attraction between them or trust her husband and give herself to him completely.

  In Lynne Graham’s An Insatiable Passion the past crashes into the present with passion and power!

  Kitty Colgan returns home for her grandmother’s funeral determined to lay the ghosts of her past to rest. She’s no longer the innocently naive young girl whose heart was broken by Jake Tarrant. But seeing him once more proves that Jake is still incredibly attractive…and infinitely more dangerous!