Subtle Revenge

by Carole Mortimer

  Lori smiled a woman’s secret smile of satisfaction at his reaction to her nakedness, and turned on the shower tap before holding out her hand to him. ‘Come and join me.’ She stepped beneath the heated water.

  Luke stepped beneath the spray fully clothed, his gaze fixed on the parted invitation of her lips, his trousers plastered to him in a matter of seconds, his hair ebony as he lowered his head to part her lips further with the invasion of his mouth.

  ‘Take off the rest of your clothes,’ she encouraged shakily as he kissed each aching nipple, driving her insane with the butterfly caresses of his mouth against her hardened flesh.

  ‘Take them off for me,’ he groaned his encouragement. ‘Make love to me, kitten.’

  She had never undressed a man before, kissing the broadness of his back and chest before unzipping his trousers with trembling hands, removing the black underpants that remained his only article of clothing, his skin gleaming deeply gold as he stood naked in front of her. He was beautiful, so beautiful he made her tremble in anticipation.

  ‘Take me, Luke,’ she begged. ‘Take me now!’ She was too aroused to wait any longer, the wildfire excitement burning through her veins was crying out for his thrusting possession.

  ‘Darling—?’

  ‘Now!’ She curved herself against him, her arms about his neck as she felt him probing her parted thighs. She was the one to make the final move that made her one with him, her cry lost in the warm vortex of his mouth, her spiralling to the floor prevented by Luke’s arms like steel bands about her body. ‘Oh, Luke…!’ she groaned as he began to move inside her, reaching deep within her, touching each nerve-ending, each particle of her body, each surge of his possession building up the pressure of ever-increasing pleasure, a pleasure she knew he intended her to reach before he took his own shuddering desire.

  They reached the very pinnacle of that passion in unison. Luke’s heart-felt groan of intense pleasure was lost against her throat as she could only gasp at the fiery ecstasy that had taken her completely by surprise.

  Her next gasp was one of shock as Luke turned the water to cold, holding her squirming body in his arms as the freezing cold water washed over them both. ‘Luke, no—!’ Tears shone in her eyes at this cruelty. ‘Luke…?’ she groaned, beginning to shiver, her body tinglingly alive, the water now feeling like tiny pinpricks on her cooled flesh.

  He carried her to his bed, laying her beneath the covers, instantly joining her, clinging to her damply, then he began to make love to her all over again, the coldness of the water having heightened her senses so that each caress seemed to burn, and their coming together was as fevered as before.

  ‘You devil!’ she groaned.

  ‘Witch!’ Luke ruefully rubbed the spot on his shoulder where her teeth had bitten into him. ‘I’ll probably bear the scars of your passion for life!’

  ‘So will I.’ Her tone didn’t match his lighthearted one, her eyes were already taking on a haunted look. She belonged body and soul to Luke now, and soon he wouldn’t want her! She turned to him once again, a glorious desperation in the heat of her mouth on his. ‘Love me again, Luke,’ she pleaded. ‘Please love me again!’

  He laughed softly, exultantly. ‘If you’re this demanding when we’re married I’ll never get to work, and if I do I’ll be too tired to do anything!’ His eyes gleamed down at her, gently teasing. ‘Still, who’s worried about work?’ he dismissed wolfishly, his mouth claiming hers once again.

  * * *

  It was after eight when Luke drove her home the next morning, telling her he would wait for her while she changed for work. Lori insisted he go on alone, knowing she owed Sally some explanation for last night, and that it would be better made alone.

  ‘Meet another fool,’ she told the other girl ruefully when she entered the flat to find her friend in the kitchen eating breakfast.

  ‘Not the same at all.’ Sally stood up. ‘Luke happens to love you, he has from the start—anyone can see that. Like some toast?’ she offered with a smile.

  Lori felt none of the embarrassment in front of her friend that she had been expecting, and she knew it was mainly due to Sally’s lack of inquisitiveness. ‘No, thanks.’ She went to the bedroom to discard the tee-shirt and skirt she had worn yesterday. ‘I’ve already eaten.’ Breakfast had been a hilarious affair, so much so that Luke had taken her back to bed, all the laughter suddenly fading, leaving the blazing desire that nothing seemed to extinguish.

  Sally nodded, standing in the doorway as Lori donned one of the smart suits and feminine blouses she wore to work. ‘How did the meeting with his father go?’ she asked interestedly. ‘Is he as formidable as they say?’

  ‘No,’ Lori answered truthfully, without any real need for thought. ‘He’s just a rather sad old man,’ she dismissed. ‘How did your date with Gary go on Saturday?’ The two of them had had little opportunity to talk since then.

  Sally shrugged. ‘Okay. I went out with him for the day yesterday too. I don’t think he’s going to be the grand passion of my life, but he’s nice. By the way, you had a visitor yesterday.’

  ‘I did?’ Lori was busy looking in the wardrobe for the matching black shoe to the one she held in her hand.

  ‘Mm,’ Sally frowned.

  ‘Who was it?’ She had found the shoe, and slipped them both on to her narrow feet.

  ‘He didn’t say,’ Sally shrugged.

  ‘He?’ Lori’s interest sharpened.

  ‘Yes,’ Sally nodded. ‘He just asked for you, and when I told him you weren’t here he said he would be in touch.’

  ‘Not when Luke’s around, I hope,’ Lori smiled. ‘He tends to be rather—possessive.’ She still bore the bruises from his reaction to Jonathan kissing her.

  ‘I’ve noticed!’ her friend grimaced.

  Lori looked at her wrist-watch. ‘We’d better be going, or we’ll be late. Nikki and Paul come back today,’ she realised with a smile.

  ‘Nikki couldn’t look any happier than you do today. You look beautiful, Lori,’ Sally told her huskily.

  ‘Thank you,’ she blushed, knowing her night in Luke’s arms had given her an ecstatic glow.

  Luke’s door was closed when she entered her own office, and she knew it was just as well. This brief respite from the flaring passion in his eyes would enable her to at least open the mail, knowing she wouldn’t be able to work once he was close to her, looking at her, touching her.

  Last night had been the most beautiful experience of her life, even more so when she had woken to find herself held tightly in Luke’s arms. Then he had kissed her with gentle adoration, told her how much he loved and needed her, demanding that she move in with him until they could be married at the end of the week. As she had known there wouldn’t be a wedding she had agreed; she was going to take all the happiness she could with him before her bubble of happiness burst for ever.

  The door to Luke’s office opened, and she looked up with a loving smile, a smile that froze on her lips as she recognised the man who stood there. Nigel Phillips. And he had been in to see Luke!

  What could he have said to him? What had he told him? She knew the answer to that. Her happiness had been taken from her much quicker than she had anticipated.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  NIGEL closed the door as he came further into her office, barely having changed at all. His blond hair was kept short, he was still tall and slim, only the few lines evident about his eyes telling her of the passing of five years.

  She looked at him now with new eyes, wondering how she could ever have loved him enough to begin this strange revenge on Luke. Oh, Nigel was handsome enough, and yet there was an air of condescension about him, superciliousness that made her wonder how he had ever dared defy his father enough to even contemplate marrying her.

  Next to Luke’s strength and determination to succeed Nigel paled to nothingness, and Lori looked at him coolly as he walked over to her desk. ‘Nigel,’ she nodded distantly.

  ‘Lori,’ his tone w
as curt. ‘You know why I’m here?’

  Her mouth twisted, although she refused to let him see the pain in her shadowed brown eyes. ‘It isn’t difficult to guess.’ And it wasn’t. Nigel felt she had humiliated him five years ago, and he wasn’t a man who forgot easily either.

  ‘No,’ he snapped, his gaze insolent as it swept over her slender curves. ‘You’re more beautiful than ever,’ he rasped, as if that knowledge angered him.

  Her eyes widened as she saw an emotion she barely recognised flicker briefly in his eyes. Love. She had seen love gleam there for a few brief seconds. And yet he had come here today to deliberately destroy her life once again.

  ‘Did you call on me yesterday?’ she asked woodenly.

  ‘Yes,’ he nodded, the dark suit fitting him wonderfully, emphasising the width and power of his shoulders, the lean length of his legs. ‘You were out with Randell, according to your flatmate,’ he added harshly. ‘Randell, Lori?’ he scorned. ‘I would have thought you would have chosen anyone but him! You once made your feelings about his father perfectly clear.’

  Dull colour ebbed into her cheeks as she remembered the conversations. It was part of her dream, it always preceded the scene where Nigel walked out of her life, when she had lost control and told Nigel and his father that Jacob Randell had been wrong about her father, that she hated him, had always hated him.

  ‘Now it appears you’re in love with his son,’ Nigel scorned. ‘I find that very hard to believe. And so did he!’

  Lori paled as rapidly as she had blushed. ‘What did you tell him?’

  ‘Just the truth,’ Nigel drawled, sitting on the edge of her desk. ‘I told him how you had always vowed vengeance on his father.’

  ‘And he—he believed you?’ She could hear the faint murmur of Luke’s voice from the inner office as he spoke to someone on the telephone. Probably having her removed from the practice!

  ‘Of course,’ Nigel confirmed contemptuously. ‘It’s the truth, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes,’ she choked. ‘Margot recognised me, of course,’ she said in a pained voice.

  ‘Eventually,’ Nigel nodded. ‘She told me about you when I returned from my honeymoon over the weekend.’

  ‘Your wife is very beautiful,’ she told him dully, still conscious of Luke talking on the telephone in the other room.

  ‘Yes,’ Nigel acknowledged abruptly. ‘Her father is Lord Maughan.’

  ‘So I read,’ Lori nodded absently, wondering what Luke was thinking now, why he hadn’t thundered out here and demanded an explanation, that would have been more his style than this waiting game. But the door between the two offices remained firmly closed.

  ‘He’s a judge, you know,’ Nigel added smugly.

  No, she hadn’t known, but it followed that he would have married a woman who could bring him more than herself. Lori knew she must have been an unexpected weakness on his part. Nigel was an ambitious man, and having a judge as his father-in-law would be a tremendous boost to his career. He might even be planning to advance his career in that direction when he was older.

  ‘How nice for you,’ she taunted dryly.

  He nodded, not even noticing her sarcasm. ‘Caroline is a very suitable wife.’

  ‘I’m glad,’ she said stiffly.

  ‘Are you?’ He looked at her coldly. ‘You did your best to ruin my life five years ago.’

  ‘And now you’ve deliberately ruined mine!’

  ‘Yes.’ Nigel stood up, straightening his cuff. ‘Poetic justice, don’t you think?’

  She flushed, swallowing hard. ‘You’ve found happiness now.’

  ‘Yes,’ he bent down to look her fully in the face, only inches away from her, ‘but you don’t know how desperately I wish it could have been you.’ His face was shadowed. ‘I loved you, Lori, more that I’ve ever loved anyone—including Caroline. Maybe now that I’m married and you’re free of Randell——’

  ‘Yes?’ she demanded tautly, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t believe she was to suffer this further humiliation on top of her other pain.

  ‘There’s no reason why you and I shouldn’t—meet,’ Nigel said softly. ‘When it’s mutually convenient, of course.’

  She closed her eyes, a red tide of anger passing in front of her. ‘And if it’s never—convenient?’ she asked through gritted teeth.

  ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’ he taunted. ‘You and Randell have been lovers. I know damn well you have been,’ he rasped viciously, ‘by the way he reacted when I told him who you are. But I already know all there is to know about you, and I still want you.’

  Lori stood up, shaking with anger. ‘Get out of here,’ she told him coldly. ‘How I could ever have imagined myself in love with you I’ll never know! You’re disgusting and obnoxious! Now get out. You’ve done all you’ve set out to do, caused enough harm for one day!’

  His eyes widened incredulously. ‘You’ve actually fallen in love with Randell!’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘My God!’ He gave a contemptuous laugh, and was still laughing as he walked to the door. ‘Poor Lori,’ he taunted, leaving quietly.

  Poor Lori, indeed. There was still no movement from Luke’s office, although the telephone conversation seemed to have stopped now, the silence was ominous. Lori longed to go and knock on the door, but she feared the outcome.

  ‘Is it all right if I come in?’ Nikki put her head around the side of the door, a glowingly happy Nikki; her first few weeks of marriage had obviously been a success. She came right into the room, her eyes lightly teasing. ‘Only I’ve heard rumours that it isn’t always safe to walk into a room when you and Luke are alone together!’

  Lori’s smile was brittle; she was not willing to upset Nikki when she looked so ecstatically happy. ‘Really? And who told you that?’

  ‘Claude,’ Nikki giggled, sobering suddenly. ‘We went to see him yesterday. He looks well, better than I’ve seen him for months.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lori nodded.

  ‘Of course Paul’s angry because he wasn’t told, but I can only admire Claude for what he did.’ Nikki sat down. ‘Paul’s talking to Luke on the telephone now.’

  Lori knew that he wasn’t, that the conversation had finished minutes ago. And still Luke remained in his office. What was he doing?

  ‘How do you like your new boss?’ Nikki teased once again.

  ‘I—like him,’ Lori admitted huskily.

  ‘Claude seemed to think you more than liked him.’ Nikki looked at her questioningly.

  Her smile was bright. ‘I don’t think so,’ she shook her head. ‘In fact, he would prefer it if you worked for him.’

  ‘He would?’ Nikki sounded puzzled.

  ‘Yes. Would you mind?’

  The other girl shrugged. ‘Not really. Although it’s up to Paul. I——’

  The inner office door opened, and Luke at last emerged, a Luke totally unrecognisable as the man in whose arms she had woken this morning. His face was pale, his eyes glacial, there was an unapproachable hardness to his whole body. He returned Nikki’s cheerful greeting with an abruptness that had her leaving within seconds.

  Lori felt compelled to say something, to at least speak. ‘Luke, I——’

  ‘Would you come in here?’ He stepped back to open the door for her.

  ‘Oh, Luke——’

  ‘Could you wait until we’re in my office,’ he said stonily.

  She meekly walked past him, sitting down as he began to pace the room, sensing his gaze on her often as she looked down at her clasped hands in her lap, knowing that if they were unclasped they would be trembling uncontrollably.

  ‘It’s too much to hope that it isn’t the truth?’ his voice rasped into the uncomfortably silence.

  ‘Yes——’ her voice broke.

  ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me? No, let me guess,’ he dismissed coldly. ‘If I’d known who you were you couldn’t even have begun your revenge. Could you?’ he bit out harshly.

  ‘No.’ L
ori still looked down at her hands.

  ‘So you don’t deny that you went out with me with revenge in mind?’

  ‘No. But——’

  ‘And last night?’ he bit out savagely. ‘Was that out of revenge too?’

  Now she did look up at him, her eyes darkened with pain. ‘No!’ Her denial was a plea.

  ‘No?’ His eyes were like chips of ice, all love gone from the harshness of his granite-like features. ‘Wasn’t that to ensure that when you twisted the knife of your identity in my guts I knew the full agony of losing you?’

  ‘No——’

  ‘Well, I know the full agony, Lori,’ he rasped. ‘Last night I thought I held the woman I loved in my arms, the woman I thought loved me in return, and instead you were willing to go that far, to give me your virginity, so that my pain should be tenfold.’ The contempt shone in his eyes. ‘Tell me, when was the revelation of your being Michael Chisholm’s daughter going to come out, before or after I married you?’

  ‘After. But——’

  ‘Of course, after,’ his tone was self-derisive. ‘Michael Chisholm’s daughter as my wife!’

  Lori stood up agitatedly, knowing Luke had a right to be angry, that she had no real way of vindicating herself. All that he had said so far was true…

  ‘What was Nigel Phillips talking to you about just now?’ Luke demanded sharply. ‘Oh yes, I could hear the two of you,’ he mocked her gasp of surprise.

  Of course he could. If she could hear him on the telephone then he had to know of her conversation with Nigel. Her head went back. ‘He offered me an affair,’ she told him almost defiantly.

  Luke’s eyes narrowed to icy slits. ‘And did you accept?’

  ‘Of course not!’

  ‘Why not?’ he growled fiercely. ‘He’s the reason for all this, isn’t he? Not your father at all, but Nigel Phillips.’

  She avoided the demand of his eyes. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘When he came in here and told me you were Lorraine Chisholm, that you’d once sworn revenge on my father, my first reaction was to go into your office and shake the hell out of you.’ His hands clenched and unclenched, as if he would still like to do that. ‘But I gave myself time to think, to reflect. You suddenly changed towards me the weekend after Nigel was married. I knew all about your broken engagement to him five years ago—at least, I knew of Lorraine Chisholm’s broken engagement to him. In fact, it was because of that that I refused to go to his wedding this time.’