Echoes of the Heart

by Alyssa J. Montgomery

  His posture, every movement he made, broadcast he was all alpha male—at ease with and in control of any situation he might encounter. Part of her admired that and part of her resented it. His control was a stark contrast to the way she felt about her life.

  Her nerves were as tightly coiled as the hair she’d twisted into a French roll. The white, long-sleeved blouse she’d chosen was buttoned up to the collar, and her long black skirt and knee-high black boots covered as much flesh as possible. She must look like a virgin from the Victorian era, but better that than what he was paying her to be.

  ‘I’m glad you’re here.’ His voice was like a seductive spell. It curled around her, weakening her defences.

  Her pulse went haywire. ‘You left me with no choice.’

  His lips twisted with derision. ‘There are always choices.’

  I don’t have a choice! She wanted to scream at him. But she couldn’t defend herself without revealing way too much about her needs, and possibly her marriage.

  ‘This is your last chance to turn around,’ he warned. ‘There’ll be no backing out once you’re on my plane.’

  His plane. Her mind still boggled at the extent of his fortune. She’d received a message that they’d spend their first week together at his private island in the Whitsunday passage. She hadn’t even known he had a private island, but then Jake had it all. Incredible looks, loads of money and talent. He’d been born to wealth, but she’d read that the worth of the Formosa Corporation had more than doubled under his direction. Business analysts dubbed him the man with the Midas touch.

  It was true. When he’d first touched her, she’d felt as precious as gold. Now she knew it was fool’s gold.

  His eyes caressed her body and her blood temperature soared close to boiling point.

  ‘Do I pass inspection?’ she queried in a tight voice.

  ‘You look much better than you did two weeks ago,’ he said appreciatively.

  ‘I’m glad you think you’ve got some return on your investment.’ She couldn’t prevent her sarcasm.

  A wicked smile curved his lips. ‘I haven’t even begun to reap dividends yet, sweetheart, but I will.’

  The heat of a blush swept up her neck and right to her hairline. Avoiding his eyes, she studied her hands. ‘Two weeks at that exclusive fattening farm with endless health and beauty treatments would make Attila the Hun look attractive,’ she said with disgust.

  His rich laugh made her look up and she found herself drinking in the attractiveness of his features. He was too damned good-looking for her peace of mind. Frissons of excitement bubbled through her. Against her will, her nipples firmed into hard peaks of awareness and need. No! She had to resist him. But it was almost impossible when she remembered just how much laughter and happiness they’d once shared. They’d been so close. It had been very easy to communicate with him then.

  No. They hadn’t communicated—at least not honestly. Everything they’d shared had been built on a lie because she hadn’t known he’d intended to marry Sophie.

  ‘Being primped and preened for your pleasure is not my idea of fun,’ she snapped.

  He reached out and captured a tendril of the hair that had escaped from the confines of her French roll. He looked entranced. ‘Your hair is as soft and silky as I remember—like spun gold. A couple of weeks ago it looked like straw.’

  ‘Gee, thanks!’ She wrenched away from his touch, and ordered her silly heart not to react to his backhanded compliment. ‘Straw into spun gold—maybe they should rename their health retreat Rumplestiltskin’s!’

  Again, his rich laughter resounded through the room and struck a chord in her heart. How she wished they could share laughter again. For now, she was agitated.

  ‘Why don’t you admit I’ve done you a favour?’ he pressed.

  A favour? No amount of pampering could lighten the heaviness of her heart. Couldn’t he see the despair in her eyes?

  ‘My appearance might’ve changed, but my stay in the Blue Mountains hasn’t changed the way I feel about you.’

  The despicable man looked satisfied.

  His voice was throaty. ‘Good. I still burn for you, too.’

  ‘You’re arrogant beyond belief!’ she retorted. ‘I don’t know why I was ever attracted to you.’

  ‘The chemistry between us is powerful.’ His eyes burnt into hers. ‘It made me lose my head over you.’

  She did a double-take. She didn’t believe for a second that he’d lost his head, but she had lost her heart. Their brief stint had been destructive to her well-being, while he seemed to be immune to all the fall-out.

  His eyes hardened. ‘I’ve always wondered. Were you hoping to trap me into marriage the way you trapped Bennett?’

  ‘I didn’t trap Lloyd into marriage,’ she said tightly. ‘And if I was truly a gold-digger, why didn’t I stick around with you? You probably earn more in an hour than Lloyd would have in a year.’

  His lips twisted. ‘I imagine you lost your nerve. Perhaps you realised you were treading water that was way too deep and playing a dangerous game with me. Maybe you were in over your head and realised you wouldn’t stand up under my father’s scrutiny.’

  He was partly right. Although she hadn’t been playing any games by plunging headfirst into their affair, she was carried along by the dangerous rip of his charm, and was all at sea before she could recover her breath. Way out of her depth, with no life buoy in sight and every indication that the ocean would only grow stormier.

  The gold flecks in his eyes sparked. ‘Instead, Bennett’s money bought you.’

  His words stung.

  ‘Like your money is buying me now?’ she asked bitterly.

  The solid frame of his body stiffened with tension. ‘I’ve never paid for sex before in my life.’

  ‘Why start now?’ she taunted.

  Apprehensively she watched his hands tighten at his sides. Had she pushed him too far? He seemed to be fighting some inner battle. Was he having second thoughts about the agreement he’d forced her into?

  ‘You’re like a disease I have to purge from my system.’

  A disease? My God! She nearly staggered. ‘Wow, another one of your compliments! It’s no wonder you have to pay for sex.’

  ‘Paying for you reminds me you’re a mercenary call-girl who’s always available to the highest bidder,’ he threw at her contemptuously.

  ‘You’re turning me into one,’ she whispered with regret. His words were like talons ripping at her heart. They tore. She bled.

  A momentary look of regret crossed his features. ‘Hell, Amanda. I don’t much like what you’re turning me into, either,’ he confessed raggedly. ‘This isn’t the way I usually do things. It isn’t the way I speak to people or treat people, but you bring out the worst in me. I can’t forgive or forget that you left my bed and shared Bennett’s for the money.’

  Amanda flinched. Jake was way off base. She’d never prostituted herself for Lloyd.

  Lloyd wanted marriage without sex.

  Jake wanted sex without marriage.

  ‘You’re wrong.’ She felt her resentment radiate from her body. She ached to throw the truth of her marriage into his face, but she had to consider Irene. ‘But you’ve forced me to sell myself to you and I will never forgive you for it.’

  ‘You put yourself up for sale,’ he bit out. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t want to share my bed.’

  ‘I came to you for a job, Jake. Honest work for an honest day’s pay.’

  ‘And here you are undertaking a profession as old as time itself.’

  ‘You’re the devil. You’re taking advantage of my desperation. You used me back then, and you’re still using me now.’

  ‘I used you?’ His features hardened in outraged anger. ‘You were the one who used me. As I recall you told me you wanted to get rid of your virginity. Don’t try to turn this back onto me. There’s no way you’ll succeed in making me feel as though I’m the guilty party here.’

  ‘Keep telli
ng yourself you’re blameless. It might make it easier for you to sleep at night,’ she snapped.

  ‘Oh, I intend to sleep really well. There’s nothing that relaxes me at the end of the day like satisfying sex, and I know sex with you will be highly satisfying.’

  ‘You think so?’ she asked angrily.

  ‘I know so. It galls me to admit it, sweetheart, but I get hard just thinking about what we shared together. That’s why I’m doing this. I’m getting you out of my system.’

  ‘What you’re doing is destroying anything that was ever remotely good between us.’

  ‘Good?’ His laugh was bitter. ‘The only thing remotely good between us was sex. All the rest was lies.’

  ‘And there’s the truth of it.’ She would not cry at his hard summation of their relationship. Anger would be her salvation. ‘You lied to me every time you looked at me as if I was something special. You built me up, just to send me crashing down.’

  One hand reached out and clasped her wrist. ‘I don’t know what you’re playing at, but —’

  ‘Playing?’ she injected resentfully. ‘I don’t think so. You’ve turned me into a working girl, remember?’

  ‘Oh, I remember what you are.’ His voice was harsh. ‘So, don’t expect me to shower you in champagne and roses.’

  ‘I don’t,’ she said through tight lips. ‘I’m immune to your charm now. I know you’re a two-timing bastard.’

  From the runway, engines roared as a commercial passenger jet took off. A baggage trolley whizzed past the window of the lounge. All the surrounding activity dimmed as his eyes held hers, as though he was trying to see into the depths of her soul.

  ‘You truly believe I was cheating on you with Sophie?’

  ‘Of course I believe it,’ she replied, anger punctuating every syllable.

  His jaws clamped together again. A small muscle ticked in his cheek and his grip tightened on her wrist. ‘I don’t owe you any explanations but I do owe Sophie my loyalty so I will not discuss my relationship with her. She remains one of my closest friends.’ He released her wrist and warned, ‘So leave her out of this, Amanda.’

  ‘Like you did when you took me to your bed?’

  ‘Drop it,’ he advised, his words laced with steel.

  ‘No!’ she exclaimed, furious at his double standards. ‘You know nothing about my marriage to Lloyd, but you’re determined to make judgements —’

  ‘You married a man old enough to be your father,’ he recounted coldly. ‘You fell pregnant to trap him into marriage, then you had a string of affairs.’

  She pulled her eyes away from his wishing she could refute Lloyd’s false claims.

  Jake shook his head. ‘I almost feel sorry for Bennett. Knowing you were with other men must have driven him crazy.’

  She rallied. ‘You’re judging me by your standards,’ she flung back. ‘How many affairs did you have during your six month marriage before your wife finally got sick of your infidelity and decided to divorce you?’

  Jake ground his teeth together. ‘There was never any infidelity in my marriage. Not by Sophie and not by me. I never took another woman to bed during my marriage, but there was one woman who came between me and my wife. You stopped me from being the husband Sophie deserved.’

  ‘She found out about your affair with me?’

  He ignored her question. ‘My marriage was nothing like yours,’ he said. ‘And stop trying to pretend you’re innocent. Bennett must’ve had proof of your affairs to kill himself.’

  A flush spread over her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell in indignant outrage.

  ‘I’m not proud about my need for you, Amanda. At the end of the month—maybe even earlier—I would have assuaged my need for you and be ready to move on while you languish in a despair of sleepless nights, haunted by the passion we’ve shared. That will be justice.’

  She frowned. What was he talking about? Surely he didn’t expect her to believe that he’d suffered when their affair was over? That was impossible.

  The door to the private departure lounge slid open. A female airport worker sashayed toward them.

  ‘Good morning, your aircraft is ready for boarding. You can proceed directly through the gate now, Mr Formosa,’ the woman purred. Sending Jake a thousand mega-watt smile, her body language signalled her interest in him. ‘Would you like to follow me?’

  Amanda seethed and slowed her pace to fall back a bit as they followed the airport employee through the gate and down the stairs. ‘It’s no wonder you’re a heartless womaniser,’ she said in a voice low enough for Jake’s ears alone. ‘It sickens me the way women throw themselves at you.’

  ‘Would that be sickened with jealousy by any chance?’

  ‘Hardly!’

  ‘Hmm,’ he mused.

  ‘You are seriously the most arrogant male I’ve ever met to even think that.’ She stopped in her tracks and regarded the airport worker pointedly as the other woman glided ahead of them. ‘You could always take her to your island,’ she jibed under her breath. ‘You might find her a lot more amenable.’

  Jake arched one eyebrow. ‘I don’t think I’ll have any problems with your amenability, sweetheart.’

  She scowled. ‘Go to —’

  ‘Careful,’ he warned. ‘Better curb your shrewish comments or I might decide to take her. Then you won’t get your money, will you?’

  ‘You’re —’

  Effectively cutting off her words again, he bent his head and covered her lips fleetingly with his own. ‘Save it. Our aircraft awaits.’

  ‘Mr Formosa, you just need to go through the security check point here and then you’ll be clear to proceed to the aircraft stairs.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Somehow, Amanda recovered from the touch of Jake’s lips and forced herself to smile politely at the woman as they proceeded toward the security point. As she placed her handbag down for screening, resentment welled within her at Jake’s ability to make her want him.

  A wolfish smile spread across his features as they cleared the last checkpoint and were directed out to the tarmac. ‘Your month starts now, sweetheart.’

  She glared at him and raised her voice slightly so her words would carry over the noise of a nearby aircraft. ‘Better set your stopwatch. Don’t think you’re getting a second more than we agreed to.’

  His smile broadened. ‘Afraid you’ll become addicted?’

  The laugh she forced was hollow. ‘To become addicted to something, you have to like it in the first place.’

  Stopping mid-stride, he took her hand in his and caressed the inside of her wrist with slow, circular movements of his thumb. ‘I remember you liked what I did to you in my office very much.’

  Every rotation of his thumb reminded her of how he’d used his fingers to great effect on the quivering bud between her thighs. His touch set off an alarming chain reaction where each nerve synapse fired up her arm, across her chest and straight downward to that same spot. His expression told her he knew exactly what he was doing.

  ‘Addiction is dangerous for your health,’ she told him shakily as she moved toward the Learjet that belonged to his family. ‘I steer well clear of all drugs.’

  ‘Be that as it may, your body is craving mine, and this time you’ll stay until I’m finished with you,’ he said with confidence.

  ‘That’s what you’re paying me for.’

  ‘And you’ll earn every cent.’

  The electronic ring from the mobile phone in Amanda’s handbag stopped her mid-stride. Only the nursing home had her mobile number and that was for emergency contact. A shot of adrenalin surged through her. Gripped by a sense of sheer urgency, she fumbled through her bag. Something must be dreadfully wrong!

  She swallowed down on her anxiety and jabbed at the small keypad to answer the call she dreaded. ‘Hello?’

  Jake’s fingers removed the phone from her hand with swift ease and purpose.

  ‘Give that back!’ She protested, but the phone was already held to
his ear.

  ‘Amanda can’t talk right now.’ A second later his brow creased. ‘I understand.’ He hesitated, the questions in his intense regard burned into her. ‘Just a moment.’

  Paralysed with concern, she held her breath.

  ‘You’d better take this.’ He passed the telephone back.

  Her fingers trembled as she took it from him. ‘He…Hello,’ she stammered.

  Aware of Jake watching her, she turned away from him as she strained to hear against the noise around her. She raised her free hand to cover her other ear as a catering truck passed by. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.’

  In the next instant Jake’s arm was around her shoulder, guiding her off the tarmac and back into the relative quiet of the airport building.

  ‘It’s Sister Forbes from the nursing home,’ the caller said. ‘Your aunt had a stroke. She’s in intensive care at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital.’

  Amanda felt herself sway against Jake as she absorbed the news. The words echoed through her brain. Swallowing past the lump of fear welling in her throat she said, ‘I’ll be there as quickly as I can.’ She returned the phone to her handbag and turned anxiously to Jake. ‘I have to —’

  ‘I know.’ He framed her face in his large hands and brushed her lips gently with his own. ‘I’ll get you there.’

  He turned to address a nearby security person. ‘We won’t be departing as planned.’

  Two seconds later, Jake had his own phone out, ordering his driver to return for them and cancelling their flight.

  Within ten minutes Amanda sat with Jake in the back of his limousine as they were driven to the hospital. Tension pervaded every muscle of her body as she thought about her aunt.

  One of Jake’s arms went around her in a gesture of support—a complete turnaround from the man who’d been so insulting only minutes before. In her distress she yearned to burrow into his chest and take the comfort he offered, but she resisted the urge to crumble against him. Instead, she shrugged his arm off her and moved as far away from him as she could.