Lucifer's Brand

by Nicola West

  'Jeff? Can you hear me? We've got some news for you, Flair and I. We were going to tell you later— but we can't keep it secret any longer.' He paused and Flair caught her breath. 'We're engaged! I want to marry your daughter, Mr Pattison.' He fished in his pocket and drew out a small box, and Flair watched, fascinated, unable to believe what was happening. 'Here's the ring,' said Luke, and with Jeff's tired eyes on them he picked up Flair's hand and slid the ring on to her engagement finger. Then he kissed her, gently, on the lips and once again she felt the tears on her lashes.

  'Do I have your consent?' Luke asked quietly, and Flair saw her father smile faintly before he gave an almost imperceptible nod and whispered: 'Just so long as I can be there to give her away. . . .'

  'That's a promise,' said Luke. 'But don't be too long about it, will you?'

  Jeff's eyes closed and the nurse, who had been attending to one of the other beds, came over and gave him a quick, professional glance. 'You'll have to go now,' she murmured. 'Mr Pattison needs all his strength for getting better.' She regarded the figure in the bed and nodded. 'You've done him good, though. He looks more relaxed now. You can come back later, just for a short visit.'

  Silent again, Flair and Luke walked back through the corridors to the entrance. Flair was dazed and bewildered. Too much had happened in those few minutes for her to take in. Back at the car, she stopped and looked up at Luke, trying to read the expression in his face. But Luke was inscrutable. He looked down at her and as she searched his eyes all she could decide was that the hostility had disappeared, at least for the time being.

  'Luke?' she said timidly, and felt a flicker of nerves as he put up a finger and touched her cheek.

  'I think we've got some more talking to do, don't you, Flair?' he said quietly. 'Get things sorted out once and for all. Will you come back to the hotel?' He opened the door. 'We'll come back and see him again later.'

  Flair got in beside him. His face was still unreadable, and she wondered what he intended to say. That the engagement was off, of course; it had never been real, just something to give her father hope, to bring him back to life. Later on it could be broken again, and this time for good.

  She looked down at the opal, her eyes misted with tears. The red and blue colours glowed up at her and she wondered why Luke had had it in his pocket; maybe he'd intended this, knowing that it could help her father. But it didn't help her—it just twisted the knife in the wound.

  Luke said nothing until they were in. his suite at the top of the hotel. Flair sat down in one of the comfortable chairs, looking round the familiar room. The last time she had been here had been that day when Luke had thrown her on to his bed like a rag doll, and later left her crying and lost. She had never thought to come back again. But although she was back, she knew that what had happened then could never happen again. Two days ago, on the beach at Augusta, Luke had walked away from her for the last time. Nothing could change that.

  Luke stood by the window, staring out, and she knew that the silence had to come to an end. He had said they had to talk—well, she would start it off.

  'You'll be wanting your ring back,' she said, watching his stiff back. 'Don't worry, Luke—I won't hold you to it. I know you only did it for Dad's sake.'

  He whipped round. 'What are you talking about?'

  'The ring—the engagement. I realise you didn't mean it. I won't make a scene, you don't have to worry.' She stared at him, frightened suddenly by the dawning emotion in his eyes. 'Luke, what is it?' Terrified, she began to struggle with the ring, pulling it from her finger, but before she could do so he was at her side, his hands holding hers, keeping them apart, pushing the ring back violently. 'Luke!'

  'Leave it there!' His face was a torment of conflicting emotions. 'Flair, I can't take much more of this. You're driving me crazy and you don't even know it. Have you any idea—any idea at all—what I've been going through since you came to Australia?'

  Bewildered, still frightened, Flair shook her head. 'Luke, I --'

  He laid his fingers against her lips. 'Don't say anything. I know this isn't the best time to say this, but if I don't get things sorted out I'm going to go mad. Flair, tell me the truth. Did you or did you not know why that contract was cancelled?'

  Flair shook her bronze head helplessly. 'I—I don't know. I thought I did. I thought it was because of the merger, because Hailey Ryan wanted his own men used. That's what Roxanne told me—but just now, Dad said it was because he was ill. At least, I thought that was what he said. Did he know he was ill, Luke? Why didn't he tell me, if he did?'

  Luke's eyes pierced hers, diamond hard.

  'Is that the truth, Flair? You didn't know he was ill, had heart trouble? You didn't know his doctors had told him to think about retiring, or at least giving up all his work with me because it was too stressful? You honestly didn't know that?'

  'No—I didn't know anything. I had no idea.'

  'Then why the merry hell did you pretend you did?' he exploded, so suddenly that Flair gasped and drew back.

  'What do you mean? I never pretended I knew anything!'

  'You did—when I asked you if Jeff had told you everything, you said yes. You said you knew all about the cancellation, of the contract. Naturally, I thought that meant you knew he was ill—I thought you were a callous little bitch because you just didn't seem to care, you seemed concerned only about the money he wouldn't be earning any more. You went off and left him worried to death about you, and the fact that that wasn't helping his illness just didn't seem to get through to you at all. You --'

  'But I didn't know!' Flair interrupted furiously. 'I didn't have any idea he was ill, not until today. Oh, I thought he looked tired, but whenever I mentioned it he laughed and fobbed me off. I told you I knew about the cancellation because I thought I did. I thought he had told me everything. How was I to know --' She broke off, staring at Luke with angry green eyes. 'But you knew! You knew all the time. Why didn't you tell me?'

  'Because he made me promise not to.' Luke's voice was weary. 'He wanted you to settle down and be happy here, he didn't want you worried by anything. I told him you ought to know, but he wouldn't have it. He wanted you to be happy.'

  'Oh God,' muttered Flair, burying her face in her hands. 'And I was too wrapped up in myself to notice. Why didn't I see?'

  'Because he didn't want you to.' She felt Luke's hand touch her cheek, stroking the soft skin tenderly. 'Flair, look at me.' He raised her chin so that she had to meet his eyes and she gasped at the expression in them, their sudden tender darkening. 'Flair, we've got ourselves into one hell of a muddle over this, haven't we? And before we go back to that hospital this evening, we've got to get things straight.' He paused and drew her closer and she felt an overwhelming sense of homecoming as she came into his arms at last. 'Flair, you've got to trust me, now and always. No more running off because some spoiled little bitch spins you a yarn, get that? From now on, it's me you believe.'

  Flair rubbed her cheek against his, delighting in the faint roughness of his skin. 'You mean Roxanne? But the merger --'

  'That's her father's business, not hers. And whatever she may think, Hailey Ryan's too astute a man to wish on his daughter a marriage that can't work. Yes, she did make a play for me—but Hailey and I did some straight talking. I told him Roxanne would never make a partner for me, nor I for her, and he understood. He wants to see her happy—not tied to money. She doesn't need to marry a rich man, and he doesn't care who she chooses so long as there's love there.' Luke stopped and laid his lips against Flair's cheek. 'He's a sensible man, is Hailey Ryan.'

  'So you're not marrying Roxanne. . . .' Flair breathed, thrilling at the touch of his hands as they moved caressingly over her body.

  'No way!' He chuckled, then said on a groan, 'Oh, Flair, if you knew what I went through that day you ran out on me. It was a nightmare! I just couldn't believe it had really happened. Just when everything seemed so marvellous. I hated you, I hated Roxanne, I hated myself most of all.
' He held her close, hard against him. 'Don't ever do that to me again, Flair.'

  She pressed against him, tears spilling from her eyes as she thought of his pain. She had suffered too—but surely now they were truly together again, surely now nothing could part them. She raised her hand and looked over Luke's shoulder at the opal ring. The stone of Australia—the stone that bound her to Luke for ever.

  'Luke,' she whispered as she found his lips with hers. 'Luke, I don't want to be parted from you ever again. I want you to love me—love me now, so that nothing can come between us.'

  He drew away a little and looked into her eyes, his own so dark that they were almost black. 'You mean that?'

  Flair nodded. As he ran his hands down her body she shivered, a violent, uncontrollable shudder of pure rapture. She raised her hands and let them wander down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt as they went; pulled the soft material aside and reached up to nuzzle her face in the soft hairs. Luke made an inarticulate sound and held her to him, his fingers fumbling with the fastening of her own clothes, and they lay close together, revelling in the touch of skin against skin, feeling the beating of each other's heart against their own, kissing, caressing, exploring. The friction had gone out of their relationship at last; there was nothing now that could come between them, raising the ugliness of mistrust or jealousy to spoil their love. And as Flair lay stretched beneath him, feeling the sinuous movements of his body against hers, experiencing at last the joy of complete fulfilment, she knew that here was her life and her love, a steady flame that would burn through the rest of their lives to comfort and strengthen them both.

  At last, the surging of their blood quietened, they lay closely entwined in the contentment and happiness that followed the storm of desire. Their bodies moulded softly together, as if they had no bones. Slowly they returned to reality, and at last Flair, reminded now of the one remaining anxiety in her life, said:

  'Luke. Will—will Dad really be all right?'

  'Yes, he will,' Luke reassured her. 'He was in the right place when it happened—if he hadn't been, it might have been a different story. And now that he's seen you—he's really on the mend, Flair, I can promise you that.'

  'He'll be happy when we get married,' she murmured drowsily. 'It will have to be soon, Luke— as soon as he's fit to give me away, as we promised.'

  'And that could be sooner than you think, my darling,' he answered, letting his fingers tease her into a gasp of delight. 'We'll be married by his bedside—the moment he can sit up. Meanwhile. . . .' He pulled her close again and desire pulsed once more through her body, so that she whimpered and clung to him. 'It won't be long before we have to get ready to go and see him again,' he murmured into her throat. 'Any ideas how we can pass the time until then?'

  And she knew that they were in perfect agreement at last.