Shadow of Love (11 page)

The doorbell rang, the loud noise startling her unpleasantly as she wondered who it could be at such a late hour. Most probably a mistaken pizza delivery or some such, she decided, walking to the door and peeking through the peephole, sure to see a deliveryman waiting impatiently to finish his order.

One glance through the hole set her straight. Her body recoiled instinctively, as she noticed the man waiting for her response with an air of impatience that had her hurry to unlock the door. She considered briefly pretending she wasn’t there, yet discarded that option almost instantly. Not only was it unlikely he would believe in her absence, since the light in her kitchen cast a warm, orange glow into the night outside. Mostly, she didn’t want him to think that he could intimidate her with his unexpected visit. Meeting him halfway would make a statement that couldn’t be ignored.

‘
Hi again, Emily. May I come in?’ How could he sound so polite and collected and yet have an air of almost palpable danger surrounding him? She opened the door and stepped aside to let him in. The sooner he said whatever he had come to say, the sooner he would leave.

‘
How did you find out where I live?’ she asked, cringing at her own stupidity as soon as the words left her lips. Obviously, all he had to do was to ask Sophie, her surprise making her look like a nitwit. But then again, she knew her stepsister well enough to seriously doubt her approving of her fiancé paying her a visit at such an ungodly hour.

‘
I looked it up, of course.’ Smiling swiftly, he watched her with a mix of exasperation and expectance, with something else in it that she couldn’t really name. ‘You’re in the phone book, you know.’

‘
What can I do for you?’ It was best to make it brief and impersonal, Emily decided, annoyed as she saw him leaning against the window sill in a leisurely gesture. He had changed since morning, she noticed, his tall frame clad in a light grey sweater and dark jeans. He looked dangerous, she thought, her throat drying up at the sight of him, perfectly at ease.

‘
I thought we needed to have a chat, Emily. About what happened today, or rather about what I overheard you say to my fiancée’s ex-boyfriend.’ He dashed her hopes that somehow or other he was unaware of who Peter was.

‘
I’m sorry, really,’ she hurried to explain, hoping to take the wind out of his sails before he got a chance to go any deeper. There were times when truth was the best solution, and she was pretty damn sure it was one of those times right then. ‘I tried to distract Peter from crashing the brunch, that’s all. He and Sophie dated a while ago, yes. And he was rather disappointed to see her move on to you.’

She would have continued, but his rich dark laughter stopped her in her tracks, her wide-open eyes going over his face, confused by his sudden amusement. It certainly wasn’t the reaction she had expected from a man who supposedly loved her sister.

‘
What a perfect choice of words.’ Shaking his dark head, he watched her, sarcasm coloring his voice as he added, ‘Are you always so euphemistic, or is it your sister who brings out this side of you?’

‘
I’m not sure what you mean.’ She wasn’t lying. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘
A while ago, really?’ Moving to her sofa, he sat down, stretching out his long legs in front of him in a leisurely gesture that killed her hope to get rid of him anytime soon. Whatever the reason for his visit, he didn’t plan on leaving before achieving his goal.

‘
How about three days ago? Wouldn’t that be more accurate?’ He continued, her audible gasp of surprise making him nod pleasantly.

‘
Didn’t you think I knew about Sophie’s boyfriend? Or the fact that she had dumped him only two days ago, after we met at the party?’

‘
No, actually I didn’t.’ She felt her body shaking as she realized the implications of his ironic inquiry. He knew all about Sophie’s romantic past, and if she wasn’t completely insane, he didn’t care one bit. It could mean only two things, she thought feverishly, taking a seat in the armchair, the coffee table between them. He really loved her and couldn’t care less about any other men in her life, or he didn’t mind any of them strictly because he didn’t care for her sister at all.

‘
Then, now you are enlightened.’ His voice dripped with sarcasm as he watched her, his dark eyes not missing any of her reaction. She was almost sure that he had followed her thoughts and drawn the right conclusion, finding it funny. ‘But then again, you seem to know me better than expected, given our short acquaintance, don’t you?’

‘
I explained it already, James.’ Exasperation coloring her voice, she leaned forward, ignoring the sudden flash of his imperious gaze. ‘I was out of line, I agree. I apologize for saying those things behind your back. I should have kept my mouth shut.’

‘
But you still think that way, right?’ He moved forward, too, the space between them shrinking dangerously. ‘You think that my engagement to Sophie is phony, and if Peter waits long enough, I will disappear from the picture.’

‘
Well, you definitely don’t strike me as a man in love, no matter what you say.’ Giving up her polite pretense, she opted for honesty again. If he got offended, so be it; it might actually prompt him to leave her flat faster, which was all she really wanted. ‘You look great, and you have all the right moves, I’ll grant you that. But otherwise you seem as cold as stone, which worries me a lot, for obvious reasons.’

She shouldn’t have said that, she realized the moment she noticed the predatory look entering his eyes, the smile that slanted his beautiful mouth mirthless.

‘
So, you consider me too cold to be your sister’s fiancé, Emily?’ Dangerously low, his voice carried a challenging note that held her spellbound and unable to move away, even as he reached out to cover her hands with his. His touch was warm and strangely beguiling, destroying her will to struggle and strike back. With fatal fascination, she watched him pull her closer, her heart in a wild staccato she was certain he had to hear.

‘
Is it a challenge for me to prove you wrong?’ Their faces only inches away, he watched her intensely, the proximity allowing her to notice the golden speckles in the depth of his dark gaze. She had to think about a slab of granite, black and sparkling with tiny deposits of gold-colored mica, beautiful yet cold and totally unmoved.

‘
Or are you just a case of sour grapes, jealous of Sophie’s more exciting love life?’ he continued, his mouth hardening into a line. ‘Do you want to see for yourself if she’s missing out, Emily? To compare notes, so to speak?’

‘
How dare you!’ Freed from the spell of his magnetic gaze, she straightened stiffly, her chest heaving in a struggle to remain calm. ‘I haven’t asked you to come here, if you remember? But I will certainly ask you to leave now, the sooner the better.’

She rose to her feet, her arms wrapped around her slim torso in an unmistakable gesture of dismissal. It could have worked, she thought silently, if only he listened and took the hint instead of smiling indulgently, like a person dealing with a cranky child.

‘
There’s no point to be so angry, my dear.’ Shaking his dark head, he watched her standing tensely without as much as pretending to be affected by her angry speech. ‘And for what it’s worth, you’re right.’

The statement silenced her instantly, her mouth—already opened to order him to leave—clamping shut as she froze in place.

He smiled and nodded, the straight dark eyebrows drawn into a line. ‘Maybe I should have said it at the very beginning of our conversation. You were asking why I am here, and this is exactly the reason for my visit, Emily. You are right; I don’t particularly care for Sophie, to put it mildly. Quite honestly, I truly detest her—not something I planned on sharing with you, I’ll admit. But since you are already talking about it to other people, I figured I would remain a step ahead of this complication and talk to you right away. The question remains, now that you know it, what are we going to do about it?’

What indeed? He watched her pupils grow larger as she stared at him in total shock, her face losing all color. He wasn’t sure what prompted him to say it, already regretting his sudden moment of impulsive weakness. It certainly wasn’t what he had planned as he rang her doorbell, less than an hour ago.

But then again, had he really had any kind of plan as he drove to her place? The sense of impatience and expectation that started somewhere deep inside him ever since he had laid eyes on her spurred him on with no time for thinking. All he could feel was the burning need to see her again, alone and without the shield of her duties that had kept her away for most of the party earlier that day.

He could have explained it to himself as a wish to save his shaky plan for her family, hopeful to fool his own dazed mind. Still, he knew very well that it was a lie, the hunger that she had awakened deep inside him totally irrelevant to the idea of revenge that consumed him for the last couple of days after meeting Sophie.

As he drove to her place, he tried to find a solution for the unexpected complication, his active mind used to dealing with difficulties in the most productive way he knew. Taking on challenges was the only way to overcome hurdles that life had put in his way, he had mused as he drove swiftly through the dark streets, the rain lashing at his windshield with a fury that matched the inferno in his chest.

Suddenly, as he waited for the light to change from red to green, it had come to him, the solution so simple that he was stunned he hadn’t come up with it right away. Trying to deny the fact that Emily excited him in the most basic way was pointless; one look of her soft brown eyes set his body aflame. He wasn’t sure he could name whatever strange chemistry existed between them, nor did he care. The fact was, he wanted her and was determined to have her, if only to satiate his weird obsession and move on, erasing the memories of the whole family that destroyed the man who helped to shape him into the man he was today. He’d purge himself of his demons, he thought as he walked toward her door, his mouth tight and his eyes burning.

Telling her what he felt was liberating and scary all at the same time. It bound them together into a new kind of relationship, neither of them able to pretend that his words never happened. He could tell that she was shocked by his honesty and wished he hadn’t confirmed her suspicions.

There was no turning back. Whatever happened next, the cards were on the table, and the players had to play their hands, however poor they might be. All those ifs and maybes disappeared, the brilliant clarity of the path ahead intoxicating him with the possibilities.

‘
Why are you telling me all this?’ Her voice sounded raw, matching the haunting look in her eyes. ‘Don’t you worry I’ll repeat it to Sophie at the first opportunity? Or is it your way to deal with something you got yourself into and regret already? Should I be the messenger, so you won’t have to do anything yourself?’

She thought him a coward hiding behind a woman’s back, he thought bitterly as he watched her staring at him, her chest heaving with fury. He could see the tiny vein on her neck pulsating frantically under the delicate skin, the movement holding him spellbound for a split second. He forced himself to look away, if only to rescue the pitiful remains of the self-control she was so brilliantly undermining.

‘
Oh, no, wrong again.’ However shaken he might be inside, he managed to project just enough confidence and power to have her listen without interrupting. ‘I don’t want you to do my dirty work, Emily. To be honest, our conversation here hasn’t been in my plans at all.’ He paused, watching her pale face and barely resisting the urge to say something comforting, anything to wipe away the look of terror in her eyes. ‘If you didn’t go around talking about my suspicious lack of interest in my new fiancée, we wouldn’t be here now.’

‘
So, it’s my fault that I’ve discovered what a creep you are and dared to voice my concern?’ She didn’t look so vulnerable anymore, he noted with grim amusement. Instead she was on the offensive, her slim frame stiff with indignation. ‘If I’d kept my mouth shut and pretended that all was wonderful, you wouldn’t come over here and try to silence me, James?’

‘
Somehow, I doubt I could silence you, even if I tried. I came here to reach an agreement, however impossible it might seem at the moment.’

‘
What kind of an agreement?’ She was eyeing him suspiciously, her face drawn in distrust. ‘Like me agreeing to be quiet about this mess? If so, you’re wasting your time, James. I won’t sit by and watch you use my sister.’

‘
That’s exactly what I thought.’ He smiled, his anger abating. Just in time, too, before he did something stupid, like pulling her closer and finding out the taste of her lips. So instead, I have come to give you the opportunity to hear me out and make the wisest choice, given the situation.’

‘
A wise choice?’ She laughed bitterly, her eyes stormy. ‘Such as agreeing to pretend you are someone caring and loving? Why on earth should I do that? To humor you?’

‘
Try Marlene, instead.’ It was funny how those three short words silenced her so completely and utterly. He watched her open her mouth as if she wanted to speak and then remain silent, her eyes unable to hide the sudden flicker of uncertainty that followed his soft-spoken command.

‘
Marlene? What does she have to do with anything? Or are you saying she’s also included in your plans?’

‘
Very much so.’ He watched the shaking of her fingers as she tucked away a strand of her rebellious hair. She was a bad bluffer, he thought as he let a few seconds slip by before answering. Some statements had more impact if drawn out.