Web of Deception (14 page)

She stroked his chest. “Then it won’t take long.” He didn’t say anything so she added, “It’s clearly shaped your personality and your goals. Once you wanted marriage. You were engaged, after all. And now it’s not something you want. It’s not only that you haven’t found the right person. You told me from the start you didn’t want to get married. Ever.”

He knew she wouldn’t give up unti
l he’d told her the full story. It had happened ten years ago and he wasn’t in love with Jane any more. There was no reason he couldn’t talk about it.

“My experience with Jane Simpson
made me see the light,” he said. “I wasn’t cut out for marriage.”

“You weren’t or she wasn’t?”

Kate was quick. She wouldn’t miss a trick.

“Jan
e wanted marriage all right,” Daniel said. “And she got it. She didn’t even wait that long to find her ‘Mr Right’. She was engaged two months after we broke up and married a few months after that.”

Kate slid closer to him and took his hand in hers. “That must have hurt.”

“It did at the time. After that, it didn’t take me long to work out I was better off without her. She wasn’t the person I thought she was. Money was the only thing she was interested in. She was never truly interested in me. Only my money. And when I didn’t have any of that, she dumped me.”

“What do you mean ‘you didn’t
have any’? You’re a wealthy man, Daniel.”

“I wasn’t always. I was young and I’d been working my way up in business, buying a few properties. It was Jane who introduced me to a businessman called Rex Irwin. He’d been around for a while so he had contacts and other capital and security. Together we formed Irwin Webb. He had a substantial amount of capital but he needed the finance I provided. And my name. The family name.

“Business went badly and I hadn’t done my research properly. That’s one lesson I leant from this particular experience. Irwin Webb folded and I was pretty much broke after that. Basically, I had to start all over again which is what I did. But not with Jane. She wasn’t interested any more. She wanted a rich man and she got one.”

“Had she been having an affair?”

“No. I’m sure she only took up with the man afterwards. That wasn’t the issue. The problem was that I thought she wanted
me
but she wanted someone with money. I wasn’t so appealing to her without it.”

“It sounds like you were better off without her.”

“There were other problems too,” Daniel said. “She was a stockbroker and she got involved in a dodgy deal. I don’t know exactly what went on but I suspect she was involved in insider trading. She didn’t deny it and neither did she admit it. However she did make it clear I was being a prude about the whole thing. That it was no big deal. Simply a way to make a few extra dollars.”

“Isn’t it illegal?”

He nodded. “And immoral. And dishonest. So you see, honesty is important to me too.”

Daniel’s father had told him from the beginning that marrying Jane was going to be the bigg
est mistake of his life. And he’d been right. It would have been. At least this way, Daniel had ended up broke but not broken.

He’d let his father down.

Worse than that, he’d let himself down.

And he was never going to do that again.

Daniel pressed a gentle kiss to Kate’s lips. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

She shook her head.

“Then maybe we can get some sleep after all.”

She nodded.

But Daniel didn’t feel like sleeping any more.

The wind whipped through Kate’s hair, stinging her face. She pushed it behind her ears, and turned into the breeze so the tresses blew straight behind her. Though windy, it wasn’t particularly cold.

The balcony on
Daniel’s apartment afforded a clear view across the white peaks of the choppy water of the bay to the Sydney Heads and the storm that was brewing. The sky was dramatic, not a speck of blue visible through the dark clouds.

Kate felt like a spectator. She could watch the storm come in but she wouldn’t get caught in the middle of it. She’d make sure she was safe.

Behind her, the sliding door swished open.

“What are you doing out here?” Daniel asked.

She glanced over her shoulder. “Is dinner ready?”

“It is. Come inside.”

Kate turned and walked past him into the cool, crisp interior of his apartment where he’d placed two steaming bowls of pasta on the table. They both sat at the table.

They hadn’t even left the ski fields that morning when Daniel
had asked her if she’d like to come back to his place for the evening. Of course she did. She couldn’t say no.

No matter what he’d done in the past.

One more night with him. One more day. Always more.

Last night was the first time he’d talked so frankly about Irwin Webb. She’d always been able to stop herself thinking about it, push it to the back of her mind, leave it for tomorrow.

Now tomorrow had come.

Irwin Webb –
his
company – had caused thousands of small investors to lose their life-savings. She might have been able to forgive that if her parents hadn’t been two of the little people who got caught up in it.

No one meant more to her than her parents. No one had stood by her through everything. No one else loved her unconditionally.

Even so, Kate couldn’t bring herself to walk away from Daniel. She wasn’t stupid. She knew it would be easier to do sooner rather than later but logic and common sense didn’t mean anything.

He was an addiction.

Love was an addiction.

“You don’t seen quite yourself tonight,” Daniel said, twirling his fork in his spaghetti carbonara.

“Just tired,” she said. “I had a wonderful weekend and tomorrow is so close. Then, it’s back to work.”

“I thought you liked your work.”

“I do.” She smiled. “But I like holidays better.”

Kat
e couldn’t tell him the true reason for her change in mood. The man in charge of Irwin Webb had always been dishonest and she’d always known that but she’d been fooling herself.

When had she fallen in love with
Daniel? At what exact point had the realisation dawned on her? She couldn’t say.

From the first time she’d met him, he’d taken over her senses, and she’d enjoyed the rush, the exhilaration. He hadn’t let up after that and she hadn’t wanted him to. His attention was so constant, so consumi
ng. There was nothing else. Only Daniel and her overwhelming need to be with him.

She’d known
from the beginning that this would be nothing more than a fling and for Daniel, that was fine.

It
was different for her. She’d thought she could treat it lightly and enjoy the relationship for what it was, a bit of fun.

Somewhere along the line,
it had turned into more than that for her. Much more.

Perhaps some people were cut out for this sort of thing. Daniel certainly didn’t seem to have a problem with it. He was good at calling the shots and getting her to play along with it. She’d never had this sort of relationship with any man before, one based on instant gratification and sexual adventure. That was how it had started, anyway.

Damn it, if it was only the sex she could turn her back on it with ease. Physical pleasure was part of it, for sure, but there was much more to the relationship than that.

She’d made a lot of mistakes in her time but this one took the cake. Part of her wished she could just flick a switch and turn off her feelings, stop herself from getting too involved but it just didn’t work that way.

Not in life.

And not in love.

Daniel reached across the table and covered her hand with his. Damn it, he always knew exactly what to do, what to say, how to make her feel better. One touch, one smile, and he made the rest of the world and all her problems disappear.

The pasta went down much more easily after that
and so did the conversation. However as they left the table and shifted towards the sofa, it wasn’t conversation Kate wanted. Not tonight.

Her body needed more of the drug that was Daniel Webb.

“Would you like a coffee?” he asked, taking a seat beside her.

Kate slid closer to him. “Just dessert will do me fine.”

“You seem to have perked up a bit.”

Suddenly, Daniel’s arm was around her, his lips on her neck. A sensual shiver shot up her spine as she felt herself melting under his touch. She needed this.

Her hand slid across his muscular thigh. “You know exactly how to turn me on.”

He
pushed her hair back behind her ear and leaned in closer, his breath hot and moist on her neck. “I’m hardly doing a thing.”

She liked these little games and the way he made her feel. He was so strong, his body so muscular, covered in a la
yer of supple olive skin. He made her feel secure. Like she belonged.

It was strange, because only minutes ago, that was the last thing way she’d have felt. But, then, emotions weren’t always logical and, right now, sensible was the last thing Kate wanted to be.

Daniel trailed a line along her jaw with his fingertips, then tilted her chin upwards. She looked up at his dark eyes smouldering with passion. Another current of electricity shot through her.

This was such a delicious moment. Those few instants as he leaned in closer and she waited for his lips to brush against hers were filled with anticipation. And even though she knew exactly what was coming, it only increased her anxiety.

His lips parted as he tilted his head and covered her mouth with his. He tasted fresh, like the white wine they’d drunk with dinner. And he felt firm and sure of himself.

“You can feel it too,” he said. “This thing we have between us. It’s more than chemistry, more than sexual attraction.”

God, she wanted to think so, wanted to believe him. She knew what she felt, but did he feel the same?

“There’s been so much there from the start,” she said. “I denied but it was always there.”

“I’m not talking about that first night I met you. So much has changed since then. I’m talking about now.”

S
he’d felt anxious before but that was nothing compared to the way she felt now. She didn’t know what was coming though she knew what she hoped for.

The words almost slipped out. She wanted to tell him she loved him too, but she held back.

There was so much on the line. She’d had other boyfriends, gone out with Mark for a year, but had never felt anything that compared with this.

She stopped herself.
No, she couldn’t rush it, couldn’t push him into an avowal of love. It wouldn’t be right.

Kate looked into his eyes. “What’s changed?”

“I think we both have. I know
I
have. I still want you. That part hasn’t changed. But usually when I get what I want, whether it’s from a woman or a business deal, I move on. To the next big deal. To the next woman. One desire has been fulfilled and then I want something else. But everything is different now.”

She felt herself trembling. “Everything?”

“I don’t want another woman. I want you to stay in my life.”

Daniel
wanted her to stay in his life? Was he asking her to hang around for a year or two or was there something more?

“I don’t quite understand,” she said.

He slid his arm out from around her and enveloped her hands in both of his. “You’re different from any other woman I’ve known. I’m not going to let you go. We can make something of this. We can work things out together.”

Her heart raced. She didn’t dare believe he might feel the same as her.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“We both have careers that are important to us. I make a heck of a lot of money, much more than you, but money is only one factor. You’re good at your job and you’re passionate about it. I can tell from the way you talk about it, from the way you put my father in his place that night. I’d never expect you to give up architecture. For me or anyone else.”

She frowned. “Why would I give up architecture?”

“A lot of women might if they were considering having kids because that’s what I’m really talking about. We both want children. I certainly do. I grew up in a big family and I want my kids to have the same thing. Brothers and sisters to talk to and fight with and grow up together.”

This was going too fast for Kate. She’d thought he was going to tell her about his feelings for her but he was talking about children. He was obviously several steps ahead of her.

“I think
you’ve misunderstood something,” she said. “I don’t want to have five children like in your family.”

He smiled. “Two or three would
do me fine. We don’t have to worry about that right now. I grew up in a big family but I never had my father around and that’s one mistake I’m not going to make. I’m going to be a better father than he was. I’m going to be there for the kids. Change the nappies and feed them and do all the mundane jobs. Take them to the park and help them with their homework. Talk to them. Get to know their friends. Teach them life’s values.”