Prince's Love-Child. Кэрол Мортимер

‘His death hit her very hard, and the only way she could deal with it at the time was to think of herself as the beautiful swan left in the nest of the ugly ducklings! It seemed harmless enough at the time, if a little hurtful to our mother.’

      The picture she was painting of Dee wasn’t a pretty one. Rik remembered Dee as a beautiful butterfly desperately trying to fly away from the two women who were trying to run her life for her.

      This woman and her mother!

      But her mother and half-sister, not stepmother and stepsister…

      He gave a dismissive shake of his head; if he once started to doubt Dee’s integrity five years ago, then he really was in trouble!

      Sapphie gave a humourless smile. ‘I can see that you don’t believe me.’

      It wasn’t a question of believing or not believing her; he was newly coming to terms with the fact that he was no longer in love with Dee, and also with hearing Sapphie telling him that the woman he had thought himself in love with all those years ago had never really existed either—it was just too much to take in!

      ‘Why the hell should I?’ he came back harshly. ‘You and your mother got your way five years ago, let’s just leave it at that, shall we?’

      Sapphie looked perplexed now. ‘My mother? What does she have to do with any of this?’

      ‘Oh, please!’ he grated.

      And to think he had actually been starting to like Sapphie, to admire the cool way she’d dealt with what had happened between them five years ago. Hell, he was no longer even sure that it had just happened between them all those years ago; in fact, the more he thought about the way they had met, their lack of conversation, that shared passion in his hotel suite, the more he began to wonder if it hadn’t all been planned to keep him well and truly occupied while Dee married someone else.

      Although this presupposed that Dee’s mother and sister had been aware that there was someone else in Dee’s life besides Jerome…

      Damn it, he had to get out of here—before he let those thoughts take him where he didn’t want to go and he actually resorted to strangling Sapphie Benedict for what he now suspected her motives might have been towards him all those years ago!

      ‘It’s time to go,’ he instructed after a glance at his wrist-watch. ‘Dee and Jerome will be wondering where we are.’

      Sapphie looked up at him uncertainly. ‘Rik, what—?’

      ‘I said it’s time to go!’ he commanded, grasping hold of her arm and manoeuvring her towards the door, allowing no respite when she stumbled slightly trying to pick up her evening bag.

      He was too angry at this moment, needed to be where there were other people. Because strangling was probably too good for this woman.

      But kissing her, at the same time showing his contempt for her, certainly wasn’t!

      He came to an abrupt halt as he reached the door, turning Sapphie Benedict in his arms to lower his head and take possession of her lips with his.

      It was a kiss that wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, by either of them. And as Rik felt Sapphie tremble in his arms he knew that she certainly wasn’t deriving any pleasure from it, that if anything she was wary of him, of where his anger might take them. Well, let her be wary. She deserved to be wary. He wanted her to be wary. He wanted to take her…

      His deeper, inner, decent self took control at that moment, filling him with self-disgust for the way he was behaving. He had never treated a woman like this in his life before, but as he felt the shuddering sobs that shook Sapphie’s slender body he knew that he was both hurting and humiliating her. Not that she didn’t deserve that—and worse—for what she and her mother had done five years ago; he just didn’t intend lowering himself to her level.

      He wrenched his mouth away from hers, taking hold of her upper arms to push her away from him, emotion blazing in his eyes as he saw the wretchedness of her expression, her eyes glittering with unshed tears, her lips puffy and obviously kissed.

      An act. It was all an act, he assured himself determinedly; this woman, as much as Jerome Powers, had robbed him of Dee, of the love they had once shared—and he would never forgive her for it.

      He drew in a harsh breath. ‘If you’re expecting an apology—’

      ‘I’m not!’ She wrenched out of his grasp, stepping away from him, the colour returning to her cheeks. ‘I don’t expect anything from you. I never have,’ she added bleakly.

      Rik’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what the hell is that supposed to mean?’

      She made a dismissive movement with her hand. ‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’

      It wasn’t nothing. It had certainly been something, a slight undertone to that comment that he couldn’t quite put a name to…

      But he could put a name to how he was feeling—and it wasn’t pretty. He had never had cause to feel ashamed of his actions before, but he certainly wasn’t proud of the way he had treated Sapphie just now. Even if she did deserve his contempt. She and her mother both.

      Except…

      Again he thought of the fact that Sapphie’s mother was also Dee’s mother, and that neither were the stepsister and stepmother Dee had claimed them to be. Why had she lied to him about those relationships? He—

      ‘Dee and Jerome will be waiting for us downstairs,’ Sapphie reminded him softly.

      Rik frowned darkly at the way Sapphie avoided actually meeting his gaze, effectively making him feel more of a heel than ever.

      Though he didn’t see why he should, he decided as his resolve returned. Not when this woman, along with her mother, were responsible for it not being ‘Dee and Rik’ who were waiting downstairs.

      ‘Then we had better go and join them, hadn’t we?’ he returned, his mouth twisting grimly as Sapphie stepped back to avoid the hand he would have placed beneath her elbow.

      Fine. He didn’t want to touch her again, anyway. Still couldn’t be responsible for his actions where Sapphie Benedict was concerned!