have been the highlight of her trip to Paris. But as it was…
‘Mr Prince—’
‘You know, you really can’t carry on being so formal with a man you’ve shared a bed with,’ he cut in smoothly.
And a sofa. And the floor. Even the shower—if her memory served her correctly. And she knew that it did.
All of which would be better forgotten, let alone talked about! ‘Rik,’ she corrected tautly, sitting down in one of the armchairs and instantly wishing she hadn’t, as Rik’s gaze was drawn to the amount of silk-covered thigh revealed by her dress riding up her legs. ‘The danger I was referring to has nothing to do with me—’
‘Pity,’ he responded, relaxing back in an armchair himself now as he looked across at her with narrowed eyes.
‘—and everything to do with Dee and Jerome,’ Sapphie continued determinedly.
She had given this a lot of thought when she returned to her hotel earlier—in the circumstances, how could she possibly think of anything else?—and had decided she couldn’t make this personal, otherwise Rik’s suspicions would be aroused anyway. So she had decided to make Dee and Jerome the issue instead.
It seemed to be working as Rik’s mouth tightened, his expression grim. ‘What about them?’ There was a definite edge to his voice now. ‘As you’ve already been at great pains to point out to me, they are obviously a happily married couple.’
‘Yes, they are.’ Sapphie nodded. ‘But beneath his genial façade, Jerome is a very jealous man.’
Rik gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘Dee is a lot younger than him, and a very beautiful woman.’
‘She can also be a very silly one,’ Sapphie told Rik with feeling. ‘Not that it’s her fault,’ she added, remembering all too well Rik’s earlier accusation that she didn’t like Dee. Of course she liked Dee, but if this was going to work, then she had to exaggerate some of Dee’s less admirable traits. ‘Dee was very overindulged as a child. Her father adored her, always referred to her as his perfect diamond.’ Sapphie shook her head. ‘Is it any wonder that she grew up expecting every other man to adore her, too?’
‘I don’t know,’ Rik said slowly. ‘Is it?’
‘Of course it’s not,’ Sapphie shot back. She wasn’t getting through to him at all! ‘I mentioned earlier that Dee and Jerome have had their share of hiccups…? Well, those hiccups usually occur after one of Dee’s—flirtations. Jerome, understandably, resents any man who gets too close to his wife.’
‘Understandably,’ Rik echoed tightly. ‘Although I still don’t see what this has got to do with me.’
Sapphie eyed him exasperatedly; this wasn’t going at all as she had planned. She had intended giving Rik a little friendly advice—such as ‘stay away from Dee because of Jerome’s jealousy’!—and he obviously wasn’t getting it at all. She felt like boxing his ears now!
‘You’re in love with Dee—’
‘Am I?’
She frowned frustratedly. ‘Of course you are!’
‘If you say so.’ He shrugged.
‘Look, I’m trying to help you,’ she pressed on impatiently.
‘So it would appear.’
She sighed at his lack of cooperation. ‘The last man to get too close to Dee ended up losing his job on the New York Times newspaper and going back writing about cattle shows in his home state of Texas!’ A fate that was a vast improvement on the one that had befallen Dee’s admirer before that, an actor who was sacked from his role in a major film and was now working behind the counter of a fast-food chain!
Rik looked amused. ‘And you think that might happen to me?’ he queried. ‘It’s very nice of you to be so concerned on my behalf, Sapphie, but it really isn’t necessary.’
She really wasn’t getting through to him, was she? So much for advising him to stay away from both Dee and Jerome—and, as a consequence, away from her too; he just seemed to find her advice amusing!
‘I am not concerned about you,’ she stood up, deciding to try a different tack; if he didn’t care about himself, then perhaps he would care on Dee’s behalf. ‘It’s Dee I’m worried about.’ She glared down at him.
Rik returned her gaze with cool blue eyes, his thoughts now unreadable behind a cold mask.
‘Are you telling me,’ he finally spoke carefully, ‘that Jerome is likely to become violent towards Dee if—?’
‘No, of course I’m not,’ Sapphie denied exasperatedly; she just seemed to be making this situation worse, not better. And she had thought it couldn’t get any worse! ‘For all that she’s emotionally immature, Dee really does love Jerome. Being older than her, he gives her the stability she felt she had lost when her father died—’
‘You presume to know an awful lot about the emotions of the woman who married the man with whom you yourself were in love,’ Rik rasped harshly.
Perhaps she was getting through to him after all.. he certainly didn’t seem amused any more!
‘I don’t presume to know anything—’
‘I think that you do.’ Rik stood up in one fluid movement. ‘And in the circumstances, I find your so-called concern for Dee a little—suspect, shall we say?’
He was very overbearing, towering over her like this, but Sapphie refused to back down now, finally feeling as if she was getting through to him. If she succeeded in getting him to back out of Dee’s life—and consequently her own!—then she didn’t care how intimidating he appeared!
‘No, we will not say,’ she replied tartly. ‘As Dee’s sister, of course I—’
‘As her what?’
Sapphie instinctively took a step backwards at the vehemence in his tone, her eyes widening now as she took in the look of complete shock that he was too disturbed to even attempt to hide.
He hadn’t known, she realised belatedly.
Incredibly, somehow, with everything else that had happened between them that night five years ago, she must have forgotten to mention that Dee was her little sister!
* * *
Sapphie was Dee’s sister? The same stepsister who, along with her mother, had pressured Dee five years ago into going through with her marriage to Jerome Powers?
But wasn’t that what she was doing now, too? Warning him, and every other man by the sound of it, from going anywhere near Dee’s marriage to Jerome.
‘Your name is Benedict, not McCall,’ he finally bit out forcefully. Stupidly. Dee was an actress; McCall probably wasn’t even her real name. But it seemed so impossible that these two women, so totally physically different, could possibly be related in any way, let alone be sisters!
‘We’re half-sisters,’ Sapphie told him dismissively. ‘I was two years old when my mother married Fergus McCall. Dee was born a year later.’
Rik turned away to walk over to the window, staring sightlessly out into the Parisian night.
Damn it, he had been congratulating himself earlier on the fact that he was over whatever he had felt for Dee, that, without him even being aware of it, his emotions had moved on.
And now this!
He hadn’t asked Sapphie five years ago what she was doing at Dee and Jerome’s wedding, whether her connection was to either the bride or groom. In fact, they hadn’t talked much at all, he realised now.
But, thinking back to that time, remembering the things Dee had told him about her stepmother and stepsister, of how they were pressurising her into marrying the rich and powerful Jerome