Deceit (3 page)

No real damage had been done, she reassured herself over and over again. But cold fear gripped her, and she knew that if there was another encounter, she might not be able to block him out.

Maybe, if she was lucky, she could avoid him. At any rate, it was something to hope and work for.

But how was she going to deal with the fact that she was responsible for the man he had become?

SwanSea was quiet. Most of the lights in the great house were out. Its guests were resting. Except for one.

Richard leaned back against the dooijamb of the open French doors of his room, his eyes squeezed shut, his jaw tightly clenched. A breeze came off the ocean, fanning him, but it neither cooled him nor dried the sheen of sweat covering his body.

Night sweats.
They were brought on by the pain of the past, the uncertainty of the present, and the fear of not knowing how the hell he was going to get through the next day, much less the rest of his life. They often came on him like this when he couldn’t sleep and when all he could think of was Liana.

Liana.
She had haunted him for eleven years, and in that time he had found that being haunted by her was worse than any ghost. Ghosts were illusory. If you saw one, you might not even be sure of what it was you were looking at.

But Liana. No matter where he went, she was there. As one of the most photographed models in the world, her picture graced countless magazine covers. Every newsstand he passed, every coffee table he sat at, every doctor’s waiting room he went into usually held at least one magazine with her picture gracing its cover. Her wide teal eyes would stare out at him, taunting him, reminding him of the one question that drove him to work twenty-hour days.

Success had become the god he worshiped. But nothing was ever enough. There was always one more business triumph to achieve. One more possession to buy.

Yet the emptiness remained. And the question persisted.

Why hadn’t she loved him?

Two

Liana rose early and ordered room service, then slowly dressed and ate a leisurely breakfast. Her purpose was to have ample time to compose herself. When she finally left her room, she wanted her nerves well hidden beneath the cool facade of the super model. If she should meet Richard, she wanted no hint of how he affected her to show. It wasn’t a perfect plan, she acknowledged, but it was all she could think of for the moment.

At the knock on her bedroom door. Liana’s hand jerked, toppling the delicate china cup onto its side and sending hot coffee spilling over the pristine white tablecloth. So much for her plan, she thought with disgust. She hastily righted the cup and snatched up the linen napkin to blot as much as she could of the cup’s contents.

When the second knock came, she sighed and threw down the napkin. “Coming.”

She used the short walk to the door to prepare herself for whoever might be on the other side. Hopefully, it was Clay or Sara, checking to see if she was ready for today’s shoot. Surely it wouldn’t be Richard. He hated her. If over the years, she’d had any doubts, their encounter last night had eliminated them.

Still she didn’t kid herself. Trying to avoid him would accomplish only so much. Their situation was volatile and unpredictable, and she had to be ready for anything. Half expecting to meet steel gray eyes, she opened the door and was astonished to find a beautiful young woman with cinnamon-colored hair and lovely green-gold eyes.

“Good morning. I’m Caitlin Deverell-DiFrenza. I hope I’m not disturbing you. ’’

Liana recognized the name immediately. Caitlin Deverell-DiFrenza was the owner of SwanSea. “No, not at all. Please come in. ”

Caitlin entered and cast an automatic, all-seeing glance around the room. The disorder on the serving table propelled her to the phone where she dialed a number. There were no pushbutton phones at SwanSea, only beautifully designed decorator phones that blended with each room’s elegant decor.

“Please send fresh table linen and a carafe of coffee to room thirty-three.” A magnificent emerald wedding ring set flashed on Caitlin’s hand as she hung up the phone.

“That wasn’t necessary,” Liana said, “but thank you.”

“You’re more them welcome. I want my guests to have the best service possible.”

Uncertain why Caitlin was in her room, Liana waved her hand toward the sofa. “Would you care to sit down?”

“No, thank you. I don’t want to keep you. It’s just that I heard about your accident last night, and I was worried. ”

“Don’t be. It’s really nothing more than a bad scrape. ”

“Are you sure?”

Liana smiled. “I use to get scrapes worse than this when I was a little girl. There was a big oak tree in our backyard in Des Moines that I couldn’t resist climbing. Unfortunately there’s that silly law about what goes up must come down. I came down a lot.”

Caitlin nodded solemnly. “I’m familiar with that law. SwanSea has some great trees.”

Liana grinned, feeling some of her tension fade. Caitlin, who had more money than Liana was ever likely to see in her lifetime, was one of the most down-to-earth people she’d ever met. “But the urge to climb that tree was nothing in comparison to my fervent desire to learn to roller skate. I spent hours on my skates out in front of our house. You know, I don’t think I ever skated the full length of our sidewalk without falling.” Caitlin laughed. “Well, I’m relieved you weren’t hurt more seriously. You could have been so easily, you know. I was very concerned last night when I heard about your fall, but I thought it would be best if I didn’t bother you. But when I saw Clay Phillips downstairs this morning, having breakfast with one of his assistants, the lovely redheaded girl—?”

“Sara.”

“Yes, and you weren’t with them, so I decided to come up.”

“I’m glad you did. It gives me the opportunity to tell you how beautiful your hotel is.”

A strange expression came over Caitlin’s face. “Hotel—yes, I guess it is." She grimaced. “I’ve spent months working to that end, but it’s funny, I still don’t see SwanSea as a hotel. I wonder if I’ll ever get over the mind-set that this is my home and the people who’ve come here are my personal guests.”

“Why should you get over it? I understand that SwanSea
was
your home. Besides, that attitude is exactly why you’ll have a great success. Believe me. I’ve stayed in some of the finest hotels all over the world, but I’ve never been in one with more warmth and character than SwanSea. ”

Caitlin clapped her hands together with delight. “Wonderful. You’ve boosted my confidence a hundred percent, and I needed that. You wouldn’t believe the problems that have cropped up in the last few days.”

She’d believe the problems, Liana thought, but she didn’t believe that Caitlin needed a boost of confidence. She radiated a strength and a happiness and a feeling that she could handle anything. Liana envied her.

Caitlin shrugged lightly. “Oh, well, I expected as much for the opening. And as long as my guests don’t suffer, I don’t mind. ” She clasped her hands together and eyed Liana intently. "Now, do you have everything you need?”

“Everything. Your staff is wonderful. ”

“I’m glad to hear it, but I don’t want you to hesitate to call if you should need anything at all. If we don’t have it, we will do our best to get it.” “I’ll remember that,” Liana said with a smile.

By late that afternoon, Liana was wondering if Caitlin could send out for a bottle of energy for her. She’d spent hours under the sun and hot lights in first one evening gown and then another. As they’d moved from one outdoor location to another, it had seemed to her that Clay had been unusually demanding. She understood, though. This was the first major assignment he’d done on his own without the supervision of Jean-Paul, and he wanted everything to be perfect.

But she longed for Jean-Paul. Together they had always made a certain magic on film, and they had an unspoken communication between them that had made any photo assignment pleasurable. Richard had been right in that at least.

“Hell, we’ve lost our light.” Clay plowed his fingers through his hair, the lines of his body set with displeasure and tension. “All right,” he said with a sigh. “That’s it for today. I’ll let everyone know the shooting schedule for tomorrow. ”

Liana retreated inside an aluminum-framed tent and slipped out of the green beaded gown she’d worn for the last series of shots.

Sara joined her and took the gown. “You were wonderful, Liana.”

"Thanks,” she said, giving the girl a smile. Although she hadn’t met Sara before this trip, Liana thought she was very nice and eager to learn all aspects of the business. She plucked the hairpins from her hair. The tight coil at the base of her neck loosened, then opened, sending a shining, straight mass of wheat-colored hair down her back.

“How’s your knee?” Sara asked.

“Not too bad.” In truth, standing on it all day had made the dull ache of the bruise turn to a throb. “I’m thankful that I’m here to model evening gowns. The long skirts cover the bandage. If we were doing street-length dresses or bathing suits,
you
would have been the one out there in front of the cameras, with the reflectors throwing heat and light onto you.”

Sara’s eyes widened. “No way could I do a big assignment like this one. Besides, I’m really happiest behind the camera.” She ran her hand over the gown, caressing the beaded work, then carefully hung it up.

Liana pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top and breathed a sigh of relief at the cool comfort of the outfit. “Clay has done layouts with you before, hasn't he?”

“Only small stuff. Nothing on this scale. Are you going back to the hotel now?”

She should get off her knee for a while, Liana thought, but the prospect of an empty room was unappealing, and the beauty of the grounds was pulling at her. “I think IH take a short walk. I’m a little stiff, and the exercise will feel good.”

Sara laughed quietly. “Exercise never feels good. A hot bath is more my speed and that's just where I'm heading. Maybe IH even be able to catch a nap before dinner. Have you heard? We have to dress for dinner.”

Liana smiled. “Yes, I did hear that.”

“But do you know why?” Sara asked as they left the tent.

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. Why?” 

“This is SwanSea.”

“What?”

“I asked one of the
very
dignified employees why we had to dress for dinner, and I was told with extreme politeness that this is SwanSea.” She grinned, then shrugged. “See you later.”

Liana ended up at the gazebo that stood on the windswept point overlooking the sea. The gazebo was made of iron bent in fluid arabesques. A fresh coat of white paint and new green and blue cotton ducking covers for the bench cushions made it a lovely retreat, but Liana thought she sensed an air of sadness and loneliness about the gazebo.

She rested a knee on the cushion and leaned against the railing, reflecting that she didn’t mind the strange atmosphere. Sadness and loneliness were emotions with which she was all too familiar. She was used to being by herself; she had long ago made the conscious decision not to get too close to anyone. And it had been years since she’d thought of the irony that one of the most visible women of the decade was also one of the most isolated.

The money she earned modeling gave her security. The sense that she earned her money through hard work gave her satisfaction. But she accepted only the assignments she wanted, and arranged her schedule to suit herself. And when she reached the point where the feel of people’s hands on her was just beginning to penetrate through her mind block, she’d retreat to the countryside of France where she had a cottage and no one but Jean-Paul Savion had the address.

Her success had ensured her freedom from people and their demands; it was the main reason why her career was so important to her.

“You know what I remember most about your legs?”

She spun at the sound of Richard’s voice, her heart beating wildly. He wore an icy blue shirt paired with taupe-colored slacks, and she’d never seen him look more virile and attractive. Or more dangerous.

He raked his gaze up the long length of her bare legs. “I remember how they seemed to go on forever,” he continued, “and how tightly they gripped my waist when we made love. And when you climaxed—”

“Shut up, Richard.’’

His smile seemed almost genuine, she thought with a distant part of her mind, but she knew better. A smile was an indication of friendliness or affection. He felt neither of those things for her.

“You always did look nice in shorts,” he said. “But then you’ve got the kind of body that shows off clothes to their best advantage. Still, I always liked you better without—”

“Shut up, Richard.”

He bounded up the steps into the gazebo. Before she had time to prepare herself, he was beside her. Suddenly she felt trapped, as if there were no place for her to run. In fact, all she had to do was step around him and leave. She started to, but the sudden softness of his voice stopped her.

“Relax, Liana. Words can’t hurt, you know. Not unless the person at whom they’re directed cares, and you certainly don’t.” He waited a heartbeat, then asked in an even softer voice, “Do you?”

“No, of course not. ”

“No, I didn’t think so. ” His gaze dropped to the bandage wrapped around her knee. “How is it?” “Fine.”

“Have you applied more antibiotic cream and changed the bandage as the doctor told you to?” “Not yet.”

“But you will, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

He threw a quick glance around the gazebo. “What are you doing here?”

She had been on the verge of leaving again, but this time it was the puzzlement in his voice that stopped her. “You mean at SwanSea?”

“No. What are you doing here in the gazebo? You’re all alone. The sun is about to set; it will be dark soon, not to mention cooler.” He waved his hand toward her. “And all you’re wearing is that skimpy outfit.”

There were reasons for everything he mentioned, but she chose to tell him only one. “I love the sea. I have ever since the first time I saw it.”