Harlequin Presents January 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Sheikh's Desert Duty\Nine Months to Redeem Him\Fonseca's Fury\The Russian's Ultimatum (25 page)

“Why do you care?” I forced myself to meet his eyes. “You were
running
on the treadmill today, Edward. You don't even need a physical therapist anymore.” I shook my head a little tearfully. “It's time for me to—”

“Oh, no, you don't,” he said furiously. “Don't even
think
about using that as an excuse to run away. Why do I care? Because I don't like to see the woman who regularly brings me to my knees—that's you—falling apart at the feet of those vapid, self-absorbed idiots!”

“When did I bring you to your knees?” I said stupidly.

He looked down at me. “Have you already forgotten,” he said softly, “how just two hours ago, I took you in my arms and begged you to make love to me? I was putty in your hands.”

A shiver went over me, starting from my tingling, bruised lips. Tossing my head, I tried to laugh. “I don't remember any begging—”

My sentence cut off as he pulled me abruptly into his arms. His fingertips stroked down my cheek, skimming lightly down my jaw, my neck. I trembled beneath his touch, feeling the warm caress of his breath, the heat of his powerful body against mine.

“This is how I beg,” he whispered, his lips close to mine, making me burn, making me lose my breath. Slowly, he kissed me, softly, so softly. “You're strong, Diana. And brave.” His lips flickered like a whisper of breath against mine. “Why are you suddenly pretending not to be?” He moved back, and his expression changed, almost to a glare. “I want the woman I hired, the one who's constantly trying to kick my ass. Bring her back.”

I licked my lips. “It's hard...”

“No. It's easy. Be your real self again, or get the hell out of my house.”

My lips parted in shock. It was funny. I'd been planning to leave Penryth Hall, talking myself into it. But the thought of Edward kicking me out suddenly felt unbearable.

“You're firing me?” I said faintly. The way he looked at me made me shiver. My heart pounded, and my lips tingled in memory. “You don't understand. Madison and I have a history. And Jason—” My voice stopped.

“You still love him?” His eyes grew hard. “You're a fool. But that's what love does,” he said grimly. “Makes us fools.”

Thinking of Jason, sitting next to Madison on the couch as he said patronizingly,
If there's no sex, there's no relationship,
I shook my head. “I don't know what I feel anymore.”

“Whatever. Doesn't matter. Pull yourself together. You're better than this, Diana. And I'm not interested in watching you let them wipe their feet on you.” He glared at me. “Either stop acting like a doormat or you can ask them for a ride back to London.”

I stared up at him, feeling faint, assaulted on all sides. How I wished I could be the woman he described—the one who was brave and strong. But the thought of facing them and telling them what I really thought.... Jason...and Madison...

“I don't think I can do it,” I choked out.

“You have twenty minutes to decide.” Edward's jaw tightened. Turning away, he stopped at the bedroom door. “Take a shower. Brush your hair. Get on dry clothes. When you come back downstairs for dinner, I'll see your answer.”

* * *

My legs were shaking as I came downstairs a half hour later. I'd taken my time in the shower, closing my eyes beneath the hot steam. I combed out my wet hair, then started to reach in the closet for my typical wardrobe of casual T-shirt and cargo pants. Then I stopped.

Instead, I took out a skirt and blouse, and black high-heeled shoes. I put on red lipstick, which I'd almost forgotten I owned, and a headband. Then I looked at myself in the mirror. It looked like me, but not me. It looked like the me that I used to be, in high school. Before Mom had gotten sick. Before Madison had taken the dream I'd wanted.

You're strong, Diana. And brave. Why are you suddenly pretending not to be?

As I came downstairs, I could hear that the three of them had already started dinner without me in the medieval great hall. Well, Edward had told me twenty minutes. He was probably starting to wonder if I'd decided to pack for London.

I was still wondering myself.

I could play it safe, say nothing tonight and quietly leave with Madison, back to my old life. I could plan their wedding, be silently helpful and invisible.

Or—

Or I could be brave enough to be myself. And tell Jason and Madison how I really felt. Then I could remain at Penryth Hall—but I'd almost certainly end up in Edward's bed.

Let him keep your heart. I will have your body. Very soon. And we both know it.

Yes. I swallowed. If I stayed here, it would happen. Sooner or later. Probably sooner. I wouldn't be able to resist for much longer. I'd give my virginity to a playboy who wanted only a physical affair. It would be just sex, as he'd said.

Sex. And fire
.

I felt dizzy just thinking of it.

So which would it be?

Remain invisible, mute and untouched?

Or risk everything, be honest and brave—but know that it would irrevocably change my life?

Standing outside the great hall, I still didn't know. I was caught between longing and fear. But I was already late. Clutching my hands into fists, I took a deep breath and walked in.

Madison had appropriated the place of honor at the long, candlelit dining table, with Jason on her right side and Edward on her left. Edward saw me, and his expression sharpened.

“You're here,” he said, motioning toward the place to his left. Avoiding his gaze, I slid quietly into the chair beside him at the table.

Glancing at me dismissively, my stepsister didn't break stride in her story, which was mostly explaining the unbearable burdens of being young, rich, famous and beautiful. “You'd think I'd be used to press junkets by now,” she finished with a sigh, moving her hands gracefully over the long, gleaming table, to make her enormous diamond ring sparkle in the candlelight. “But the one this morning was especially exhausting. They barely let me plug the movie. They just wanted to know about our engagement.” She gave Jason a flirtatious sideways glance. “They wanted every detail. How he proposed, when the wedding will be...” Madison turned to me. “Why did you take so long, Diana? We're halfway through our dinner.”

It was worth it, to miss most of your story,
I thought. But I didn't have the nerve to say it.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, and reaching for the silver tray at the center of the table, I pulled off the lid and served myself some rosemary lamb, herbed red potatoes and vegetables. Then I saw the basket, and gave a happy smile. “Mrs. MacWhirter made fresh rolls!”

“I asked her to, this morning,” Edward said, smiling back. “I know they're your favorite.”

“Bread makes you fat, you know,” Madison said.

But skipping bread makes you mean,
I thought. I said only, “Aren't Damian and Luis joining us?”

“They're eating in the kitchen with the staff.”

“Smart,” I mumbled.

“What?” Madison said.

“Nothing.” I sighed. I felt Edward tighten up beside me. I could almost feel his glower.

I tried to eat, but sitting with Madison and Edward I could barely taste the food. Even the freshly baked white bun tasted ashy.

“Anyway,” Madison continued, “sometimes I just get tired of all the attention.” She yawned in a showy way, stretching her hands upward, showing off her figure to clear advantage. Then she flashed her beguiling smile, her trademark that no man could resist, first at Jason, then—at Edward. “Our engagement is news all over the world. My fans everywhere are thrilled... They're so sweet, sending congratulations and gifts.” She gave a tinkly laugh that sounded like music. “Though I've had a few male fans threaten to throw themselves out windows unless I cancel the wedding. You know how it is, I'm sure.” Reaching out, she patted Edward's hand. “How difficult it is, when people want you constantly.”

My eyes went wide as I stared at Madison's perfectly manicured hand. Patting over Edward's. Slowly. Languorously. Like a dance.

Pat, pat, pat.

With the same hand that held the ten-carat diamond engagement ring given to her by another man.

She wanted Edward's attention now, too, I realized. Why was I surprised? It had happened all our lives. Madison always had to be the center of male approval. Even when we were teenagers, and my mother was dying, Madison had snuck away with the pool cleaner and smashed her father's car into a palm tree—effectively pulling Howard's attention away from my mom.

All our lives, I'd tried to look out for Madison. I'd tried to treat her like the sister I'd always wanted, back when I was a lonely only child. But she'd just taken from me, and taken more.

But as I watched her hand with the huge diamond ring pat Edward's on the table—
pat, pat, pat
—I suddenly couldn't stand it one second more.

“Are you seriously flirting with Edward now?” I said incredulously. “What the hell is
wrong
with you, Madison?”

She stared at me, her gorgeous pink mouth a round O. Then she ripped her hand off Edward's as if it had burned her. “I wasn't flirting with him! I'm an engaged woman!” She glared at me, then turned to give her fiancé a tender glance. “I'm in love with Jason.”

“Are you? Are you really? Do you even know what it means?”

“Of course I do—we're engaged!”

“So what? You've been engaged five times!”

“Really?” Edward said, looking at me with growing joy.

“Five?” Jason gasped.

“You're crazy!” she said in outrage. Then, as the two men stared at her, she moderated her expression and said more calmly, “I haven't been engaged five times.”

“No? Let's see.” I tilted my head thoughtfully. “That punk rock musician you met on Hollywood Boulevard...”

“You call
that
an engagement?” Glancing at Jason and Edward, she trilled a little laugh. “I was fifteen! It lasted six days!”

“But Rhiannon never talked to you again.”

Madison tossed her head. “He loved me, not her. She should have accepted that.”

“Yes. He loved you. For six days, till his band left for Las Vegas. For that, you destroyed a friendship you'd had since kindergarten.” I lifted an eyebrow and inquired coolly, “How many friends do you have left now, by the way, Maddy?”

She looked at me in wide-eyed fury. “I have plenty of friends, believe me!”

“
Friends.
People who suck up to you,” I murmured. “People who need something from you. People who laugh at your jokes even when they're not funny. Are those really friends? Or are they employees?”

“Shut up!”

Picking up my fork, I idly traced it along my plate, crushing my potatoes against the gold-rimmed china, creating a pattern like tracks through snow. “Then when you were sixteen, there was the man who cleaned our pools...”

“A pool cleaner? That wasn't an engagement, it was a cry for help!”

“Right.” I gave her a tight smile. “You were trying to get Howard's attention. He'd been neglecting you, spending so much time at my mom's deathbed. Drove you crazy.”

She tossed me an irritated, petulant glance. “You make me sound selfish, but for months and months it dragged on. A girl needs her father!”

The casual cruelty of her words took my breath away.
For months and months it dragged on.
Yes. It had taken my mom months and months to die. Months of her fighting her illness with courage, long after hope was gone. Months of her fading away, so sweet and brave, still trying so hard to take care of everyone, even Madison. My jaw hardened.

“I know. I was there. Every day. All day.” I ticked off another finger in a violent gesture. “Third engagement. My agent.”

“
Your
agent?” Edward said in surprise.

“Yeah.” I looked at him. “We met at Howard's wrap party for a film. Lenny signed me when I was almost seventeen. I worked on a soap opera for about six months before Mom got sick.”

“You were on a television show?” he said incredulously.

“I quit to stay home with her.” And I'd quit without regret. I'd missed my friends, and the tutor was a poor replacement for school. I'd felt lonely. “I didn't try to act again until months later, when my agent sent me a script. He wanted to pitch me as a ‘fresh new face' to star in a Disney show for preteens. My mom convinced me to go to the audition. But on my way there, I got a message from Howard that Mom had just had a seizure. He wasn't sure she'd make it....” My lips quivered at the edges. “She did. That time. But when I went back to do the audition two days later, the part was gone. The show had already hired someone else.” I turned to look at Madison. “
Moxie McSocksie
made you a star.”

Edward frowned. “
Moxie
what?”

“I'm surprised you haven't heard of it.” I turned to him wearily. “Moxie. You know. Regular student by day, adventurous cub reporter by night. It was a huge hit.”

“
Moxie Mc
—” Frowning, he looked at Madison, his eyes wide. “I remember. Your face was on the side of buses for months when the show came to London. It was your big break, wasn't it? Made you famous. Made you rich.”

Wide-eyed, Madison looked from Edward, to Jason, to me. She abruptly slapped her hands hard against the table.

“I deserved the role, not you!” she cried in a shrill voice. “I'd been doing commercials since I was a baby! I was the actress, not you. And you were eighteen by then, Diana, way too old for the role!”

“Compared to you?”

“I was seventeen—the perfect age!”

“For getting engaged to my agent?” I said dryly. “The second you heard about the role, you went for him. You knew he could get you that audition, and more. He could get you the career you wanted.”