Substitute Bride (18 page)

'Oh, hel!' he muttered, half under his breath, his jaw tight with a kind of self-derision. Then, making a visible effort to check a further release of his feelings, he spoke more rationaly. 'It's not you I wouldn't trust, Emma.'

While her colour deepened again, his eyes went closely over the full curves of her slender young figure, as if he never wanted to look elsewhere. Savagely, although his voice was low, he exclaimed, 'My memory will take me back as far as two nights ago, you know. I can remember the feel and taste of you. I can understand how any man might find you irresistible. And you have to believe that once he's tasted the honey a man might become maddened for more.'

As his voice roughened, Emma began trembling, as a strange heat invaded her limbs. Rick looked as though he would liked to have carried on where he'd left off and, as if she had no will of her own to resist him, she took an involuntary step towards him.

The tenseness of her face, the shaken way in which she uttered his name, appeared to bring him to his senses. It was obvious he thought he had frightened her and he placed a reassuring hand on her arm. 'I'm sorry, Emma,' the chiseled planes of his face relaxed slightly, into wry cynicism, 'I seem to be letting myself get carried away. Why don't we concentrate on learning to be friends for a change? We might even find we like each other.'

Shaking her head blindly, Emma turned and stumbled away from him to the other side of the launch. Didn't he realise she loved him? Learning to like him didn't come into it.

Already, although she couldn't be sure exactly when it had happened, she was hopelessly committed. Now, if she had to learn to do anything, it would have to be how to do without him, when he sent her away.

Rick didn't folow her unsteady flight, but a few minutes later he caled that coffee was ready. Grateful for his tact, that he had given her time to pull herself together, she managed to return to his side with a relatively easy smile.

managed to return to his side with a relatively easy smile.

After this the day passed without incident, the only other slight crack in the even tenor of it occurring when Rick came to help her remove her snorkel after they had been exploring the reefs.

They had anchored in a bay off the shore of a deserted island where the beaches were pink and white and around the exotic coral reefs the water went down, crystal clear to a depth of over a hundred feet. About an hour after lunch they left Dan in charge of the boat while Rick had shown her an underwater world of such beauty it had left her dazed.

Perhaps this was why, after leaving the water, she fumbled so much with her equipment that he was forced to come to her assistance.

Clearly having no wish to touch her if he could avoid it, he sighed impatiently. 'Come here and let me see what you're doing. I never knew such a child for getting in trouble!'

Emma submitted with ill grace as he completed in a few seconds what she hadn't been able to accomplish in as many minutes. 'Do you always have to be so superior, Rick?'

'I am superior,' he tapped the tip of her delightful nose lightly, 'and don't you forget it!'

'Women are equal,' she dared protest.

'Not my women,' he taunted. 'Certainly not my wife.'

Briefly, as her eyes dropped from the intentness of his, she let her glance roam over him, alowing herself the luxury that wouldn't be hers much longer. He was so tall and broad and so virile. She supposed he wasn't strictly handsome, but his features were so rugged and dominating he could make most other men seem effeminate by comparison.

'Rick,' she breathed, suddenly forgetting everything but that they were alone together, her voice suddenly husky.

He in turn was also doing some slow surveying. Emma's bikini was brief, but he had no obvious compunction in letting his gaze strip what there was of it so that he might explore the creamy fulness of the rose-tipped curves which lay under the two wet triangles of thin cotton. Suddenly she found herself in his arms, his breath warm on her face, while his bare muscled thigh pressed against hers making her aware of the way she was arousing him.

His hand slid in circles to caress her sunwarmed shoulder as he bent with a thick exclamation to find her mouth. Her protective instincts did react feebly, but these he overwhelmed easily merely by increasing the pressure of his demanding lips. She felt her blood race, her senses spin as he drew her so close she felt she must be welded to every muscle and sinew of his hard body. Her lips parted under the insistence of his, and while her mind reeled she knew intuitively that he wanted her. Wanted her so badly that she suspected if Dan hadn't been near he would have taken her there and then.

Burying his face in the warm curve of her neck, he thrust her bikini top aside with skiled fingers. Then, as his mouth dropped lower to explore the thrusting softness of her breasts, her nails dug wantingly into the sweat-damp skin of his broad back. Pushing his hands through her long, loose hair, he held her fiercely, so that she felt the drag of his teeth on her throbbing skin.

on her throbbing skin.

Then, as she shuddered convulsively, he gave a muffled groan and she was free. It happened so quickly she was unable immediately to do anything but force open heavy lashes to stare at him. Because there seemed no reason for his sudden rejection, she whispered beseechingly, 'Why, Rick?'

For a moment he hesitated, his eyes on her unsteady mouth. 'There are reasons,' he replied bleakly, his jaw taut.

One of those reasons could be Veronica? And whatever else it had been, Emma felt she should be grateful that something had prompted him to let her go. How could she have been about to surrender herself to him again so easily when he had never come near her since making love to her the other night? Her cheeks cold with a painful humiliation, she glanced blindly towards the boat.

'I think I see Dan waving,' she improvised, not caring whether Rick believed her or not. He might be just as glad as she was of an excuse to leave.

He appeared to be. 'We'd better get back,' he agreed tightly, on a note of anger that made Emma flinch.

Oddly hurt by it, she began hurrying towards the rubber dinghy in which Rick had brought them ashore.

'Hadn't you better get dressed?' he caled after her curtly.

And, as she spun around on a gasp, '.Not that your shorts are much of an improvement on what you're wearing, but they might at least deter Dan from attempting to push me overboard and having his way with you.'

Feeling he was making a visible effort to lighten the atmosphere, rather than being dog in the mangerish, Emma tried to meet him halfway but failed. The careless rejoinder she sought failed to materialise. Bitterly she heard herself saying instead, 'Would any man want a girl like me?'

His face hardened, but almost as if he welcomed her antagonism. 'I think we have some evidence of that.'

'Evidence!' she laughed, her eyes suddenly wild as she didn't pretend to misunderstand him. 'Ben, who vowed he loved me yet went off without even saying goodbye, and Miles Ray, who also swore he loved me but hasn't made any attempt that I can see to rescue me.'

'Did you give him an excuse to? Didn't you ever pretend you loved him?'

Emma went white and this time didn't answer. What was the use of denying it? Hadn't she done so, without success, again and again?'

'Forget it, Emma.' Staring at her closely, Rick sighed heavily, his face almost as pale as her own. 'That's not a question I should have asked as I already know the answer. I seem to have made, and am still making, one hellof a mess of things.'

Dan looked as though the approaching dinghy had just woken him up. He was surprised that they wanted to leave so early. Grumbling goodnaturedly, he stirred himself reluctantly.

'We can always come back,' Rick said carefuly, watching Emma's wistful face as they set off.

'How long will we be staying on St Lusanda?' she shrugged, trying to pretend she didn't care whether they came back or not.

'That depends,' he frowned.

'On what, for heaven's sake?' Deliberately she made her voice querulous. 'If we're going to be divorced, wouldn't it be wiser if we separated as soon as possible?'

In savage undertones, so Dan wouldn't hear, Rick retorted tightly, 'Separate rooms—separate lives. Is that what you realy want?'

'You insisted on that from the beginning,' she stammered angrily, refusing to let herself imagine he suddenly didn't want these things himself.

His eyes flashed. 'And when I dragged you into my room, did you like what I did to you?' The question seemed torn out of him and there was a white ring around his mouth.

How could a girl answer that, when the very air was cold with hostility? On the night he mentioned Emma had been in both heaven and hel. The other way round, she corrected herself numbly. It was torture, the subsequent longing she was swamped with to repeat the experience. Her only comfort was that Rick didn't know. Nor must he guess! 'I can't remember,' she lied.

'Am I supposed to be flattered?' he grated. 'I know exactly how you feel. You don't have to spell it out. You can return to your old room tonight and I promise never to enter it again.'

If this reduced Emma to silent misery for the rest of the journey, a fresh shock awaited her as they approached St Lusanda. There on the jetty stood Gail and Veronica. Gail was waving, but Veronica was not.

Emma went cold all over and swayed. Veronica hadn't wasted much time, she thought bitterly. Rick was staring at the two girls almost as hard as she was, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

As Dan, showing off before his glamorous audience, circled widely, Emma murmured foolishly, 'Veronica and Gail…'

'Yes,' Rick snapped tersely, cautioning Dan. Rick frowned. He looked impatient, a slight flush lying over his high cheekbones. Suddenly he turned to Emma, meeting her anxious eyes. 'We have to talk,' he said urgently, 'very soon.'

Because of Veronica. Duly Emma gazed at him, painfuly reluctant to ask in so many words. He must be desperately worried for fear Veronica should discover what had happened between him and his wife. Didn't he know she would never betray him? She might be a fool, but she could never do that.

'Soon,' he insisted, apparently not sure if she had heard him.

'I suppose so.' She averted her eyes quickly so he shouldn't see her tears. 'Wil—will they be staying long?'

'I shouldn't think so,' he replied indifferently.

Emma, wishing he hadn't left her with the impression that as far as he was concerned they were welcome to stay as long as they liked, bent her head and said nothing more.

'Where on earth have you been, darling?' Veronica, quite definitely annoyed, frowned on Rick as he leapt lithely onto the jetty. 'You told me you would be working,' she added accusingly.

'A man has to have an occasional day off.' He suffered Gail's sisterly peck on his cheek, but Emma noticed he did nothing to evade Veronica's more enthusiastic greeting.

It made Emma stumble as she tried to leave the boat unaided; it was only Dan's quick reaction which prevented her from faling. As he grabbed hold of her she glanced at him gratefuly.

'I'll see to my wife.' Looking distinctly annoyed, Rick removed her from Dan's protective arms, picking her up and carrying her on shore himself. The way he held her was strangely possessive, Emma realised, and she might have enjoyed it if it hadn't been for the smear of Veronica's lipstick across his mouth.

'Are you all right?' he asked, his eyes on her pale face as he slowly set her down.

'Yes, thank you,' she answered, slightly breathless. Rick kept his arms around her, as if making sure. She was aware that both Gail and Veronica were staring at her too. Their frowning glances were roving her sand-hazed limbs, bare beneath brief shorts. The shorts and equaly brief top made her appear small and slender. Unaware that the' shape underneath was decidedly sexy, she wondered why Veronica continued to look so disapproving.

Gail, conscious of Rick's grim expression, removed her curious gaze from Emma and asked tentatively, 'You don't mind us coming over, do you, Rick?'

'Of course he doesn't!' Veronica brushed such a suggestion aside with cast-iron confidence. 'You did say I could come any time, didn't you, darling?' she smiled charmingly at Rick.

'Did I?' he said dryly, retaining his hold of Emma though she twisted to escape him. His fingers, as though to punish her, dug deeper into her narrow waist and she was still.

Veronica gushed on. 'It's been so dull on Barbados while you've been in Canada, darling, and you were only home a few days when you rushed over here. After we had dinner together the other night, I just knew I couldn't bear to let you out of my sight again.'

Feeling sick, Emma puled herself from Rick's grasp, this time succeeding. Ready to flee because of the deluge of misery that hit her, she had to remind herself severely of several things, Rick wasn't her property, so it was no use feeling ill every time she was made to remember this. But how could he have made love to her, as he had done, practicaly straight from the arms of another woman?

With eyes suddenly wet with tears, which she didn't realy care if anyone noticed, she stared at him contemptuously.

Like most men, he obviously didn't appreciate having his affairs brought so blatantly into the open. But let him frown!

He had nothing to look so tight-lipped about, surely? Not with Veronica looking ready to melt in his arms, her eyes more openly inviting by the minute.

Veronica talked all the way back to the house, ignoring Emma, even when Rick, surprisingly, kept his wife firmly by his side in the station wagon. Emma, feeling his hard, muscled thigh pressing against hers, wondered, from the glint in his eyes, if he was teasing her deliberately. Nervously she caught her breath at the surge of fiery sensation and had to remind herself that he was probably only trying to make Veronica jealous.

'May I choose my own room, darling?' Veronica turned beguilingly to Rick as they left the vehicle and entered the halway. 'Not too far from yours, I think, in case I get scared during the night. Remote islands can be frightening after dark.'