Kitabı oxu: «Betrayal»

Chapter One

When the knock on the door she’d been expecting finally came, Brenna experienced a flood of panic so acute that for a moment she felt like she was plunging down the steepest ravine in an out-of-control car.

With all her heart she wanted to turn and run. But run where? Ultimately there was no escape from the situation she was in. She knew that. Besides, she wasn’t the running-away type.

So, here she was – albeit under protest – in a luxurious hotel suite paid for by Nicholas Balcon, her little girl’s father. The same father who five years previously, on hearing that she was pregnant with his child, coldly informed her he was going to the States to further his career and his plans didn’t include Brenna and a baby.

So what had caused him to have a change of heart after all this time? Why, now, did he suddenly profess an interest in the child they had made together when for five whole years she hadn’t heard so much as a word from him … not one?

He didn’t even know if he had a son or a daughter. That’s how ‘interested’ in his offspring he’d been. Brenna’s blood ran icily cold as she approached the door to let him in. If he was expecting to meet a slightly older version of the eager, meek twenty-two-year-old she’d been when they’d first met then he was in for a very rude awakening. The woman he’d see on the outside might look similar, but inside she was changed beyond all recognition and Nick Balcon, with his heartless behaviour, had been the cause of that change.

But when she pulled back the door, it wasn’t Nicholas.

An inadvertent gasp escaped her at the sight of the tall broad-shouldered man who stood there in Nicholas’s place and for a moment she was rendered speechless by a sky-blue glance that made her feel as though she was free-falling out of an aeroplane.

‘Brenna Stewart?’

‘Yes.’ She knew her troubled brown eyes must easily convey her confusion. ‘I’m sorry. I was expecting someone else.’

‘You mean Nick?’ The stranger extended a large, capable-looking hand that would make her own much smaller one feel like a child’s should she entrust it to his grasp.

‘I’m Fintan Malone. You can call me Fin. I’m a friend and colleague of Nick’s. He asked me to look out for you until he got here.’

Ignoring the outstretched hand as a bolt of trepidation shot through her, Brenna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What devious game was Nick playing with her now? She’d been suffering the most unbearable fear and tension from the moment she’d received that curt formal letter from him six days ago and now, as if to deliberately prolong her agony, he’d sent an emissary in his place. A confident, handsome American with a golden tan no doubt expensively acquired, who she didn’t know the first thing about and didn’t want to know. All she wanted was the opportunity to vent her spleen on Nick, to tell him to go to hell! She didn’t care how much wealth, fame or influence he had now. He wasn’t going to walk roughshod over her a second time. There was no way she was going to let him take Nancy. Not while she had breath left in her body.

‘I don’t need looking out for, Mr Malone, so you seem to have had a wasted journey. It’s Nick I came to see, not some stand-in that he’s sent in his place.’

Without a backward glance Brenna strode away from the door, for once her innate impulse to be polite utterly deserting her. When Fin Malone’s rich- timbred voice arrested her stride, she trembled with fury. If Nick were here now she really wouldn’t be able to trust herself not to do him some damage. Hate was an emotion she normally despised, but right now, God help her, just the thought of the man made her blood boil worse than if a wrecking ball had accidentally demolished her house.

‘I can understand how you must be feeling.’

‘No you can’t!’ Brimming with indignation and rage, she spun round. ‘You have absolutely no idea how I’m feeling. All you need to know is that I’m here under duress and Nicholas Balcon is not getting his hands on my daughter. Not now, not ever. Now you had better just go.’

To her chagrin, Fin Malone stayed put. Like a brick wall stays put. Beneath the crisp white shirt he wore casually with jeans, his muscular biceps strained at the flawless material, drawing Brenna’s gaze even when she didn’t want it to be drawn.

‘Have you eaten?’ he asked.

‘What?’

‘It’s just that it’s way past lunchtime and I know you had a long drive to get here. Would you like me to order you some food? I can have it sent up to the room if you like?’

The room? Brenna saw the irony but wasn’t amused. The suite of rooms she’d been shown into by an officious member of the hotel staff was the most luxurious, well-appointed accommodation she’d ever set eyes on, let alone stayed in. With its typically English country-house wallpaper and sumptuous French-polished antique furniture, it was a million miles away from anything that she was accustomed to. This is how the other half lives. This is how Nancy’s father lives, even as Brenna struggled to raise their daughter, to keep the roof over their heads and put food in their mouths.

All the same, she’d never begrudged Nick his success. It had always been a given as far as she was concerned that the man would make it. He was now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood – light years away from directing a grammar-school performance of Jane Eyre or Romeo and Juliet with a bunch of eager sixth-formers, and a whole other galaxy away from an affair with a shy and unsophisticated dance teacher who had foolishly once been so besotted with him.

‘I don’t want any lunch, thank you.’ Brenna determinedly swallowed across the cramp in her throat. The fact of the matter was that it would probably choke her if she attempted to eat. Best avoid food for now. At least until she’d calmed down. At least until she knew exactly what twisted little game Nick was playing.

‘Presumably you know when Nick is getting here?’ It was getting harder and harder for her to regard the man in front of her with any sense of ease. It wasn’t every day that a woman was confronted by a man with the physical attributes of a modern-day Hercules as well as movie-star good looks that could certainly make someone even a little less arresting have an inferiority complex. Right now she desperately needed to feel like she was the one in charge so it was even more disconcerting.

‘He got waylaid by something back home but he’s booked on the next flight out.’

‘You mean he’s still in the States?’ Her chin wobbling dangerously, Brenna stared at Fin Malone in disbelief. Just what the blazes was going on?

‘He’s flying out tonight and should be here in the morning.’

In contrast to her own inner turmoil, Fin’s blue eyes reflected implacable calm, like a peaceful ocean without so much as a ripple on the surface to disturb its perfect symmetry.

‘I’ve booked reservations for dinner. They’re for eight-thirty, so I hope you’ll be hungry by then. Is there anything else you need?’

‘Like what, for instance?’

‘Anything.’ He shrugged and smiled. ‘Maybe you’d like some magazines or a book to read?’

Brenna shook her head. ‘I don’t need anything, thank you, and that includes looking after! And you shouldn’t have made dinner reservations without asking me first. If that’s what Nick asked you to do then I’m sorry but you’re wasting your time.’

Her arms crossed her chest, deliberately sending out a signal that she was closing him off from even the remotest chance of friendliness.

‘I wouldn’t be good company anyway. Thanks all the same.’

The glint in Fin Malone’s unsettling crystal-blue eyes caught her off guard. Just what did the man find so amusing? Had she said something funny?

‘Even so, I’ll call for you at eight. We can have a drink in the bar before dinner. By the way, it’s formal attire. I don’t mean to offend you by asking, but did you bring anything suitable to wear?’

Frowning, Brenna thought about the long black evening dress in her suitcase but baulked at the idea of wearing it. She wasn’t sure why she had packed it in the first place, but she supposed at the back of her mind she’d thought that something like this dinner might arise and she hadn’t wanted to appear before her now very successful ex looking like a pauper. Truthfully, she would much prefer staying in her sweater and jeans.

‘Mr Malone, I know you’re doing this as a favour to Nick and please don’t take it personally, but I don’t want to have dinner with you. I came here purely for the purpose of meeting with him and him alone. I don’t want to talk to anybody else. Two days away from my little girl is immensely hard for me, as I’m sure you can appreciate if you have children of your own? I’ve left her with my mother who hasn’t been in the best of health and I’ve also got classes to teach first thing Monday morning. There are things I need to do to prepare for the week on Sunday night.

‘The truth is this is the last place in the world I want to be and I wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for that cold-hearted summons from your charming “friend”. So please, why don’t you just go and enjoy your dinner with a much more amenable companion? I’m quite all right here on my own.’

Tucking her dark hair behind her ears, Brenna forced herself to meet Fin Malone’s impenetrable glance without flinching or looking away but everything inside her seemed to clench and tighten unbearably when those flawlessly arresting blue eyes locked onto hers.

‘I’m used to taking care of myself,’ she continued, alarmed at the waver in her voice. ‘Perhaps you’d just be good enough to let me know as soon as you hear from Nick? I’m anxious to get our business over and done with and then go home.’

Instead of responding immediately, Fin crossed his arms casually over the wide muscular chest that was just one of his disturbing physical attributes and smiled.

Why didn’t he seem to be taking her seriously? Was he one of those irritating men who regard women who stand up for themselves as slightly hysterical? The thought made her bristle. But just then the sexy little indentation in the centre of his hard-sculpted chin commanded her attention and caused an inconvenient flare of heat to explode inside her. Clearly, the man must be involved in the film industry. If he could light up a room just by virtue of entering it, what would the sight of him be like on the big screen in full cinematic glory? How had he come to be a friend of someone like Nick? Nick’s own accomplishments were of a far more cerebral nature, whereas Fin Malone’s assets were surely first and foremost his physical ones?

‘Why don’t you just rest for a couple of hours and see how you feel after that?’ he suggested smoothly, obviously undisturbed by her outburst. ‘I’m staying just across the hall from you if you should need me. I’ll come back in a little while to make sure you’re okay.’

As he turned and walked to the door, Brenna found herself admiring his striking physique from behind and brought herself up short with a silent appalled expletive. She had no business admiring any man – no matter how drop-dead gorgeous. She wasn’t a fool and never again would she risk replicating the kind of heartbreaking situation she’d found herself in five years ago.

‘He’s not going to take Nancy from me, is he?’ She couldn’t help the anguish that spilled out of her voice as Fin reached the door. Emotion was running high in her blood. Fear, too. The thought that she might lose her daughter – her reason for living – was like suffering a thousand tortures all at once. The big American slowly turned round. His gaze thoughtfully assessed her before he spoke, as if not wanting to squander his words.

‘So your little girl’s called Nancy? That’s a pretty name. Look, it’s not up to me to fill you in on the details about what Nick wants. That’s personal and between the two of you. All I can tell you is that he’s not the louse you seem to think he is … not in my experience. He’ll do what’s right. I know he will.’

With that he strode out into the corridor, closing the door firmly behind him.

Having donned her long black coat over her sweater and jeans, Brenna went for a walk. The hotel grounds were extensive with the most beautiful meandering gardens set against a backdrop of verdant rolling hills and valleys. Right now they were windswept and rain-washed but that merely added to their charm.

As soon as she strode out and fresh cold air circulated in her lungs, she had the reassuring sense of being a little more in control. Everything will be all right, she told herself. Nick might have money but she had her daughter’s love and nearly five years of unstinting devotion to bind them together. Nancy was beautiful and precious but anyone who knew her would never describe her as outgoing. Her nature was thoughtful and quiet. She wasn’t a child that naturally joined in with the other children’s games, whether at pre-school or during play-dates at home. She would flounder in any situation where she was the centre of attention. The kind of fame her father attracted would be overwhelming.

An acute pang of longing for her daughter assailed Brenna as she walked. Why now, she wondered, shaking her head in bewilderment, should Nick suddenly decide he wanted to see her? It had never been her aim to deliberately keep him out of Nancy’s life. It was he that had coldly told her that their relationship was over and that there was no room in his life for fatherhood. His words – echoing round his book-lined living room – had had the same effect on Brenna as a bomb exploding. Every emotion and tender feeling she’d ever had for him was devastated by his heartless announcement. He had, after all, pursued her from the beginning not the other way round. Being older and more experienced, he’d employed a ruthless charm offensive that she’d been unable to resist, demolishing her doubts and reservations with the seductive prowess of a formidable expert until she agreed to have dinner with him.

Less than a week later he had persuaded her into his bed. Shy and not remotely as experienced, Brenna had trembled violently when he’d first kissed her. Nothing could have prepared her for a flood of feelings so powerful that they all but knocked her off her feet whenever Nick was near.

‘Idiot!’

Muttering the derogatory word behind gritted teeth, her hand impatiently wiped away the foolish tears that gathered in her eyes. What good did it do berating herself? Something good had come out of the affair: Nancy. Her little girl was the light of her life.

‘Apparently there’s even more rain forecast.’

The deep voice behind her made her jump. Brenna spun round to find herself face to face with Fin Malone. His hands were pushed deep into the pockets of his expensive-looking leather jacket and his silky brown hair was boyishly mussed by the breeze. There was also a hint of a sardonic smile teasing the edges of his beautifully carved mouth.

Needing a moment to compose her feelings, Brenna deliberately turned away, her long black hair partially shielding her face as she dipped her head to gaze at the ground instead. She didn’t want him to see that she’d been crying … didn’t want this cool customer – this confident friend and colleague of Nick’s – to have the slightest clue that she was actually far more vulnerable than she might at first appear.

‘The weather doesn’t bother me. If it rains, you get wet. I don’t know why people make such a fuss.’ Still keeping her gaze averted, her slender shoulders lifted in a careless shrug.

‘Brenna?’ It stung Fin’s pride that she wouldn’t look at him. He wasn’t used to such a negative reaction from women. It made him more determined than ever to get her attention. From the moment he’d seen her she’d posed a challenge – not just because she was beautiful and he wanted her to notice him – but because there was something about her angry defensiveness and her determination not to let anyone else get the upper hand that intrigued him.

‘Have you heard from Nick?’

She suddenly turned round and Fin didn’t miss the flare of hope in her eyes. For a moment he didn’t know what to say because the stunning raven-haired beauty simply stopped his thoughts in their tracks. Surely it couldn’t have been easy for Nick to leave her behind even in the pursuit of the glittering career he had now? Fin honestly couldn’t fathom it.

‘Well, have you?’

There was a definite quaver in her voice that Fin wasn’t exactly impervious to.

‘Not yet,’ he answered. ‘Look, why don’t you come back inside with me? It’s bitter out here. We can have some coffee in the Library and talk. They’ve got a great fire burning in the fireplace.’

‘If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather just be left alone.’

‘To freeze out here, and be miserable thinking about what may or may not happen tomorrow when Nick arrives?’

‘That’s up to me, isn’t it?’

‘Nick said you could be stubborn.’

‘What?’ Resentment burned like corrosive acid in Brenna’s gut. The idea that she’d been discussed as if she were some tiresome little schoolgirl made her feel raw and enraged. The glance she gave Fin was stony.

‘I don’t think he—’

‘Nicholas Balcon can go to hell and you can join him! Don’t make the mistake of assuming you know anything about me just because you’ve heard some banal little sound-bites from that man. You people think you can just play with people’s lives because you have money and influence. Well, trust me I am not the compliant little pushover you might have expected. And I’m not going to make it easy for Nick to get what he wants … in this case my daughter!’

Her eyes brimming with fury, she swept past Fin only to find her arm irrevocably captured. She was unceremoniously hauled backwards with a strong steely hand and his face – lean and hard – hovered bare inches from her own. Shock made her silent as she watched his lips – tempered steel overlaid in satin – move in speech.

‘You’ll only hurt yourself even more if you keep this up. You’re letting your imagination run wild, Brenna. Nick’s not the heartless ogre you keep on trying to paint him as. Can you blame the man for wanting to get to know his one and only child? So he didn’t get to know her from the beginning, but people make mistakes. We all make mistakes. Time and circumstances can change people. Nick’s had plenty of both to reflect on what he let go. Just talk to him. I have every faith that you guys can work it out like civilized human beings.’

‘Did he pay you to say that?’ Brenna asked bitterly.

The strongly aligned features before her reflected his disappointment and perhaps even exasperation.

‘He’s not paying me for anything. I told you, I’m here as a friend.’ Fin hadn’t been sure of the reception he would receive from Nick’s ex-girlfriend but what he expressly hadn’t been expecting was a woman with looks that could grace a centrefold, and a temper as hot as Hades to match. Not that he couldn’t understand why she was so angry at not hearing from Nick in five long years then suddenly receiving a command from him out of the blue telling her he wanted to discuss their child at last.

But surely any woman with an iota of common sense would see that in the interests of that child there had to be certain advantages in letting her wealthy father make contact? It must have been tough for Brenna trying to manage all these years on her own without help. If she could just calm down for a few seconds she might – just might – start to see things in a more positive light.

‘Let me go.’

‘What?’

‘My arm. You’re hurting me.’

Fin dropped the slender limb like a hot potato, a hint of crimson reddening his jaw.

‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured. ‘Sometimes I don’t know my own strength.’

Brenna could believe it. She rubbed her arm where the impression of his hand left her smarting but tingling too. It was the tingling that disturbed her the most.

‘Lucky for Nick he has such a “trouper” on his side.’

‘And what about you? Do you have a champion on your side, Brenna?’

Her upper lip wobbled a little.

‘I fight my own battles … always have done and always will. So you see, Mr Malone, I really don’t need you or anyone else to look out for me.’

‘Lucky for you, then, that you’re so utterly self-sufficient.’ Not missing a beat, Fin came back at her, privately rattled that she continued to profess not to need him when his sense of it was that she could definitely use some help. ‘Ever heard the expression “no man is an island”? Presumably it applies to women, too.’

His comment completely threw her. The truth was that Brenna was weary of fighting all her battles on her own. It would be wonderful to have someone to share her fears and concerns with besides her poor over-worked mother. But never again would she make herself vulnerable to a man. She’d walk across hot molten lava in her bare feet first.

‘You’re wasting your time trying to win me round. All I want to do is see Nick and tell him to leave me and Nancy alone. As soon as I’ve done that then I’m going home. I’m sorry that he put you to all the trouble of having to come out here. I’m sure you’d much rather be at home in sunny California or wherever it is you’re from, and I can’t say I blame you. God knows, the winter here has little to commend it. Not unless you love it like I do.’

Digging her gloved hands into her pockets, Brenna was suddenly aware that her fingers were almost rendered frozen from the icy breeze that was blowing across the landscape. A weary sense of acute desolation made her heart feel like it was cracking.

‘I can see how you might feel like that. It definitely has a certain kind of charm,’ Fin commented.

Was he being facetious? Right then Brenna was too mentally drained even to try to analyse the remark.

‘Yes, it does,’ she softly agreed. ‘And I’m eccentric enough not to mind the cold. As long as I’m wrapped up warm it doesn’t really bother me. And the landscape …’ Her dark eyes misted over as she absorbed the view of the soft green hills that stretched as far as the eye could see. ‘The landscape just seeps into your soul.’ Her voice drifted away as self-consciousness uncomfortably gripped her.

‘Come and have a coffee with me,’ her companion suggested, his voice turning unwittingly smoky.

‘I’ve already said I—’

‘A person’s allowed to change their mind.’ Grinning, Fin’s appreciative gaze absorbed the wild windswept black tresses, the passionate soulful brown eyes and the sultry naked mouth. Truth to tell, right now the woman in front of him was all the landscape he cared to look at and admire. Windswept verdant vistas and rain-soaked flowerbeds were just no competition – no matter how lovely. ‘I promise if you let your guard down just a little and talk to me, I won’t try to take advantage.’

Brenna’s eyes instantly registered alarm. ‘You can be sure I won’t be letting my guard down – even a little – any time soon, Mr Malone. I would never make such a dangerous slip like that.’

Telling himself to be patient in the face of her continued defensiveness Fin sighed, his warm breath creating a puff of steam in the sharp cold air. ‘Message received loud and clear.’

‘And anyway,’ she surprisingly relented, ‘I prefer tea.’

‘Tea it is, then. And drop the “Mr Malone”, will you? Call me Fin. All my friends do.’

At the perplexed frown on the beautiful face in front of him, he smiled with unabashed amusement.

‘You never can tell. We could become friends. Wouldn’t that be the surprise of the century?’