CHAPTER SIX

A S THEY CAME out of the study and walked quickly towards the entrance hall, they saw Jinty poised in an attitude of listening at the bottom of the staircase. Obviously she was wondering what was going on, so she had taken the opportunity to eavesdrop. What they didn’t know was that Jinty was also taking a near primitive satisfaction in the fact that Tonya, her own sister, had missed out. Not that she had ever had a chance, but then Tonya had never really caught on to the hard realities of life.

“Is everything all right? ” she asked, adopting an expression of concern. Impossible not to notice the look of strain on their faces.

“Not exactly, ” Boyd said, his tone almost breezy. “Dad isn’t best pleased by our news. ”

“Did you think he would be? ” Jinty asked, throwing out her hands, palms up. “He was sure you’d go for Chloe. ”

“Maybe not. But did he—or anyone else for that matter—really think I was going to go along with his plans? ” Boyd gave a slight grimace. “If he’s so very fond of Chloe he should divorce you, then ask Chloe to marry him. There’s every chance she’ll say yes. ”

Jinty wondered if he weren’t spot on. “Actually, I rather liked Chloe, ” she said. “A thoroughly nice, malleable young woman, but clearly she’s no match for Leo, who has so many things going for her. ” The merest flicker of malice. “Should I go to him? ” Jinty looked from one to the other. “Be supportive? ”

“Of what, Jinty? ” Boyd asked, very direct. “You’re going to back us, then? ”

“Why, certainly! ” Jinty said without a blink. “Somehow I’ll make your father understand that Leo is your choice. Heavens, the whole time we’ve been married, Rupert has doted on Leo. Occasionally it has made me quite jealous. God knows it’s no secret that Rupert doesn’t love me. We rub along well together, that’s all. I do have the certainty I’ll be a rich woman for life but there’s little in it for me of the heart. Shall I go to him? ”

“Only if you want your head bitten off, ” Boyd replied. “Dad could do that quite easily. Incidentally, has he seen Drew Morse lately? I think he should have a check-up; his colour didn’t look too good. The thing is there’s no crossing Dad. He can’t deal with it. ”

“Well, that’s nothing new to me, ” Jinty said and briefly shut her eyes. “Rupert expects everyone to obey his every whim. Anyway, I must apologise for Tonya. ”

“Oh, gosh, whatever for? ” Boyd asked sardonically.

“Poor Tonya never mastered the social niceties, which is one reason why she’s still unmarried. ”

“Perhaps she should enrol in a personal development course, ” Boyd suggested.

Jinty blinked, then reassumed her practised smile. “Be that as it may, I do sincerely wish you and Leo the very best, Boyd. Rupert can’t dictate everyone’s life. ”

“Certainly not mine, ” Boyd clipped off. “Now I’m driving Leo back to Sydney. No way do I want her driving herself after an upset like that. Ask Eddie to drive her car to her apartment some time tomorrow. I’ll organise someone to drive him back. ” He glanced down at the silent Leo, who was looking and feeling shell-shocked. “We’ll collect our luggage and be off. Where shall we leave Leo’s keys, Jinty? ”

“On the console table, please, ” Jinty said, gesturing. She was already starting to walk down the corridor that led to her husband’s inner sanctum. “I have my own fears for Rupert’s health, ” she paused to confide. “He drinks far more than is good for him and I can’t get him off his infernal cigars. ”

“Picked up the habit from his own father and his father before him, ” Boyd said, still scanning Leona’s pale face. “Let’s collect the luggage. ” He spoke to her quietly. “I can’t wait to get out of this place. ”

“Where are we going? ” They were driving into Sydney before Leona came out of her reverie—a long internal dialogue that had never stopped.

Boyd was staring straight ahead. He too had been very quiet on the trip, which seemed to have taken record time.

“My place, ” he said briefly.

For once Leona didn’t argue.

Fifteen minutes later they slid into the underground car park of Boyd’s grand old apartment building, which had undergone mammoth restoration only a few years before. Boyd had the penthouse, which was actually two units that had been turned into a very spacious unified whole. She had never been to the penthouse on her own but she had been invited many times to his dinner parties.

In silence they took the lift to the top, Leona not even knowing what she was doing. She felt so dazed and astounded by both Boyd’s and Rupert’s disclosures that she had difficulty taking it all in. It seemed to her like something out of a block-buster novel filled with family secrets, money, sex and complex people with passionate unfulfilled yearnings. Or did novels only mirror real life? She had always known that Alexa’s marriage had been unhappy, but never in a million years would she have suspected that Rupert had fallen blindly in love, however briefly, with her own mother, Serena. Yet Boyd had known and he had never said a word.

Until tonight.

No wonder he felt so connected.

To her.

They were inside. Leona waited. She didn’t move.

“You’re in shock, aren’t you? ” Boyd asked, closing thumb and finger around her chin, lifting it. He stared down into her face in concern.

“You know I am. ” She turned her eyes away from his searching regard, staring at without really seeing a large, light-filled Australian bush landscape that hung above the modern console in the entrance hall.

“I don’t blame you. ” He dropped his hand, then took her gently by the arm. “Do you feel like something to eat? We could eat here or we could go out. I know an excellent Italian restaurant within walking distance. ”

She allowed him to lead her into the living room, with its double height coffered ceiling and contemporary architect-designed furniture. The total effect was one of supremely elegant individualism. Masculine, most certainly, modernistic, but welcoming to women. She knew Boyd had bought the place because of its history. This was one of Sydney’s grand old dowager buildings with stunning night-time views of the city skyline. As well there were those soaring ceilings and the classic architectural elements which included marvellous fluted columns that divided the open-plan living-dining area. Architects and decorators had worked around the clock before Boyd had moved in.

“Well? ” he prompted, steering her towards a custom built sofa.

“I’m not hungry. ”

“All the same, you should eat something. My father is a very devious complex character, but you can’t let him get to you. I for one am starving. I always have a very light lunch before a match—God, it seems like years ago instead of this afternoon—nothing at all at afternoon tea, there were so many people wanting to talk to me. I need to feel human again. ”

“It was wrong of you not to tell me, ” she said, clutching a striped silk cushion to her breast like some kind of defence.

He sat down beside her, intensity in his blue eyes. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt and navy jeans and even then he was handsome enough to take a woman’s breath away. “Tell you what? ” he asked. “That my father was infatuated with your mother, who had no idea at all, for a brief period in their lives? What good would that have done? ”

She turned on him fiercely, tears standing in her eyes. “It would have explained Rupert’s attitude towards me. He’s never seen me as a person in my own right. When he looks at me he sees my mother. ”

“We all do, Leo, ” Boyd pointed out gently. “For that matter, I couldn’t count the number of people who’ve remarked on the colour and shape of my eyes. Everyone in the family knows I inherited my eyes from my mother. ”

“So some part of them does remain? ” she asked more calmly.

“Definitely. Turn your head and the family see Serena. Turn your head and you’ll see Blanchards, dead or alive. Every family has its own genetic blueprint. ”

She couldn’t be consoled. “It was sick, Rupert lusting after my mother. I can’t use any other word. She was a happily married woman. Besides, he had a most beautiful wife—your mother. I always knew Aunt Alexa had suffered. ”

“Most of us get to do our share of suffering, Leo, ” he said in a taut voice, taking the cushion from her and throwing it onto an armchair. “Falling in love isn’t all that rational, is it? It blindsides us. Dad didn’t do anything too terrible. He didn’t go after Serena like he goes after everything he wants. He didn’t break up his marriage, which evolved into little more than shadow play, or hers. My mother stayed for me. Much as I’m not in a mood to say it, I have to consider Dad as a victim. Falling in love with the wrong woman could be a very special hell. ”

“You think so? ”

“I’ve waited a hell of a long time for you. ”

That filled her with real shock, then a wave of elation that quickly gave way to suspicion. “So I was being seriously considered from early on? ” She didn’t wait for an answer but swept on. “At some level you hate your father, don’t you? ”

His handsome features tightened. “No, I don’t hate him, Leo, ” he said, putting his hand over hers. “How can I? I don’t want to hate anyone. It does no good at all and he is my father. He’s always backed me. ”

“Not in this! ” Her breath fluttered and she drew her hand away from the surge in her blood. “Is that why you’re doing it? ”

He trapped her hand again, his blue eyes burning into her. “I’ll forget you said that. ”

“Is it? ” she persisted with a rush of emotion. “All of us can see there’s great rivalry between you. ”

“The hell you can! ” he bit off. “The rivalry is all on my father’s side. I’ve tried as hard as I know how to be a good son, a good heir. I know Dad had a very tough time with my grandfather. There was always the constant pressure on him to measure up. I feel pressure too, but not in the same way. I’m not at war with my heritage, which I’ve often felt Dad was. Rich kids, like Dad was, can suffer extreme emotional deprivation, Leo. You should know a bit about that. ”

“Oh, I do, ” she confessed, “and I wasn’t even a rich kid. ”

“But you are part of the family. ”

“Well, being taken under the wing of a rich kid like you was riches enough for me, ” she said ironically. “And there’s the fact that my surname is Blanchard. ”

“And it’s going to remain that way, ” he assured her, a naturally dominant man.

She wanted nothing more in the world than to slump against him, have him gather her up. Didn’t he know she basked in his strength? Love for him was beating painfully in her throat. Even then she found herself unable to break free of the cycle of confrontation. “Because you say so? ” she flashed.

“Because I say so, ” he answered quietly.

“So it’s a kind of duty to marry you, is it? ” It was stupid but she couldn’t seem to get control. “A bit like royalty? At least Leo knows how things work! She’s not likely to rock the boat. Once the family is over the initial shock, they’ll start to philosophise—well, it’s not all that bad, is it? Tailormade in a way. Leo is, after all, one of us. She has shown she knows how to conduct herself. No wild card there. ” She broke off the perfect mimicking. “I tell you, Boyd, this whole thing has spooked me. ”

“Is it any wonder? ” His eyes were on the pulse that beat frantically in the hollow of her throat.

“And it can only get worse. ” She had seen the harshness, the massive affront in Rupert’s face, and he was a man one crossed at one’s peril.

“My father isn’t going to fight me on this, ” Boyd said, sounding utterly self-assured. “But, should he try, he’ll find for the first time in his life he won’t win. ”

“Second time, ” she corrected and gave a broken laugh. “He lost out on my mother. ”

His eyes held an electric blue flame. “Please forget that, Leo. It was nothing more than a fantasy. What’s real is this—I’m not going to lose out on you. I wouldn’t consider it for all the money in the world. ”

“Nice to know then you’re not going to lose any, ” she mocked. “I can’t pretend I’m overjoyed by your very pragmatic proposal. Deal, I suppose we should call it. I want to keep my dignity and my sense of self intact. It’s hard when I have to keep reminding myself I had to buy your silence to protect Robbie. ”

“Is it? ” Boyd gave a brief laugh, then rose to his six foot plus. “God, I’d almost forgotten Robbie, though he did precipitate matters. Our defining moment came when I caught you red-handed with the Blanchard Diamonds. ”

“I gave them back, didn’t I? ” She still felt the panic.

“Ridiculous! You didn’t take them in the first place. You love your kid brother so much you would even have taken the rap. Well, it’s time for a fresh start, Leona. For you and for Robbie. He has to quit the unloved boy act and his multiple addictions. The way you always cover for him is actually hindering his self-development. I’m telling you now. I’ve already told him. One more foolish move from him and he’s out on his ear. If I were Dad, he’d be as good as a dead man. Now, I think we should eat. You look as ravishing as ever, though a mite pale. I’ll change out of this T-shirt and jeans. Give me a few minutes. We can walk to the restaurant. ”

They went out into the balmy night. A high sky awash with stars. They bloomed over the Harbour, as they always did over water, extravagantly beautiful diamond daisies. It seemed as if everyone in the world was in love as they made their way to the restaurant. Comfortably married couples, leaning in towards each other, strolled along the street or dipped into arcades, admiring the brightly lit, expensive speciality shops that included a society florist who charged an arm and a leg for a sheaf of long-stemmed roses. Music spilled out from somewhere. A very old favourite, but with a modern twist. Young lovers, interested only in one another, appeared unable to untwine their limbs. A family was coming at them four abreast, the youngsters clearly enjoying themselves and their night out on the town. The party split in two and fell to either side of Boyd and Leona, who smiled and thanked them.

Car lights threw streams of silver foil down the ebony surface of the road. Tail-lights glowed red; a kaleidoscope of colours from neon signs on the buildings. Traffic lights flashed red, amber, green. Busy cosmopolitan Sydney with such general goodwill in the air, Leona thought. They were looking towards Sydney Tower, one of the tallest buildings south of the equator. She had dined countless times at the Tower’s revolving restaurants, which afforded arguably the most splendid panoramic view in the world. Sparkling Sydney Harbour in all its magnificence: the Harbour Bridge, the iconic Opera House with its glistening white sails, surrounded on three sides by deep blue water, the city buildings and, beyond the city central, its famous blue and gold beaches. One could see clear out to the Pacific Ocean on the one side, the mountains of the Great Dividing Range to the other. Loving her home town the way she did, Leona felt a surge of pleasure.

Delicious Italian food further soothed her. Diners sat deep in conversation, some flushed with sexual invitation, reaching across to hold hands. She finished two glasses of an excellent red, then took the unprecedented action of asking Boyd to pour her another. She did enjoy a glass of wine, especially champagne, but she was no drinker. Rather she was discovering the numbing effects the fruity wine was having on her distress. She didn’t have to drive home—was she going to get home? They had finished one bottle. Now they were onto another. Boyd, as ever, looked perfectly sober. She imagined she did too. But mightn’t he be over the limit to drive? It didn’t take much. Blanchards shunned bad publicity and Boyd was ultra responsible. Maybe he planned on sending her home in a taxi, which perversely aggrieved her. There were plenty whizzing up and down outside.

The small, beautifully shaped trees that lined this exclusive little enclave were twined with sparkling white lights. That lifted her spirits as well. She had never been to this restaurant before. She liked it. Trust Boyd to find it. The staff were unobtrusive but she realised they were being waited on hand and foot. No doubt Boyd always left a large tip.

“Feeling better? ” Boyd asked. She was aware that he had been studying her right throughout the meal.

“How could I not be? This is a seriously good restaurant. ”

“Our secret, ” he said, giving her a smile that made her shiver.

She leaned forward to whisper, “It doesn’t just cater to you, Boyd Blanchard. I’m going to bring friends here. They ought to be famous. ”

“Your friends? ” He lifted a black brow, pleased to see she was looking happier.

“No, the chefs at this restaurant. How precisely am I getting home? Or are you going to suggest I walk? ”

“I bet you could do it too. ” He finished his short black coffee, then lifted a hand for the bill. “How is it you look like an ethereal dream when you’re so athletic? ” He slanted her a mocking smile.

“I aim to be strong, ” she said. “I work out. ” She watched him add a substantial tip to the bill before handing the plate along with his platinum credit card, back to the waiter, who had appeared like a genie from a bottle.

Back out on the pavement, a good-looking young busker was moving around, violin tucked into his neck, playing the most romantic of solos. He had to be one of the Conservatorium’s best students, Leona thought, because his playing was absolutely top class, thrilling really. One reason perhaps why he hadn’t been moved on. A small crowd was sitting listening, and there were intermittent bursts of applause, while others continued strolling. The scintillating environment drew the crowds, day or night.

“Leave him something, ” Leona prompted, in the next breath realising that Boyd had no need of a prompt.

“I usually do, ” Boyd told her dryly. “I’m a very generous man. Haven’t you noticed? ”

Once she was accidentally bumped by a slightly manic young man wearing huge yellow sunglasses, no matter it was night-time, obviously showing off to his giggling girlfriend. Boyd quickly tucked Leona in to his side. “Real catch, isn’t he? ”

“They’re probably both at school. So do we shout for a taxi here? ” She tried hard to sound composed, but she wondered if he could feel her trembling.

“My thoughts were that you should stay the night, ” he said.

In an instant her blood changed course. It began to whoosh madly up against her artery walls. She didn’t know what was going to happen next.

“Don’t have visions of my trying to seduce you, ” Boyd told her smoothly. “It’s not going to happen. I’d just feel a lot happier if I had you in plain sight. ”

She felt so foolish, standing there, bereft of words. “I’m not suicidal, ” she managed at long last. Not suicidal, just wired inside. Stay the night! He wouldn’t have to try a centimetre to sweep away her every last inhibition. She thought of him, pulling her to him, his hands on her, his mouth on her…Oh, God! Even the godless prayed when they were in trouble, she thought. Not that she was godless. She was definitely a believer. This was the worst thing and the best thing that could happen to her. She should agree right away.

“Staying over is out of the question! ” she said, swallowing hard. Another minute and she would lose touch with all reality. It was a huge problem being in love with someone—at the same time making sure they didn’t know it. Soul-destroying really to have to hide one’s feelings from the person you loved most in all the world. But how could she make a clean breast of it when he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—or worst of all, didn’t feel the same as she did. Love was terrible, terrible, terrible and there were many degrees of it.

“How you do go on, Leo, ” Boyd gently mocked her. “It seems like a very good idea to me. You’ve had a huge upset. Dad really can be the most callous of men. ”

“I have to say he is. There’s such an emptiness in him. And, behind the powerful persona, a strange neediness. Jinty, on her own admission, can’t fulfil his emotional requirements. Probably after we left a huge fight broke out. ”

Boyd gave an ironic laugh. “Jinty would have backed down fast. She surprised me when she said she had concerns about Dad’s health. She’s never mentioned it before. ”

They had paused at the junction, the traffic humming around them, predominantly luxury cars, waiting for the green light. “I thought Rupert saw Dr Morse on a regular basis? ” she queried. She had a mental vision of Rupert’s dusky-cheeked glare. And, behind it, to her mind, a kind of raw, unresolved grief. Rupert at the best of times wasn’t a barrel of laughs, but that didn’t prevent her from feeling compassion for him.

Boyd looked down at her. Her beautiful skin was lustrous as a pearl in the city’s glow, her wind-tossed hair a glittering aureole around her small fine-boned face. She didn’t know how beautiful she was. Her beauty, like her musical speaking voice, was simply a part of her.

“I know Dad has been taking blood pressure medication for years now, ” he said. “He’s drinking too much these days, which would probably reduce or wipe out the effect of the medication. ” The light changed and they moved off as a couple, her arm linked through his. “People have stopped smoking in droves, yet Dad still goes for the Cuban cigars. I’ve said as much as I can say to him. He doesn’t listen anyway. ”

“So how would you feel if he suddenly had a heart attack, God forbid? ” Leona asked, feeling wretched. “Why don’t you just call this whole business off? At least for now. Let him come to terms with the unacceptable, if that’s at all possible. Besides, don’t a lot of men think one girl is as good as the next? ”

Boyd’s laugh was without humour. “I’m definitely not one of them. I won’t call it off, Leo, because it suits me very well. What’s more, I refuse to talk about it further. You’ll just have to be good and slip into the role of being my fiancé e. It won’t be difficult for a clever young woman like you. In a few months’ time, we’ll have the wedding. You can name the day. What about it? ”

Her hand shot up as a gust of wind blew a thick skein of hair across her face. “Boyd, I can’t! ”

“Why not? ” he asked very reasonably, helping her tuck the long lock behind her ear.

“Because…because…” Red wine soothed. It also excited the blood.

“You don’t really know why not, do you? ” he said.

“I do know you’ve set us on a very dangerous course. Your father was obviously intended by nature to be a tyrant. Maybe you will turn into a tyrant at some stage. ”

“It can’t happen if I have you, ” he retorted and pulled her closer. “I can always rely on you to pull me into line. Besides, do you know anyone better you’d like to marry? ” he asked, dodging an elderly man who appeared to be either dead set on walking into them or simply didn’t see them.

“I haven’t been thinking of marriage at all, ” Leona lied. “I’m more into a career, or haven’t you noticed? ”

A smile brushed his handsome mouth. “Leo, I know your job means a lot to you. You do it extremely well. Your job is safe. Bea has been known to frighten assistants to death but the two of you get on very well. ”

“Well, I’m used to frightening people. ”

“Tell me about it, ” he groaned.

They were back inside the apartment, which was more like a house. She went about switching on lights that were grouped on slim, elegant power boards. “This is some pad! We could be high up on a mountain. Far away from the world. ”

“Is that how you feel? ” he asked in a voice that made her pulses drum.

“Leading question. ” She continued wandering about as though new to the penthouse when she knew it well. “It all turned out very well, didn’t it? It’s sort of sculptural in a way. Masculine, but female friendly. ”

“And it suits the purpose. ” He followed her, keeping a few paces away. “Personal space, business space. I can switch on or I can switch off completely. ”

“What are you now? ” She didn’t dare turn to look at him, instead running her hand over a small bronze sculpture of a horse—Tang dynasty, she knew. Both she and Boyd loved the arts of Asia.

“Bordering on the disturbed, ” he confessed quite unexpectedly.

She spun in shock, meeting his brilliant blue gaze. “Isn’t that the way we usually are when we’re together? ”

He acknowledged her point with a dry smile, beginning to shrug out of his light beige cotton jacket, worn over a blue open-necked cotton shirt. It came to her that manufacturers didn’t make women’s shirts in that beautiful shade of blue. She would talk to Bea about it. “Are you going to sit down? ” Boyd asked.

“No, I’m going to wander, ” she said, moving about as though she couldn’t contain her restless excitement. “You and the architect and designers worked well together. The interiors are great, both the informal and the formal. It’s a reflection of you. Boyd Blanchard. Literally the Man at the Top. This has to be four or five times the size of my apartment. ”

Boyd settled himself into a plush sofa, spreading both arms along the back. “It’s big because it has to be, Leo. ”

“I know that. Anyway, I love my apartment. Chloe been here? Stayed overnight? ” She gave him a swift challenging glance.

“Who’s Chloe? I’ve never heard of her! ”

“I hate to say this, but I have. Lots of people are going to be upset if you push through with this. ”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that? ” he said. “Since you mention her, I should tell you I’ve said nothing whatever to Chloe that would—”

“I thought you didn’t remember her? ”

He ignored the jibe. “That would give her to understand that I hoped to marry her. We’ve known one another since we were kids. ”

“So in the end she was just one of the girlfriends? ”

His eyes narrowed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous. ”

“No way! ” She shook her head emphatically, though her heart felt heavy in her breast. “Really, when I think about it, it might be best if I go on home. ”

“But it’s pouring outside and you have no umbrella, ” he joked.

“Then how come I can see the stars shining? ”

“Here, come and sit beside me. ” He patted the sofa. “We’ll just talk. It’s me, Boyd, remember? You’re acting like you expect me to launch into wild erotic games. ”

“Perish the thought! ” A kiss—kisses, maybe. Madness. She knew neither of them could stick to kisses. Whatever flaws there were in his grand plan, they had well and truly discovered they had chemistry to burn.

“So you can’t have a worry. ” His manner was utterly relaxed. She drew a slow breath. Didn’t he know she was vibrating with nerves? Too much was happening to her, way too fast. The idea of their being a couple—an engaged couple—struck awe into her. She couldn’t bear to think of Rupert’s fantasies involving her innocent mother. That would have to keep until later. It seemed as if Rupert had longed all his life for what he couldn’t have.

“Trouble is, I’m a working girl, Boyd, ” she explained briskly. “I need to go home. Organise what I’m wearing tomorrow. I can’t go to work, in any old thing. Bea expects me to look great at all times. It’s part of the job. ”

“And you’re known for it. Don’t worry, I’ll wake you early, ” he promised. “I have a board meeting at eight-thirty. ”

She shook out her glittering cloud of hair—red, gold, copper lights. “If I could only work out what you really want of me, ” she said with perplexity. “Okay, I recognise some things—”

“Tell me what things, ” he challenged.

She sheered away from that. She had the unnerving feeling that she must look as if she urgently needed to be touched. It was taking every ounce of her self-control to deny him, deny herself. Nonetheless, she found the backbone to say, “Thank you, but no. I’d like you to call me a cab. ”

He didn’t argue. He stood up. “All right, if that’s the way you want it. But I won’t let you go home alone. I’ll come with you and take the trip back. ”

“It’s not necessary. ” She was so strung up her blood was bubbling away like streams of lava.

“I’ll do it, all the same, ” Boyd said, every bit as determined as she.

She began to walk rather frantically towards the entrance hall, but in the end she couldn’t stand it any more. She spun round quickly, unaware that Boyd was so close behind her. He loomed above her, trapping her in his blue gaze.

“Boyd! ” She came close to breaking down, only her lungs were out of air.

He took hold of her as if he owned her. As if she were the very image of his every desire. “God, Leona, ” he muttered, breathing her in. “I just can’t…can’t…be without you any more. ”

At his words, her mouth opened like a rose. She didn’t want to think. She only wanted to feel. She had been waiting for this since for ever, suppressing every natural instinct. Now all she wanted was to let go. There was only his breath mingling with hers, his mouth, their burning need, the swift slide into the most passionate rapture that had at its centre an element of melancholy.

Love was ecstasy. It was also a force that made intolerable demands. It stripped away pretence. It stripped away all defences. She stood with her arms locked around his waist. He was cupping her face in his hands, holding it up to him. Whatever words or lack of them were between them, their physical intimacy had developed at breathtaking speed. Now it had a life and a will of its own, saturating them both in its heat.

Boyd’s hand moved slowly, voluptuously, languorously, down the silky column of her neck, over the slope of her shoulder to her breast. She moved even closer to him, crushing her body against him, willing his seeking hand to find the tight little bud that was her nipple. He had such beautiful hands. Thrillingly, one cupped her small high breast. She shuddered as his thumb began to move with exquisite eroticism over the aroused peak.

Excitement was soaring, beat by beat. This was to die for. This never to be borne, piercing sweetness. Sweetness the love poets spoke of so eloquently. The overwhelming flood of feeling she was experiencing was so matchless it was allowing her to dream dreams where Boyd was with her always.

Moving with ravishing slowness, he lifted her, understanding her want was as great as his. They were in the master bedroom. She was lying on the huge bed, on top of the luxurious quilted pearl-grey silk cover. He stood at the side of the bed, his lean body poised over her. “I want you here like this always, ” he murmured, bringing down his arms so that his palms lay flat on the bed on either side of her. “Sleep with me? ”

“And let you take my soul? ” He already had her body. She stared up into his sapphire eyes. This was Boyd, the man she had known and loved since she was a child. Wasn’t it likely she had been programmed by the stars to fall in love with him? The splendid room seemed to be fading in and out. The high ceiling was swooping…there was only him. And her. Everyone else was far away. Her rapt state had little to do with the wine she had drunk at dinner. It had much more to do with being drunk on love. A love so powerful it could be regarded in some lights as entrapment.

“Does a woman lose her value once she sleeps with a man? ” she asked very quietly.

He gave a twisted little smile. “How can you of all people ask me such a question? ”

“No, Boyd. Listen to me. ” She half raised herself off the bed, clutching at his shirt front. Her beautiful eyes were filling with tears. “If we do this, there can be no going back. ”

His expression turned tender. He lowered himself onto the bed beside her, gathering both her hands in his. “My darling Leo, the last thing I want in this world is to go back. We go forward. Everything I have. Everything I am. Everything I hope to be. I’m handing it all over to you. ”

The way he was looking at her, the sound of his voice, gentle and low…Not only her heart, but her whole life was in his hands.

“You belong to me, Leo, ” he said. “I belong to you. You never fail me. ”

Could he bestow a greater compliment? He looked utterly sincere. She lay back again against the pile of silk cushions, throwing her arms above her head in a pose that was unconsciously erotic.

His hand fell to stroking her beautiful hair. “Don’t fight me, ” he begged. “Don’t fight us. Not now. ”

She gave a little wince of regret. “I only fight you because I think I can’t let you get the best of me. ”

He bent his head to kiss her trembling mouth. “Leo, I’ll take anything you can throw at me to get the best of you. Besides, our little spats were only a distraction, weren’t they? I suppose they served a purpose while you were growing up. But not now. God, what a day! ” He sighed, throwing back his dark head and momentarily closing his eyes. “I was totally incapable of sending you home. I want you here with me. Finally. ” He glanced down at her willowy body. “I want to undress you. I want to do it right now. ” He spoke in such a deeply caressing voice it seemed to her she could refuse him nothing. “Is it a safe time for you? ” He leant forward to search her eyes.

She felt her whole body flush, her answering, “Yes, ” barely above her breath.

Immediately he dipped his mouth to hers, gathering her into his arms so hungrily that every last barrier might have been removed.

“Do you realise how frightened I am? ” His ardour was so lushly powerful her very flesh seemed to be melting. Could she really give him what he wanted? He was a deeply passionate man. Could she satisfy him as she so desperately wanted to? Could she satisfy the desire that glittered in his eyes?

There was an exquisite gentleness and understanding in his downbent gaze, as if he read her mind. “Sweetheart, you’re safer with me, more free with me, than you could be with any other man. Your well-being is more important to me than my own. My only concern is to make love to you like you deserve. So, my love, where do we start? ” He reached down a hand. “With the shirt, I think. I hate these little buttons. ”

Her voice trembled as she tried to make a joke. “You can’t rip them. This outfit was very expensive. ”

“And it looks it too. I love the way you dress, Leo. I love all the different ways you do your hair. I love your voice. I’m in constant awe of your charm. ”

It was dizzying to hear such things, although Boyd had always complimented her on her appearance—really looked at her. She didn’t mean to say it, but somehow it came out. Part of her insecurities? “How many women have you slept with? ”

His glance licked across her like a blue flame. “Suddenly I forget. ” Very smoothly he removed her fine cotton shirt, tossing it onto an armchair, exposing her stretch-silk bra.

“Pretty, ” he said, trailing a finger into her creamy cleavage. “Cheeky even, Ms Blanchard! I bet the briefs match. ”

“I love good lingerie. ” She gave a fluttery breath, passing rapidly to a rapturous excitement. Beneath his moving fingers lay her heart. It belonged as much to him as her.

“I should tell you I slept with Mark Tyler. ” Get it over, she thought. Create trust?

He frowned slightly. “I know. ”

Mortification brought the blood to her face. “You know everything, don’t you? ”

“Yes. ”

It had been her first time—she had thought long and hard about it—Mark was a tender, caring person, but in the end it had been a mistake. Afterwards she couldn’t begin to imagine why people raved about sex. Her experience with Mark had been a case of reversed stereotypes. Mark had been the one in tears while she had passed very quickly to wanting him to get dressed and go on home.

But then her heart belonged elsewhere. Little detours, she had found to her cost, served no good purpose. She wanted and wanted…and the only one who could satisfy that want was Boyd.

“I once had the misfortune to be caught in a bar with poor old Mark, ” Boyd was saying. “I had to sit through a maudlin two hours while he mourned your split. He adored you. ”

“Adored me? ” she gasped as he caressed her body. “Didn’t take him long to get engaged. You had your affairs. By the time I was twenty I thought it high time I had mine. My two, that is. Neither of them worked. You were a curse laid on me in childhood. ”

He broke off his exquisite ministrations to place a silencing finger against her lips. “Leo, don’t say that! ”

A silent tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I meant blessing. I really shouldn’t be saying any of it. I’m no match for you, Boyd. ”

“Sweetheart! ” There was a look of the utmost concern on his striking face. “You more than match me. I’m mad to make love to you, but if you don’t wish it…”

Now she couldn’t suppress her urgency. “Kiss me, ” she said, reaching up to clasp a hand around his handsome head. “Kiss me. ” At that moment she felt proud and strong. Maybe even a little bit in charge.

Boyd’s laugh was exultant, coming from deep in his throat. “I’m going to cover you in kisses, starting at your toes. But first I think I’ll finish taking off your clothes. ”

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