Married By Christmas
Carole Mortimer
Made to marry! Lilli had drunk just a little too much champagne. However, barely three months had passed since her world had been rocked by trauma. She remembered allowing herself to be taken away from the party by devastatingly handsome banker Patrick Devlin… but how had she come to wake up the next morning in his bed?Whether or not they'd become lovers, Patrick wasn't about to let Lilli forget it. He vowed that she'd marry him within a month. The fact that only Patrick could save Lilli's father's chain of hotels from going bust meant that she had no choice - she would become Patrick's bride by Christmas!
She was not going to marry Patrick. Devlin! (#u5fa76d9b-dccc-5dbf-9787-8910d7a03e1e)About the Author (#u5adc51d6-cbbf-54ed-a2ad-aef6839082e8)Books by Carole Mortimer (#u76dd914f-1bf5-5e1f-a72f-080dae3e6efe)Title Page (#u49808ad8-9418-5587-b2b6-d606eff8b8b7)CHAPTER ONE (#u264fbae8-d37e-5747-968c-2a75f941a0fa)CHAPTER TWO (#u560fcda4-c785-552f-bf39-df2909122de9)CHAPTER THREE (#ub5b1eca9-9706-5637-92ad-dd2092789ef6)CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
She was not going to marry Patrick. Devlin!
He was mad. Completely. Utterly insane!
His mouth quirked with amusement as he saw those emotions flashing across her expressive face. “A month, Lilli,” he told her softly. “You will be my wife within the month.”
Lilli looked up at him frowning; his gaze was enigmatic now. He sounded so sure of himself, so calmly certain....
CAROLE MORTIMER says: “I was born in England, the youngest of three children—I have two older brothers. I started writing in 1978, and have now written over ninety books for Harlequin Presents
.
“I have four sons—Matthew, Joshua, Timothy and Peter—and a bearded collie dog called Merlyn. I’m in a very happy relationship with Peter Senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live on the Isle of Man.”
Books by Carole Mortimer
HARLEQUIN PRESENTS
1929—A MARRIAGE TO REMEMBER
1966—THE DIAMOND BRIDE
1977—JOINED BY MARRIAGE
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Married by Christmas
Carole Mortimer
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CHAPTER ONE
‘WHO is that gorgeous-looking man over there?’ Sally gushed eagerly at Lilli’s side.
Until that moment, Lilli had been staring sightlessly at a barman across the room as he quickly and efficiently served drinks to the multitude of people attending what had so far been a pretty boring party.
Or maybe it wasn’t the party that was boring; maybe it was just Lilli who felt slightly out of sync with the rest of the people here: if the babble of noise was anything to go by they were having such a good time.
She hadn’t attended a party like this in such a long while, and so much had happened in the preceding months. Once upon a time, she acknowledged, she would have thought this was a great party too, would have been at the centre of whatever was going on, but tonight—well, tonight she felt like a total outsider, rather as the only sober person in a room full of inebriates must feel. Except she had already consumed several glasses of champagne herself, so that wasn’t the reason she felt so out of touch with this crowd with which she had once spent so much time.
As for gorgeous men, the house was full of them—gorgeous and rich. When Geraldine Simms threw a party, this a pre-Christmas one, only the rich and beautiful were invited to attend, in their hundreds. Geraldine’s house, in a fashionable part of London, was as huge and prepossessing as its neighbours, and tonight it was bursting at the seams with bejewelled women and handsome men.
Lilli dragged her gaze away from the efficient barman, obviously hired for the evening. It was time she looked away anyway—the man had obviously noticed her attention several minutes ago, and, from the speculative look in his eyes, believed he had made a conquest! He couldn’t have been further from the truth; the last thing Lilli was interested in was a fling with any man, let alone someone as transient as a hired barman!
‘What gorgeous man?’ she asked Sally without interest. Sally was the one who had persuaded her to come in the first place, on the basis that a Geraldine Simms party, an event that only happened twice a year, was a party not to be missed.
‘Over by the door—Oh, damn it, he’s disappeared again!’ Sally frowned her irritation. She was a petite blonde, with a beauty that could stop a man in his tracks, the black dress she almost wore doing little to forestall this.
Lilli had met her several years ago, during the usual round of parties, and, because neither of them had any interest in becoming permanently entangled with any of the handsome men they encountered, they often found themselves spending the evening together laughing at some of the antics of the other women around them as they cast out their nets and secured some unsuspecting man for the evening. Rather a cruel occupation, really, but it had got Lilli and Sally through many a tedious occasion.
‘He must be gorgeous if you’ve taken an interest,’ Lilli said dryly, attracting more than her own fair share of admiring glances as she stood tall and slender next to Sally, her hair long and straight to her waist, as black as a raven’s wing, eyes cool and green in a gaminely beautiful face, the strapless above-knee-length red dress that she wore clinging to the perfection of her body. Her legs were long and shapely, still tanned from the summer months, the red high-heeled shoes she wore only adding to her height—and to the impression of unobtainable aloofness that she had practised to perfection over the years.
‘Oh, he is,’ Sally assured her, still searching the crowd for the object of her interest. ‘He makes all the other men here look like callow, narcissistic youths. He—Oh, damn,’ she swore impatiently. ‘Oh, well,’ she sighed, turning back to Lilli with a rueful grimace. ‘That was fun while it lasted!’ She sipped her champagne.
Lilli’s eyes widened. ‘You’ve given up already?’ She sounded surprised because she was. On the few occasions she had known Sally to take an interest in a man, she hadn’t given up until she had got him! And, as far as Lilli was aware, her friend had always succeeded...
‘Had to.’ Sally grimaced her disappointment, taking another sip of her champagne. ‘Unobtainable.’
‘You mean he’s married,’ Lilli said knowingly.
Sally arched her brows. ‘I’m sorry to say that hasn’t always been a deterrent in the past.’ She shook her head. ‘No, he belongs to Gerry,’ she explained disappointedly. ‘As far as I’m aware, no woman has ever taken one of our hostess’s men and lived to tell the tale. And I’m too young to die!’
Lilli laughed huskily at her friend’s woebegone expression. Sally was exaggerating, of course, although Geraldine’s succession of lovers was legendary. In fact, Lilli doubted there were too many men in this room the beautiful Geraldine Simms hadn’t been involved with at some time or other during the last few years. But at least she seemed to stay good friends with them, which had to say something about the bubbling effervescence of their hostess!
Sally glanced across the room again. ‘But he is so gorgeous...’ she said longingly.
Lilli gave a shake of her head. ‘Okay, I give up; where is he?’ She turned to look for the man who was so attractive that Sally seemed to be about to throw caution to the wind and challenge Gerry for him, on the other woman’s home ground, no less!
‘Over there.’ Sally nodded to the far side of the elegantly furnished room. ‘Standing next to Gerry near the window.’
Sally continued to give an exact description of the gorgeous man but Lilli was no longer listening to her, having already located the intimately engrossed couple, feeling the blood drain from her cheeks as she easily spotted the man standing so arrogantly self-assured at Geraldine’s side.
No!
Not him. Not here. Not with her!
Oh, God...! How could he? How dared he?
‘Isn’t he just—? I say, Lilli, you’ve gone very pale all of a sudden.’ Sally looked at her concernedly.
Pale? She was surprised she hadn’t gone grey, shocked she was still standing on legs that seemed to be shaking so badly her knees were knocking together, surprised she wasn’t screaming, accusing. What was he doing here? And so obviously with Geraldine Simms, a woman with the reputation of a man-eater.
‘Are you feeling okay?’ Sally touched her arm worriedly.
She wasn’t feeling at all, seemed to have gone completely numb. It wasn’t an emotion she was unfamiliar with, but she had never thought he would be the one to deal her such a blow.
Oh, God, she had to get out of here, away from the noise, away from them!
‘I’m fine, Sally,’ she told her friend stiltedly, the smile she forced not quite managing to curve her lips. ‘I—I think I’ve had enough for one night. It’s my first time out for months,’ she babbled. ‘I’m obviously out of practice. I—I’ll call you.’ She put her champagne glass down on the nearest available table. ‘We’ll have lunch.’
Sally looked totally bewildered by Lilli’s sudden urgency to be gone. ‘But it’s only eleven-thirty!’
And the party would go on until almost morning. In the past Lilli would probably have been among the last to leave. But not tonight. She had to get out of here now. She had to!
‘I’ll call you, Sally,’ she promised distantly, turning to stumble across the room, muttering her apologies as she bumped into people on the way, blind to where she was going, just needing to escape.
She had a jacket somewhere, she remembered. It was in a room at the back of the house. And she didn’t want to leave without it, didn’t want to have to come back to this house again to collect it. She didn’t want to ever have to see Geraldine Simms again. Not ever!
Where had they stored the coats? Every room she looked in appeared to be empty. One of them turned out not to be as empty as it at first appeared, a young couple in there taking advantage of the sofa to make love. But there were no coats.
She would just abandon her damn coat in a minute, would send someone over tomorrow for it, would just have to hope that it was still here.
She thrust open another door, deciding that if this room proved as fruitless as the others she would quietly leave and find herself a taxi.
‘Oh!’ She gasped as she realised she had walked into what must be the main kitchen of the house. It wasn’t empty. Not that there were any chefs rushing around preparing the food for the numerous guests. No, all the food, put out so deliciously on plates in the dining-room, had been provided by caterers.
A man sat at a long oak table in the middle of the room, his dark evening suit and snowy white shirt, with red bow-tie, tagging him as part of the elegant gathering in the main part of the house. Yet he sat alone in the kitchen, strong hands nursing what looked to be a glass of red wine, the open bottle on the table beside him, the only light in the room a single spotlight over the Aga.
But Lilli could see the man well enough, his dark, overlong hair with distinguished strands of grey at the temples, grey, enigmatic eyes in a face that might have been carved from granite, all sharp angles and hard-hewn features. From the way his long legs stretched out beneath the table, he was a very tall man, well over six feet, if Lilli had to guess. She would put his age in the late thirties.
She also knew, from that very first glance, that she had never seen him before!
She really was very much out of touch with the party scene! Once upon a time she would have known all the other guests at any occasion she went to, which was ultimately the reason they had become so boring to attend. But tonight there were at least two men present that she hadn’t encountered at one of these parties before—one she didn’t know at all, the other she most certainly did!
Her mouth tightened at her thoughts. ‘I’m sorry to have disturbed you,’ she told the man distractedly, turning to leave.
‘Not at all,’ the man drawled in a weary voice. ‘It’s quite pleasant to meet another refugee from that free-for-all out there!’
Lilli turned slowly back to him, dark brows raised. ‘You aren’t enjoying the party?’
His mouth quirked into a humourless smile, and he took a swallow of the wine before answering. ‘Not particularly,’ he dismissed disgustedly. ‘If I had known—!’ He picked up the bottle and refilled his glass, turning back to Lilli and raising the bottle in her direction. ‘Can I offer you some wine? It’s from Gerry’s private stock,’ he explained temptingly. ‘Much preferable to that champagne being served out there.’ He waved the bottle in the direction of the front of the house.
Gerry... Only Geraldine’s really close friends shortened her name in that way. He also knew where Geraldine kept her cellar of wine.
Lilli looked at the man with new interest. He obviously was—or had been—a close friend of Geraldine Simms. And, while Geraldine might remain on good terms with her ex-lovers, she certainly didn’t give them up to another woman easily...
Lilli entered the kitchen fully, aware of the man’s gaze on her as she moved across the dimly lit room, able to tell by the cool assessment in those pale grey eyes that he liked what he saw. ‘I would love some wine,’ she accepted as she sat down at the table, not opposite him but next to him, pushing a long swathe of her dark hair over her shoulder as she did so, turning to look at him, green eyes dark, a smile curving lips coloured the same red as her dress. ‘Thank you,’ she added huskily.
‘Good.’ He nodded his satisfaction with her answer, standing up to get a second glass.
Now it was Lilli’s turn to watch him. She had been right about his height; he must be at least six feet four, the cut of his suit doing nothing to hide the powerfully muscled body beneath. It also did nothing to mask his obvious contempt for these elegant trappings of civilised company!
She had no doubt that Sally would also have described him as gorgeous!
Her smile faded somewhat as she vividly brought to mind that image of the other man Sally had called gorgeous tonight; her last vision had been of Geraldine Simms draped decoratively across him as the two of them talked softly together.
‘Thank you,’ she told the man as he sat down beside her to pour her wine, picking up the glass when it was filled to swallow a grateful gulp. She could instantly feel the warmth of the wine inside her, merging with the glasses of champagne she had already consumed.
‘Patrick Devlin.’ The man held out his hand.
‘Lilli.’ She shook his hand, liking its cool strength, his name meaning absolutely nothing to her.
He raised dark brows, still retaining his light hold on her hand. ‘Just Lilli?’
Her gaze met his, seeing a wealth of experience in those grey depths. Some of that experience had been with Geraldine Simms, she felt sure. ‘Just Lilli,’ she nodded, sensing his interest in her. And she intended to keep that interest...
‘Well, Just Lilli...’ He slowly released her hand, although his gaze still easily held hers. ‘As we’re both bored with this party, what do you suggest we do with ourselves for the rest of the evening?’ He quirked mocking lips.
She laughed softly, well versed in the art of seduction herself. ‘What do you suggest we do?’ she encouraged softly.
He turned back to sit with his elbows resting on the table, sipping his wine. ‘Well...we could count how many patterned tiles there are on the wall over there.’ He nodded to the wall opposite.
Lilli didn’t so much as glance at them. ‘I have no interest in counting tiles, patterned or otherwise,’ she returned dryly, drinking some of her own wine. He was right—this wine was much nicer than champagne. It was taking away the numbness she had felt earlier, too.
‘No? Oh, well.’ He shrugged at the playful shake of her head, refilling her glass. ‘We could swap life stories?’
‘Definitely not!’ There was an edge of bitterness to her laugh this time.
He pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘You’re probably right,’ he said. ‘We could bake a cake? We’re certainly in the right place for it!’ He looked about them.
‘Can you cook?’ Lilli prompted; he didn’t look as if he knew one end of a cooker—or Aga!—from the other!
He grinned at her, showing very white and even teeth—and unlike most of the men here tonight, she would swear that he’d had none of them capped. ‘No one has yet complained about my toast,’ he drawled. ‘And I’ve been told I pour a mean glass of orange juice!’
She nodded as he gave her the answer she had expected. ‘And a mean glass of wine.’ She raised her glass as if in a salute to him.
He poured the last of the wine into her glass. ‘I’ll open another bottle.’ He stood up, moving confidently about the kitchen, walking to the cupboard at the back of the room, emerging triumphantly seconds later with a second bottle of the same wine.
Which he then proceeded to open deftly, refilling his own glass before sitting down next to Lilli once again. ‘Your turn. To make some suggestions,’ he elaborated huskily at her questioning look.
His words themselves were suggestive, but at this particular moment Lilli didn’t care. She was actually enjoying herself, and after the shock she had received earlier this evening that was something in itself.
‘Let me see...’ She made a show of giving it some thought, happily playing along with the game. ‘Do you play chess?’
‘Tolerably,’ he replied.
‘Hmm. Draughts?’
‘A champion,’ he assured her confidently. ‘That’s the one with the black and white discs—’
‘Not draughts, either,’ Lilli laughed, green eyes glowing, her cheeks warm, whether from the effect of the wine and champagne, or their verbal flirtation, she wasn’t really sure.
And she didn’t care, either. This man was a special friend of Geraldine Simms’, she was sure of it, and at this moment she had one hundred per cent of his attention. Wonderful!
‘Snakes and ladders?’ she suggested lightly.
‘Yes...’ he answered slowly. ‘Although my sister always said I cheated when we played as children; I used to go up the snakes and down the ladders!’
Lilli laughed again. Either the man really was funny, or else the wine was taking effect; either way, this was the most fun she had had in a long time. ‘I used to do that too,’ she confided, lightly touching his arm, instantly feeling the steely strength beneath his jacket. ‘And there’s no way we can play if we both cheat!’
‘True,’ he agreed, suddenly very close, his face mere inches away from hers now. ‘You know, Just Lilli, there’s one game I have an idea we’re both good at—and at which neither of us cheats!’ His voice was mesmerisingly low now, his aftershave faintly elusive, but at the same time completely masculine. ‘What do you say to the two of us—?’
‘Patrick!’ A feminine voice, slightly raised with impatience, interrupted him. ‘Why aren’t you at the party?’
He held Lilli’s eyes for several seconds longer, a promise in his own, lightly squeezing her hand as it still rested on his arm, before turning to face the source of that feminine impatience. ‘Because I prefer to be here,’ he answered firmly. ‘And, luckily for me, so does Lilli.’
‘Lilli...?’ The woman sounded startled now.
So much so that Lilli finally turned to look at her too. Geraldine Simms! She looked far from pleased to see the two of them sitting so close together, Patrick’s hand still resting slightly possessively on Lilli’s.
Lilli looked coldly at the other woman. ‘Geraldine,’ she greeted her hardly.
‘I didn’t realise you were here,’ Geraldine said faintly.
She could easily have guessed that! ‘Sally Walker telephoned me earlier and persuaded me to come with her.’ Lilli finished abruptly, ‘Wonderful party,’ her sarcasm barely veiled.
‘So wonderful Lilli and I were just about to leave.’ Patrick stood up, lightly pulling Lilli to her feet beside him, his arm moving about the slenderness of her waist now. ‘Weren’t we,’ he prompted.
As far as Lilli was aware—no, but it did seem like an excellent idea.
She turned her head slightly to give Geraldine a triumphant look. ‘Yes, we were just about to leave,’ she agreed brightly.
‘But—’ Geraldine looked flustered, not at all her usually confident self. ‘Patrick, you can’t leave!’ She looked at him beseechingly, not at all certain of herself—or him.
His arm tightened about Lilli’s waist. ‘Watch me,’ he stated determinedly.
‘But—’ Geraldine wrung her hands together. ‘Patrick, I threw this party partly for you—’
‘I hate parties, you know that.’ There was a hard edge to his voice that hadn’t been there when he’d flirted with Lilli. ‘I’ll come back tomorrow when all of this is over. In the meantime, I intend booking into a hotel for the night. Unless Lilli has any other ideas?’ he added, looking at her with raised brows.
‘Just Lilli’ had realised, from the conversation between these two, that the original plan must have been for Patrick to spend the night here. And, considering Geraldine’s intimacy with the man she had been draped over in the other room, that was no mean feat in itself; what did this woman do, line them up in relays? Whatever, Patrick had obviously decided he would rather spend the night with her, though the house she shared in Mayfair with her father was not the place for her to take him; she felt hurt and betrayed, but not that hurt and betrayed!
‘A hotel sounds fine,’ she accepted with bravado, green eyes challenging as she looked across the room at Geraldine.
The other woman’s stare relaxed slightly as she met that challenge. ‘Lilli, don’t do something you’ll regret,’ she cautioned gently.
Geraldine knew she had seen the two of them together, knew why she was doing this! All the better; there was no satisfaction in revenge if the person targeted was unaware of it...!
Lilli turned slightly into Patrick’s body, resting her head against the hardness of his chest. ‘I’m sure Patrick will make sure I don’t regret a thing,’ she said huskily.
‘Lilli—’
‘Gerry, just butt out, will you?’ Patrick told her impatiently. ‘Go and find your ageing lover and leave Lilli and me to get on with our lives. I’m not a monster intent on seducing an innocent, and you aren’t the girl’s mother, for goodness’ sake,’ he added disgustedly.
Lilli looked at the other woman with pure venom in her eyes; she had never disliked anyone as much as she did Geraldine Simms at that moment. ‘Yes, Geraldine,’ she said flatly. ‘Please go back to your lover; I’m sure he must be wondering where you are.’
‘We’ll go out the back way,’ Patrick suggested lightly. ‘Unless you want to fight your way out through the chaos?’
‘No, the back way is fine.’ Her coat didn’t matter any more; no doubt it would be returned to her in time!
‘Patrick!’ Geraldine had crossed the room to stop them at the door, a restraining hand on Patrick’s arm now. ‘I realise you’re angry with me right now, but please don’t—’
‘I’m not angry with you, Gerry,’ he cut in contemptuously. ‘No one has any ties on you; they never had!’ His face was cold as he looked down at her.
‘This isn’t important just now,’ the beautiful redhead dismissed impatiently. ‘Anyone but Lilli, Patrick,’ she groaned.
So the woman did have a conscience, after all! Unless, of course, she just didn’t want Lilli, in particular, walking off with one of her men...? In the circumstances, that was probably closer to the truth.
‘Please don’t worry on my account, Geraldine.’ Lilli deliberately used the other woman’s full name. The two of them had never been particularly close in the past, although Lilli did usually call her Gerry; but after this evening she hoped they would never meet again. ‘I know exactly what I’m doing,’ she affirmed.
Geraldine looked at Lilli searchingly for several long seconds. ‘I don’t think you do.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘And I’m absolutely positive you don’t, Patrick,’ she added firmly. ‘Lilli is—’
‘Could we leave now, Patrick?’ Lilli turned to him, open flirtation in the dark green of her eyes. ‘Before I decide snakes and ladders is preferable!’
He looked at her admiringly. ‘We’re leaving, Gerry,’ he told the other woman decisively. ‘Now.’
‘But—’
‘Now, Gerry,’ he insisted, opening the back door for Lilli to precede him. ‘Enjoy your party,’ he called over his shoulder, his arm once more about Lilli’s waist as they stepped out into the cold December evening.
The blast of icy cold air was like a slap on the face, and Lilli could feel her head swimming from the amount of champagne and wine she had drunk during the evening. In fact, she suddenly felt decidedly light-headed.
‘Steady.’ Patrick’s arm tightened about her waist as he held her beside him. ‘My car is just over here. Don’t you have a coat?’ He frowned as she shivered from the cold while he unlocked the doors of his sleek black sports car.
She suddenly couldn’t remember whether she had a coat or not. In fact, she was having trouble putting two thoughts together inside her head!
She gave a laugh as he opened the car door for her to get in, showing a long expanse of shapely leg as she dropped down into the low passenger seat. ‘I’m sure you’ll help me to get warm once we reach the hotel,’ she told him seductively.
His mouth quirked. ‘I’ll do my best, Just Lilli,’ he assured her, the promise in his voice unmistakable.
Lilli leant her head back against the seat as he closed her door to move around the car and get in behind the wheel. What was she doing here...? Oh, yes, she was getting away from Geraldine and him!
‘Any preference on hotels?’ Patrick glanced at her as he turned on the ignition.
Hotels? Why were they going to a hotel...? Oh, yes...this man was going to make love to her.
She shook her head, instantly wishing she hadn’t as it began to spin once again. ‘You choose,’ she said weakly.
She wasn’t actually going to be sick, was she?
God, she hoped not. Although she had no idea where they were going as Patrick turned the car out onto the road. And at that moment she didn’t care either. Nothing mattered at the moment. Not her. Not him. Not Geraldine Simms!
‘All right?’ Patrick reached out to squeeze her hand reassuringly.
She didn’t think she would ever be ‘all right’ again. She had felt as if her world had shattered three months ago; tonight it felt as if it had ended completely.
‘Fine,’ she answered as if from a long way away. ‘Just take me somewhere private and make love to me.’
‘Oh, I intend to, Just Lilli. I intend to.’
Lilli sat back with her eyes closed, wishing at that moment for total oblivion, not just a few hours in Patrick Devlin’s arms...
CHAPTER TWO
‘YOUR jacket.’ The garment was thrown over the back of a dining-room chair.
Lilli didn’t move, didn’t even raise her head. She wasn’t sure that she could!
She had been sitting here at the dining-table for the last hour, just drinking strong, unsweetened black coffee; the smell of food on the serving plates sitting on the side board had made her feel nauseous, so she had asked for them to be taken away. There was no one else here to eat it, anyway. At least, there hadn’t been...
‘Did you hear what I said?’
‘I heard you!’ She winced as the sound of her own voice made the thumping in her head even louder. ‘I heard you,’ she repeated softly, her voice almost a whisper now. But it still sounded too loud for her sensitive ears!
‘Well?’
He wasn’t going to leave it at that. She should have known that he wouldn’t. But all she really wanted to do, now that her head had at least stopped spinning, was to crawl into bed and sleep for twenty-four hours.
Fat chance!
‘Lilli!’ The impatience deepened in his voice.
At last she raised her head from where it had been resting in her hands as she stared down into her coffee cup, pushing back the dark thickness of her hair to look up at him with studied determination.
‘My God, Lilli!’ her father gasped disbelievingly. ‘You look terrible!’
‘Thank you!’ Her smile was merely a caricature of one, even her facial muscles seeming to hurt.
She knew exactly how she looked, had recoiled from her own reflection in the mirror earlier this morning. Her eyes were a dull green, bruises from lack of sleep visible beneath them, her face chalk-white. Her tangled hair she had managed to smooth into some sort of order with her fingers, but the overall impression, she knew, was not good. It wasn’t helped by the fact that she still had on the revealing red dress she had worn to the party the night before. A fact Grimes, the family butler, had definitely noted when she’d arrived back here by taxi an hour ago!
But if her father thought she looked bad now he should have seen her a couple of hours ago, when she’d first woken up; then she hadn’t even been wearing the red dress! And the rich baritone voice of Patrick Devlin had been coming from the bathroom as he’d sung while he took a shower...!
Her father dropped down heavily into the chair opposite her. ‘What were you thinking of, Lilli?’ He looked at her searchingly. ‘Or were you just not thinking at all?’ he added with regret.
He knew; she could tell by the expression in his eyes that he did. Of course he knew; Geraldine would have told him!
Because her father had been the man at Geraldine Simms’ side last night, the gorgeous man that Sally had referred to so interestedly, the man Geraldine had been draped over so intimately, her ‘ageing lover’, as Patrick had called him.
‘Were you?’ Lilli challenged insultingly. ‘Yes, I saw you last night,’ she scorned as a guarded look came over her father’s handsome face. ‘With Geraldine Simms,’ she continued accusingly, so angry she didn’t care about the pounding in her head at that moment. ‘But I suppose you call her Gerry.’ Her top lip curled back contemptuously. ‘All her intimate friends do!’
He drew in a harshly controlling breath. ‘And is that why you did what you did?’ he asked flatly. ‘Went off with a man you had only just met? A man you obviously spent the night with,’ he added as he looked pointedly at her dress.
‘And what about you?’ Lilli accused emotionally. ‘I don’t need to ask where you spent the night. Or with whom!’ She was furiously angry, but at the same time tears of pain glistened in her eyes.
Her father reached out to touch her hand, but she drew back as if she had been burnt ‘You don’t understand, Lilli,’ he told her in a hurt voice. ‘You—’
‘Oh, I understand only too well.’ She stood up so suddenly, her chair fell over behind her with a loud clatter, but neither of them took any notice of it as their green eyes locked. ‘You spent last night in the bed of a woman everyone knows to be a man-eating flirt, a woman who has been involved with numerous men since her brief marriage—and equally quick divorce!—five years ago. And with my mother, your wife, barely cold in her grave!’ She glared across the table at him, her breathing shallow and erratic in her agitation, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
For that was what hurt the most about all this. After a long illness, her mother had died three months ago—and now her father was intimately involved with one of the biggest flirts in London!
It was an insult to her mother’s memory. It was—it was—God, the pain last night of seeing her father with another woman—with that woman in particular!—had been almost more than she could bear.
Her father looked as if she had physically hit him, his face as pale as her own, the likeness between them even more noticeable during those seconds. Lilli had always been so proud of her father, had adored him as a child, admired him as an adult, had always loved the fact that she looked so much like him, her hair as dark as his.
Now she wished she looked like anyone else but him—because at this particular moment she hated him!
‘You’re right, Father, I don’t understand,’ she told him coldly as she rose and walked away from him. ‘But then, I don’t think I particularly want to.’
‘Lilli, did you spend the night with Patrick Devlin?’
She stopped at the door, her back still towards him. Then, swallowing hard, she turned to face him, her head held back defiantly. ‘Yes, I did,’ she told him starkly.
He frowned. ‘You went to bed with him?’
Lilli stared at her parent woodenly. She had woken up in a hotel bedroom this morning, wearing only her lace panties, with Patrick Devlin singing in the adjoining bathroom as he took a shower, the other side of the double bed showing signs of someone having slept there, the pillow indented, the sheet tangled; so it was probably a fair assumption that she had been to bed with him!
But the real truth of the matter was she didn’t actually remember, couldn’t recall anything of the night before from the moment she had closed her eyes in the car—and even some of the events before that were a bit hazy!
Her mouth tightened stubbornly. ‘What if I did? I’m over twenty-one.’ Just! ‘And a free agent.’ Definitely that, since the end of her engagement. She had barely been out of the house during the last six months—which was the reason the champagne and wine she’d drunk last night had hit her so strongly, she was sure. At least, that was what she had told herself this morning when she’d finally managed to open her eyes and face the day. ‘Who was I hurting?’ she added challengingly.
Her father gave a weary sigh, shaking his head. ‘Well, I believe the intention was to hurt me. But the person you’ve hurt the most is yourself. Lilli, do you have any idea who Patrick Devlin is?’
Why should she? As her father had already said, she had only met the man last night. And her nonsensical conversation with Patrick in the kitchen had told her nothing about him, except that he had a sense of humour. But then, she had told him nothing about herself either, was ‘Just Lilli’ as far as he was concerned. She never expected to see or hear from him again!
‘I only wanted to go to bed with him, not hear his life story!’ she scorned dismissively.
Her father drew a harsh breath. ‘Perhaps if you had done the latter, and not the former, this conversation wouldn’t be taking place. In fact, I’m sure it wouldn’t,’ he rasped abruptly. ‘You really don’t have any idea who he is?’
‘Why do you keep harping on about the man?’ She snapped her impatience. ‘He isn’t important—’
‘Oh, but he is,’ her father cut in softly.
‘Not to me.’ She gave a firm shake of her head, wincing as she did so.
She just wanted to forget about Patrick Devlin. Last night she had behaved completely out of character, mostly because, as her father had guessed, she wanted to hit out at him. But also at Geraldine Simms. Well, she had done that—more than done that if her father’s reaction was anything to go by!—and now she just wanted to forget it had ever happened. She couldn’t even remember half of last night’s events, so it shouldn’t be that hard to do!
‘Oh, yes, Lilli, he is important to you too.’ Her father nodded grimly. ‘Patrick Devlin is the Chairman of Paradise Bank.’
She thought back to the man she had met last night in Geraldine Simms’ kitchen—she couldn’t count this morning; she had left the hotel before he’d stopped singing and emerged from the bathroom! She remembered a tall, handsome man, with slightly overlong dark hair, and laughter in his deep grey eyes. He hadn’t looked anything like a banker.
She shrugged. ‘So? Is he married, with a dozen children; is that the problem?’ Although if he were he must have a very understanding wife, to have gone off to a party on his own and then have felt no compunction about staying out all night. No...somehow she didn’t think he was married.
Her father gave a sigh at the mockery in her tone. ‘Okay, let’s leave that part alone for a while. Do you know what else he is, Lilli?’
‘A Liberal Democrat,’ she taunted.
‘Oh, very funny!’ Her father, a staunch Conservative voter, wasn’t in the least amused at her continued levity.
‘Look, Father, I don’t—’
‘And will you stop calling me “Father” in that judgemental tone?’ he bit out tautly.
‘I’m sorry, but you just don’t seem like “Daddy” to me at the moment,’ she told him in a pained voice, unable to look at him at that moment, too.
Her father had always been there for her in the past, she had always been ‘Daddy’s little girl’, and now he suddenly seemed like a stranger...
‘I’m really sorry you feel that way, Lilli.’ He spoke gently. ‘It wasn’t meant to be this way.’
‘I’m not even going to ask what you mean by that remark,’ she said scathingly, turning towards the door once again.
‘I haven’t finished yet, Lilli—’
‘But I have!’ She swung round, eyes flashing deeply green. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure I can listen to any more of this without being sick!’ This time she did turn and walk out the door, her head held high.
‘He’s Geraldine’s brother,’ her father called after her. ‘Patrick Devlin is Geraldine’s older brother!’
She faltered only slightly, and then she just kept on walking, her legs moving automatically, that numbness she had known the night before thankfully creeping over her once again.
‘Where are you going?’ Her father now stood at the bottom of the stairs she had half ascended.
‘To bed,’ she told him flatly. ‘To sleep.’ For a million years, if she was lucky!
‘This mess will still be here when you wake up, Lilli,’ her father told her fiercely. ‘I’ll still be here!’
She didn’t answer him, didn’t even glance at him, continuing up to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her, deliberately keeping her mind blank as she threw off the clothes she had worn last night, not even bothering to put on a nightgown before climbing in between the sheets of her bed, pulling the covers up over the top of her head, willing herself to go to sleep.
And when she woke up maybe she would find the last twelve hours had been a nightmare...!
Geraldine Simms’ brother!
She didn’t know what time it was, how long she had slept, only that she had woken suddenly, sitting up in the bed, her eyes wide as that terrible truth pounded in her brain.
Patrick Devlin wasn’t a past or present lover of Geraldine Simms, but her brother!
No wonder he had been so familiar with the house, with where the wine was kept. And he hadn’t been going to spend the night there with Geraldine, but was obviously her guest at her house during his visit to London.
Lilli had thought she was being so clever, that she was walking away with a prize taken from under Geraldine’s nose. But all the time Patrick was the woman’s brother! No wonder Geraldine had tried to stop the two of them leaving together; considering her own involvement with Lilli’s father, any relationship between Lilli and her brother was a complication she could well do without!
Lilli had been to bed with the enemy...!
But she wasn’t involved with Patrick Devlin, had no ‘relationship’ with him; one night in bed together did not a relationship make!
One night in bed...
And she didn’t even remember it, she inwardly groaned. But Patrick had been singing quite happily to himself in the shower this morning, so he obviously did!
With the exception of her ex-fiancé, she had spent the majority of the last four years ignoring the obvious advances of the ‘beautiful men’ she met at parties, not even aware of the less obvious ones. But in a single night she had wiped all of that out by going to bed with the one man she should have stayed well away from.
Her father was right—this was a mess!
She fell back against the pillows, her eyes closed. A million years of sleep couldn’t undo what she had done last night.
Her only consolation—and it was a very slight one!—was that she was sure Patrick had been involved in a conversation with his sister this morning very similar to the one she’d had with her father. She wouldn’t be ‘Just Lilli’ to Patrick any more, but Elizabeth Bennett, daughter of Richard Bennett, of Bennett International Hotels, the current man in Geraldine’s life. No doubt her identity as the daughter of his sister’s ‘ageing lover’ had come as much of a shock to him as it had to her to realise he was Geraldine’s brother.
Lilli opened her eyes, her expression thoughtful now. Patrick hadn’t seemed any more pleased than she was at his sister’s choice of lover, which meant he wouldn’t be too eager ever to meet the lover’s daughter again, either. Which meant she could forget the whole sorry business.
End of mess.
Of course it was.
Now if she could just make her father see sense over this ridiculous involvement with Geraldine Simms—
She turned towards the door as a knock sounded on it. She hadn’t left instructions that she wasn’t to be disturbed, but even so she was irritated at the intrusion. ‘Yes?’ she prompted impatiently, getting out of bed to pull on her robe.
‘There’s someone downstairs waiting to see you, Miss Lilli, and—’
The young maid broke off in surprise as Lilli wrenched open the door. ‘There’s someone to see you,’ the maid repeated awkwardly.
‘What time is it?’ Lilli frowned, totally disoriented after her daytime sleep.
‘Three-thirty,’ Emily provided, a girl not much younger than Lilli herself. ‘Would you like me to serve tea to you and your visitor?’
She wasn’t in the mood to receive visitors, let alone sit and have tea with them. ‘I don’t think so, thank you,’ she replied distractedly. ‘Who is it?’ She frowned.
‘A Mr Devlin,’ Emily told her chattily. ‘I asked him to wait in the small sitting-room—’
‘Devlin!’ Lilli repeated forcefully, causing the young maid to look alarmed all over again. ‘Did you say a Mr Devlin, Emily?’ Her thoughts raced.
Patrick was here? So much for her thinking he wouldn’t ever want to see her again either once he realised who she was!
‘Yes.’ The young girl’s face was alight with infatuation—all the evidence Lilli needed that indeed it was the handsome Patrick Devlin downstairs.
Thinking back to the way he had looked last night—tall, and so elegantly handsome—she found it easy to see how a woman’s breath could be taken away just to look at him. And she had just spent the night with him!
Lilli drew in a sharp breath. ‘Please tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.’ Once she was dressed. His last memory of her must be of her wearing only cream lace panties; she intended the memory he took away of her today to be quite different!
It took more than the few minutes she had said to don a black sweater, fitted black trousers, apply a light makeup to hide the pallor of her face, and to braid her long hair into a loose plait down her spine. But at least when she looked in the mirror at her reflection she was satisfied with the result—cool and elegant.
Nevertheless, she took a deep breath before entering the room where Patrick Devlin waited for her. She had no idea what he was doing here—didn’t a woman walking out on him without even a goodbye, after spending the night with him, tell him that she didn’t want to see him again—ever? Obviously not, if his presence here was anything to go by...
He was standing in front of the window looking out at the winter garden when she entered, slowly turning to look at her as he became aware of her presence.
Lilli’s breath caught in her throat. God, he was handsome!
She hadn’t really registered that last night, but in the clear light of day he was incredibly attractive, ruggedly so, his hair so dark a brown it almost appeared black, with those distinguished wings of silver at his temples. His skin was lightly tanned, features so finely hewn they might have been carved from stone, his eyes a light, enigmatic grey.
He was dressed very similarly to her, except he wore a fine checked jacket over his black jumper. Which meant he had been back to Geraldine’s house this morning—if only to change his clothes!
He moved forward in long, easy movements, looking her critically up and down. ‘Well, well, well,’ he finally drawled. ‘If it isn’t Just Lilli—alias Elizabeth Bennett.’ His voice hardened over the latter.
‘Mr Devlin.’ She nodded coolly in acknowledgement, none of her inner turmoil—she hoped!—in evidence.
She had chosen to go with this man the evening before for two reasons: to hurt her father, and hit out at Geraldine Simms. And at this moment Patrick Devlin seemed very much aware of that!
His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘Mr. Devlin...? Really, Lilli, it’s a little late for formality between us, isn’t it?’ he taunted.
She moved pointedly away from him; his derisive manner was deliberately insulting. ‘Why are you here?’ She looked at him across the room with cool green eyes.
Dark brows rose at her tone. ‘Well, I could say you left your bra behind and I’ve come to return it, but as you weren’t wearing a bra last night...!’
‘That’s enough!’ she snapped, two bright spots of embarrassed colour in her cheeks now.
‘More than enough, I would say,’ he agreed, his eyes glittering icily. ‘Lilli, exactly what did you hope to achieve by going to bed with me?’
To hit out at her father, to hurt Geraldine Simms. Nothing more. But certainly nothing less. At the time she hadn’t realised the man she had chosen to help her was actually the other woman’s brother. She accepted it complicated things a little. Especially as he had come here today...
She deliberately gave a careless shrug. ‘A good time.’ It was half a question—because she couldn’t remember whether or not they’d had a good time together!
He gave an acknowledging nod at her reply. ‘And did you? Have a good time,’ he persisted dryly at her puzzled expression.
She frowned. ‘Didn’t you?’ she instantly returned. Two could play at this game!
His mouth quirked. ‘Marks out of ten? Or do you have some other method of rating your lovers—?’
‘There’s no need to be insulting!’ Lilli told him sharply.
‘There’s every need, damn you!’ Patrick advanced towards her, his hand on her arm, fingers warm against her skin.
‘Don’t touch me!’ she told him angrily, pulling away, and only succeeding in hurting herself. ‘Let me go,’ she ordered with every ounce of Bennett arrogance she possessed. This was her home, damn it, and he couldn’t just come in here—uninvited!—and insult and manhandle her!
He thrust her away from him. ‘I ought to break that beautiful neck of yours!’ he ground out fiercely, eyes narrowed. ‘You looked older last night... Exactly how old are you?’ he bit out, his gaze sweeping over her scathingly.
She looked startled. ‘What does my age have to do with anything?’
‘Just answer the question, Lilli,’ he rasped. ‘And while you’re at it explain to me exactly how the haughty Elizabeth Bennett ended up with a name like Lilli!’
Her own cheeks were flushed with anger now. ‘Neither of those things is any of your business!’
‘I’m making them so,’ he told her levelly.
This man might be as good-looking as the devil, but he had the arrogance to match! Why hadn’t she realised any of this the previous evening when she had met him? Because she hadn’t been thinking straight, she acknowledged heavily, had been blinded by the fury she felt towards her father and the woman he was obviously involved with. This man’s sister... She still had trouble connecting the two—they looked absolutely nothing alike!
‘Well?’ he prompted at her continued silence.
She glared at him resentfully, wanting him to leave but knowing he had no intention of doing so until he was good and ready—and he wasn’t either of those things yet! ‘I’m twenty-one,’ she told him tautly.
‘And?’ He looked at her hardly.
‘And three months,’ she supplied challengingly, knowing it wasn’t what he had been asking. But she had no intention of telling him that she had acquired the name Lilli because the baby brother she had adored, the baby brother who had died when he was only two years old, hadn’t been able to manage the name Elizabeth. Just as she had no intention of telling him that she knew to the day exactly how old she was, because her mother, the mother she had also adored, had died on her twenty-first birthday... It was also the day her fiancée, her father’s assistant, had walked out of her life...
He grimaced ruefully at her evasion. ‘A mere child,’ he ground out disgustedly. ‘The sacrificial lamb!’ He shook his head. ‘I hate to tell you this, Lilli, but your efforts—enjoyable as they were!—were completely wasted.’ His gaze hardened. ‘If my own sister’s pleadings failed to move me, you can be assured that a night of pleasure in your arms would have had even less effect!’
Lilli looked at him with haughty disdain. ‘I don’t have the least idea what you’re talking about,’ she snapped.
‘No?’ he queried sceptically.
‘No,’ she echoed tartly. ‘I don’t even know what you’re doing here today. We were at a party, we decided to spend the night together—and that should have been the end of it. You came here, I didn’t come to you,’ she reminded him coldly.
‘Actually, Lilli,’ he drawled softly, ‘I came to see your father, not you.’
Her head went back in astonishment. ‘My father...?’ she repeated in a puzzled voice.
Patrick nodded abruptly. ‘Unfortunately, I was informed he isn’t in,’ he said grimly.
‘So you asked to see me instead?’ she realised incredulously.
‘Correct,’ he affirmed, with a slight inclination of his head. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, Lilli,’ he added.
She swallowed hard, quickly reassessing the situation. ‘And just why did you want to see my father?’
Patrick looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘I’m sure you already know the answer to that question.’
‘Because he’s having a relationship with your sister?’ Lilli scorned. ‘It must keep you very busy if you pay personal calls on all her lovers in this way!’
Anger flared briefly in the grey depths of his eyes, and then they became glacially enigmatic, that gaze sweeping over her with deliberate assessment. ‘I’m sure you keep your father just as busy,’ he drawled.
After her comment about Geraldine, she had probably deserved that remark. Unfortunately, both this man and his sister brought out the worst in her; she wasn’t usually a bitchy person. But then, this whole situation was unusual!
‘Perhaps he’s paying a similar call on you at this very moment?’ Lilli returned.
‘I very much doubt it.’ Patrick gave a smile. ‘It hasn’t been my impression, so far in our acquaintance, that your father has ever deliberately gone out of his way to meet me!’
Her eyes widened. ‘The two of you have met?’ If they had, her father hadn’t mentioned that particular fact earlier!
‘Several times,’ Patrick confirmed enigmatically.
Exactly how long had her father been involved with Geraldine? Lilli had assumed it was a very recent thing, but if the two men had met ‘several times’...
‘Perhaps you could pass on a message to him that we will be meeting again, too. Very soon,’ Patrick added grimly, walking to the door.
Lilli watched him frowningly. ‘You’re leaving...?’ She hadn’t meant her voice to sound wistful at all—and yet somehow it did. In the fifteen minutes Patrick had been here he had made insulting comments to her, enigmatic remarks about her father—but he hadn’t really said anything. She wasn’t really sure what she had expected him to say... But the two of them had spent the night together, and—
He turned at the door, dark brows raised questioningly. ‘Do we have anything else to say to each other?’ he questioned in a bored voice.
No, of course they didn’t. They had had nothing to say to each other from the beginning. It was just that—
‘Ten, Lilli,’ he drawled softly. ‘You were a ten,’ he explained dryly as she gave him a puzzled look.
He laughed huskily as his meaning became clear and her cheeks suffused with heated colour.
She hadn’t wanted to know—hadn’t asked—
‘I’ll let myself out, Lilli,’ he volunteered, and did so, the door closing softly behind him.
Which was just as well—because Lilli had been rooted to the spot after that last statement.
Ten...
And she didn’t remember a single moment of it...
CHAPTER THREE
‘I WANT to know exactly what is going on, Daddy,’ Lilli told him firmly, having waited in the sitting-room for two hours before he came home, fortified by the tray of tea things Emily had brought in to her. After Patrick Devlin’s departure, Lilli had felt in need of something, and whisky, at that hour of the day, had been out of the question. Although the man was enough to drive anyone to drink!
She had heard her father enter the house, accosting him in the hallway as he walked towards the wide staircase.
He turned at the sound of her voice, his expression grim. ‘I was left in no doubt by you earlier that you didn’t want to hear anything more about Geraldine.’
‘I still don’t,’ Lilli told him impatiently. ‘Her brother, however, is a different matter!’
‘Patrick?’ her father replied.
Her mouth twisted. ‘Unless she has another brother—yes!’
Her father stiffened, striding forcefully across the hallway to join her as she went into the sitting-room, closing the door firmly behind him. ‘What about him?’ he said warily.
She gave an impatient sigh. ‘That’s what I just asked you!’
‘You spent the night with him, Lilli,’ her father reminded her. ‘I would have thought you would know all there is to know about the man! We none of us have defences in bed. Or so I’m told...’
She bit back the reply she would have liked to make; that sort of conversation would take them absolutely nowhere, as it had this morning. ‘I’m not talking about the man’s prowess—or otherwise!—in the bedroom,’ she snapped. ‘He said the two of you know each other.’
‘Did he?’ her father returned with studied indifference.
‘Daddy!’ She glared at her father’s back as he stood looking out of the window now—very much as Patrick had done earlier. He was trying to give the impression that the subject of the other man bored him, and yet, somehow, she knew that it didn’t...
He sighed. ‘I’m sorry. I just didn’t realise the two of you had spent part of your night together discussing me—’
‘We didn’t,’ Lilli cut in. ‘He was here earlier.’
Her father froze, slowly turning to face her. ‘Devlin came here?’
She wasn’t wrong; she was sure she wasn’t; she had never seen this emotion in her father before, but he actually looked slightly fearful. And it had something to do with Patrick Devlin...
‘Yes, he was here,’ she confirmed steadily. ‘And he said some things—’
‘He had no right, damn him!’ her father told her fiercely, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
‘I’m your daughter—’
‘And this is a business matter,’ he barked tensely. ‘If I had wanted to tell you about it then I would have done so.’
‘Tell me now?’ Lilli encouraged softly. Her father had mentioned this morning that Patrick Devlin was the chairman of Paradise Bank—could that have something to do with this ‘business matter’? Although, as far as she was aware, her family had always banked with Cleveley...
‘I told you, Patrick Devlin is Paradise Bank,’ her father grated.
And she was none the wiser for his repeating the fact! ‘Yes?’
‘Don’t you ever read the newspapers, Lilli?’ her father said tersely. ‘Or are you more like your mother than I realised, and only interested in what Bennett International Hotels can give you in terms of money and lifestyle?’
The accusation hung between them, everything suddenly seeming very quiet; even the air was still.
Lilli stared at her father, barely breathing, a tight pain in her chest.
Her father stared back at her, obviously mortified at what he had just said, his face very pale.
They never talked about her mother, or baby Robbie; they had, by tacit agreement, never talked about the loss of either.
Lilli drew in a deep breath. ‘I know Mummy had her faults—’
‘I’m sorry, Lilli—’
They had both begun talking at the same time, both coming to an abrupt halt, once again staring at each other, awkwardly this time. The last three months had been difficult; Lilli’s grief at her mother’s death was something she hadn’t been able to share with anyone. Not even her father.
She had known that her father had his own pain to deal with. The years during which her mother’s illness had deteriorated had been even more difficult for him than they had for Lilli, her mother’s moods fluctuating between self-pity and anger. It had been hard to cope with, Lilli freely acknowledged. But she had had no idea how bitter her father had become...
‘I shouldn’t have said that.’ Her father ran a weary hand through dark hair liberally peppered with grey. ‘I’m sorry, Lilli.’
She wasn’t sure whether he was apologising for the remarks about her mother, or for the fact that he felt the way he did...
‘No, you shouldn’t,’ she agreed quietly. ‘But a lot of things have been said and done in the last twenty-four hours that shouldn’t have been.’ She included her own behaviour with Patrick Devlin in that! ‘Perhaps it would be better if we just forgot about them?’ She certainly wanted to forget last night!
‘I wish we could, Lilli.’ Her father sat down heavily in one of the armchairs, shaking his head. ‘But I don’t think Devlin will let either of us do that.’ He leant his head back against the chair, his eyes closed. ‘What did he have to say when he came here earlier?’ He opened his eyes to look at her frowningly.
Besides marking her as a ten...?
‘Not a lot, Daddy.’ She crossed the room to kneel on the carpet at his feet. ‘Although he did say to tell you the two of you would be meeting again. Soon. Tell me what’s going on, Daddy?’ She looked up at him appealingly.
He reached out to smooth gently the loose tendrils of dark hair away from her cheeks. ‘You’re so young, Lilli.’ He sounded pained. ‘So very young,’ he groaned. ‘You give the outward impression of being so cool and self-possessed, and yet...’
‘It’s just an impression,’ she acknowledged ruefully. ‘How well you know me, Daddy.’ She gave a wistful smile.
‘I should do,’ he said with gentle affection. ‘I love you very much, Lilli. No matter what happens, I hope you never forget that.’ He gave a heavy sigh.
Lilli once again felt that chill of foreboding down her spine. What was going to happen? And what did Patrick Devlin have to do with it? Because she didn’t doubt that he was at the root of her father’s problem.
Her father straightened determinedly in his chair, that air of defeat instantly dispelled. ‘Devlin and I are involved in some business that isn’t going quite the way he wishes it would,’ he explained briskly.
Lilli frowned, realising that, with this blunt statement, her father had decided not to tell her anything. ‘He called me a sacrificial lamb,’ she persisted.
‘Did he, indeed?’ her father rapped out harshly. ‘What the hell does he think I am?’ he cried angrily, rising forcefully to his feet. ‘Devlin is right, Lilli—it’s past time the two of us met again. Damn Gerry and her diplomatic approach—’
‘About Geraldine Simms—’
‘She’s not for discussion, Lilli,’ her father cut in defensively, those few minutes of father-daughter closeness definitely over.
Obviously Geraldine Simms was too important in his life to be discussed with her! It made Lilli question exactly how long this relationship with the other woman had been going on. Since her mother’s death—or before that? The thought of her father having an affair with a woman like Geraldine Simms while her mother was still alive made Lilli feel ill. He couldn’t have—could he...?
Lilli stood up too, eyes flashing deeply emerald. ‘In that case,’ she rebutted angrily, ‘neither is the night I spent with her brother!’
‘Lilli!’ Her father stopped her as she was about to storm out of the room.
She turned slowly. ‘Yes?’ she said curtly.
‘Stay away from Devlin,’ he advised heavily. ‘He’s trouble.’
He might be, and until a short time ago she had been only too happy with the idea of never setting eyes on him again. But not any more. Patrick Devlin was the other half of this puzzle, and if her father wouldn’t tell her what was going on perhaps Patrick would!
She met her father’s gaze unblinkingly. ‘Stay away from Geraldine Simms,’ she mocked. ‘She’s trouble.’
Her father steadily met her rebellious gaze for several long seconds, and then he wearily shook his head. ‘This is so much deeper than you can possibly realise. You’re playing with fire where Devlin is concerned. He’s a barracuda in a city suit,’ he added bitterly.
‘Sounds like a fascinating combination,’ Lilli replied.
‘More like deadly,’ her father rasped, scowling darkly. ‘Lilli, I’m ordering you to stay away from him!’
Her eyes widened in shock. This was much more serious than she had even imagined; she couldn’t remember the last time her father bad ordered her to do anything. If he ever had. But the fact that he did it now only made her all the more determined.
The real problem with that was she had no idea—yet!—how to even make contact with Patrick Devlin again, without it seeming as if she was doing exactly that. Because she had a feeling he would react exactly as her father was doing if she went to him and asked for answers to her questions: refuse to give any!
Well, she might be young, as both men had already stated quite clearly today, but she was the daughter of one man, and had spent the previous night in the arms of the other—she certainly wasn’t a child, and she wasn’t about to be treated like one. By either of them!
‘Save that tone of voice for your employees, Father,’ she told him coldly. ‘Of which I—thankfully!—am not one!’ She closed the door decisively behind her as she left the room.
It was only once she was safely outside in the hallway that she allowed some of her defiance to leave her. But she had meant every word she’d said in there, she would get to the bottom of this mystery. And she knew the very person to help her do that...
‘Sally!’ she said warmly a few minutes later when the other woman answered her call after the tenth ring. She had begun to think Sally must be out. And that didn’t fit in with her plans at all. ‘It’s Lilli.’
‘Wow, that was quick,’ Sally returned lightly. ‘I didn’t expect to hear from you again for weeks.’
Lilli forced a bright laugh. ‘I said I would call you,’ she reminded her.
‘It’s a little late in the day for lunch,’ Sally said dryly. ‘Although to be honest,’ she added confidingly, ‘I’ve only just got out of bed. That was some party last night!’
Lilli wouldn’t know. ‘Any luck with that gorgeous man?’ she said playfully—knowing full well there hadn’t been; her father had spent the night with Geraldine Simms.
‘None at all.’ Sally sounded disappointed. ‘But then, with Gerry on the hunt, I never expected it. She monopolised the man all night, and then—’
‘Are you free for dinner this evening?’ Lilli cut in sharply—she knew what came ‘then’!
‘Well...I was due to go to the Jameses’ party this evening, but it will just be like every other party I’ve been to this month. Christmas-time is a bitch, isn’t it? Everyone and his cousin throws a party—and invites exactly the same people to every one! In all honesty, I’m all partied out. And there’s another ten days to go yet!’ Sally groaned with feeling.
‘Does that mean you’re free for dinner?’ Lilli prompted.
‘Name the place!’ The grin could be heard in Sally’s voice.
Lilli did, choosing one of her own favourite restaurants, knowing the other woman would like it too. She also promised that it was her treat; Sally knew ‘everyone and his cousin’, and anything there was to know about them. Lilli didn’t doubt she would know about Patrick Devlin too...
She wasn’t disappointed in her choice of informant!
‘Patrick!’ Even the way Sally said his name spoke volumes. ‘Now there is a gorgeous man. Tall, dark, handsome—He’s Gerry’s brother, you know—’
‘I do know,’ Lilli confirmed—she knew now!
‘He’s also intelligent, rich—oh yes, very rich.’ Sally laughed softly.
‘And single.’ It was almost a question—because Lilli wasn’t absolutely sure of his marital status. She had beea to bed with the man, and she didn’t even know whether he was married!
‘He is now,’ Sally nodded, nibbling on one of the prawns she had chosen to start her meal. ‘Sanchia wasn’t the faithful kind, and so he went through rather a messy divorce about five years ago. Sanchia took him for millions. Personally, I would rather have kept the man, but Sanchia settled for the cash and moved back to France, where she originally came from.’
Sanchia... Patrick had been married to a woman called Sanchia. A woman who had been unfaithful to him. She couldn’t have known him very well if she had thought he would put up with that; Lilli had only known him twenty-four hours, but, even so, she knew he was a man who kept what he had. Exclusively.
But at least he wasn’t married now, which was a relief to hear after last night. Although there was still so much Lilli wanted to know about him...
‘What does he do?’ Lilli frowned; chairman of a bank didn’t tell her anything.
‘I just told you.’ Sally laughed. ‘He makes millions.’
‘And then gives them away to ex-wives,’ Lilli scorned; that didn’t sound very intelligent to her!
‘One ex-wife,’ Sally corrected her. ‘And he didn’t give it away. It was probably worth it to him to get that embarrassment out of his life. Sanchia liked men, and made no secret of the fact...’
‘She sounds a lot like his sister,’ Lilli said bitterly. How could her father have been so stupid as to have got mixed up with such a family?
‘Gerry’s okay,’ Sally said grudgingly. ‘Although Patrick is even better,’ she added suggestively.
Lilli gave her a guarded look. ‘Sally, you haven’t—You and he haven‘t—’
‘I should be so lucky!’ Sally laughed again ruefully. ‘But Patrick doesn’t. Not any more. Not since Sanchia,’ she amended wistfully.
Lilli hoped she succeeded in hiding the shock she felt at this last statement. Because Patrick most certainly did! At least, he had last night. With her...
Sally gave her a considering look. ‘You do realise I’m going to have a few questions of my own at the end of this conversation?’ she teased. ‘And the first one is going to be, just when and where did you get to meet Patrick? As far as I’m aware, he’s lived in New York for the last five years, and he’s very rarely seen over here.’
Lilli kept her expression deliberately bland. ‘Hey, I’m the one buying you dinner, remember,’ she reminded her. She liked Sally very much, found her great fun to go out with, but she was also aware that her friend was the biggest gossip in London—that was the reason she had been the perfect choice for this conversation in the first place! ‘Besides, just what makes you think I have met him?’ She opened widely innocent eyes.
Sally gave a throaty chuckle, attracting the attention of several of the men at adjoining tables. Not that she seemed in the least concerned by this male interest; she was still looking thoughtfully at Lilli. ‘Only a woman who had actually met Patrick would show this much interest in him; he’s a presence to be reckoned with!’
Well, from all accounts—his account!—Lilli had met that challenge all too capably. ‘I’m more interested in the business side of his life than his personal one.’ Now that she had assured herself he wasn’t married or seriously involved with anyone!
Sally shrugged. ‘I’ve just told you he’s based in New York. Chairman of Paradise Bank. Rich as Croesus. What else is there to know?’
His business connection to her father! ‘English business interests?’ she prompted skilfully.
‘Oh, that one’s easy,’ the other woman returned. ‘It was all in the newspapers a couple of months ago.’ She smiled warmly at the waiter as he brought their main course.
Lilli barely stopped herself grinding her teeth together in frustration. What had been in the newspapers months ago? ‘I was a little out of touch with things at the time,’ she reminded Sally once they were alone again.
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