Buch lesen: «The Bitter Price Of Love»

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS late. The party, which had been going on for hours, was slowly winding down. Finding herself temporarily alone, Reba Wyeth set down her half-empty glass and moved towards the patio door which gave access to the roof-garden of this penthouse apartment. Outside the air was cooler, free of the smoke which irritated her eyes. Down below, and as far as the eye could see, the city sparkled. New York. A faint smile curved her lips. The city was at her feet in more ways than one, so shouldn’t she feel happier? She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. There was too much on her mind. Too much anxiety and concern. Everything was taking so long, and time was running out.

‘So there you are!’ a slightly scolding voice declared, and she turned, smiling at the man who came to join her.

Eliot Thorson III was universally considered to be quite a catch. He was in his late twenties, tall, tanned, with golden hair and blue eyes. Not only had he inherited a well-known chain of hotels, but he had an apartment in Manhattan and three others in LA, Paris and Rome. He also owned a string of polo ponies and an enormous yacht. Despite all of this, Reba had long ago decided he was a thoroughly nice man, whose only defect was that he was generous to a fault. She fought a constant battle to stop him showering her with anything she had shown the slightest interest in.

He also, to the dismay of her soft heart, thought he was in love with her. She didn’t feel the same, and hadn’t encouraged him in any way to think she might reciprocate. She could, of course, stop seeing him, but it seemed a drastic action, because he was a good friend and she enjoyed his company. She just hoped he would come to see, as she had, that it was an infatuation which would pass in time.

‘It was so stuffy in there, I needed to get some fresh air,’ she explained, and shivered again. It might be summer, but it could still be chilly in the small hours.

‘You’ll get more than fresh air; you’ll catch cold,’ Eliot pronounced, slipping off his dinner-jacket and placing it about her shoulders. ‘There, feel better?’ he asked, and when she nodded, he pulled her against him, holding her gently.

Reba didn’t protest. She had never felt threatened or overwhelmed by Eliot. She liked him. Liked him a lot. ‘Always the perfect gentleman,’ she teased lightly.

‘I’m glad you noticed,’ Eliot observed wryly, then, after a long, companionable silence, added, ‘When are you going to marry me, Reba?’

‘Marry you?’ Reba exclaimed, taken aback. This was a totally new development, and one she, rather naively, hadn’t expected. She should have done; even though she thought it was infatuation, he didn’t.

A fact he underlined now. ‘Don’t sound so surprised. You know I love you, don’t you?’

She hated hurting people, and struggled to frame a careful reply. ‘Yes, but are you sure, Eliot? You know, men fall in love with models all the time,’ she said gently, hoping he would see reason.

Eliot shook his head. ‘This isn’t like that. I love you, Reba. I want to take care of you and make you happy. Please say you’ll marry me.’

Reba eased herself free, so that she could look into his serious face. ‘Oh, Eliot, I care for you very much, but I don’t love you,’ she pointed out unhappily.

The admission didn’t dent his confidence one bit. ‘You will, if you let yourself.’

She had to laugh, albeit nervously. ‘You’re impossible! You can’t know that!’

‘I know I’m in love with you, and we could be happy together,’ he insisted, quartering her face with adoring eyes. ‘But you’re tired, aren’t you, sweetheart, and not up to taking me seriously? Come on, get your purse. I’ll take you home.’

Reba didn’t argue, for in truth she was very nearly out on her feet, and his unexpected proposal had knocked her for six. She was glad he had let the subject drop, although she didn’t believe she had heard the last of it for a moment. They said their goodbyes, and in a matter of minutes were on their way. Reba’s apartment had a view over Central Park, which gave her a feeling of space in an otherwise teeming city. Eliot escorted her right to her door, opening it for her before returning her key. Yet tonight he made no move to kiss her goodnight, and his face was entirely serious.

‘Listen, Reba, this is no joke. I want you to think seriously about marrying me.’ His hands gripped her shoulders through his jacket as he leant forward to add weight to his words. ‘I’ve never asked anyone else to marry me. I love you, sweetheart. We could be happy together. Think about it, please.’

She could see it was no joke. He really meant it, and the very least she could do was give it serious consideration, even if she knew she would still say no. He deserved that. ‘All right, Eliot, I will think about it,’ she promised.

‘And you’ll give me your answer when you get back from your next shoot?’ he urged, not willing to let it rest having got her to this point.

She was flying off to the Caribbean tomorrow on a modelling assignment which was due to last several weeks. It would certainly give her time to think of an answer for him. ‘OK. When I get back. But, Eliot, it could be no and not yes,’ she warned, as she removed his jacket and held it out to him.

He took it, leaning closer. ‘I’m a born optimist,’ he quipped, and kissed her. ‘Goodnight, sweetheart. See you in a couple of weeks.’

He left then, and Reba watched him until he disappeared into the lift with a final wave, before entering her apartment. Locking the door, she felt…unsettled. Edgy and irritable, she made her away through to her bedroom without bothering to switch on the lights until she got there. Throwing her purse down on to the cluttered dressing-table, she removed the combs from her hair, allowing its wildness to spring free. Tossing her head, she eased the tension in her neck, and found herself studying her reflection in the glass.

It showed her what it had always shown her, but now there was added glamour. She had always been a tall, curvaceous brunette, but the right training and makeup had revealed a new Reba, whose beauty was both striking and exotic. It was her eyes which had taken her out of the common mould: large golden cat’s-eyes, rimmed with long dark lashes, which gave her a felinely hungry look and added a sensual quality to her mouth.

It was the face and figure of a top model, but she hadn’t considered it as a career option until, on leaving university, disaster had struck her family. Her mother had developed a crippling disease which had only one possibility of a cure—a pioneering operation in the United States. The trouble was that it was astronomically expensive, and the family, minus a father who had died when Reba was still quite young, couldn’t afford it.

Not, that was, until a friend, who was in the business, had suggested that she could make a fortune as a model. Reba hadn’t even bothered to have a second thought and, with the help of her friend, had entered the world of modelling. In the beginning it had been an uphill struggle, with every penny she could spare being put in the bank to set against their expenses. Through sheer hard work she had fought her way towards the top, never refusing anything which would bring in money. But it had been so slow, and it was only now, two years later, that she was beginning to travel the world, commanding huge sums for a single session.

It had been time they could ill afford, and it was going to be tight getting the money for the operation before it was too late. Unless…Suddenly she knew why she was feeling so edgy. Eliot’s proposal. It occurred to her that if she accepted him, then it would certainly help her family out. But that was no basis for marriage! It wouldn’t be fair. To either of them.

Eliot said he loved her, but she had never pretended she loved him. She liked him very much, and felt they were good friends. His kisses were pleasant and his caresses tender, but there was no spark for her. She was twenty three years old, and she had always thought she would never marry anyone unless there was that certain something between them. It wasn’t ridiculous to want the heights, only natural. She was certain that Mr Right was out there somewhere, waiting around a corner she had yet to turn.

But, while she was waiting for Mr Right, her mother was slowly but surely dying—and the price of the operation was going up, her conscience now reminded her. And here was Eliot, wanting to marry her. She knew they could very possibly have a happy, if unexciting, marriage. Surely she should consider it—for her mother’s sake?

Sinking down on to the stool, she began cleaning off her make-up, knowing that there was no question of it. She must take it seriously though, and, however mercenary it sounded, she couldn’t afford to rule out any option. Yet it wasn’t going to be an easy decision to make, and she was glad she had some time in which to do it.

A week later, Reba gathered together her survival kit ready for the day’s filming ahead of them, knowing she was no nearer a solution. In fact, to be honest, she knew she had been putting the moment of decision off. She had told herself she was too busy, too tired, too…Any one of a number of excuses. Now, today, glancing at her watch, she told herself it was too late to think about it.

Leaving her room in the luxury hotel which the agency had booked for them, she hurried down to the lobby where the rest of the crew would be waiting. Contrary to some people’s expectations, she didn’t go around dressed like a fashion-plate all the time. Today she was in cut-off shorts and a baggy Hawaiian shirt. Costume and make-up would be discussed when they reached the location.

So far she, and the other three models, had only been shot in evening-wear, but now they were moving into beach and leisurewear, and the director had decided they needed to be on a yacht for the purpose. Reba didn’t mind. She loved the water and boats, although there hadn’t been much time for sailing recently. Plus it would be cooler at sea. She wasn’t fully acclimatised to the Caribbean heat, and sometimes found it enervating.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ she apologised, finding she was the last to arrive.

One of her fellow models, a Nordic blonde called Magda, who always appeared immaculately turned out, looked down her nose. ‘If you get a reputation for being late, nobody is going to employ you!’

‘You wish!’ grinned Linda, the make-up girl, and as Magda turned away with a sniff she rolled her eyes at Reba. ‘Take no notice of her, she’s just jealous. You’ve got further quicker than she did. Plus you’re going places, and she isn’t. Don’t let it upset you. You’re going to get a lot more of the same.’

Reba smiled back gratefully. She wasn’t the bitchy sort you sometimes needed to be to get on in this profession. She always tried to make friends with everyone, although Magda made that hard. ‘I’ll try not to, but this weather doesn’t help me keep my cool. It’s so hot already.’

‘I heard one of the waiters saying it probably means there’s going to be a storm. I’m just praying it won’t come while we’re at sea,’ Linda groaned, then came to attention as Maurice, the director, clapped his hands loudly.

‘OK, everyone, transport’s here. Let’s get going.’

They were ushered out to a minibus which took them from the hotel’s exclusive setting to the island’s main town, where the marina was situated. Reba slung her bag over her shoulder and breathed in the scent of the sea. Shading her eyes with her hands, she gazed along the lines of glittering craft of all shapes and sizes, and knew a longing to be skimming along the crystal waters, all her cares forgotten.

Maurice herded them along the main pier, then on to one of the branches. It soon became obvious that they were heading for a large white yacht where a man could be seen busily coiling rope. He glanced up as he heard them approaching, stretching to his full height, and Reba found her steps slowing, so that she was at the back of the group. She heard Maurice speaking, but it seemed to come from a great distance as she stared at the stranger.

He was tall, fair and tanned, but that wasn’t what brought the sensitive hairs all over her body to attention. He was pure male power, barely leashed. His blond hair was untamed, his blue eyes wild and compelling. He took the word handsome to the edge—and beyond. His clothes were clean but well-worn, the white vest clinging to every muscled inch of his chest, down to where the low-slung denims took over, their faded cloth straining at long powerful legs and the tears at the knees only adding to his incredible presence. He exuded a potency she had never encountered before. It called to her, and she responded on a primitive level.

As if becoming aware of her gaze, his head turned, searching, and her golden eyes met and locked on to a pair of deep blue ones. All the air seemed to leave her body in a rush. She thought, I know this man. He’s no stranger. I seem to have known him forever. It was the weirdest thing, and, what was more uncanny, he seemed to sense it too, for he went quite still. Without a word a message was sent and answered, and the world changed.

Maurice had been talking to the man, but he faltered when he realised he wasn’t being heard, and turned to find what had caught the other man’s attention. Reba was oblivious to more than one head turning, and only jolted out of the trance she appeared to be in when someone sniggered. Realising she was now the focus of everyone’s attention, a hot tide of embarrassment coloured her cheeks. Her heart was thumping fit to burst, and she glanced down quickly at her feet, trying to regain her composure. What on earth had just happened?

‘How sweet,’ Magda drawled snidely. ‘I do believe Reba has just fallen in love with the deck-hand!’

A jolt of shock ran through Reba at those words. Fallen in love? But she couldn’t have! Could she? Yet what else could explain this strange excitement inside her? The fizzing of her blood which made her feel more alive than she had ever been in her life?

Was this love?

‘You’d better snap out of it, Reba. Maurice looks like he’s going to throw a fit,’ Linda hissed in her ear, and Reba started, realising that they were the only two still left on the jetty. Everyone else was waiting on board, showing various degrees of impatience.

‘Sorry,’ Reba apologised, commanding her legs to move her forwards. She could feel eyes on her, but only one pair counted. A hand appeared to help her aboard, and she took it automatically, gasping as a frisson of electricity shot up her arm, and once more she met those incredible eyes.

‘Welcome aboard,’ he said easily, but there was a husky note to it, as if he had had trouble forcing the words out.

All her composure seemed to leave her in a flash. Her smile was wobbly, and her eyes questioned his, receiving an almost solar flare of emotion in return. Exhilarated and afraid all at once, she pulled free. ‘Thanks,’ she muttered, moving away, although it seemed incredibly hard to do.

‘Hi, I’m Linda,’ she heard the other girl say from behind her. ‘In case you’re interested, her name’s Reba.’

The man’s laugh was throaty and appreciative, and turned Reba’s stomach into knots. ‘Thanks, Linda. Hunter Jamieson.’

Hunter. She liked the sound of that. It suited him. Hunter…She daydreamed, and, for once in her life, the preparations for setting sail failed to hold her attention. In fact the whole day’s shooting became something of a dream. The man called Hunter never spoke to her, nor she to him, but she was vitally aware of his presence moving around the boat. It was as if she had suddenly become attuned to his frequency, and she didn’t have to look at him to know where he was.

She couldn’t concentrate properly, but must have done all that was expected of her because Maurice didn’t throw a tantrum. Yet it was hard to look at the camera when her eyes constantly wanted to stray. When they did, they clashed with blue ones intent on the same thing.

At the end of the day it was hard to leave the yacht, for it felt as if she were leaving part of herself behind. She had never felt this way before, and when she looked in the mirror in the privacy of her hotel room she found her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glittering. She saw a creature she no longer recognised. Every feature was the same, and yet not the same.

Of course it was impossible to sit still, and she went through the motions of preparing for dinner. She showered and washed her hair, slipping into a full-skirted, halter-necked sundress and comfortable espadrilles. However, she didn’t go down to the restaurant. Her stomach was churning too much for food. Something was calling to her, something stronger than any other need. As the sun began to set, she grabbed up her purse and a thin shawl and left, obeying an instinct as old as time itself.

The harbour was still alive with people, but as she made her way through the marina she met fewer and fewer. Most were out enjoying themselves, probably having dinner, and for a moment her heart failed her as she realised Hunter might not be on the yacht. Yet she need not have worried, for as she approached the boat she saw that there was light in the cabin, and as she came alongside he appeared on deck. Without a word he held out a hand, and she put hers into it and allowed him to help her aboard.

There was a moment when they simply gazed at each other, then Hunter smiled, and used his free hand to brush away a strand of hair which the impish breeze had blown across her face.

‘I knew you’d come,’ he said softly, yet with a certainty she couldn’t question.

‘Yes,’ she breathed, unable to deny it. Her eyes drank him in. Incredible to think they had only met hours ago, and yet it felt as if she had never belonged anywhere else. This evening he had changed into white chinos and a short-sleeved shirt, but they didn’t disguise the powerful body beneath.

He didn’t seem to mind her looking, nor did he release her hand. He studied her face as if he was imprinting it forever in his memory. ‘You have amazing eyes.’

‘So do you,’ she returned inanely, and flushed when he laughed. Yet there was no unkindness in it, more a release from the same tension that gripped her.

‘You don’t act like a model.’

Reba smiled up at him. ‘That’s what I do, not who I am.’

A strange light flickered at the back of his eyes. ‘And who are you, Reba?’

‘Just a woman,’ she told him simply, and watched fascinated as his mouth curved seductively as he smiled.

‘Oh, I’ll most definitely agree with that. You’re very much a woman,’ Hunter concurred huskily. ‘Have you eaten?’

The prosaic question made her realise that now she was quite incredibly hungry. ‘No.’

His fingers tightened on hers. ‘Good. I hope you like fish.’

Belatedly she became aware that behind him a table had been set for two, and from down below came the mouth-watering aroma of cooking. ‘I love it.’

Hunter dragged a hand through his hair, lips curving. ‘Somehow I knew you would,’ he said oddly, shaking his head before smiling again. ‘Sit down, make yourself comfortable. I’ll only be a moment.’

Reba caught her breath. So he felt it too, this knowing. ‘Do you need any help?’

‘Everything’s under control. Don’t run away,’ he cautioned as he headed for the steps.

She wouldn’t. She didn’t think she could. And even if she did, something told her she would have to come back. A cliché, but true: home was where the heart was, and her heart was here. The admission didn’t sound crazy or ridiculous, it just sounded right. Incredibly, amazingly right.

It was a feeling which grew all through the beautiful dinner Hunter had prepared. Someone could have dropped a bomb and it wouldn’t have penetrated the cocoon which surrounded them. The outside world had ceased to exist. They talked as if it were going out of fashion. Hunter seemed to have an unquenchable need to know everything there was to know about her. She found herself telling him things she hadn’t thought about for years. Afterwards, as they sipped at glasses of wine, he held her hand across the table, toying with her fingers, caressing them and twining them with his. She knew from his handling of the yacht that he was strong, yet his touch was gentle, almost as if he was afraid she would break.

Reba sighed. ‘Do you realise we’ve talked and talked, and yet I don’t even know if you have a mother?’

‘I did have, but both my parents are dead now. I’m thirty-three years old, have no brothers or sisters, and I mess about with boats for a living. Your turn.’

‘I’m a model, and twenty-three years old. I have a mother, but no father, and a brother and sister younger than me.’

‘So your mother had to work to raise you?’

Reba nodded. ‘Until she became ill. She’s something of an invalid now, but she has the most amazing courage.’ She hoped he wouldn’t ask her more, because Harriet Wycth was a proud woman, wanting complete control over who knew the truth of her illness. She simply refused to be pitied, and it had become second nature to her children to say nothing unless they asked her first.

Whether Hunter instinctively knew that or not, he forbore to question the statement. ‘I’d like to meet her some time,’ was all he said, and she squeezed his hand in relief.

‘She’d like you.’

Blue eyes danced. ‘Doesn’t she usually like your boyfriends?’

She sent him an old-fashioned look. ‘If you’re asking me if I have one, the answer is no.’ She had a fleeting thought for Eliot, but dismissed it.

‘Good,’ he pronounced gruffly, and her heart flipped over. Almost in the same instant she yawned, and Hunter looked at his watch. ‘Do you realise it’s gone one o’clock? I’d better get you back to the hotel. You need your beauty sleep,’ he declared, releasing her hand only to come round and help her to her feet, handing her her purse and draping her shawl about her shoulders.

‘Funny, but I don’t feel in the least bit tired,’ Reba pronounced, and immediately yawned again.

Hunter helped her down to the jetty with a laugh. ‘Something tells me Maurice won’t be pleased if you end up with bags under your eyes. I don’t want him deciding to use another boat. Then I’ll hardly get to see you.’ He slipped his arm round her shoulders and urged her towards the shore.

Reba decided she had never felt so secure. ‘Do you want to see me again?’ she asked, half teasing, half serious.

‘Only all the time,’ Hunter admitted wryly, and prompted a confession which had been bubbling inside her all day.

‘You’ll think it’s crazy, but I feel as if I’ve known you all my life.’

Hunter came to a halt, raising her chin with his hand so that their eyes met. ‘It’s not crazy, Reba. I feel the same. The minute I saw you, I knew you were different,’ he said, and brought his mouth down to cover hers.

It was a gentle kiss, offering much in its infinite tenderness. It was a promise of things to come, a seal on words unspoken. It took her heart away, and returned it to her irrevocably altered.

He released her with a shaken sigh. ‘This is uncanny. This morning I was a normal, level-headed man. Now I don’t seem to know which way is up any more.’

Oh, she knew just how he felt. Nothing had prepared her for this. Nothing ever could. ‘Do you mind?’

‘Hell, no! I’ve waited all my life for you; I’m not going to run away now.’

Her heart seemed to swell in her chest. It didn’t matter that they had only just met. Something that was destined to be could take five minutes or fifty years, but it would happen. She knew in her soul that they had been meant to meet.

Hunter left her at the hotel entrance, driving her there in a beat-up Jeep which had been parked behind one of the waterfront bars. Not wanting the evening to be over, Reba turned to him just as he was reaching for her, and this time the kiss was different. It sought a response to a passion held in check. Tasting her, learning her, he took her breath away and sent her blood pulsing through her veins. That unspoken awareness which had been between them all evening came to the surface at last, and she gasped, feeling nerve-ends come alive which she hadn’t even known existed. There was no way of not returning the kiss, and no way of hiding her groan of dismay when it ended all too soon.

Hunter’s breathing was ragged too, as he ran a finger over her tingling lips. ‘Momma should have told me it could be like this,’ he said huskily on a broken laugh, breaking the nerve-twisting tension, and Reba sighed, relaxing.

‘Do you realise you haven’t asked me about my girlfriends?’

Somehow the thought didn’t worry her. ‘How many have you had?’

His chuckle did wonderful things to her pulse-rate. ‘Plenty—in the past. Now there’s only you, and I want you all to myself. Do you mind?’ Hunter sounded possessive, and it sent a thrill along her spine.

‘No.’ She didn’t want to share him either. She wanted to be alone with him, close to him. A minute without him would seem a minute wasted.

‘Don’t leave with the others tomorrow. Stay aboard, and we’ll sail up the coast. What do you say?’

She smiled. ‘Yes.’

Hunter groaned. ‘The way you say that! It’s going to be a hell of a long day.’

Laughing, she climbed down from the vehicle. It would be a long day, but eventually it would be over, and then there would be just the two of them. She liked the sound of that. Liked it very much indeed.

They were both right; it did seem to take forever, but finally, after a successful day’s filming, the crew and the models were packed up and ready to leave. Reba had wished them gone a thousand times, because she hadn’t been able to speak to Hunter above twice all day. Every hour the need had grown inside her to be near to him, to touch him. She’d never really understood why couples felt they had to be glued together, but now she knew. It was a compulsive need to make contact, even if that simply meant holding hands.

‘They’re gone,’ Hunter declared from behind her, and she spun round, not having heard him come down to the cabin which they had been using as a changing-room.

A lump constricted her throat as she finally came face to face with him. There was a glitter in his eyes, and a teasing curve to his lips which made her heart flip. ‘I thought they’d never go!’ she exclaimed, wanting to go to him, yet strangely held back. She didn’t realise how vulnerable she looked in jeans and T-shirt, with her face free of make-up.

‘Come and kiss me, Reba, before I go quietly insane,’ he ordered huskily, and she knew then that he had suffered as much as she had.

She positively flew across the room and into his arms. All day she had been longing for his kiss and, from the hunger in his own lips which fused with hers, she knew she hadn’t been alone. Lord, she hadn’t imagined it, this tingling pleasure that sent pulses to every corner of her body, bringing it alive as never before. He was holding her so tightly that she could scarcely breathe, but it was wonderful.

Hunter reluctantly lifted his head before they suffocated. ‘I needed that,’ he groaned feelingly, and his fingers curled into her hair, bringing her head down on to his shoulder.

She could hear his heart thudding wildly, and revelled in it. ‘I missed you.’

He laughed. ‘God, this is crazy. We’re behaving like a couple of teenagers!’

Reba laughed with him, a bubbling sound, feeling almost drunk with happiness. ‘You know something? I don’t care.’

‘Neither do I. Come on, let’s get under way.’

They worked together as if they had always been a team. Reba didn’t need to be told what to do, jumping to each task with pleasure. It was hard work, but she enjoyed every aspect of sailing, even the most mundane job. When the sails were set and they were skimming along, leaving a creamy wake behind them, she joined Hunter at the wheel, slipping her arm through his.

He bent and pressed a kiss to her wind-blown hair. ‘You look at home here.’

It felt like the greatest compliment, coming from a man who seemed at one with the craft and the sea. ‘I love sailing, but I’ve never sailed a yacht as lovely as this. She handles beautifully—it makes me itch to have a go.’