Bridal Bargains

Then nothing. The whole villa seemed to settle into an ominous silence. She tolerated it for a while, just sat there and let that silence wash over her for several long wretched, muscle-locking minutes.

But that was the limit of her endurance, and the next moment she was up, stiff-limbed and shaking, walking out of the bedroom and to the head of the polished stairway.

As she moved downwards she could see the study door standing half-open, and hear the rasp of her father’s voice as he blasted words at Alex.

As if drawn by something way beyond instinct, she walked silently towards that half-open doorway.

‘I don’t know what you think you’re damned well playing at!’ She heard her father’s angry voice as she approached. ‘But you won’t get away with it!’

‘Get away with what?’ was Alex’s bland reply.

‘You know what I’m talking about!’ Jack Frazier grated.

Mia saw him then, and went perfectly still. He was standing with his back to her, every inch of him pulsing with a blistering fury as he faced Alex across the width of the desk. Alex was seated, looking supremely at ease in the way he was lazing back in his chair, his dark eyes cool, his lean face arrogantly impassive.

But what really struck at the very heart of her was to see Leon, standing at his brother’s shoulder.

Her breath stilled, her eyes widening as she instantly realised just what she was looking at. It was like being shot back to another scene like this—in another study, in another country altogether. Only here the roles had been reversed. This time it was her father who was pulsing with anger and frustration and Alex who was looking utterly unmoved by it all.

Leon’s sole purpose was to stand silent witness, whereas in London it had been Mia who had played that role.

A deliberate set-up? she wondered, and suspected that it most probably was. Jack Frazier had humiliated Alex that day when he had made him surrender his pride in front of Mia. Now it was her father’s turn to know just what that felt like.

She shivered, not sure that she liked to see Alex displaying this depth of ruthlessness.

‘All I know,’ she heard Alex reply, ‘is that you have been standing here, throwing out a lot of threats and insults, but I am still no wiser as to exactly what it is you are actually angry about.’

‘Don’t play bloody games with me,’ her father grated. ‘You’ve reneged on our deal, you cheating bastard! And you’ve stolen my youngest daughter! I want her back right now—or I’ll have you arrested for abduction!’

‘The telephone sits right there. By all means,’ Alex said invitingly, ‘call the police if you feel this passionate about it. But I think I should warn you,’ he added silkily, ‘that the police will demand proof of your claim before they will act. You have brought that proof with you, I must presume?’

Silence. It suddenly consumed the very atmosphere. Mia’s spine began to tingle, her breath lying suspended in her chest while her eyes fixed themselves on her father’s back as she waited for him to produce the proof that she of all people knew he had.

Yet … he didn’t do anything! He just stood there, un-moving, in that steadily thickening silence.

It was Alex who broke it. ‘You have a problem with that?’ he questioned smoothly.

‘We don’t need to get the police involved in this if you are sensible!’ her father said irritably.

‘Sensible,’ Alex thoughtfully repeated. ‘Yes,’ he said agreeably, ‘I think I can be sensible about this. You show me your proof of claim, and I will hand Suzanna over to you with no more argument.’

Mia felt the blood freeze in her veins, an excruciating sense of pained betrayal whitening her face as she took a jerky step forward. Then her pained eyes suddenly clashed head-on with a pair of burning black ones as Alex finally saw her there, and she went perfectly still.

No! those eyes seemed to be telling her. Wait! Trust me!

Trust him. Her hand reached out to clutch at the polished doorframe. Trust him! her mind was screaming at her. If you don’t, you will lose him! He will never forgive you!

Trust him. She swallowed thickly over the lump of fear that had formed in her throat and remained where she was.

‘I keep that kind of stuff with my lawyers,’ her father snapped out impatiently, ‘not on my person!’

Mia lost Alex’s attention as he fixed it back on Jack Frazier. ‘I possess all the usual communication equipment,’ he pointed out. ‘Call up your lawyers, tell them to fax the relevant information here and all this unpleasantness could be over in minutes.’

He even rose to lift the telephone receiver off its hook and held it out to her father! His body was relaxed, his face utterly impassive, and he did not so much as flicker another glance in Mia’s direction as a new silence began to stretch endlessly, along with Mia’s nerve-ends as she stood there, clutching the wooden doorframe with fingers that had turned to ice.

Then she jumped, startled as Alex suddenly slammed the telephone back on its rest. ‘No,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘You cannot do it, can you, because there was no official adoption!’

His hand shot out, picking up something from the desk and then slapping it back down again in front of Jack Frazier.