‘Why did you do that?’
‘Because without motive you would never have believed I could be involved. If you had not found those letters would you have gone with James?’
‘Maybe not,’ I admitted truthfully.
‘When they made their move I needed you to be off balance and not the sharp little cookie you usually are. I needed you to follow them blindly because you were so confused. Even if you
had called me to tell me where you were going it would have all fallen apart. I needed you to distrust me.’
So much thought had gone into his plan. My heart felt as if it was bursting with love for this man. I never truly understood him. There were still tears in my eyes, and he wiped them
away tenderly.
‘Oh Ivan. I really believed you were with them.’
‘Shhh… I know. I wanted you to. It’s OK. All is fair in love and war. I knew you heard my phone call. Hell, I threw a phone book against the wall to make a noise loud enough to wake you
up.’
‘But I suffered so. You don’t have a clue how much it hurt me.’
‘Not as much as me. It had to be done. There was no other way. It was agonizing to see your eyes turn wary. To see you look at me with such hurt that morning. I couldn’t even stay in the
apartment. I went straight to the office and I was like … what’s that thing you say I am in the mornings?’
‘Madder than a wet hen?’
‘Not that one.’
‘When you fall out of the angry tree and hit every branch on the way down?’
‘That’s the one,’ he said with a gorgeous smile. ‘I could never betray you. I love you.’
‘What?’
‘I could never betray you.’
‘The other part,’ I prompted with a happy grin.
‘I love you.’
‘You really do?’
‘Can’t you tell? Fucking hell, for a smart cookie you sure are dumb. Don’t you know when a man acts cold and disinterested in the presence of a drop dead beauty he is crazy about her?’
‘This is so hard to take in. I really thought you didn’t want me.’
There is only one word that comes into my head when I think of you. Mine. You were the one thing I couldn’t walk away from, the one constant thing I desired more than anything else. No
matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get you out of my mind or my fantasies.’ He winked. ‘You don’t know the things you’ve done in my fantasies. Besides I knew you secretly couldn’t keep
your hands off me.’
‘You think the sun rises just to hear you crow, don’t you?’ I retorted.
‘Doesn’t it?’
I grinned. ‘Well, I suppose I will keep you then. You’ll be useful for picking up heavy stuff.’
‘And licking your pussy.’
I licked my lips. ‘By the way, I’ve got something to tell you.’
‘That you’re my stepsister?’
My mouth fell open. ‘You knew? How?’
‘It was the last piece of the puzzle for me. The moment I found out you were a virgin I knew. No matter how beautiful you are, Robert was not going to leave his entire inheritance to a
random stranger he was not even fucking. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was how it all came about.’
‘All my life my mama never told me who my father was. I figure it was because he wounded her badly. I think he was the only one she ever loved and he left her after a month.’
I bent my head and looked at my fingers. They were twisted in my lap. It still hurt to think of that day my mama died.
‘Then on the day it was clear to her that she was passing she whispered Robert’s name in my ear and told me go and find him. She said he was a mean man, but I would melt his heart. I had
no money at all. I went to the bank manger to beg for a little loan and he told me … I could have the money if I got on my fine knees and sucked him off.’
Ivan’s eyes flared and his large hands covered mine protectively.
‘I didn’t know what to do. I was in such a state. I sold a little chain my mama had given me to someone who gave me seventy dollars for it. Then I went into the café and did an Internet
search for Robert Maxwell, the owner of Jetcorp. I made a long distance phone call to his office and told his secretary that my name was Tawny St. Clair who was the daughter of Tandy
Sinclair and that I had something very, very important to tell him.’
Remembering that time still made a lump form in my throat and I swallowed it away.
‘I said I would be calling again tomorrow at the same time and could she kindly tell him that. The next twenty-four hours were longest in my life. The next day I called and God answered
my prayers. My palms were so sweaty the phone kept slipping out of my hand, but he only asked me two questions. Was mama still alive? When I said no, I heard him sigh, and there was so
much regret in the sound I knew that somehow he was no longer the mean man that mama knew. Then he asked me when I could come. Straightaway, I said. So he sent me a ticket and I came to
England.’