The Innocent's Sinful Craving

Why was he doing this? she asked herself. He was the virtual ruler of a great multinational organisation with worldwide interests in mining, shipping, agriculture, technology and tourism. He was related to the Latimers only because his father and Serafina were first cousins.

So, where in this busy and exhausting life did he find time to interest himself in Adam’s choice of wife?

It was like playing chess against a grand master, she thought. Finding your every move blocked with a mocking murmur of ‘Check’. Feeling increasingly out of your depth. Being driven inexorably to the moment when you’d overturn your piece in defeat.

And, right now, she was tempted to do exactly that. To invent some emergency and leave. Concentrate her energies on her career. Perhaps find contentment in a new relationship.

Except...

What peace of mind could she hope for if she allowed herself to be—mugged like this? To meekly give up Mannion without a fight—something that she wanted more than anything in the world, and that, morally and emotionally, already belonged to her?

Leaving her to wonder ‘what if’ for the rest of her life?

Robina’s arrival was a setback, nothing more. It was Adam who would ultimately shape his own future. And she had to make sure that she, and no one else, was part of that.

Starting tonight.

‘Aunt Mimi is like a dog with two tails,’ Nicola said wrathfully. She and Dana had gone for a stroll in the garden, filling in the time before they needed to change for the party.

‘She’s telling everyone she knew it was just a lovers’ tiff and that reason would prevail in the end. She even suggested to my future mother-in-law that when Adam proposed the toast to Eddie and me this evening, he should announce his own engagement at the same time.’

‘Oh, God.’ Dana bit her lip. ‘What did she say?’

Nicola grinned. ‘She began with “Over my dead body” and went on from there, adding pretty forcefully that Adam’s life is his own business.’

She paused. ‘What I can’t figure is how Zac got involved. Unless he fancies Robina for himself. Since his father’s heart problems, he must be under real pressure to marry.’

‘Poor Robina,’ Dana said lightly, aware of a sudden inner jolt.

‘You must be joking. When Zac eventually picks a wife, the world will be filled with the noise of shattered female hearts. And not just because he’s mega rich,’ she added drily. ‘Rumour has it that he’s a tiger in the bedroom.’

‘But who believes rumours?’ said Dana, lifting a hand ostensibly to push her hair back from her face, but actually to conceal that she was blushing. Aware too that she was trembling inside.

Which I don’t need, even if it’s with rage, she told herself grimly as they went back to the house.

Later, studying herself in the bathroom mirror, she felt moderately satisfied with the result. Tonight, she’d gone for basic black, a slender ankle-length sheath, cut high to the throat, but swooping wickedly at the back. Her newly washed hair was swept up into a loose knot on top of her head, with a few tendrils allowed to escape and frame her face, without concealing the jet hoops in her ears. Her eyes expertly shadowed looked exotic and mysterious, while her mouth, by contrast, was all innocence, painted a delicate pale rose.

Sophisticated? Maybe. Alluring? Perhaps. Enough to catch Adam’s attention and keep it? In the lap of the gods. But it would not be for want of trying.

She waited deliberately until the last minute before going down to the drawing room, aiming to time her entry so that she’d be the last to appear. But she hadn’t allowed for Robina’s famous unpunctuality, as one glance told her that she and Adam were still missing.

Damn, she thought, laughing and bobbing a mock curtsy in response to Eddie’s cheerfully non-PC wolf whistle. And avoiding even a glance in Zac’s direction.

She’d spotted him, lean and elegant in dinner jacket and black tie as soon as she’d walked in, that one fleeting look inflicting a potent reminder of the last time she’d seen him in evening clothes. The cool magic of his mouth in the darkness. The brooding gaze absorbing her half-naked body in the candlelight.

All of it telling her remorselessly that she was still a long way from forgetting.

Swiftly, she joined Emily and the others, laughing and chatting as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

The room soon began to fill up, with groups spilling out on to the terrace and the lawns beneath, so it was easy to lose herself among them.

Waitresses, hired for the occasion, carried round trays of wine and soft drinks, and a pianist provided a muted background of popular music old and new.