And the Bride Wore Black

‘What?’ She knew exactly what he meant and glared at him as he gave a soft chuckle.

‘Poor Xavier, and he so prides himself on his creative cocktails; you’ve quite ruined his night.’

‘You didn’t have to join me, you could have had what you wanted,’ she said tartly, her eyes flashing.

‘I wanted to join you, Fabia,’ he said softly as all amusement left his face. ‘I’ve got exactly what I wanted.’ There was a strange expression on his face and she stared at him uncertainly for a moment or two before he leant forward to touch her cheek with the tip of one finger, his eyes unreadable. ‘I thought so—soft as silk.’

‘Don’t!’ She jerked back so violently from his touch that she almost knocked the glass of water that the waiter was presenting over her shoulder out of his hand.

‘Sorry.’ She smiled up at the young lad quickly. ‘My fault.’

‘Thank you, miss.’ He placed the beautifully cut crystal wine glass in front of her carefully. ‘I was told to put it in this glass, is that all right, miss?’ She grinned wryly and he gave an answering smile, communicating without words, totally on her wave-length.

‘Well, if that’s the best there is I suppose it will have to do,’ she said.

‘I wondered how you’d look with a real smile and I know now, don’t I?’ There was a note in Alex’s voice that made her raise her head sharply in surprise but his face was quite expressionless apart from a strange glow in the piercing eyes as he held her glance with his. ‘Do I have to take up waiting at tables to get under that beautiful skin?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said coldly, forcing her gaze not to drop before his.

‘Ridiculous...?’ He leant forward again and lifted a strand of hair with one finger. ‘I don’t think it’s ridiculous. I’m sure that even now you are constraining yourself to show no emotion, although everything in you wants to jerk away from my touch. Do I repel you in some way, Fabia? Is that it?’

‘Don’t be—’ She stopped abruptly at the fiery gleam that flashed for a second in the gold eyes. ‘You’re nothing to me. I don’t know you, do I, so how could you repel me?’ Repel? That would have been almost funny in other circumstances. She breathed a quick prayer of thanks that they were not alone, that there were other people near by. There was a sensual charm, a fascination, that pulled her in spite of herself, and she willed herself not to show it.

‘You’re very beautiful, Fabia.’ His voice was like velvet now. ‘But I suppose you’re tired of hearing men say that.’ His fingers left her hair and moved to her cheek, slowly wandering down her face to trace the outline of her mouth and then continuing to the hollow of her throat where a tiny pulse was beating madly.

‘Don’t...’ She sat as though turned to stone, her eyes brilliant in the stillness of her face.

‘That’s twice you’ve said that in as many minutes.’ He smiled slowly. ‘It’s very...challenging.’ He bent forward and lightly kissed her lips before settling back into his seat again, his face wry. ‘Something tells me I shall have to dig deep before I get to the bottom of this particular Southern belle.’

She didn’t know how to reply and so she said nothing, taking a sip of the ice-cold water before raising her face to his again. ‘What is it you want to say to me, anyway? I want to know,’ she said determinedly, her eyes wary.

‘I need your help,’ he said softly, his eyes narrowing as they watched her start of surprise.

‘My help?’ She realised her voice was too shrill and lowered it quickly as her face turned scarlet. ‘Mr—Alex, I’m sure there’s nothing I can do to help you; if anyone is in control, you are!’ There was a bite in the last words.

‘You don’t know what it is yet,’ he said quietly. ‘Didn’t your mother ever tell you to look before you leap?’

‘I’ve no intention of leaping anywhere,’ she answered quickly, ‘and I never had a mother, well, only in the biological sense, of course.’ Why reveal that to him? she asked herself crossly.

She sensed a stiffening in the big body but his face was cool and remote when she glanced up, his expression unfathomable. ‘Meaning?’

‘I was an abandoned baby,’ she said lightly, forcing an airy note into her voice. ‘You know, the police need to contact the mother at once as they fear she is in need of urgent medical attention and all that.’ She waited for him to speak, to express the usual surface sympathy, but when he said nothing she continued slowly. ‘I was in a children’s home until I was two and then a succession of foster homes until I was sixteen. Took my A levels when I was eighteen—that’s how I met Joanie—and then out into the big world to earn my living. End of story.’

‘I see.’ He hadn’t moved. ‘So we’ve both been orphans all our lives in a way.’

‘I hardly think our two situations were similar.’ She smiled as she spoke but his face was straight as he looked hard at her.

‘No?’ He sighed softly as he leant back in his chair again. ‘A lonely child is still a lonely child whether it has ten pence or ten pounds.’

‘Or ten million?’ Her voice was without humour. He didn’t reply, just continuing to stare straight at her, and she flushed again as she realised the presumption of her words. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,’ she said quickly. ‘I have no right to judge—’

‘Well, it hasn’t stopped you this far, so please don’t change the habit of a lifetime just for me.’ He was angry, very angry, she could feel it in the throb of his voice although his face was quite bland. She was beginning to realise that he gave little away, either in facial expression or body language, and that didn’t fit into the mental picture she had of him at all. Playboy, socialite... She hadn’t made a mistake, had she? An overwhelmingly catastrophic mistake?

‘Do you work?’ It came out quite baldly because she didn’t stop to think, and she saw his surprise in the widening of those tawny-gold eyes seconds before the thick brown lashes came down to shield his face. There was silence for a moment.

‘Yes, I do work, Fabia.’ He glanced up again and now the careful mask was back in place. ‘I have a large and very demanding business empire to manipulate with countless jobs and livelihoods hanging on the right decisions at the right time. But that isn’t good news.’ He smiled cynically. ‘The latest social gathering I attend or the linking of my name with such and such an actress—now that—’ he paused as his eyes sharpened ‘—that is good journalism.’

‘Yes...’ She looked up with immense relief as Xavier appeared at their side again to take their order. She would never have dreamt a few minutes before that she would actually be pleased to see the dapper little man, but now she gave him such a beaming smile that he was clearly quite taken aback. She felt at a complete and utter loss. All the preconceived ideas she had held about Alexander Cade seemed to be falling by the wayside and yet she didn’t trust him. She looked at him from under her long silky lashes as he gave Xavier their order in fluent French. No, she didn’t trust him an inch. He was too handsome, too rich, too powerful, a sight too much of everything, she reflected wryly. And what could a man like him possibly want with her? Fabia had no false modesty; she had been forced to evaluate herself from an early age and draw on any assets she had to the best of her ability.