Forbidden Surrender
So that he could spy on her, Sara silently fumed. And it seemed that Dominic Thorne loved Marie in return, a possessive over-protective love that would suffocate Sara.
‘Sara and I are going shopping,’ Marie surprised her by announcing. ‘Do you want to come with us?’ she asked her fiancée.
‘No, thanks,’ he gave a teasing smile. ‘But you can show me later what you bought.’
Marie gave him a mischievous smile. ‘I thought I might buy some lingerie.’
Dominic laughed, at once sensually attractive. ‘In that case you can definitely show it to me later!’ He stood up. ‘I’ll leave you two girls to enjoy your shopping.’
‘Goodbye, Mr Thorne,’ Sara said pointedly, meeting his sharp look unflinchingly.
He nodded curtly. ‘Goodbye, Miss Hamille. Until later, Marie,’ and he bent to kiss her, a tall compelling man who drew much attention as he left the restaurant.
Marie gave a pleasurable shiver. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get over how attractive he is,’ she smiled. ‘Or the fact that I’m engaged to him. Oh well, shall we go and do that shopping now?’
It was late when Sara got back to her aunt’s house, her leavetaking from Marie having been difficult. Marie had wanted them to meet again, but Sara had claimed that she would be too busy during her time left in England.
Marie called her again a couple of days later, and Sara did her best to get out of seeing her.
‘Please,’ Marie coaxed. ‘I like you, Sara, I feel I can talk to you. I know,’ her husky laugh sounded down the telephone, ‘I never do anything else! But I feel I can really talk to you. Maybe it’s because we’re so much alike, I don’t know, but I feel as if there’s a bond between us.’
Sara felt it too, so much so that it felt weird. She wasn’t even sure that she and Marie had anything in common, she just felt close to the other girl, wanted to help her if she was troubled about anything.
‘Oh, go on, Sara,’ Marie encouraged, sensing her weakening. ‘I’ll pick you up, shall I?’
‘No!’ her voice was sharp. She still hadn’t mentioned her first two meetings with Marie to her aunt and uncle, and she didn’t want to have to tell them now. ‘I—I’ll meet you somewhere.’
They arranged a place to meet, and Sara duly turned up there at the appropriate time. Marie was late, but then time never seemed to mean much to her, possibly because she had so much of it on her hands.
After quarter of an hour she was starting to worry, after half an hour she was convinced something had happened to Marie. Luckily the other girl’s telephone number was in the book, and she rang through to the house. The maid told her that Miss Lindlay was resting in her room, and that she certainly didn’t have an appointment to meet anyone this afternoon.
Sara didn’t know what to make of that, standing dazedly in the callbox, until an irate person outside began to knock on the window. She slowly moved out of the callbox, stunned by what she had just been told. It sounded like a brush-off to her, and considering that Marie had been the one who wanted the meeting she didn’t think it was her doing. There could be only one person behind this—Dominic Thorne!
She waited until the other person left the callbox before putting a call through to Dominic Thorne’s office. Without even asking her name his secretary told her he wasn’t available, and would she like to leave a message. What she had to say to Dominic Thorne couldn’t be relayed through a third party!
‘Could you tell him Sara Hamille called,’ she said stiffly before putting the receiver down.
So that she didn’t completely waste her time she went for a walk in one of the parks, amazed that you could find such peace and beauty in the middle of this teeming city.
The fresh air did her good, giving her an appetite for her dinner. She had taken to spending her evenings quietly at home with her aunt and uncle, remaining friends with Eddie but not accepting any more of his invitations. After all, she was here to rest, and she had enough exercise during the day.
She was watching a film on the television when her aunt told her there was a caller for her.