Forbidden Surrender

There were so many questions unanswered about the family she now had. Dominic was just as much of a mystery. Why kiss her when he was engaged to Marie?

She mentally shook her head. Each and every one of these people was a complex personality, and she certainly wouldn’t be able to analyse them on a few days’ acquaintance.

‘Our mother was very beautiful, very intelligent. She had a bubbly personality, loved to entertain, and she was very happy with Richard, my stepfather.’ Sara shrugged. ‘I liked her. And I’m not just saying that because she was my mother.’

‘I’m sure you aren’t,’ Marie agreed readily. ‘It isn’t always possible to like a parent, even though you love them. I like Daddy too. I think you will when you get to know him better. He really wants you to stay, Sara,’ she added wistfully. ‘We all do.’

Dominic didn’t. He wanted her to go back to the States, and she wasn’t sure that wasn’t the right thing to do. Wouldn’t she just be bringing heartache to herself to stay here, tormenting herself with what she couldn’t have?

‘I’ve said I’ll think about it,’ she told Marie firmly, ‘and that’s what I’m going to do.’

‘Without any pressure from me,’ Marie said ruefully. ‘Okay, let’s go and have that swim.’

The pool was deliciously cool in the heat of the day, situated at the far end of the acre or so of land that surrounded the house, shielded from the house by a high hedgerow. As Marie had thought, her bikini fitted Sara perfectly, its scantiness only just decent.

Sara telephoned her aunt later in the day, and they encouraged her to stay to dinner, saying they had no plans for the evening anyway.

‘I think maybe I’m a bit underdressed for dinner.’ She looked down at her halter-necked dress.

‘You look lovely,’ Marie assured her. She frowned. ‘Or is that being conceited too?’ She shrugged. ‘Oh well, it can’t be helped—you do look nice. But if you want to wear something of mine then you’re quite welcome.’

Sara pulled a face. ‘I’m beginning to feel like Little Orphan Annie!’

‘How can you be Little Orphan Annie when I’m sure you have lots of clothes at home?’ Marie dismissed that idea. ‘It must be fun being a model.’

‘Hard work,’ Sara corrected.

‘Mm, I suppose so. I bet if Mummy and Daddy had stuck together I would have been allowed to work too.’ Marie flung open the doors to her wardrobe that took up one wall of the bedroom. ‘Take your pick,’ she invited.

Sara had never seen one person own so many clothes before, and all of them beautiful, the fashion designers’ labels showing how expensive they were. She shook her head. ‘I’d be afraid of spilling something on them.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ her sister tutted. ‘They’re only dresses.’

Sara finally allowed herself to be persuaded into wearing a blue velvet dress, the material sensuous against her bare skin. It too was halter-necked, although it revealed a larger expanse of her breasts, and was long and straight to the floor in style.

When Dominic arrived with their father she wished she had turned down this dinner invitation. She hadn’t been expecting him, and colour flooded her cheeks as she vividly remembered being in his arms earlier, being kissed by him. She wrenched her gaze away as it seemed to lock with his, glad that she had seconds later as she heard Marie greeting him.

‘Darling,’ she said softly, the next few moments of silence telling their own story, a painful one to Sara.

She looked up just in time to see Marie moving out of Dominic’s arms, her lipstick slightly smudged.

‘Sara,’ Dominic greeted her abruptly.

‘Mr Thorne,’ she nodded just as abruptly.

‘You can’t call my fiancée Mr Thorne,’ Marie dismissed with a laugh, her hand resting in the crook of his arm. ‘Can she, darling?’

‘No,’ he agreed curtly.

Sara tried not to call him anything through dinner, concentrating most of her conversation on her father. He was intelligent, amusing, and altogether a charming companion. She was coming to like both members of her family, but falling in love with Dominic made it impossible for her to stay in England.