“I hadn’t thought it would make you look anything at all, since it has nothing to do with you.”
“You’re walking round with my face, my last name. There’s no chance this wouldn’t affect me. Think how difficult it is to find a woman even in Europe who isn’t taken with this foolish stunt of yours, and refuses to look twice at me because she thinks I’m mad for the maid. No one is willing to jeopardize our love.”
“It’s not you. Just admit you have a twin.”
“Now that isn’t very sporting of you. The least you could do after greatly curtailing my activities of the last few weeks is to give me a go at your fiancée. She’s quite delectable. Despite her background, I commend your classic tastes—blonde, blue eyed, built like a bikini ad.”
“You can’t seriously think I’d let you anywhere near her.”
“Of course, you will. We’ve switched places before.”
“When we were young and foolish. This is disgusting.”
“Didn’t you have your first shag with my girlfriend when we were fifteen? I gave you that, and she was never any the wiser.”
“I was young, dumb, and stupid. I didn’t sleep with her. Just kissed her. It was cruel, and I’ve regretted it ever since, Ryan. You should, too.”
“I offered because I knew you were pining away for her and felt I’d left you behind. You might’ve not slept with her but you had the opportunity. Now give me the same courtesy a decade later, and let me have what I’ve been missing out on.”
“No. And she’d never mistake you for me anyhow. She’s not some silly teenager, Ryan, and she’s a person. She deserves respect, and is not a plaything for us to pass around.”
“We’ll see about that. We used to have such fun swapping lives. It’s time to renew the practice.”
“Get out, Ryan. I can’t believe you’d come into my home and suggest such a thing.”
“I always wondered. Why didn’t you go through with it? My girlfriend was ready and waiting. And you turned her away.”
“Because it wasn’t right! It didn’t feel right. I couldn’t do that to her. How could you pawn off your girlfriend like that to me?”
“Don’t talk to me about morals. Not when you screwed the maid when you came home from college. Knocked her up.”
“It wasn’t like that. She was the same age as me, and we had this amazing connection. We were go
ing to run away together, but Dad put a stop to that.”
“What did you expect? You were going to throw away your entire future for a piece of ass. You’re so lucky Dad paid her off and made her promise to never contact you again.”
“I loved her!”
“Obviously, she didn’t feel the same way if she left you the way she did.”
“Dad made her get an abortion without my consent! I’d never force a woman to do that! She had to be upset and heartbroken. Damn it! I couldn’t even be there to console her.”
“No, she jumped at the chance to be paid off big bucks and never see you again.”
“I can’t imagine why I’m surprised you’re so debased, but I won’t have it. Out.”
“And how will you get me out? Tell your security men that they’re not to allow a man who looks just like you to enter your home and grounds? Complicated bit, that. How would they know which of us it was? I’m hardly likely to stand still for a retinal scan.”
“Damn it, Ryan. Go. Be decent for once in your life and get off my property.”
“I can’t. Mother’s already on her way. She’d be desolate if I took off before her arrival.”
What choice did he have really? He could hardly take Bella and run away. He had a career and responsibilities, and his brother would not get the best of him this time. There was no choice but to brave it out and hope his impossible mother would take his equally impossible twin away from here quickly.
“And of course, she’s concerned about who you’re keeping company with. Obscene really, screwing the help once again. So obvious.”
“I’m calling Mother.”