Since Damien was to be at her house at seven-thirty, Natalie decided he would probably be home from work by six o’clock. It was no longer of any concern to her if they went out to dinner at all. She felt too unsettled to wait until seven-thirty to see him.
It was six-fifteen when she pressed the bell-button at his apartment. Natalie was not kept in suspense. The door was opened within a few moments. Damien looked startled to see her, naturally enough considering the arrangement they had made. He was clearly in the midst of changing his clothes since he wore the wrap-around robe he had greeted her in this morning.
‘I had to come, Damien,’ Natalie rushed out apologetically.
‘Is there a problem?’ he asked, a frown of concern creasing his brows together.
She was momentarily distracted by a waft of the same scent she’d smelled this morning. It struck her as odd because his jaw wasn’t freshly shaven. She pushed the irrelevant thought aside and concentrated on what was important.
‘May I come in?’
He hesitated, his frown deepening.
A voice floated from his living-room.
‘Shall I fix you a drink, darling?’
Lyn’s voice!
Another recognition speared into Natalie’s mind, shattering in its implications. It was Lyn’s perfume she could smell on Damien. It had come from him this morning while he kept her out of his apartment. And now...after he had been with her!
Natalie’s heart froze. Her skin chilled. She looked at Damien with wounded eyes. ‘Couldn’t you wait a month for me?’ she cried, stricken to her soul that she had given herself to him so completely while he...what had he been doing? Satisfying a long-frustrated lust for her?
His face tightened. His hand lifted towards her.
Natalie backed away, turned, and ran to the elevator, slamming her hand on the down button. The doors slid open, the compartment not having moved since she’d stepped out of it.
‘Natalie...’
Damien’s call rang in her ears, harsh and commanding. She whirled forward and hit the button for the ground floor, desperate to escape the situation. She couldn’t bear to expose her feelings under Lyn’s gloating eyes. She didn’t want to hear Damien’s justification for his duplicity. Perhaps it was her fault he had turned to Lyn, but that couldn’t excuse tonight. Not after their lovemaking this morning.
Damien beat the closing of the doors. He slammed his hand on the button to keep them held open, then confronted her, chest heaving, eyes blazing with anger.
‘Be damned if I’ll stand still for any more of your false assumptions about me, Natalie!’ he thundered at her. ‘I am not Brett. The woman in my apartment is my ex-wife. She calls all men darling. It’s typical of the crowd she mixes with.’
Tears of confusion and bewilderment welled into Natalie’s eyes. ‘But she...you...’
‘Come back and meet her for yourself.’
It finally penetrated the emotional chaos seizing Natalie’s mind that Damien’s anger was the anger of an innocent man who had been placed in a compromising position. When he lost patience with her dumbstruck stare, he took her hand and pulled her with him, determined that this particular contretemps be resolved right here and now.
Natalie followed numbly, her stomach churning, her head sickeningly awhirl with what might eventuate with Lyn. Damien closed the door to his apartment behind them and ushered Natalie into the living-room where her feet faltered to a wary halt.
Lyn was seated on one of the stools at the bar, sipping a martini, looking very much at home. Her only garment appeared to be an oversized T-shirt, probably belonging to Damien. Her hair was ruffled as though she’d just got out of bed. She gave Natalie one of her deeply dimpled smiles. Natalie’s facial muscles were too stiff to return it. Although she wouldn’t have returned that smile even if she could.
Damien moved forward to bridge the gap between the two women. He started an introduction. ‘Natalie, this is Lyn...’
‘We met yesterday,’ Lyn cut in brightly, putting down her glass and sliding off the stool with mesmerising confidence. She stretched with the sinuous grace of a dangerous cat, ensuring the soft fabric of the T-shirt outlined every naked curve beneath it. Her nipples pouted from seemingly perfect breasts and she rolled her hips as though loosening up tired muscles.
Damien frowned at his ex-wife. ‘You didn’t tell me about any meeting.’
Lyn shrugged and undulated towards him, her hands lifted in appeal. ‘It wasn’t good news, darling. I think the only positive thing Natalie said about you was that you weren’t mean with money. Now I, on the other hand...’ she insinuated her arm around Damien’s, cuddling up to him ‘...extolled all your virtues. And I do appreciate them, Damien. I really do.’
The feline purr made Natalie’s hac
kles rise.
Damien coldly extracted himself from her kittenish hold. ‘I don’t know what game you think you’re playing, Lyn, but I don’t appreciate it one bit. Tell Natalie why you’re here.’