‘If?’ she prompted softly. ‘Reed—’
‘Darcy, can I make love with you tonight?’
She blinked up into the harshness of his face, stunned at the emotionless way he had said that after what he had told her this morning about wanting to spend all his nights with her in future. But that had been said in the heat of the moment, danger speeding quickly towards them. And she had been frightened, oh, so frightened, and Reed’s calmness then had soothed her. She could see that to him it had meant no more than that.
She could also see now that he wasn’t in the mood to have his motives questioned, and after spending one miserable night without him she needed him too much to want to push him.
For her answer she stepped back from him, slowly unfastening the buttons down the front of her shirt before pulling it over her head and dropping it on to the ground. She was unashamedly naked.
Reed drew in a ragged breath, releasing the towel that had been draped about his waist since his shower, as naked as she, his arousal strong and full. ‘I don’t need to tell you how much I want and need you,’ he mocked drily.
‘Men are at a distinct disadvantage that way,’ she acknowledged throatily, running a caressing hand across his chest, her fingertips light on the brown nubs nestled there as she heard the tempo of his breathing change to a ragged sigh.
‘Would you—kiss me?’ he asked between clenched teeth.
She tilted her head to one side in silent query as she sensed the underlying tension beneath the request, her legs turning to jelly as she saw the pleading in his eyes, the pleasure he was already experiencing at the mercy of her questing hands.
She was sure Linda would have been shocked if she knew the use to which her carpet was put that night, Darcy and Reed sinking down to the creamy softness as they explored the valleys and curves of each others’ bodies with slow delight.
It was a time for slow, lingering passion, a time to bask in the pure joy of just being alive, of being able to pleasure each other. Their bodies joined, their senses soared, that deep overwhelming pleasure holding them in its thrall until they both collapsed into the realms of Morpheus, too satiated to move.
* * *
The heat was overwhelming, the smell of smoke and burning choking in her lungs, the brightness of the flames blinding her as she instinctively threw up her arms to protect herself.
She woke bathed in perspiration, reaching out beside her in the bed for Reed, the dream so vivid she still trembled with fear. Reed wasn’t lying beside her.
She moved to put on the bedside lamp, turning to the place beside her where Reed should have been. The indentation on the pillow showed that he had joined her in the bed after carrying her here, if only briefly. The bedside clock told her it was almost three o’clock in the morning; maybe he had been troubled by the same horrendous nightmare as she, and had decided to go for a walk to clear his head.
Her nightshirt had been picked up from the floor where she had thrown it earlier and was draped across the foot of the bed, and she smoothed the cotton down over her body before going in search of Reed.
The O’Neals’ house was as elegant as Diane and Chris’s had been, although it was in a more built-up area, with several other houses close by, although they were all in darkness now. The lounge, lit by a single lamp, was deserted; so was the kitchen, but she could hear the sound of voices coming softly from the patio that surrounded the O’Neals’ swimming pool. It looked as if either Linda or Wade had joined Reed in his night-time wandering.
She came to an abrupt halt in the doorway as she saw that Reed’s companion was Chris Donavan.
Reed stood up as soon as he saw her, frowning at how pale she was. ‘What happened?’ He put his arm about her shoulders, solidly comforting, and so very normal in fitted denims and open-necked shirt.
‘Just a bad dream,’ she dismissed lightly, although she knew by the compassion that darkened his eyes that he realised it hadn’t been ‘just’ a dream at all. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.’ She looked curiously at Chris; the other man was as pale as she knew she was, seeming even more strained than he was earlier.
‘Chris and I were only talking,’ Reed assured her huskily.
She nodded. ‘I just wondered where you had gone; I’ll go back to bed now—’
‘No!’ Chris stood up forcefully, his arms tense at his side. ‘Don’t leave on my account,’ he added in a slightly calmer voice.
Darcy moved from Reed’s side to put her hand comfortingly on Chris’s arm. ‘I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you lost your house—’
‘Don’t,’ he choked, looking at Reed for help. ‘If it hadn’t been for me—’
‘Darcy,’ Reed cut in curtly, ‘maybe you should go and put some clothes on—’
‘No,’ Chris told him firmly. ‘Darcy has a right to hear this. She’s been involved, too, by what’s happened since she came here. God, she could have been killed today because of me; you both could!’
‘But we weren’t, Chris—’
‘You can’t take responsibility for an act of nature,’ Darcy reasoned.
The dark eyes were shadowed with pain, his breathing ragged. ‘If it hadn’t been for me you and Reed wouldn’t even have been here!’ Chris rasped.
‘Of course we—Oh!’ Her eyes widened incredulously as she realised what he was saying to her. Chris was the one Reed was looking for? She hadn’t wanted to believe that any of Reed’s family was involved, but quietly intense Chris Donavan was the last one she would have suspected. ‘Maybe I should leave the two of you alone to talk,’ she said awkwardly, looking questioningly at Reed.
He looked at his brother-in-law. ‘Chris?’ he prompted softly.
‘I’d like Darcy to stay and hear this,’ he told them gratingly.
Reed nodded abruptly. ‘We can have a drink while Darcy puts some clothes on.’
Darcy wished he would stop telling her to get dressed; the cotton nightshirt was perfectly respectable to wear in mixed company, and hearing what Chris had to say was much more important than her putting clothes on!
‘Darcy!’ he prompted harshly as she made no move to leave the room.
She followed the direction of his gaze as it rested pointedly on the length of her thigh revealed by the split up the seam on each side of the garment to allow her freedom of movement.
As if Chris was in any sort of mood to notice, let alone be attracted to her!
But Reed looked ready to argue the point, and so with a sigh she gave in, promising them she would be back in a few minutes.
Chris. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t understand why he had done it. He seemed to have everything he could possibly want already: a beautiful and loving wife, a thriving hotel; what could have prompted him to use Reed the way he had?
The two men had moved into the lounge when she returned from putting on denims and a loose cotton blouse. Silently accepting the glass of whisky Reed handed her, she sat down with it in her hand; maybe she would have need of it later!
Now that she had put in her contact lenses she could clearly see just how ill Chris looked, his cheeks pale and hollow, his eyes seeming to have sunk into dark sockets. He tightly gripped his glass of whisky in both hands as he stared off into space.
‘Chris,’ Reed prompted huskily.
The other man seemed to notice Darcy’s return for the first time, taking a swallow of the burning alcohol. It was evidence as to how disturbed he was that he didn’t even wince as it went down his throat.
‘I have to commend you on your control, Reed,’ he rasped. ‘If the positions had been reversed I would have swung my fists first and asked questions later!’
‘The fists could still swing,’ Reed grated. ‘Not for myself, but for Darcy. And Diane.’
Chris seemed to become even greyer and more haggard at the mention of his wife. ‘I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I just—’
‘Start at the beginning, Chris,’ Reed said curtly.
‘The beg
inning?’ Chris gave a harsh laugh. ‘I’d have to go back years!’
‘Then do it!’ Reed snapped, obviously at the end of his patience.
The other man drew in a ragged breath. ‘College,’ he bit out. ‘I had to work my way through; your father helped you with your expenses—’
‘Hell, you can’t have held that against me all these years!’ Reed said disbelievingly.
‘I didn’t hold it against you at all,’ Chris dismissed tautly. ‘I’m just trying to point out the differences in our backgrounds. I’ve always had to fight and claw for what I wanted out of life; things always came easier to you. Not that you ever took your good fortune for granted; you always appreciated how lucky you had been. And for some reason you made me your friend—’
‘I like you,’ Reed put in gruffly. ‘I always have.’
‘You were the bright star even then, and I bathed in your reflected glory. I even had a few successes of my own,’ he remembered harshly. ‘You drew me into the warmth of your family, encouraged my partnership with Mike, approved wholeheartedly of my marriage to Diane.’
‘I told you,’ Reed’s eyes were narrowed, ‘I liked you.’
Chris nodded, sighing heavily. ‘The partnership with Mike was a success, the marriage to Diane even more so—I love her so damned much,’ he told them shakily.
‘You’ve acted like it the last few months!’ Reed bit out scornfully.
‘Reed,’ Darcy gently rebuked. She could see exactly the picture Chris was painting, had felt a little that way herself the last few days, as if to be admitted into the Hunter family was to enter a charmed circle. It could be daunting.
Chris gave another ragged sigh. ‘I wanted to be more than just Mike’s partner, your friend, and Diane’s husband; I needed something of my own. The hotel seemed the perfect solution.’
‘It’s one of the most exclusive in the area.’ Reed looked at him with puzzled eyes.
‘Yes,’ Chris told them heavily. ‘But exclusivity costs money. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it happens to be true. I hit difficulty just before Christmas, and borrowed money I couldn’t pay back any other way than by handing over the hotel itself.’
‘You could have asked me for the money, damn it!’ Reed flared.
‘No,’ Chris bit out. ‘I couldn’t do that.’
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Because the hotel was mine,’ Chris pleaded, willing him to understand the streak of pride that wouldn’t let him ask for money on a venture that belonged solely to him.
‘So instead you took pay-offs for information received—from me?’ Reed said disgustedly.
‘It was better than asking you for money,’ Chris defended.
‘I don’t see it that way,’ Reed scorned. ‘I doubt anyone else will either!’
‘Reed, you don’t have to tell anyone else,’ Darcy reasoned.
‘No, I don’t,’ he acknowledged softly, looking at his brother-in-law.
‘But I do,’ Chris put in harshly. ‘I got myself into this mess and now I’ve got to get myself out of it. I only realised a couple of days ago that you were on to something,’ he admitted heavily. ‘When Maud telephoned she seemed surprised at how—close, the two of you were here when you had acted like just employer and employee in London.’ He grimaced. ‘I should have realised earlier what you were doing, I suppose, but it didn’t even occur to me.’
‘Too busy with your success?’ Reed scorned.
‘I didn’t enjoy doing what I did, Reed.’ Chris looked at him for understanding. ‘I was approached, I needed the money, and—’
‘You could have said no!’
‘I could have,’ the other man acknowledged heavily. ‘And then I would have lost the hotel, the house, maybe even Diane. I love her so damn much,’ he repeated shakily. ‘And now I’ve lost her anyway.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Reed said softly.
Dark eyes looked at him sharply, and Darcy looked at Reed, too. He was no longer angry; only regret was reflected in dark green eyes. She felt for him that his worst nightmare had come true, that he had been betrayed by one of his best friends. But she had also witnessed the fondness Chris had shown for him the last few days, knew the other man had to have been desperate to have risked so much.
‘What do you mean?’ Chris questioned abruptly.
Reed sighed. ‘I’m the only one that’s really been affected in this, and I have no intention of letting my knowledge go any further than here and now. I’m sure Darcy feels the same way.’ He gave her a slight smile as he correctly guessed her thoughts. ‘What you did wasn’t illegal—’
‘It was disgusting,’ Chris corrected harshly. ‘I divulged information you were sure would go no further—’
‘They were only lost business deals,’ Reed dismissed. ‘The family is at risk now.’
‘How long have you known it was me?’ Chris asked in a fatalistic voice.
Darcy had been wondering the same thing. Now that Chris had actually confessed, Reed didn’t seem surprised, just disappointed—that his suspicions had finally been confirmed?
Reed gave a grimace of regret. ‘Almost since we got here,’ he admitted, the expression in his eyes asking for Darcy’s forgiveness at the deception. ‘As Darcy so rightly pointed out, Wade was just angry at Linda because she refused to have children, and that was no reason to do this. And Diane told Darcy the hotel was having some financial difficulty; when I asked you how business was you told me it was great, that you were thinking of expanding. I know Diane doesn’t lie,’ he added simply.
‘No,’ Chris acknowledged heavily. ‘She’s never seen any reason to be less than totally honest.’
‘Why the hell didn’t you come to me?’ Reed demanded again impatiently. ‘It’s what families are for, damn it, to pull together in a crisis!’
‘You had made your life in England—’
‘I was only a phone call away!’
‘It was my problem, not yours.’
Reed gave a ragged sigh. ‘You’re my best friend, my sister’s husband; I thought we were close enough for you to have come to me about this.’
Maybe they had been once, Darcy realised, but Reed’s years in England had taken their toll on what had once been a very close friendship. Darcy could feel those almost invisible chains of family closeness tightening about him, pulling him away from England and back to America. She knew by Reed’s grim expression that he could feel them, too.
‘I wish that I had now,’ Chris sighed. ‘What do we do now?’
‘I deliberately waited until Mom was away on her cruise before coming over here,’ Reed told him harshly. ‘You know what this would do to her if she were to find out?’
Chris’s throat moved convulsively. ‘I never meant to hurt anyone,’ he groaned. ‘Least of all Maud; she’s always been like a mother to me.’
‘And with her weak heart a shock like this could kill her,’ Reed rasped. ‘Only the three of us actually know about this—’
‘Four.’ A voice came from the hallway, as Diane stepped forward into the light. ‘I heard it all,’ she told her husband simply at his pained gasp as he came slowly to his feet.
‘Diane…!’ Chris’s dismay at her presence here came out as a strangulated protest.
All the laughter had gone from the deep green eyes as Diane continued to look at her husband, his pain mirrored by the disillusionment in those dull green eyes. ‘I woke up when you got out of bed,’ she explained flatly. ‘You seemed so upset earlier, I was worried when you got dressed and left without telling me you were going. So I—I followed you.’ She gave a pained wince. ‘I’m glad now that I did.’
‘Diane—’
‘I would have told you anyway, Diane,’ Chris firmly cut in on Reed’s reasoning voice. ‘I couldn’t have kept something like this from you.’
Darcy felt uncomfortably as if she were intruding on something that was completely private between husband and wife; she looked uncertainly at Reed. Surely what followed, in the li
ght of Reed’s decision to forgive and forget, was completely private to Diane and Chris?
‘Darcy and I are going back to bed.’ Reed’s arm came about her shoulders as he faced the other couple. ‘I just want you to know that as far as we’re concerned this goes no further than the four of us.’
‘Thank you.’ Diane squeezed his arm, her eyes brimming with tears.
Steady green eyes forced the other man to meet his gaze. ‘There’s an unconditional loan waiting for you whenever you want it,’ he told Chris huskily. ‘And don’t say you don’t want it,’ he warned harshly. ‘I’d give you the damned money but I know you wouldn’t take it; the loan can be drawn up legally.’
Darcy said nothing on the way back to their bedroom, although she watched Reed anxiously as they undressed and climbed back into bed. She silently held him cradled against her breast, hoping to be the comforter to the pain she knew he was feeling.
‘I’d hoped—’ He broke off. ‘I tried not to believe—’ He stopped a second time as his voice broke emotionally.
‘He never really meant to hurt you, Reed,’ she reasoned huskily.
‘I know that,’ he rasped, holding her tightly.
‘Do you—Do you think Diane will stay with him?’
‘Yes,’ he answered without hesitation. ‘She loves him.’
‘And you’re going to help him.’
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘One thing this has shown me is that whether I want it or not I have responsibilities to the family. They aren’t weak, they’re just human. As a family unit we’re invincible; apart…’ He sighed heavily. ‘I have to move back here.’
She knew that, had known from the time they arrived here that Reed needed his family as much as they needed him; this episode with Chris just confirmed it.
But where did that leave her?
CHAPTER NINE
SHE had always known her parents were good people, but that weekend as she basked in their undemanding love she realised just how nice they were. She hadn’t visited them much in the last seven months; she had found that the familiarity of everything at home reminded her too much of all that she had tried to leave behind when she moved to London, away from anything that could remind her of Jayne—and Jason.
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