by Croft, Nina
“Come on, you can stop the Sleeping Beauty act,” Julia said. “Open your eyes, or I might be tempted to pour a glass of water over your head to check that you’re alive.
She’d do it as well. Lissa opened one eye. “I’m very tired, and I’m going to sleep.”
“Oh no you’re not. Not until you give me a blow-by-blow account of what just happened.” Julia plonked herself down on the bed.
“Nothing happened except I made a colossal fool of myself. Again.”
“Did you kiss him?”
“No, and more to the point he didn’t kiss me.”
“That’s because he’s a gentleman and you’re drunk.”
“Am not.”
“Am.”
“Okay, I concede that one.” She pulled herself up so she sat back leaning against the wall, then reached out, took Julia’s hand, and squeezed. “He’s going to marry Sophia.”
“I know.”
“And I told him how much I wanted him. And he’s still going to marry her.”
“Life sucks. But you know what they say: it’s not over until the fat lady sings.”
“Sophia isn’t fat. I wish she was. It’s not fair. I came back to get Daniel out of my system. When I was ill in that hospital, I decided that if I made it, I was going to move on, put the whole Daniel thing behind me, and find a nice man…”
“Daniel’s nice.”
“No, he’s not. Maybe once he was, but there’s nothing nice about him now. Sometimes when you peer into his eyes…” She shivered. “It’s like there’s something else in there, something sleeping, waiting to wake, and…”
Julia leaned toward her, her eyes eager. “And?”
Lissa shrugged. “And I don’t know, except it’s not nice. But it doesn’t matter—I love him. And I don’t want to love him anymore, not when he doesn’t want me.”
“Oh he wants you. But for some reason, he’s decided he can’t have you.” Julia patted her on the arm. “Go to sleep. In the morning it will seem much better.”
“Or much, much worse.”
…
“We’re here,” Julia said, tapping Lissa on the arm. She’d been staring out of the taxi window but not really seeing anything.
They were having lunch in Marbella on the seafront while the caterers set up the villa for the party that evening. Lissa had dressed in a tangerine T-shirt dress, very simple, with a deep scoop neck and cut low at the back. All she wore beneath it was a yellow thong, and the thin cotton of the dress clung to her lean figure. She knew she looked good from the whistles directed at them as they strolled along the seafront to the restaurant. She’d hoped the color would brighten her mood, but she couldn’t shift the feeling of impending doom. Hopefully, it was nothing more than a hangover, and she settled her dark glasses firmly on her nose.
When they reached the restaurant, everyone else was already seated around a long table on the terrace under a green-and-white umbrella. She and Julia took the last two seats opposite Daniel and Sophia. Sophia was wearing a beautifully cut cream linen dress that complemented her dark red hair. Daniel wore a matching cream linen shirt—she wondered if they’d coordinated their packing to give the impression of the perfect couple. Lissa tried not to stare, turning her attention to the rest of the table. Julia was on her right and her father, Jim, on her left. Across the table, Daniel studiously avoided her, leaning in close to talk to Sophia. Lissa glared at him, willing him to glance her way. Finally, he raised his head and stared into her eyes. As he held her gaze, he lifted Sophia’s hand and kissed her fingers.
Bastard.
It was going to be a long and painful lunch.
“What would everyone like to drink?” Pamela asked.
“I’ve ordered champagne,” Daniel said smoothly. “Sophia and I have an announcement to make.”
“Here it comes,” Julia muttered from beside her.
They had to wait while the waiter brought round the champagne and filled the glasses. Lissa nibbled on a breadstick hoping it would settle her stomach, which was churning madly. She might even be sick. Could she use the excuse to leave the table? After all, it would hardly look good if she projectile-vomited over Sophia’s perfect cream dress. She placed her palms on the table and was about to push herself up when Julia laid a hand on her arm and leaned in close.
“Don’t you dare,” she whispered. “Stay put and take it like a man.”
“But I’m not a man.” There was a pathetic whine in her voice. Trouble was, Julia knew her too well. Lissa relaxed into her seat as Daniel and Sophia rose to their feet.
Lissa wanted to put her hands over her ears. She knew what was coming and didn’t think she could bear it. She’d never allowed herself to think realistically of a future with Daniel. The possibility had been too remote and terrifying. Still, she hadn’t been able to prevent her secret fantasies from playing in her mind, and once he said the words, once he committed to another woman, she would have to put an end to those clandestine dreams.
“Firstly,” Daniel said, “I want to thank you all for welcoming Sophia into the family.”
“Do you think there was a touch of sarcasm in there?” Julia murmured to her.
“A hint, maybe.”
“We did invite her to go with us last night.”
“Maybe we didn’t ask nicely enough. Shhh.”
“And we wanted you to be the first to know—I’ve asked Sophia to marry me and…” He paused dramatically.
“And she said ‘no’?” Julia whispered hopefully.
“She said…yes.”
Everyone clapped politely, including Lissa, though there was a pain in her chest and it hurt to breathe.
Daniel reached into his pocket and brought out a small box. He flicked it open and took out the ring. Lissa peered at it, trying to see what it was like but it was hidden in his palm.
Sophia held out her left hand, and Daniel slid the ring on her finger.
Something seemed to break inside Lissa. Before, it hadn’t seemed real. Deep down she’d believed that he wouldn’t go through with it. For a second, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them, Sophia was leaning across the table, her hand held out in front of her.
“Do you like my ring, Melissa?”
Lissa glanced down and bit back her initial response. The ring was horrible. The stone was huge, a square-cut green emerald surrounded by diamonds. It looked like something out of a Christmas cracker. She would have thought Daniel had more taste, but maybe Sophia had chosen it.
“It’s gorgeous. Congratulations. Daniel is a very…lucky man.”
“He is isn’t he? And I’m a lucky lady.” She moved away and wandered around the table her hand held out for people to admire. Or not.
“I don’t think lucky comes into it,” Julia said once the other woman was out of earshot. “What a ghastly ring.”
“Yeah, suits her perfectly.”
Chapter Seven
Sophia spent the rest of lunch being really, really nice. Scarily nice. If it was an effort, it didn’t show. And Pamela and Jim lapped it up.
The perfect daughter-in-law.
Even Lissa began to wonder if she’d gotten her wrong. Maybe some subconscious jealousy made her see monsters where there was only a beautiful woman engaged to the only man Lissa had ever loved.
Sophia kept touching Daniel as though she couldn’t keep her hands off him. While Daniel didn’t return the affection, he also did nothing to prevent her from groping him in a public place.
It was disgusting.
Julia leaned in close. “Do you think she’s going to paw him all the way through lunch?”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s scarlet-tipped fingernails were stroking down his bare arm. Lissa was sure she saw a look of distaste flash across Daniel’s face but then it was gone, leaving him expressionless.
But he placed his hand on top of Sophia’s and squeezed.
…
“Oh, Pamela, you must introduce me to your hairdresser,” Ju
lia mimicked Sophia, throwing herself on the bed in the room they shared at the villa. “Oh, Jim, you are so handsome—it’s obvious where Daniel got his good looks.” She punched the pillow. “Smarmy bitch, sucking up to Mum and Dad like that.”
“But what if we’re wrong about Sophia?” Lissa said. “What if she really is nice after all?”
“You think?”
Not really, but Daniel had told her that he loved the other woman. Right before he’d nearly made love to Lissa on the kitchen counter. She pressed a finger to her forehead, trying to ease the ache. She didn’t understand anything anymore.
A sharp tap sounded on the door. Before Lissa could move, Julia had rolled off the bed, jumped to her feet, and was heading to the door. She opened it a crack and peered outside.
“Is Melissa here?” Sophia asked and Lissa’s heart sank. What the hell did Sophia want with her? She could make a guess, and she so wasn’t ready for this.
Julia glanced over her shoulder at Lissa. Lissa shook her head furiously, but her so-called best friend just smiled and opened the door wider. She gestured to Sophia to enter.
Sophia had changed from her smart lunch outfit. She was back in her scarlet bikini with a matching wrap tied between her breasts and four-inch scarlet mules on her feet. Her toenails were painted the same red as her bikini, as were her lips. She was frighteningly coordinated.
A smile curved her scarlet mouth, her expression friendly and charming as she faced Julia. “Could I speak to Melissa alone for a moment?”
Lissa wanted to shout “no.” In fact, her mouth opened but the word didn’t come out. She glared at Julia, whose smile turned into a grin. “Of course you can. I’ll take myself off for a walk, leave you two to a bit of girl talk. No comparing notes on Daniel though. You know”— she leaned in to speak directly to Sophia— “we were all convinced that Daniel and Lissa would marry one day.”
Thanks, Julia, she silently fumed.
Julia waggled her fingers and left the room.
As the door closed behind her, the charming smile slid from Sophia’s face as if she had taken off a mask. And what was underneath wasn’t pleasant. She strolled across the room, and only a determined conscious effort kept Lissa from backing away. There was something not quite right about Sophia.
The air crackled with energy. Lissa rubbed her arms as her skin prickled.
Sophia came to a halt way too close. So close, the sweet, sickly scent of her perfume clogged Lissa’s nostrils and beneath that, something musky.
“Daniel is mine,” Sophia said.
“Of course he is.” Lissa tried to make her tone soothing. She really wished Julia had stayed.
“Don’t patronize me,” Sophia snapped. “I’ve seen the way you stare at him. You want him.”
“No, I don’t,” she lied.
Sophia ignored the interruption. “Well, he’s already taken.” She waved her hand under Lissa’s nose, almost jabbing her in the face with the huge emerald ring. “And I’ve got this to prove it. So stay away.”
She whirled in her high heels and stalked to the door. Lissa released her breath with a huge sigh of relief. A little premature, it turned out, because Sophie turned back to face her. Her dark eyes narrowed to slits.
“You keep your hands away from Daniel, or I’ll rip them off.”
She grabbed the door handle and wrenched open the door. Julia nearly fell into the room. She righted herself. “Finished already?”
Sophia didn’t reply, just stalked off down the corridor. Lissa hurried across and watched until she disappeared around the corner, then she sagged back against the wall.
Julia shut the door and came to stand beside her. “You okay?”
“Not sure.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry that we made a mistake. I think it’s official. Sophia is a bitch.”
She wasn’t wrong there. A total bitch. “You were listening?”
“Of course. I had my ear pressed to the door.”
“She’s mentally deranged.”
“Yup.”
“And she’s bigger than me.”
“We can’t let Daniel marry her.”
Julia seemed to be missing the point here. “On the other hand we can’t let Sophia rip my hands off.”
“It’s our duty to save him.”
“You don’t really think she’ll rip my hands off, do you?”
Julia considered the question. “I’m not sure it’s physically possible, but I suppose she could try.”
“Thanks. You’re making me feel much better here.”
Julia grinned. “Hey, what are friends for?”
Chapter Eight
The birthday party was in full swing, spilling out of the house onto the terrace and around the pool.
Lissa sipped her champagne. Her dress, another recent purchase, was purple, so dark it was almost black and made from thin silk that skimmed her body and slid across her skin as she moved. On her feet were three-inch sandals and her feet already hurt.
All night, she tried to get Daniel alone, while being really unobvious about it. She’d sort of convinced herself that Sophia wouldn’t rip her hands off, but she wasn’t entirely convinced Sophia was stable.
Unfortunately, the Evil One clung to him for the entire evening, leaning in close and occasionally reaching up to kiss his cheek, telling the world in no uncertain terms that he was hers. As each new person was introduced, she held out her hand displaying the garish ring like a dog holding out its paw.
“She must have a bladder like an elephant,” Julia said. “She’s been swilling champagne all night and hasn’t even been to the bathroom.”
“She’d have to let him go for that.”
“I would hope so,” Julia said morosely. “The dancing will start soon. Maybe you’ll get a chance then.”
“I doubt it. She’s not going to let him dance with anyone else.”
“Well, we’ll have to make sure that someone else dances with her. I’ll put Dad up to it—she’ll have to accept or lose the perfect daughter-in-law vote.”
“Good plan.”
The band started playing around ten. They were situated on a raised dais close to the pool, and a dance area had been set up on the lawn. Luckily, there were chairs around it, because by that time Lissa’s feet were killing her. She wanted her flip-flops back.
As she expected, Daniel and Sophia took to the floor for the first dance. Slow, seductive music filled the air; he pulled her close, and they swayed together. Sophia’s head rested on his chest, her arms around his waist beneath the suit jacket.
Pain hit her hard in the heart as she watched them together.
She’d lost him, and it was her own stupid fault. She’d run away because she was a coward and scared to love in case Daniel hadn’t been able to love her back. But it had already been too late, even ten years ago.
Now he belonged to another woman.
“Don’t give up,” Julia said squeezing her hand. “For Daniel’s sake.”
…
As he shuffled around the small dance floor, Daniel was totally aware of Lissa scrutinizing his every move and tried to keep that fact from Sophia, who was in a strange mood.
They’d argued when they got back from lunch that afternoon. She’d stripped in front of him and expected him to service her as if he were some kind of rent boy.
It was just another power play. She thought the ring made a difference. But they would never be together that way. He’d seen Sophia do things that made him vomit. Ethan often allowed her to punish other pack members because she enjoyed inflicting torture. She’d also stood by as they killed Barbara. Had laughed at his pain, and now she expected him to fuck her.
He’d die first.
Or maybe he’d kill her first. Certainly before he’d allow her to touch Lissa.
Life would have been so much easier if Lissa had never come back. Before her reappearance, he’d been doing a great job of overcoming his squeamishness and convincing himself to pus
h the experiments—take more and more of the drug—until he was strong enough to kill Ethan. And Sophia if he had to.
Now, he hated that he could think about killing so calmly. Hell, he was still deluding himself. If he was honest, he was eager to kill. Another side effect of his inner beast growing stronger. But Lissa was such a good person. She could never love a killer.
So if he followed his present course, he would defeat Ethan, save his family, and lose Lissa forever.
Deep inside him, his wolf stirred sleepily and whined. Wolf wanted Lissa. Wolf recognized his mate and wanted to make her his. Wolf wasn’t happy that Daniel held another woman in his arms and a slow growl trickled from his throat.
In his arms, Sophia stiffened. She raised her head and stared at him through narrowed eyes. “Have you been holding out on us, Danny-boy?”
“Don’t call me that,” he snarled. Then he forced himself to relax each tense muscle and made his face go expressionless. “What do you mean?”
She sniffed the air. “I can smell wolf. Alpha wolf. What have you been hiding?”
He cursed inwardly. “You’re imagining things.”
“Am I?” She sniffed again. “Gone.”
“It was never there. Now dance—you wouldn’t want the nice human beings to think we’re not in love would you?” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close.
Finally, the music ended. God, he wished he could go to bed, sleep, forget everything for a little while. But no, he had to stay here make a spectacle of himself, act the man in love.
His father approached and tapped him on the arm. “Could I have the next dance with my future daughter-in-law?”
“Of course, Dad.” He released his hold and handed her to his father, almost smiled at the expression of annoyance that flashed briefly in her eyes.
The waiter circled with champagne, but he needed something stronger, and he headed into the house. Inside, it was quiet, all the guests making the most of the beautiful evening. He made for his father’s study where there was always a decent bottle of scotch. The first measure went down in one gulp. He refilled the glass and sank down into the huge leather armchair behind the desk. Resting his head back, he closed his eyes and sipped his drink.
