Apprehension began to take hold of Eden as they neared the hotel. ‘What’s Katie like?’ she asked Marian.
Marian bit her lip. ‘She was the happiest, most outgoing child. Since my daughter...since the tragedy, she’s been more subdued. But she’s still delightful company.’
‘What if she doesn’t like me?’
Marian’s hand clasped hers. ‘It may take time, but she’s bound to fall in love with you just as Slade and I did.’
It was ironic to think that Katie’s reaction might be similar to Slade’s. Far from falling in love with her, he had accused her of dishonesty and opportunism. She hoped she would fare better with his daughter.
Slade had gone to the airport to meet Katie and Ellen, and was due to return at any moment. Eden finished her coffee and excused herself to return to her room to freshen up.
‘I don’t know why. You look lovely,’ Marian insisted, but waved her away with an understanding smile.
In her room, Eden paced up and down, her nerves stretched to the limit. There was an ache around her heart for the little girl. They had so much loss in common. How she wanted Katie to like her.
Tension throbbed through her as a key grated in the lock and the door opened to admit Slade. ‘Katie and Ellen are settling into their rooms. They’ll be along in a few minutes,’ he informed her.
‘How do I look?’ she asked, patting a strand of hair into place with a nervous gesture.
His dark gaze came to rest on her. ‘You look lovely, as always. Katie is sure to adore you.’
Which was more than could be said of him, she thought with a surge of disappointment. Yet she knew better than to expect sweet nothings. It was precisely because he thought she didn’t expect them that he had proposed to her.
A timid knock on the door heralded Katie’s arrival. At Slade’s command, she was shepherded into the room by a tall, angular woman with black hair pulled back from her face. Her graceful movements suggested she might have once been a dancer. ‘This is Ellen Sylakas,’ Slade introduced his housekeeper.
They murmured greetings.
‘And this is my daughter, Katie. Katie, this is Eden.’
The little girl had the makings of beauty with a heart-shaped face, luminous dark eyes fringed with velvet lashes, and a rosebud mouth which unfortunately was twisted into a pout. ‘Hello,’ she said grudgingly.
At the sight of her, Eden’s heart turned over. A love she hadn’t known she possessed welled up inside her. She could be a mother to this lost little girl, she knew she could, if Katie would only give her a chance.
Eden held out her hand, which was studiously ignored. ‘Hello, Katie. Did you enjoy your flight?’
The little girl shrugged. ‘It was OK. I’ve been in lots of planes before.’
How worldly-wise she was, and how vulnerable, despite her veneer of toughness. ‘I’m glad.’ Her eyes went to Ellen for confirmation. ‘Have you had lunch yet? We could go down to the pool.’
‘I had a sandwich on the plane and I’m too tired to swim. I’d like to go back to my room.’
Slade ruffled the child’s dark curls. ‘Off you go, pet. You and Eden will have plenty of time to get to know each other.’
Katie had her back to the room so Eden could only hear her muffled words. ‘Too bad.’
With an apologetic smile, Ellen escorted her charge out of the suite. When the door closed behind them, Eden sank on to a couch and let her head drop back, her posture mirroring her sense of defeat. ‘She doesn’t like me.’
‘She doesn’t like anyone very much at the moment. My reception wasn’t much better.’
‘It’s natural for her to feel betrayed.’ Eden knew only too well how bereft she had felt when her father left them. For Katie there wasn’t even the hope that he might return.
The tears which shimmered in her voice brought him to her side. ‘What about you, Eden? Do you feel betrayed? This isn’t what you wanted from love and marriage, is it?’
‘It’s what we agreed to,’ she said shakily.
‘And I intend to hold you to it. So I hope this little setback isn’t going to cloud your judgement.’
He called Katie’s obvious hostility a little setback? The man had a heart of stone. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ she said, her voice sounding brittle. She had another reason for wanting this to work now, and her name was Katie.
Never had Eden seen a child in such need of love, yet so determined not to trust herself to it ever again. Somehow she would break through that barrier, she vowed to herself. Not even Slade’s aloofness would be allowed to stop her.
‘See that you don’t. As my mother will doubtless tell you, I’m better to have as an ally than an enemy.’
A shiver rippled through her at the thought of opposing him. It wasn’t something she would do lightly and she had no doubt that retribution would be swift and unpleasant. But she had to start as she meant to go on.
‘There’s something you may as well know about me, too. I don’t respond well to threats.’
He dropped on to the couch beside her. ‘What do you respond well to? Coercion, perhaps?’
Pulling her hard against him, his mouth found hers with unerring accuracy, forcing her lips apart before she could think to clamp them shut. Warmth invaded her limbs, turning them liquid, as he deepened the kiss. There was nothing she could do but respond.
Her georgette dress had ridden high up her tanned thighs and the beat of his hand against her skin was so intimate and possessive that her heart thudded in response.
‘Oh, God, Eden, I want you so much.’ The admission came with astonishing suddenness, as he buried his face in the curve of her neck, his fingers tangled in her hair.
‘Yes, yes,’ she breathed, caught up in a maelstrom of sensations which threatened to sweep her away. It was going to be all right. He was going to be her husband and they would work it out somehow.
His lips found her throat and the soft curve of her jaw, trailing kisses over every inch of her satiny skin until he returned to her mouth. Instead of reclaiming it, he painted teasing butterfly kisses at each corner. Her stomach muscles contracted in protest.
She felt his fingers on the pearl buttons which fastened the front of her dress. It opened like the petals of a flower and she gasped as he cupped each breast in turn with passionate eagerness.
Her nipples felt fiery, his touch so exquisite that it was almost painful. Hearing her throaty moan of desire, he slid his hand over the curve of her stomach, inside her dress, until his long fingers teased at the waistband of her bikini briefs.
Arching her back in ecstasy, she dropped sooty lashes over her eyes to veil the rising passion she was sure he must read in them. She had said she would never beg for his possession, but it took every ounce of self-control not to do so now.
‘Open your eyes, Eden, look at me,’ he insisted, his voice thick with desire but very much in command. Like a sleepwalker, she forced them open and found him regarding her with amusement. ‘You aren’t going to say it, are you?’
Damn him, he had played her like an instrument and she had responded exactly as he knew she would. ‘No, I’m not, now or ever,’ she snarled, snatching at the gaping front of her dress. ‘If this is your idea of coercion, you can wait until hell freezes over before I give in.’
He gave a throaty chuckle. ‘Oh, you’ve already given in, darling. A moment ago, you didn’t know the meaning of the word no. A beggar doesn’t have to use words to make his needs known.’
‘This isn’t some kind of power struggle,’ she denied, unwilling to admit how close he was to the truth.
‘On the contrary, marriage is always a power struggle, and before ours becomes fact I want you to know exactly where the power lies.’
Her face flamed. ‘That’s the most cynical comment I’ve ever heard. This isn’t about mastery and submission, it’s about caring and sharing—two concepts which seem to be foreign to you.’
‘It’s hardly surprising. There wasn’t much of eithe
r in my family experience.’
‘Your mother told me about your father,’ she said, provoking a quick flaring of surprise. ‘She also told me how hard you tried to protect her.’
‘Hell of a task for a teenager, isn’t it?’ he said bitterly. ‘For all his philandering ways, she loved my father, that was the irony of it. In a way, I think she’s still looking for him in the men she marries.’
Such unconditional love was the kind Eden dreamed of finding. Didn’t Slade realise how precious Marian’s kind of love was in this world? ‘They say love is blind,’ she said simply.
‘Whoever “they” are, they’re probably right,’ he said on a sigh of frustration. ‘I sometimes think I chose my career in communications because my own family did it so badly.’
She had read a magazine biography of him which described how he had worked his way through university by recording staff training cassettes for businesses. His enterprise was so successful that, by the time he had attained his master’s degree, he had already laid the foundations for his corporate communications empire.
‘At least some good came of your experiences,’ she observed, thinking of his meteoric rise in business.
His expression chilled. ‘I doubt whether Katie would agree with you.’
‘I didn’t mean Katie,’ she denied. ‘What happened to your sister was a tragedy which no one could have foreseen.’
‘I tried to talk her out of the marriage, but not hard enough, it seems.’
‘You would have done all you could,’ she said with unwavering certainty.
‘Thanks for your support, however misinformed,’ he said in a voice tinged with cynicism. ‘You’re forgetting that I was the one Julie was coming to when she was killed.’
‘And so you think you’re responsible for everything else that happened?’ Denial vibrated in her tone. ‘It isn’t true, Slade. Only the greatest conceit would lead you to think it is.’
He gave a wry smile without humour. ‘Call it conceit if you like. Face it, Eden, you won’t convert me to your starry-eyed views on marriage. I’ve learned the hard way.’
The gulf between them yawned wider than ever. It seemed as if Katie wasn’t the only one who needed to learn the meaning of love. Would she, Eden, have enough strength to teach them both? Or would Slade’s bitterness warp her own beliefs in time? She was almost afraid to find out.
She finished tidying her clothes and he held out a hand to her, apparently glad to have this conversation ended. ‘Come with me. While Katie’s resting, there’s someone I want you to meet.’
CHAPTER SIX
THE someone he wanted her to meet was the wedding celebrant, an old friend of Slade’s who wouldn’t talk to the media or comment on the need for a second wedding ceremony so soon after a first had been reported.
As Eden was coming to expect, Slade’s wedding plans went forward smoothly. In the meantime, they had to endure a good deal of teasing comment from the conference participants following Dana’s broadcast, but it was well meant. From all but Dana herself, Eden noticed. Several times she caught the journalist watching her, a malevolent expression on her beautiful face.
Well, there was nothing Dana could do to interfere now, Eden thought. She had left with Bob and the other delegates two days before. Reaching behind herself, Eden fastened the long zip of her dress. Her wedding dress, she thought, catching sight of herself in the full-length mirror.
Despite lavish amounts of sun-cream, she had developed a light tan which suited the delicate colour of the dress. The sequins twinkled like stars, and the handkerchief hemline fluttered gracefully around her legs. Even Katie had been impressed by the dress, although she had taken pains to disguise it after her initial gasp of excitement.
‘It’s very nice,’ she had said demurely, but had touched the beaded fabric curiously. ‘Mine doesn’t have sequins,’ she had said almost wistfully.
Without consulting anyone, Eden had ordered a sequinned sash to be made to match Katie’s ruffled suit. The little girl’s eyes had lit up when she saw it, although her enthusiasm was quickly veiled. ‘It probably won’t wash, and I’m bound to spill something on it,’ she had said primly.
‘It will dry-clean,’ Eden had assured her. ‘By the way, I’ve made an appointment for you with the hotel hairdresser.’
The little girl had slid her hands under her shoulder-length hair and lifted it experimentally, surveying herself in the mirror. ‘Can I have it up?’
‘If you want to.’
‘Slade says I’m not old enough,’ had come the triumphant reply.
Oh, no, you don’t, young lady, Eden had resolved there and then. Playing one parent off against the other was the oldest trick in the book and she wasn’t letting Katie get away with it. ‘Then we’ll go and ask him together,’ she’d insisted.
To Katie’s obvious surprise, Slade had readily agreed to the sophisticated hairdo and Eden had made a score mark in the air. It wasn’t much but it was a start.
Now Katie stood at her side, an armful of flowers cradled at her elbow. With her hair swept up in a corona of soft curls, she looked, if anything, younger than her nine years. Eden’s heart went out to her. ‘Soon you’ll officially be my daughter,’ she said, her throat closing.
Katie’s eyes glistened but she shook her head. ‘You’ll never be my mummy, and Slade will never be my daddy.’
‘Perhaps not, but we can be a family, can’t we?’
Katie drew patterns on the carpet with the toe of her black patent shoe. ‘A family means you stay together no matter what, doesn’t it?’
Wondering where this was leading, Eden nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Then you’n me and Slade have to stay together forever, don’t we?’
‘That’s what the wedding vows mean,’ Eden agreed.
‘Then why did my mummy run away from my daddy and get them both killed?’ she demanded, her eyes flooding with tears.
Eden dropped to her knees beside the distraught child. ‘Oh, honey, it’s terribly complicated. When people get married, they mean to stay together. It’s like...like when you pick up something fragile, just to look at it. You don’t mean to drop it and break it, do you?’
‘Sometimes it’s an accident.’
‘And that’s what it is when a marriage breaks, darling. We do our best to make it work but sometimes our best isn’t good enough. Do you understand?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe.’
‘This is a fine time to be talking about breaking a marriage,’ Marian said, bustling into the room in time to catch the end of their conversation. ‘Come along, you two. Slade is ready with the celebrant and my son can be a devil when he’s kept waiting.’
He could be a devil on other occasions, too, but Eden kept the thought to herself. She liked her new mother-in-law too much to burden her with the truth about this marriage.
It wasn’t too late to change her mind, came the panicky thought. Once they exchanged vows, she would be bound to Slade in every way. She had meant it when she said she still believed in the sanctity of marriage, so there would be no turning back once she pledged herself to him.
Then she caught sight of Katie preening herself in the mirror. In spite of her determination to be stand-offish, the little girl was already beginning to trust Eden. How could she let her down now?
‘Eden, it’s time.’
For better or for worse...she was going to marry Slade. Lifting her head, she stepped towards the door, which opened to reveal him looking expectantly her way.
How masculine he looked in a deep blue designer suit, his shirt snowy under the silk tie. Her heart did a back-flip as she caught sight of his brooding eyes fixed on her. It was almost as if... No, don’t think beyond the moment, she ordered herself. This wasn’t the time to wish for the moon.
The ceremony was a civil one but poetic in its simplicity. For the life of her, Eden couldn’t have repeated the words afterwards. Her responses were appropriate and timely, yet she had a sense of unreality
about the affair, as if someone else were repeating the vows.
It wasn’t until she heard the celebrant say, ‘You may kiss your bride now, Slade,’ that the dream was replaced with vivid reality.
Cupping her face in warm hands, he lowered his head to hers. ‘Congratulations, Mrs Benedict,’ he murmured as he claimed his first kiss as her husband.
By Slade’s standards it was a chaste kiss but her senses ran riot at the thought of what it symbolised. As his mouth moved over hers, she was achingly conscious that she belonged to him now. Snatches of the ceremony came back. She had pledged him her support in good and bad times, and promised to share everything she possessed with him. Her cheeks burned at the very thought. What on earth had she done?
Her fingers shook as she tossed her bouquet, aiming it strategically towards Katie. Slade had arranged a celebration lunch to be served in a private room of the hotel, then Marian was taking her granddaughter home with her while Slade and Eden enjoyed their honeymoon.
‘A honeymoon isn’t really necessary, is it?’ she had asked when Slade had informed her of his plans.
‘Katie and my mother expect it. I thought you’d jump at the chance of a few days’ real holiday, after having your break disrupted.’
A holiday with him promised anything but relaxation, she thought frantically. She also disliked being away from her mother for so long, although she doubted whether Peggy would be aware of the time passing.
Since she couldn’t share either of her concerns with him, she had been forced to agree.
Now the moment of parting had come and she wasn’t nearly ready. This time it was no sham. She was bound to him by marriage with no right to exclude him from any aspect of her life.
‘Remember he doesn’t have to know all your personal secrets,’ Marian whispered in her ear as they got ready to leave. ‘A little mystery is good for romance.’
She blushed furiously, wishing again that Marian were a little less forthright. Her mother-in-law chuckled. ‘The girl can still blush. I hope you realise what a jewel you have here, my son.’
Flight Of Fantasy Page 8
