Dangerous Masquerade

by Janet Dailey

“Do you picture yourself that way?” Rian baited quietly. “Walking down the aisle to me?"

  Laurie couldn't answer. The image he painted in her mind's eyes stole her voice. She could visualize it completely, even to Rian's dark eyes compelling the steps she took towards him. She could almost hear his low voice making the vows that united them. The mysterious light in his eyes closed out all thought of anyone outside the two of them.

  “Has the cat got your tongue?” Rian whispered, releasing her arm and touching a finger to the softness of her lips.

  Her heart skipped a beat as her lashes fluttered down over her blue eyes, concealing the flaming desire that his intimate caress sparked.

  “You don't play fair, Rian Montgomery,” she accused in a tight voice.

  “I always get what I want, though,” he replied with the twisted smile that didn't reach the glittering triumph in his eyes.

  “Are you two lovebirds going to join us for brunch?” the Judge broke in.

  Laurie was startled to see the path leading to the Judge's rear patio. She hadn't realized they had come so far so quickly. There was a trembling of relief to know that in a few minutes they would all be occupied with cool drinks and sandwiches and eliminate the possibility of more of Rian's private asides to her.

  “Laurie and I will pass this time, Judge,” Rian drawled, turning his horse and thus forcing Laurie's horse to turn in the direction of home as well. “We'll catch a bite at the house with E. J."

  By the knowing smiles that were exchanged between Vera and the Judge, Laurie knew they were putting the wrong conjecture on Rian's words. They were obviously thinking that the two of them wanted to be alone, and that was the farthest wish from her mind.

  “I'll see you later,” Vera waved.

  Large oaks, partially draped with Spanish moss, soon separated Laurie and Rian completely from the others as they walked their horses along the worn path to Vera's stables. Her tight-lipped silence didn't go unnoticed by Rian.

  “What's arching your back this time?” he taunted, checking his Arab as it tried to hurry its pace.

  “My back isn't arched,” Laurie answered, unconsciously relaxing the rigidity of her position, which drew an amused chuckle from Rian.

  “I declined the invitation, because I thought it was what you wanted."

  “Why should I want to be alone with you?” Her cheeks coloured as she made the angry retort.

  “Perhaps I misunderstood.” His calmness infuriated her. “I thought you wanted the Judge and Vera to be alone."

  His answer flustered her. “I did ... I do."

  “But not if it means being alone with me, is that it?"

  “I didn't say that."

  “You didn't have to,” he replied.

  Fluidly Rian dismounted at the paddock gate, reaching out to hold the bridle of Laurie's chestnut as she too slipped off her horse. His attention had thankfully shifted from her to the horses.

  “They're still a bit warm,” he said, shoving the chestnut's reins into her unwilling hands. “Let's walk them out."

  It was difficult walking beside Rian without being aware of him. The top of her tousled black hair was even with his chin. A white shirt accented rather than concealed the rippling leanness of his muscular figure. While the fawn breeches and brown riding boots suited his rugged looks more than the elegant suits had done. Rian Montgomery was a man of action—arrogant and autocratic, sure of his own power to control the lives of others.

  Living with him, Laurie thought idly, would be like living on the side of a volcano. At times the solid foundation would be comforting, but when the rumblings began it could be terrifying.

  She mustn't think like that, she told herself firmly, discovering she was almost accepting his presence as a permanent thing. It was the silence dominated by the compelling man walking beside her that was inducing these introspective ramblings. Three more days and she would be gone. All of this would seem like a dream that had never really happened. Then Laurie remembered Vera mentioning the party.

  “What about the party this weekend?” she asked hesitantly, unable to lift her gaze from the trodden sandy soil at her feet. “My plane reservations, or rather LaRaine's plane reservations, are for this Wednesday."

  “They can be changed,” his mocking voice reminded her.

  “I know, but ... you don't really want to have Vera give an engagement party for us."

  “How do you know what I want?” A knife-sharp edge to his mockery.

  Laurie didn't want to delve into that subject and subsided into silence.

  “What prompted your sudden interest in the marital status of my aunt?” Rian asked, changing the subject with lightning swiftness.

  Laurie blinked up at him briefly. “The first time I met the Judge, I knew he was quite taken with Vera. Later Colin mentioned that his father had been in love with her for years.” She didn't want to mention that Colin had also told her of Rian's part in the break-up of Vera's previous marriage. “I thought it would be a wonderful thing if they finally got together."

  “Wasn't one disastrous marriage enough for Vera?” Rian lashed out bitterly.

  “Why ... why would a marriage between the Judge and Vera be disastrous? He loves her very much."

  “Love! Love!” he ground out angrily. “You keep harping back to the same thing."

  “What's wrong with love? It wouldn't be a marriage without it.” Confusion darkened her blue eyes.

  “Love destroys. It turns a man into a whipped dog and a woman into a dispirited slave,” Rian bit out savagely.

  “That's not true,” Laurie gasped.

  “Do you know any couple who are truly in love, the way you mean it? Aren't they together to satisfy mutual needs—food, lodging, clothing, companionship, and the physical gratification of the opposite sex?” he jeered.

  Laurie knew so few people and none well enough to speak with authority on their personal lives. Her failure to answer brought more derogatory remarks from Rian.

  “What about LaRaine's parents? A more greedy, selfish woman I've never met than Carrie Evans. It's no wonder your uncle spends all his waking hours at work!"

  “But the Judge,” she protested weakly, not a match for his suddenly vicious attack, “look at how long he's loved Vera."

  “Yes, and that same love destroyed his marriage. Jealousy ate away Colin's mother until she didn't care to live any more. I know Colin must have told you what kind of a marriage Vera had,” Rian said sarcastically. “All she ever meant to her husband was a ready income that didn't require work. He didn't even have to maintain a pretence of a happy marriage to fool Vera. She was so besotted with him, he made her the laughing stock of the city.” Laurie was mesmerized by the anger and contempt in Rian's face. “I want no part of love!"

  A twisting, wrenching pain tore into her heart, making breathing almost impossible. She couldn't believe she was hearing correctly.

  “What about your parents?” she asked. “I saw my father nearly destroy his business trying to buy my mother's love with presents. He was an important man, a powerful man, but she drove him to his knees until he destroyed them both in a car crash.” His mouth was a grim, tight line, making him look more cruel and ruthless than Laurie thought possible. She couldn't meet the cold glitter of his gaze.

  “Then why, why do you want to get married?” Her dark head moved from side to side as if to shake away the agony his words were creating.

  “I told you once,” Rian spoke derisively. “A woman has more uses than just to take to bed. I need a hostess, a housekeeper, and someone to bear my children."

  “What about what your wife wants?” Her voice barely squeezed through the hard knot in her throat.

  “She'll lack for nothing. You forget, I'm very wealthy."

  “I was right about you.” Tears were spilling over Laurie's pale cheeks. “You don't have a heart,” she gulped, fighting to get the ring off her finger.

  But Rian ripped her hand away, carrying it to his chest where he r
ested it against his thudding heart. “Yes, I do,” he stated harshly, sweeping an arm about her waist and drawing her to the firmness of his body. “A woman doesn't want a husband, she wants a lover."

  His mouth ground against hers, the salty taste of her tears moistening her lips to mingle with his. His primitive kiss transmitted his desires to her, sparking an answering flame that consumed all resistance to his touch. When Laurie was clinging to him, her fingers curled around his neck and into the ebony blackness of his hair, Rian lifted his head, breaking off the passionate embrace.

  “Damn, but I want you, Laurie!”

  “No!” The ragged denial was torn from her heart.

  With a strength she didn't know she was capable of, Laurie twisted free. One backward step, then she was pivoting and racing towards the house while she still had some strength to resist his overpowering attraction.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  A WIDE tree-lined plaza marked the end of the four-mile-long bridge that joined Dauphin Island to the mainland. The road was divided by lush green grasses dotted with spiky palmettos. Not a fleecy white cloud marred the azure blue heavens and the glare of the golden sun was pleasantly warm. Laurie dutifully studied the scenery, determinedly keeping her gaze averted from the dark, compelling man behind the wheel of the luxury car.

  “Rian,” Vera spoke up from her place in the back seat with the Judge, “would you take Gerry and me to the harbour? He wants to check on his boat and I'm sure you would much rather show Laurie around the island yourself."

  “I didn't know you had a boat, Judge,” Rian commented, ignoring his aunt's reference to Laurie.

  “A very unostentatious cabin cruiser, just big enough for me to go out in the Gulf to do some deep sea fishing,” he replied. “I haven't been out since late fall. I thought I'd better make sure everything is all right there. You can pick Vera and me up later to picnic down by the beach."

  “Would you feel safe in my company for a few hours, Laurie?” Lazy, half-closed black eyes glinted at her, the mockery in his drawling voice laughing at her rigidly controlled expression. Since their disastrous conversation yesterday morning, Laurie had taken pains to keep from being alone with Rian as his callous denunciations of love still ringing in her ears had caused a dull ache in her chest.

  “What a silly thing to ask!” Vera exclaimed with a curious laugh. “She's your fiancée."

  “But extraordinarily reluctant to endorse your suggestion.” His statement forced Laurie to reply. She had hoped this excursion would remain a foursome and knew that Rian realized it, too."

  “On the contrary,” the lightness in her voice was slightly brittle, “I think it should be very interesting to have you as my tour guide, Rian. You have such a unique point of view about things."

  The subtlety of her comment was not lost on him as he acknowledged the point in her favour with a tilting nod of his dark, patrician head.

  After they had dropped Vera and the Judge at one of the docks, Rian drove slowly along the marina area so Laurie could see the different boats tied up there. Sailing sloops bobbed beside inboard cabin cruisers, while further down were the fishing boats.

  “Every year there's a blessing of the fishing fleet,” Rian told her. “The shrimp boats all wear their best nautical decorations. You see,” he tossed her a mocking glance, “I take my duties as tour guide seriously.” Not for anything would Laurie admit that his titbit of information interested her, maintaining the silence of one waiting to be amused. “The next stop in our excursion is Fort Gaines."

  “How familiar are you with the history of this area?” Rian asked when they walked into the inner courtyard of the fort.

  “I hardly know anything about it,” Laurie admitted, expecting a scornful glance, but she was met by a smile.

  “Then let me be the first to enlighten you,” tucking her hand under his arm and walking towards the ramp leading to the top of the fort wall. “Isle Dauphine, as the French called it when their first military expedition settled here in 1699, was an important base before the founding of the Louisiana Territory, which eventually stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and westward. The city of Mobile was the provincial capital of this French territory and Dauphin Island was the port of entry for two-thirds of the North American continent."

  “I've always connected New Orleans with the Louisiana Territory,” Laurie murmured.

  “So do most people,” Rian nodded. “Have you heard of the so-called “cassette” girls of New Orleans?” Laurie shook her head that she hadn't. “Twenty-four years before they arrived in New Orleans, the French ship Pelican dropped anchor at Dauphin Island. On board were twenty-four young girls who were sent by the King of France to marry the men living here and persuade them to settle down near the fort on Mobile River, which was later the city of Mobile. They became known as the “Pelican girls", arriving in the colony almost a quarter of a century before their New Orleans counterparts."

  “Did they marry the men?"

  “Naturally, they were here to serve their King.” There was a slight pause during which Laurie could feel his dark gaze resting on her. “What? No outcry about loveless marriages?” he jeered. “Or is the notion of travelling across half the world to marry a total stranger too romantic by itself?"

  Her dark brows arched over cool blue eyes. “I don't believe I'm required to answer questions put to me by an insolent tour guide."

  A humourless smile was directed at her. “Why am I insolent? Because I've asked you to be my ‘Pelican girl'?"

  “You never ‘ask', Rian. You order,” Laurie sighed, knowing how easily he could intimidate her.

  “Do you want me to ask?” his velvet-soft voice whispered near her hair as she stopped to look out of the south-east bastion.

  “Rian, please!” His hand was on the silkiness of her long hair, slipping underneath to caress the sensitive cord along her neck.

  “I like the way you say my name,” came his husky declaration. “Say it again."

  “No!” taking a quick step forward to elude his unnerving touch. The Gulf water shimmered a blue-green, almost turquoise in colour near the shore of white sand. “What's that out in the water?” Laurie pointed, seeking to draw his attention away from her.

  “That's the lighthouse on Sand Island marking the mouth of Mobile Bay,” Rian replied, a tinge of cynical amusement in his voice. “There's been a lighthouse there since 1838 to guide the ships to a safe anchorage. This side of the lighthouse and beyond is where the famous Battle of Mobile Bay took place during the War between the States. Admiral Farragut commanded the fleet of four Union ironclad monitors while eighteen wooden Confederate warships formed a battle line protecting the entrance. It was here that Farragut made his famous remark “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The ironclads won and Mobile fell to the North.” His hands settled on her shoulders, pulling her back against the hardness of his chest. “Haven't you ever wanted to say that? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

  For a moment, Laurie relaxed against him, glorying in the masculine nearness that swept her breath away, inhaling the scent of his maleness, totally intoxicated by his overpowering virility. In that one split second, she wanted to say “Damn love” and give herself up to his capable hands. But the weakness didn't last as she swallowed back her desire for his touch.

  “Perhaps if I were guaranteed the victory, I might,” she answered calmly, relieved when Rian's hands dropped to his side. Her ships were wooden and it was Rian who commanded the ironclads. If there was ever a battle, the victory would be his.

  They continued along the path to the east bastion where Rian pointed out the companion Fort Morgan guarding the other side of the Bay, then walked on to the preserved north-west bastion complete with the vaulted ceilings and arches.

  “The bricks used to construct the Fort were shaped by slave labour,” Rian explained. “The work was done near Dog River on the mainland almost twenty miles away. All these bastions had dual roles. They served as cann
on ports, but the entire roof areas of each were catch basins for rainwater which was strained through a bed of shells and sand and carried to large cisterns beneath the floor of the fort and the yard."

  “Was the fort ever used during the World Wars?” Laurie inquired, preferring to keep to the safer topic of history.

  “Yes, although it never saw battle action. A small garrison was stationed here in World War II, mostly to watch for saboteurs being landed here by enemy submarines which were frequently sighted off the mouth of Mobile Bay."

  With their tour of the fort completed, Laurie and Rian viewed the artifacts on display at the Confederate Museum on the grounds before returning to the car. From the car windows, Laurie was shown the island's Country Club with the lush greens of an eighteen-hole golf course, the white beaches edged by the blue Gulf water, and the large oak trees in Cadillac Square, named after one of the three French Governors who lived on the island. As they retraced part of their route to the marina, Rian pointed out the oak trees growing on top of large mounds of empty oyster shells, mute testimony to the Indian tribes that lived here long before the first French explorer set foot on the Isle Dauphine.

  When the foursome was complete again, the talkativeness of Vera and the Judge made up for the lack of conversation between Laurie and Rian. The laughter and happy voices of the older couple made Laurie feel that she and Rian were chaperoning them. The stretch of beach that Vera selected as the site for their picnic was empty except for the gulls that danced at the water's edge or flew screeching above the gentle waves.

  It was an idyllic setting—a bright blue picnic blanket on white sugar sand, the salty tang of a Gulf breeze, and the calming sound of the surf rushing in to kiss the shore. But Laurie couldn't relax. The expertly prepared seafood salad was tasteless to her. She was almost glad when everyone was finished and the food was packed away in the hamper again.

  For all the notice Rian paid her she might as well not have been there. An hour before, he had been all charm, undermining her defences and twisting her in knots. Laurie had been telling herself that she didn't want him to pay attention to her, to touch her, to cast his spell on her. Now that he was doing none of these things, she perversely wanted him to.