A Daring Deception (Harlequin Presents)

by Amanda Browning

  Rachel’s fingers tied themselves into a nervous knot. ‘I see,’ she responded lamely, unable to think of a sensible thing to say with Nathan’s contained anger turning the air in the room electric. The reason for it was simple. As she had feared, one glance at Emma and he had recognised her.

  Nathan’s jaw clenched, and his next words backed up her guess. ‘Imagine my surprise when this young woman opened the door. She was the very last person I expected to see. Correct me if I’m wrong, but she looks a hell of a lot like the woman in Antibes,’ he ground out with restrained anger. ‘The one you played merry hell with!’

  ‘You’re not wrong, Mr Wade. I was in Antibes that summer,’ Emma answered him smoothly, and he shot her a narrow look.

  ‘And now you turn up here! What a small world! I think it’s about time one of you started to do some explaining!’ he ordered scathingly, looking directly at Rachel.

  Before she could answer, however, Emma spoke up again. ‘Its really very simple, Mr Wade. Rachel went to Antibes to save me from a fortune-hunter. We’re a very close family, and she knows I would do the same for her. The methods she used were extreme, but they worked where all else had failed.’

  It was clear to the cousins that Nathan battled with seething emotions. He sought confirmation. ‘So you’re telling me that what I saw was nothing more than an act?’

  Emma nodded. ‘Staged to trap a trickster, nobody else.’

  He turned and took a couple of steps away. Hands on hips, head bowed, he digested what he had been told. Eventually he took a deep breath and faced them again, his expression composed, but Rachel didn’t believe for a moment that he had stopped being angry—at least, not with her.

  ‘So, who exactly are you?’

  Finding her voice at last, Rachel made the introduction. ‘She’s my cousin, Emma. You’ve heard me talk about her. We run the catering business together,’ she explained, and watched uneasily as Nathan coolly shook Emma’s hand. He was too calm. Far too calm.

  ‘I’m pleased to meet you at last, Emma, though the circumstances are not quite what I expected.’ Nathan greeted her with a friendly smile, but Rachel was quick to note that his eyes were distinctly unfriendly when they glanced her way.

  ‘I’m sorry it happened this way, too,’ Emma responded calmly. ‘It isn’t how I would have wanted it. But, having said that, you must accept some of the blame.’

  Nathan looked a trifle taken aback at that. ‘Is that so?’

  ‘Oh, yes. To continue to think the way you do about my cousin once you got to know her is something I will always find hard to forgive,’ Emma reproved him.

  Comprehending from her remarks that Emma was fully aware of his assumptions regarding Rachel, Nathan set his hands on his hips and smiled tigerishly. ‘Perpetuating the lie isn’t something I find easy to forgive either,’ he growled, rounding on Rachel. ‘Now I understand why you were so anxious I didn’t come here. You didn’t want me to see Emma and discover the number you were doing on me. You’ve been playing me for a fool all along, haven’t you, Rachel? Were you ever going to tell me, I wonder?’ he demanded, looking her squarely in the eye, chilling her blood with the iciness of his gaze.

  Emma held up a hand hastily at this point. ‘Ah, this is where I leave. It sounds to me like its going to be the death of a thousand cuts, and if you don’t mind I’d rather not witness the blood being spilled.’ Giving her cousin a mixed apologetic and reassuring look, she disappeared into her own bedroom.

  Left alone with Nathan, Rachel folded her arms protectively about her waist and braced herself for the storm she knew was about to hit her. ‘Of course I was going to tell you. If you remember, I did try,’ she explained staunchly, and winced inwardly when she saw his eyes narrow dangerously.

  ‘Try?’ he scoffed scornfully. ‘Don’t give me that, Rachel. You could have said something more to me when I first told you what I believed about you!’ he added hotly, and that struck home, because she had known at the time she was making an error. She just hadn’t known how big a one.

  Knowing she was at fault was one thing, but he wasn’t faultless either, and that brought her chin up defiantly, ‘No, I couldn’t. You’d made me too damned angry. My God, how do you think I felt, knowing precisely what you had thought of me all that time?’ she exclaimed in a choked voice. ‘I knew you despised me, but I never knew why until then. Damn it, Nathan, how could you think I was like that?’ she accused painfully.

  His jaw tensed so hard she expected it to break. ‘Very easily, after what I saw.’

  Hurt brought angry moisture to her eyes and she blinked it away hastily. ‘But you only ever saw me act that way once! Didn’t I deserve the benefit of the doubt when we met and you saw me as a totally different person?’

  His expression set mutinously. ‘How was I to know you weren’t playing more tricks? The truth would have helped, of course. Maybe I was hasty. Maybe I should have questioned more. But it doesn’t alter the fact you should have told me the truth at the outset,’ he pointed out coldly, and the injustice of it made her mad.

  ‘You wouldn’t have believed me! Don’t you dare try to deny it, Nathan, because you know you wouldn’t. You had this fixed idea about me and you refused to let it go no matter what I said. No matter how many times I tried to tell you that there was an innocent explanation and that you didn’t know me, you insisted that you did,’ Rachel countered angrily.

  His nostrils flared as he drew in an angry breath. ‘So you decided to make a fool of me instead?’ Nathan accused, and she swallowed hard, her throat painfully tight with the emotions ripping through her.

  ‘Yes, at first. I wanted to pay you back for all the things you had said. I was going to throw the truth in your face when we had got the letters back,’ she confessed hardily, and saw that nerve begin to tick away in his jaw.

  ‘So why didn’t you? You had ample opportunity after we left Ames’s house,’ he demanded, and, caught out by the direction this was going, she hastily dropped her gaze to the floor.

  ‘I changed my mind,’ she said gruffly, protecting herself with half of the truth, and he uttered a harsh bark of laughter.

  ‘Sure you did! You thought it would be more fun to let me find out this way!’

  Looking up swiftly, Rachel shook her head in vehement denial. ‘No! I didn’t plan this. I changed my mind because…’ She hesitated, knowing she was skating on dangerous ground. ‘Because I didn’t want to damage our relationship,’ she admitted huskily, her eyes searching his, hoping to see some softening there. In vain.

  ‘Relationship?’ Nathan exclaimed scornfully, unwittingly tearing at her fragile heart. ‘We don’t have a relationship, sweetheart. We spent one night together, that was all.’

  That he could reduce the passion between them to those terms didn’t bode well, but still she tried to salvage something from the mess. ‘It wasn’t just one night. It was a beginning. What we feel when we’re together isn’t over.’ It was there now, hidden behind the anger.

  ‘Maybe not,’ he agreed tautly. ‘But if you think I want any more to do with you after this, you’re sadly mistaken!’

  Rachel had always known that he would not take the truth well; that was why she had wanted their affair to have lasted longer than one day. For then it would have had some hopes of riding the storm. It had been a faint hope at best, but it was all she had had. She had wanted more time. Had wanted memories to see her through the dark times. But there were to be none, and it hurt so much she could only respond with anger and scorn for what he was throwing away in his hypocrisy.

  ‘So that’s it? Is all over because your pride is hurt that I didn’t tell you about Emma. Well, what about my pride? You jumped to conclusions about me and hung onto them like grim death! Do you have any idea how much that hurt me?’ she charged him.

  Nathan stared at her, nostrils flaring, eyes flashing fire. ‘As you knew it wasn’t true, I don’t see how it could have hurt you at all!’

  ‘Oh, don’t you?’ Rache
l flung back in outrage, pushed way beyond caution. ‘Well, let me tell you something, Nathan Wade. It hurt like hell. It hurt me as it would hurt any woman who loved a man!’

  The confession staggered her as much as it clearly shook him. Rachel closed her eyes in despair. She hadn’t meant to say it, to give away so much. But now that she had revealed how she felt she could not take it back. Not even to defend herself. Steeling herself, she looked at him defiantly.

  Nathan dragged a hand through his hair, a clear sign of agitation. ‘Are you trying to tell me you love me?’ he challenged, and his tone was far less aggressive than before.

  ‘Yes. I love you,’ she confirmed steadily, and, letting out a shaken breath, Nathan dragged a hand through his hair again, leaving it tousled.

  ‘And how many of the chinless wonders you date have you said that to?’ he asked curtly, making her flinch, though she hadn’t expected him to believe her.

  ‘None,’ she responded honestly, for that was the only weapon she had left. ‘For the simple reason you’re the only man I’ve ever fallen in love with.’

  He laughed mockingly. ‘Am I supposed to be honoured?’ he taunted, and that cut her to the quick, for she was baring her soul to him and all he could do was cut it to ribbons.

  She knew she had paled, and she had to swallow once, twice, before her throat would work properly. ‘If you loved me, I guess you would be honoured. So that answers one question, doesn’t it? You don’t love me,’ she said huskily.

  He stared at her, jaw flexing with tension. ‘Did I ever give you the impression that I did?’ he asked tautly, and she shook her head resignedly.

  ‘No, you never did. In fact, I didn’t even know you wanted me until a couple of days ago. You’re very good at hiding your feelings.’

  Nathan opened his mouth to say something, then clearly thought better of it. He shook his head as if he needed to clear it, and his answer was strangely stilted. ‘It’s—er—something I’ve perfected over the years. It comes in handy in my line of work.’

  ‘Yes, I imagine it does,’ she said tiredly, worn out by the emotional outburst of the past few minutes. She had never felt so vulnerable in her life. ‘God, this is such a mess. I didn’t mean to embarrass you by telling you I loved you. It just slipped out.’

  Nathan let out a long breath and flexed his shoulders, easing some of the tension in them. ‘The truth often does, unless you’re a cautious fellow like me. Your confession took me by surprise, but I wasn’t embarrassed by it.’

  Rachel found a weak smile from somewhere. ‘Nevertheless, you’d rather I hadn’t said it. I suppose you get protestations of love all the time from your women?’ Lord, how she hated the very thought of them.

  ‘Not that many,’ he denied, eyeing her curiously. ‘I tend to discourage it. I’ve never told any woman I loved her, either. I promised myself I would never say it until I meant it.’

  She didn’t really want to hear this, she thought, rubbing at her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache there. ‘Well, if you need someone to confirm that claim, you can always send them to me!’ she offered with a faint attempt at humour.

  Though she didn’t see it, Nathan’s gaze softened, and he shook his head slowly. ‘No, I don’t think I will,’ he said quietly, and colour stung her cheeks at the gentle snub.

  ‘Fine. Do as you please. Oh, and you needn’t worry that I will make a pest of myself. You’ll never have to fear hearing those three little words from me again,’ she told him shortly, coming very close to the end of her tether.

  ‘Now that would be a shame,’ he returned wryly, and, thinking she had surely misheard, Rachel blinked at him.

  ‘What? What did you say?’

  Nathan rubbed his thumb down the bridge of his nose and sighed. ‘I said it would be a shame if you didn’t say it to me again,’ he repeated obligingly, and she stared at him incredulously.

  ‘That’s a ridiculous thing to say!’ she exclaimed, hurt that he should make fun of her this way. She had thought better of him.

  ‘Not from where I’m standing it isn’t,’ he countered, and her eyes took on the glitter of unshed tears.

  ‘This isn’t funny!’

  He spread his hands soothingly. ‘It isn’t intended to be.’

  It was all too much. She had been emotionally battered from all sides, and she didn’t need this. ‘I don’t understand you!’ she cried in exasperation. All she wanted to do was bury her head in her pillow and howl.

  To her dismay, he had the gall to smile. ‘I’m not so hard to understand if you remember what happened the other night,’ he responded, and she gasped in shock.

  ‘If you’re referring to the fact that we made love, I fail to see the point!’ she declared thickly. He was going too far.

  Nathan tutted in mild reproof. ‘Not that. I was referring to the fact that I lost at cards,’ he said pointedly, but Rachel was too emotionally drained to make the connection.

  ‘If you’re trying to tell me something, Nathan, just do it. If not, I’d rather you left. I’ll make my own way to Grandfather’s later,’ she told him wearily. She needed time to lick her wounds, and she didn’t want him there whilst she did it. To her surprise and annoyance, Nathan shook his head.

  ‘I don’t think I’m going anywhere right now,’ he refused, and she glared at him through over-bright eyes.

  ‘I think you’ve had more than your pound of flesh. If you had any decency, you’d just go,’ she insisted, turning away from him and walking to the window, where she gripped the sill until her knuckles whitened and stared out blankly at a view which usually charmed her.

  ‘I guess I’m not that decent,’ he countered mildly, and she swung round to face him.

  ‘Nathan!’ she began to protest, but he held up a hand.

  ‘Rachel, has it never occurred to you that if I hid one thing from you I could hide another?’ he asked her simply.

  ‘What more is there?’ He’d told her he didn’t love her and that was all she needed to know. It was cruel of him to linger and prolong her agony this way.

  ‘Just about everything, by the looks of it,’ he observed sardonically, rubbing a hand around his jaw and eyeing her ruefully.

  ‘I told you this isn’t funny! I’m tired of your games!’ she cried in exasperation, and he quickly closed the distance separating them, taking her by the shoulders, giving her a tiny shake.

  ‘I’m not playing games now. Pay attention, for this is important. Answer me this. Did you mean it when you said you loved me?’ he asked, holding her eyes, searching them.

  Taunted beyond reason, she set her jaw mutinously. ‘I thought I did. I’m not so sure now!’ she snapped, and though she could scarcely credit it he smiled brightly.

  ‘Rachel Shaw, you once told me that I would fall one day and fall hard. Sweetheart, can’t you feel the ground shaking beneath your feet right now?’ he asked gently, and her throat closed over as what he had been trying to tell her by various means began to sink in. Could he really be telling her he loved her too? Oh, how she wanted it to be true, but it was so incredible she didn’t dare take it seriously for fear of getting hurt.

  ‘That’s just the underground. It passes right under here,’ she retorted facetiously, whilst her heart waited anxiously for his answer.

  He nodded soberly. ‘OK, I deserve that. Why should you believe me when I’ve done nothing but lie to you?’

  She stared up at him, scarcely daring to breathe. She would have asked him to pinch her to prove she wasn’t dreaming, but dared not interrupt him now. ‘What have you lied about?’ Her brain was so addled she couldn’t think of a thing.

  He laughed, but it was against himself. ‘I lied when I said I would never fall in love. The truth is I fell in love a long time ago.’

  Her lips parted on a tiny gasp. ‘You did?’ she asked on a trembling sigh.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Nathan confirmed with a nod. ‘The trouble was, I fell for a woman who I honestly believed to be bad news.’


  Rachel closed her eyes briefly, feeling a bubble of joy beginning to expand within her. He was saying he loved her, for who else fitted the description? Suddenly all her tiredness vanished like morning mist. Mastering her excitement, she looked up at him nonchalantly. ‘You’re beginning to interest me. Tell me more.’

  Nathan laughed softly, though his eyes were deadly serious. ‘I was determined that she would never know how I felt. I knew if she knew I would be lost.’

  Her heart tripped, and it was hard to keep playing it cool. ‘I think I know this story. So you kept her at a distance with words,’ she supplied, and he first looked surprised, then rueful.

  ‘You worked that out, did you?’

  Rachel finally allowed a soft smile to curve her lips. ‘Eventually. Then what happened?’ she encouraged huskily, the pulse in her throat rushing along at an amazing pace.

  One eyebrow rose in a way she found more endearing the more often she saw it. ‘You’re determined to hear a full confession?’

  ‘Nothing else will do,’ she told him honestly, for it would not. So much had been said, she needed to hear the truth from his own lips.

  ‘This part doesn’t reflect on me very well. You see, I discovered I could have her without committing myself. I was selfish enough to take advantage of her terms. At the time it seemed ideal, but…’ Here he pulled a wry face, and Rachel frowned.

  ‘But what?’

  Absently his hands began to smooth up and down her silk-covered arms in a soothing caress. ‘I began to get the feeling something wasn’t quite right about her. Sometimes she didn’t seem to be who I thought she was.’

  Rachel couldn’t resist mocking him. ‘But I thought you were so sure about her?’

  With a deep sigh Nathan pulled her unresisting body close and wrapped his arms around her. ‘So did I. Now, of course, I realise what it was. You weren’t that woman and never had been. I’d been protecting myself from someone who simply didn’t exist. My only excuse for continuing to believe the “lie” was that I had never been in love before. It made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable. I didn’t like it.’