Ruthless Lover

by Sarah Holland

  Phil studied her with dark eyes. ‘He’s never loved you?’

  ‘Never.’ Bitterly, she shook her red-gold head, moving away from him across the living-room towards the windows, those wide windows that looked across New York, and the Chrysler building looked achingly beautiful tonight against the razzle-dazzle skyline.

  ‘Why did you marry him?’ Phil asked, watching her.

  Stiffening, she said bleakly, ‘Does it matter why?’ A loyalty to Nick that she could not fight any more than she could understand flared up inside her, and she knew that she would never tell Phil the truth of her reasons for marrying. ‘I did, that’s all, and this is the result.’ She gave a husky laugh, eyes shimmering with tears. ‘I always knew Nick didn’t love me. It just never occurred to me that I would ever find that situation intolerable.’

  ‘You could divorce him.’ Phil swept up beside her suddenly, watching her acutely, his eyes narrowed.

  ‘No,’ she said at once. ‘Out of the question.’ Her deep-rooted sense of honour made divorce impossible. So did her dislike of scandal. If she and Nick ever went through the divorce courts, his mistresses would be plastered all over the front pages, and Serena could not have faced that, any more than she could have done it to Nick.

  Nick, for all that he was a ruthless bastard, was also from a charming and dignified family. A family with a spotless reputation. Pillars of Bostonian society, and proud of their successful son, if a little uneasy with him.

  During their married life, Serena had only met his parents half a dozen times. They were a quiet couple, elegant and polite, completely overshadowed by their powerful son. They stayed in their world; Nick stayed in his.

  But Serena knew he loved his family deeply, and it would be a bitter blow if a divorce scandal erupted around him, shaming him in front of them and their Boston friends.

  It was a further twist of the knife to know that divorce was impossible because of her powerful and inexplicable loyalty to Nick Colterne. How she hated him…

  ‘I couldn’t divorce Nick,’ she heard her raw voice say with angry acceptance. ‘Not ever.’

  ‘But that’s madness, Serena!’ Phil turned her to face him. ‘He just humiliated you deliberately in front of his mistress!’

  ‘I can’t divorce him, don’t ask again!’ she whispered, and wrenched herself away from him, struggling to deal with the bitter pain his words invoked. ‘Phil, you’ve got to understand. Nick and I—we have an understanding. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, I agreed to this marriage, and I’ll have to live with it.’ Her lips were suddenly bloodless as she remembered Nick’s words this morning and found herself repeating them. ‘I’ll have to find some way to come to terms with it…’

  ‘When you say that you and Nick have an “understanding”,’ Phil said slowly, watching her, ‘do you mean this was a marriage of convenience?’

  Serena gave a harsh sigh and looked away. ‘I can’t discuss it…’

  ‘OK.’ Phil was thinking on his feet. ‘You can’t discuss it, but that doesn’t stop me guessing. And my guess is that money is at the bottom of this.’

  Serena looked away jerkily, her face white.

  ‘It is money, isn’t it?’ Phil raised blond brows. ‘You needed his money and he fancied you, so you got married.’

  She winced, unable to speak. It sounded so vile…

  ‘Presumably you still need his money,’ Phil said slowly. ‘But that’s the beauty of all this. Don’t you see? Divorce is a multi-million-dollar business.’ He moved closer, excitement in his dark eyes. ‘Serena, you could take that bastard to the cleaners and walk away with half his fortune!’

  ‘I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that, Phil.’ Her voice was rough with horror. ‘It’s the most appalling suggestion anyone has ever made to me.’

  ‘More appalling than marrying a man you can’t stand for his money?’ Phil bit back, flushing darkly.

  Serena whitened, unable to reply.

  ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’ Phil pressed his advantage home ruthlessly. ‘You married him for his money, but you can’t stand the sight of him. And I don’t blame you. Not after tonight. The way he spoke to me was bad enough, but the way he treated you was totally unacceptable.’

  He was right and she had no clever reply, no way of explaining how deep her pain went, how loyal she felt to Nick, how angry she was at the thought of anyone wanting to drag him through the legal mud in front of his family.

  ‘You’re right,’ she said bitterly. ‘Nick’s behaviour was unacceptable tonight. But I can’t do it to him, Phil. I just can’t contemplate—hurting him like that.’

  ‘Hurting him!’ Phil took her shoulders, his dark eyes blazing. ‘What about you?’

  ‘I’ve got my work,’ she said with a tight smile. ‘I’m quite happy, just painting and seeing friends, going to art exhibitions…I don’t need anything else from life, Phil! Certainly not the horror divorce would bring!’

  ‘You need love!’ Phil said fiercely. ‘You’re a beautiful, vibrant woman and you need a man who can make love to you, give love to you, take love from you!’

  She gave a rough laugh, tears in her eyes. ‘So all the magazines tell me!’

  ‘Don’t joke about it, Serena!’ Phil said hoarsely, and suddenly he was staring at her full mouth in a way that made her feel very uneasy indeed. ‘Not with me…not after all this time…’

  Her eyes widened and she caught her breath. ‘Phil—’

  ‘My darling, I’ve been so patient!’ he said tensely, and his hands were tightening on her slim shoulders. ‘I could see you were completely unaware of your own frustration. I could see you were lonely and unloved, and I could see that cold diamond on your finger, next to the wedding band, and no husband in sight…’

  ‘Phil, I can’t believe you’re saying any of this.’ She was trying carefully to extricate herself from him, her eyes alarmed as she suddenly sensed danger. ‘I’ve always been frank with you. My husband is a busy man and that’s why we were never together—’

  “That’s what you said,’ he cut in. ‘But it wasn’t what your eyes told me, or your body, or your special smiles.’

  ‘My special smiles!’ she echoed, horrified, staring at him.

  ‘Serena, I’ve spent the last month trying to break through the dreamy barriers you throw up, and tonight’s finally smashed them to pieces, hasn’t it, my darling?’

  ‘Phil—’ she said in a warning voice.

  ‘You’re finally a real woman!’ His dark eyes gleamed on her mouth. ‘No dreams or illusions in your eyes. Just a woman in need of love, and I’m going to give it to you, Serena. I’m going to—’

  ‘No!’ she broke out fiercely, struggling, but it was too late, Phil was determined and believed everything he had said, and although she fought him he pulled her hard against him and his mouth closed over hers.

  Squirming, Serena registered appalled distaste as his clammy mouth forced that unwanted kiss on her. It was a nightmare, his hands pushing her backwards towards the couch as she fought him.

  ‘Don’t deny yourself what you need!’ Phil was saying thickly against her mouth as he manoeuvred her struggling body to the couch. ‘What we both need! Serena, you’re so lovely…!’

  Crying out hoarsely for help that would not come, Serena felt herself falling backwards on to the couch. Phil joined her at once, pushing her down when she tried to sit up, his hands hard on her slim shoulders.

  ‘You’re passionate!’ He was laughing, pressing his body down on hers to trap her there. ‘I knew you would be! That sexy body…that red hair…those flashing eyes…!’

  ‘Get your hands off me!’ she choked out, but he just laughed and a second later his clammy mouth was back, his hands sliding up over her breasts to make her squirm in revulsion, hitting his shoulders, loathing him suddenly as their friendship was shattered by this gross sexual confrontation.

  Suddenly, Phil wrenched himself away from her and flew across the floor.

  Se
rena was baffled, staring as her mind groped to understand. Then she saw Nick towering over him, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, lifting him to his feet.

  ‘You heard the lady!’ Nick said tightly. ‘Get your filthy hands off her and keep them off!’

  ‘Nick…!’ Serena said rawly, sitting up, shaking. ‘Don’t hurt him…’

  Nick laughed, flicking blue eyes over the younger, thinner man. ‘Oh, I think he deserves to be hurt—don’t you?’

  ‘Not by you, Colterne!’ Phil said with a quick, calculating glance at Serena. ‘Not by a man who married an innocent young woman and ruined her life! You just wanted to—’

  Nick punched him in the face. He watched Phil fly across the room and land on the floor against an armchair. Breathing thickly, he advanced on him, rage in his eyes.

  He towered over him, bristling with menace and said in a thickly slurred voice, ‘Don’t you ever presume to talk about my marriage again!’

  Phil stared up at him, a hand to his jaw. ‘It’s a little late to pretend you care about her, isn’t it? You deserve to be dragged through the divorce courts and I’m going to stand beside Serena every step of the way!’

  ‘Is that so?’ Nick said under his breath, through his teeth.

  ‘We’ve already discussed it!’

  ‘I know,’ Nick bit out, blue eyes deadly. ‘You just asked her to take me to the cleaners.’

  Phil’s eyes widened, his face draining of all colour as he stared in silence at Nick, and Serena started to tremble as she realised that her deadly husband had outmanoeuvred her yet again.

  ‘Oh, yes, that’s right,’ Nick said tightly. ‘I got here first. Monique caught a cab and my chauffeur put his foot down. I’ve been in my bedroom since you first walked in.’ He laughed under his breath, enjoying their appalled stares. ‘Of course, one shouldn’t eavesdrop. One so rarely hears anything good about oneself. But your conversation was so interesting that I simply couldn’t bring myself to do the decent thing.’

  Serena was immobile, staring at him as her breathing constricted, and her mind raced back over what she had said to Phil, wincing at every damning word.

  ‘You listened…’ Phil said in slow disbelief. ‘To all of that…’

  ‘Every last sentence,’ Nick said through his teeth. ‘I was interested to see how far you would go. Thought I’d give you plenty of rope, Greyson, and you really hanged yourself from the chandeliers didn’t you?’

  Phil was white, breathing thickly as he sprawled on his back at Nick’s feet, half resting against the chair.

  ‘I take it you have the perfect divorce lawyer,’ Nick said in a frighteningly soft voice, ‘just waiting to accept my wife’s case?’

  Phil’s face ran with a tide of dark red colour and he flicked a quick guilty look at Serena, telling her in that moment that Nick was absolutely right, and she was appalled to realise that Phil had obviously had this in mind since he’d met her.

  ‘While you prepare yourself, no doubt,’ said Nick tightly, ‘to play the role of supportive lover, holding her hand as she sobs into her handkerchief for the judge?’

  Phil went scarlet, and Serena wanted to curl up and die. How could Phil be so underhand, so devious, so manipulative? She had thought he was her friend.

  ‘All calculated, in fact,’ Nick said bitingly, ‘to destroy me. But I’m not going to let that happen, and do you know why?’ Suddenly, his hands shot to Phil’s lapels, lifting him to his feet, blue eyes blazing with rage. ‘Because I’m going to destroy you!’

  ‘No!’ Phil stared, his face bleached white, cowering away from Nick.

  ‘I can do it just by snapping my fingers, Greyson, and don’t you forget it!’ Nick snarled.

  ‘Please!’ Phil had his hands up in self-defence. ‘It wasn’t like that. I was trying to help Serena…I love her…I’m her friend…’

  ‘Lady Serena to you!’ Nick bit out. ‘As for your claim to love her—look at her face. Do you really think she believes that pile of sentimental rubbish?’

  Phil reddened, breathing hoarsely, glancing guiltily at Serena. ‘All right…it’s not true…I’ve been a fool, but for God’s sake, Colterne—don’t annihilate me for one stupid mistake.’

  Nick studied him, his upper lip curled back in a sneer. ‘What a guy! What a hero!’

  ‘Please!’ Phil’s voice pleaded hoarsely.

  There was a brief silence while Nick studied him with contempt ‘All right, Greyson—here’s the deal,’ he said through his teeth. ‘You keep away from my wife, or I hack you up and turn you into pâté. Got that?’

  ‘Yes.’ Phil nodded. ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Almost,’ Nick drawled menacingly, lifting his dark head, blue eyes deadly. ‘You’ve learned a thing or two about my private life tonight…’

  ‘It won’t be repeated,’ Phil said at once. ‘I won’t tell anyone anything. Nothing, Colterne. Not a damned thing.’

  ‘I hope for your sake you don’t,’ Nick said tightly.

  ‘I’d have to be mad to tell anyone in this town!’ Phil said urgently. ‘You must believe me! I really won’t say a thing! Nothing at all…’

  Nick studied him, his mouth hard, then he gave a cool nod. ‘The door’s over there. Use it.’

  Phil swallowed, raked a hand through his blond hair and looked at Serena. There was a brief silence while they looked at each other, and she felt compassion for his humiliation at Nick’s hands, but she also felt very angry at what he had tried to do.

  He looked at her for a moment more, then turned and walked silently to the door. Nick watched him go, his face unreadable. The door closed behind him.

  ‘Well,’ Nick said tightly, swinging round on Serena. ‘I think you’ve got a lot of explaining to do. Start now and make it good.’

  Serena swallowed hard. ‘You said you were going home with Monique. What did you expect me to do? Just come back here on my own?’

  ‘Why not?’ he asked flatly. ‘You’ve done it a million times before. I’ve always had mistresses. What made tonight different for you?’

  Anger flared in her eyes. ‘It was too public! I felt humiliated. That’s why you did it. It was deliberate. You wanted to get back at me for—’

  ‘For going out with another man,’ he bit out, leaning towards her, blue eyes blazing. ‘And just why did you bring him back here with you, Serena? I’ll tell you, shall I? You were playing tit-for-tat. You wanted to get back at me by sleeping with that bastard before—’

  ‘That’s not true!’ She got to her feet, breathing hard. ‘You must know it’s not! You were listening in the bedroom. You must have heard everything I said, every word, every—’

  ‘I’m not the CIA, Serena,’ he cut in harshly. ‘I didn’t bug the goddamned flat I just listened at a door—I didn’t hear everything.’

  Her heart was beating very fast. ‘You didn’t hear everything?’ Her voice seemed throaty, strangely weak. ‘What exactly did you hear?’

  His mouth tightened. ‘Greyson’s voice carries. Yours doesn’t. I heard everything he said—nothing you said.’ He looked her up and down, his blue eyes furious. ‘You’re going to have to fill me in on all those replies of yours, Serena, because I missed every last one of them, and I want to hear them. Right now.’

  Relief swamped her, and she closed her eyes, breathing easier. He hadn’t heard her say she wouldn’t divorce him. He didn’t know how deep her feelings went for him. Neither did she. She didn’t understand why she felt such a powerful loyalty towards him, but at least she was spared the humiliation of his knowing.

  ‘Answer me.’ His hand caught her chin, forcing her to face him, his eyes brutal. ‘What did my loving wife say when asked to take me to the cleaners and sue me to the hilt?’

  Serena gave a hoarse, ironic laugh.

  ‘Don’t you laugh at me, you little bitch!’ he said through his teeth, fingers tightening like a vice on her chin. ‘I can assure you I wouldn’t go meekly to the slaughter. You’d have to put a gun to my head to get me
to the divorce courts, let alone the cleaners. I’d take you to hell and back before I let you do that to me.’

  ‘Would you, Nick?’ she whispered. ‘I thought we were already there?’

  ‘Not just yet, baby!’ His mouth shook. ‘You haven’t burnt in hell-fire until you’ve fought me face to face. Don’t even think about divorce. I’d kill you…I’d really take the gloves off with you, Serena,’ he said thickly. ‘You’d be punch-drunk before you even got to the lawyer’s office.’

  She shivered, then said shakily, ‘I believe you, Nick. But that doesn’t mean I can’t consider my options. Divorce was inevitably going to rear its ugly head between us.’

  ‘And I’ll cut it off,’ he said, biting out the words. ‘I protect what’s mine, Serena. Regardless of how or why—you’re one of my possessions and I intend to keep you. If that means I have to punch every man who comes near you then I’ll do it.’

  Bitterly, she said, ‘My knight in shining armour!’

  ‘Just think of me as the Black Prince,’ he drawled maliciously.

  ‘I’m trapped, then?’ she whispered, hating him. ‘Divorce isn’t even an option for me?’

  ‘Not while there’s life left in my body,’ he said thickly. ‘I’ll never let you go.’

  ‘You couldn’t stop me.’ Tears stung her eyes. ‘Not if I were determined.’

  The blue eyes narrowed. ‘Are you determined, Serena?’

  She lowered her gaze from him, her lashes sweeping the vulnerable curve of her cheek, and did not reply. She wouldn’t lie to him. But she certainly wouldn’t tell him the truth.

  Bitterly, she smiled and said, ‘I’d have to be mad to try and fight you. All I can do now is live with a man I hate, and who hates me. Is that the kind of marriage you want?’

  He gave a hard smile. ‘It seems to be the kind of marriage I’ve got.’

  ‘Doesn’t that bother you?’ she whispered.

  ‘Not if I get an heir from you,’ he drawled softly.

  Serena shivered, staring at his deadly face, and her voice said shakily, ‘My father’s accountant described you as a ruthless shark the day he first mentioned your name. He was right, wasn’t he? I didn’t realise it fully until now.’ Her eyes traced his hard face. ‘But that’s what you are, isn’t it? You really don’t give a damn what you destroy or who you hurt or how many people you trample on. So long as you get what you want in the end—you’re satisfied.’