Dark Betrayal

by Patricia Lake

  She looked at him from behind the smoked screen of the glasses. 'I'm not frightened of anything,' she said airily.

  He reached out and gently took the glasses from her nose. 'Tell me again,' he said softly, reading the confusion in her wide green eyes.

  'Stop bullying me,' she replied huskily.

  Jake sighed. 'Dammit, Deborah, I can't go on like this—it's driving me insane.' His voice became lower, softer. 'You're driving me insane.'

  'The situation is of your own making,' Deborah retorted shakily. 'I didn't want this.'

  'You want me,' he said roughly. 'Granted, not as much as I want you, but you do want me.'

  'No.' She sat up, shaking like a leaf. 'You're wrong.'

  'I guess the scars are too deep to forget,' Jake said flatly. 'But surely not too deep to heal. I know we've hurt each other'

  'I did nothing. It was you' Her eyes flashed

  with pain and anger.

  'You deliberately let me believe that you were seeing Stevens,' Jake bit out, cutting her off mid sentence.

  Deborah lowered her head, flushing. She couldn't deny that. She felt cold, even though the sun was so hot. 'Can we go back to the house now? I'm tired.' There was pleading mingled with the defiance in her voice.

  Jake's eyes probed her closed face. 'Sure, if that's what you want.'

  'It is.' She stood up and pulled on her clothes.

  They drove back through the baked arid countryside to Seville in silence. When they reached the house, Jake left her without a word, striding away across the courtyard. Deborah watched him go, her vision blurred with tears.

  Ana met her at the door, her brown face creased with worry.

  'A visitor,' she said with difficulty, her English not very good.

  'Who is it?' She couldn't think of anyone who would visit them here. 'It is someone for Sefior de Loza?' she asked, realising that this could be the only answer.

  'No, senora, to see you and Sefior Logan. She has been here many hours.' Ana was obviously agitated which seemed to add to the mystery.

  Deborah followed the maid into the house, only to find herself face to face to Leila, as she entered the lounge. She could hardly believe her eyes.

  The other girl looked pale and beautiful, her light linen suit immaculate, which made Deborah very aware of her salt-stained shorts and T-shirt.

  For a moment she was too stunned to speak, but Leila's malicious smile brought her to her senses.

  'What are you doing here?' she asked quietly.

  'Where's Jake?' Leila demanded wildly, not answering. 'Where is he? I want to see him. I've been waiting for hours and I haven't been able to get a word of sense out of that stupid maid.'

  'I don't know where Jake is,' Deborah said honestly. 'Why have you come here?' She knew she should offer Leila hospitality, but the febrile glitter in the other girl's eyes frightened her, and she found herself wondering if Leila was ill.

  'Won't you sit down?' she suggested as calmly as she could. 'And I'll ask Ana to find Jake.'

  'That maid is on your side. You're trying to keep him away from me, that's why you've come here,' Leila said, and smiled, a crazy terrifying smile. 'Tess told me yesterday that you're pregnant.'

  Deborah frowned. Oliver, she thought.

  'Well, it won't work, you won't keep him. He's mine. He loves me.' She took a step forward and Deborah backed, really afraid now. There was something dangerous about Leila, something in her eyes, something in the way she was talking, something vicious and frightening.

  'Leila, please sit down,' she said again, thinking, where are you, Jake? This is your problem, not mine, and I don't think I can cope.

  Leila's smile faded. 'I can do anything,' she said, her voice strangely quiet. 'Jake brought me from France to live with him. You see he loves me, not you. I'll tell him that it's not his baby you're carrying. I kept you away from him for three years. I enjoyed seeing your face when you found me in his bedroom. Jake was angry, you poisoned his mind.' She rambled on as though talking to herself.

  Realisation dawned on Deborah in a sudden blinding flash. She had been wrong. For three years she had been wrong. 'You did it deliberately, didn't you?' she said, smiling herself now, a little hysterical. She remembered what Leila had said at the wedding. 'I did it once and I'll do it again.'

  'Oh yes,' Leila said coolly, pleased with herself and anxious to reveal all the details. 'I was looking out of the window and I saw your car. I went to Jake's room to tell him, but he was in the shower, so I got into bed and waited.'

  Deborah felt her legs trembling and sank into the nearest chair. Jake had been telling the truth all the time. She had refused to believe him.

  'Jake threw me out when he found me, but you'd already gone,' Leila continued, smiling.

  'How could you?' Deborah whispered, her heart pounding. 'How could you?'

  Leila moved closer. 'I'm glad I did it. I hate you.'

  She lifted her hand. She's going to hit me, Deborah thought in horror, unable to move a muscle.

  'Leila!' Jake's voice was like a whiplash in the silence. He moved into the room.

  'Deborah's done nothing. Why do you want to hurt her?'

  'She's trying to take you away from me,' Leila said wildly, but her hand dropped, and Deborah let out her breath on a long shaking sigh of relief.

  'No, she's my wife,' Jake said quietly. 'I want her.'

  Deborah looked at him. He filled the room with his presence, his calm strength, and she felt safe.

  'How can you want her?' Leila demanded emotionally. 'I love you!'

  'But I don't love you.' His voice was gentle but firm.

  Leila began crying noisily, then the room seemed full of people—Ana, and a small man with a leather case. A doctor, Deborah thought thankfully.

  She stood up and walked out of the room, unnoticed. She walked into the courtyard, breathing deeply of the warm air. Her head was spinning with all that had happened, but one thought soared above the confusion. Jake had not lied to her. He and Leila had never been lovers. She sat down on the tiled edge of the fountain, and let her hand trail in the cold water. The day was losing its heat, night beginning to fall around her. Leila had caused so much heartbreak in their lives. Could the damage ever be repaired?

  Jake found her deep in thought as he strolled outside half an hour later.

  'I've been looking for you,' he said deeply.

  She looked up into his dark familiar face and smiled.

  'I've been here.' 'She didn't hurt you?'

  'No, I'm just stunned.'

  'She told you the truth?' His eyes were very dark, very serious.

  'Yes. And I'm sorry I called you a liar. You should have told me.'

  'I did. You didn't believe me.'

  'No.' She smiled at him and his eyes narrowed on her face.

  'I didn't even know what she'd done until you told me,' he said harshly. 'I remember finding her in my bed, I didn't know you'd even been to the house. The day after the wedding, I confronted her with what you'd told me and she admitted everything.'

  Deborah was silent, ashamed of herself. 'Where is she now?'

  He frowned. 'Dr Clemente has given her a sedative, and she's been taken to the local hospital. I've arranged for her to be flown back to England and transferred to a hospital there as soon as she's well enough to travel. Clemente is a good doctor—she'll be well looked after.'

  'What's the matter with her?'

  His shoulders lifted wearily. 'A complete breakdown. She's been ill for some time now, but nobody thought it would come to this.'

  'But, why?' Deborah shook her head, puzzled.

  'I don't know. She's had a very hard life. The main thing is that she'll get better.'

  'She said she loved you,' Deborah said quietly.

  Jake shook his head. 'She doesn't. It's part of her illness, an obsessional thing, I guess. That will go too, as she recovers.' He touched her hair with gentle fingers. 'You do believe that I never touched her, never wanted to?'
r />   Deborah nodded, her face sombre. 'Yes. But'

  'But what?' His face was tense, his hand suddenly still against the softness of her hair.

  'Why did you bring her from France to live in England?' It was a question she had wanted to ask for three years. Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter he had been reading at breakfast the morning before. He handed it to her. 'I've been waiting for the right moment to show you this. Read it,' he said expressionlessly.

  'I'

  'Read it.'

  The envelope had a French stamp on it. She took the letter out. It was from a firm of solicitors in Paris, confirming after thorough investigation . . .

  'She's your sister!' Deborah exclaimed, the letter dropping from her suddenly nerveless fingers.

  'Half sister,' he corrected grimly. 'Another one of my mother's affairs.'

  'How did you find out.'

  'I didn't know for certain until yesterday—I was pretty sure, but I needed that final proof, so that I could make you believe me.' He ran a tired hand through the darkness of his hair. 'Some years ago, I found an old diary of my mother's, and from the details in that, I managed to trace Leila, through the French side of her family. She was living in poverty in Paris, earning a living any way she could. I had to help her. It seems that my mother had just abandoned her, left her with her lover, Leila's father. He's long dead, but he treated her pretty badly, which is why she ended up in Paris, fending for herself.'

  'That's terrible,' Deborah breathed, able to feel sympathy for Leila now, sadness at the tragedy of her life. It was no wonder she had focused on Jake as her saviour, her protector. He must have seemed like some sort of God to her, rescuing her from what sounded like a hellish life.

  She could also understand now why Jake had been so violently angry about Robert, why he had insisted that she married him. His child would always know its father and its mother. History would not repeat itself. Only one question remained unanswered. Where did she stand?

  Jake took her hands and pulled her gently to her feet. 'I don't want to talk about Leila,' he said softly. 'I want to talk about you and me.'

  Worry prickled down Deborah's spine. She felt unsure of herself, certain that he was going to ask her to leave.

  'There's nothing to talk about,' she said quickly. 'I want to go back to London, alone.' She would go of her own free will, before he asked her to go.

  Jake shook his head, his face hard. 'I meant what I said, I won't let you go.'

  'No?' She smiled at him provocatively, seeing something in his eyes that made her heart stop beating.

  'No.' He tilted her face in his hand, his eyes dark and sure and possessive. 'I love you,' he murmured raggedly. 'I loved you from the moment I first saw you.' He bent his head, kissing her mouth hungrily. 'You rose from that stream as the light faded and your untouched beauty took my breath away. I knew then that you were the one I'd been waiting for all my life, and I knew I'd never be able to let you go.' He kissed her again, and groaned. 'It left me half dead when we parted. I made everyone's life a bloody misery.'

  Deborah laughed. 'I know, Tess told me.'

  He smiled, smoothing her hair back from her temples. 'I suspected she was up to something. I seem to have been fighting for you every day of my life. I thought if we came here, I'd have you to myself.' He drew breath harshly. 'Tell me you love me, Deborah.'

  'I told you,' she whispered, trembling, her heart soaring with happiness. He loved her, he had always loved her.

  'In the heat of passion, yes, and you hated admitting it.'

  'I hated myself,' she corrected gently. 'Because I wanted you so much, despite—well, despite everything.' She touched his wide shoulders, and felt the muscles clenching beneath her hands.

  'Tell me,' he said again.

  She reached up, and kissed his strong sensual mouth. 'I love you, Jake,' she whispered into his throat. 'I loved you right from the start, even though I was too young and too foolish, and I never ever stopped. I'll always love you'

  The words stopped as he took her mouth, his arms tight, holding her against the hard strength of his body until she was dizzy with need for him.

  When he lifted his head, she swayed against him, her body aching.

  'How do you feel about the baby?' he murmured, kissing her face.

  'Oh, I'm glad, so glad,' she admitted, smiling. 'Even when I first found out, I wanted it, because it was a part of you. Oh, Jake, I've been so jealous, of Leila, of Caroline Winters, of everybody you smiled at.'

  His powerful arms tightened around her. 'It's always been you, my love,' he said deeply. 'There hasn't been a single second when I haven't thought of you. I tried to forget you, and I did see other women, but it was pointless. I didn't want them, I wanted

  you—so much, I thought I was going mad sometimes.' He smiled wryly. 'I didn't mean to rush things when we met again, but I couldn't help myself. I bought the flat for Tess and Leila, so that the house would be ours. I had it all planned out. I was crazy with jealousy about Robert Stevens and I couldn't chance losing you again. When I found out from Oliver that you were pregnant, I grabbed my chance with both hands.'

  Deborah laughed. 'How unscrupulous. I thought you were only interested in the baby.'

  'It was you,' he admitted huskily. 'God, how I love you.'

  Deborah kissed his tanned throat. There was so much to say, so much to catch up on from three wasted years, but right now, she didn't want to talk, and when she looked into the burning depths of his eyes, she knew that he didn't either.

  'I want you,' she murmured provocatively. 'Please take me to bed.'

  Without a word, he lifted her into his strong arms and carried her inside, upstairs to his bed. He undressed her, reining his deep impatience, his hands sure and gentle, his grey eyes holding hers in the dim light.

  'You're so beautiful,' he murmured, bending his dark head to kiss her breasts.

  'So are you.' She moaned as he touched her, knowing that she could give now, without reserve, everything she had been holding back. 'Ah, Jake, I love you.'

  'Show me,' he said with quiet command.

  She laughed, happiness filling her, setting her free.

  'I will,' she promised tenderly, and secure in his love, she began to kiss his mouth.