A Past Revenge (10 page)

She was at once aware of how dangerous this
situation had become, that her need earlier for a
little sympathetic company could lead to disaster.
'I think you had better go—'

'And if I don't want to,' long fingers caressingly touched the hair at her nape.

'This is my home, so it isn't your choice,' she told him stiffly.

'What are you afraid of?'

'Nothing,' she snapped, knowing that at this moment she was frightened of—
everything.

'You're a liar,' his voice was husky against her ear. 'I won't hurt you, Danielle.'

She almost choked at the irony of that statement. Seven years ago she had been a light-hearted teenager, that had changed the moment she met Nick, and she hadn't known a day's real happiness in all the years since then. 'Didn't you read all of the article?' she scorned. 'According to them I don't have a heart to hurt.' Somehow the newspaper had managed to find one of the few men she had been out with the last few years, and he had told them how cold she was, how unemotional. 'They seem to think we're very well matched,' she added with brittle humour, knowing how untrue that was. This man had never had a heart to break, whereas hers had once broken into a thousand pieces. Was it any wonder it couldn't be put back together again?

'That man, the one they asked about you,' Nick was so close now his breath warmed her throat. 'Was he your lover?'

She gave him a pitying glance. 'Isn't the answer to that obvious?' she derided.

'The man was talking out of spite,' Nick guessed, 'because you turned him down.'

'Yes.'

'Have you ever had a lover?'

She stiffened at the question. 'Of course,' she rasped tightly. 'This is the time of lovers and not commitment. I wouldn't like to be unfashionable,' she added with bitterness.

'Then why '

'We've had this conversation before, Mr Andracas, many times,' she cut in with a sigh. 'And my answer is still the same, even if you have tried to clean up your image,' she mocked.

His mouth quirked at her humour. 'I have to admit that resuming control of my company was as much for my benefit as impressing you,' he drawled.

'More so,' she taunted, aware that the wine and
sweet music were acting like a narcotic on her
senses, that her denial a few minutes ago of
wanting an affair with him had lacked conviction.
'Nick, I think you should—'

'So do I,' he murmured throatily, moving closer, his body warm against hers.

'No, not that—!' She tried to push him away as his lips grazed her throat before his teeth bit gently into her earlobe. 'Please, not that ...!' she groaned weakly, a fierce longing enveloping her as she turned into his arms. 'Oh, Nick,' she melted against him with a feeling like coming home after being away for a very long time.

He took the gift of her mouth with a gentleness that reached into her bones, her lips parting to deepen the kiss, fire coursing through her as his tongue moved warmly into her mouth to probe and caress the moist erotica he found there. Like a flower that had been denied sustenance too long she opened up to him, quivering uncontrollably as his hand closed over her breast, the hardened peak of her nipple clearly discernible through the soft material of her camisole.

'How long has it been for you?' Nick groaned at her instant response to his caresses.

'Too long!' She shuddered in reaction as he pushed the camisole above her bare breasts, bending his head to put his mouth against one taut peak, taking the nipple fully into his parted lips as she arched against him, alternately kissing the rosy tip with his moist tongue before biting down on the sensitive nub, loving the feel of her trembling beneath him.

Danielle had no control over her reaction now, could only hold on tightly to the broadness of his shoulders as he transferred his attention to the other breast, her head thrown back as she writhed beneath him in spasms of pleasure so acute she thought she might explode with the sheer ecstasy of it.

She did exactly that as his hand moved to the mound beneath her denims, her eyes wide as pleasure wracked through her body like an exquisite flame.

She clung tightly to him as the spinning began to steady, as a warm lethargy settled over her body after such mindless ecstasy had claimed it, her face buried against his chest as he cradled her to him. 'I'm sorry,' she choked her shame over what had just happened. 'I'm so
sorry!
'
she groaned.

'It was beautiful, Danielle,' his voice was gruff, his arms like steel bands about her, as if he feared she might try to escape him. 'Anything that pleasures you couldn't help but be.'

'No, it was selfish. It was
—
'

'Wonderful,' he insisted gently. 'No passion between two people can ever be called selfish.'

'But you didn't—Only I
—
'

'This time,' he nodded, his eyes a velvety grey at
her embarrassed confusion. 'This time was for you.
But next time
—
'

'No!' she shook her head in sharp denial, pushing out of his arms. 'There must never be a "next time".' She looked up at him with horror for what she had just allowed to happen.

'Danielle
—
'

'No, please,' she evaded his arms, standing up,
swaying in the aftermath of her passion. 'This
should never have happened
—
'

'But it did,' he pointed out gently, looking at her with narrowed eyes, his dark hair ruffled. 'And I'm never going to forget that it did.'

It was completely the wrong thing to say in the circumstances; he had once forgotten her all to. easily! 'I want you to go now,' she told him.

'Danielle, don't
—
'

'Please!'

He gave a deep sigh, standing up slowly, his eyes still showing the depth of his own arousal. 'Don't hate me for what I just did, Danielle,' he pleaded softly.

'Hate
you!'
she said with self-disgust. 'I was the one who lost control.'

'But you didn't do it alone,' he soothed gently. 'I wanted to give you that pleasure.'

Yes, it had been Nick's caresses that drove her to such wild abandon, as only his caresses ever had. But that only made her feel worse. What was happening to the hate she had had for him for so long, how
could
she hate a man and still feel such pleasure when in his arms? She was full of self-loathing for what she had done, for the ecstasy she had let Nick give her.

'Get a good night's sleep, Danielle,' he encouraged throatily.
'I
'l
l see you tomorrow.'

There was no point in saying no, Nick Andracas was a law unto himself, and he would do exactly as he pleased. She felt his lips against her forehead with numbed acceptance, hearing the door to her apartment close softly a few seconds later.

The sobs wracked through her body in fierce remorse as she fell weakly on to the sofa, crying until she had no more tears left, the sobs still shuddering through her body. She had sworn to herself that Nick would never make love to her again, and tonight she had broken that promise all too easily. She hated herself as much as she hated him!

The ringing of the telephone woke her the next morning, and she stumbled from her bed to answer it with a feeling of not being quite awake, as her father seemed to make no sense on the other end of the line.

'You'll have to talk slower and more calmly,' she finally interrupted him. 'I don't understand what you're saying.'

For a moment there was silence, then, 'Have you seen a newspaper this morning?' he probed gently.

She frowned groggily. 'I've only just got out of bed, your call woke me.'

'Oh God . . .!' he groaned. 'Darling, I'm coming over.'

'Now?'

'Right now!'

The last remnants of sleep left her at the
deep
concern in his voice. 'Daddy, what is it? What's happened?' Panic began to engulf her.

'I'll be there as soon as I can,' he promised before ringing off abruptly.

Danielle felt a terrible sense of forboding assail her. What could the newspapers have printed that had so disturbed her father? Could a reporter have possibly been lurking about outside her apartment last night as Nick left?

She was showered and dressed by the time her
father rang the doorbell fifteen minutes later,
shocked at how grey and drawn he was. 'Daddy,
what '

'Sit down, Ellie,' he instructed firmly, striding over to her drinks cabinet to pour out a large measure of brandy.

Danielle had sat as soon as he told her to, but her eyes widened at his second move. 'Isn't it a little early in the day for you. Daddy?' she prompted in a concerned voice.

'It isn't for me,' he held the glass out in front of her. 'It's for you.'

'Me...?'

'Believe me, darling,' he said grimly. 'You're going to need it.'

She continued to frown, taking the glass with shaking fingers. 'Is it really that bad?' she attempted lightness.

'Just drink the brandy, Ellie,' he encouraged softly. 'Then we'll talk.'

She swallowed a little of the brandy, feeling its warmth hit her empty stomach, briefly wondering what it would make of its unusual breakfast this morning. 'All right, Daddy,' she looked up at him unflinchingly. 'I'm ready now for whatever it is you want to tell me.'

'I don't want to tell you, Ellie,' he told her regretfully. 'But someone has to break the news, and I think it should be one of the family.
'

'Mummy—
'

"Is safely at home.' He took a newspaper out of his jacket pocket. 'Look at this, darling, and—and just remember that your mother and I were here for you then and we're here for you now, that we always will be."

His assurance only made her trepidation grow, and as she unfolded the newspaper she saw the reason for his obvious concern. The headline read, 'Latest Andracas girlfriend in love-child riddle'.

She felt the colour drain from her face, her breathing suddenly shallow, her eyes moving avidly over the paper, the written article accompanying the headline spoke of a reliable source informing them of the illegitimate child she had given birth to several years ago. It claimed the father of the child was something she didn't talk about, that it was even a big dark secret. It also wondered what her new lover thought of this love-child. Danielle had no need to guess at the identity of the 'reliable source', but at least Audra hadn't realised that Nick had been the baby's father!

Her father crouched down in front of her. 'I'm sorry, Ellie. I have no idea how this trashy newspaper,' he threw it angrily to one side, 'got hold of such a story.'

Danielle was still too shaken to speak. She had known Audra was out for blood, but this,
this
was
too much. The other woman had found the miniature of her beloved baby when she went through her private things in the jewellery box, had drawn her own conclusions about the blonde-haired baby, and told the newspapers about it out of spite.

'Who could have done such
a
thing?' her father asked darkly. 'And why?'

She raised a shaking hand
to
her temple. 'That doesn't matter now, it's done. I—Would you mind very much if I wanted
to be
alone now?'
she
looked at him pleadingly, willing him to understand how much she needed
to
be on her own just now.

'Of course, darling,'
her
father held her in
his
arms as she stood up. 'I have to admit, though, that I had a feeling something like this might happen,' he muttered grimly.

She looked up at him
in
stunned surprise.
'You
did?' she asked warily.

'A man like Andracas,
so
much in the public eye, was bound to drag you down there with him.'

'It wasn't Nick's fault, Daddy,' she had to
be
fair to him about this,
he
couldn't have known Audra would do something
as
poisonous as this.

Her father looked down at her with concern
in
his eyes. 'Then you are involved with him?'

She thought fleetingly
of
last night, and then
dismissed it from
her
mind. 'He's just
an
acquaintance
—
'

'Ellie, you don't have
to
pretend with me,'
he
gently interrupted. 'I didn
't
judge anything you did in the past, and I'm not going to judge you now.'

She shook her head. 'But I'm really not involved with him.'

He arched dark brows. 'Did you see the photograph that was with the article?'

'No...'

He bent to pick up the newspaper, holding it out for her to look at. She gave a weary sigh at the photograph of Nick unlocking his car door outside her apartment. It showed him leaving late last night, his dark hair ruffled, a look of lazy passion still in his eyes. It was even more damning than the one of them leaving together Sunday morning.

'You are involved with him, Ellie,' her father told him softly. 'Whether you think you are or not. And the publicity could get worse, you know.'

'Worse?' she choked in a disbelieving voice.
'I
don't see how it could.'

'Oh they'll speculate about the baby's father, delve into your past to try and find out who he was.'

'They won't succeed,' she said dully. 'Even he doesn't know who he is.'

Her father sighed. 'What do you think Andracas will have to say about this?'

She gave him a sharp look. 'About what?'

'The fact that you had a baby without it having a legal father. I've heard Greek men are a bit old-fashioned about things like that."

'Not only Greek men,' her mouth twisted. 'All men think that any woman who has a baby and isn't married to the father is an easy conquest. I doubt Nick's reaction will be any different to a hundred other men's,' she dismissed contemptuously.

'You aren't lovers already?' her father seemed surprised, and knowing of Nick's reputation that wasn't so unusual.

The memory of last night flashed briefly into her mind, and was then dismissed. Last night, as with the night seven years ago, didn't make them lovers. 'No,' she answered truthfully.

Her father seemed to visibly relax. 'Then
I
would advise you, unless you're actually in love with the man,' he gave her a probing glance, 'to stop seeing him.'

'I'll think about it, Daddy,' she was still too numb to think properly, to assimilate what this latest development meant in her life. 'I really will think about it,' she assured him as the worried frown reappeared between his eyes.

'All right, darling,' he gently touched her cheek. 'I'm only concerned for you, you know that.'

'Yes,' she hugged him tightly. 'And I'm grateful to you for coming and telling me about this, I would have hated to have found out any other way.'

He nodded, his arm about her waist as she walked him to the door. 'Take care, Ellie,' he kissed her warmly. 'And don't let any of them get you down.'

'I won't,' she assured him, her smile fading as soon as she had closed the door behind him.

Seven years, seven long years, and no one had even guessed she had a child. For days after it had happened she had tried to forget that night in Nick's bed, until it became obvious that fate had decreed she should have an everlasting reminder.

Her feelings had been mixed when she first discovered she was pregnant, wonder for the life she could feel growing inside her, hate for the man who had put it there. She had hated Nick then as never before, would be eternally grateful for the love and support of her parents when she had decided to keep the baby, even though she had refused to reveal the identity of the baby's father to them. If her father had known it was Nick Andracas he would have confronted the other man with the knowledge, and then he would have had the humiliating experience of being told Nick believed her to be a whore.

Besides which, she had hated him, had wanted nothing more to do with him. She would care for her baby herself, would never let it be influenced by Nicholas Andracas' cynicism and cruelty. And she had kept to that vow.

She felt even more wary of the second ring on her doorbell that morning. If it were the press after more details then she didn't want to speak to them, and if it were Nick demanding to know if it were true she didn't want to speak to him either. It was neither of these people, for either of those reasons.

Audra McDonald stood on the doorstep, her brows raised mockingly at Danielle's lack of welcome. 'I happen to have a couple of hours free this morning,' she walked past Danielle in a cloud of perfume to take up a triumphant stance in the lounge. 'And I thought I could come and sit for you.'

Danielle had to admire the other woman's audacity, even if the sight of her now made her feel nauseated. 'I won't be working today,' she said stiltedly.

'No?' auburn brows arched.

'No,' her mouth was tight.

'That's a pity,' Audra drawled, her gaze going to the crumpled newspaper that still lay on the coffee-table. She picked it up, her long nails vividly scarlet against the white-grey of the paper. She glanced over at Danielle with a self-satisfied smile. 'It's a good likeness of Nick, isn't it?' she mocked.

She shrugged. 'If you like that sort of photograph.'

'Oh I don't
like
it, far from it,' Audra threw the newspaper down again with barely concealed anger. 'But I knew as soon as I saw it that you and Nick are now lovers.'

Her mouth twisted. 'You know how he looks when he's aroused,' she remembered mockingly.

The other woman flushed. 'And how he looks when he's made love to someone,' she snapped.

Danielle's eyes flashed deeply green. 'And you gave that story to the newspapers just because you thought Nick and I had been to bed together?' she said disgustedly.

'I
know
you have,' she rasped.

'And just what did you hope to achieve by doing this to me?'

The other woman looked at her with venomous eyes. 'If I can no longer have Nick you aren't going to have him either!'

Danielle gave her a pitying glance. 'Don't you think that's a little childish?'

The other woman flushed her anger. 'If it works I don't care what it is!'

Danielle shook her head. 'You realise you won't succeed in getting Nick back this way? He'll realise, sooner or later, that you were behind this.'

'I'm hoping he does,' Audra's expression was ugly in her need for revenge. 'It's about time someone showed him that he can't control other people's lives the way he likes to.' Her eyes glittered with dislike.

Danielle could almost pity the other woman— almost. 'Did you have to involve me?' she reasoned.

'Why not?' the actress shrugged. 'I've put up with his other women, his taking me for granted, for over a year. If you hadn't come along he might eventually have married me.'

'Why would you have wanted that if he's treated you so badly?' she frowned.

'Are you mad?' Audra derided sharply. 'If I were Mrs Nick Andracas I would never have to work again, ever. Not that I mind acting, but I don't want to do it for the rest of my life. Nick will never marry me now, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing he'll never marry you either!'

She sighed at the other woman's vehemence. 'You only had to ask me, I could have told you I'm not interested in becoming the wife of Nick Andracas.'

'I wanted to make sure
he
wasn't interested in marrying
you,'
the other woman bit out. 'And he won't be now,' she added with relish. 'One thing that has never entered into Nick's plans are children. The domesticity of that sort of family life has never appealed to him. And fathering someone else's bastard is something he would never do,' she scorned.

Danielle was very pale, wishing she could tell the other woman exactly who the father of that bastard child had been. But the brief satisfaction she would feel over such a disclosure wouldn't be worth the furore it would cause.

'It's amazing how you've managed to keep the child a secret for so long,' Audra continued dismissively. 'What is it by the way, a boy or a girl? It's so difficult to tell when they're still babies.'

'A girl,' she said abruptly.

'She looked a pretty little thing—if you happen to like babies. I don't,' she grimaced. 'And
I
don't suppose it's a baby now, that miniature must have been painted some time ago.' 'Seven years.'

'So where is your daughter now?' Audra frowned. 'Away at school or something?'

'Or something,' she nodded jerkily.

'Very wise,' the other woman drawled. 'If I ever have any children—God forbid!—I'd send them away to school too. And in your case it serves a dual purpose, the kid is out of your way, but she's also far away from being recognised as your daughter.'

'I've never been ashamed of the existence of my daughter,' Danielle told her harshly.

'Of course you haven't,' Audra mocked. 'That's why you've hidden her existence for seven years!'