The Secret Child

‘Well…Garth is pushing for that, but I haven’t committed myself. I’ll have to stay around for Ian for a while anyway so I think I’ll just take it a step at a time.’ She supposed what she was saying to him was that if he wanted her to go to New York with him she wasn’t completely ruling it out for the future.

‘It’s good that you’re around for your family for a while,’ Luke said quietly. ‘But don’t let them put on you too much, Alison. You have your own life to live.’

‘I suppose so… Listen, you won’t tell anyone that we are going to sell the farm?’ she asked suddenly.

‘How the heck will you sell the place if no one knows it’s up for sale?’ Luke asked with amusement.

‘Garth is putting the property in the hands of an agent in London.’

‘Oh, I see…’ Luke’s voice was wry. ‘You mean he’d rather sell the land to the devil incarnate than risk the Davenport family buying it?’

She blushed a deep red. ‘Well, you probably know that your father made an offer for some of our land a while ago and Dad turned him down flat. So out of respect for Dad’s memory we thought it would be better to sell to someone from out of town. You know the situation, Luke…’ she added softly.

‘So your brothers are as steadfast on this old feud as your father was?’ Luke shook his head with impatience.

‘Things are a bit raw at the moment and they just want to do things the way Dad would have wanted,’ Alison said soothingly. ‘So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to your father about any of this.’

When he didn’t answer her immediately she grew anxious. ‘Luke, promise me you won’t say anything!’

He looked down at her and for the first time she saw anger darkening his eyes to midnight-blue.

‘Don’t worry, the precious Trevelyan secret will not be mistreated. Don’t look at me like that.’

‘Like what?’

‘The way you’re looking at me now. All innocent, provocative softness…you know you’re driving me crazy.’

‘Am I?’ She was totally bemused by the sudden turn of the conversation.

‘You know very well what I’m talking about,’ he said, moving closer, and in that heartbeat of a moment as his eyes touched her lips she knew exactly what he was referring to. It was three weeks since they had slept together and the answering ache in her own body was instantaneous as he reached to kiss her.

‘I don’t want to talk about family feuds or sneak around snatching a few moments with you in secret. I want to kiss you, Alison…but you are so damn tied up with the past and so damn young…’

‘I’m not that young,’ she said quietly, lifting her eyes to his.

‘You’re twenty-two and I’m a man of thirty.’

‘So?’ She angled her head to look up at him defiantly. ‘What’s that to do with anything?’

‘Well, for a start I’m your first serious boyfriend.’ He grinned as he watched her discomfiture.

‘I’ll have you know I could have my pick of men,’ she taunted him back. ‘In fact, I’ve been lured to a concert by one next week…Todd Johnson—’

‘Hey,’ Luke cut across her softly. ‘Just remember that you belong to me, Alison Trevelyan.’ He growled the words with seductive, teasing warmth. ‘Who is this interloper?’

‘I’m joking,’ she admitted with a smile. ‘He’s just a friend of Garth’s…I said I’d even up the numbers on an outing—’

‘Well, just make sure that’s all it is,’ he said possessively.

She was to remember that moment so clearly. The mellow warmth of the air and the pounding of the waves on the rocks beneath them, the way he looked at her, the way he reached out and touched her face with such tenderness before drawing her into his arms. As his lips met hers it was almost as if she was at one with the elements…the untamed force of the sea against the rocks echoed the wildness of her response, she tasted the sea spray on his lips, felt the thunder of her blood pounding through her veins as his hands caressed her body. Longing spiralled out of control right there and then. She wanted him so much.

‘How about if I book us into an hotel?’ Luke asked as his lips ground against hers.

‘I can’t, Luke, I’ll be missed at home and…’ She felt his hands caressing her breasts; felt him starting to un-button her white blouse.

‘Maybe I can’t wait for an hotel anyway,’ he murmured seductively against her ear and she had allowed him to take her by the hand and lead her into the corn-field beside them.

She remembered the blue of the sky, the gold circle that surrounded them and the heat of their passion.

Even now, thinking about that moment, she was ashamed to feel the heat of desire rising in her again. How pathetic was that? she wondered angrily. She had allowed herself to hope that Luke had feelings for her, but it had just been sex to him and when it suited him he’d betrayed her.

The farm had been sold, but not to a Mr Delaney, as the family had believed, but to John Davenport, Luke’s father. The deceit hadn’t been discovered until after the contracts were signed and by that time it was too late. Garth’s rage had been profoundly deep. And Alison had been devastated. She had found it hard to believe that Luke had let her down so badly.

As he was returning from the States where he’d been on business, she’d had to wait until the following morning to be able to ask him about it. First thing she’d dialled his apartment in London.

A woman had answered, a woman with a sultry American accent. ‘He’s in the shower,’ she drawled. ‘But I’m his girlfriend. Can I give him a message?’

‘His girlfriend?’

‘Yes, Bianca Summers; who am I speaking to, please?’

Alison was so stunned that she put the phone down.

Her annoyance about the sale of her father’s property faded into insignificance against the greater personal duplicity. Luke had a girlfriend and if she was at his apartment at seven o’clock in the morning it was hardly a platonic relationship! How long had Luke being seeing someone else?

The hurt and pain she felt was almost unbearable. She was in a state of shock.

‘I don’t know why you ever trusted Luke Davenport in the first place,’ Garth growled when she confided in him. ‘God alone knows what Dad would say! Especially as you’ve gone and lost our land to that family!’

‘We didn’t lose it; they paid a very good price for it,’ Alison muttered. But she felt humiliated. And that feeling was compounded a couple of days later by a picture in the local newspaper. It showed Luke arriving at a charity ball in London with a stunningly beautiful woman on his arm. The caption read,

‘There are rumours of wedding bells for Luke Davenport and Bianca Summers. Bianca is the daughter of millionaire Edward Summers, and she is Luke’s counterpart with Millington Hays in New York.’

‘Might have known she’d be the daughter of a millionaire,’ Garth said, reading the article a little while later. ‘Those people always stick together.’

And suddenly it had become abundantly clear why Luke had wanted to go to New York…why he hadn’t thought twice about revealing her secret to his father…why he hadn’t been down to see her in weeks. Their relationship had only ever been a fling to him and now he was settling down.

Alison had felt like a fool. She’d felt cheap and used and so angry. But she’d had too much pride to sit around moping about Luke and she had tried to get on with her life and forget him.

Todd Johnson had helped. He was Garth’s friend and he had also been getting over a broken relationship. His friendship had made things easier…given her strength when she’d had to face Luke for the last time before he went to New York. Her mind skipped over that last painful meeting.

At least she had dealt with Luke and kept her dignity. It was after Luke left for New York that she had discovered she was carrying his child. That and the day ten months later when she had seen pictures of Luke’s wedding had been the worst moments of her life.

But she was on her way up now…things were under control…she was damned if she was going to let Luke ruin her peace of mind now.

Her office door opened and she wasn’t surprised when her younger brothers strolled in accompanied by Garth.

‘What’s this, a family get-together,’ she said lightly, ‘or a lynch mob?’