Forgotten Lover

‘We were a little more than that, Velvet,’ he revealed tightly, his features set in harsh lines.

She looked at him dazedly, licking her lips nervously. ‘You mean …?’

He gave an arrogant inclination of his head. ‘I mean we were lovers, Velvet.’

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_0a062dec-a1d2-5743-be3d-ffaf66a2b77e)

SHE pulled out of his grasp. ‘I don’t believe you!’ she gasped.

His eyes were narrowed to icy slits. ‘It’s the truth, I can assure you. I loved you, I thought you loved me too. It seems I was just the first man in your life,’ he rasped.

Her eyes were wide with shock. ‘The first …’

‘I was your first lover, Velvet. You were a virgin when we made love.’ His mouth twisted bitterly.

‘I—I—Oh God!’ She turned away, shaking with reaction. ‘This can’t be happening to me,’ she groaned.

Jerard walked past her into the lounge, poured out two brandies and handed her one. ‘Drink it,’ he ordered, swallowing his own in one gulp, unmoved by the fiery liquid.

Velvet took a tenative sip, grimacing at the unaccustomed alcohol. She never drank alcohol, had always had an aversion to it.

‘I think you’d better go,’ Jerard Daniels said harshly. ‘We obviously have nothing to talk about.’

‘I—No. I—Yes, I—I’ll go,’ and she turned blindly in the direction of the lift.

‘But first——’ he swung her round to face him, ‘first I get to kiss the woman who’s haunted my days and invaded my nights for longer than I care to remember!’ His mouth ground down on hers, demanding that she respond.

No man had kissed her since Anthony, no one had been allowed close enough to take this liberty. But Jerard Daniels wasn’t going to ask her permission; he took what he wanted, uncaring whether or not she enjoyed it.

But she was enjoying it, had melted at the first pressure of his lips on hers, gave herself up to the pleasure he was evoking—was even managing to kiss him back.

Suddenly his mouth gentled on hers, tasting her lips like a thirsty man in the desert craves water. His hands moved caressingly across her bare back, probing the line of her shoulder-blade and shooting spasms of pleasure through her body.

Velvet groaned with the familiarity of his movements, distant memories flashing into her brain, memories that faded before she could recall the reality of them.

This man had kissed her before, had touched her, she knew it as surely as she breathed. She just didn’t remember it!

He swung her up into his arms, still kissing her as he carried her into one of the bedrooms, kicking the door shut behind them.

The slam of the door was enough to bring her to her senses, and she started to struggle as he gently laid her down on the bed, clearly intending to join her. ‘No!’ She broke away from him.

‘No?’ he groaned in raw agony, his eyes glazed with passion.

‘No,’ she choked, scrambling off the bed. ‘I—I don’t know what happened just now——’

‘You wanted me,’ he rasped. ‘That’s what happened.’

Velvet blushed at the accuracy of his words. She had wanted him, and that had never happened to her before with a complete stranger. But was he a stranger? He didn’t seem to think so—and neither did her body.

‘And I wanted you,’ he added sneeringly. ‘How does it make you feel to know that after all this time I still want you? Does it give you a cheap thrill to know that I was completely taken in by you and the love you professed to have for me?’

Velvet swallowed hard, frightened of his anger. ‘I——’ she licked her lips. ‘I——’

‘You’re speechless, hmm?’ he derided bitterly. ‘I thought we had something special, Velvet, the sort of love that would last even though we were apart.’

She frowned. ‘I’m sorry …’

Jerard Daniels’ eyes flashed deeply blue. ‘Get out of here!’ he snapped. ‘I’ve been in love with a dream all this time. But I can see the reality now, can see that I meant nothing to you. How could I?’ he scorned. ‘You didn’t waste any time getting married, did you, and to your nice respectable lawyer.’

‘Anthony …?’

‘Yes, Anthony Dale!’ he rasped. ‘How long did you wait, Velvet? One week, two? It couldn’t have been much more than that!’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t——’

‘You don’t remember!’ he cut in furiously. ‘No, I realise you don’t. I was just one of the men stupid enough to fall in love with you. I thought I meant something to you, that we had something special, but we obviously didn’t.’

‘Please,’ she begged. ‘You don’t understand——’

‘But I do—finally,’ he said heavily. ‘Goodbye, Velvet.’

‘Please, let me——’

‘Go!’ He scowled at her, walking out to the lounge and picking up the whisky bottle and a glass before returning to the bedroom. He threw himself down on the bed, pouring some of the whisky into a glass. ‘Close the door on your way out.’ He threw the whisky to the back of his throat before refilling the glass to the rim.

Velvet stumbled from the room, almost running to the lift. That Jerard Daniels intended getting drunk she had no doubt. She only wished she could drown her own pain in the same way.

But alcohol wasn’t the answer for her, she needed a clear head to work out this puzzle. But it wasn’t such a puzzle, it was more of a blank, a blank that she would possibly never fill.

She had wanted to explain to Jerard Daniels, to tell him why she didn’t remember him, but she had a feeling that the truth would be even harder for him to understand and believe.

She reached her room without seeing anyone, knowing that if she had they might wonder what had so upset her that she was as white as a sheet.

The doctors at the hospital had told her that it had been the shock, the shock of losing Anthony and the birth of little Tony. She had woken up in a hospital bed with the last eleven months missing out of her life, knowing only that she had lost the husband that she loved, and that she had given birth to his child.

She and Anthony had been going out together for eighteen months, had been engaged for six months of that time, and she knew that she loved him. But all their married life together was a blank to her, the trauma of his death had erased their marriage from her memory.

And now Jerard Daniels claimed to have met her during that blank eleven months, claimed they had been lovers, that he had been her first lover. She knew that she and Anthony hadn’t made love before the blank in her life, and had loved Anthony all the more for respecting her wish that they marry first.

Anthony had been older than her, was a friend of her brother’s to start with. She had been nineteen when they first met, had liked his blond good looks and serious manner. He had belonged to the same law firm as Simon, but was new to town, so Simon had taken him under his wing and brought him home to dinner. Velvet had been living with Simon at the time, their parents having recently emigrated to Australia to be close to their other son Nigel, and his wife Jennifer. Velvet was supposed to have joined them, but once she had met Anthony she had refused to go, continuing to live with Simon and Janice until she married Anthony.

So where did Jerard Daniels fit into the nice tidy pattern of her life, where did he fit into that blank eleven months? Only he could tell her the answer to that question, and after the way they had parted this evening she doubted he would be in any mood to tell her anything.

This had never happened before. No one else had come forward and claimed to have met her during that time. In fact she had come to accept the blank, to accept her life as it now was, certain that her marriage to Anthony had been as successful as the rest of their relationship. Simon had assured her it was—Simon! Perhaps he would know something about Jerard Daniels? Perhaps she would call him tomorrow and find out.

She wasn’t able to sleep, disturbed and upset by this strange turn of events. How could she have taken a lover when she was engaged to Anthony? How could she have taken a lover at all! She didn’t believe it, couldn’t believe it. Especially a man like Jerard Daniels! Anthony had been ten years her senior, but Jerard Daniels must be even older than that, and she just couldn’t believe she was ever involved with such a man. If only he weren’t so adamant!

She had been up and dressed for hours when Carly knocked on her door, and had been expecting the barrage of questions that came her way from the other girl.