Betrayal

‘For God’s sake, Brenna, open the door. I’m not quitting until you hear what I have to say.’

Steeling herself, she made herself move. He came in through the door without a word, broad shoulders sweeping past her with such an air of purpose that she hesitated briefly before closing the door behind him. The frisson of electricity as he passed her was tangible, so much so that she shivered with the force of it.

‘If it’s an apology you want then I—’

‘Dammit, woman, what’s your problem?’ His blue eyes narrowing to angry slits, Fin spun round to address her. ‘You’ve got a chip on your shoulder a mile wide. I don’t blame you for feeling scared about what Nick might be proposing but when are you going to get it through your thick skull that you’re not under attack here? If you keep treating every damn meeting we have like some blasted confrontation then we’re going to get nowhere fast.’

‘I don’t need a lecture on how to behave, Mr Malone.’

‘Oh yes you do, sweetheart.’

With barely restrained ire, Fin bore down on her, yanking her arm towards him by the elbow. All the breath whooshed out of Brenna’s body in a heated rush. Up close, the man was like some invincible warrior – the expression on his handsome face grim and purposeful … resolute. There was no question he was intimidating. There also wasn’t any doubt that he was the one in charge of this situation. All the strength suddenly seemed to drain out of her body.

‘Stop fighting me. I’m not your enemy.’

She knew that he was going to kiss her even before his mouth descended. She had ample time to twist away but the thought never even entered her head. In fact, her lips opened almost immediately to receive him just as soon as his satin smooth flesh made contact. A bolt of shock and desire so strong and powerful ricocheted through her body from her mouth to her womb that it rooted her feet irrevocably to the floor. At the hot demanding invasion of his tongue, the clash of lips and teeth mingling with the taste of bourbon and man, Brenna groaned longingly into his mouth. A feeling of such intense need and desire pulsed through her that she thought she might faint from it. Five years without a man’s touch and she never even knew that she missed or needed it so much … needed it like someone drowning needs to suck in fresh air to breathe.

Even as her mind formed the thought, Fin’s hands moved urgently down to her waist and hauled her hard against him. Sweet heaven! But as his hands moulded themselves round her hips to pull her against the hard aroused evidence of his manhood, Brenna’s mind awoke with stinging and shocking clarity at the implications of what her body was so helplessly aching to do. She’d already made a fool of herself once. Was she so eager to repeat the experience? Her heart started to beat so fast that she could barely catch her breath.

‘No!’ Her hands came up to his chest to push him away. His body stiffened in protest and she sensed the warmth of his breath hover momentarily against her cheek. She bent her head in shame.

‘I’m sorry.’

Breathing hard, his expression almost dazed, Fin not only let her go, but actively pushed her away. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as if wiping away the taste of her.

‘Sorry for turning me on?’ He derisively shook his head. ‘God gives you a body like that and eyes a man could lose his soul to and all hell breaks loose. Not your fault, honey. However, I’m interested to know why the brittle “touch me not” act when you were clearly as interested in what was going on as me? We could have had a small conflagration going between us just now. Is this how you normally treat the men in your life?’

Shakily Brenna touched her cheek. Her skin did indeed feel as if it was on fire. What did he want from her? Was she supposed to feel ashamed because she’d briefly let her body capitulate to desire? Now he seemed to be suggesting that she was some kind of thoughtless tease.

‘There aren’t any men in my life. There hasn’t been anyone since Nick. I don’t even date.’

‘You don’t date?’ Fin stared at her as if she’d just uttered something totally incomprehensible. So what was she telling him? That she hadn’t made love with a man since Nick? Heat tore through his veins like a racing car speeding towards the chequered flag. In an instant he was hard and aching all over again. The woman was seriously getting to him and no mistake. He wished he’d never come here. If his sense of honour weren’t as such, he’d have told Nick to come and do his own dirty work. The woman was scared and hurting. Only a fool could imagine otherwise. Why else would she be so angry and defensive? Why else would she have stayed relationship-free since Nick walked out on her? That really bothered him.

Fin was privy to part of the reason Nick wanted to make contact with his child after all this time, but the unsettling feeling was growing inside him that perhaps his real motives were not as pure as Fin would like to think they were. How could he be sure that he’d told him the truth about anything? They were friends but really Nick Balcon was a law unto himself. A bit of a closed book, as some of their colleagues would describe him. Right then, Fin fervently wished he’d simply gone to dinner instead of staying in the bar and imbibing too much bourbon.

Chapter Three

‘I don’t date because my main priority is Nancy.’ Brenna swung away, returning to her armchair to pick up the black cashmere stole she’d draped round her shoulders; shoulders that were now drooping with tiredness and something that felt like a scant heartbeat away from defeat. ‘And anyway, working two jobs I don’t get time to date.’

‘So there’s been no one since Nick?’

‘That’s what I said.’

‘You’re asking me to believe that no man has shown an interest in you in five long years?’

Brenna didn’t say ‘they don’t get the chance’. She knew how it would sound and already Fin Malone must be thinking she was an uptight candidate for therapy of some kind.

‘I’m not interested in casual relationships. Do you really think I’d put my daughter through that? Besides, I can do without male company. I can do without … without …’ Her eyes shied away from Fin’s penetrating glance with growing embarrassment. ‘I can do without the physical side of things. First and foremost I’m a mother, Fin. That’s my priority.’

A burst of heat warmed his blood at the sound of his name on her lips. He was getting in deep here and that was the last thing he’d ever planned to do when Nick had approached him about preceding him to the UK. ‘Keep an eye on her for me,’ he’d said, ‘don’t antagonize her. Sweet talk her if you have to. I know your powers of persuasion with women are legendary.’ Fin groaned inwardly at the memory. He liked women. He’d always liked women … even though there’d been no one special in his life since Sam. But he’d never persuaded a woman to do something she didn’t want to do in the whole of his thirty-six years and he wasn’t about to start.

‘You’re a woman too, Brenna,’ he told her now. ‘A very beautiful and very desirable woman, with needs to match.’

‘I don’t need the complications that kind of thing inevitably brings. Nancy is my priority. She didn’t ask to be here. I brought her into the world because I gave into needs I should have controlled. Because I let Nick Balcon flatter me and cajole me, let him make me think I was important to him when all the time … all the time he was just using me. He was a clever, educated man and I fooled myself I was his equal because I had his regard … big mistake.’

Disparagingly discarding her stole, Brenna dropped tiredly down into the armchair. Pressing her fingers into her brow, she glanced up at Fin, unable to disguise the hurt that she knew must show in her eyes.

‘Please don’t think for one second that I’ve ever regretted having Nancy. I’ve loved her from the moment I first set eyes on her. She means everything to me. That’s why I can’t let Nick use his money and influence to get joint custody. Back then, he told me in no uncertain terms that he had no room in his life for children. He had plans, he said. He didn’t want to be encumbered by too much emotional baggage. I felt like he’d ripped out my heart then spat on it when he said that. I hadn’t exactly been thinking wedding bells, but I’d had hopes. What young woman wouldn’t? Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear all this. It’s enough for you to know that I’m hurt and confused about what Nick may have planned. I just don’t understand why he would want to stake a claim on Nancy after all this time, I really don’t.’

Fin knew part of the answer and wished he didn’t. But it wasn’t his place to tell Brenna. That particular ball was definitely in Nick’s court. The fact that Fin was now having second thoughts about the wisdom of his friend’s decision was neither here nor there. He’d wait until Nick arrived tomorrow and then be on his way. Why stay here and probably buy more trouble than he needed? There was no need for him to linger. He had a month’s leave ahead of him and intended to tour around for a while and see some of the famed European sights.

‘Hey. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. It’s not too late to go down and get dinner. I had a word with the maître d’ on the way up here. What do you say we call a truce for now and just enjoy a meal together? It can’t hurt, can it?’

‘Okay.’

‘Just okay?’ His lips quirking in amusement, Fin couldn’t contain his surprise. ‘What? No fight?’

Getting to her feet, Brenna shrugged. ‘Shocking, isn’t it? Who would have thought that a girl like me could be so compliant?’

Fin almost strained his stomach muscles with the fierce rush of need that tore through him just then. If only … he thought with an inward groan, his eyes drifting helplessly from the gorgeous raven-haired beauty in front of him towards the door of the bedroom and back again. There were other types of hunger he’d like to feed right now but that could only happen with Brenna’s willing cooperation and it wasn’t something he envisaged happening easily, if at all. Still, he imagined the fantasy would keep him nicely warm all the way through dinner …

‘More wine?’

‘No thanks. I feel light-headed enough as it is.’ Brenna watched Fin replenish his own glass. Truth to tell, she was feeling replete and relaxed after the fabulous meal they’d just eaten, more relaxed than she would ever have dreamt was possible given the gravity of her situation – and that was due to the fact that Fin Malone was a surprisingly entertaining dinner companion. He’d regaled her throughout the meal with both humorous and breathtaking tales of his years as a stuntman and Brenna had been so transfixed by his stories that she’d scarcely spared Nick Balcon a thought.

Leaning back against his seat as he cradled his wineglass between long tanned fingers, Fin gave her a lazy smile. ‘Now it’s your turn,’ he told her.

‘What?’

‘I mean for you to tell me something about yourself. What prompted you to become a dance teacher, for instance?’

‘Love of music and movement. My mum says I was dancing almost before I could walk. It was something that came very naturally to me so when it came to deciding what to do as a career, it seemed the perfect solution.’ Reaching for the water jug, Brenna poured herself a glass. Now that the meal was over and she seemed to have commanded Fin’s full and undivided attention, she was suddenly uneasy.

‘And that’s how you met Nick? When you were teaching?’ he asked.

‘I’m sure he’s filled you in on all the details.’ Her face grew hot at the very idea.

Her defences were up again – the ten-foot-high gates padlocked and the key thrown away.

‘Obviously not in the way that you imply.’ Fin returned his wineglass to its smart coaster, compelling her to meet his enigmatic gaze. ‘He told me you were beautiful, irresistible. He didn’t lie.’

The compliment tingled between them like little sparks of electricity as Brenna struggled hard not to let down her guard. ‘Well, clearly I wasn’t that irresistible or he wouldn’t have left,’ she retorted smartly.

‘Do you really believe he never regretted that?’ Fin questioned her. He’d already privately concluded that perhaps his friend wasn’t as smart as he gave him credit for.

‘I doubt it. Nick always knew what he wanted. He was very definite about going to America and making a name for himself as a director, and who could blame him? He had the talent and the drive. He’s amply proved that, hasn’t he? He’s got a very successful career so what’s to regret? That he left behind a twenty-two-year-old girl he had a meaningless fling with? I don’t think so.’

Lowering her eyes, she reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Please God, don’t let him see that my hands are shaking, she thought as she swallowed. I can’t keep coming undone like this at every single question he asks me.