Threat From The Past
‘But why?’ Selina’s golden eyes mirrored her perplexion. How could someone as straightforward and gentle as Martin have made such an enemy?
And Dominic’s mouth twisted down in a vicious sneer as he told her, ‘Because he’s a bastard. My father’s bastard, to be precise.’
* * *
It was almost nine. Outside the wind was rising, buffeting the house, roaring through the bare branches of the trees. It was going to be a wild night.
And the wildness within Selina’s loyal heart rose to meet it, only to be subdued by an icy determination to treat Adam Tudor with the disdainful contempt he deserved.
After Dominic had left with the things Vanessa needed she had phoned the hospital and spoken to her aunt, apologising for not being around when she’d been needed, asking after Martin, promising to visit tomorrow.
‘It happened so quickly, there was nothing you could have done,’ Vanessa assured her. ‘Your uncle knows that, and he’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow.’
‘Dominic explained,’ Selina said quickly on a fresh wave of a guilt which, even though she knew it to be misplaced, she couldn’t entirely get rid of. ‘I’m so sorry. I would never have passed that message on if I’d known the details—who the man really is.’
‘Of course not.’ Vanessa’s voice was tight and Selina guessed how painful the subject must be for her. ‘It’s not something we bring into everyday conversation. I take it you’re staying there to show him the door if he actually has the gall to turn up?’
‘Exactly.’ Selina’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the receiver, and her aunt said heavily,
‘Don’t blame yourself. You weren’t to know. I honestly thought we’d seen the back of the greedy wretch all those years ago. And be careful,’ she warned. ‘He could turn nasty. Have Meg around to back you up if he does put in an appearance.’
Which was something Selina had no intention of doing. The fewer people dragged into the affair, the better, and she was quite capable of handling the creep on her own. And Vanessa’s reaction had borne out everything Dominic had told her. Every word he had said before he’d left had been burned into her brain.
‘Mother’s told me a lot about him, but I only saw him once. I must have been about seven at the time. He came to the house—we were living in Watford in those days—and even then, as a kid, I knew he was a threat. Big, black-haired, wild-looking. The aggression was the first thing I picked up. He demanded to see Father. Said he wanted to tell him he had a place at university. And I remember Mother saying that Father was out, telling him that now his slut of a mother was dead there would be no more money. He was eighteen, she said, old enough and big enough to earn his own living like everyone else, and if he couldn’t afford to take his place at university then that was tough, but hardly his father’s concern. She told him to go. And he did.
‘It was years later when Mother told me the full story—how Tudor and his promiscuous mother had tried to drain us dry, how Father had paid a thousand times over for a youthful indiscretion. How he’d been led astray by an older, much more experienced woman. And Father, being the man he is, took her word when she said the child she was carrying was his. Though not even he could bring himself to marry a slut like that, but he supported them both very generously to the end of her life, which must have been just before he came to the house that time, griping because the hand-outs had stopped.’
So Selina was ready for him. The way he had used her, an unknowing pawn, to get to Martin, made her angry enough to kill. The blame for her uncle’s attack was his, and his alone. And for that he would have to pay.
He was probably short of money and had decided to try to force Martin to make a handsome payment in return for his silence about their true relationship. Well, he’d be in for one hell of a shock! Mention of bringing in the police would be the least of her threats!
Every nerve working on overdrive, she picked up the sound of the front doorbell and, just for a moment, the supple length of her body as she paced the fine Persian carpet went quite rigid. He was here.
She’d warned Meg to expect a visitor, asking her to bring him directly to the sitting-room. And now Selina braced herself, forcing herself to walk calmly over to one of the tapestry-covered, high-backed armchairs which flanked the huge stone hearth.
Seating herself, she turned her face to the crackling fire and then deliberately took a magazine from the low table at her side, opening it on her lap as she heard Meg’s unhurried footsteps cross the huge hall.
When Dominic had recalled that importuning visit they hadn’t been living here. When the creep saw the quality of this house and its environs he would probably double his demands! Her ears aching with the strain of listening for his approach, she disgusted herself by remembering how she’d warmed to his voice, how her body had quickened at its sensual quality—how she’d lain in bed fantasising about the man, wondering if his looks could possibly measure up to the way he sounded.
Hastily, she thrust the unwelcome memory aside and composed her striking features into a mask of icy hauteur. Whatever he looked like, Adam Tudor would get what was coming to him!
And then he was actually in the room with her and, totally oblivious of Meg’s formal, ‘Adam Tudor to see you, Miss Selina,’ her breath shook in her lungs.
He was everything his voice had promised, and more. No sign of the down-at-heel, surly weakling she had begun to half expect. No sign at all.
He was six feet plus of male perfection, packaged in a custom made dark lovat suit that could only have come from Savile Row, the white shirt obviously Italian craftsmanship at its best, as were the dark leather shoes.
She made herself stand, forcing the tremor out of her long, long legs, made herself meet the darkly fringed, incredibly green eyes, noting the slashing lines, the harshly crafted structure of his devastingly handsome face, the wide mouth that she instinctively knew could be as cruel as it was sensually fascinating.
Swallowing thickly, she ignored his outstretched hand, the greeting murmured in that unbelievably seductive voice, and tilted her chin a fraction higher.
Dominic had been wrong when he’d described this man as a creep. He couldn’t creep if his life depended on it. That much about him was authoritatively stamped in every line of his face, on every inch of his wide-shouldered, narrow-hipped body. He was a man firmly at the centre of his own universe, who expected to get what he wanted and went ahead and took it.
The fight to get him to back out of Martin’s life, once and for all, might be harder than she had anticipated. But it was a fight she was determined to win.
Fixing him with the blazing scorn of her glittering golden eyes, Selina tossed back the riot of tawny, gold-streaked hair that she had spent all her life unsuccessfully trying to tame, and told him, ‘I don’t know what you came for. But, whatever it was, you are going to leave without it. Right now. And for your sake, Mr Tudor, I hope you understand.’
CHAPTER TWO
SILENCE. A silence so thick, so intense, that for a moment Selina thought the world had stopped.
Then the shaded green glitter of Adam Tudor’s eyes stroked her from head to toe, swept slowly up again, lingering on every taut detail of her body, making her cringe inside at this blatant sexual appraisal. But she endured it. Stoically endured this insult, refusing to betray by the merest flicker of anger or disgust that she was aware of what he was doing and so tacitly admit to a compliance of sorts.
The gleam of his gaze rested on the wide, soft curves of her mouth now and she fought to control the betraying shudder of her heated body. Horrifyingly, she felt the muscles at the pit of her stomach tighten as if struggling to contain the flare of flame-hot excitement within, felt her warm breasts peak against the soft covering of cashmere, felt as if his long-fingered hands had followed the path of his caressing eyes...
‘Incredible.’ The single word hung sultrily on the still, apple-wood-scented air, and she moistened her lips, saw the way his own softened into shocking sensuality as his eyes followed the involuntary gesture, and fought to find the strength to defeat the bastard.
He moved further into the graceful room, his very presence an invasion, but she held her ground. He had to be shown that she wouldn’t back away and his single utterance had to refer to her earlier statement, and she reinforced tightly, ‘Incredible that you’ve been shown the door? You’d better believe it. You’re not welcome. There’s nothing for you here.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that.’ The deep, sexy voice, enriched by just a hint of amusement, enfolded her, compounding the unwelcome frisson of awareness that invaded her body as his eyes lingered once again on her mouth.
He was thirty-seven years old and, for the past twenty of them had obviously been fully aware of his effect on women, she reminded herself caustically. And, just as obviously, would have no hesitation about playing on the susceptibilities of the female sex when it suited him.
Well, she wasn’t an empty-headed bimbo and was taking his loaded comments at face value. And when he told her, ‘But I came to see Martin, initially, that is,’ she was able to inform him coolly,
‘He’s not here. I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time.’
‘I wouldn’t class meeting such a delectable virago as a waste of time.’ He had the audacity to grin at her, moving closer so that she could actually feel his body heat, could judge the space that separated them down to the last quivering centimetre, and she had to grit her teeth and force herself to stand her ground as he cupped her chin in one warm, dry hand, green eyes gleaming down into seething gold as he asked softly, ‘Now I wonder why the lady’s so uptight?’
He was using his blatant sex appeal to walk right over her and it was just too much! She despised him, doubly so, for that. And she jerked her head away, out of his hateful dominion, setting her glorious hair flying around her head and her eyes impaled him with the bitter strength of her enraged emotions as she spat out, ‘I would have thought that you, of all people, would know the answer to that!’ But she had promised herself she wouldn’t lose her temper and she tacked on, allowing an edge of ice to rim her voice, ‘As I’ve told you, my uncle’s not here. Please leave.’
‘I can wait.’ The infuriating, slight shrug of those wide shoulders beneath that expensive suiting flicked her on the raw, doubly so as he strode calmly over to one of the armchairs and sat down, his long legs stretched out in front of the blaze from the fire. The time had come for a little plain talking. She wouldn’t mince her words, but she wouldn’t lose her temper, either.
Following him, she planted herself firmly in front of him and said, on a controlled intake of air, ‘Martin won’t be back tonight. Probably not for days.’ And that much was the truth. But no way was she going to tell him why. If he knew where he was he’d be out of here like a shot, making his demands over a hospital bed!
‘Where is he?’ For the first time she began to see the man he really was. The teasing eyes were now as cold and still as glacial lakes, the formidable features unreadable, a mantle of power cloaking the superb male body with tensile strength. Whatever he wanted, whatever he had come for, it wouldn’t be peanuts.
‘I have absolutely no idea,’ she lied, her mouth lifting in a small, utterly insincere and worthless smile as she sank with unconscious elegance into the chair opposite the one he had taken.
‘I don’t believe you.’ His voice was a quiet, cool statement of fact and her eyes glinted at him across the dividing space. She didn’t care what he believed and felt a reckless excitement welling deep inside her because playing games with this devil could be dangerous.
‘Suit yourself. But you’re going to have a long, long wait.’
‘Again, you’re lying,’ he stated with smooth contempt, his words accompanied by the slightest lift of power-packed shoulders. ‘Did you pass my message on? Stress the importance of my seeing him tonight?’
‘Yes.’ The word was a bitter condemnation of the effect of having done just that, but he continued smoothly, as if not noticing her abrupt change of tone,
‘Then I simply refuse to believe that he could calmly absent himself without seeing me.’
‘No? How nice to have such self-assurance,’ Selina taunted with cool malice, seething inside at the man’s monumental arrogance.
Dominic had said that this creature was Martin’s enemy, Vanessa had reinforced that information. And she herself was beginning to understand exactly why they should have received the news of his imminent arrival in the way they had, as if an unexploded bomb had been secreted on their premises. Adam Tudor wasn’t the down-at-heel, whining opportunist Dominic had led her to expect. She could have dealt with that. The reality was something else.
A layer of ice inched down her spine as she forced herself to meet his level, thoughtful stare head-on, her golden eyes, long-lidded and slumbrous, giving no hint of her razor-sharp mind as she asked, almost idly, ‘How much were you expecting Martin to shell out?’ From the suavely elegant look of him, the clothes he wore, he was used to nothing but the very best. Whatever he had in mind it wouldn’t be small change.
‘I see Dominic and Vanessa have been getting at you.’ His beautiful mouth curved humourlessly but there were disconcerting lights in those slightly hooded green eyes that made Selina’s breath catch in her throat. She turned her head quickly, looking into the fire, her pure, disdainful profile brushed by the warm glow, revealing the entrancing imperfection of a too short, curling upper lip, the full pout of the generous, made-to-be-kissed mouth. And he continued in that rough velvet voice, as if the question he posed was purely academic, ‘I take it your cousin and aunt have also been unexpectedly called away from home?’
How unexpectedly he would never know, not if she could help it. And she despised herself for the way his voice, his looks, his sheer male animal magnetism could make something move deep inside her. This man was her uncle’s enemy, for heaven’s sake! Merely learning of his intention to visit had been enough to give the elderly man a heart attack! So why did her wretched body react as if this was the one man she had spent her life waiting for when her brain informed her that he was poison?
Her throat was too tight with a disgusting amalgam of sexual awareness and self-hatred to facilitate a verbal response to his question, so she merely nodded, unable to prevent the sideways slant of anguished eyes as they sought his own.
‘Then I’m left with no option but to deal with you. Not that that will be any hardship, believe me.’ The smoky sexuality of his voice made her heart punch beneath her breastbone, and her hand flew up, as if to steady that wayward organ, and she saw his sultry eyes follow the betraying gesture and went hot all over, her flesh burning.
Belatedly, she hauled herself together and clipped out, ‘Fine.’ He was all too aware of his masculine potency, of its devastating effect, well used to using it very deliberately when it suited him. And if he thought she’d be a push-over simply because of her gender then that gave her the advantage, didn’t it? He would expect her to bend beneath the onslaught of his undoubted attractions, to move to his side of the fence, dragged there by the strength of the magnetic forcefield that surrounded him. He wasn’t to know that she would fight for Martin’s well-being with every last weapon at her command.
And he was at it again, using that spurious, facile charm as he told her softly, ‘I’ve heard a great deal about you. All of it—interesting.’
Which was a blatant lie. Her job within the company wasn’t that high-profile; she did it to the best of her considerable ability but, as yet, it hadn’t earned her space in the glossies! And when did a man, such a potently masculine one at that, interest himself in the stocking of women’s boutiques? And information about her wouldn’t have come from his father, from the family. They couldn’t bear to mention his name, much less take him into their confidence.
Clutching at the relief that came from catching him in an outright lie, she was able to consolidate her position of antagonist. Ignoring his lying statement for the flannel it was, she enquired coolly, her eyes watching his impressive features for any sign that might reveal the devious workings of his mind, ‘So what is it you want?’ and immediately regretted the unfortunate choice of words because his eyes made that silent and very intimate appraisal of her body again while his mouth curved in a slow smile that battered her senses, making her wonder how she would feel if those lips were ever to cover her own. And he didn’t give her time to recover her equilibrium, to force the disgust for the type of man he was to smother the growing disgust she felt for herself before he was translating his silent appraisal into words.
‘Dinner with you tomorrow night.’
‘You must be mad!’ The words came out on a jerk of heated breath, colour rushing over her face, staying there as he rose smoothly to his feet, looking down on her, his eyes held in seeming fascination on the hectic pulse-beat at the base of her throat.
‘Mad, to want to get to know a beautiful woman a great deal better?’ He shook his dark head in a parody of amazement, devils glinting out of his eyes. ‘Even if she is a hell-cat.’ He turned the full force of his mega-watt smile on her. ‘But maybe that’s a major part of the fascination?’
She ignored all that for the rubbish it was and repeated stonily, ‘Just what was so important about your need to see Martin? Tell me that, and I’ll tell you you can’t have whatever it is you think you need, and then you can go away.’ And never come back, she tacked on in her mind, schooling her features to stony blankness.
And he laughed at her, he actually put back his head and roared his amusement and, if she could, she would have killed him for that alone. But what came next was worse, so much worse that she was left bereft of speech as he calmly walked out of the room after delivering, ‘I’ve already told you. I want to see more of you. Much more.’ The lilt in his wicked eyes underlined the ambiguity of that remark and his voice was a rich caress as he told her, ‘Dine with me tomorrow night, for starters. Be ready at eight. And if you’re thinking of making yourself unavailable then I suggest you winkle Dominic out from wherever he’s skulking and ask him if he knows of any reason why you should refuse to meet my demands exactly.’
* * *
‘What was he getting at, Dom?’ Selina shuddered as an icy blast of winter wind gusted across the hospital car park. She pulled up the collar of her coat, her troubled eyes holding her cousin’s. ‘Why should I see him tonight? Why should I do a single damn thing he suggests?’
Dominic shrugged, his eyes evasive, and, although she had repeated the gist of the conversation she’d had with Adam Tudor the previous night, right down to his parting directive, she sensed her cousin was holding something back, something that was giving him private nightmares.
‘Are you sure he didn’t give a hint about what he wanted, why he had to see Father?’
Dominic looked almost haunted, Selina thought on an inner shudder. But who could blame him? The trauma of Martin’s sudden attack, seeing him lying in that lonely hospital bed, surrounded by wires and machines, his face grey and gaunt, had upset her more than she could say. Even the threat that was Adam Tudor had taken second place in her consciousness, so no wonder Dominic looked haunted, seemingly unable to offer any help.
But Adam Tudor would have to be dealt with, somehow, and she would be the one to do it because she owed it to her family, she reminded herself, shivering again beneath the renewed onslaught of the bitter wind. She thrust her cold hands deeper into her coat pockets and shook her head, telling him rawly, ‘No, nothing. I did ask but he didn’t say.’ Her golden eyes darkened, a frown drawing her strong brows together. ‘Just that rather threatening invitation to dinner, and the suggestion that I should ask you if you knew of any reason why I shouldn’t do exactly as he said. I’ve no intention of going, of course. The proverbial wild horses wouldn’t drag me.’
‘I think you should,’ Dominic told her quickly, and her long-lidded eyes narrowed astutely.
‘Why?’
‘To find out what he’s really after, of course. What else?’ His face looked white and pinched, and no wonder, Selina thought with sudden sympathy. He would be as worried about his father as anyone, and this desolate car park, the raw grey January skies, the unpleasant subject of their conversation was enough to make anyone look as if the miseries of the world were pressing down on his shoulders.
She suggested gently, ‘He’s after something. I agree with you there. And we have to discover what it is and keep him away from Martin. But it would be better if we presented a united front. You and I could face him together tonight. He said he’d be at the house at eight.’
‘That’s impossible.’ He looked as if she’d asked him to roll down the street in a barrel. Taking his car keys from his pocket, he tossed them from one hand to the other and told her huffily, as if she were a particularly dense child, ‘Now we know Father’s in no immediate danger I have to get back to head office. Somebody has to run the company. I’ll be staying in town until the weekend, unless Father’s condition deteriorates, of course,’ he qualified impatiently.
And something of her disbelief that he should leave her to deal with his half-brother must have shown on her face because he reminded her coldly, ‘You deal with the creep. I think you owe my parents that much, don’t you?’ and walked quickly away towards the red Porsche.
Selina gritted her teeth and pushed the wind-tumbled mane of her hair away from her face with the back of a leather-gloved hand. She didn’t need reminding of how much she owed her aunt and uncle—her uncle especially. And she would tackle Adam Tudor on her own, if she had to, but she just knew having Dominic at her side would have made it easier and wasn’t convinced by his sudden need to rush off back to head office.
In the circumstances, everything would have ticked over quite smoothly in his absence. There were plenty of staff perfectly capable of running the day-to-day business of the boutique chain for another twenty-four hours at the very least. It was almost as if he was afraid of facing his half-brother, listening to his demands and ruling them out of court.
And almost as if she was afraid of facing Adam Tudor again on her own, a cool inner voice mocked spitefully. As if she was afraid of that palpably cataclysmic masculine appeal. Afraid of the way she might react to it.
Which was, of course, absolute nonsense, she assured herself roundly, squaring her shoulders and marching over to where her Volvo was parked, the heels of her leather boots clicking decisively on the tarmac surface. She wasn’t a silly teenager to be taken in by a handsome face and a superb male body, or the type of voice that could charm the inmates of a harem out in droves!
* * *
Quite why she had informed Meg that she would be entertaining a guest this evening Selina was not altogether sure. That she would feel safer, keeping that unwanted dinner appointment here, on her home ground, conjured up the opposite—fear. But she had already assured herself that she wasn’t afraid of him, hadn’t she? And when the housekeeper’s thin face had registered surprise that Selina should be entertaining at all, at a time like this, she had announced coolly, ‘It’s business. And make the meal simple; there’s no need to try to impress.’
And so it was. Unpleasant business, at that, she reminded herself as she gave up the attempt to tame her abundant hair into a sober knot and allowed it to tumble all over her shoulders. And business that was best conducted on her own ground.