Sapphie had no defences left, no strength to fight Rik.

He took her into his arms, his brilliant blue gaze holding hers briefly before he lowered his head and his mouth claimed hers.

Oh…!

Her need for this man was just too much for her to resist, her lips parting beneath his even as her arms moved up over his shoulders.

Rik deepened the kiss, his arms tightening about her waist as he moulded her slender curves to the harder planes of his body.

Nothing had changed, Sapphie acknowledged achingly; she loved and wanted this man. Only this man. She realised now that she always would.

THE PRINCE BROTHERS

Enter the glamorous world of these gorgeous men…

Enter the glamorous world of the movies when you read about the love lives of the celebrity Prince brothers, owners of the prestigious company PrinceMovies. Each brother is super-successful in his field:

Arrogant, forceful and determined, the oldest, Nik, is a movie director.

Enjoy his story in

PRINCE’S PASSION

October 2005

A former bad boy, Zak is now a world-famous actor, known for being a charming rogue.

Meet him in

PRINCE’S PLEASURE

November 2005

And the youngest, Rik, is a screenwriter who’s more reserved than his brothers, but irresistible to women.

You can read about his life in

PRINCE’S LOVE-CHILD

January 2006

Prince’s Love-Child
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

‘RIK…! Rik Prince, can that really be you…?’

He froze at the first sound of that husky, sensual voice. No—it was worse than that, he actually felt paralysed, every muscle and sinew immobile with shock, his chest having stopped rising and falling, only his heart, with a will of its own, continuing to beat. But faster, so much faster than normal, as if trying to protect itself from the onslaught of remembered pain.

That voice!

So easily recognisable, so painfully remembered. It was the voice that had spoken to him in his dreams so often in the past. The voice that, for months, had motivated him to pick up the telephone a dozen times a day, hoping to hear its honeyed warmth on the other end of the line…

Calls he had never made. But, he realised now, he hadn’t thought of her for months; his previous unhappiness was completely buried.

Or so he had thought…

‘Rik…?’ The precisely English-accented tones were closer now.

In fact, as her hand reached out to touch him gently on his T-shirted back, Rik knew she had to be standing directly behind him.

How the hell was he supposed to deal with seeing her again after all this time?

He wasn’t dealing with it at all at this moment; just standing here in the middle of the street, paralysed with shock, couldn’t be classed as dealing with anything!

Breathe, you idiot, he instructed himself firmly, relieved when his body obeyed the command and his chest began to rise and fall once again. Now turn around, he ordered determinedly. Just turn around and face her. It couldn’t be any harder than walking away from her had been five years ago.

Could it…?

If anything she was more beautiful than ever; tall, golden and tanned, with the most incredible green eyes he had ever seen. Diamond McCall. And how she lived up to that name—her beauty was dazzling.

Even in a skimpy pink T-shirt and ragged denim cut-offs, there was no doubting that this woman was someone. In Dee’s case, despite or because of her melodious English tones, she was the present highest-paid actress in Hollywood, her name at the top of the credits, and enough to guarantee any movie she was in would be a box-office hit.

She was also someone else’s wife…!

‘I thought it was you!’ she exclaimed excitedly now, her face alight with pleasure as she smiled at him. ‘But how marvellous!’ she beamed, one long, slender hand reaching out to grasp the strength of his bare forearm. ‘I had heard that if you sat outside Fouquet’s on the Champs-Elysées for long enough you would eventually see everyone in Paris who was anyone walking by, but I never believed it until now!’ She gave an amazed shake of her head, long, honey-coloured hair swaying against her tanned shoulders. ‘What on earth are you doing in Paris?’

His mind had gone completely blank. Had been so since the moment he looked into those deep green eyes.

Why was he here? In fact, who the hell was he? Damned if he knew…!

‘Rik…?’ Dee gave him a quizzical look now. ‘You aren’t still angry with me, are you?’ she cooed.

Angry with her? Had he ever been angry with her? Hadn’t his anger all been reserved for her manipulative stepmother and stepsister, both so determined that Dee would marry the mega-rich and powerful Jerome Powers? As he looked at Dee now, so beautiful, so intensely alive, it was difficult to believe anyone could ever be cruel or angry with her.

She gave him a poutingly reproving smile. ‘At least say something, darling!’

He wasn’t sure that he could, his tongue seeming cleaved to the roof of his mouth, like some awkward schoolboy. Which for a man of thirty-five, with a succession of screenwriting awards to his credit, plus ownership of a movie company with his older brothers, Nik and Zak, was pretty pathetic.

It was because he had had no warning of this meeting, he consoled himself.

Today had begun like any other day of his two months’ stay in Paris: he woke at eight o’clock, went for a brisk walk beside the Seine, returned to his hotel for a breakfast of coffee and croissants and lingering over the newspaper, before venturing out again later in search of somewhere to eat lunch.

Nowhere in any of that relaxed routine had he had the least premonition that he would also see Dee McCall again today!

But he had to say something, couldn’t stand here like a speechless moron for ever.

‘You’re looking well, Dee,’ he finally managed gruffly, his American accent totally at variance with her softer English tones.

‘So are you, Rik,’ she returned softly, her eyes flirting with him beneath lowered dark lashes. ‘Are you—?’

‘Is—?’ He broke off as they both began talking at once. ‘You first,’ he invited wryly.

He might not have thought of this woman for months—years?—but when he had, he had never imagined the two of them meeting like this, awkwardly, stilted, like two strangers who had never been madly in love with each other. He hadn’t imagined Cathy and Heathcliffe either, but this—this was just banal!

Dee gave him a mischievous smile. ‘I was just going to ask if you’re here with someone.’

He shook his head. ‘And I was just going to ask if you were here with Jerome.’ Her husband. The man she had married five years ago instead of him. Despite all his pleadings for her to do otherwise.

It wasn’t a period of his life he was particularly proud of, but at the time he had been so much in love with Dee that nothing else seemed to matter.

At the time…?

Yes, at the time, he realised dazedly now as he looked at her, because he wasn’t still in love with Dee; time, and absence, had made that impossible to sustain. It was the memory of what they once had together, those fierce, snatched times together, that had kept her memory so much alive.

She had been so young, only twenty, on the way up in the world of acting, pressurised by her stepmother and stepsister into becoming engaged to and marrying Jerome Powers, then a man of forty and even more powerful in the world of media and entertainment than the three Prince brothers.

Rik had argued, Dee had been stubbornly adamant, tearfully pleading with him to understand that she had to marry Jerome in order to get away from her grasping stepmother and stepsister. His promises that he could—and would—protect her in the same way, had all been tearfully rebuffed.

No, he wasn’t still in love with Dee, but the anger he felt towards her stepmother and stepsister was still there!

‘Dee-Dee, you have to come and look at the most beautiful little purse and pocketbook we found for you!’ a man’s deep voice interrupted.

Rik didn’t need to turn to know who that man was; only one person called Diamond McCall Dee-Dee in that possessive tone; Jerome Powers, Dee’s husband of the last five years.

‘Hello, who—Rik…? Rik Prince!’ Jerome greeted warmly as Rik finally steeled himself to turn and look at him. ‘What on earth are you doing in Paris?’ Jerome smiled at him warmly, at the same time dropping a lightly possessive arm about Dee’s shoulders.

It was impossible not to like this man, with his genuine warmth and charm, his iron-grey hair and sophisticated good looks attracting women of all ages. Even Rik couldn’t help liking Jerome, and it would have been so much easier to dislike the man who was married to Dee.

‘I was working for a while,’ Rik answered, ‘but now I’m just taking a couple of days’ holiday before returning to the States.’

Jerome nodded. ‘How are Nik and Zak? I heard they both got married recently. Making you the last of the Eligible Princes, I guess.’ He grinned good-humouredly.

A grin Rik found very hard to return; if things had worked out for him five years ago he would have been the first of the Prince brothers to marry. Except the woman he had loved had married this guy instead…

‘They’re both good,’ Rik nodded. ‘Very happy, in fact.’ Yet another reason for him to spend this time in Paris. Not that he begrudged his older brothers their newfound happiness, because he didn’t, knew both of them were married to lovely women. But the settled happiness of his siblings made his own bachelor state seem all the more lonely.

Meeting Dee again like this in the company of her husband wasn’t helping that situation.

‘Excellent.’ Jerome nodded happily. ‘Dee-Dee, would you like to come and look in the store? I just know you’re going to love the purse and pocketbook, and—hell, where are my manners?’ Jerome shook his head self-disgustedly. ‘I totally forgot to introduce Sapphie.’ He turned to smile apologetically at the woman standing slightly behind him.

Rik hadn’t even noticed the petite, auburn-haired figure until then—what man would when in the company of a golden goddess?

But as she stepped forward at Jerome’s encouragement, shoulder-length auburn hair gleaming brightly in the sunlight, amber-coloured eyes gleaming like a cat’s as she looked up at Rik challengingly, he felt the last vestiges of colour fade from his already pale face.

Today was already turning out as something of a shock; first the unexpected meeting with Dee and her husband, then the realisation that his love for Dee had died long ago. But now, with this other lady’s appearance, it had just taken on nightmarish proportions!

Because he knew her.

He hadn’t seen her for five years either, and their acquaintance had been brief—very brief!—but nevertheless he knew her.

In every sense of the word!

CHAPTER ONE

RIK PRINCE had recognised her, Sapphie realised with inner dismay as he continued to stare at her in disbelief.

Not that any of her own emotions showed—she kept her own expression deliberately bland, and betrayed none of her shock, or the effects of the painful memories that were flooding back: the love that had shaken her world apart after she had spent a night with this man. Most definitely, she showed none of the horror she felt inwardly at finding herself face to face with a man she had thought she’d never see again!

But then, it might have been OK if he hadn’t so obviously recognised her and remembered too…!

Her small, pointed chin rose defensively as she thrust her hand out in greeting. ‘Sapphie Benedict, Mr Prince,’ she introduced herself with a pointedness that only a complete idiot could miss. And, despite the fact she knew that Rik Prince loved Dee to distraction, she didn’t believe he was a complete idiot.. just a selectively blind one!

Rik continued to stare at her, making no effort to take her outstretched hand, giving every impression of a man who had just been poleaxed.

Sapphie’s direct stare turned to a glare as she mentally willed him to pull himself together and say something. Anything. Just staring at her in this way was sure to be noticed, and commented on, by the other couple who were with them, and—

‘Miss Benedict,’ Rik Prince finally bit out tautly after briefly touching her hand. ‘Or is that Mrs…?’

‘It’s Miss,’ she corrected abruptly, her hand dropping back to her side, unobtrusively massaging the slight tingling of her fingers where he had briefly touched her.

Incredible…! She couldn’t believe, after all this time, that she could still be so totally aware of this man. It had been five years, for goodness’ sake; she should have got over this long ago!

‘Much too formal,’ Jerome put in with cheerful reproach. ‘Rik and Sapphie sounds much more friendly!’

Friendly was the last thing Sapphie wanted to be with Rik Prince! Especially with Rik Prince. Something she intended making clear to him at the earliest opportunity. In fact…

‘Why don’t you take Dee to see those accessories she was interested in, Jerome?’ she encouraged lightly. ‘Rik and I will order more coffee for us all, and by the time the two of you get back we may have managed to get on to a first-name basis!’

‘You will join us for coffee, Rik…?’ Dee prompted huskily.

Sapphie’s brows rose as Rik dragged his gaze away from hers in order to answer Dee in the affirmative.

Really, did the man have no sense whatsoever? she wondered impatiently; Dee and Jerome’s suspicions were sure to be aroused if he didn’t stop behaving in this way.

Not that Jerome seemed to have noticed anything unusual as he turned, smiling, to his wife. ‘Come on, honey, I want to buy you an anniversary present,’ he encouraged Dee indulgently. Then the two of them departed to go shopping.

Leaving behind them the kind of silence that could be cut with a knife!

But what else could Sapphie have done but encourage Jerome to take Dee away from here—even though the last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Rik Prince? He certainly hadn’t been playing his part in the drama of two strangers being introduced for the first time.

‘I thought Dee and Jerome’s wedding anniversary was in September.’ Rik suddenly spoke as he turned back from watching the couple leave.

‘It is,’ Sapphie sighed, moving to sit down at the table where Dee’s coffee was cooling. ‘Please—join me,’ she invited curtly as Rik Prince continued to stand in the middle of the pavement, as if unsure what to do next.

She had seen that dazed look before on dozens of men’s faces after spending time looking at Dee—seen it and, in this case, lamented it.

She slipped her sunglasses up in her hair as she continued to look at Rik Prince. He was just as handsome as she remembered: perhaps slightly leaner, but his dark hair was still as vibrantly overlong, brushed carelessly back from his brow, and his eyes as deep blue, his good-looking face all strong angles, and his muscular frame visible beneath the faded denims and cream polo-shirt he wore.

Finally he moved, his movements fluid as he sat down in the chair facing hers, his expression under control now, his eyes guarded by lowered lids.

Sapphie gave a frustrated sigh at his continued silence. Jerome might have been unaware of the intimacy between Dee and this man a few minutes ago, but she certainly hadn’t been. She also questioned whether the meeting had happened by chance; if anyone had known how devastated Rik Prince had been five years ago when Dee married Jerome, then it was her. He had been in love with Dee then, and Sapphie had every reason to believe he was still in love with her now.

‘Today is the anniversary of the day Dee and Jerome first met,’ Sapphie informed him softly.

‘I see,’ he bit out tautly, the expression in those deep blue eyes still unreadable.

Sapphie wasn’t sure at that moment which of the sudden impulses she felt was the stronger—the need to shake or hit him!

It had been five years, for goodness’ sake; surely he had got over his feelings for Dee by now?

It had to be obvious to anyone looking at Dee and Jerome that, for the most part, theirs was a happy marriage. It had its occasional hiccup—like any other marriage—but even in these days of quick divorces and remarriages, it had to be clear that Dee and Jerome were destined to last for some time yet.

‘I never—’

‘Before—’

They both began talking at once, only to come to an awkward stop, then stare enquiringly at the other.

‘Please,’ Sapphie invited before turning smilingly to the waiter to order more coffee, only to turn back and find Rik Prince looking at her in brooding silence. ‘You were about to say something,’ she reminded him, unnerved by his steadily intense stare.

He seemed to mentally shake himself, sitting up straighter in the cane chair. ‘I was going to say that, after all this time, I never expected to see you again.’

Amusement curved her lips. ‘You mean, you hoped never to see me again!’

He frowned. ‘If I had meant to say that, then that’s what I would have said.’

‘Oh, please.’ Sapphie brushed his protest away with a wave of her hand. ‘The sentiment, I can assure you,’ she told him with feeling, ‘is mutual!’ She had never wanted to see him again, never wanted to even hear of him again, just wanted to block his existence even from her memory.

And yet now that she had seen him and spoken to him, she could see just how dearly familiar were his dark good looks and piercing blue eyes. Too familiar…!

Rik gave a humourless smile. ‘That’s honest, at least,’ he drawled drily.

‘It’s a trait too few people possess nowadays. And, continuing to be honest,’ she added, ‘what I was going to say just now was that I feel, before Dee and Jerome return, which won’t be too long now, I should make it perfectly clear to you that under no circumstances—and I do mean that,’ she emphasised firmly, ‘do I wish for either of them to discover we ever knew each other before today.’ She looked at him challengingly.

He frowned for several long seconds, and then his brow cleared as he looked at her with mocking blue eyes. ‘By saying that the two of us knew each other, I take it you mean—’

‘I mean,’ she put in forcefully, ‘that I would rather Dee and Jerome believed we met for the first time today,’ she explained clearly and succinctly.

Rik Prince gave an acknowledging inclination of his head, whatever disadvantage he had felt earlier seeming to have evaporated as he relaxed back in his chair, his eyes clearly showing his amusement now.

Well, she was glad he could find something funny about this situation—because she certainly couldn’t!

‘How does that sit with the honesty you mentioned only seconds ago?’ he ventured sardonically.

‘Oh, don’t be so obtuse!’ Sapphie replied impatiently. ‘There’s a time for honesty, and—’

‘A time for dishonesty?’ Rik finished derisively.

‘Please don’t tell me you’re any more anxious than I am to admit to Dee and Jerome that the two of us stupidly spent the night together after their wedding!’ She was breathing deeply in her agitation as she glared at him.

But her impatient anger couldn’t keep the memories at bay of that night, of no words having been spoken between them as they’d seemed drawn to each other like magnets, of the passion they’d shared—a fierce and wondrous passion, as they’d sought oblivion in each other’s arms.

Even now Sapphie could remember each caress, each kiss, their need wild and uninhibited, both of them seeming to recognise and accept that, in the clear light of the following day, they would each go their separate ways, never to see one another again.

And that was how it should have remained. How, if she had had her way, it would have remained!

‘That day, you had just seen the woman you love marry someone else!’ she prompted angrily.

Colour darkened his cheeks, his eyes the blue-grey of a stormy sea now. ‘And if I had?’ he bit out icily. ‘What was your excuse?’

She could be selective, make excuses, could even evade the issue. But the truth, she knew—or at least the part she was willing to admit to Rik!—was much more likely to put an end to this conversation. ‘Me?’ she echoed self-disgustedly. ‘I had just watched the man I loved marry someone else!’ She now met Rik’s gaze unflinchingly.

Because it was only part of the truth of what had happened to her that day. Sapphie had gone to Dee and Jerome’s wedding believing she was still in love with Jerome, and had felt nothing but misery as she’d watched him marrying Dee.

But then something—she wasn’t sure what—had made her glance around the church, and her eyes had come to rest abruptly on Rik Prince as he’d stared broodingly down the aisle at the couple being married, obviously as unhappy about it as she was.

Until that moment, love at first sight had just been a phrase to Sapphie, not something that ever happened to real people like her. Well, except perhaps those people who realised the following morning, as they looked at the person beside them in bed, that it had probably been lust at first sight, rather than love!

She wasn’t one of those people; she’d woken at dawn the morning after Dee and Jerome’s wedding to gaze hungrily at the man sleeping beside her, knowing that not only did she love every hard plane and hollow that made up his physical being, but that she also loved his gentleness, his intelligence, and sense of honour too.

She had gone to the wedding the day before believing herself in love with one man, but after the celebration had realised that she was irrevocably in love with another.

A man who’d made no secret of the fact that he was in love with Dee…

* * *

Jerome?

Was Sapphie Benedict referring to Jerome Powers?

Sapphie, with her mesmerising, amber-coloured eyes, and her grim determination to discuss and dismiss their first and—until now—only other meeting, had been hurting as much as Rik had five years ago because she’d been in love with Jerome Powers? She’d spent the wedding reception with him, and the night with him, because she had just watched the man she loved marry someone else?

But hadn’t he just admitted to having done the same thing? Wasn’t that night—and Sapphie herself—something he had kept buried deep at the back of his consciousness, the door to it tightly locked and bolted?

Yes, of course it was. But that was because he had always felt guilty about that night, about the fact that he had used Sapphie as a way of blocking out his pain. Knowing she had used him in the same way added a dimension now that filled him with anger. His fury wasn’t logical, and it certainly wasn’t fair, but it was how he felt, none the less.

‘Are you still in love with Powers?’ Rik rasped contemptuously. ‘Is that the reason you’re still hanging around the two of them? Hoping to step into Dee’s shoes if the marriage should falter?’

‘How dare you?’ Sapphie gasped incredulously, having paled dramatically, those amber eyes the only colour in her face now. ‘For your information, Mr Prince, I’m not hanging around the two of them at all. I happen to have been in Paris for four days now, doing some research. Dee and Jerome decided to stop off here yesterday in order to see me on their way to Dee’s film première in London next week.’

‘How convenient for you,’ Rik scorned.

He hadn’t even attempted to see Dee since her wedding day five years ago, whereas this woman appeared to have remained friends with both Dee and Jerome. Masochistic or what?

‘It isn’t convenient at all,’ Sapphie came back forcefully. ‘And as for my wanting to step into Dee’s shoes if the marriage should falter—if you listened to what I said just now, then you’ll have realised I used the past tense concerning my feelings towards Jerome. I was in love with him then, but I’m not now.’ She was breathing hard in her agitation, her eyes sparkling with anger.

Considering how defensive she was, Rik wasn’t sure that he believed her.

But somehow, looking into those amber-coloured eyes and seeing the contempt gleaming there, he doubted Sapphie Benedict cared whether he believed her or not!

What was hard to believe, as he looked at her now, seeing how her eyes gleamed challengingly, twin spots of fiery colour burned her cheeks, and the fullness of her mouth had thinned to a taut line, was that he had ever explored every inch of that slenderly tiny body, that he had run his hands time and again through the auburn thickness of her shoulder-length hair, kissed every inch of her gamin-featured beauty and tasted the intimate delight of her luscious lips and mouth.

Sapphie, as if becoming aware of Rik’s lingering gaze, of the thoughts running through his head, seemed to gather herself up to attack. ‘Let me make one thing clear, Mr Prince—’

‘I thought it was to be Rik and Sapphie,’ he reminded her tauntingly, smiling his thanks at the waiter as he placed the pot of fresh coffee and cups down on the table.

‘Mr Prince,’ Sapphie enunciated carefully once they were alone again, ‘I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you. Is that clear enough for you?’

She really was beautiful, Rik acknowledged slightly dazedly; not that he had thought—even five years ago when he needed to block out the pain—that he would have been attracted to someone who wasn’t beautiful. It just came as a surprise to him now to realise quite how beautiful Sapphie Benedict was.

More beautiful than Dee? Well…no. But Dee’s beauty was made up of golden hues, whereas this woman was all fire and light; her hair, for example, gleamed red as the sunlight caught it, and her eyes had taken on the colour of leaping flames.

There was also the fact that, notwithstanding how much in love he’d been with Dee five years ago, the two of them had never gone any further than a few clandestine kisses. Whereas he and Sapphie Benedict had shared the most complete intimacy there was between a man and a woman.

‘Very clear, Sapphie,’ he finally answered her slowly. ‘But if that really was the case, how would I know about the birthmark you have on your—?’

‘Will you stop that?’ she snapped furiously, sitting forward. ‘Dee and Jerome are on their way back now,’ she hissed warningly after a brief glance over his shoulder. ‘This conversation is over as far as I’m concerned!’

Rik turned to give a cursory glance in the direction of the married couple as they strolled along hand in hand, pausing to look in a store window now, his mouth twisting with distaste even as he acknowledged how right they looked together: Dee so tall and goldenly beautiful, Jerome with that natural confidence of a successful middle-aged man.

‘I would keep that emotion under wraps too, if I were you,’ Sapphie bit out impatiently. ‘Jealousy can be so unattractive!’

Rik turned back to find her looking at him scathingly. Jealousy? Of Jerome’s role as Dee’s husband, was what Sapphie meant. Was he still jealous of Jerome? No, in all honesty, he couldn’t say that he was, any more.

Did that mean that he really was over his love for Dee…?

He raised dark brows as he returned Sapphie Benedict’s challenging look. ‘You would know, I suppose,’ he drawled mockingly, but took no pleasure in the way her face fell at his deliberate taunt.

How ironic, how absolutely incredible, that the two of them should both have been in love with other people five years ago. Although Sapphie denied that she still felt that way about Jerome. And he…He realised with another lightening of his heart that, without even knowing it, he’d got over Dee. She was still one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, but he could now view that beauty dispassionately.

Sapphie eyed him dismissively now. ‘I never took you for an idiot, Rik. Misguided in your love for Dee, perhaps, but never an idiot.’

He looked at her curiously. ‘You don’t like Dee very much, do you?’ he realised wonderingly; he had never met anyone before, male or female, who didn’t instantly fall under Dee’s charming spell. Although being in love with the other woman’s husband would probably do it, he allowed.

‘Of course I like Dee,’ Sapphie bristled resentfully. ‘Knowing a person’s weaknesses and faults doesn’t preclude your liking them.’

Rik gave her a rueful grin. ‘Knowing mine doesn’t seem to have endeared me to you!’

She eyed him bleakly. ‘There are always exceptions to every rule,’ she retorted before turning to smile warmly at Dee and Jerome as they rejoined them, her expression affectionately indulgent as she took in the new handbag that Dee carried. ‘I see you preferred the larger design,’ Sapphie teased.

Dee grinned unabashedly, her pleasure in the gift obvious. ‘If you’re going to have a designer bag, then it may as well be a big one!’ She dropped gracefully into the chair next to Sapphie before placing the new purchase on the table. ‘Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous?’

The white bag, printed with a pattern of the designer’s motif in different colours, was certainly big, Rik acknowledged. However, it also wasn’t the little purse initially suggested. But then, why shouldn’t Dee choose a much more expensive number? Jerome was so rich he made the multimillionaire Prince brothers look like paupers!

‘It’s lovely,’ Sapphie assured the other woman warmly.

Rik couldn’t help but admire, on the other couple’s return, the way in which Sapphie seemed to have shaken off her obvious animosity towards him. Anyone glancing in their direction now would be sure to think they were just four friends enjoying a cup of coffee together on this glorious Parisian day.

Rik wasn’t actually quite sure whether he could really class the four of them as friends, given all the emotions teeming beneath their surface politeness!

Nevertheless, he was reluctant for their time together to end. It had taken five years for him to meet Sapphie Benedict again and—surprisingly!—he found he was so intrigued, that he didn’t want there to be another five before it happened again!

‘I was just suggesting to Sapphie,’ he gave her a sideways glance, his mouth quirking humorously as he noticed the disapproving tightening of her full lips, ‘that it would a good idea if the four of us were to have dinner together this evening.’

He had turned back to the married couple by the time he made this suggestion, so he didn’t actually see Sapphie’s reaction to his suggestion—but he certainly felt it!

Shock was quickly followed by waves of pure animosity in his direction which she made no effort to conceal!

CHAPTER TWO

‘YOU’RE incredibly stupid or totally insane—and as I don’t believe for a moment that it’s the latter, I can only assume that it’s the former!’ Sapphie spoke vehemently even as she marched her way past Rik and into the sitting-room of his hotel suite, not sparing her obviously luxurious surroundings a second glance as she turned to glare at him.

‘Come in, why don’t you?’ Rik drawled sardonically, taking his time about closing the door and joining her.

Giving Sapphie the opportunity to take in exactly how handsome he looked in the black evening suit and snowy white shirt and black bow-tie. Not that she hadn’t ever noticed how devastatingly attractive he was, it was just that he just looked breathtakingly so in this formal attire, every inch the wealthy and powerful screenwriter that he was.

She had responded to the way he looked five years ago, but also to the way he’d made her feel; she’d been attracted to his inborn confidence and sophistication as much as to his handsome features. But this was something else entirely.

Now he wasn’t just Rik Prince, the youngest, and reputedly the most sensitive, of the powerful Prince brothers; now he was also the link between herself and the past, between her and…

No, she mustn’t even go there! She had spent a night of mindless passion with this man, and he had to believe that was all they had shared.

He arched dark brows now as he eyed her teasingly. ‘Am I to take it from your previous remark that you aren’t looking forward to the four of us having dinner together this evening?’

Looking forward to it—it had to be the worst torture she could ever imagine!

Spending hours in Rik’s company. Aware all that time that he was probably still in love with Dee. In a constant state of agitation herself, in case either Dee or Jerome said anything that might arouse Rik’s suspicions. No, she wasn’t looking forward to it at all!

But when Rik had made his suggestion earlier about dinner at Fouquet’s, and it was greeted with such enthusiasm by Dee and Jerome, Sapphie simply hadn’t been able to think of a good reason for not joining them. Especially as it had already been agreed earlier in the morning that she would eat with Dee and Jerome tonight. Besides, she dared not dine with all of them, because she was still nervous that either Dee or Jerome might unwittingly say something about Matthew…

Even so, she was sure that Rik had known earlier exactly how she felt about having dinner with him, since she’d spent the rest of their meeting this morning in silence, nodding her agreement to the suggestion they all meet in the hotel foyer downstairs at eight o’clock.

‘Idiot!’ she snapped now, totally immune to his admiring glance as he took in the black sheath knee-length dress she was wearing, and the way her auburn hair fell loose on the bareness of her shoulders. She gave an impatient shake of her head. ‘This is a dangerous game you’re playing—’

‘Dangerous?’ Rik echoed, dark brows arched mockingly. ‘You aren’t suddenly going to launch yourself at me in a passionate frenzy, are you?’

‘Oh, very funny,’ Sapphie bit out disgustedly. ‘You are such a funny man, Rik. In fact, with your wit, I’m surprised you’ve never turned your talent to writing comedies!’

He grinned unconcernedly, an endearing dimple appearing in one cheek, obviously feeling completely relaxed about the evening ahead. ‘I’ve never really thought about it,’ he shrugged, ‘but now that you mention it…’ He smiled in the face of her obvious frustration. ‘It’s a little early yet for us to go and meet Dee and Jerome; would you care for a drink before we leave?’

As it had turned out, Rik and Dee and Jerome were all staying at the George V, just off the Champs-Elyseées, whereas Sapphie had decided to stay in a more obscure—and less expensive!—hotel in one of the avenues off the Arc de Triomphe, so it had been decided that the three of them would meet in the foyer of the George V before strolling along to the restaurant.

And yes, Sapphie was well aware of the fact that it was too early to meet the other couple. Deliberately so. As this man had to be well aware.

‘A brandy would be nice,’ she accepted abruptly, having already noticed the untouched bottles of whisky and brandy on one of the side-tables. ‘Thank you,’ she added awkwardly.

‘So far this evening you’ve called me “incredibly stupid” and an “idiot”—don’t you think it’s a little late for politeness?’ He eyed her laughingly.

Sapphie felt a leap of awareness in her chest at how very attractive he was in this teasingly friendly mood. It would be so easy to forget everything else, and just enjoy being in his company…

His company was something she dared not risk enjoying! In fact, she couldn’t let her guard down for even a second, had been a mass of churning emotions since the moment they’d met again this morning, feeling as if she were remaining only two steps ahead of a tsunami—and while it was increasing in force she was tiring fast!

She had to find a way of stopping it—stopping Rik—in his tracks!

‘Thank you,’ she murmured again as she took the glass of brandy from his hand and took a sip of the fiery liquid, hoping it would give her the courage she so badly needed.

Courage…? She was going to need more than courage if she was going to completely alienate Rik Prince. And that was exactly what she had to do—if she could stop him finding her amusing long enough to do it, that was!

Under other circumstances, meeting Rik again could have been the highlight of her trip to Paris. But as it was…

‘Mr Prince—’

‘You know, you really can’t carry on being so formal with a man you’ve shared a bed with,’ he cut in smoothly.

And a sofa. And the floor. Even the shower—if her memory served her correctly. And she knew that it did.

All of which would be better forgotten, let alone talked about! ‘Rik,’ she corrected tautly, sitting down in one of the armchairs and instantly wishing she hadn’t, as Rik’s gaze was drawn to the amount of silk-covered thigh revealed by her dress riding up her legs. ‘The danger I was referring to has nothing to do with me—’

‘Pity,’ he responded, relaxing back in an armchair himself now as he looked across at her with narrowed eyes.

‘—and everything to do with Dee and Jerome,’ Sapphie continued determinedly.

She had given this a lot of thought when she returned to her hotel earlier—in the circumstances, how could she possibly think of anything else?—and had decided she couldn’t make this personal, otherwise Rik’s suspicions would be aroused anyway. So she had decided to make Dee and Jerome the issue instead.

It seemed to be working as Rik’s mouth tightened, his expression grim. ‘What about them?’ There was a definite edge to his voice now. ‘As you’ve already been at great pains to point out to me, they are obviously a happily married couple.’

‘Yes, they are.’ Sapphie nodded. ‘But beneath his genial façade, Jerome is a very jealous man.’

Rik gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘Dee is a lot younger than him, and a very beautiful woman.’

‘She can also be a very silly one,’ Sapphie told Rik with feeling. ‘Not that it’s her fault,’ she added, remembering all too well Rik’s earlier accusation that she didn’t like Dee. Of course she liked Dee, but if this was going to work, then she had to exaggerate some of Dee’s less admirable traits. ‘Dee was very overindulged as a child. Her father adored her, always referred to her as his perfect diamond.’ Sapphie shook her head. ‘Is it any wonder that she grew up expecting every other man to adore her, too?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rik said slowly. ‘Is it?’

‘Of course it’s not,’ Sapphie shot back. She wasn’t getting through to him at all! ‘I mentioned earlier that Dee and Jerome have had their share of hiccups…? Well, those hiccups usually occur after one of Dee’s—flirtations. Jerome, understandably, resents any man who gets too close to his wife.’

‘Understandably,’ Rik echoed tightly. ‘Although I still don’t see what this has got to do with me.’

Sapphie eyed him exasperatedly; this wasn’t going at all as she had planned. She had intended giving Rik a little friendly advice—such as ‘stay away from Dee because of Jerome’s jealousy’!—and he obviously wasn’t getting it at all. She felt like boxing his ears now!

‘You’re in love with Dee—’

‘Am I?’

She frowned frustratedly. ‘Of course you are!’

‘If you say so.’ He shrugged.

‘Look, I’m trying to help you,’ she pressed on impatiently.

‘So it would appear.’

She sighed at his lack of cooperation. ‘The last man to get too close to Dee ended up losing his job on the New York Times newspaper and going back writing about cattle shows in his home state of Texas!’ A fate that was a vast improvement on the one that had befallen Dee’s admirer before that, an actor who was sacked from his role in a major film and was now working behind the counter of a fast-food chain!

Rik looked amused. ‘And you think that might happen to me?’ he queried. ‘It’s very nice of you to be so concerned on my behalf, Sapphie, but it really isn’t necessary.’

She really wasn’t getting through to him, was she? So much for advising him to stay away from both Dee and Jerome—and, as a consequence, away from her too; he just seemed to find her advice amusing!

‘I am not concerned about you,’ she stood up, deciding to try a different tack; if he didn’t care about himself, then perhaps he would care on Dee’s behalf. ‘It’s Dee I’m worried about.’ She glared down at him.

Rik returned her gaze with cool blue eyes, his thoughts now unreadable behind a cold mask.

‘Are you telling me,’ he finally spoke carefully, ‘that Jerome is likely to become violent towards Dee if—?’

‘No, of course I’m not,’ Sapphie denied exasperatedly; she just seemed to be making this situation worse, not better. And she had thought it couldn’t get any worse! ‘For all that she’s emotionally immature, Dee really does love Jerome. Being older than her, he gives her the stability she felt she had lost when her father died—’

‘You presume to know an awful lot about the emotions of the woman who married the man with whom you yourself were in love,’ Rik rasped harshly.

Perhaps she was getting through to him after all.. he certainly didn’t seem amused any more!

‘I don’t presume to know anything—’

‘I think that you do.’ Rik stood up in one fluid movement. ‘And in the circumstances, I find your so-called concern for Dee a little—suspect, shall we say?’

He was very overbearing, towering over her like this, but Sapphie refused to back down now, finally feeling as if she was getting through to him. If she succeeded in getting him to back out of Dee’s life—and consequently her own!—then she didn’t care how intimidating he appeared!

‘No, we will not say,’ she replied tartly. ‘As Dee’s sister, of course I—’

‘As her what?’

Sapphie instinctively took a step backwards at the vehemence in his tone, her eyes widening now as she took in the look of complete shock that he was too disturbed to even attempt to hide.

He hadn’t known, she realised belatedly.

Incredibly, somehow, with everything else that had happened between them that night five years ago, she must have forgotten to mention that Dee was her little sister!

* * *

Sapphie was Dee’s sister? The same stepsister who, along with her mother, had pressured Dee five years ago into going through with her marriage to Jerome Powers?

But wasn’t that what she was doing now, too? Warning him, and every other man by the sound of it, from going anywhere near Dee’s marriage to Jerome.

‘Your name is Benedict, not McCall,’ he finally bit out forcefully. Stupidly. Dee was an actress; McCall probably wasn’t even her real name. But it seemed so impossible that these two women, so totally physically different, could possibly be related in any way, let alone be sisters!

‘We’re half-sisters,’ Sapphie told him dismissively. ‘I was two years old when my mother married Fergus McCall. Dee was born a year later.’

Rik turned away to walk over to the window, staring sightlessly out into the Parisian night.

Damn it, he had been congratulating himself earlier on the fact that he was over whatever he had felt for Dee, that, without him even being aware of it, his emotions had moved on.

And now this!

He hadn’t asked Sapphie five years ago what she was doing at Dee and Jerome’s wedding, whether her connection was to either the bride or groom. In fact, they hadn’t talked much at all, he realised now.

But, thinking back to that time, remembering the things Dee had told him about her stepmother and stepsister, of how they were pressurising her into marrying the rich and powerful Jerome Powers, he couldn’t help but wonder if his meeting with Sapphie that night had been quite as by chance as it had appeared at the time…

‘Let me guess.’ Sapphie spoke behind him. ‘If Dee spoke of her family at all, it was to regale you with the stepmother and stepsister story?’ She grimaced as he turned sharply back to face her. ‘My stepfather died when Dee was thirteen.’ She gave a sad shake of her head. ‘His death hit her very hard, and the only way she could deal with it at the time was to think of herself as the beautiful swan left in the nest of the ugly ducklings! It seemed harmless enough at the time, if a little hurtful to our mother.’

The picture she was painting of Dee wasn’t a pretty one. Rik remembered Dee as a beautiful butterfly desperately trying to fly away from the two women who were trying to run her life for her.

This woman and her mother!

But her mother and half-sister, not stepmother and stepsister…

He gave a dismissive shake of his head; if he once started to doubt Dee’s integrity five years ago, then he really was in trouble!

Sapphie gave a humourless smile. ‘I can see that you don’t believe me.’

It wasn’t a question of believing or not believing her; he was newly coming to terms with the fact that he was no longer in love with Dee, and also with hearing Sapphie telling him that the woman he had thought himself in love with all those years ago had never really existed either—it was just too much to take in!

‘Why the hell should I?’ he came back harshly. ‘You and your mother got your way five years ago, let’s just leave it at that, shall we?’

Sapphie looked perplexed now. ‘My mother? What does she have to do with any of this?’

‘Oh, please!’ he grated.

And to think he had actually been starting to like Sapphie, to admire the cool way she’d dealt with what had happened between them five years ago. Hell, he was no longer even sure that it had just happened between them all those years ago; in fact, the more he thought about the way they had met, their lack of conversation, that shared passion in his hotel suite, the more he began to wonder if it hadn’t all been planned to keep him well and truly occupied while Dee married someone else.

Although this presupposed that Dee’s mother and sister had been aware that there was someone else in Dee’s life besides Jerome…

Damn it, he had to get out of here—before he let those thoughts take him where he didn’t want to go and he actually resorted to strangling Sapphie Benedict for what he now suspected her motives might have been towards him all those years ago!

‘It’s time to go,’ he instructed after a glance at his wrist-watch. ‘Dee and Jerome will be wondering where we are.’

Sapphie looked up at him uncertainly. ‘Rik, what—?’

‘I said it’s time to go!’ he commanded, grasping hold of her arm and manoeuvring her towards the door, allowing no respite when she stumbled slightly trying to pick up her evening bag.

He was too angry at this moment, needed to be where there were other people. Because strangling was probably too good for this woman.

But kissing her, at the same time showing his contempt for her, certainly wasn’t!

He came to an abrupt halt as he reached the door, turning Sapphie Benedict in his arms to lower his head and take possession of her lips with his.

It was a kiss that wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, by either of them. And as Rik felt Sapphie tremble in his arms he knew that she certainly wasn’t deriving any pleasure from it, that if anything she was wary of him, of where his anger might take them. Well, let her be wary. She deserved to be wary. He wanted her to be wary. He wanted to take her…

His deeper, inner, decent self took control at that moment, filling him with self-disgust for the way he was behaving. He had never treated a woman like this in his life before, but as he felt the shuddering sobs that shook Sapphie’s slender body he knew that he was both hurting and humiliating her. Not that she didn’t deserve that—and worse—for what she and her mother had done five years ago; he just didn’t intend lowering himself to her level.

He wrenched his mouth away from hers, taking hold of her upper arms to push her away from him, emotion blazing in his eyes as he saw the wretchedness of her expression, her eyes glittering with unshed tears, her lips puffy and obviously kissed.

An act. It was all an act, he assured himself determinedly; this woman, as much as Jerome Powers, had robbed him of Dee, of the love they had once shared—and he would never forgive her for it.

He drew in a harsh breath. ‘If you’re expecting an apology—’

‘I’m not!’ She wrenched out of his grasp, stepping away from him, the colour returning to her cheeks. ‘I don’t expect anything from you. I never have,’ she added bleakly.

Rik’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what the hell is that supposed to mean?’

She made a dismissive movement with her hand. ‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’

It wasn’t nothing. It had certainly been something, a slight undertone to that comment that he couldn’t quite put a name to…

But he could put a name to how he was feeling—and it wasn’t pretty. He had never had cause to feel ashamed of his actions before, but he certainly wasn’t proud of the way he had treated Sapphie just now. Even if she did deserve his contempt. She and her mother both.

Except…

Again he thought of the fact that Sapphie’s mother was also Dee’s mother, and that neither were the stepsister and stepmother Dee had claimed them to be. Why had she lied to him about those relationships? He—

‘Dee and Jerome will be waiting for us downstairs,’ Sapphie reminded him softly.

Rik frowned darkly at the way Sapphie avoided actually meeting his gaze, effectively making him feel more of a heel than ever.

Though he didn’t see why he should, he decided as his resolve returned. Not when this woman, along with her mother, were responsible for it not being ‘Dee and Rik’ who were waiting downstairs.

‘Then we had better go and join them, hadn’t we?’ he returned, his mouth twisting grimly as Sapphie stepped back to avoid the hand he would have placed beneath her elbow.

Fine. He didn’t want to touch her again, anyway. Still couldn’t be responsible for his actions where Sapphie Benedict was concerned!

CHAPTER THREE

‘YOU’RE very quiet this evening, Sapphie; is there anything wrong?’

Sapphie turned to look at her brother-in-law, forcing a smile to her lips as he looked at her concernedly.

Quiet? Jerome thought she was quiet? Well, maybe, but Dee and Rik had talked enough for all of them during the last couple of hours as they dined together, usually about people or things of which Sapphie had no knowledge. Rik was completely ignoring the advice she had tried to give him earlier.

Oh, well, it had only been a case of misdirection on her part, an effort to try and draw attention away from herself. And she had been insulted and treated with suspicion for her pains. Why, she still didn’t understand…

‘I have a slight headache,’ she excused, giving Jerome a reassuring smile. ‘In fact—’

‘You have a headache?’ Dee prompted as she took time out from her laughing conversation with Rik. ‘I have some tablets in my bag you can take.’ She began to root through it. The new designer handbag, of course.

‘I don’t think that would be a good idea when I’ve already had a couple of glasses of wine,’ Sapphie refused politely. ‘In fact, I was just about to make my excuses and leave. A good night’s sleep is probably all I need.’ And to get away from Rik Prince’s oppressive company!

She doubted if Dee and Jerome had noticed, but Rik hadn’t so much as spoken one word to her during the last couple of hours. Not that she had wanted him to, but she was finding his silence towards her more unnerving than anything he might have said to her. That, and the brooding way Jerome had been watching his wife and Rik as they’d talked so easily together.

Dee, Sapphie knew, was always in her element when flirting with a man.

Rik Prince had been so wrong earlier when he’d accused her of not liking Dee. She loved her younger sister very much; she was just very aware of the emotional games Dee liked to play. And of Jerome’s reaction to them.

She might have been using Jerome’s jealousy earlier when she spoke to Rik as a diversion tactic, but actually Jerome’s possessiveness where his wife was concerned was all too real.

It was a trait that had never shown its ugly face when Sapphie had believed herself to be in love with Jerome; if it had, she would have fallen out of love with him all the sooner. Although disillusionment had come soon enough: it was difficult to remain in love with someone who obviously loved someone else to distraction.

Although Rik Prince didn’t seem to be having any trouble doing exactly that where Dee was concerned…!

‘I’m really sorry to break up the party,’ Sapphie announced lightly, placing her napkin on the tabletop and picking up her evening bag, ‘but I really think it would be better if I went back to my hotel now.’

‘I’ll walk with you.’

Sapphie was so stunned by the fact that Rik had finally spoken to her, let alone by his offer to walk her back to her hotel, that her hand moved suddenly and knocked one of the wine glasses on the table. It would have fallen over, spilling its contents, had Rik not reached out and caught it as it began to tip.

Sapphie looked across at him with startled eyes. ‘I’ll be perfectly OK walking back alone.’ After all, she had walked over to the George V by herself earlier!

‘Oh, but I insist.’ He easily held her gaze as he stood up, his expression unreadable. ‘It’s far too late for a woman to be out walking on her own. Besides,’ he continued as Sapphie would have argued, ‘I’m sure that Dee and Jerome have had quite enough company for one evening; this is romantic Paris, after all!’

Exactly, so why on earth would Rik want to stroll up the Champs-Elysées with her, of all people? Dee wasn’t too happy at the prospect of losing her admirer, either, if her pouting expression was anything to go by! And when Dee was upset about something, anyone standing in her way had better watch out!

Not that Sapphie was a willing participant in this current situation, but she knew from experience that wouldn’t matter to Dee if she felt like hitting out…

‘Don’t be so silly, Rik,’ Dee told him impatiently. ‘Jerome and I have been to Paris dozens of times before!’

‘And no doubt we’ll come back dozens of times more, too,’ Jerome put in emolliently. ‘But Rik does have a point,’ he smiled at his wife, ‘a nice stroll beside the river, with the illuminated Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, would be very romantic.’

‘Lucky you, Dee,’ Sapphie told her quickly as she saw the rebellious sparkle in her sister’s eyes; Dee clearly wasn’t happy with the thought of Sapphie disappearing off into the night with her admirer. Well, Dee needn’t worry; Sapphie intended dumping that admirer as soon as it was safe to do so.

Dee looked at her husband and his encouraging smile, then at Rik’s bland expression, obviously trying to weigh up whether or not she wanted to create a scene by insisting that Rik stay. Sapphie held her breath as she waited for the result of that deliberation.

‘That sounds wonderful, darling,’ Dee finally breathed huskily, her fingers moving caressingly on her husband’s arm now.

Causing Sapphie to breathe an inner sigh of relief. One thing maturity seemed to have done for Dee was to teach her when not to push her luck. Or perhaps not; Sapphie winced as Dee gave Rik a challenging smile—maybe her sister was just trying to make Rik jealous now?

One day, Sapphie was sure, this was all going to blow up in Dee’s beautiful face. But not tonight, she noted with relief. Jerome seemed quite happy now that he was going to have his wife to himself for a while. Rik Prince’s expression was much harder to read…

Well, if he was less than satisfied with his companion, that was his problem, not hers!

‘You can leave now,’ Sapphie told him tersely once they had walked a short distance down the wide avenue towards the Arc de Triomphe. ‘Dee and Jerome have already disappeared in the opposite direction,’ she added as Rik looked at her with raised brows.

There had been quite a lot of kissing, and ‘we’ll meet again tomorrow’ as Dee and Jerome took their leave outside the restaurant. But Sapphie saw no reason to continue this charade now that the other couple were no longer around.

Besides, she really did have a headache, mainly due, she knew, to Rik Prince’s tense silence as he walked beside her, hands thrust into his trouser pockets.

Probably a ploy to stop himself from reaching out and throttling her, Sapphie accepted ruefully; he had certainly looked as if that was what he would have liked to do to her in his hotel suite earlier this evening!

But instead of that, he had kissed her…

A kiss that was not meant to be enjoyed—by either of them.

And Sapphie really hadn’t enjoyed it. But she had learnt something about herself that she would much rather not have known. Until tonight, until Rik kissed her again, she had believed that instant love she felt for him five years ago had withered and died through lack of nurturing. But tonight, held once more in Rik Prince’s arms, she knew that wasn’t the case at all.

She was as much in love with Rik now as she had been that night long ago!

* * *

Rik had absolutely no idea what he was doing walking along beside Sapphie!

It had been one of the strangest evenings he had ever known in his life.

On the one hand, there he’d been with Dee, the woman he’d believed himself in love with for the last five years—though now he knew that he no longer loved her at all.

Then there’d been Jerome, the man Dee had married instead of him: a man that Rik couldn’t help but like.

And lastly there’d been Sapphie Benedict, a woman he had spent a burning night of passion with five years previously; Dee’s half-sister. One of the women who had played a leading part in taking Dee from him all those years ago. He was still so angry about that, he hadn’t even been able to bring himself to talk to her this evening!

Instead he had spoken to Dee, whom he could now view with dispassion—and with whom, he realised, he had absolutely nothing in common! Her conversation was of fashion and the artificial world of acting, from which he normally chose to distance himself.

Adding to his confusion was his disgust with himself for the way he had treated Sapphie earlier, which had been building up inside him all evening.

Yes, at the time he had been angry with Sapphie, suspicious of her motives for what had happened between them five years ago. And yes, the pain of that had erupted out of control. But the way he had behaved, the physical retribution he had exacted, seemed more in keeping with his eldest brother Nik’s ruthless nature than his own. Rik was the serious, caring, sensitive one of the family, not some arrogant monster who heaped vengeance on anyone who got in the way of what he wanted.

At least, that was what he had believed of himself until earlier tonight…

He gritted his teeth and turned to Sapphie. ‘I owe you an apology—’

‘I believe we’ve already had this conversation, Rik,’ Sapphie dismissed. ‘I think we agreed that you don’t owe me anything!’ she added bleakly.

There it was again, he recognised frowningly, that something in her voice that he couldn’t quite put a name to…

‘I do owe you an apology,’ he insisted firmly, his hands clenched into fists inside his trouser pockets. ‘I don’t—I have never in my life before behaved towards any woman in the way that I did to you earlier tonight.’

Sapphie shrugged her slender shoulders. ‘I’m sure that at the time you believed you had due provocation.’

‘Whether I did or not is totally…’ Rik broke off frustratedly, breathing hard, realising that even his apology was coming out all wrong.

What was it about this woman that made him behave so uncharacteristically? He really had no idea—and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know, either!

He sighed his impatience. ‘Sapphie, will you, for goodness’ sake, just let me apologise?’

She gave him a cool glance. ‘If it makes you feel better.’

‘It isn’t a question of making me feel better…!’ But wasn’t it? Wasn’t he just trying to salvage his own conscience, rather than anything else? After all, his anger was no less now than it had been earlier; he had just been unnerved by his reaction. He hadn’t even known he was capable of behaving in that coldly ruthless way. ‘What sort of name is Sapphie, anyway?’ he challenged in order to give himself time to think.

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