Taggart’s Woman
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

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

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

AS PARTIES went, this was a good one. But then, all the parties at the Danvers’ house were sure to be good, the social successes of the year more than one guest had been heard to praise during the evening.

Heather kept a watchful eye on the enjoyment of all her guests, while dividing her time between the groups gathered around talking, making sure that no one was left out, that everyone was either dancing, talking, eating, or flirting, as she was. No one came to a Danvers’ party and claimed to be bored. Except, perhaps, for one man.

Her violet gaze flickered to him in annoyance. He was standing slightly apart from everyone else, looking as though he had dressed for a party in the black evening suit and snowy white shirt, even holding a partially drunk glass of champagne in his hand. And yet Heather didn’t need to be any closer to him than the length of the room to know he was looking down his contemptuous nose at both her and her guests!

Her father had always insisted on inviting his business partner to every social function they held, not because he liked the other man, but because he enjoyed seeing how uncomfortable Daniel Taggart was among people who merely tolerated him because of his wealth, rather than liked the man himself. Heather had invited Daniel for quite a different reason.

Why couldn’t he at least try to look as if he were enjoying himself—even if he wasn’t? She was no happier with this situation than he was, but at least everyone thought she was!

She stopped to chat with several people on her way over to Daniel’s side, seeming as if she were ecstatically happy, all the time getting closer and closer to him, watching as he threw the remains of his champagne to the back of his throat before reaching for another glass from one of the circulating waiters. In the two years Heather had known him she had never seen Daniel drunk, but there was a first time for everything!

At last she reached his side, the warm smile curving her lips not reaching the coldness of her eyes. ‘Could you stop swilling vintage champagne back as if it were water?’ she hissed vehemently.

‘Or beer, Miss Danvers?’ he taunted, taking another large swallow of the bubbly wine.

Her cheeks became flushed, her eyes flashing warningly. ‘The only snob standing here, Mr Taggart, is you,’ she snapped.

‘Oh, really?’ Grey eyes were narrowed angrily. ‘Then maybe I should leave——’

‘Don’t you dare!’ she warned furiously. ‘It may have escaped your notice, but you are supposed to be co-host of this party.’

‘This isn’t a party,’ he scorned, slamming his glass down angrily on the table. ‘It’s one last parting joke from Max to me!’

‘And me,’ she rasped bitterly.

Daniel’s gaze raked over her scathingly. ‘Heather Danvers, the socialite daughter of Max Danvers, marrying the self-made millionaire Daniel Taggart, for whom the rough edges haven’t even begun to be smoothed—how will you stand it, my dear!’ he derided with contempt.

The colour came and then went again in her cheeks, her eyes hugely purple. She knew the figure she presented tonight, the black gown clinging alluringly to her slender curves, her bare arms and shoulders deeply tanned, her hair a swathe of midnight-black waves falling to just below her shoulders, her make-up perfect; everything about her was as elegantly beautiful as the daughter of Maximilian Danvers should be.

She had dressed this way for the party that celebrated her engagement and forthcoming marriage to the man at her side who looked at her so disdainfully!

One last parting joke from her father, Daniel had said. Only there was nothing in the least funny about the two of them being forced to marry to maintain complete control over the airline her father had built up over the last twenty years, and in which Daniel Taggart had become a partner two years ago.

The illness that had been eating away at her father’s body for a year before his death six months ago had embittered him more than any of them had realised, the reading of his will revealing that Heather could only inherit her share of the company if she married Daniel Taggart, and that, should they fail to marry within one year after his death, his shares were to be sold on the open market to the highest bidder, except, he stipulated, to Daniel Taggart himself. He had also neatly taken care of Heather choosing the money over marriage to Daniel Taggart, by stating that any money made by the sale of the shares was to be given to numerous charities.

Heather felt as though he had physically slapped her from the grave as she sat in on the will-reading, knowing why he punished her, denying her the one thing he knew she wanted. Her father had hated her and had never lost an opportunity, within the privacy of their home, to let her know how he felt about her. Even in death he wasn’t going to let her forget that.

He had hated Daniel Taggart too, for coming along with the money he needed when the airline began to falter, had reluctantly made the other man his partner rather than lose his company completely. Now he was forcing Daniel to accept Heather as his wife or risk losing the control over the company that now meant so much to him. Daniel knew that if it came to selling the shares he could lose everything he had worked for since he had made the company a profitable one again. Her father had even hated him for that. Daniel Taggart was a man who had clawed his way up from his poor beginning to the point where he had the millions her father needed to keep his company running, and, according to Max—although Heather was inclined to mistrust the opinion because of his bitterness!—Daniel hadn’t always done it honestly.

Her father had treated the other man with grudging respect, never losing an opportunity to belittle him or make things uncomfortable for him. A final joke, Daniel called this last vindictiveness, only her father’s idea of a joke was to hurt someone, and this time he had hit out at the two people he most seemed to despise.

She had been nineteen when she had first met Daniel, and had found him attractive in an austere sort of way. But he had lost no time in letting her know that, at thirteen years his junior, he considered her too immature to even notice. Now, two years later, he was being forced to notice her, to take her as his wife. And his contempt was obvious.

‘I’ll cope,’ she rasped. ‘Will you?’

Grey eyes raked over her critically, and Heather’s breath caught in her throat at the beauty of those eyes; gun-metal grey ringed by black. Daniel was a man who possessed presence rather than surface handsomeness, his face harshly powerful, thick hair as black as her own styled to his ears and collar, dark brows jutting out over those beautiful eyes, his nose long and straight, his mouth a sculptured slash above a strongly square jaw. Tall and powerful, he had all the rugged grace of an athlete. And, as he claimed so derisively, none of the rough edges of his childhood had been smoothed, neither by his wealth nor his success.

He and her father had been as different as any two men could be, her father a product of the charmingly false society he had lived in all his life, Daniel bluntly honest to the point of rudeness. Of the two she preferred the latter, having been on the receiving end of her father’s charmingly laced barbs too often not to appreciate open hostility when she encountered it.

‘With you as my wife?’ Daniel derided scornfully. ‘No doubt I’ll survive.’

Her gaze didn’t falter as she met his challenge. Survive, would he? She wasn’t sure she would! For years she had been searching for the man whom she could love and one day proudly call husband, and now it seemed she was to have this cold stranger as that very important person in her life. She wasn’t naïve, she knew that not all marriages took place because the couple were in love; she had just never imagined hers would be a marriage of convenience.

‘Will you?’ she taunted. ‘Then maybe you could start acting a little as if it isn’t a prison sentence!’

‘Oh, I realise that,’ he bit out. ‘I can’t get any time off for good behaviour!’

He might not think his barbs hurt her, the cool sophisticate, but they did! ‘I doubt that you’ll be good,’ she retorted hardily. ‘I doubt either of us will,’ she hissed with scorn.

His eyes narrowed. ‘If you think that I’m going to meekly stand by while you flaunt an affair with Wingate, or someone like him——’

‘I have no intention of having an affair with Phillip or any other man once we’re married,’ she snapped, her year-long friendship with Phillip over from the moment she had agreed to become Daniel’s wife. She had no doubt that, once she was married to him, Daniel would be quite enough for any woman to cope with in her life! ‘Can you say the same?’

His mouth twisted. ‘Don’t you think these little problems should have been sorted out before you agreed to marry me and threw this party to tell all your friends? After all, I’m due to make the announcement soon.’

‘Your neat avoidance of an answer tells me that you have every intention of continuing to see—Sandra, isn’t her name?’ she said, coldly dismissive.

His expression darkened. ‘I didn’t avoid giving you an answer. And her name is Cassandra,’ he corrected drily, seeming to know that Heather had been fully aware of his mistress’s name. ‘Are you going to be a wife to me?’

Heather swallowed hard at the bluntness of the question. ‘We’re to be married in a month——’

‘I’m not talking about wearing my ring and calling yourself Mrs Taggart,’ he drawled. ‘I’m talking about being my woman, sharing my bed, giving that delectable body to me——’

‘As you said, I think we should have discussed this at some other time.’ She was rigid with embarrassment.

‘Too crude for you?’ Daniel arched dark brows. ‘Perhaps I should have asked if we’re going to fully cohabit?’

Sleep with this man, make love with him? It sounded a little like hell—and heaven! ‘Maybe we shouldn’t make the announcement until we’re both a little more sure of what we want from this relationship——’

‘Don’t be a fool, Heather,’ his voice was harsh. ‘We want to keep control of Air International, that’s what we want from this relationship!’

‘And—er—the other?’ She moistened the dryness of her lips.

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘We can sort that out some other time.’ He glanced at his watch, his hands long and powerful. ‘The witching-hour is upon us,’ he drawled drily.

He hated the thought of this marriage, and she couldn’t blame him, hating it herself; but what choice did either of them have?

She stood back and watched him as he moved away from this position for the first time during the evening, silencing the small band that played at the other end of the room, taking over the microphone as all the guests gave him their full attention.

Her palms felt damp, her legs shaky, a sense of panic making her want to run, and keep on running. And then Daniel began to speak, and a sudden feeling of calm assailed her, completely in control again.

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ his voice was warm and smooth, infused with a friendliness Heather knew he was far from feeling towards the people who had mainly been friends of her father’s, ‘my fiancée, Heather Danvers.’ He held out his hand for her to join him as everyone began to clap, almost everybody in the room having already known of the reason for the party. And those that didn’t hid their surprise behind a polite show of enthusiasm.

Heather didn’t doubt she and Daniel would provide after-dinner conversation for weeks to come. The full contents of her father’s will had been kept within the privacy of the family circle and most of the people here assumed this to be a love-match. Unlikely as that might seem between the two of them, Heather preferred that to everyone thinking they were marrying for purely mercenary reasons!

She reached Daniel’s side in a flurry of congratulations, her hand taken firmly in his as family and friends gathered around to ply them both with questions. When was the wedding? Where were they going on their honeymoon? Where were they going to live after the wedding?

She glanced at Daniel at the last. It was another one of those questions they had never got around to asking each other. There had been so much else to do over the last six months, and then this party to arrange when they decided the only thing they could do was marry, that the details just hadn’t been worked out. She realised now that perhaps they should have been.

Where would they live once they were married? This house had been left as another part of her inheritance, had been her home all her life, but Daniel never seemed to be comfortable when he was here, and she couldn’t see him wanting to set up home here for any reason. If the truth were known, she would rather sell the place, too, and make a fresh start away from all the memories.

‘Details, details,’ her uncle Lionel dismissed laughingly. ‘I propose we drink a toast to the happy couple.’

Heather gave him a grateful smile. Her father’s younger brother, he had never shown her anything but kindness, and she didn’t know what she would have done without him during the last six months. He had been her father’s assistant from the time Max first began the airline, had been happy to continue helping Daniel in the same way, and had also helped Heather with all the arrangements after her father’s death. In fact, over the years, she had felt closer to Uncle Lionel than to the man she called Father!

‘Heather and Daniel!’ He beamed at them both once everyone had a glass of champagne in their hand.

Heather smiled awkwardly as the toast was drunk in their honour, pointedly keeping her face averted from the brief glimpse she had had of Daniel’s sardonic expression. But she had to agree with the thought she knew was going through his mind; anyone who could believe the two of them were marrying because they loved each other was either blind or a complete romantic. And she doubted many of the people here tonight were the latter, although their complete self-interest often made them the former!

She received a jolt as she looked sceptically at their guests and found Phillip glowering at the two of them. He looked as if he hated her at that moment!

She couldn’t exactly blame him for being angry with her, they had been seeing each other on a regular basis for almost a year, and then a month ago she had had to tell him of her decision to marry Daniel. One of Air International’s youngest executives, Phillip hadn’t taken the news well, had accused her of marrying the man with the most money. Perhaps in the circumstances his bitterness had been understandable, but she had genuinely liked him, wouldn’t have continued to see him exclusively for that length of time if she hadn’t, and it had hurt her to give up his friendship.

Several other guests were looking at him speculatively too, and, with a mocking inclination of his golden head in her direction, he threw the champagne to the back of his throat before slamming the glass down and walking out.

Her eyes widened as she looked about her awkwardly to see who else had witnessed his abrupt departure.

Grey eyes met hers mockingly, and Daniel bent his head as if to nuzzle against her throat. ‘Maybe you should have told your lover about your father’s will,’ he mocked. ‘He seems a trifle put out!’

She stiffened in his arms, turning slightly as if to kiss the powerful line of his jaw. ‘I suppose Cassandra is quite happy to continue to be your mistress even when you have a wife?’ she taunted.

He straightened, his mouth taut, his eyes glittering dangerously. ‘You——’

‘Speech, Daniel,’ her uncle demanded cheerfully. Lionel was tall and loose-limbed, with hair almost as black as Heather’s, although his was liberally sprinkled with grey in his fifty-fifth year.

‘Yes, Daniel,’ drawled Stella, Lionel’s wife of the last five years, twenty years her husband’s junior, beautifully exotic in the clinging red gown that made her hair appear like spun gold. ‘Do tell us all how you and Heather fell in love.’

Heather felt her cheeks burn under her aunt’s derision. Not that she was allowed to call the other woman Aunt, Stella insisting she was far too young for the title. And Stella knew damn well that she and Daniel hadn’t ‘fallen in love’; as a member of the family she was well aware of the contents of her father’s will.

Daniel looked at the older woman mockingly.

‘The same way most couples fall in love,’ he said drily.

‘But it was so sudden,’ Stella taunted, her blue eyes maliciously bright.

He gave an inclination of his head. ‘As sudden as your own marriage to Lionel five years ago!’

Stella’s face flushed at the challenge: before becoming Lionel’s wife she had been his secretary for several months. Heather had always thought the other woman’s motives slightly mercenary, but Daniel’s challenge was as close as anyone had ever come to saying so outright. And Stella obviously didn’t like to be reminded of her more humble beginnings, having firmly established herself in this society over the last five years.

She put her arm through the crook of her husband’s, smiling up at him brightly. ‘Love can be rather sneaky in its unexpectedness, can’t it?’ she purred.

Heather shot Daniel a relieved smile as she realised he had won that battle. Stella was hardly in a position to ‘throw stones’! ‘Daniel?’ she prompted huskily, their guests still waiting expectantly.

He nodded abruptly, turning back to their guests. ‘Heather has kindly consented to be my wife,’ he told them evenly. ‘The wedding will be next month, and——’

‘Next month?’ one of the female guests exclaimed incredulously.

Daniel arched questioning brows at the blushing woman. ‘Is there some problem with that?’

‘Er—no, of course not.’ Heather recognised the woman as a friend of Stella’s. ‘I just—it isn’t long,’ she excused lamely.

‘No,’ he acknowledged drily. ‘But you’re all welcome to come to another party here in three months’ time, and I’m sure you will find Heather as slender then as she is now!’

Heather’s uncle gave an uncomfortable cough. ‘I’m sure Rita didn’t mean——’

‘It’s all right, Lionel,’ Daniel sighed. ‘The truth of the matter is, what man in his right mind would want to wait any length of time to make Heather his bride?’ Several of the male guests gave an appreciative murmur, and Daniel gave them an acknowledging smile of his good luck in being the man to make Heather his bride. ‘As I was saying,’ he began again pointedly, ‘Heather and I will be married next month, and I’m sure you—and several hundred others!—will all be invited. For the moment, I suggest we all continue to enjoy the party!’

As if on signal the band began to play a slow love song, and everyone moved back expectantly, leaving Heather and Daniel at the centre of attention.

She turned to him with frantic eyes. ‘They’re expecting us to dance!’

‘I’m not completely stupid,’ he rasped, taking her in his arms to move expertly around the room in time to the music. ‘And I do know how to dance!’

She knew that, had watched him with other women. Strange, but in all the time she had known him, all the parties he had come to here, she had never danced with him before tonight. For such a big man he moved with a natural grace, in complete command as he guided their movements, his steps smooth and sure.

‘I didn’t mean——’

‘Just dance, Heather,’ he snapped. ‘And let’s get this over with!’

It was ‘over with’ soon enough, Daniel not speaking to her again as their bodies occasionally touched, releasing her as the music came to an end to ask Stella to dance, leaving her with her uncle. She absently took the glass of wine her uncle handed her, watching the other couple as they moved fluidly together. They were of a similar height, Stella several inches taller than her own five foot five inches, and with the three-inch heels on her sandals Stella’s body matched Daniel’s perfectly, a fact she seemed to take note of as she danced much too closely to Daniel in Heather’s opinion.

On the few occasions Heather had seen them together Daniel hadn’t seemed overly fond of Stella, and yet surely the couple were speaking together more warmly, and dancing together more closely, than their relationship required?

She glanced at her uncle, receiving an affectionate smile in return before he turned to watch his wife admiringly. Oh well, if he didn’t mind she was sure she shouldn’t either. But somehow it didn’t seem quite right to see her aunt dancing so intimately with the man she intended to marry, even if it wasn’t a love-match.

She turned her back on the dancing couple. ‘I hope that you will give me away, Uncle Lionel,’ she invited warmly.

‘Not because I want to,’ he agreed reluctantly, ‘even though Daniel is a fine young man.’ His eyes twinkled blue-grey. ‘I’d rather you had moved in with Stella and me and become the daughter we never had. But,’ he sighed, ‘I’m sure you and Daniel are doing the right thing.’

Given the choice between moving in with her uncle and Stella, or becoming Daniel’s wife, she had no doubt she was making the right choice! She and Stella would have been at each other’s throats in a day!

‘Let’s hope so,’ she dismissed lightly, absently noting that Daniel was dancing with one of her friends now.

‘I think the conditions in Max’s will were completely unfair, but——’

‘When did he ever behave any other way?’ she finished bitterly. ‘He never forgave me for not being the boy he’d wanted!’

Her uncle sighed, his smile regretful. ‘Max could be an unreasonable man——’

‘You know he could be worse than that.’ Her eyes were hard with the memories.

Her uncle frowned. ‘In his own way he did care for you, Heather.’

‘Then why has he arranged to marry me to a man he despised?’ she scorned.

‘He didn’t despise Daniel,’ Uncle Lionel sighed. ‘He resented him——’

‘Because he came along at the right time with the money he needed!’ Her eyes were bright. ‘If I could have proved he was insane when he made that will, Uncle Lionel, then I would have done so, I would have publicly contested it.’

‘Daniel, too,’ he nodded with a sigh. ‘But it was impossible.’

Her father had made certain of that, had made sure every loophole was covered at the time he made his outrageous will. For six months, she and Daniel had consulted their lawyers trying to find a way out of it, and in the end they had had to admit defeat, to accept that her father had won. How he must be laughing at them both!

Maximilian Danvers hadn’t been a kind or yielding man, hated to be thwarted in any way, and when she had been born instead of the son he had wanted he had received the biggest setback of his life.

Heather grew up knowing he resented her gender, that she was a disappointment to him. She had been sent away to school when she was eight, rarely seeing him after that, even when she came home for the holidays. She hadn’t been able to understand how her mother could have loved and married such a coldly self-centred man, let alone had a child by him. But as she got older, and her mother told her the truth, she had respected the fact that at the time her mother had believed she was doing the right thing for everyone.

Pregnant, the father of her child already married and not interested in her pregnancy, her mother had been working for Max Danvers’ newly established airline at the time and hadn’t known who to turn to for help when she realised she was to have a child. The airline had been small then, with the owner playing quite a large part in the running of it, and Joyce had broken down one day and told Max Danvers of her predicament, her complete desolation. After that, he had begun to take her out, to offer her comfort when she felt so frightened of what the future held for her, until finally he had offered her and her child a home and his name. It had seemed like a miracle to her mother, believing that Max Danvers had come to love her as she had him, and she had gratefully accepted his proposal, determined to be as good a wife to him as she possibly could.

It was only after the birth of her child that Joyce had realised what had been expected of her; a daughter was not what Max Danvers wanted at all. It had been then that he had told his wife of his sterility, of the son he had wanted to continue his name, to one day inherit the empire he intended building, and that he had only married her because she was already pregnant!

But, unless he divorced Joyce and found another pregnant woman to become his wife, a daughter was what he had got, and in the end he had decided that even that was better than no child at all, everyone believing Joyce had been pregnant with his child when they were married. Only Uncle Lionel and her parents had known the truth, and it had remained that way until Heather’s mother told her about her real father.

She had understood Max’s resentment towards her then, his disappointment in her, and she had learnt to live with the fact that he practically ignored her existence most of the time, his barbs only becoming painfully obvious after the death of her mother six years ago, and then only in the privacy of their home where people wouldn’t learn that he wasn’t her father at all.

Maybe if he had been, the pain of what he was doing to her would have been too much to bear, but over the years, she had learnt to armour herself against the hurt he inflicted.

But he had known how she felt about Daniel, had somehow guessed at the love she felt for him, she was sure, and he was giving her the final punishment for not being the son he wanted, making it impossible for Daniel ever to feel anything but contempt or hate for her; contempt because if she agreed to the marriage she was obviously marrying him for the money she would inherit, or hate because if she refused to marry him she forced him to lose control of his airline.

It was a situation she couldn’t possibly win, and her father had known that!

CHAPTER TWO

HEATHER had often wished she could return the hate her father seemed to have for her, but she had grown up believing he was her father, and it was very difficult for a child to hate its parents, no matter how cruel they were. Even when her mother had told her the truth she had pitied him rather than hated him, had tried, despite his indifference, to be the sort of daughter he could be proud of. After her mother died she had known he needed her more than ever, although his bitterness was deeper than ever; too.

She had liked Daniel from the day her father first brought him home to dinner, but as it soon become apparent that her father disliked the younger man, she knew that if her father ever learnt of her feelings for his business partner it would be yet another black mark against her and, as Daniel was totally uninterested in her, it had never been necessary. But the day her father’s will—she could never think of him in any other way!—was read, she had realised she couldn’t have kept her secret hidden very well, for he had made sure she never had the one thing she had always wanted—Daniel’s love.

She and Daniel were trapped now, forced to marry each other. She would have gladly given up the inheritance she felt she had no entitlement to anyway, if it wouldn’t have hurt Daniel for her to do so. But she doubted, knowing his opinion of her privileged background, that he would ever believe her motives could be that unmercenary. To convince him she would have to tell him of her love, and pity was the one emotion she refused to accept from him.

‘Well, it’s all settled now,’ she answered her uncle with a bright smile.

‘I always thought you and Phillip——’

‘I wasn’t in love with him, if that’s what you mean,’ she interrupted with a feeling of betrayal towards the other man. It was true that she had made it clear to Phillip that she didn’t care for him in that way, but that hadn’t stopped him professing to care for her.

She would have liked to have spared Phillip the painful humiliation she knew he must be feeling at having to witness her engagement to Daniel, but as all the airline’s executives had been invited, it would have looked worse to have singled him out in that way.

‘I’m glad about that at least,’ her uncle squeezed her arm.

‘Which isn’t to say,’ she drawled drily, ‘that you aren’t going to have a very angry young man working at Air International for a while!’

Her uncle grimaced. ‘Maybe I’ll give some thought to sending him up to the Manchester office for a while.’

‘Sending who up to Manchester?’ Stella joined them, light brows arched mockingly. ‘Surely you aren’t trying to get rid of Daniel already, Heather?’ she taunted maliciously.

Heather shook her head, steadily meeting the other woman’s gaze. ‘We have all the wedding arrangements to sort out yet. Besides, Daniel owns the airline, I doubt he could be sent anywhere!’

Stella shrugged. ‘Then who is being sent into exile?’ she drawled.

‘We were just discussing poor Phillip, my dear,’ her husband put in with a sigh.

‘He left, you know,’ the other woman snapped at Heather. ‘I think you used him shamefully——’

‘Stella——’

‘She’s been leading him around by the nose for almost a year now, Lionel,’ his wife reminded him waspishly. ‘And now, just because that savage——’

‘Stella, that will be enough!’ her husband said with quiet authority. ‘Heather is doing the only thing she can in the circumstances.’

‘I always did think Max was slightly vindictive where she was concerned,’ Stella scorned, completely unperturbed by her husband’s disapproving frown. ‘It’s the only reason I can think of for wishing a man like that on his only daughter!’

The first part was true and undeniable, but ‘a man like that’ rankled; Stella had no reason to malign Daniel in that way. ‘He’s a good man——’

‘He’s uncouth!’ the other woman dismissed disparagingly. ‘That remark he made about your not being being pregnant, for instance——’

‘And wasn’t that what Rita was thinking?’ Heather’s eyes were deep purple. ‘Wasn’t that what almost all the people here had assumed?’ she scorned.

‘I think you’re being a little unfair to some of them,’ her uncle chided.

‘Well, I don’t,’ she snapped. ‘And all because we’ve decided to marry soon!’

‘With undue haste,’ Stella corrected pointedly. ‘I can’t see what all the rush is about personally, you have another six months before Max’s deadline is up.’

‘Daniel and I discussed waiting,’ Heather bit out tautly. ‘And we decided that for the good of the airline——’ She broke off as Stella gave a disbelieving snort. ‘—For the stability of the airline,’ she added firmly, ‘it would be better if we ended the uncertainty of ownership as soon as possible.’

Blue eyes raked over her scathingly. ‘You can’t wait to crawl into his bed, can you?’

Heather paled at the viciousnesss of the taunt, all the more hurtful because it was the truth. When Daniel had asked her earlier if she were willing to share his bed, to give herself to him, she had known a thrill of anticipation like never before. She could imagine nothing more wonderful than being his woman. But it was his wife she was destined to be, a wife he was forced to accept, and not his woman at all.

Her eyes flashed as she glared at her aunt. ‘I think our sleeping arrangement once we’re married will be no one’s concern but our own——’

‘Or before we’re married,’ drawled Daniel as he suddenly appeared at her side, his arm moving possessively about her waist, his flinty gaze fixed on Stella’s flushed face. ‘Don’t you know better than to taunt children? he jeered softly.

Stella relaxed a little, glancing dismissively at Heather. ‘That child will be your wife in a month’s time!’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘As Heather has already said, we don’t believe that is any of your business.’

Stella gave him a taunting smile. ‘I suppose you should be admired, really,’ she mocked.

‘You——’

‘Heather, I’ve performed all the duty dances that I’m going to,’ he firmly cut in on her angry outburst, letting the other woman know that was all he considered his dance with her to be. ‘When are we going to throw this lot out so that we can be alone?’

Lionel chuckled softly, obviously relieved to have someone step in and prevent the two women from indulging in a full-scale battle. ‘I think that’s a hint for us to make the first move to leave,’ he told his wife indulgently.

‘I can’t imagine why the two of you would want to be alone,’ Stella remarked, determined to be the one to have the last word.

Daniel looked at her with flinty eyes, before turning pointedly to Heather’s alluring curves outlined in the clinging black dress, and then back again to the more obviously displayed charms of the older woman in the low-cut red dress. ‘Can’t you?’ he taunted softly. ‘I’m sure all the men in this room could give you numerous reasons!’

Strange as it felt, Heather was grateful for Daniel’s defence of her, especially when Stella flounced off in search of her wrap, her chuckling husband following once he had kissed Heather warmly on the cheek and shaken Daniel by the hand. It was the first time that any man, with the exception of Uncle Lionel, had defended her in that way, and it felt a little strange to feel gratitude to a man who obviously held her in contempt.

Daniel shook his head as he watched the other couple leave, the expression on Stella’s face boding ill for the older man once they were safely outside. ‘I don’t know how Lionel puts up with the shrew,’ he muttered drily. ‘If you turn into a witch like that I’ll put you over my knee and spank you,’ he warned harshly.

She stiffened, moving away from his arm about her waist. ‘I’m grateful for your intervention just now,’ she bit out abruptly. ‘But I believe there are several things we need to discuss before we can be married.’

‘Why do you think I want “rent-a-crowd” to leave?’ he rasped. ‘I want this thing settled, and I want it settled tonight!’

‘Are you sure you can spare the time?’ Her eyes flushed the colour of the flower she had been named for.

‘Just,’ he snapped grimly.

Her cheeks were flushed with anger at his arrogance, but she forced herself to relax as their guests took note of Lionel and Stella’s departure, and came over to congratulate them one last time as they began to take their leave.

An hour later her cheeks ached from smiling so much, although she knew Daniel couldn’t be suffering from the same affliction, his goodbyes terse to say the least. But finally the last guests had taken their leave, and they were now free to leave the staff to clear up the debris of the party while they retired to the small sitting-room where coffee was waiting for them.

Heather handed Daniel a cup of the black, unsweetened coffee she knew he preferred, watching as he curled a hand around the cup to take a sip, completely ignoring the delicate handle. Considering how hot the coffee had been when she poured it out, she was surprised he hadn’t burnt his mouth. Although from his grim expression, he wouldn’t have noticed even if he had!

He stood across the room from her, his restlessness something to be sensed, as he stood completely unmoving. ‘Well?’ he suddenly rasped.

Her hand shook slightly, spilling some of her coffee into the saucer. She didn’t pretend to misunderstand what he meant. ‘Well, fortunately, although my father took care of the idea of divorce—’ the shares were to be sold and the money distributed to the various charities, exactly as it would have been if she didn’t marry Daniel! ‘—he didn’t say anything about us having to have a normal marriage——’

‘In other words, you would prefer to leave things as they are?’ he said drily.

‘No, I wouldn’t!’ She swallowed hard at the speculative raise of his eyebrows. ‘I don’t like—like a Cassandra in your life.’ She looked away after having made the admission.

‘A mistress, you mean?’ he drawled.

‘Is that really what she is?’ Heather frowned. ‘Not a lover, or—or girl-friend?’

‘I go to her for only one reason,’ he shrugged. ‘So, what do you think?’

The other woman was his mistress! ‘Everyone must know that, and—and——’

‘And you couldn’t stand the humiliation of people thinking you can’t satisfy me in bed,’ he said mockingly. ‘Can you satisfy me in bed?’

How did she know; she had never tried to satisfy a man anywhere! But Daniel seemed to think Phillip had been the most recent in a long line of lovers for her, and she wasn’t about to tell him that after the mess her mother had made of her life, pregnant by one man but marrying another, she wasn’t about to take any risk of getting pregnant without a husband herself. Since meeting Daniel she had been glad she hadn’t fallen into the bed-hopping trap many of her friends had just because it was expected of them, for she knew that he was the only man she had ever wanted in that way.

She looked at him challengingly. ‘Can you satisfy me in bed?’

His mouth twisted in the semblance of a smile. ‘Would you like to find out?’

Her mouth suddenly went dry at the instant way he had accepted her challenge. ‘I——’

‘Maybe we should find out,’ he suggested slowly, putting down his empty cup to advance on her as she pressed back against the sofa. ‘After all—’ he took the cup from her unresisting fingers ‘—we should know what we’ll be getting from this marriage,’ he added harshly.

The pressure of his body on hers forced her back on to the sofa, and her mouth was open in protest as his lips descended on hers.

She was lost from the first touch, groaning softly as his mouth moved over and against hers in insistent demand, her arms moving up about his neck as her fingers became entangled in the thickness of his hair, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers.

She had dreamt about his kisses, longed for them, even as she told herself they would never be hers. But they could all be hers, if only she could please him now!

She arched into his hand as he cupped her breast through the thin material of her dress, his body feeling warm and inviting as her arms moved beneath his jacket for closer contact, their kisses becoming wild as she felt the urgency of his response, glorying in his hardness, knowing she could satisfy him.

Her hair became a silken curtain over her face as she turned her head, Daniel’s mouth moving down her throat, his deft fingers sliding the zip down her back to pull her dress off one shoulder, baring a breast for his hungry mouth. As he suckled and pulled and nibbled it felt like a thousand tiny needles of pleasure melting her body to pliancy, his hand moving up her thigh beneath her dress now, moving higher and higher…!

She gasped at the warm rush between her thighs, pushing against him, groaning her frustration as his hand was suddenly removed, her breast a swollen ache as his mouth left her, too. She blinked up at him dazedly as he stood up, straightening his shirt and jacket.

She swallowed hard, feeling bereft, her body still aching for him. ‘Why did you stop?’ Her voice was husky with longing.

‘I didn’t think a sofa, in the middle of a house crowded with servants, was the right place to finish this,’ he drawled dismissively.

‘But I—we——’

‘You,’ he corrected hardily. ‘I believe we just answered your question.’

The colour drained from her cheeks. ‘But I thought you—too——’

Daniel looked down at her with mocking grey eyes. ‘We’ve just proved that I can satisfy you,’ he told her drily. ‘The fact that I became aroused by your response is not the same thing.’

It wasn’t? But——Heather pulled her dress back into place as she realised her breast was still bared to him, the nipple pouting hungrily for the touch of his lips. ‘You didn’t exactly seem to hate it,’ she snapped in her humiliation, sitting up, surprised to see that the minute hand on her watch showed that only ten minutes had elapsed since she had gone into his arms; in that ten minutes her whole life had changed.

‘I think we know enough now to give this marriage a try,’ he continued abruptly. ‘What do you think?’

It was as if their lovemaking had just been an experiment, coldly thought out, coldly executed. And maybe to Daniel it had been, but she could never think of her fiery response to him in the same unemotional way. ‘No more Cassandras?’ she prompted softly.

His expression was mocking. ‘Not initially, anyway,’ he agreed. ‘We’ll give it a couple of months to see how we get on together before making promises neither of us can keep. After all, just now didn’t really prove that much.’

Only that she forgot everything but him as soon as he touched her! She would make it the same way for him.

‘All right,’ she nodded. ‘We’ll—we’ll be lovers for two months after we’re married and see what happens.’

‘Oh, I think we both know what will happen, Heather,’ he taunted crudely. ‘It’s just a question of one of us becoming bored with it happening!’

She moistened her lips with the pink tip of her tongue. ‘Does that happen—to you, often?’

‘All the time,’ he answered uninterestedly, glancing at his watch. ‘Why else do you think I’ve never married?’

She shrugged. ‘Because you’ve never fallen in love.’

Daniel gave a disbelieving snort. ‘Surely you realise that love is the last thing to come along in a relationship, that desire and wanting come first, and that more often than not once they have been satisfied love never rears its ugly head!’

‘Ugly?’ She swallowed at his description of the emotion that had caused her more pain than any other, but which she acknowledged had also enriched her life.

His eyes narrowed. ‘It devours and dominates, makes you half a person. It’s an emotion few can afford!’

She knew he was telling her that this was the reason for his success, that he had pushed love from his life to achieve the wealth and prestige he had wanted, and that he intended keeping it from his life. She felt a sinking feeling in her heart.

‘And certainly not me,’ he harshly confirmed her thoughts. ‘We’re being forced into this marriage by your father’s will,’ he told her with brutal honesty. ‘Don’t get any romantic ideas about me; they would be a complete waste of time!’

‘Have many women dared to have “romantic ideas” about you?’ she scorned to hide the pain his words caused, knowing that few women could feel romantic about this hardened man. She just happened to be one of the ones who did!

‘I’m more accustomed to mercenary ones,’ he conceded gratingly. ‘I can live with them.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘Your motives are no more innocent than mine!’ she snapped.

‘Then we start out as equals,’ he drawled mockingly, again glancing at his watch. ‘I think you were also concerned earlier about where we’re going to live after the wedding?’ He raised dark brows.

She should have known this sharp-eyed man wouldn’t have missed her questioning glance in his direction when they were asked that. ‘Where are we going to live?’

Daniel drew in a ragged breath. ‘I have no intention of moving in here,’ he told her challengingly.

Heather gave a nod of calm acceptance. ‘Then we’ll sell this house and find somewhere we both like——’

‘You aren’t going to argue about it?’ He eyed her warily.

Her mouth quirked at his suspicious expression. ‘Why should I?’

‘Because you’ve lived in this house all your life.’ He still watched her frowningly.

‘Then it’s time for a change,’ she shrugged. ‘I would like to take some of the staff with me, if that’s all right with you?’ She looked up at him enquiringly. ‘The ones that have been with us the longest,’ she explained. ‘We wouldn’t need all of them, because I think a smaller house would suit our needs better than this one. If you agree, of course?’

Daniel still watched her warily, as if she had suddenly become someone he didn’t recognise. ‘If I agree?’ he echoed drily.

‘Well, it’s going to be our house, and——’

‘You’ll be spending the most time in it,’ he cut in harshly. ‘Buy as big a house as you want—or don’t want. As long as I don’t have to live here I don’t care!’ His eyes glittered coldly.

Heather blinked at his vehemence. ‘Couldn’t we choose somewhere together?’

‘I told you, I won’t be there that much—and not for the reason you’re thinking,’ he grated at her frown. ‘I don’t say things I don’t mean, Heather, and if I’ve said I’ll be faithful to you for at least the first two months of our marriage then I damn well will! I won’t be at home much to start with because after the last damaging six months of uncertainty I’m going to have to work damned hard to rebuild the airline’s reputation as a stable one!’

‘I’m sorry,’ she gave a guilty blush. ‘I only——Couldn’t I perhaps find two or three places I think might be suitable and then just show you them quickly one day? I promise not to take up too much of your time,’ she added persuasively.

He looked irritated. ‘Don’t try and make me feel guilty because I have to try and correct the damage your father did to——’

‘I wasn’t,’ she assured him quickly, feeling as if she had to walk on eggshells around this man. ‘Daniel, are you sure you’re going to be able to cope with the tie of a wife?’

‘No, I’m not sure at all.’ His eyes glittered. ‘But neither of us has a choice!’

She could already see how he was chafing at having to explain even the most impersonal of things to her, and wondered what it would be like once they were married.

But he was wrong about the choice; she did have one. It was just one she knew she could never take, not when it meant hurting Daniel so much.

‘Daniel, I’m as upset about my father’s will as you are,’ she began.

‘Oh, I realise that,’ he derided. ‘I’m sure you expected to walk away with a fortune, not a husband as well! I know why Max hated me; I just wonder what you ever did to him!’

She turned away to hide the pain in her clouded eyes. ‘He wanted a son; he got me.’ She flatly told him the half-truth, the wound of Max Danvers’ rejection, although an old one, still raw.

‘And he wanted money but instead he got me,’ Daniel rasped harshly. ‘And now, it seems, we have each other!’

Even now, loving him as she did, she wished there were something she could do to release him from the tie to her that he didn’t want. But there was nothing she could do.

She sighed. ‘I’ll try not to be intrusive on your life in any way.’

‘I never wanted a wife!’ he exclaimed with impatient anger.

‘I promise you——’

‘Don’t make me any promises, Heather,’ he scorned. ‘Women are notorious for breaking them!’

She would like to think, much as it would also pain her, that he had once cared enough for a woman to have been hurt by her; at least then she could have some hope that he was capable of love! But she was sure that wasn’t how he had come to his biased conclusion concerning women, he didn’t seem to care for anyone.

‘Then only time will show you that I mean what I say,’ she sighed. ‘I’ll intrude on your life and time as little as possible.’

‘Except to look at houses, to no doubt help shop for furniture for that house, to dictate that there will be no other women in my life——’

‘You dictated that there shouldn’t be any other men in mine,’ she retorted fierily, her tempestuous nature not completely cowed by her efforts to reassure him. ‘I retain the right to make the same conditions over you.’

‘For two months,’ he reminded her grimly.

An angry blush darkened her cheeks. ‘I’m sure it will pass quickly—for both of us.’

‘I hope so!’

Heather sighed. ‘You aren’t giving this relationship a chance if you’re going to be counting the days until you can go back to your mistress——Why do you keep looking at your watch?’ she demanded impatiently as he glanced at it for the third time in the last ten minutes.

His mouth twisted with cruel mockery. ‘We aren’t married yet!’

‘I only asked——’ She broke off, looking at him closely as his meaning suddenly became crystal clear. ‘Do you have—somewhere else to go tonight?’ she queried haltingly, wishing it not to be true.

‘Yes,’ he rasped with satisfaction.

She swallowed hard, knowing exactly where that ‘somewhere else’ was—to his mistress, Cassandra! But as he had so viciously pointed out, they weren’t married yet, and even if they were, she doubted he would particularly care if he humiliated her; he hated her because he had been trapped into marrying her.

‘Do you have to go to her tonight?’ she frowned.

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Why not?’

‘I——You could always stay here instead.’ Her eyes were wide with apprehension—and anticipation!

‘Thanks for the offer,’ he derided. ‘But in a month’s time I’m not going to have a choice about who I share my bed—and my body with; right now, I do!’

Heather flinched as if he had hit her. She hadn’t made the suggestion lightly, she just hated the thought of him going to the other woman! But she could see by the satisfied gleam in Daniel’s eyes that he was enjoying hurting her, that he had far from forgiven her for her involvement in this enforced marriage. As if she would have wanted him as her husband in this way, given a choice!

‘In that case, I have the same choice,’ she retaliated lightly. ‘And it isn’t too late to give—a friend a call.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed to icy grey slits. ‘Wingate?’ he scorned.

‘Perhaps,’ she said non-committally, standing up. ‘I really shouldn’t keep you any longer…’ she added pointedly.

‘My, you are in a hurry to finish what we started earlier, aren’t you?’ he taunted, following her out into the hallway.

She stood her ground without blushing—much as her cheeks burned! ‘No more so than you appear to be,’ she mocked.

He halted at the front door. ‘If I hadn’t told Cassandra that I would see her tonight…’ He trailed off softly.

‘I wouldn’t want you to disappoint her,’ Heather snapped angrily, holding the door open, all the household staff still busy in the main lounge.

‘No,’ he sighed, one of his hands moving to lightly caress her cheek with his thumb-pad. ‘Perhaps anticipation will be good for the soul,’ he taunted. ‘It seems that the wedding night I thought would be such an ordeal won’t be so bad after all!’

Before Heather could come back with a suit-ably cutting retort he had walked off into the darkness, his chuckle at her speechlessness carrying to her on the night air.

She closed the door with a slam. Damn him, he had almost made her beg for what he now admitted he had anticipated with dread! He——

She turned sharply as the doorbell rang. If he thought he could come back and change his mind now he was sadly mistaken!

‘Phillip!’ she gasped, after furiously wrenching the door open. She had told Daniel she intended calling the other man, but really Phillip was the last person she had expected to see again tonight!

CHAPTER THREE

‘CAN I come in?’ Phillip prompted softly, as Heather continued to stare at him in astonishment.

‘I——Of course,’ she invited abruptly. After the way he had walked out earlier she hadn’t expected to see him again at all, let alone now!

She led the way to the small sitting-room, facing him awkwardly. ‘It’s late,’ she said unnecessarily; they were both aware of the fact that it was one o’clock in the morning. ‘Daniel just left,’ she added uncomfortably, as she saw his gaze linger on the two empty coffee cups.

‘I know.’ His hair was golden in the glow of the overhead chandelier. ‘I saw him leave. In fact, I deliberately waited until he’d gone before ringing the bell.’

She frowned at this disclosure. ‘You did?’

‘Hm,’ Phillip nodded, his expression rueful. ‘I wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier, and I didn’t particularly want to have to do it in front of Taggart.’ His deep blue eyes had hardened a little as he spoke of the other man, his good looks in no doubt, his features almost too perfect for a man, his body lithe and attractive in the dark evening suit.

‘I understood earlier why you felt you had to leave,’ she sighed. ‘All this has been very awkward for you.’

‘Worse than that,’ he groaned. ‘Heather, I love you, and it’s killing me to see you preparing to marry another man!’

They had been close the last year, good friends, occasionally a little more than that, but only a little more; she liked to be kissed and held as much as the next person. But she had never expected a declaration of love from him, it just hadn’t been that sort of a relationship. At least, not as far as she was concerned.

‘I’m sorry, Phillip,’ she sounded breathless, ‘your friendship has meant a lot to me——’

‘Friendship!’ he repeated scornfully. ‘You had to realise I was falling in love with you!’

Had she? They had seen each other a couple of times a week, enjoyed each other’s company, occasionally shared a few pleasant kisses, but did that mean a man was falling in love with her. She hadn’t thought so, had imagined being swept away in a maelstrom of wild emotions—much like she had known in Daniel’s arms such a short time ago!—when she loved, not feel the warmth of friendship.

‘I didn’t, Phillip,’ she told him truthfully. ‘I just thought we liked each other.’

He looked angry. ‘But you can’t be in love with a man like Taggart!’

She stiffened at the condescension he obviously felt for the man who employed him. ‘Why can’t I?’

‘Because you’re soft, and beautiful, totally lovable—and he’s a callous bastard!’ Phillip rasped harshly. ‘He isn’t capable of loving anyone!’

Maybe Phillip was right about the latter, but she didn’t believe Daniel was callous. He was hard, afraid to love in case he got hurt, but he only hit out at others to protect himself, not for the sake of it. She was an expert on callous men, had lived with one for twenty years, and Daniel wasn’t one of them.

‘You’re talking about the man I intend to marry,’ she reminded her coolly.

‘You can’t marry him!’

‘Daniel and I intend being married in four weeks——’

‘Four weeks?’ Phillip echoed incredulously. ‘My God, he isn’t taking any chances on you changing your mind, is he?’ he scorned.

Heather shook her head, her gaze flinty. ‘I won’t change my mind, no matter how many weeks it is until we get married.’

His eyes narrowed disbelievingly. ‘You love him?’