Witchchild
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

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

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

PROLOGUE

LEONIE’S eyes widened on the man seated opposite her. ‘Please don’t feel you have to be in the least polite to me just because I only opened the door to my home and met you for the first time two minutes ago!’ She gave him a wry smile.

His mouth tightened. ‘Very funny, Miss Brandon,’ he snapped. ‘But I intend to make my feelings very clear about having a little gold-digger like you anywhere near my son!’

‘Oh yes, Eagle, I think—–’

‘Hawk,’ he cut in irritably. ‘My name is Hawk, not Eagle,’ he clarified, seeing her mystified expression.

Surely one bird of prey was much like another? She had told Laura that she hoped the name wouldn’t be prophetic, but two minutes into her acquaintance with Hawk Sinclair, after he had verbally attacked her as soon as they reached the lounge, and she knew it was an understatement; Shark might have been more appropriate!

‘Hawk,’ she conceded lightly. Oh dear, they were going to have problems with this man, if his grim expression was anything to go by. ‘I think you’ve expressed your feelings about that very plainly. However—–’

‘How much do you want, Miss Brandon?’

Leonie’s mouth quirked with amazement. ‘You’re actually offering me money?’ She absently tickled the pure white cat as it stroked against her denim-clad leg passing through the room on its way to the kitchen.

He nodded abruptly. ‘In exchange for your leaving Hal alone.’

Green eyes lit up with amusement. ‘No man has ever offered me money to leave him alone before!’

His mouth twisted with disgust. ‘I’m sure plenty have paid you to stay with them!’

‘You’re getting nasty again now,’ she reproved.

‘Miss Brandon—–’

‘Can’t you be a little less formal with the woman you’re insulting?’ she mocked. ‘My name is—–’

‘I know your name, damn it!’ He stood up forcefully, pacing about the comfort of the small lounge.

Even when he was so obviously angry with her this man was fascinating to watch, Leonie decided. He wasn’t handsome, not in the way Hal was, more a power to be reckoned with, his movements all made with a leashed energy that drew attention to him even when he was standing still. And he had the most wonderful hair, gloriously thick and straight. It was a pity about his eyes; their cold greyness stopped him just short of being perfect, far from friendly as they looked at her. Oh well, maybe he thought he had good reason.

‘Are you going to leave Hal alone or not?’ he grated in a voice of rough velvet, his Texas accent, if he had ever had one, completely erased from the years of living away from his native State.

‘Not. You see—–’

He glared at her. ‘I believe you should know right now that I never take no for an answer.’

Leonie was sure that was no idle threat, his business reputation having preceded him, at least. The Sinclair hotels were known worldwide for their exclusive luxury, and this man maintained complete control of them from his home in Manhattan, Hal had informed them ruefully. The occasional surprise visits his father paid to the individual hotels had been enough to put the fear of God into the staff until the next time he arrived unexpectedly. Having received one of those visits herself Leonie was beginning to understand the feeling.

‘Hal still has a long way to go to learn the hotel business,’ he rasped. ‘And he’s far too young to be thinking of marrying anyone—–’

‘Ah!’ she pounced with satisfaction, absently stroking the long-haired tortoiseshell cat as it stood up in the chair it occupied, stretching before settling down to sleep again.

Dark brows rose over frankly impatient eyes. ‘Ah?’ Hawk Sinclair repeated, dangerously soft, his hands thrust into the pockets of his denims as he glowered down at her from his imposing height of well over six feet. To someone who barely scraped over five feet he just looked huge.

It was a pity she couldn’t take notes of this conversation; she was sure she would never be able to convey all the nuances when she related it to Laura later. Those eyebrows, for example, expressed his feelings exactly every time he spoke.

‘How old are you, Hawk?’ she asked interestedly.

‘How old—–?’ He looked ready to explode. ‘What the hell does my age have to do with any of this?’

‘A lot—if you’re still young enough to be approaching your mid-life crisis rather than having already passed it.’ She eyed him guilelessly.

In the next second he did explode, using all the swear words Leonie knew—and quite a lot that she had never heard before!

‘Are you always this damned kooky?’ he finally calmed down enough to ask. ‘Hal needs his head examined—–’

‘Hal knows a good thing when he sees it,’ she corrected chidingly. ‘You haven’t reached forty yet, then,’ she guessed lightly, glancing sideways as Pop, a smoky-grey cat, strolled through the room to join the white cat in the kitchen.

‘Hal’s age is the one that’s relevant here.’ Silver eyes dared her to pursue whatever subject she might be leading up to with her questions. ‘He’s not even twenty yet, and you’re already twenty-four—–’

‘Twenty-five last month,’ she corrected pertly, her eyes widely innocent as he looked at her fiercely for interrupting.

‘Too old—and too experienced—for Hal,’ he rasped.

‘Do you really think so?’ Leonie sat forward on the edge of her seat, looking very youthful with her rich red shoulder-length hair curling loosely about her make-upless face, her green T-shirt moulding the slender delicacy of her childlike body, the tight-fitting denims making her legs look longer than they actually were.

‘Not the way you look right now, no,’ he conceded, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. ‘Did Hal call you and let you know I’d probably be coming to see you today?’

She wished he had! ‘The last time Hal mentioned your whereabouts you were in Nassau.’

‘That was over a week ago!’

Leonie shrugged. ‘To tell you the truth, Hal and I haven’t really spoken a great deal.’

Hawk drew in a harshly angry breath, towering over her threateningly, his hands at his sides now, clenching and unclenching. ‘Do you get some cheap thrill out of telling me you’re too busy sleeping with my son to bother with conversation?’ A nerve pulsed at his jaw.

‘I realise you’re having trouble accepting Hal’s maturity because it makes you feel old, but—–’

‘The only thing I feel when I think of the two of you together is angry!’ he grated.

‘Because knowing your son is involved in an intimate relationship forces you to acknowledge that he’s grown-up—–’

‘When did you qualify as a psychiatrist?’ Hawk Sinclair demanded viciously.

Leonie relaxed back in her chair, lifting her feet up to rest on the cushion beneath her, her arms wrapped about her knees. ‘I didn’t,’ she said without rancour. ‘However, I am an observer of life.’

‘Well, I wish you’d do your observing a thousand miles away from my son!’ He glared at her.

She observed him curiously. ‘Did you know you have the most expressive eyebrows? They define your every mood. They’d make a fascinating characteristic for one of the people in our books—–’

‘If I ever recognise anyone even remotely like myself in one of your books you’ll live to regret it!’ he warned savagely.

Leonie sat forward eagerly, her chin resting on her knees. ‘Have you ever read any of our books?’ she asked.

‘Fourth-rate detective novels aren’t my favourite choice of literature,’ he said with contempt. ‘They obviously aren’t making you a fortune either, otherwise you wouldn’t need to take advantage of Hal’s youthful naïveté in this way.’

‘Hal was never naïve, not even in the cradle,’ she dismissed reprovingly. ‘He’s too much like you.’

‘Thanks—I think,’ drawled Hawk Sinclair dryly.

‘And our books aren’t fourth-rate,’ she defended indignantly. ‘Leonaura Brandon is very popular.’

‘You may well be,’ he dismissed with impatience. ‘Personally I can’t stand books where everyone ends up getting murdered and the butler did it!’

Leonie shook her head. ‘No one ever gets murdered in our books.’

‘Then how the hell can they be murder books?’

‘They aren’t,’ she shrugged. ‘Not every detective investigates murders.’

He gave an irritated sigh. ‘Miss Brandon, I asked you how much you want to get out of—–Why the hell do you keep saying our books?’ He gave a dark scowl at the realisation that his curiosity about her had once again diverted him from his purpose of buying her out of Hal’s life.

‘My sister and I co-author them,’ she explained lightly. ‘Leonie and Laura—Leon-aura,’ she provided.

‘Let’s leave your sister out of this—–’

‘Oh, I don’t think we can do that,’ she told him thoughtfully. ‘You see, I’m Leonie.’

Angry disbelief claimed the hard contours of his face, his eyes were silver slits. ‘You mean you aren’t—you’re not—–’

Leonie realised she was probably witnessing history being made, seriously doubting that Hawk Sinclair had ever before been rendered speechless. ‘I mean you’ve been trying to buy off the wrong sister,’ she confirmed ruefully. ‘Laura is the one who’s been dating Hal, as I’m sure you know.’

‘You—I—–’

‘Why don’t you sit down?’ she offered as angry colour darkened his cheeks. ‘Your blood-pressure—–’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my blood-pressure!’ he finally managed to burst out.

‘Except that it’s rising,’ Leonie told him calmly. ‘You really should learn to relax—–’

‘Relax!’ he repeated harshly. ‘I’ve been trying to reason with a child when I meant to bargain with a mercenary, and you tell me to relax!’

‘Laura and I are twins,’ she chided his reference to her age, bending to stroke Pop as he left the kitchen after eating his lunch.

Hawk became suddenly still and, if anything, more dangerous. ‘You mean there’s another one just like you running around loose somewhere?’

Her mouth quirked. ‘Not quite.’

‘How “not quite"?’ He was eyeing her now as if he thought he might need to make an escape at any moment.

He really did look worried, poor man! ‘Laura and I are identical. But only in looks,’ Leonie added consolingly as he gave a pained groan. ‘I’m the only kooky one,’ she added mischievously.

He had the grace to look uncomfortable. ‘I was angry when I said that.’

‘And you aren’t angry now?’ she teased.

‘Bloody furious, as you English would say,’ he scowled. ‘If your sister isn’t here where is she?’

‘Out. With Hal,’ she revealed without guilt. ‘They left early this morning.’

‘Why didn’t you say so when—–Oh, what the hell!’ He raised his eyes heavenwards. ‘I’ll talk to her some other time.’ He turned to leave. ‘When my blood-pressure is back to normal,’ he muttered grimly.

‘A nice cup of tea will help with that.’ Leonie sprang to her feet. ‘I’ll go and make one and we can drink it while we finish talking.’

‘I thought we had finished…’ He was starting to look slightly dazed now.

Leonie had seen the same confused expression on the faces of most of the people she met. It usually faded once they had known her for a while, but Hawk Sinclair seemed determined this would be a brief acquaintance. A very brief acquaintance! Maybe he would change his mind once she had told him about Laura.

‘I don’t think so,’ she smiled. ‘We haven’t really talked about my sister yet. I’m relieved the two of us met first,’ she continued chattily. ‘It means that most of your anger will have dispersed by the time you do meet Laura.’

‘I wouldn’t count on it!’ He sank down weakly into an armchair, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

Leonie moved happily about the kitchen, preparing the promised tea, confident she would be able to reason with Hawk Sinclair once he had calmed down enough to listen.

A kook, he thought. A one hundred per cent, fourteen-carat kook! And he had been trying to reason with it—her.

It had all seemed so straightforward when he had left the hotel this morning, enjoying the drive out into the country to this big rambling house that stood completely on its own on the outskirts of a small village. But that was before he had met Leonie Brandon!

Twenty-five. She didn’t look anywhere near twenty-five. And what was all that rubbish about his age? Damn it, thirty-nine—well, almost forty—wasn’t old. He certainly wasn’t going through any crisis because of it. Hell, he was trying to justify his age to himself now! he realised with an inward groan.

God, if Laura Brandon was anything like her peculiar sister this was going to be more difficult than he could ever have imagined; Leonie seemed incapable of even taking an insult seriously!

When he had left New York yesterday he had been looking forward to being with Hal, and he had been shocked to the roots of his being when shortly after meeting him at the airport Hal had told him that he had met the woman he intended to marry. God, the woman was six years older than him, wrote flaky detective novels for a living—with her kooky sister; it was obvious she was more interested in what the Sinclair heir could give her than in Hal himself.

That surmise had been easy to make after Hal had told him all about Laura Brandon last night, just as it had been a simple thing to decide he would pay her off as she had obviously intended he should.

Fifteen minutes with Leonie Brandon and he wasn’t even sure what he was doing here any more!

And how many more cats were going to come strolling through here? He had no patience with the creatures himself, thought they were totally hopeless as companions, never there when you wanted them, demanding when they were. Very much like a woman, in fact, and he had little time for them either, apart from their rather obvious attraction.

He turned sharply as Leonie Brandon came back into the room with the tea. My God, he thought, she looked so young. Or maybe he was getting old after all. He certainly didn’t want any tea—a Scotch maybe, but not tea!

‘Here we are.’ She put the tray down on the coffee-table, smiling at him brightly.

She looked ten years old in that get-up and with that sprinkling of freckles across her uptilted nose, and yet the breasts beneath the T-shirt definitely proclaimed her a woman—–Get a grip on yourself, Sinclair, he instructed himself impatiently. That was definitely a complication this situation didn’t need!

He sat forward obediently to take the proffered cup of tea.

He had such strong hands, Leonie admired as she curled up on the sofa opposite him. He also looked totally ridiculous wrapping those long fingers about one of their delicate china tea-cups!

‘Laura,’ he prompted abruptly.

‘No,’ she smiled. ‘I told you, I’m Leonie—–’

‘I meant you intended telling me about your sister,’ he clarified in a controlled voice.

‘Drink your tea,’ she encouraged.

‘Why?’ he raised dark brows sceptically. ‘Do you think it will leave me more open to the sad tale you’re undoubtedly going to tell me?’

‘It is only tea, Hawk,’ she reproved. ‘And what sort of sad tale did you have in mind?’

‘Oh, something like Laura needs money for your old, sick mother, or father, or aunt, or—–’

‘There’s only Laura and I,’ she cut in quietly. ‘And all Laura wants is Hal. She happens to love him very much.’

His mouth twisted scornfully. ‘I’m sure she does,’ he rasped. ‘More to the point, Hal is sure she does,’ he added harshly.

‘You don’t understand—–’

‘No, you’re the one who doesn’t understand,’ he slammed his cup down impatiently. ‘My son is nineteen years old, I’m not about to sit back and let him ruin his whole life by getting married far too young to a woman he barely knows!’

‘Is that what you did?’ she asked shrewdly. ‘After all, to have a son of his age you must have married at nineteen yourself.’

‘I was just twenty when I married,’ he ground out, looking as if he would like to pick her up and bodily shake her. ‘And the situation was entirely different. My wife and I grew up together, we always knew we would marry.’

‘Okay, so it didn’t happen this way for you, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t such a thing as love at first sight,’ Leonie reasoned. ‘Or that that isn’t the way it happened for Laura and Hal,’ she defended.

He sighed. ‘I’m not denying that at this moment in his life Hal is sure he does feel that way about your sister, it’s her feelings for him that I doubt,’ he bit out grimly.

‘Because your name is Sinclair and hers is Brandon, because you’re rich and we’re not so rich, because—–’

‘The reasons for my doubting the sincerity of her feelings are, as you are so ably proving, too many and would take too long to go into individually,’ he told her impatiently. ‘Besides which, Hal still has a long way to go before he knows the business as well as he’ll need to to take over from me one day. He’s going to be travelling extensively over the next few years.’

‘Laura could go with him—–’

‘And no doubt she’d want to take her sister along too,’ he sneered.

Leonie chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. ‘Have you always been rich?’ she asked at last.

‘Always,’ he admitted without apology for the fact. ‘My father founded the Sinclair hotels, and by the time I was born they were already a worldwide concern.’

She nodded. ‘Then I suppose you must have a pretty good idea of what it’s like to be pursued just for your money.’

‘Yes, I—–I believe I was just insulted,’ he drawled irritably.

Her eyes were widely innocent. ‘Really? I can’t imagine by whom.’

‘Leonie,’ he began reasoningly, ‘I do not intend to let your sister marry my son.’

She grimaced. ‘I was afraid you were still going to feel that way.’

Hawk eyed her suspiciously. ‘Afraid?’ he repeated slowly.

‘Don’t look so wary,’ she chided. ‘I’m not threatening you. Good gracious, do I look as if I could threaten anyone?’ She looked down pointedly at her childlike body.

‘It’s the non-violent threats that are usually the most dangerous,’ he replied.

She sighed. ‘Well, I’m not making any kind of threat. I was just going to tell you that of the two of us Laura is the more practical one—–’

‘So practical she knew a meal-ticket when she saw it,’ scorned Hawk.

Leonie gave him a censorious frown. ‘When I get Winnie in a seemingly unsolvable situation Laura is always the one who—–’

‘I know I’m going to hate myself for asking, but who is Winnie?’ he prompted irritably. ‘Not one of your cats?’

She shook her head with a smile. ‘The detective in our books,’ she supplied. ‘No matter how unlikely the situation—and believe me, I’ve thought of a few over the years—–’

‘Oh, I believe you,’ he muttered.

Her eyes glowed with humour. ‘Laura is always the one who comes up with the solution to the problem.’

‘I’m surprised anyone reads your books at all; it’s difficult to relate to a man named Winnie—even if you did once have one as Prime Minister over here!’ Hawk sneered.

She arched mocking brows. ‘That coming from a man with a name like Hawk?’

‘Henry Hawker Sinclair the Second,’ he corrected dryly.

She blinked at the length of the title. ‘Then Hal is…?’

‘Henry Hawker Sinclair the Third,’ he confirmed softly. ‘My father was called Harry, by his friends—none of his enemies was ever brave enough to come forward and say what they called him!’ he drawled. ‘I was called Hawk to avoid confusion, and now my son is called Hal for the same reason.’

‘What’s wrong with Henry?’

‘About the same thing that’s wrong with Winnie,’ he returned mockingly.

‘Henry seems a good solid name to me,’ she shrugged. ‘By the way,’ she added as an afterthought, ‘Winnie is a woman. Now, about Laura—–’

‘You write about a female detective?’ he said disbelievingly.

‘Are you a chauvinist, Hawk?’ she taunted.

‘Not at all, Leonie,’ he drawled. ‘I was just a little surprised. I don’t know why I should have been! Is Winnie as kooky as you?’

She smiled. ‘Things—happen to her,’ she nodded.

‘I’ll just bet they do,’ he jeered. ‘You were going to tell me about your practical sister Laura,’ he reminded her dryly.

She sobered. ‘Maybe that’s the wrong word to have used. Sensible might be a better way of putting—–’

‘Believing herself in love with a nineteen-year-old boy is sensible?’ scoffed Hawk.

‘I doubt if Hal was any more as innocently gullible as you’re making him out to be than he was naïve,’ Leonie reproved. ‘He gives the impression of having always been mature.’

The man seated opposite her gave a heavy sigh, his eyes narrowed. ‘There’s nothing wrong with bringing your child up to be independent.’

‘I’m sure there isn’t,’ she soothed. ‘I was just pointing out that Hal is hardly your typical nineteen-year-old.’

‘No—he’s a potentially very rich nineteen-year-old,’ his father grated.

‘You’re going to upset Laura with that sort of talk, you know,’ she chided. ‘She’s very sensitive about the age difference.’

‘Not sensitive enough to stop seeing Hal!’

‘That’s the trouble,’ Leonie sighed. ‘She will if you ask her to.’

He gave an inclination of his head. ‘Then I’ll ask her to,’ he drawled. ‘End of problem.’

‘You don’t really believe that.’ She shook her head. ‘Laura will be heartbroken if you ask this of them—something I’m sure isn’t going to bother you too much!—but Hal will resent your interference in his life.’

‘He’ll get over it,’ his father dismissed harshly.

‘Would you have “got over” loving your wife if your father had disapproved?’

Hawk gave an impatient frown. ‘The situation never arose.’

Leonie stood up restlessly. ‘Because the woman you loved was suitable.’

‘She came from a prominent Texas family, yes,’ he admitted grudgingly.

‘Rich,’ Leonie drawled. ‘Maybe we don’t have a lot of money, but Laura is rich in such a lot of other ways—she’s kind, totally loyal to those she cares about, and she cares for Hal so much. Oh, Hawk,’ she went down on her knees beside his chair, her hands resting imploringly on his legs, ‘don’t break my sister’s heart!’

He flinched back at her close proximity, the tension slow to leave his body. ‘Leonie,’ he sighed, ‘I can’t, in all conscience, approve of this marriage. They’ve only known each other three weeks, damn it!’

‘You’re getting over-anxious again,’ she warned lightly. ‘Would you give your approval if they’d known each other three months, six months, a year, say?’ She looked up at him with excited green eyes.

He frowned. ‘Why do I have the feeling I’m being set up?’

‘Oh, come on, Hawk, answer the question,’ she cajoled.

‘Yes, I—–’ He gave an impatient shrug. ‘I suppose any of them might be more encouraging than three weeks!’

‘Twenty-four days,’ Leonie corrected. ‘I think Laura could even tell you down to the minutes and seconds if you asked her,’ she said fondly. ‘They met at the hotel Hal is managing over here at the moment, you know,’ she added teasingly. ‘There was a meeting of authors there, and Laura went along as one of the guest speakers.’ She eyed him mockingly as he scowled. ‘Thinking about having the conference facilities ripped out?’

‘Thinking about it,’ he acknowledged grimly.

‘I shouldn’t,’ she patted his hand. ‘They’ve met now. So what you’re really afraid of is that their love for each other won’t last?’ she returned to their previous conversation without any loss of the intensity of the subject.

‘What I’m really afraid of is that I seem to have lost control of this conversation,’ scowled Hawk. ‘I get the distinct feeling I’m being manoeuvred—and I don’t like it.’

She could see that, she realised he was a man who liked to be in control at all times. It was only that she wanted to make things right for Laura and Hal, and this man had it in his power to destroy the beauty of their love. ‘I wouldn’t do that, Hawk,’ she told him truthfully. ‘I’m just trying to come up with a compromise that will make everyone happy.’

‘I’d be happy if Hal never saw your sister again,’ he drawled.

‘No, you wouldn’t,’ Leonie shook her head confidently. ‘Hal could make life very uncomfortable for you if he chose to do so.’

‘I thought we’d already established that I don’t like threats.’ His eyes were narrowed.

‘Just as we established that I don’t make threats,’ she nodded. ‘I was just going to point out that Hal would naturally be unhappy—–’

‘And he would make my life hell,’ Hawk acknowledged ruefully. Even as a kid Hal had been able to make his displeasure felt. And he was definitely no longer a child. If he had been this situation would never have arisen!

If only this little witchchild would get her hands off his thighs he might be able to think straight!

The jolt his body had received when she first touched him had had very little to do with surprise, more like shock, an electric shock that had momentarily rendered him helpless. And now that his equilibrium was returning he shifted uncomfortably, his denims suddenly uncomfortably tight. He didn’t enjoy having to hide his arousal, because the woman he had been aroused by was the last one who should have evoked such a reaction within him!

Was she doing it on purpose, this little witchchild? The absolute candour in her sparkling green eyes seemed to say no.

Her fingers were lightly kneading his flesh now, and she seemed completely unaware of the turmoil she was causing inside him!

He stood up impatiently, feeling regretful as she overbalanced slightly at the abruptness of his movement, but leaving her to straighten without his assistance, knowing that he daren’t touch her right now, that to do so could be his downfall.

Instead he attacked. ‘How the hell many more cats are going to walk through here?’ The incongruousness of the question struck him as much as it must her, but he knew he just had to talk about something that would take his mind off the throbbing ache in his thighs.

Leonie sat back on her heels, eyeing him curiously. ‘How many have you seen?’

‘Three—no, four,’ Hawk corrected as he remembered the grey tabby he had seen stretched out in the hallway when he arrived.

She nodded. ‘Then there are just two more. That’s probably Daffodil and Pansy.’

‘Who the hell has six cats?’ he derided impatiently.

‘I do,’ she shrugged. ‘Daffodil, Daisy, Tulip, Pansy, Rose, and Pop. That’s short for Poppy,’ she explained. ‘I only found out after I’d named him that he was a boy.’

‘You named all your cats after flowers?’ He looked at her disbelievingly.

Her eyes widened. ‘Why not?’

Why not indeed? Someone in a professional capacity could probably give him a lucid answer to that, but it was obvious there wasn’t going to be one from this woman! Being in her company for too long was a little like being in a room with a bomb, unsure if it were active or not! She was strange with a capital S.

Then why did she intrigue him more than any other woman had for a very long time? If her sister was anything like her no wonder Hal was so enthralled with her; predictable this woman certainly was not! Boredom was always a problem with him with the women in his life; he doubted any man would have time to be bored with Leonie Brandon.

‘They’re all inside today, except Daffodil and Pansy, because of the rain.’ Leonie took his silence to mean he wanted to hear more about the cats.

And damn it, she had piqued his curiosity! ‘Why aren’t—Pansy and Daffodil in too?’ What stupid names to give those haughty creatures!

She shrugged. ‘Because they like the rain.’

A stupid question deserved an equally stupid answer. Hell, he had better things to talk about than six oddly-named cats! Or their intriguing owner, he told himself sternly. Her twin couldn’t be that innocent if she had enticed a nineteen-year-old boy into her net, but the woman in front of him, with her childlike body and guileless green eyes—how had he ever thought she could be the one involved with Hal?—was decidedly no match for the passion he would demand of her. She was probably still a virgin, and they were one breed he definitely avoided.

But an image of her kept flashing in and out of his mind, of her slender legs entwined with his, those pert little breasts crushed against his chest, the nipples nuzzling against him, her face flushed with ecstasy.

‘We were talking about Hal and your sister,’ he prompted harshly, his self-contempt at his thoughts chilling his eyes.

Leonie nodded, her bright red hair moving silkily against her cheek as she got gracefully to her feet. ‘What if they leave it three more months before coming to any decision about marriage?’

‘A year,’ he insisted instantly.

‘Six months appears to be the middle line.’ She gave him one of those guileless smiles, her eyes wide and innocent.

He had been out-classed, out-manoeuvred, at a game at which he had always been considered an expert. And all because of a pair of wide green eyes—and a taut little bottom beneath tight denims, he acknowledged self-derisively. You are getting senile, Sinclair, he berated himself, when the mere movement of a woman’s body against her clothes can distract you from your purpose!

He straightened. ‘I told you, I don’t want a gold-digger in my family,’ he snapped insultingly. ‘Six years wouldn’t be long enough for me to accept that!’

‘You may have to,’ she told him heavily. ‘Laura might be willing to accept any terms you care to make, but Hal has definite plans of his own, and he’s the one you’ll have to convince that you’re only doing this for his own good.’

She was right, this little witchchild. Hal was his son all right, and there was no way he would have stood by and meekly accepted his father’s interference in his life in this way, at any age. But he wasn’t about to let Leonie Brandon know that he realised they might all have to compromise, him most of all!

‘I’ll deal with my son, Miss Brandon,’ he said confidently. ‘And when the time comes I’ll deal with your sister too!’ He turned to leave.

Leonie followed him out of the room. Even if she had made no sound as she walked, her perfume, the elusiveness of a spring flower, told of her presence; Hawk had never been so aware of a woman’s perfume. He turned to face her all the more sharply because of that as she spoke quietly at his side.

‘I’m afraid I still haven’t introduced myself to you properly,’ she shrugged as his eyes narrowed. ‘My name isn’t Brandon, it’s Spencer.’

She was married! This witchchild was married? He glanced at her left hand, noticing for the first time the thin gold band on her finger that he had missed when he looked at her earlier. And he knew the reason he had missed it—he had been too intent on the beauty of the delicate hands, had imagined them caressing his body—Damn it, this couldn’t go on! He could have his pick of women, he certainly didn’t need to get mixed up with this strange, married one!

‘It’s what you are that matters to me,’ he ground out. ‘And as far as I’m concerned you’re just the sister of the woman trying to trick my son into marrying her!’

Leonie stood shaking her head as she watched him leave. Laura and Hal were in love, genuinely in love, and the objection of Hal’s father to that love could cause a rift between them all that might never heal.

She had to admit that she had been dismayed herself when Laura returned home, from speaking at one of the literary meetings Leonie took such pains to avoid, to drop into an armchair and dreamily sigh that she was in love. Laura had always been the level-headed one, the sensible one, and an announcement like that had to be taken seriously.

‘But he’s too young for me,’ Laura wailed regretfully. ‘A boy disguised as a man!’

A boy? Dear God, what did that mean? ‘Tell me about him,’ Leonie prompted softly.

‘He’s so tall and—and handsome.’ Laura blushed. She was her sister’s mirror image, except that her eyes were occasionally filled with an unspoken sadness. ‘He was the manager of the hotel where we held the meeting, and—–’

‘Then he can’t be that young,’ Leonie said with some relief.

Laura’s eyes rolled expressively. ‘His family owns the hotel!’

Leonie became suddenly still. ‘He’s one of the Sinclairs?’ Everyone had heard of the multi-millionaire family!

‘Son of the Sinclair,’ her sister nodded, her dismay reflected in sea-green eyes. ‘Oh, Leonie, he’s young, so much younger than I am, but when he looked at me I knew I loved him. And he said he felt exactly the same way!’

‘You talked to him, then—–Of course you talked to him,’ Leonie chastised herself for her stupidity. ‘Otherwise how would you know his name?’

‘He said he’s coming to see me tomorrow night,’ Laura groaned. ‘That we should start discussing our wedding plans!’

‘He said that?’ Leonie gasped at the speed with which the relationship had progressed. When Laura had left this evening she had been heart-free, yet a few hours later she was obviously deeply in love.

‘Yes.’ Her sister blushed again. ‘Oh, Leonie, he asked me to marry him!’

And he had continued to ask every day since that evening three and a half weeks ago!

Leonie had liked Hal instantly; she had found him not to be the boy Laura had led her to believe, that he had been a man for some time, possessed of a confidence that had been inborn in him. And he was obviously deeply serious about his feelings concerning Laura, spending every moment that he could with her.

Hawk Sinclair wasn’t going to find it at all easy to ‘deal with’ his son!

Hawk’s temper hadn’t cooled in the least by the time he returned to the penthouse suite of the hotel.

Jake Colter, his assistant and friend for the last fifteen years, looked up from the contracts he had been working on, his blond brows rising over laughing blue eyes as Hawk let out a bellow for Sarah, his private secretary. ‘How did the meeting with the mercenary author go?’ he drawled.

Hawk’s scowl deepened. ‘It didn’t! Sarah, where the hell are you?’ he bellowed again.

The elegantly calm woman who had organised his business life for more years than he cared to think about emerged from her bedroom that adjoined the lounge, not at all perturbed by the chaos Hawk seemed to have brought back with him. After ten years she was probably used to it!

‘Yes, Hawk?’ she prompted softly; a beautiful woman, she usually knew what he wanted before he did.

It had been her complete efficiency at her job that had thrown him into a panic four years ago when her marriage began to flounder and she had considered the idea of leaving her job to see if that might stop her husband jumping into bed with every woman who so much as smiled at him. Knowing her husband as he had, Hawk hadn’t believed anything would stop him playing around with other women, but he hadn’t tried to interfere; he knew that if Sarah loved Paul she should stay with him. However, he had been very supportive when she decided to divorce the bastard after finding him in her own bed with a woman she had thought was her friend. He hadn’t been averse to using a little of his charm to persuade her to stay on with him either, after she had voiced the possibility of perhaps making a completely new start; he knew that he would never be able to find a more efficient secretary, wining and dining her until she agreed to stay on.

But for once her cool control irritated him. ‘Find out all that you can about a Leonie Spencer—Mrs Leonie Spencer,’ he added grimly. ‘Especially anything about Mr Spencer. She lives in the wilds of Buckinghamshire,’ he supplied absently. ‘I want to know everything there is to know about her, and I don’t care who you have to disturb on this English Sunday afternoon to get it,’ he warned harshly.

‘Will that be all?’ Sarah arched blonde brows.

‘Yes!’ Hawk glared at her. ‘Damn woman,’ he muttered once he was alone with Jake.

‘Who, Sarah?’ his assistant mocked disbelievingly.

Grey eyes raked over him mercilessly. ‘Why do I keep you on the pay-roll?’

The other man grinned. He possessed the type of fair-haired good looks that had caused more than one female to bemoan the fact that he was determined to remain a bachelor since his divorce sixteen years ago. ‘Probably because I’m a damned good assistant,’ he drawled.

‘Oh yeah,’ Hawk acknowledged dryly. ‘I knew there had to be some reason why I put up with you!’

Jake’s grin widened. ‘You’re just put out because the woman on the plane last night offered me a date instead of you.’

Hawk gave the other man a scathing look. ‘So that’s why your bed wasn’t slept in last night! I should watch it, my friend,’ he drawled, remembering the over-familiarity of the beautiful brunette on the plane; it was far from the first time she had picked up a man in that way! ‘You expose yourself to—all sorts of dangers that way,’ he added derisively.

‘Ouch!’ Jake grimaced, putting the contracts to one side. ‘So your meeting with the author didn’t work out,’ he remarked thoughtfully. ‘Don’t you think, in this day and age, especially with two old reprobates like us as an example, that perhaps you should be grateful Hal just wants to marry a woman you don’t approve of?’

‘I think that if Stephen came home and told you he intended marrying a woman he’s only known three weeks, a woman who’s older than him, you’d react the same way I did,’ Hawk grated.

Jake shrugged. ‘I can think of plenty of worse things he could come home and tell me.’

‘Maybe,’ Hawk accepted grudgingly. ‘Maybe I should have made Hal go to college with Stephen instead of giving in to him when he said he wanted to learn the business by experience. They always got on well together, and Stephen might have been good for Hal, stopped him growing up quite so quickly.’

When Jake had come to work for him fifteen years ago he had just been awarded custody of his five-year-old son after his divorce, and with Hal being a similar age the two boys had gravitated to each other from the first. Their friendship was probably as deep as his and Jake’s was. The two young men were opposites, Stephen always getting into mischief, and usually taking Hal along with him. Yes, maybe he should have insisted Hal attend college rather than going straight to work. But it was too late for that now.

‘He seems to be doing all right,’ observed Jake.

‘Too well,’ Hawk scowled. ‘Why the hell he wants to tie himself down with a wife I have no idea.’

‘Because he loves her,’ Jake suggested softly.

Hawk gave a disbelieving snort. ‘He thinks he loves her,’ he corrected firmly. ‘And I object to being called an old reprobate,’ he added suddenly, and Jake grinned at his ability not to forget anything that was said to him. ‘The reprobate was fine, but I’ve already had enough aspersions cast on my age today without you starting too. How could anyone feel anything else but old after being in Leonie Spencer’s company for half an hour?’ he added disgustedly. ‘Her mind leaps from subject to subject without giving any indication that you’re now talking about something completely different! And even when she’s sitting still you get the impression she’d rather be on her feet and moving. She is definitely not a relaxing person to be around!’

‘Sounds familiar.’ Jake looked at him pointedly.

‘Very funny,’ snapped Hawk.

‘Who is Leonie Spencer?’ Jake asked slowly. ‘I thought you went to see a Laura Brandon?’

‘Leonie Spencer is an infuriating, provoking, kooky—–’

Jake whistled through his teeth. ‘Whoever she is, she made quite an impression!’

‘About as much as a puppy-dog chewing at my pants leg,’ Hawk replied. ‘She has six cats. Six!’ he repeated disbelievingly.

‘Shocking,’ Jake taunted.

‘Stop being so damned—–Sarah,’ Hawk pounced as she came quietly back into the room, ‘what did you find out?’

‘Mrs Leonora Spencer lives at—–’

‘I know her address, damn it!’ He glared at her.

Blonde brows rose over reproving blue eyes. ‘She’s twenty-five years old,’ Sarah continued undaunted. ‘Her parents were killed years ago in a car accident. She has one sister, her twin, Laura Brandon—–’

‘Ah,’ Jake nodded comprehendingly, shrugging as Hawk gave him a quelling glance.

‘Laura Brandon,’ Sarah continued determinedly. ‘Leonie was married at twenty to Michael Spencer. The marriage doesn’t appear to have been a success—–’

‘Was he rich?’ Hawk cut in suspiciously.

Sarah glanced at the notes she had made. ‘It says here he was a clerk in a—–’

‘Not rich,’ drawled Jake.

Hawk scowled as the theory of Leonie having married for money too was taken away from him. If only he could find something to dislike about the woman!

‘Shall I go on?’ Sarah enquired coolly.

‘Sure,’ he instructed tersely, ignoring Jake’s smile of amusement.

‘The marriage lasted only a short time—–’

‘They’re divorced?’ Hawk interrupted sharply.

‘It would appear so,’ Sarah nodded.

‘Any children?’

‘None were mentioned,’ said Sarah in her usual precise way that was somehow managing to annoy him deeply today. ‘Leonie co-authors books with—–’

‘Thanks, Sarah,’ he cut in dismissively. ‘I know the rest.’

She shrugged, sharing a puzzled glance with Jake before returning to her bedroom to continue working.

‘Divorced,’ murmured Hawk triumphantly, suddenly realising he no longer needed a reason to dislike Leonie Spencer, none that need matter to them. Hal and Laura were completely separate from this. ‘Jake, my friend, I’m going out again,’ he announced determinedly.

‘Am I allowed to enquire where?’ the other man drawled.

He grinned. ‘I’m going to show a woman, who believes a man of my age must be suffering from a mid-life crisis, just how wrong she is.’

‘What?’ Jake was astounded by his explanation.

‘You heard me,’ said Hawk with satisfaction. ‘And, Jake—–’ he paused at the door.

‘Hm?’ The other man still looked dazed.

‘Don’t wait up,’ he advised softly.

CHAPTER ONE

‘THREE more months of this torture!’ Laura bemoaned with a heavy sigh.

Leonie gave a grimace of sympathy from her position on the adjoining lounger, knowing Laura had just finished reading a letter from Hal. ‘Try not to think of it as a life sentence,’ she encouraged gently.

Her sister frowned at her. ‘How can it be any other way when I love Hal so much?’

‘Darling, you were the one who agreed to the year’s wait,’ Leonie reminded her softly. ‘Said you wanted to give Hal time to be sure too.’

‘I know,’ Laura gave a choked sigh. ‘But how could I know Hawk Sinclair was going to make sure Hal was out of the country most of the time!’

Leonie gave a pained frown. A year, Hawk Sinclair had asked Hal and Laura to wait, assuring them that if they really did love each other it would pass quickly. As she had known he would, Hal had raised strong objections to the idea, wanting to marry Laura right away, but Laura had told him that perhaps it would be better if they waited, so that they could be sure of their feelings for each other too.

Leonie had always known Laura wouldn’t object to anything Hawk Sinclair asked of them, but Hal had been hurt by what seemed to be Laura’s indecision about their love, storming out on all of them after accusing Laura of believing he was still a child too!

He had come back, of course, as soon as he calmed down enough to realise Laura wouldn’t change her mind and marry him straight away as he wanted, and with both Laura and his father against the idea of an instant marriage he had finally agreed to wait the year.

It hadn’t been too bad at first. Laura and Hal had seen a lot of each other, but then his father had begun to send him to other hotels that they owned for weeks at a time, straining their relationship as he and Laura had to rely on telephone calls and letters to tell each other of their love.

Hal had been in Acapulco for over six weeks now, and those weeks had been difficult ones for her sister, Leonie realised. Laura was thinner than she used to be, fine lines of strain around her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

All this pain and suffering because Hawk Sinclair had decided to play God with their lives!

Leonie didn’t doubt that Laura would still want to marry Hal at the end of the year’s wait, or that Hal would feel the same way, in fact the two of them had already started discussing wedding plans.

Leonie’s illness hadn’t helped Laura’s peace of mind; the emergency operation she had gone through had been frightening for them both, and the weeks she had spent in hospital had left her still feeling weak and far from well. Laura had taken complete control during the crisis, and was still doing so several weeks later. Today she was having to go alone to their publisher to explain why the book he was waiting for from them still wasn’t finished.

‘Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this meeting with Desmond on your own?’ Leonie frowned her concern.

Laura grinned. ‘I know you usually walk in and totally disarm the poor man, but I’m afraid that today he’s going to have to make do with me!’

Leonie’s mouth quirked. ‘You could always pretend you’re me!’

‘Darling, much as I love your idiosyncrasies, there is no one else like you!’ her sister teased. ‘Are you going to be all right here on your own?’ She frowned her concern.

‘But I’m not alone,’ Leonie shrugged dismissively. ‘We have June to take care of us now.’ She mentioned the woman in her mid-forties they had employed to take care of the cooking and housework now that she felt too weak to do it and Laura was too busy taking care of her.

‘Call her if you need anything,’ Laura directed firmly. ‘You’re still far from strong. The doctor said you were to take things very easy.’

Leonie looked down ruefully at the cat curled up on the bottom of her lounger, Pop stretched out on her legs from knee to thigh. ‘I think I’m about as relaxed as I can be,’ she drawled. ‘The sun’s out, there’s a gentle breeze, the jug of fresh lemonade’s within easy reach.’ She looked pointedly at the table beside her on the lawn. ‘I certainly don’t envy you your trip into London.’

Laura grimaced. ‘Someone has to go and placate poor Desmond. The television series is going wonderfully in America, and the book they want to be published parallel with it hasn’t even been completed yet!’

‘That’s because you won’t let me near my typewriter—–’

‘I nearly lost you, Leonie,’ her sister cut in emotionally. ‘I’m not taking any chances with your health now.’

Being rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, hearing the ambulance bell ringing and knowing it was for her, the examination before the stinging prick of the needle that rendered her unconscious for the operation, had frightened Leonie as well. She still felt far from well, but as much as possible she tried to hide that from Laura, knowing how illness worried her twin.

Several months ago they had been approached by a television company in America who wanted to serialise their books, and after establishing that they would have some say in the scripts that were used they had signed the contract. They were now richer than they had ever dreamt of being, but Laura was still unhappy without Hal, and she had never felt so terrible in her life. That adage ‘money can’t buy happiness’ certainly seemed true for them. And Hawk Sinclair’s wealth didn’t seem to have made him happy either!

Leonie’s mouth tightened as she thought of him, the fascination she had initially felt for his strength now completely dispersed after what he had asked of Laura and Hal.

Laura stood up determinedly. ‘Oh well, sitting here complaining isn’t going to get this meeting with Desmond over with. I think I’ll pop into the hotel for a chat before coming back,’ she added lightly.

Her sister had become friendly with quite a lot of the staff at the Sinclair London hotel the last few months, and Leonie knew that chatting to the girls who worked on the reception desk made her sister feel a little closer to Hal.

She smiled encouragingly. ‘You do that. And don’t worry about Holly and me, we’ll be fine,’ she assured her.

A frown marred Laura’s brow. ‘Hal’s going to be so angry when he finds out I didn’t tell him the baby came early,’ she sighed. ‘But if I’d let him know he would only have wanted to have come back, and then his father would have said I wasn’t keeping to the agreement, and—–’

‘Darling, Hal will understand,’ Leonie cut in firmly. ‘And we both agreed it would be best not to worry him.’

Laura nodded abruptly. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be able to cope with Holly on your own this afternoon? I’d take her with me, but—–’

‘That would totally confuse Desmond,’ drawled Leonie. ‘Holly and I will be just fine together,’ she assured her twin.

‘She’s been fed and changed, and she’s sleeping now, so—–’

‘I can manage, Laura,’ Leonie cut in softly. ‘You just worry about placating Desmond.’

She kept the bright smile on her face for as long as it took Laura to go around to the front of the house, only relaxing back against the lounger when she heard the car leave the driveway.

Could she cope with the baby? Until Holly’s arrival into their lives she had never had anything to do with babies, small or otherwise. And Holly was very small, only six pounds at birth. And she was so very beautiful too, with her cap of golden hair and blue-grey eyes that Laura was sure would eventually turn a deep grey. Her sister had read every baby book she could find before Holly’s birth, so Leonie was sure she knew what she was talking about. What was Hawk Sinclair going to say when he found out about the baby’s existence? She shuddered to think!

She would cope with the baby, even though it was the first time she had been left on her own with her. She and Laura had shared Holly’s care from the day she came home, there was nothing different about it just because she was on her own. There was always June to call if she got into difficulties, their housekeeper having had a child of her own years ago. She could do it!

She must have fallen asleep in the warm sunshine, because the next thing she knew June was gently shaking her shoulder to wake her.

‘What is it?’ She immediately shot into a sitting position. ‘Is it the baby? What—–’

‘Calm down,’ June chuckled softly; she was a gently rounded woman with laughing brown eyes and peppered brown hair that refused to be anything but flyaway; Leonie and Laura had liked her immediately when she came for her interview, and she had moved into the house with them within a few days. It was a move none of them seemed to have regretted. ‘I only came to tell you that there’s a visitor.’

Leonie blinked to clear her brain of the fogging she so detested about the daytime naps she couldn’t seem to get out of since coming home from hospital. She took a sip of the lemonade to rinse out her mouth and moisten her lips. ‘Who is it?’

‘Mr Sinclair,’ June told her. ‘He asked for Laura, but I—–’

‘Hal!’ Leonie cried excitedly, feeling a sudden surge of energy. He had come home from Acapulco to pay Laura a surprise visit! Or perhaps he had even decided to end this nonsense and come to tell Laura she was marrying him right away; she doubted Laura would still insist they wait after the agony of the last six weeks’ loneliness.

‘I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ drawled a familiarly mocking voice. ‘But as far as I’m aware Hal is still in Acapulco!’

Leonie looked up to meet Hawk Sinclair’s derisive gaze with a feeling of dread, the energy of moments ago draining just as suddenly as it had arrived.

She looked so delicate lying there, her skin almost translucent against the shimmering brightness of her hair. All the laughter had gone from her eyes, her cheeks were drawn and hollow, the impish tilt to her chin completely gone too. What the hell had happened to her in the last nine months?

What was he doing here? thought Hawk. He had seen Hal only two days ago, and although his son was resentful he was still determined; he was going to claim Laura Brandon at the end of the year. And so Hawk had come here today to admit defeat, to admit, if Laura still felt the same way, that he had been wrong!

His life had been shot to pieces over the last nine months. Hal was barely civil to him, the business no longer held the appeal for him that it always had, and just yesterday Jake had given him the three months’ notice his contract required. After almost sixteen years Jake was walking out on him; he hadn’t been able to believe it. Jake claimed he wanted to do other things with his life when Hawk pushed him for a reason. What other things? The hotel business was of more interest to Jake than it was to Hawk, and the shares he possessed in HS Hotels had meant he always looked after that interest. Yesterday Jake had offered him those shares with his resignation!

And through the whole of the last nine months he hadn’t been able to get this sprite out of his mind! It was stupid, insane, and he had told himself so a million times, but the memory of her persisted.

And now he found her looking like a shadow of her former self, as if a strong breeze might knock her off her feet and on to that tight little bottom he found it so dangerous to think about—and which had never been far from his thoughts all these months!

The cats were still the same, though, Pop stretched out on her legs, next to the ginger tabby and black cat, the two he hadn’t seen on his last visit, and so the cat lying at her feet, the ginger tabby, had to be either Pansy or Daffodil. Hawk found it totally out of character that he had remembered the cats’ names, but then when had he acted in character since meeting Leonie Spencer!

She didn’t look very welcoming, but after what he had done, who could blame her? Maybe if he told her he had come to make peace and not war—!

‘Thanks, June,’ she dismissed the housekeeper who was a new acquisition. ‘Mr Sinclair and I can manage now.’

Manage? She looked as if lifting that glass of lemonade to her lips might snap her slender wrist in two!

She wasn’t exactly beautiful, nothing at all like the sophisticates he was usually attracted to, but she had possessed an impish charm that had made it impossible for him to put her from his mind. Something had happened to her during the last nine months to rob her of even that.

Despite what she had told him about Laura that day he had believed Leonie to be the stronger of the two, the way she had jumped so ably to her sister’s defence reminding him of a cat with its kitten. Laura had come as something of a surprise to him, not just because she was an exact copy of Leonie but because her strength had been of a different kind; the certainty of knowing her own mind, her own feelings, and of instilling confidence in those around her to believe she did. If he hadn’t been so damned mad by the time he did meet her he would probably have respected that strength and entrusted Hal’s future happiness to her more than capable hands!

As it had turned out he had been unreasonable, his anger out of all proportion to the situation, asking more from them than he had the right to. Only Laura’s calm acceptance of waiting a year, her determination that they should, had prevented him from losing Hal right then and there.

Hal had argued, though, and he hadn’t stopped arguing, only his love for Laura keeping him to the promise they had both made. Hawk knew damn well it had nothing to do with respecting his wishes!

He had behaved like a damned fool, and in the end it had had little to do with Hal and Laura—and everything to do with this woman who was barely recognisable as the fighting bantam hen she had appeared then.

What had happened to her? Was she ill? Dying…?

Why didn’t he say something? thought Leonie. What was he doing here? There were still three months to go before Laura would finally agree to marry Hal. Oh God, nothing had happened to Hal, had it?

The colour drained from her hollowed cheeks. ‘Is it Hal—–’

‘I told you, he’s in Acapulco,’ rasped Hawk. ‘What’s happened to you?’

She sat back self-consciously, aware of her scarecrow thinness. ‘I’ve been ill—–’

‘You still are, by the look of you!’ He looked her over critically.

The same couldn’t be said for him; he looked as healthy as ever, his skin tanned darkly brown. He was lithe and virile in the light blue shirt that somehow managed to make his eyes appear the same colour, and fitted denims that moulded the firm contours of his legs and thighs. He exuded leashed vitality, making a mockery of the reference she had once made to his age; he was fitter than many men half his age.

‘You should have seen me when I first came out of hospital,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘Then you would see how improved I am.’

His eyes were narrowed. ‘What was wrong with you?’

She gave him a cool look. ‘I don’t believe that’s any of your business—you aren’t a member of this family yet!’

‘If you were that ill Laura should have told us,’ he bit out harshly.

‘Why?’

His expression darkened. ‘Are you really getting better?’

‘Really,’ Leonie confirmed dryly, wondering what all the fuss was about. The last time they had seen him he had given the impression that he didn’t care if both she and Laura disappeared off the face of the earth!

The inclination of his head seemed to say he was satisfied with her explanation—for now. ‘I see there’s a series of Winnie Cooper stories by Leonaura Brandon planned to be shown on television in the States in the winter.’

Good manners, and the fact that he seemed determined to engage in conversation even though Laura wasn’t here, dictated that she invite him to sit down on the adjoining lounger. But where this man was concerned she was all out of good manners. ‘Surprised they’d bother with such fourth-rate stories?’ she challenged.

He shrugged. ‘Only time will tell. You and Laura must be financially secure by now?’

‘We’ve always been financially secure,’ Leonie snapped resentfully. ‘All we’ve ever needed was a roof over our heads and enough money to feed ourselves—–’

‘And the cats,’ Hawk drawled dryly as sharp claws dug into Leonie’s leg as Pop stretched on her lap.

‘And the cats,’ she conceded, unhooking the claws from her flesh. ‘Is that why you’re here?’ Green eyes flashed as she looked up at him. ‘To see if all that money has made Laura change her mind about loving Hal?’

‘Has it?’

She drew in a ragged breath. ‘It’s a pity men like you can’t see past the end of their chequebooks, otherwise you would have seen last year that Laura doesn’t have the least interest in money, our own or anyone else’s. In fact, she would probably have been happier if you’d just disinherited Hal so that they could have married straight away. But she knew Hal wouldn’t have been happy then, not without you or the money; you’ve both been in his life for so long he couldn’t do without either one of you!’

‘Men like me?’ Hawk echoed softly.

Leonie made a weary gesture as her head dropped back against the lounger. ‘I really don’t feel in the mood to argue with you just now, Hawk.’ Her voice was faint with fatigue.

He came down on his haunches beside her. ‘What the hell is wrong with you, that you tire this easily?’ He frowned darkly. ‘Are you sure your doctor knows what he’s doing?’ he scowled.

She gave a slight smile. ‘Very sure; I’m already so much stronger than I was. And I think you should know that Laura still loves Hal, and would if he had nothing at all!’

‘Good.’

‘Good?’ Her eyes widened. ‘You weren’t of that opinion the last time you were here.’

He shrugged, so close Leonie could see the dark shadow of the beard on his jaw where he was already in need of his second shave of the day. ‘Things change,’ he grated.

Leonie gave him a frown of suspicion. ‘What things?’

He gave an impatient sigh and straightened, thrusting his hands into his denims pockets, pulling the material tighter than ever across his thighs. ‘Are you pleased about the television series?’

Why did he keep changing the subject? Why couldn’t he just say what he wanted here—and it certainly wasn’t to discuss the television series!—and then go! ‘Yes, I—–’ A sudden thought made her frown. ‘Do you have any shares in Westley Productions?’ she asked in a hushed voice, the sudden suspicion that had taken hold of her making her feel nauseous.

His gaze didn’t falter. ‘I own Westley Productions.’

‘For how long?’

‘Since it was created.’

Leonie swallowed hard. ‘My God, you couldn’t resist trying to buy us off, could you?’ she suddenly attacked. ‘And what is it now that you know that’s failed—a touch of blackmail? The series is dropped if Laura doesn’t agree to stop seeing Hal?’

‘Leonie—–’

‘I can tell you now that the answer will still be no,’ she sat forward tensely. ‘Laura wasn’t even interested in the series, I was the one who persuaded her to take a look at it. I thought it would take her mind off her unhappiness because of Hal. You can keep your television series, Mr Sinclair, and shove it—–’

‘Leonie!’ he rasped harshly. ‘That isn’t why I’m here at all. Why do you persist in casting me as the Black Knight?’

She gave a choked laugh. ‘I have no reason to see you in any other way. In fact a knight of any kind might be too much of a compliment—even the bad ones were possessed of a certain strength, a code that they followed. You’re just out to destroy lives!’

He had gone very pale, a nerve pulsing in his cheek. ‘Leonie, I know you and I got off to a bad start, but I’m here to try and make amends—–’

‘Not to me, I hope,’ she scorned. ‘Laura might accept your apology—after all, you’re going to be her father-in-law soon. But I want as little to do with you as Laura’s and Hal’s marriage will allow the only other two members of their family. Which won’t be a great deal, I hope!’

Hawk’s mouth tightened. ‘I want—–’ He broke off as he saw her stricken gaze move towards the house, turning to follow the direction of that gaze, his eyes widening incredulously as he saw the tiny bundle in the housekeeper’s arms.

Holly lay contentedly in June’s arms, showing she wasn’t yet desperate for her next feed, but at almost four weeks old she was starting to need less and less sleep between feeds, considering the rest of the time playtime. Leonie wished this hadn’t been one of those times!

She looked up reluctantly at Hawk Sinclair and could see by the ruddy hue of his cheeks that the baby’s existence angered him. She bristled defensively and sat up to take the baby, smiling her thanks at June.

‘I’ll bring the bottle out in a few minutes,’ the other woman told her, smiling brightly at the stunned Hawk before going back into the house.

Leonie kept her head down as she looked at the baby, the silence above her testament to the fact that Hawk had been rendered speechless for the second time since she had met him. It was when he regained his voice that she dreaded!

Holly gazed up at her with trusting blue-grey eyes, content just to be held, having put on weight since her birth, but still very tiny in the white Baby-Gro. Her hair gleamed golden in the sunlight, and Leonie shifted slightly so that the baby was under the shade of the bright-coloured umbrella above them. Holly began to blow bubbles to amuse herself.

‘No wonder Laura accepted my suggestion last year that they wait!’ Hawk suddenly exploded, his wrath as chilling as a north wind. ‘She’d already taken out insurance that guaranteed Hal would marry her!’

Leonie’s head snapped back. ‘That’s a lie!’

‘She knew I wouldn’t turn away Henry Hawker Sinclair the Fourth either!’ His eyes glittered with fury as he glowered over her.

The baby began to wave her arms about at the sound of the angry voices above her; until now she had never heard a voice raised in anger near her.

‘Her name is Holly,’ Leonie bit out precisely.

‘Holly Laura.’

‘What the hell does it matter what her first names are?’ he attacked viciously. ‘She’s a Sinclair!’

‘Holly is my baby—–’

‘Don’t take protecting your sister too far,’ he scorned harshly. ‘That baby has to be at least three weeks old—–’

‘Almost four,’ she confirmed.

He nodded impatiently. ‘Which means Laura must have conceived her almost the first night she and Hal met,’ he accused. ‘She was taking no chances on him changing his mind, was she?’ he added with contempt.

Whatever ‘amends’ he had come here to make it was obvious that knowing about Holly negated all of them; he was now more angry than ever about Laura and Hal. And Leonie just didn’t have the strength to fight for them right now.

‘Does Hal know about his child? Hell, of course he must do,’ he furiously answered his own question. ‘Damn it, I know he’s still mad as hell at me, but he should have told me about the child!’ He glared at Leonie. ‘Your sister certainly had me fooled with her sweetness and understanding routine!’

‘Hawk—–’

‘They have to get married now, and soon,’ he accepted harshly. ‘But believe me, if I’ve lost this battle I’ve far from lost the war!’

Leonie felt a shiver of apprehension run down her spine; she knew he could still make things very unpleasant for Laura and Hal.

‘Holly is my baby, Hawk,’ she told him again, wishing she could sound more forceful.

‘She’s a Sinclair, damn it!’ He gazed down at Holly with dislike. ‘She looks exactly as Hal did when he was a baby.’

Leonie looked down at the fair-haired, pale-complexioned baby. She could see no resemblance to Hal at all, except perhaps that Holly’s eyes would soon turn completely grey. But Hawk seemed convinced he knew who Holly’s father was.

‘Where’s Laura now?’ he demanded aggressively.

‘With our publisher—–You can’t go there and confront her with this, Hawk!’ she cried as he looked ready to do just that.

‘I assure you I can do exactly that,’ he bit out coldly. ‘By the time I’ve finished with her she’ll know exactly what I think of her method of trapping my son into marriage. She’ll also realise what a formidable enemy I can be; I haven’t even started yet!’

Leonie felt a sinking feeling in her chest; she wished she felt stronger. Before her illness she wouldn’t have hesitated to tell him exactly what she and Laura thought of his threats. Now she was shaking so badly with fatigue it was all she could do not to burst into frustrated tears.

‘Can’t you realise—and accept,’ she said weakly, ‘that Hal wants to marry Laura?’

‘He hasn’t got any choice now, has he?’ Hawk attacked. ‘Your devious sister took care of that!’

Laura didn’t have a devious bone in her body. But she did have the strength that Leonie lacked at the moment to stand up to this man.

‘You’re right, Hawk,’ she sighed. ‘I think it would be best if you spoke to Laura—–’

‘Oh, I intend to,’ he warned, dangerously soft.

Leonie watched as he strode angrily across the lawn to the driveway, some of the tension leaving her as she heard his car accelerate away from the house with a screech of tyres.

Holly had tired of blowing bubbles now, her arms waving about in earnest as she decided that it was time for her afternoon tea. Leonie gave a smile of gratitude as June seemed to anticipate the need and came out of the house with the promised bottle. Holly latched on to it eagerly.

June looked Leonie over critically. ‘Mr Sinclair didn’t upset you, did he?’

She gave a wan smile. ‘Mr Sinclair never fails to upset me!’

The housekeeper lingered concernedly. ‘He seemed very—agitated when he left just now.’

Leonie gave a choked laugh. ‘Let’s not be polite; he was furious!’

‘At you?’ June frowned.

Leonie shrugged. ‘He doesn’t seem to approve of unmarried mothers,’ she evaded.

‘Hmph,’ June gave a disgusted snort. ‘In that case I hope he never comes back here.’

Oh, Hawk would be back, Leonie had no doubts about that!

CHAPTER TWO

MY god, thought Hawk, he had been about to apologise, to admit he had been wrong about Laura Brandon’s mercenary intentions! She had taken out the most effective insurance to guarantee that he had no choice but to accept her marriage to Hal: she had had his grandchild.

He had been about to tell Leonie exactly how often he had thought of her the last nine months, admit how much he desired her. If the housekeeper hadn’t appeared with the child at that moment he would have told Leonie Spencer just how obsessed he had become with her!

That baby—Holly, Leonie had said her name was—was Hal’s daughter, there was no doubt about that. Hal had looked exactly like that when Amy had brought him home from the hospital; it had only been when he reached six or seven that his hair had darkened to the almost-black it was now. Hal was a father when he was nothing but a child still himself!

He could forgive Laura Brandon anything but that! Hal was too young to be a father, he had plenty of years before him to take on that responsibility. But Laura Brandon was older than him and had obviously decided that motherhood would assure her of a place in his life.

And it would. He didn’t doubt that Hal was overjoyed at the child’s existence. Holly was certainly a beautiful baby; she would probably have those cute little freckles on her nose just like her aunt’s in later years—–

Hell, he wasn’t going to allow himself to think about Leonie Spencer again. She had to have known what Laura was doing, and all these months she had condoned it. She was as morally guilty as her sister.

Laura had already left her appointment with her publisher when he arrived at the office, and rather than backtrack all the way to the house and find she still wasn’t there either he put a call through to the house.

The housekeeper greeted him politely enough until he identified himself, and then her warm manner froze over. My God, thought Hawk, you’d think it was his fault Laura Brandon had used such trickery to gain a rich husband!

The woman informed him that Laura wasn’t home yet, and that Leonie was resting in her bedroom. He only just stopped himself from asking if she was feeling ill again! The welfare of the Brandon sisters was none of his concern.

He had the shock of his life to see Laura Brandon walking across the reception area of the hotel when he arrived back there after deciding there was nothing else to do but wait.

Her cheeks flushed guiltily, and his mouth tightened when he thought of exactly what she was guilty of!

‘Mr Sinclair,’ she greeted him breathlessly, her hands moving nervously.

‘I want to talk to you,’ he declared, clasping a firm hold of her arm. ‘Upstairs in my suite.’

She gave him a puzzled look as he dragged her along beside him. ‘Is there something wrong?’ she frowned.

His mouth tightened. Something wrong? Dear God, she and Hal had kept his grandchild’s birth from him, and she asked if there was anything wrong!

‘I went to the house to see you, Laura,’ he bit out coldly. ‘I saw Leonie instead. And Holly,’ he added pointedly.

Laura’s blush became one of anger. ‘So?’ she faced him defiantly.

His eyes flashed with fury. ‘So I think we need to—talk about her, don’t you?’ he grated softly.

‘No, I—–’

‘Upstairs,’ he muttered, pulling her into the lift with him, retaining his hold on her arm as she struggled to free herself.

Strange, although the two sisters were mirror images of each other, from their fiery red hair to their tiny feet, he had felt nothing for Laura Brandon except detached interest from the first. Her sister had been something else completely!

His fingers tightened in anger—with himself, and with the circumstances that had ever introduced him to the sisters.

‘You’re hurting me!’ Laura complained with a pained frown.

His fingers slackened slightly, but he didn’t release her. ‘I’d like to break your devious little neck,’ he ground out as they stepped straight into the penthouse suite. ‘Leave us,’ he ordered Jake and Sarah as they worked together in the lounge, watching them arrogantly as they packed up the papers they had been working on and left the room without complaint. He felt a moment’s regret that such a good friend and assistant as Jake should want to leave his employment, and then he turned his full attention to the woman at his side. ‘Now let’s talk about Holly.’ His voice was silky-soft.

Laura rubbed the red marks his fingers had left on her arm. ‘I can’t imagine what you want to know about her,’ she shook her head.

His mouth twisted. ‘Why do both you and your sister persist in thinking I wouldn’t be interested in her?’

She frowned. ‘You didn’t say anything to Leonie to upset her, did you?’ she asked sharply. ‘Because if you did—–’

‘Believe it or not, I do not, physically or verbally, abuse women who already look like hell!’

Her cheeks flushed defensively. ‘Leonie has been ill—–’

‘I’m well aware of that,’ he stated. ‘But it’s Holly I want to talk about!’

Laura shrugged. ‘There’s nothing to say.’

‘Like hell there isn’t!’ he flared furiously. ‘Don’t you think you and Hal should have told me about her birth instead of just letting me go to the house and finding out about her the way that I did?’ he scorned.

‘She’s completely innocent in all this,’ Laura bristled. ‘And so is Leonie. You can’t be telling me that Holly’s existence makes a difference to your approval of the marriage?’ She looked disbelieving.

Both Leonie and Laura had the ability to wring your emotions to the fullest, and then still make you bleed! He didn’t want to dislike this woman, he had wanted things to work out for Hal, but there was no way he could condone this use of trickery.

‘All the difference in the world,’ he grated, giving a cold inclination of his head.

‘But why?’ she cried. ‘I can’t believe an unmarried mother in the family would bother you that much,’ she added disgustedly. ‘If it does then I’m not sure I want to marry Hal after all!’ Her voice trembled with emotion.

‘There’s no way any of us could stop Hal legalising Holly’s birth,’ Hawk rasped coldly.

‘What?’ Laura looked at him as if he had gone insane.

‘I can’t stop him going through with the marriage now,’ he conceded scornfully. ‘But if you think I’m going to make things easy for you by approving of the marriage then you’re going to be disappointed. I can’t accept your—–’

‘Wait a minute.’ Laura had the look of a person who had completely lost track of the conversation. ‘Hal isn’t Holly’s father—–’

‘Believe me, Laura, you’d be much better telling me he is,’ Hawk told her warningly.

‘But of course he isn’t,’ she said irritably.

‘I saw Holly, damn it!’ Now he was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t lost his grip on the conversation too!

‘Beautiful, isn’t she!’ Laura gave an indulgent smile. ‘Although why on earth you should think Hal had anything to do with her birth, I don’t know. Michael is her father, of course,’ she dismissed impatiently.

‘Michael who?’ Didn’t she realise she was only making the situation worse by disclaiming Hal as the father of her child? What on earth did she hope to achieve by doing that? Hal certainly wouldn’t accept another man’s child in those circumstances!

‘Michael Spencer,’ Laura supplied abruptly. ‘Leonie’s ex-husband.’

The Brandon sisters certainly had the ability to render him speechless! After years of always being in control, Hawk found these two women completely took his breath away, for one reason or another.

‘You, and this man Spencer—–’

‘No, of course not Michael and I,’ Laura denied indignantly. ‘Holly is Leonie’s and Michael’s child,’ she explained impatiently. ‘I can’t believe Leonie didn’t tell you she was Holly’s mother,’ she frowned.

She had, of course. But he had chosen to disbelieve her. Because Holly looked like Hal!

‘She did. I just—–Are you sure this guy Spencer is the father?’ he groaned. ‘They’re divorced, aren’t they?’

‘Most definitely,’ said Laura with some relief. ‘But Michael was round asking for money about the time Holly was conceived, and although I know Leonie can’t stand him, Michael isn’t the sort of man to take no for an answer!’ she added grimly.

‘You mean—he’d force her?’ challenged Hawk, fury coursing through him at the thought of any man using force on that silken body.

Laura shrugged. ‘I’m really not at liberty to discuss my sister’s marriage. But I couldn’t stand him. And Leonie quickly learnt what a brute he was.’

Hawk swallowed hard. ‘He—hurt her?’ His hands clenched into tight fists.

‘If he felt like it.’ Laura’s cold anger was directed towards the memories. ‘Michael has to be Holly’s father, because Leonie hasn’t been out with anyone since their marriage and divorce.’

He frowned. ‘No one at all?’

Laura gave a hard laugh. ‘If you’d been married to a man who threatened you, stole from you, humiliated you, you might feel more than a little apprehensive about becoming involved again!’

‘She should have left him earlier than she did,’ Hawk declared harshly, hating the thought of anyone hurting Leonie in that way.

Laura shrugged. ‘She believed in the vows they’d taken, and tried to be true to them.’

‘While that bastard broke every one of them!’ His eyes glittered furiously. ‘Why the hell would Spencer go to Leonie for money—or anything else?’ he grated hardly.

Laura sighed. ‘Michael refused to recognise the divorce, and as he’s out of work and Leonie earns money from our books…’ She shook her head. ‘She was doing so well, regaining some of the confidence and self-respect being married to Michael had taken from her, and then she found out she was pregnant! God, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.’ She looked at Hawk with pained eyes. ‘Leonie’s life is her own affair. And so is the father of her baby,’ she added defensively.

Michael Spencer had abused his wife, taken advantage of her giving nature—– Hawk couldn’t believe that Leonie would let the other man possess her body any more after that.

‘She’s been through so much lately,’ Laura continued brokenly. ‘The premature birth, her own illness—–’

Hawk became suddenly still. ‘Holly was born early?’

Laura nodded. ‘At least four weeks, the doctors estimated. They had to do a Caesarian operation in the end. I nearly lost both of them,’ she remembered with a shudder.

Holly was premature…! Hawk began to shake.

‘Leonie was so ill after the operation,’ Laura was saying now. ‘She had no idea what was happening around her for days, even Holly’s birth. I didn’t think she was going to come through it,’ she added emotionally.

‘Did Leonie tell you Spencer was the baby’s father?’ Hawk watched Laura with narrowed eyes.

She shook her head. ‘She refuses to talk about Holly’s father at all.’

Because Michael Spencer wasn’t Holly’s father—he was!

Leonie had nearly died giving birth to his baby. Nine months ago he had taken her to bed, made love to her—and he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since. He had given her a reminder of him that meant she would never forget him either!

Why hadn’t she contacted him as soon as she had learnt she was pregnant? She had to know that she carried his child, and that he would want to know about it.

He had a daughter! That tiny bundle of blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty was his daughter.

He knew. Leonie could see the knowledge in his eyes as he faced her across the lounge after arriving with Laura a few minutes ago. Her sister seemed her normal chatty self when she came in, so he obviously hadn’t told her he was Holly’s father.

As she had known he would, he had come back here as soon as he discovered the truth, and she had guarded against it. Nothing he said or did could hurt her.

Just as nothing he had said or done nine months ago had hurt her.

She had been surprised when he returned to the house that evening, even more dismayed when he had told her he had decided to wait for Laura and Hal to get back; she had known the other couple weren’t coming back that night.

Rather than tell him the truth she had decided to brave it out and hope it became so late he would eventually leave and come back tomorrow.

Trying to entertain a man like Hawk Sinclair wasn’t an easy thing to do. She had noticed a little self-consciously that he seemed to be entertained just watching her! And those glinting eyes through narrowed lids unnerved her.

‘Do you play Monopoly?’ she encouraged.

He shook his head.

‘No.’ Perhaps he didn’t need pretend games. He succeeded only too well at the games he played for real! ‘I’m really not into games. I never take unfair advantage of a woman,’ he drawled softly.

Why did she have the feeling that statement had a double meaning? Probably because it had! This man wanted her, she could see that by the intensity of his gaze and the way he never took his eyes off her.

She didn’t want him. She found him fascinating to watch, like seeing a sleek animal in action, but she didn’t want him.

What if she repulsed him? Would it affect his decision concerning Laura and Hal? She hoped it wouldn’t actually come to a point where she had to make a choice.

‘Let’s go for a walk,’ she said impulsively, standing up.

His brows rose. ‘A walk?’ he echoed reluctantly.

She grinned. ‘Well, I realise that being rich you’re probably driven everywhere you want to go, but you surely haven’t forgotten that if you put one foot in front of the other you actually move forward? If you put one foot behind the other you can even—–’

‘Okay, Leonie,’ he said dryly, ‘I get the picture. It is the end of September,’ he reminded her hopefully.

‘Yes?’

‘The nights are getting colder—–’

‘Not that cold.’ She pulled him to his feet, moving away instantly as she sensed he was about to put his arms around her. She wasn’t afraid of him, she just didn’t want him in that way!

‘All right,’ he shrugged into the leather jacket he had draped over the chair when he arrived. ‘If the lady wants to walk, we’ll walk,’ he said wearily.

She doubted if Hawk Sinclair’s idea of a walk was to have six cats accompany him!

The cats’ idea of a walk round the garden was to ambush them every couple of steps, leaping out at them from behind bushes and tree-trunks, wrapping paws around their ankles until they were gently shaken off. Leonie and Hawk’s progress was severely handicapped by their mischievous antics.

Leonie’s mouth twitched with amusement as Hawk tried his best to hide his annoyance; he was obviously not used to having animals about him.

‘How did you ever end up with six cats?’ he finally burst out impatiently.

‘Strays,’ she supplied. ‘Every one of them. If a cat’s found wandering in the village and no one claims it then it’s brought here. We never turn them away.’

‘No dogs?’ he quirked dark brows.

She shook her head, her hair fiery-red in the last of the sun’s rays. ‘No dogs.’

‘Why not?’ He pointedly removed Rose, her pure white cat, from around his ankle.

She shrugged. ‘It wouldn’t be fair on them, neither Laura nor I have the time to walk them.’

His mouth tightened. ‘I’m sure your sister’s time is fully occupied with bedazzling Hal!’

She gave him a reproving look. ‘Laura is my image,’ she drawled. ‘And neither of us has the assets to dazzle anyone!’

He came to an abrupt halt at her side, looking down at her with dark grey eyes. ‘You don’t think so?’ he murmured softly.

She stiffened warily. ‘No.’

‘I’m dazzled,’ he stated quietly. ‘By you.’

Leonie gave a dismissive laugh. ‘Now look, Hawk—–’

‘I have,’ he said abruptly. ‘And I want it. Want you. Are you going to let me have you?’

Or what? Would he demand that Laura never see Hal again, would he smash the delicacy of their love because he had been denied what he wanted? She knew he was capable of doing exactly that, because although Hal might disregard his disapproval, Laura never would.

Could she make love with this man, with any man for such a reason? She would do anything to ensure Laura the happiness she hadn’t been able to find herself, even make love with a man who merely ‘wanted’ her for his own gratification. He would never be able to touch her emotionally, no man had been able to do that since her marriage to Michael. And the taking of her body couldn’t hurt her; it had been done too many times by Michael for one more time to matter!

He was going to be very disappointed if he thought making love to her would be more than that. Her only lover had been her husband, and his idea of lovemaking was to take his pleasure as quickly as possible, taking what he wanted like a thief in the night. If there were any other way to make love—and she was sure there had to be when so many people found the act addictive!—then she had never experienced it. And Hawk Sinclair looked as if he had experienced every pleasure that was available to him.

She drew in a nervous breath, her decision made. ‘We’d better go back to the house, the cats have no respect for privacy.’ She gave a nervous laugh. ‘Tulip once jumped on Michael’s back when—–’ She broke off abruptly. ‘Michael was my husband,’ she added awkwardly as Hawk began to chuckle at the image she had created.

‘So I gathered,’ he drawled. ‘Better make sure we close the bedroom door—the only scratch marks I want on my back tonight are yours!’

Leonie swallowed hard, wondering if she could go through with this after all. Hawk was making it obvious he expected some sort of grand performance from her in bed, and she knew she couldn’t give him that. But as they reached her bedroom she knew she had no choice, that it was too late to change her mind now. She was committed, she would see it through.

She trembled slightly as he slowly unbuttoned her blouse, revealing her bared breasts; Michael had never undressed her in this way, and he had never ever left the light burning beside the bed so that they could look at each other as they made love. Hawk was more than looking, he was touching too now!

Red-hot pleasure coursed through her, to remain a throbbing ache between her thighs. Hawk’s mouth was against her breast, his tongue lightly stroking the hardened nipple.

She whimpered low in her throat, that whimper turning to a groan as his hard mouth claimed hers, tasting her, his fingers wreaking havoc against her aroused breasts, cupping their firm weight as he lightly brushed the aching tip.

She didn’t want this man. Then why was she trembling with uncontrolled passion, knowing the first heady-sweet sensations of desire?

She gasped as his flesh seared hers, his shirt unbuttoned too now, her breasts crushed against the damp hardness of his chest. He wanted her so much a fine sheen of perspiration glistened on his body!

Her eyes widened apprehensively as he dropped to his knees in front of her, his gaze holding hers as he unfastened her denims and slowly slid the zip down, several inches of her flesh bare above the lace of her briefs. Air was sucked into her lungs as, breaking her gaze, he bent and his mouth moved surely over that exposed flesh. Tiny pinpricks of explosions spun through her body as he kissed her through the material of her denims, sliding them down her thighs to cast them aside, the barrier between her and his caressing lips even thinner now. The explosions grew almost out of control as she felt the probe of his tongue against her.

‘No!’ she cried protestingly.

He firmly removed her hand from his hair as she would have pulled him away. ‘But you like it,’ he said gruffly. ‘And God knows so do I!’

The dampness of lace clung to her, that sheer barrier no defence against his marauding tongue, and as his fingers probed beneath the lace Leonie felt her knees buckle as she fell to the floor beside him.

‘Lean back,’ he instructed huskily, bending his head as she obeyed, his mouth closing hotly on the nipple that had escaped his attention earlier, sucking strongly at the aching bud, easing some of her tension, but evoking another one between her thighs. As if he was aware of her discomfort his hand trailed to the valley between her thighs, discarding the briefs that hid her from him, covering that fiery mound with his palm as he explored the moist vulnerability between her legs, feeling her readiness for him, entering her to ease some of the aching desire.

She was out of control, trembling all over, too weak to even support her weight on her knees as she fell to the floor, taking Hawk with her, sure she would die if he didn’t go on.

She groaned her dismay as he suddenly left her, watching him through narrowed lids as he threw off his shirt before slowly taking off his denims, standing between her parted legs as he revealed the throbbing shaft that promised so much pleasure Leonie was mesmerised by the glistening velvet.

‘Tell me if I hurt you,’ he groaned as he moved between her thighs, drawing her apart and up to him, entering her slowly, sinking deeper and deeper into her flesh as she surged up towards him. ‘God, that’s good!’ His head was flung back, his eyes closed as she sheathed the full length of him, closing around him, moving against him.

His mouth claimed hers, one hand against her breast, as he slowly began to move inside her, almost withdrawing completely before thrusting back to his fullest, his tongue entering her mouth in the same rhythm, the dual invasion leaving her mindless and begging for release.

Her whimpers of ever-increasing pleasure seemed to drive him beyond control, surging into her with fierce power, pulling her legs wider apart so that he could enter her more deeply with each thrust, the fire in her loins burning out of control as quake after quake of pleasure washed her higher and higher, knowing she had taken Hawk with her as he became rigid inside her before spilling himself, hot and powerful, into her waiting warmth. She took his gift greedily, moving against him until she was sure he was completely pleasured, her arms about him as he collapsed weakly against her breasts.

Neither of them spoke, as if they knew something rare would be destroyed if they did. And soon they had no need for words anyway; Hawk was hardening inside her as his mouth moved against her in slow drugging kisses.

This time their lovemaking was hot and quick, Hawk rolling over to pull Leonie above him, holding her hips as she rode them both to shuddering release, his teeth biting hungrily on her offered nipples.

Exhaustion quickly claimed her; she was unaccustomed to even one of those earth-shattering explosions that had taken her to the heavens, having reached that pinnacle twice, her body racked by only slighter, smaller rockets of emotions in the interim. She fell asleep with her head resting on Hawk’s chest and their bodies still joined, feeling complete for the first time in her life.

Morning brought with it a rude awakening!

‘Your little diversion didn’t work!’ Hawk rasped furiously.

Leonie woke slowly at the sound of his anger, knowing instantly that she was alone in her bed, that the body she had nestled up to in the night after Hawk had carried her here some time before dawn had been removed. She opened heavy lids to look up at a fully dressed Hawk, fury glittering in accusing grey eyes.

She sat up, pushing the hair from her face, pulling the sheet up over her breasts as she realised her movement had bared them to his gaze. Not that he looked as if he could be aroused just now. Except to anger, of course!

‘What’s wrong?’ She blinked to clear the exhaustion from her mind, her body aching from the fierceness of the lovemaking she and this man had shared the night before. Maybe she should feel uncomfortable about having made love with a man who had been a stranger to her until yesterday afternoon, but the pleasure they had shared precluded her feeling anything but gratitude. She now knew what it was like to feel completely a woman, a desirable woman.

‘What’s wrong?’ he repeated scornfully, the forceful lover of the night before replaced by a man held in the grip of burning anger. ‘You knew damn well that Hal and Laura weren’t coming back here last night, and you used your body to distract me from that fact.’

‘What?’ Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

His eyes glittered coldly. ‘Don’t play the innocent with me!’ he stormed, the heavy stubble of a beard darkening his jaw, giving him a piratical look. ‘You went to bed with me last night purely as a way of diverting my attention from the fact that Hal and Laura weren’t returning—a fact that you were well aware of when you brought me here!’

The tiny bubble of hope that had begun to emerge from their closeness last night was firmly burst, the small bud of trust withering and dying, and Leonie assumed her air of detached recklessness like an old, well-worn glove. ‘I believe it was your idea that we make love, Hawk,’ she mocked lightly. ‘But you’re right, I did know Laura and Hal were away for the whole weekend. You’re completely wrong about my motives, however.’

‘Oh yes?’ he prompted contemptuously.

‘Hm,’ she nodded. ‘I had it more in mind that you might look a bit more favourably on their relationship if you had what you seemed to want—me.’ She met his gaze challengingly, knowing that none of her inner disillusionment showed; she had learnt long ago to hide her true feelings. ‘Obviously I misjudged the situation,’ she added derisively.

‘Damn right you did!’ growled Hawk. ‘Care to try a little blackmail of your own?’ he prompted softly.

Her eyes widened, then she gave a slow smile. ‘It wouldn’t look too good to Hal if he were to find out you’d taken me to bed, the sister of the woman he loves, only hours after meeting me,’ she taunted. ‘But I wouldn’t do that to Hal, Hawk,’ her eyes flashed. ‘He doesn’t deserve to be hurt by knowing what a bastard his father is!’

His mouth thinned. ‘Maybe I ought to tell him, just to show him how far you and your devious sister are prepared to go!’

Her trembling hands gripped the sheet in front of her. ‘Maybe you should,’ she agreed flatly.

‘But I won’t,’ he declared. ‘It’s bad enough that I know what sort of a fool I was last night. But if you think what happened made me look with favour on Hal’s and Laura’s relationship you couldn’t be more wrong; God knows what your sister is capable of if you’re capable of going to bed with a man to give her what she wants!’

Leonie sat forward in the bed. ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.

His mouth twisted, his eyes mocking her. ‘Whatever it is you can depend upon it being a direct result of what you did with your sexy little body last night!’

And he had left her then.

If Laura had been any other than what she was Hawk would never have got away with asking them to wait a year before marrying; he would have lost his son. He hadn’t realised, still didn’t seem to realise, that it was because of Laura that he still had a son who loved him.

Hawk’s daughter had been conceived that night in his arms when Leonie had briefly begun to hope again, even her veneer of cheerful recklessness stripped from her when she learned that she carried his child.

Looking at Hawk now, as he faced her so steadily across the lounge, waiting for her to deny that Holly was his child, Leonie knew he was the last man she should have gambled even the tiniest piece of love on, that it was just as well he had killed the emotion before it had even begun to possess her. She would have been destroyed utterly by caring for this man. Or his child.

‘If you’ve come for Holly I’m sure June could have her things packed in about half an hour or so,’ she told him calmly. ‘Do you have someone you can get to take care of her for you?’

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