One-Click Buy: November Harlequin Presents (105 page)

‘Then you're a fool.' Abigail spat, tossing her hair and walking out.

‘Everything OK?' Hunter dutifully kissed Lily on the cheek for the benefit of the onlookers as she made her way over, still shaking slightly from the confrontation. ‘What took you so long?'

‘I just ran into one of your psycho ex-girlfriends in the ladies' room.' Smiling sweetly, she whispered into his ear, ‘Thanks for the warning!' But if she'd expected contrition she didn't get it, Hunter's face breaking into a grin as he swept her onto the dance floor.

‘Who was it?'

That he didn't even know who it might be should have made things worse but, despite herself, there was a sliver of a smile on her face at his appalling question. He was so utterly and completely bad, but so impossibly divine. ‘For future reference, that was the wrong response, Hunter!'

‘I never said I didn't have a past.'

‘Did you have to bring it to the wedding?' Lily quipped.

‘Come on. Who was it?'

She nearly told him, even opened her mouth to answer him, but at the last moment thought better of it, recalling the old saying of keeping friends close and enemies closer, realising there and then she'd need to keep her wits about her to play this game and survive.

‘It doesn't matter who it was,' Lily answered, her eyes suddenly serious, the teasing note in her voice completely gone as she stared back at him. ‘The fact is I told her that I trusted my husband, so don't make me a fool here, Hunter. Know that I don't give out second chances.'

‘I won't need one.'

And he said it so confidently, so assuredly, pulled her so close as they danced that for now she chose to believe him. Lily closed her eyes on the world that was watching them, waiting for them to slip up, waiting for them to fall, and just let Hunter hold her.

‘T
HIS
,'
said Hunter, pushing open a vast navy door and stepping aside to let her through, ‘is home.'

For now.

He didn't say it but she felt the two words hanging in the air, felt again the transient nature of her existence for the next twelve months.

Stepping into Hunter's vast apartment, Lily tried and failed not to be daunted by the expensive surroundings of his exclusive penthouse. His apartment,
their
apartment, took up the entire top floor of the high-rise city building, the shimmering city skyline visible not through a window but an entire glassed wall, like some scenic lookout making her slightly giddy as she neared it, as if she were standing on the edge of some unstable precipice, as if with one slip, one misplaced move she'd topple out into the vast night sky.

‘Do you want a tour?' Hunter asked, picking up a remote and flicking on some music, but Lily shook her head.

‘I'll just have a wander around, if you don't mind.'

Which she did. Wide-eyed, she took in the luxuriously expensive surroundings. The music Hunter had turned on was piped into every tastefully furnished room, and though it was undoubtedly the most exclusive opulent residence she had ever set foot inside, not for a second could it be considered a home. There was nothing ‘lived in' about it, nothing that truly denoted Hunter. He hadn't chosen the tasteful paintings that hung on the orchid-white walls or the bed-linen that was pulled taut on the vast king-size bed—somehow instinctively she knew that. It was like visiting a display home or checking into a luxury hotel, Lily thought as she pushed open a door. The marble bathroom gleamed, the toilet paper folded into a neat little V shape, shampoo and conditioner bottles full and perfectly positioned. She half expected a ‘cleaned and sealed' sign to have been placed on the lavatory. Wandering through to the kitchen it was much the same there—sparkling stainless-steel appliances that were surely never used. As Hunter joined her she pulled open the fridge and peered inside at the minimal contents—some dips and wine, a cheese platter with fruit and a jug of cream, all no doubt checked and replenished by the cleaner each morning.

‘I tend to eat out,' Hunter offered by way of explanation, ‘or if you want to eat in ring down to the doorkeeper and he'll arrange for one of one of the local restaurants to deliver.'

‘We could even try cooking something!' Lily responded, but the sarcasm was completely wasted on him and Lily tried to shrug of her unease with a smile as they made their way back into the lounge. ‘Your apartment's stunning.'

‘Really.' Hunter sounded surprised that she liked it. ‘The stereo system's great, I guess, but…' he stared around for a moment ‘…it's a bit bland, don't you think? And I hate those bloody paintings, especially that one.' He jabbed a finger towards the offending article. ‘Ten grand for a bloody triangle on top of a circle.'

‘Why did you get it, then?' Lily asked, laughing at his indignation.

‘The interior designer chose it.' Hunter put on an effeminate voice.
‘To provide a soothing focal point.'

She was only half listening, staring now out of the glass wall into the night.

The most beautiful man she had ever seen, the most complex, engaging of characters was hers to explore, to adore, to be with, and as if sensing her thoughts he crossed the room and stood behind her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist. He leaned slightly on her shoulder as he pressed his cheek against hers and gazed out at into the night, watching the birds swirling around the lights of the Arts Centre, the noisy, vibrant city of Melbourne, silent through the thick glass.

‘My sister liked you.' Hunter's low voice bought her out of her daydream and Lily smiled as she leant back into him.

‘I liked her, though she's nothing like I imagined.'

‘In what way?'

‘I just expected…' Lily bit her tongue, her choice of words perhaps a touch harsh, but from the way Hunter had described his sister Lily had been expecting a bitter, depressed woman, one struggling to come to terms with her injuries. Yet Emma had appeared anything but—her smile was infectious, her sheer joy and passion for life blatant. She was either a brilliant actress or…Lily frowned, unseen by Hunter, confused at the lack of alternatives on offer.

‘Your mum's great!' Hunter gave a low laugh.

‘You mean she's as mad as a cut snake.' Lily gave a small giggle of her own. ‘She talks about Dad as if he's just popped over to the bar and will back any minute. It used to worry me, now I just smile.'

‘I still don't get it.' Hunter's grip tightened on her, as if sensing that she'd wriggle away, and he was right, because the second he broached the subject Lily tensed. If his arms hadn't been firmly holding her, she'd surely have walked away. ‘If you'd had my parents I'd understand your views on love being a bit jaded, but your mum and dad were clearly devoted to each other. Surely, even after what happened with Mark, you'd have a little more faith!'

But, for Lily, more surprising than his insight was that for the first time she wanted to talk about it, actually wanted to share with Hunter a bit of the loneliness she was feeling.

Even if this marriage was devoid of love, there was still closeness, and maybe it would help, maybe telling him what was eating at her now would ease a fraction of her troubled mind.

‘I always thought they
were
devoted to each other—my childhood was pretty much perfect, I guess.' She was watching a train far below pull into the station, like a movie with the sound turned off, and somehow it was easier to focus on the lives on the streets below than what she was saying. ‘Mum and Dad were great. Even when I was a teenager I still got on well with them, not like some of my friends…'

‘No rebellion years?'

‘There was nothing to rebel against,' Lily answered pensively. ‘I truly thought we were all OK.'

His arms tightened around her and she leant back on him, glad of his strength, his solid warmth, grateful, so grateful that he didn't push her to go on, seemed to understand how hard it was to reveal.

‘This isn't just about your father dying, is it?' he said softly as she crumpled. ‘Tell me, Lily.'

‘I don't want to,' she whispered. Only somehow she did. Gulping, tentative she told out her story. ‘Just before he died, Mum got it into her head that she wanted to show him some photos. She sent me up to the attic…'

‘Go on,' Hunter said, and now he was pushing, but Lily was glad to have someone guiding her through this minefield of emotion, glad to have someone strong and assured to cling to as she crept tentatively on. ‘I was in the attic, sorting out old boxes and suitcases. I found some letters.' She wasn't crying any more. Her voice was bitter, her words tainted as she lived again the vileness of her discovery. ‘Some from
him,
some from
her
.' Pale lips snarled the words, and Hunter's expression told her that finally he understood. ‘It wasn't just a brief fling.' She answered what hadn't even been asked, ticked of the list of questions that she'd asked herself back then. ‘It went on for two years. I'd have been about twelve when it started. It was pretty intense…'

‘You read them all?'

‘All of them,' She nodded, closing her eyes as the torrid words that had been penned all those years ago seemed to dance in her vision. ‘And then I burnt them.'

‘Did you tell your mum?'

‘How?' Lily asked, tears starting again, hysteria creeping into her voice. ‘I raced round to Mark. I wanted him to tell me what to do…'

‘And you found out that the whole world had gone mad,' Hunter offered. In spite of herself Lily gave a watery grin at his description. When she'd found Mark with Janey it had felt
exactly
as if her world had gone mad. ‘I just couldn't tell Mum—I'd have taken away her whole life if I'd told her, taken away all her memories. How could I tell her it was all just a sham, that the man she loved, adored right till the very end, had been cheating on her?'

‘You couldn't,' Hunter said very firmly, very clearly, and it helped, helped that he concurred, that that awful, painful decision she'd made had surely been the right one. ‘You could never have told her that.'

‘I wish I'd never found them,' she whispered. ‘I wish I'd never given my career up for a man who was nothing more than a cheat, I wish I'd never found out the truth.'

‘But you don't know the truth, Lily.' His words confused her and she frowned up at him. ‘You think you found it in those letters, but that's only a fraction of it. He was still a great father and, despite what you found, he was still a great husband.'

‘He was a cheat!'

‘He was human, Lily. It's not your secret to keep or reveal.'

‘I don't understand.'

‘You probably never will,' Hunter said softly. ‘So let it go.'

‘It's not that easy…' She was quarrelling more with herself than with him because she wanted it to be the case, wanted to be able to put the truth she'd discovered aside, but she just couldn't.

‘Let him be your dad again, Lily.' He took the biggest problem in her life to date and shrank it as if by magic, folded up the impossible, complicated map she'd been trying and failing to follow and tossed it aside, offering her a far easier path to follow. ‘Don't try to work it all out.'

‘Is that what you do?' She blinked at him. ‘Just refuse to go there?'

‘Where?'

‘Inside yourself.'

‘There's nothing lurking there. I deal with things as they happen—and then I move on.'

‘No.' Boldly she confronted him. She'd given so much of herself it was as if she wanted a piece of him in return—a piece of his soul that she could keep for ever—no matter what the future held for them. ‘Hunter, maybe you didn't have the greatest relationship with them, but they were your parents and with all that's happened to your sister…'

‘Lily.' He shook his head, smiled at her almost with pity that she couldn't quite get it. ‘It happened—and beating myself up over it isn't going to change a single thing.'

‘What happened?' Boldly she stared at him, pushed for details because she needed them. ‘Hunter, it's just so recent. What happened was so awful—surely there must be some unresolved—'

‘Oh, please!' Hunter just rolled his eyes. ‘Don't start with your psychobabble.'

‘I know about your parents, what happened to Emma—were you involved?'

‘Nope.' He gave a thin smile. ‘So no
unresolved
guilt there. Yes, it was bloody, yes, it was awful, the police coming to the door isn't a particularly pleasant memory, that I'm prepared to admit. However, beating myself on the chest isn't going to change things—going over and over the hows and whys isn't going to turn back the clock.'

‘I guess…but…'

‘Leave it,' he snapped, then regretted his harshness; there was something in her voice that twisted his stomach, something he hadn't heard when he'd been sitting on the couch at New Beginnings. Far, far more than professional interest, those knowing curious eyes blazing with concern. And for Hunter, instead of reassuring him, it actually terrified him—not that she couldn't possibly understand.

More the fact that she just might.

That in revealing his pain, he might also reveal his fears.

For her.

It was more than a beat of hesitation, wrenching indecision hanging in the air as patiently she waited—offered without words this step towards intimacy.

Offered herself to the lions,
Hunter thought with sickening realisation—a future like his past, like his mother's past.

‘No buts!' he said more softly, smiled that devilish smile and promptly diverted the conversation, dragged her closer physically as he pushed her away emotionally. ‘We've got more important things to attend to now.'

‘Like what?'

‘Like consummating this marriage.'

‘Hunter…' She opened her mouth to protest, wanted so badly for him to talk to her, to reveal a bit more of himself to her, but, as always, when she ventured too far into his guarded thoughts Hunter shot her away with a silver bullet.

‘No arguments,' he said softly. ‘You're my wife now and you'll do as I say.'

‘Joking,' he added, as Lily stiffened in his arms, her eyes narrowing at his choice of words.

‘Well, it wasn't very funny,' Lily responded. ‘Because if you think—' He didn't let her finish, stopping her protest with his mouth. But nothing, not even his skilful kisses, could completely hush the incessant voice that told her Hunter hadn't been joking. Nothing, not even the mastery of his touch, could completely obliterate the troubled thoughts that tumbled through her mind.