After the Affair(25)

'You what!'

'You heard me. I was going to use your...your lust for me to get you to do what I wanted. But I couldn't go through with it. Even with my son's happiness at stake, I couldn't sink as low as that!'

Silence descended on the pair of them. As the fires of temper cooled Cassie began to regret her nasty words. What was to be gained by these continual slanging matches? It was better that she try to bring some civility at least into their relationship.

She sighed. 'I'm sorry, Dan. I...I shouldn't have said that.'

'Why not...? If it's true.' His voice was bitter.

She gave him a truly apologetic look. 'If you insist on going through with this marriage, then I think we should try to be friends. How can Jason be happy with parents who are always fighting?'

That undermining warmth crept back into Dan's gaze. 'I don't want to fight with you, Cassie,' he said softly. 'I've never wanted to...'

Cassie struggled to stay unaffected. Dan was looking at her as though he almost loved her, and it was hard, so hard not to respond. She reminded herself that he was clever at doing that—projecting something that wasn't real. He simply wanted her co-operation, and he meant to get it one way or another.

'Sign, Cassie,' he urged.

Her gaze dropped to the forms. She felt like she was on a roller-coaster ride, being swept along with no control, no real say. If she signed, she would be signing her life away, putting her future happiness into Dan's hands in more ways than one. She hesitated, her heart pounding, her head whirling.

'Sign!'

She glanced up into his stubborn face again, knowing that it was useless to appeal to him. She was trapped, as much by her own dark desires as anything.

She signed.

The biro dropped from nerveless fingers to clatter on to the table.

Dan stood up and began to gather the papers. 'Drink your coffee,' he said in a gentler tone. 'You look pale.'

The cup rattled in the saucer as she picked it up.

The brew was rich and hot, but Cassie scarcely noticed. She drank like a robot, all feeling stunned by the enormity of what she had just done.

'You won't regret it, Cassie,' he reassured her.

She stared up at him, long and hard. She saw an incredibly handsome man with striking dark eyes and a sensual face; a powerfully built man, with broad shoulders, a flat stomach and long, athletic legs.

She saw a stranger.





CHAPTER NINE


'Darling, you look lovely!'

Cassie gave her mother a stiff smile before returning to glance in her dressing-table mirror. She fiddled with her hair for the umpteenth time, poking some escaping tendrils up under the wide picture hat. 'I wish I hadn't let you talk me into wearing white,' she frowned. 'Or this hat!'

'But it suits you! And what's a bride, without a veil or a hat?'

Cassie glared ruefully at her bridal outfit once more. The dress was made of lace, with a fitted bodice, long sleeves and a straight slim skirt, finishing just below the knee. The silk lining was strapless, Cassie's faintly tanned skin showing through the lace on the shoulders and arms. A hint of cleavage was visible on second glance. Despite the colour, the gown did not exude a virginal quality.

Cassie breathed deeply in and out, trying to calm herself. But nothing was going to shift the knots in her stomach. Today was her wedding day. Tonight would be her wedding night...

'I can't tell you,' her mother was saying, 'how happy I am about this marriage. It's like a miracle. Roger and I can live here on the farm instead of moving into his small unit in town, and you and Jason will be just across the bridge. Speaking of Jason...I'll never forget the look on that boy's face when Dan told him he was his father. Never! It brought tears to my eyes. And if you noticed, Dan was not without a tear himself. One has to give credit where credit is due, Cassie. No matter what the man was like nine years ago, he's different now. You couldn't ask for a more loving and devoted father.'

Cassie could not agree more. Dan was there every afternoon, picking Jason up from school, keeping him company till Cassie finished work. Jason came home smelling decidedly doggy, but with tales of fun times and computer games, Dan having bought him a whole computer system to make up for eight missed birthdays and Christmases.

But that was all he had bought Jason, which rather surprised Cassie. She had feared that Dan would lavish gifts on his son, spoiling him rotten in an attempt to win the boy's affection. It seemed that that wasn't necessary. Jason was already besotted, talking about his new dad non-stop.

Cassie had also been surprised by local reaction to her coming marriage. Dan had accompanied her and Jason to the cricket game the day before, and once Jason had announced to all and sundry that this was his dad, who was marrying his mum the next day, they had been swamped with congratulations. The obvious sincerity of the good wishes had brought a lump to her throat.