After the Affair(6)

There was no doubting his shock, but he recovered quickly. 'I see... So that's it. You found out.'

'The van Aarks were only too pleased to enlighten me.'

'And what exactly did they tell you?' he said angrily, and paced towards her. 'For pity's sake, Cassie, they didn't even know the whole truth.' His hands closed over her shoulders. 'They weren't close friends, just social acquaintances. God! Do you think I confided my private affairs to people like them?'

Cassie was crazily aware of the bruising fingers digging into her shoulders. Her breathing grew fast and shallow. Her face flushed. 'Let me go!' she gasped in a panic.

'No!' he snarled. 'Not till you've listened to the truth. I was separated from my wife when I came here to stay at the island. We were getting a divorce. I didn't mean to fall in love with you, dammit! But you were so lovely...so goddamned lovely. I convinced myself that I'd be content with painting you, being with you, listening to you give voice to your bright, sweet dreams for the future. What a fool I was to think that I wouldn't end up making love to you! But I did love you, Cassie, and I meant to marry you at the time. You have to believe that!'

Believe him? He expected her to believe him? Believing in Dan had been her greatest mistake.

She wrenched out of his hold with a violent twist. 'Save your breath, Dan,' she said savagely. 'You're wasting it on me.'

He visibly fought anger at her rejection of his plea.

'Something wrong, Dan?' she mocked. 'Your plans going awry?'

New resolve firmed his face. 'Cassie, I understand how bad it must have looked. I really do. And I can see how hurt you've been, but you must listen. My wife had an accident—a terrible accident. She ‑'

'I know about the accident,' she interrupted bluntly. 'The van Aarks told me that, too. But you didn't, Dan, when you sent me my "Dear John" letter. No mention of any accident. No mention of any wife. Shall I tell you what you said? Shall I remind you?'

His mouth clamped shut in thinly disguised frustration.

'"Dear Cassie,"' she went on in sharp, bitter tones. '"I hate having to write to you like this. I would much rather be able to see you personally. To explain. But it is best that I stay right away. You are young. You will forget me in time. And, I hope, forgive me. I want you to get on with your life, my darling girl. Be a wonderful veterinary surgeon, make some man a wonderful wife, some child a wonderful mother. My love always. Dan."'

She glared at him when she had finished, head held high, eyes smarting with the salt of unshed tears.

He looked appalled. 'You know it...off by heart?'

She turned away from his sight, unwilling to have him witness her distress. She heard him approach, felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. Her heart stopped when his hands closed gently over her shoulders.

'Oh, Cassie, Cassie,' he murmured in her hair. 'I didn't tell you about my wife in the letter because I thought it would only add to your hurt. She needed me in a way I didn't think I could adequately explain. It was far too complex.'

'But I needed you, Dan,' Cassie choked out, forgetting everything but the way he was enfolding her back against his chest, forgetting every...single...thing.

'I know...I know...' He was holding her tightly, his lips against her ear. 'But you were young and strong, my darling. You could cope... I had no option then. But I'm back now. Can't you see? I'm back...'

He turned her slowly, tilted up her chin. She caught her breath as his mouth descended.

His kiss was soft and tender...sweet. His thumb was tracing her jawline, a finger stroking the sensitive flesh of her throat.

Subtly, slowly, his mouth grew more insistent, his tongue probing at her hypnotised lips. They parted slightly, allowing him entry, then further and further. Fire ignited along her veins, and before she knew it she was kissing him back with all the fervour of passions that had been buried for nine lonely years. This was the man she had once loved. This was the man who ‑

'My God!'

She wrenched herself out of his arms, shocked and shaking.

'My God!' she repeated, chest heaving, eyes awash.

'Cassie, I...'He reached for her.

'Don't!' she sobbed. 'Don't touch me! Don't say a word.'

He didn't do either. But he was clearly upset.

And why wouldn't he be? Cassie thought with bitter fury as she struggled to get control of herself. For a moment there he must have thought he'd struck the jackpot! Only back at Riversbend for an hour and, with a few half-truths smoothly delivered, he already had a willing bedmate in his clutches.

The glaring facts catapulted into her brain. He'd run into her by sheer coincidence at the auction. He certainly hadn't come back for her. He hadn't even known till he'd seen her hand whether she was married or not. In nine years she could very well have moved away somewhere; Or died! And as for that pathetic excuse about his wife not being able to cope...