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But there was only one of them in love here.

Her.

Then she looked at him and saw a determined look in his eyes that said he wouldn’t let her hold back.

“My parents’ marriage was … abusive to say the least,” she began, her throat croaky with words that had never been said before. “My father used to drink and he’d hit my mother, and my mother used to blame him for all her ills, and that in turn gave my father reason to drink. It was a vicious circle and I was caught in the middle.” She drew a calming breath. “Thankfully Dan paid for me to go to boarding school when I turned twelve. Things were much better for me then.”

A muscle knotted in his jaw. “I’m sorry.”

She gave a strained smile. “Thank you, but there’s no need.”

Dear God, she hated thinking about those days. As a little girl her father had been remote and her mother had been loving and caring, but as the years passed it seemed that her mother had forgotten she had a daughter and had been hell-bent on making her husband’s life a misery. Dan had tried to get his sister and brother-in-law some help, but they hadn’t wanted it.

“From police reports they’d been arguing hours before the family home had burned to the ground with them in it.”

“Bloody hell! I know they were dead but not how it happened.”

“I know. It gives me nightmares sometimes.”

There was a lengthy pause.

“Then I’m here to hold you.” He held her eyes captive. “Come to me, Lana.”

“Wh … what? There?” she said, looking at where he patted his lap. She was suddenly aware that they were alone.

“Yes, right here.”

He waited.

She got to her feet and closed the gap between them, sinking down to sit on his lap. It felt strange sitting here like this with him.

“Look at me.”

She lifted her head to look him in the eye.

He ran his palm up and down her shoulder in a comforting gesture. “I don’t want you to feel alone anymore, Lana.”

“I don’t. I have Megan.”

“You have me, too. Even after all this is over, I’ll still be here for you.”

Her heart rolled over. He didn’t love her but he was showing her he cared about her. Oh, how she wished things could be different.

“Thank you, Matt,” she said huskily.

He put his fingers under her chin. “Come here.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Closer,” he murmured, tugging her chin toward him. “I want your lips against mine. I want my body against yours. I want to be inside you.”

Oh my.

“Yes.” She wanted that, too.

Very much.

He cupped her face and silenced her with a kiss, and she realized that sex was his way of showing her comfort. Her heart swelled with the depth of her feelings for him.

He turned off the lamps, leaving the room bathed in shimmering light from the swimming pool outside. It gave a dreamlike quality to their togetherness as he lowered her to the thick living room rug and made slow, tender love to her.

It was so exquisite … so sweet … she cried afterward and he held her close. She’d never allowed another adult such free range of her heart before.

It stunned her.

He was truly a part of her now.

And no matter what happened in the future, no one could take this away from her.





Nine


Lana proceeded with caution over the next two weeks, her marriage to Matt having now deepened into a firm personal relationship. Yet she had to keep reminding herself it was only temporary.

And she fought herself constantly not to let him know that she loved him, especially when they made love every night, then slept, entwined together. It was wonderful waking up in his arms.

They watched television together after Megan went to bed, or they sat reading books, or sometimes Matt worked beside her in the living room rather than in his study. And they spent as much time as they could with their daughter.

As a family.

A temporary one, she needed to keep telling herself.

And Matt actually spent time with her checking over the accounts, and that meant more to her than anything. It signified that he fully believed she had nothing to do with the stolen money and had been set up to take the fall if something was discovered.

And if that were the case, who had used her in such a fashion? She still suspected Evan. The man seemed to be in her office more often than not on some pretext or other. Once she’d even found him at her desk looking through some paperwork. She’d challenged him, but he’d said he was looking for a report.

In any case, it made her burn to catch the real perpetrator, whether that was Evan or not. That person had put her very reputation on the line. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.