Taggarts Woman

Pregnant, the father of her child already married and not interested in her pregnancy, her mother had been working for Max Danvers’ newly established airline at the time and hadn’t known who to turn to for help when she realised she was to have a child. The airline had been small then, with the owner playing quite a large part in the running of it, and Joyce had broken down one day and told Max Danvers of her predicament, her complete desolation. After that, he had begun to take her out, to offer her comfort when she felt so frightened of what the future held for her, until finally he had offered her and her child a home and his name. It had seemed like a miracle to her mother, believing that Max Danvers had come to love her as she had him, and she had gratefully accepted his proposal, determined to be as good a wife to him as she possibly could.

It was only after the birth of her child that Joyce had realised what had been expected of her; a daughter was not what Max Danvers wanted at all. It had been then that he had told his wife of his sterility, of the son he had wanted to continue his name, to one day inherit the empire he intended building, and that he had only married her because she was already pregnant!

But, unless he divorced Joyce and found another pregnant woman to become his wife, a daughter was what he had got, and in the end he had decided that even that was better than no child at all, everyone believing Joyce had been pregnant with his child when they were married. Only Uncle Lionel and her parents had known the truth, and it had remained that way until Heather’s mother told her about her real father.

She had understood Max’s resentment towards her then, his disappointment in her, and she had learnt to live with the fact that he practically ignored her existence most of the time, his barbs only becoming painfully obvious after the death of her mother six years ago, and then only in the privacy of their home where people wouldn’t learn that he wasn’t her father at all.

Maybe if he had been, the pain of what he was doing to her would have been too much to bear, but over the years, she had learnt to armour herself against the hurt he inflicted.

But he had known how she felt about Daniel, had somehow guessed at the love she felt for him, she was sure, and he was giving her the final punishment for not being the son he wanted, making it impossible for Daniel ever to feel anything but contempt or hate for her; contempt because if she agreed to the marriage she was obviously marrying him for the money she would inherit, or hate because if she refused to marry him she forced him to lose control of his airline.

It was a situation she couldn’t possibly win, and her father had known that!

CHAPTER TWO

HEATHER had often wished she could return the hate her father seemed to have for her, but she had grown up believing he was her father, and it was very difficult for a child to hate its parents, no matter how cruel they were. Even when her mother had told her the truth she had pitied him rather than hated him, had tried, despite his indifference, to be the sort of daughter he could be proud of. After her mother died she had known he needed her more than ever, although his bitterness was deeper than ever; too.

She had liked Daniel from the day her father first brought him home to dinner, but as it soon become apparent that her father disliked the younger man, she knew that if her father ever learnt of her feelings for his business partner it would be yet another black mark against her and, as Daniel was totally uninterested in her, it had never been necessary. But the day her father’s will—she could never think of him in any other way!—was read, she had realised she couldn’t have kept her secret hidden very well, for he had made sure she never had the one thing she had always wanted—Daniel’s love.

She and Daniel were trapped now, forced to marry each other. She would have gladly given up the inheritance she felt she had no entitlement to anyway, if it wouldn’t have hurt Daniel for her to do so. But she doubted, knowing his opinion of her privileged background, that he would ever believe her motives could be that unmercenary. To convince him she would have to tell him of her love, and pity was the one emotion she refused to accept from him.

‘Well, it’s all settled now,’ she answered her uncle with a bright smile.

‘I always thought you and Phillip——’

‘I wasn’t in love with him, if that’s what you mean,’ she interrupted with a feeling of betrayal towards the other man. It was true that she had made it clear to Phillip that she didn’t care for him in that way, but that hadn’t stopped him professing to care for her.

She would have liked to have spared Phillip the painful humiliation she knew he must be feeling at having to witness her engagement to Daniel, but as all the airline’s executives had been invited, it would have looked worse to have singled him out in that way.

‘I’m glad about that at least,’ her uncle squeezed her arm.

‘Which isn’t to say,’ she drawled drily, ‘that you aren’t going to have a very angry young man working at Air International for a while!’

Her uncle grimaced. ‘Maybe I’ll give some thought to sending him up to the Manchester office for a while.’

‘Sending who up to Manchester?’ Stella joined them, light brows arched mockingly. ‘Surely you aren’t trying to get rid of Daniel already, Heather?’ she taunted maliciously.

Heather shook her head, steadily meeting the other woman’s gaze. ‘We have all the wedding arrangements to sort out yet. Besides, Daniel owns the airline, I doubt he could be sent anywhere!’

Stella shrugged. ‘Then who is being sent into exile?’ she drawled.

‘We were just discussing poor Phillip, my dear,’ her husband put in with a sigh.

‘He left, you know,’ the other woman snapped at Heather. ‘I think you used him shamefully——’

‘Stella——’

‘She’s been leading him around by the nose for almost a year now, Lionel,’ his wife reminded him waspishly. ‘And now, just because that savage——’

‘Stella, that will be enough!’ her husband said with quiet authority. ‘Heather is doing the only thing she can in the circumstances.’

‘I always did think Max was slightly vindictive where she was concerned,’ Stella scorned, completely unperturbed by her husband’s disapproving frown. ‘It’s the only reason I can think of for wishing a man like that on his only daughter!’

The first part was true and undeniable, but ‘a man like that’ rankled; Stella had no reason to malign Daniel in that way. ‘He’s a good man——’

‘He’s uncouth!’ the other woman dismissed disparagingly. ‘That remark he made about your not being being pregnant, for instance——’

‘And wasn’t that what Rita was thinking?’ Heather’s eyes were deep purple. ‘Wasn’t that what almost all the people here had assumed?’ she scorned.

‘I think you’re being a little unfair to some of them,’ her uncle chided.

‘Well, I don’t,’ she snapped. ‘And all because we’ve decided to marry soon!’

‘With undue haste,’ Stella corrected pointedly. ‘I can’t see what all the rush is about personally, you have another six months before Max’s deadline is up.’

‘Daniel and I discussed waiting,’ Heather bit out tautly. ‘And we decided that for the good of the airline——’ She broke off as Stella gave a disbelieving snort. ‘—For the stability of the airline,’ she added firmly, ‘it would be better if we ended the uncertainty of ownership as soon as possible.’

Blue eyes raked over her scathingly. ‘You can’t wait to crawl into his bed, can you?’

Heather paled at the viciousnesss of the taunt, all the more hurtful because it was the truth. When Daniel had asked her earlier if she were willing to share his bed, to give herself to him, she had known a thrill of anticipation like never before. She could imagine nothing more wonderful than being his woman. But it was his wife she was destined to be, a wife he was forced to accept, and not his woman at all.

Her eyes flashed as she glared at her aunt. ‘I think our sleeping arrangement once we’re married will be no one’s concern but our own——’

‘Or before we’re married,’ drawled Daniel as he suddenly appeared at her side, his arm moving possessively about her waist, his flinty gaze fixed on Stella’s flushed face. ‘Don’t you know better than to taunt children? he jeered softly.

Stella relaxed a little, glancing dismissively at Heather. ‘That child will be your wife in a month’s time!’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘As Heather has already said, we don’t believe that is any of your business.’

Stella gave him a taunting smile. ‘I suppose you should be admired, really,’ she mocked.

‘You——’

‘Heather, I’ve performed all the duty dances that I’m going to,’ he firmly cut in on her angry outburst, letting the other woman know that was all he considered his dance with her to be. ‘When are we going to throw this lot out so that we can be alone?’

Lionel chuckled softly, obviously relieved to have someone step in and prevent the two women from indulging in a full-scale battle. ‘I think that’s a hint for us to make the first move to leave,’ he told his wife indulgently.

‘I can’t imagine why the two of you would want to be alone,’ Stella remarked, determined to be the one to have the last word.

Daniel looked at her with flinty eyes, before turning pointedly to Heather’s alluring curves outlined in the clinging black dress, and then back again to the more obviously displayed charms of the older woman in the low-cut red dress. ‘Can’t you?’ he taunted softly. ‘I’m sure all the men in this room could give you numerous reasons!’

Strange as it felt, Heather was grateful for Daniel’s defence of her, especially when Stella flounced off in search of her wrap, her chuckling husband following once he had kissed Heather warmly on the cheek and shaken Daniel by the hand. It was the first time that any man, with the exception of Uncle Lionel, had defended her in that way, and it felt a little strange to feel gratitude to a man who obviously held her in contempt.

Daniel shook his head as he watched the other couple leave, the expression on Stella’s face boding ill for the older man once they were safely outside. ‘I don’t know how Lionel puts up with the shrew,’ he muttered drily. ‘If you turn into a witch like that I’ll put you over my knee and spank you,’ he warned harshly.

She stiffened, moving away from his arm about her waist. ‘I’m grateful for your intervention just now,’ she bit out abruptly. ‘But I believe there are several things we need to discuss before we can be married.’

‘Why do you think I want “rent-a-crowd” to leave?’ he rasped. ‘I want this thing settled, and I want it settled tonight!’

‘Are you sure you can spare the time?’ Her eyes flushed the colour of the flower she had been named for.

‘Just,’ he snapped grimly.

Her cheeks were flushed with anger at his arrogance, but she forced herself to relax as their guests took note of Lionel and Stella’s departure, and came over to congratulate them one last time as they began to take their leave.

An hour later her cheeks ached from smiling so much, although she knew Daniel couldn’t be suffering from the same affliction, his goodbyes terse to say the least. But finally the last guests had taken their leave, and they were now free to leave the staff to clear up the debris of the party while they retired to the small sitting-room where coffee was waiting for them.

Heather handed Daniel a cup of the black, unsweetened coffee she knew he preferred, watching as he curled a hand around the cup to take a sip, completely ignoring the delicate handle. Considering how hot the coffee had been when she poured it out, she was surprised he hadn’t burnt his mouth. Although from his grim expression, he wouldn’t have noticed even if he had!

He stood across the room from her, his restlessness something to be sensed, as he stood completely unmoving. ‘Well?’ he suddenly rasped.

Her hand shook slightly, spilling some of her coffee into the saucer. She didn’t pretend to misunderstand what he meant. ‘Well, fortunately, although my father took care of the idea of divorce—’ the shares were to be sold and the money distributed to the various charities, exactly as it would have been if she didn’t marry Daniel! ‘—he didn’t say anything about us having to have a normal marriage——’

‘In other words, you would prefer to leave things as they are?’ he said drily.

‘No, I wouldn’t!’ She swallowed hard at the speculative raise of his eyebrows. ‘I don’t like—like a Cassandra in your life.’ She looked away after having made the admission.

‘A mistress, you mean?’ he drawled.

‘Is that really what she is?’ Heather frowned. ‘Not a lover, or—or girl-friend?’

‘I go to her for only one reason,’ he shrugged. ‘So, what do you think?’

The other woman was his mistress! ‘Everyone must know that, and—and——’

‘And you couldn’t stand the humiliation of people thinking you can’t satisfy me in bed,’ he said mockingly. ‘Can you satisfy me in bed?’

How did she know; she had never tried to satisfy a man anywhere! But Daniel seemed to think Phillip had been the most recent in a long line of lovers for her, and she wasn’t about to tell him that after the mess her mother had made of her life, pregnant by one man but marrying another, she wasn’t about to take any risk of getting pregnant without a husband herself. Since meeting Daniel she had been glad she hadn’t fallen into the bed-hopping trap many of her friends had just because it was expected of them, for she knew that he was the only man she had ever wanted in that way.

She looked at him challengingly. ‘Can you satisfy me in bed?’

His mouth twisted in the semblance of a smile. ‘Would you like to find out?’

Her mouth suddenly went dry at the instant way he had accepted her challenge. ‘I——’

‘Maybe we should find out,’ he suggested slowly, putting down his empty cup to advance on her as she pressed back against the sofa. ‘After all—’ he took the cup from her unresisting fingers ‘—we should know what we’ll be getting from this marriage,’ he added harshly.

The pressure of his body on hers forced her back on to the sofa, and her mouth was open in protest as his lips descended on hers.

She was lost from the first touch, groaning softly as his mouth moved over and against hers in insistent demand, her arms moving up about his neck as her fingers became entangled in the thickness of his hair, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers.

She had dreamt about his kisses, longed for them, even as she told herself they would never be hers. But they could all be hers, if only she could please him now!

She arched into his hand as he cupped her breast through the thin material of her dress, his body feeling warm and inviting as her arms moved beneath his jacket for closer contact, their kisses becoming wild as she felt the urgency of his response, glorying in his hardness, knowing she could satisfy him.

Her hair became a silken curtain over her face as she turned her head, Daniel’s mouth moving down her throat, his deft fingers sliding the zip down her back to pull her dress off one shoulder, baring a breast for his hungry mouth. As he suckled and pulled and nibbled it felt like a thousand tiny needles of pleasure melting her body to pliancy, his hand moving up her thigh beneath her dress now, moving higher and higher…!

She gasped at the warm rush between her thighs, pushing against him, groaning her frustration as his hand was suddenly removed, her breast a swollen ache as his mouth left her, too. She blinked up at him dazedly as he stood up, straightening his shirt and jacket.

She swallowed hard, feeling bereft, her body still aching for him. ‘Why did you stop?’ Her voice was husky with longing.

‘I didn’t think a sofa, in the middle of a house crowded with servants, was the right place to finish this,’ he drawled dismissively.

‘But I—we——’

‘You,’ he corrected hardily. ‘I believe we just answered your question.’

The colour drained from her cheeks. ‘But I thought you—too——’

Daniel looked down at her with mocking grey eyes. ‘We’ve just proved that I can satisfy you,’ he told her drily. ‘The fact that I became aroused by your response is not the same thing.’

It wasn’t? But——Heather pulled her dress back into place as she realised her breast was still bared to him, the nipple pouting hungrily for the touch of his lips. ‘You didn’t exactly seem to hate it,’ she snapped in her humiliation, sitting up, surprised to see that the minute hand on her watch showed that only ten minutes had elapsed since she had gone into his arms; in that ten minutes her whole life had changed.

‘I think we know enough now to give this marriage a try,’ he continued abruptly. ‘What do you think?’

It was as if their lovemaking had just been an experiment, coldly thought out, coldly executed. And maybe to Daniel it had been, but she could never think of her fiery response to him in the same unemotional way. ‘No more Cassandras?’ she prompted softly.

His expression was mocking. ‘Not initially, anyway,’ he agreed. ‘We’ll give it a couple of months to see how we get on together before making promises neither of us can keep. After all, just now didn’t really prove that much.’

Only that she forgot everything but him as soon as he touched her! She would make it the same way for him.

‘All right,’ she nodded. ‘We’ll—we’ll be lovers for two months after we’re married and see what happens.’

‘Oh, I think we both know what will happen, Heather,’ he taunted crudely. ‘It’s just a question of one of us becoming bored with it happening!’

She moistened her lips with the pink tip of her tongue. ‘Does that happen—to you, often?’

‘All the time,’ he answered uninterestedly, glancing at his watch. ‘Why else do you think I’ve never married?’

She shrugged. ‘Because you’ve never fallen in love.’

Daniel gave a disbelieving snort. ‘Surely you realise that love is the last thing to come along in a relationship, that desire and wanting come first, and that more often than not once they have been satisfied love never rears its ugly head!’

‘Ugly?’ She swallowed at his description of the emotion that had caused her more pain than any other, but which she acknowledged had also enriched her life.

His eyes narrowed. ‘It devours and dominates, makes you half a person. It’s an emotion few can afford!’

She knew he was telling her that this was the reason for his success, that he had pushed love from his life to achieve the wealth and prestige he had wanted, and that he intended keeping it from his life. She felt a sinking feeling in her heart.

‘And certainly not me,’ he harshly confirmed her thoughts. ‘We’re being forced into this marriage by your father’s will,’ he told her with brutal honesty. ‘Don’t get any romantic ideas about me; they would be a complete waste of time!’

‘Have many women dared to have “romantic ideas” about you?’ she scorned to hide the pain his words caused, knowing that few women could feel romantic about this hardened man. She just happened to be one of the ones who did!

‘I’m more accustomed to mercenary ones,’ he conceded gratingly. ‘I can live with them.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘Your motives are no more innocent than mine!’ she snapped.

‘Then we start out as equals,’ he drawled mockingly, again glancing at his watch. ‘I think you were also concerned earlier about where we’re going to live after the wedding?’ He raised dark brows.

She should have known this sharp-eyed man wouldn’t have missed her questioning glance in his direction when they were asked that. ‘Where are we going to live?’

Daniel drew in a ragged breath. ‘I have no intention of moving in here,’ he told her challengingly.

Heather gave a nod of calm acceptance. ‘Then we’ll sell this house and find somewhere we both like——’

‘You aren’t going to argue about it?’ He eyed her warily.

Her mouth quirked at his suspicious expression. ‘Why should I?’

‘Because you’ve lived in this house all your life.’ He still watched her frowningly.

‘Then it’s time for a change,’ she shrugged. ‘I would like to take some of the staff with me, if that’s all right with you?’ She looked up at him enquiringly. ‘The ones that have been with us the longest,’ she explained. ‘We wouldn’t need all of them, because I think a smaller house would suit our needs better than this one. If you agree, of course?’

Daniel still watched her warily, as if she had suddenly become someone he didn’t recognise. ‘If I agree?’ he echoed drily.

‘Well, it’s going to be our house, and——’

‘You’ll be spending the most time in it,’ he cut in harshly. ‘Buy as big a house as you want—or don’t want. As long as I don’t have to live here I don’t care!’ His eyes glittered coldly.

Heather blinked at his vehemence. ‘Couldn’t we choose somewhere together?’

‘I told you, I won’t be there that much—and not for the reason you’re thinking,’ he grated at her frown. ‘I don’t say things I don’t mean, Heather, and if I’ve said I’ll be faithful to you for at least the first two months of our marriage then I damn well will! I won’t be at home much to start with because after the last damaging six months of uncertainty I’m going to have to work damned hard to rebuild the airline’s reputation as a stable one!’

‘I’m sorry,’ she gave a guilty blush. ‘I only——Couldn’t I perhaps find two or three places I think might be suitable and then just show you them quickly one day? I promise not to take up too much of your time,’ she added persuasively.

He looked irritated. ‘Don’t try and make me feel guilty because I have to try and correct the damage your father did to——’

‘I wasn’t,’ she assured him quickly, feeling as if she had to walk on eggshells around this man. ‘Daniel, are you sure you’re going to be able to cope with the tie of a wife?’

‘No, I’m not sure at all.’ His eyes glittered. ‘But neither of us has a choice!’

She could already see how he was chafing at having to explain even the most impersonal of things to her, and wondered what it would be like once they were married.

But he was wrong about the choice; she did have one. It was just one she knew she could never take, not when it meant hurting Daniel so much.

‘Daniel, I’m as upset about my father’s will as you are,’ she began.

‘Oh, I realise that,’ he derided. ‘I’m sure you expected to walk away with a fortune, not a husband as well! I know why Max hated me; I just wonder what you ever did to him!’

She turned away to hide the pain in her clouded eyes. ‘He wanted a son; he got me.’ She flatly told him the half-truth, the wound of Max Danvers’ rejection, although an old one, still raw.

‘And he wanted money but instead he got me,’ Daniel rasped harshly. ‘And now, it seems, we have each other!’

Even now, loving him as she did, she wished there were something she could do to release him from the tie to her that he didn’t want. But there was nothing she could do.

She sighed. ‘I’ll try not to be intrusive on your life in any way.’

‘I never wanted a wife!’ he exclaimed with impatient anger.

‘I promise you——’

‘Don’t make me any promises, Heather,’ he scorned. ‘Women are notorious for breaking them!’

She would like to think, much as it would also pain her, that he had once cared enough for a woman to have been hurt by her; at least then she could have some hope that he was capable of love! But she was sure that wasn’t how he had come to his biased conclusion concerning women, he didn’t seem to care for anyone.

‘Then only time will show you that I mean what I say,’ she sighed. ‘I’ll intrude on your life and time as little as possible.’