Kitabı oku: «Commander's Little Surprise», sayfa 3
Dan sensed Victoria’s emotional withdrawal. He ached to kiss her again and yet again, but the anxious look in her eyes stopped him. Reluctant to let her go, he murmured a protest and held her against him long enough for his arousal to pass.
“Under the circumstances,” he said wryly, “it might be wiser to keep my distance from now on, but right now I need a moment or two.”
“Well?” he finally said softly. “Now do you remember me?”
Victoria shook her head and touched her lips with trembling fingers. “No. I’m still convinced you have the wrong woman.”
“Coward.” He gently outlined her lips with his thumb. “Is it because you really don’t remember me? Or is it that, for some reason, you’re afraid to admit it?”
Victoria shook her head. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, distracted by the yearning in Dan’s eyes but firm in her resolve to keep him from guessing the truth.
“Victoria! There you are!” Wade Stevens called through the French doors. “Lydia just called. She’s worried that your first social outing since your husband died is going okay. I told her you were fine.”
Dan clasped his hands behind him to keep from reaching for Victoria again. “Why didn’t your cousin introduce you as a married woman?”
Victoria shrugged to hide the way her heart was breaking at the reminder she had been married to the late Rolande Bernard. “It was only a social introduction. There was no need to tell you I have recently been widowed.”
He looked shocked, but there was no other way to get him to back off and leave her alone.
Dan knew he had to let Victoria go. A recent widow, he had no right to be attracted to her. Even if it was damn clear he was on the verge of falling head over heels for her again. She not only didn’t fit into his five-year plan, she was part of royal family. Wade, he thought again, had been lucky in his choice of a wife, but he didn’t intend to take the same chance.
But what did bother the hell out of him was that he was jealous of a deceased man.
“Under the circumstances, it was gracious of you to come here tonight.” He tried but he couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice.
“It’s more of a family thing. I didn’t want to disappoint May, so I came here tonight.”
She straightened the neckline of her dress, smiled politely and turned away to leave. But not before she paused a long moment and glanced back at him.
Shivers ran up and down Dan’s spine again as he read the unhappy message in her eyes. She was trying to tell him they would never meet again.
He was sure Victoria had been about to say something to him before she left. Instead, there had only been that brief flash of sadness in her eyes before she disappeared through the French doors.
Dan’s mental antenna tingled. He was ready to stake his life on the fact that she was hiding her true identity. She had to be afraid of admitting they had been together.
Afraid? God, he thought and raked his fingers through his hair. Why would she be afraid of him? All he’d wanted to do was to prove she had been the woman he’d made love to in Baronovia. To show her how much he’d cared for her then and even now.
Widow or not, he made up his mind not to let her leave before she told him why she had looked at him that way. Muttering to himself, he made his way through the ballroom and across the hall. Waiters were still passing trays of canapés, champagne was flowing freely and May Stevens was greeting latecomers. He drew her aside.
He’d never been the kind of man to mince words and he didn’t intend to start now. “Sorry, duchess, I know you set me and your cousin up, no…don’t deny it. What I want to know now is, why. And when you’re finished explaining, I would like you to tell me where Victoria has disappeared to!”
May looked surprised. “I don’t know what you mean. I only thought that since Victoria was here tonight without an escort, you could keep her amused.”
Dan wasn’t satisfied, but he wasn’t prepared to force the issue. This was, after all, May’s home and Victoria was her cousin.
“I don’t know where she is now,” May went on as she looked around the room. “She didn’t say goodbye. Why don’t you ask Wade?”
Dan eyed May’s flushed features suspiciously. “That’s it?”
“Of course. Victoria is a widow. I was only trying to make her feel at home.”
Dan apologized, then headed over to Wade, who was busy helping tend the bar. When he got close enough to be heard over the noise, he leaned over the bar and asked, “Do you know where Victoria is? She’s disappeared.”
Wade shrugged and poured a whiskey on ice. “Beats me. Have you asked May?”
“Yep. Unfortunately, May says she’s clueless,” Dan answered dryly, “but between me and you, I have my doubts.”
“Tried the ladies’ room?
Whatever May might have known of the reasons for Victoria’s disappearance, Wade wasn’t in on it. Dan shook his head.
Wade poured a beer for another guest and wiped his hands on a towel. “My guess is Vicky was tired and went home.”
Dan nodded and turned away. He had no right to ask any more questions, or to go after Victoria.
Maybe she hadn’t been his mystery woman after all.
THERE WAS a light knock on Victoria’s bedroom door. She lay curled up in the center of her bed, a book lying unread beside her. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Come in, Lydia.”
Lydia entered her bedroom. “I saw your light under the door, my dear. I wanted to say good-night.”
Victoria smiled sadly. Dear Lydia seemed to know how much she missed her husband. He had been almost thirty years older than her. Rolande had had steel-gray hair at his temples and a trim body of a much younger man. A twentieth-century man in the twenty-first century, he had been courtly and respected. “You don’t have to have permission to enter my bedroom, Lydia. You know you’re always welcome here.”
Lydia smiled. “I know. I just didn’t want to disturb you. I wanted to see if you had actually fallen asleep with the light on.”
“I was only thinking,” Victoria said.
“Of Rolande?”
“Yes.”
Lydia smiled sadly. “How could I forget such a fine man? It is a shame he had to die under such circumstances.”
Victoria studied Lydia and sensed it hadn’t only been the light that had attracted her. There was a questioning expression on her dear face. She stirred uneasily. “Is there something wrong?”
Lydia laughed. “I was about to ask you the same question, Vicky. You know me too well.”
“As you seem to know me. What is it?”
“I am still troubled by your reaction to the invitation to your cousin’s housewarming. I also noticed you appeared unhappy when you returned home.” Lydia paused and studied her for a long, deep moment. “You look disturbed now, my dear. Did you meet someone tonight out of your past?”
Victoria smiled ruefully. “How did you guess?”
“I’m no fool, Vicky. Only such a meeting could have left you looking so unhappy.” Lydia studied her for a long moment. “You haven’t forgotten your bargain with Rolande, have you?”
Victoria bravely met Lydia’s gaze. They had always been honest with each other. She would be honest now.
“No, of course not. Rolande meant too much to me.”
Lydia hesitated, then went on. “I also would like to remind you how important it is you let someone know if there is a problem.”
Although she smiled her agreement, Victoria felt guilty when she recalled the way she’d reacted when she’d been introduced to Dan. “I know. As I said a moment ago, you know me too well. The meeting tonight meant nothing to me.”
“Then, you have nothing to fear, Vicky,” Lydia said. “Just remember, you’ve always had me to watch over you. Even now.”
“I know, and I love you all the more for it,” Victoria replied. “You’ve always been more than a friend to me.”
Lydia nodded. “Then I will say good-night, my dear. Sleep well.”
Victoria sank back against her pillows. If Rolande had been alive, she would have asked him to stay the night with her. She would have thrown back the bedcovers and invited him to join her. To stay and hold her in his arms. He had always made her feel so safe.
Victoria closed her eyes. If Rolande had been able to make love with her, she would have welcomed him. Instead, they both had had to be satisfied with their situation and with the strong bond they’d forged between them.
Her thoughts turned pensive.
She had discovered, and only by chance, that her anxious parents had arranged her marriage to Rolande because he had been a man old enough and wise enough to ensure her safety and happiness in a world that, in their opinion, had gone awry as proven by her cousin’s marriage to an American naval officer.
When she had come to Rolande with the truth before their wedding, he had been honest with her. He, too, had a secret to share. They would do well together, he’d told her as they made their bargain. Impotent, a child to carry on his name had been his dearest wish.
There was no way she would betray the trust Rolande had placed in her.
Chapter Four
In the morning, Victoria awoke to find sunlight streaming through the lace curtains on the bedroom windows. The distant sound of a vacuum cleaner outside the door told her she’d overslept.
She’d been exhausted from worrying over her reaction to meeting Dan O’Hara again.
Poor Rolande, she mused guiltily as she turned over and stared at the carved ceiling above the bed. Even knowing he hadn’t been able to meet her needs, he’d always tried to be kind and compassionate. He’d deserved so much more from her than her gratitude then. Even in death he deserved her loyalty.
How loyal could she be to his memory when she wasn’t able to put her long-ago encounter with Dan in the past where it belonged? How loyal could she be when just the memory of Dan’s tongue tracing her lips and his hands stroking her breasts caused molten heat to engulf her?
A knock on the door saved her from her runaway erotic thoughts. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was long past the time when she was usually up and around. “Come in, Lydia!”
Her long-time companion entered the room carrying Caroline, Victoria’s baby daughter. To Victoria’s dismay, tears had formed in the baby’s velvety blue eyes. One look at her mother and the baby held out her arms.
“It’s almost ten o’clock and this little imp has been crying for you for the past ten minutes,” Lydia said. “I tried to distract the little darling, but she doesn’t want her nanny or me. She wants only her mama to give her her bath.”
Right on cue, Caroline babbled what sounded like mama.
Tickled that Caroline was beginning to talk, Victoria reached for the baby. “Come here, sweetheart,” she said with a wide smile to cover her aching heart. There was nothing better to chase away her unhappiness than holding her baby daughter.
Victoria rubbed noses with the babbling little girl and kissed the tiny hands that pulled at her face and hair. It was true. Whenever it was possible, Caroline’s bathing ritual was kept for her, at her request. She looked forward to the moments when she would wash Caroline’s soft baby skin, dry her with a warmed towel and rub her tiny body with sweet-smelling baby powder. It was in these moments that she could forget the disturbing moments in the past and allow herself to enjoy the present.
“I’m sorry,” she told Lydia with a wry grin. “I’m afraid I was worn-out after May’s housewarming party last night.”
Victoria hid her face in Caroline’s tummy and blew air bubbles. If ever she needed to remember what she could lose if she allowed the past to intrude, these precious moments with the baby were a reminder.
Lydia busied herself with hanging up the dress Victoria had worn last night. “Have you forgotten May invited you to tea this afternoon?”
“No, I haven’t.” Victoria pulled a lock of her hair out of Caroline’s fist and kissed each dimple on each tiny knuckle before she threw back the bedcovers. “In fact, I am particularly eager to speak to my cousin—the sooner the better.”
“So?” Lydia peeked out from the closet. “Something did happen at the housewarming to upset you?”
“I’m afraid so. Please stay for a few moments, Lydia.” She gave Caroline a hairbrush to distract her. “I met a man at May’s housewarming last night, Dan O’Hara. You were right. He’s the American I met at May’s wedding.”
Lydia gasped and covered her lips with her fingers. “He recognized you?”
“Maybe. I honestly don’t know. I insisted I wasn’t the woman he thought he remembered before I left. I think I managed to discourage him, but I didn’t remain long enough to find out.”
Lydia shook her head and took the brush out of Caroline’s mouth. “I sensed you were upset when you came home last night, but I never imagined anything like this. What are you going to do now?”
“Do? Nothing,” Victoria answered firmly. As if she needed a reminder of who she was today, she glanced at the lace curtains embroidered with the Baronovian coat of arms. The symbols reminded her she was a member of the royal family and had been married to her country’s ambassador before she had assumed the post upon his untimely death. “I made a bargain with Rolande and I intend to keep it,” she said softly. “I will never do anything to hurt his memory.”
Guilt flooded her again. She had to forget Dan. She had to forget the touch of his lips against her throat out on the patio last night and the thrill of having his hand caress her bare back.
Lydia wiped a tear from the corners of her own eyes. “It’s my fault for urging you to go to May’s housewarming last night!”
“Please don’t blame yourself. I knew that once I came to Washington, meeting Dan was bound to happen sooner or later. He is my cousin’s husband’s best friend, after all. Please, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
Lydia didn’t look convinced. “Perhaps, but you are young. I pray no harm comes from this meeting.”
Victoria threw the bedcovers aside, put on her robe and slippers and plucked Caroline out of the bed. “Time for your bath, sweetness,” she told the baby. Before she left the bedroom, she glanced back at Lydia. “Nothing bad is going to happen. I intend to make sure that it doesn’t!”
“IF YOU SUSPECTED Dan O’Hara was the man I met in Baronovia how could you have introduced us last night?”
Her cousin, the Duchess Mary Louise of Baronovia, now May Stevens, gasped. “Oh, Victoria! I never knew who the man was, any more than you did. I just wanted you to have company and to enjoy yourself during the evening. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Nothing now,” Victoria replied. “I’m afraid it’s too late. Somehow Dan tied me in with a woman he said he met at your wedding. He asked questions, but I pretended not to know what he was talking about. I only hope I was able to convince Dan I’m not his mystery woman.”
“Is there nothing I can do to help?”
“You can back me up if he comes back to question you.”
“I’m not very good at telling white lies. At least, that’s what my Wade tells me. But I promise to try. I hate to see you so unhappy.”
Victoria crumbled the blueberry scone on her plate and studied the tea leaves at the bottom of her cup of cold tea. In spite of her brave words to Lydia, and now to her cousin, she still felt an ache around her heart.
“Happy? What is happiness?” she finally asked. “It’s a different thing to different people. As for me, I have never regretted my bargain with Rolande. Besides, nothing good could possibly come of my meeting with this Dan O’Hara.”
“Don’t mistake me, Vicky,” May answered slowly, as if she debated the wisdom of what she was saying. “From the few remarks you’ve made about your husband, I know the truth about him. I was fond of Rolande, but I am more fond of you,” she went on, compassion shining in her eyes. “You may call me a romantic, but I believe in true love, in destiny. A destiny where even unlikely lovers such as Wade and I were fated to meet and marry,” she said as a tender smile curved at her lips. “I only feel you are much too young to remain a widow.”
Victoria shook her head. “No woman could have asked for a better husband. Besides, I have Caroline.” She thought of the bargain she had made with Rolande. “There is no way I wish to meet Dan O’Hara again.”
May waved away the servant hovering by the table ready to refill the teapot with hot water. She lowered her voice in an effort not to be overheard. “I am sure Rolande was a good husband to you. After all, he was a friend of our family for many years. I also happen to know that the love you shared with him, although admirable, is not enough for a lifetime.”
Victoria gasped and glanced around the sunny breakfast room to see if anyone had overheard her cousin’s frank remark. “What you are suggesting?”
Her cousin shrugged. “I’m not suggesting anything. I’m merely saying you should not feel guilty about the way you feel about Dan. Since he and Wade work together and are close friends, I’m sure you will meet him often.”
When Victoria remained silent, May asked, “Surely you are not afraid of Dan or what he might say if he decides you were the woman he met just before my wedding?”
“No, of course not,” Victoria said without conviction. “I’m afraid of myself…my own reaction to meeting him again. I don’t want any complications in my life.”
“Not for you, perhaps,” May agreed. “But how about Dan? You have to remember you’re not alone in this.”
Victoria dropped her crumpled napkin on the table, and with a sigh rose to pace the floor. After a few moments in deep thought, she turned back to May. “I do remember there were two of us,” she whispered. “In fact, I remember that too well. But I would never do anything to hurt Rolande’s memory.” Even as she spoke, she had to push away the unforgetable sensation of Dan’s lips on hers and his hands on her bare back.
May gestured to the large picture window overlooking the nation’s capital’s buildings. “Out there is my new country, the United States of America. A country both my husband and your Dan O’Hara serve as naval officers. Dan is an American citizen and so is your daughter…there may come a time when Caroline chooses to claim her birthright.”
Victoria interrupted with a sound of protest. “He’s not my Dan!” she said, even as she thought about the night before her cousin’s fairy-tale wedding. There had been a glint in his eyes and laughter on his lips. That smile had attracted her the night they met and that smile, heaven help her, attracted her even as she thought of it now.
“Perhaps not,” May said with a wry smile as she rang for the maid, “but I think it’s different with Dan. I recall the way he looked for you last night after you left, Vicky. You left him wondering.”
Victoria shook her head. “He asked many questions, but I was careful not to give him any answers. Besides, how could he have recognized me a year and a half later? I’ve changed the color of my hair and it was dark that night.”
“Apparently he recognized you anyway.” May grinned unabashedly at the blush that came over Victoria’s face.
“I’m afraid so.” Unable to meet her cousin’s eyes, Victoria looked out the window again. Her first thought was that her cousin was right; Caroline was as much an American citizen as she was a citizen of Baronovia. A status that, particularly in these troubled times at home and throughout the world, might one day be valuable.
Her second thought was one of relief that she hadn’t told May about the details of the night she and Dan had first met. How she and Dan had slowly and sensuously undressed each other, then lost themselves in each other. She forced her thoughts away from the passionate interlude. Otherwise, she would have wept.
“You must remember your daughter Caroline is her father’s child as well as yours,” May went on.
“Dan may be a citizen of the United States, but as far as I’m concerned, the only father my daughter has was Rolande.”
“One never knows what tomorrow may bring, thank goodness,” May laughed. “The least you can do is to see Dan, to get to know him as a friend. You never know, you might need him one day.”
“How?” Victoria whispered. “How do you become friends with a man you once loved and lost?”
May threw her arms around Victoria. “I have plans to visit JAG headquarters this afternoon to meet Admiral Crowley, the Judge Advocate General. He was out of town yesterday and missed my housewarming. Why don’t you come with me? Dan is a gentleman. Once you see you have nothing to fear from him, perhaps you will think more kindly of him. As a friend, only a friend,” she hurried to add when she saw a look of panic come over Victoria’s face.
“All right,” Victoria agreed, even as she felt a stab of fear run through her. Last night had been a gamble; did she dare gamble again? “I’ll go with you for Caroline’s sake, but I don’t intend to become too friendly.”
May laughed and tucked her arm in Victoria’s. “I’m afraid you already have done the worst you could do,” she said with a teasing smile. “Take heart, we don’t have to remain at JAG too long.”
Obviously happy now that she had convinced Victoria to meet Dan again, May rang for her maid. “How strange life is. I happily gave up my diplomatic responsibilities at the same time you acquired yours. Trust me, Vicky. All will go well as long as you are here.”
Victoria wasn’t so sure. Caroline, after all, had her birth father’s warm bright eyes, the color of his hair. It was up to Victoria to keep Dan and Caroline from meeting, if she wanted her daughter’s paternity a secret. She refused to think of Dan as Caroline’s father.
“Only if you don’t speak of Caroline, particularly to Dan.” Victoria gazed out the window at the Capitol Building where a large flag announced members of the government were back in session. Like it or not, her cousin was right; Caroline was as much an American as she was a Baronovian.
She was reluctant to go with her cousin to visit JAG headquarters, but the thought of seeing Dan there made her senses sizzle. She simply couldn’t afford to feel that way, but deep in her heart she knew she had to see Dan at least one more time before she put him out of her heart forever.
JUDGING FROM the excitement going on outside his office, Dan was sure some well-known celebrities were visiting. He glanced through his office windows in time to see the rush to greet his friend and fellow lawyer, Commander Wade Stevens, and his exquisite, petite royal wife. To his surprise, standing slightly off to one side, and regarding the group with a wistful smile, was the last person he thought to see again so soon—Victoria Bernard. He’d learned her married name, all right, but the learning hadn’t made him forget her.
His pulse raced. Last night, in her sexy, clinging black cocktail dress, she’d been exotic, intriguing. Even more so with her enigmatic expression. This morning, in her short emerald-green woolen dress and jacket, accentuating the color of her eyes and revealing long, curvy legs, she was breathtaking. To his surprise, she was smiling.
He remembered the sensation of déjà vu hitting him when he’d been introduced to her the other night. With the exception of her blond hair, he’d had a moment when he was almost certain she could be the woman who had haunted him for months after his return from the Stevens wedding.
He remembered the heart-stopping moment when he’d taken her into his arms on the dance floor and realized she had to be his mystery woman. A woman who, when he came too close with his questions, had disappeared into the night.
He hadn’t really believed her when she’d said she didn’t remember him. He hadn’t believed her when she had denied meeting him in the Baronovia palace gardens. She might have forgotten him, but he hadn’t forgotten her.
Even while she denied being that woman, he had only needed to take her in his arms to be convinced of her identity.
He’d spent last night wondering if he would ever see her again. He’d even wondered how, if he ever met her again, he could get her to stand still long enough to talk to him. Now that she was on his territory, maybe this was his chance.
He impatiently raked his fingers through his hair. Cornering the lady and getting the truth, the whole truth, out of her wasn’t going to be easy. All he wanted was the truth from her own lips, then he would do his best to forget her.
He should have asked for Victoria’s last name long ago while he still had a chance of finding her before the whole world got into the act.
Who was Victoria?
What had happened to her husband?
And why, if she was a recent widow, had she responded to his kiss so passionately last night?
He’d been puzzled by the unhappiness in her parting glance last night, and he was puzzled by her now. There was something so vulnerable about her smile, he was half afraid of insisting on the truth.
It had been a blow to his ego to realize that she had gotten married so soon after spending the midnight hours in his arms on that long-ago night. The biggest blow of all was that he had already been half in love with her.
He took a long, pensive look at his reflection on his monitor screen. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, fifteenth in his class. He’d been cited for bravery for rescuing a fellow classmate from drowning under an overturned sailboat during a sailing exercise. To top it off, he was a damn good lawyer and had spent the last eight years earning his Lieutenant Commander’s gold stripes.
So why was he afraid to go out there and corner Victoria?
Forcing a smile, Dan approached the group cautiously. Just as he was a foot away, Admiral Crowley came out of his office and sauntered over to the small group.
“Glad to see you back at work, Commander.” He smiled expansively at Wade’s royal wife. “Glad to see you too, Mrs. Stevens. Or is it, Your Grace?”
May Stevens dimpled, glanced up at her husband and threaded her arm through his. “Mrs. Stevens, please.”
“Mrs. Stevens it is. Sorry I couldn’t make your housewarming.”
May held out her free hand. “Then you will have to come to dinner one night soon.” Her husband choked off a laugh. “Of course,” she added, with an annoyed glance at Wade, “the invitation will have to wait until I have completed my cooking lessons.”
“Take all the time you need,” Crowley said amiably. He glanced at Victoria and looked to May for an introduction.
“I’m so sorry, Admiral,” May said, laughing. “I was so overwhelmed by all the congratulations I’m afraid I forgot my manners. Victoria, this is Admiral Crowley, the Judge Advocate General. Admiral, may I present my cousin Victoria Esterhazy Bernard? Victoria is the widow of the first Baronovian ambassador to the United States, Rolande Bernard. Victoria is now the ambassador in his place.”
Dan backed away before anyone could notice him. Damn! His mystery woman, if she really were his missing mystery woman, was not only a cousin to Wade Steven’s royal wife, she was the new Baronovian ambassador to the United States.
The new Baronovian Embassy, the State Department, the United States Navy and the Judge Advocate General himself would have his hide if he stuck his neck out and made waves.
He inched back to his office, lost himself in the crowd. No matter how he felt about Victoria, or what she might or might not have been to him a year ago, he was dead meat if he created a national incident. God help him if he so much as allowed himself to become involved. Crowley was still annoyed with him for his involvement in the attempted murder of Secret Service Agent Mike Wheeler’s wife, Charlie Norris.
In Charlie’s case, it had been a case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, then looking to him for legal help.
In Victoria’s case, it was only her strained body language, the vulnerable look on her face last night. Sure as hell, something was bothering her. He hoped it wasn’t him.
Dan could hardly believe himself for even thinking of helping Victoria. How could he concern himself with her problem, when she’d behaved as if they were strangers?
Except for those kisses he’d managed to initiate, and the dance he had practically forced her into, he thought wryly, he might have been convinced they had never met before. In his book, her passionate response to his out-of-line kiss had been a dead giveaway, whether she was willing to admit it or not.
Maybe it was just as well she’d denied knowing him, he mused as he watched Victoria shaking hands with the admiral and saying goodbye. She was clearly off-limits.
The only woman who would eventually belong to him and him alone, he reminded himself as he thought of his New Year’s resolution, was still five years in the future. And then, he thought grimly, only if he had the luck to find someone as beautiful and exciting as this intriguing Victoria Bernard. He had the hollow feeling that nothing else but her double would do.
Dan watched through the office window while May and her cousin surrendered their visitor passes and waved goodbye. Thank God, he thought as he turned on his computer to go back to his research for an impending case, Victoria’s unexpected reappearance in his life was only a coincidence of him being in his office when she came to visit. As long as he kept his mind on his case and his nose in his own business, he had nothing to worry about.
Or did he?
A trail of cold fingers ran up and down his spine as he looked up and saw the swinging doors close behind Victoria.
There was definitely unfinished business between himself and this Victoria Bernard.
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